Thursday, April 26, 2007

Notable television documentaries:

PBS - Frontline: Hot Politics originally broadcast 24 April 2007.
"Examines the politics behind the U.S. government's failure to act on the biggest environmental problem of our time."
Torrent at Son of Shun.

PBS - Bill Moyers Journal: Buying the War orignially broadcast 25 April 2007.
"In the lead-up to the invasion of Iraq, the US government's claims about weapons of mass destruction and terrorist ties to Saddam Hussein went mostly unchallenged by the media. Four years after 'shock and awe,' how the government sold the war has been much examined, but a big question remains: how and why did the press buy it? Bill Moyers and his team piece together the reporting that shows how the media were complicit in shaping the 'public mind' toward the war, and ask what has happened to the press's role as skeptical 'watchdog' over government power. The program features the work of some journalists who didn't take the government's word at face value, including the team of reporters at Knight Ridder news service whose reporting turned up evidence at odds with the official view of reality. Buying the War includes interviews with Dan Rather, formerly of CBS; Tim Russert of Meet the Press; Bob Simon of 60 Minutes; Walter Isaacson, former president of CNN; and John Walcott, Jonathan Landay, and Warren Strobel of Knight Ridder newspapers, which was acquired by the McClatchy Co. in 2006."
Torrent at Son of Shun.
Update: You can watch the full episode of Buying the War online here.

Comments on Bill Moyers Journal: Buying the War by Glenn Greenwald: The Bill Moyers documentary on our failed and barren press.

Daily Kos: The Assault On Bill Moyers Has Begun.

After Moyers Iraq Documentary, DC Reporters in Damage-Control Mode by David Sirota, 27 April 2007.