GAME ON: Journalism, life skills, news literacy.

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This PBS-shown special raises questions the role of journalists in helping the public sort out fact from propaganda. http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/btw/watch.html

Comment on Bill Moyer's Journal: Buying the War

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In March 2003, embedded civilian correspondents rolled along with the U.S. military convoy as it invaded Iraq. Equipped with satellite and video phones, digital cameras, and lightweight satellite uplinks, frontline reporters dispatched the news of war as it happened. Unrated. 50 minutes.

Comment on Modern Marvels: Frontline Reporting

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A compelling behind-the-scenes look into the lives of National Geographic photographers and how they get the shot. Unrated. 56 minutes.

Comment on National Geographic’s The Photographers

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In this two-DVD set, Frontline examines the challenges faced by journalists and casts a critical eye on how they have responded. Topics include the use of anonymous sources and the legal jeopardy faced by reporters who refuse to name sources. Available at this link.

Comment on PBS Frontline: News War: Secrets, Source & Spin

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Is good journalism going extinct? Fractured audiences and tight budgets have downsized or sunk many of the fourth estate's major battleships. NOW's David Brancaccio talks to professor Bob McChesney and journalist John Nichols about the perils of a shrinking news media landscape, and their bold proposal to save noncommercial journalism with government subsidies. Should public journalism get the next government bailout? 30 minutes. See http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/603/index.html to order.

Comment on Saving American Journalism

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Producer Liz Garbus contends that since 9/11, the First Amendment has again been under attack. We think of First Amendment rights as inviolable; but in fact, they're profoundly vulnerable. Prominent First Amendment attorney -- and the filmmaker's father -- Martin Garbus, leads us through this perilous landscape and wisely warns, if we don't fight for our freedoms every day, we will lose them. Unrated. 73 minutes

Comment on Shouting Fire: Stories From the Edge of Free Speech

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Created in black and white, this BBC classic “documentary” chronicles what an attack with one megaton weapons could do to modern England. Many avenues for study exist: film study, propaganda, media reporting, information gathering, to name a few.

Comment on The War Game

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Originally made as a “training” film for American soldiers before they went to serve in Vietnam, the film was billed as a history of US policy in Southeast Asia. In the 1970s, it was included as an example of a propaganda film in CBS Reports The Selling of the Pentagon. Excellent use as information gathering and checking activity.

Comment on Why Vietnam? A History of US Policy in Southeast Asia