The changes to our environment are happening fast, predictions aren’t looking much gentler. Natural resources are dwindling, weather is wilder, screens are disconnecting our children, and the bees are still disappearing. Here’s our top list of award winning environmental documentaries you can stream now on Greenspace VOD powered by Distrify Media. See 12 nonfiction features by great filmmakers .
Inspired by the acclaimed book by Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway, MERCHANTS OF DOUBT takes audiences on a satirically comedic yet illuminating ride into the heart of conjuring American spin. Filmmaker Robert Kenner lifts the curtain on a secretive group of highly charismatic, silver-tongued pundits-for-hire who present themselves in the media as scientific authorities – yet have the contrary aim of spreading maximum confusion about well-studied public threats ranging from toxic chemicals to pharmaceuticals to climate change.
The last time we exposed the Koch Brothers’ dealings to the world we here at Brave New Films wound up in their crosshairs. They produced online ad campaigns attacking us, but, it takes more than a banner ad to slow us down.
We’ve reissued Koch Brothers Exposed in an updated version, Koch Brothers Exposed: 2014 Edition, to shine a light on them. We’ve delved even deeper into where their money is going, who their money is hurting, and how much they are making during this whole process leading up to the 2014 Elections.
Two years ago when we made this film very few people knew who the Koch Brothers were or what the Koch Brothers were doing. But now, we so strongly believe that everyone should know what is happening that with your help and donations we are able to offer the film for free. We want to make sure everyone has an opportunity to see the truth.
(5:11) How the Koch Brothers use Citizens United to corrupt democracy
(7:11) The Koch plan to re-segregate public schools
3:09 During the first few years that Murdoch’s ownership of Fox’s DC affiliate, he had a hands-off approach to new content; partially due to their success. One day orders came from Murdoch’s offices that the network should cut away from their regularly scheduled program and broadcast the RNC’s fawning tribute to Reagan: “we were ordered, from the top, to carry propaganda; Republican, right-wing propaganda”. It foreshadowed what Fox News would later become.
6:30 Former Fox News reporters and bookers say that they are afraid to be seen “talking to the wrong people”. Working for Fox meant you were constantly being monitored. It created a culture of fear. If you challenged the heads of the network On ideological matters, you were history.
10:45 “Some People Say” – FOX uses the phrase “some people say” to mask opinion as news.
19:04 Fox News contributors are under paid contract for their appearance; if they deviate from the party lines, they might not get asked back onto shows.
21:22 Fox News went after Richard Clarke as soon as it was apparent that he was going to paint the Bush administration in a bad light. For Fox News, “mudding” arguments is almost as good as winning them. So, they didn’t need to definitely prove that Clarke, a former member of the Bush Administration, was angling for a position in a Kerry Whitehouse, they just had to make it look like a possibility.
22:28 They put weak-looking , lesser known liberals up against photogenic, self-assured conservatives.
26:29 Republicans accounted for 83% of the guests while Democrats accounted for 17% of guest on the network’s most prestigious show. Of those democrats, most were either centrist or conservative.
27:50 Stories they Cover…Stories they Ignore – Management set the tone for stories: Jesse Jackson was always to be painted in a negative light, as were immigrants. Culture war issues – abortion, affirmative action, gay marriage – were often covered while ignoring issues regarding the economy, health care, and the environment.
34:38 O’Reilly’s show is a good example of everything that is wrong with Fox News —
Stories are selected to prop-up the Republican party and their point of view; O’Reilly is very hostile to guest who disagrees with him; and he distorts and misrepresent things.
42:00 Many Fox News stories are meant to generate fear; for example, stories about what to do if there’s a “dirty bomb” attack. Fear is a great motivator and organizer; even when there is no real evidence for it. Terrorism is the ultimate fear-baiting; and when people are fearful, they are more likely to support military interventions. Talking about terrorism also means that you can avoid talking about other issues, like the economy.
46:29 Fox made the decision to present the Iraq war as a success. “The senior producer told the two or three writers for her news hour…’now, just keep in mind that it’s all good. This is such a fair and balance issue. Keep it positive. We got to emphasize all the good we are doing”.
48:43 Knowledge Networks Poll – It’s a simple survey about fact regarding current events. The more likely people were to watch Fox News, the more misinformed they were and the more likely they were to back the Bush Administration.
50:49 Fox News repeats and propagates the Republican Party platform. It was widely known that the Fox reporter covering the 2000 Bush campaign was married to a Bush campaigner. This wouldn’t have been allowed at CNN.
52:47 Election Night 2000 – The first guy to call the election for Bush was the head of Fox’s New’s election analyze division; Bush’s first cousin. He called it a clear win, when in fact it was too close too call.
59:16 The Republican send out “the message of the day” so that conservative talk radio, Fox News, and Republican elected officials will all be talking about the same issues, in the same way.
58:41 2004 Election; coverage of Bush was always glowing, while Kerry was shown in a negative light.
1:02:51 During the 2004 election, Fox News painted a very rosy picture of the American economy and by selecting statistics which showed just that. Of course, they credited Bush for the “good” economy. When the stock market had a bad day, they claimed it was because of fear over the prospect of a Kerry presidency.
1:05:28 Murdoch is foremost a politician and this is what makes him dangerous.
1:06:57 The Fox Effect – It made other news organization more conservative because they saw how well Fox did.
1:09:13 A Call to Action – Media control is a political issue. People need to demand accuracy.
The film follows the story of programming prodigy and information activist Aaron Swartz. From Swartz’s help in the development of the basic internet protocol RSS to his co-founding of Reddit, his fingerprints are all over the internet. But it was Swartz’s groundbreaking work in social justice and political organizing combined with his aggressive approach to information access that ensnared him in a two-year legal nightmare. It was a battle that ended with the taking of his own life at the age of 26. Aaron’s story touched a nerve with people far beyond the online communities in which he was a celebrity. This film is a personal story about what we lose when we are tone deaf about technology and its relationship to our civil liberties.
Twenty-five years after the World Wide Web was created, the issue of surveillance has become the greatest controversy of its existence. With many concerned that governments and corporations can monitor people’s every move, this programme meets hackers and scientists who are using technology to fight back, as well as the law enforcement officers who believe it’s leading to opportunities for risk-free crimes.
With contributors including World Wide Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee and WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange.
We live in the United States of Surveillance–with cameras increasingly positioned on street corners and with much more invisible spying online and on the phone. Anyone who is paying attention knows that privacy could be out the window. All of this is not happening by accident -well funded powerful agencies and companies are engaged in the business of keeping tabs on what we do, what we say, and what we think.
To many in the world, today, the face of America also has A BIG NOSE for sniffing and sifting mountains of data—phone calls, emails and texts. And with many mouths silenced by paranoia to keep what they decide is secret, secret. America has become a Surveillance-Industrial State where everyone’s business has become its business, and where one huge US intelligence Agency has been given the sanction and unlimited amounts of money to spy on the whole world.
Mass Surveillance is the focus of this new 6 part investigative documentary series examining who is watching whom and why.
“Israel, probably more than any other state in the world has had more resolutions past against it and has broken those resolutions and yet it seems to be able to exist without any sanctions because it is protected by the United States,” this thought-provoking statement made by Paul Ingram puts the contradictory scenario of nowadays world about nuclear bombs into perspective.
Paul Ingram is the executive director of the British American Security Information Council and is involved in developing a long-term strategy to help reduce global nuclear dangers through disarmament and collaborative non-proliferation, coordinating operations in London and Washington. For over sixty years, the United Nations has been unable to establish sustainable security in the world. Although the majority of nations pursue a world free of nuclear weapons the more dominant armed states are reluctant to give up their weapons of mass destruction creating a geopolitical fear to other states who choose to keep the bombs as a deterrent.
Through informative, revealing interviews, “Nuke Syndrome” provides food for thought about the status quo of testing and producing nuclear bombs across the globe. We are informed about this sad fact that though horrors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki remain a permanent scar on the world, the horrors didn’t stop there since numerous countries have tested nuclear bomb explosions seeking ways to strengthen their destructive force.
The U.S. allocated one hundred and eighty five billion dollars to augment its nuclear stockpile over the next decade. Meanwhile, British politicians have plans on spending seventy six billion pounds to renew their navy’s trident missiles. The irony is that while Iran is calling for global nuclear disarmament and the right to peaceful nuclear energy, and while there is no real evidence that Iran is making nuclear weapons, this peace-seeking country is constantly being threatened by war and sanctions for the false accusation leveled against it that it is trying to produce nuclear weapons.
I hope you’re ready for a wild ride. Billionaires David and Charles Koch have been handed the ability to buy our democracy in the form of giant checks to the House, Senate, and soon, possibly even the Presidency. The last time we exposed the Koch Brothers’ dealings to the world we here at Brave New Films wound up in their crosshairs. They produced online ad campaigns attacking us, but, it takes more than a banner ad to slow us down.
We’ve reissued Koch Brothers Exposed in an updated version, Koch Brothers Exposed: 2014 Edition, to shine a light on them. We’ve delved even deeper into where their money is going, who their money is hurting, and how much they are making during this whole process leading up to the 2014 Elections.
Two years ago when we made this film very few people knew who the Koch Brothers were or what the Koch Brothers were doing. But now, we so strongly believe that everyone should know what is happening that with your help and donations we are able to offer the film for free. We want to make sure everyone has an opportunity to see the truth.
The film will premiere online on 5/20/14 and we will also ben screening several excerpts from the piece at an official Congressional Press Briefing on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C.
You will be able to stream the full film for free on our website as soon as the event is completed, and we will be hosting a live-stream of the briefing during the event. You can view the live-stream by following the link above.
Welcome to Transition Studies. To prosper for very much longer on the changing Earth humankind will need to move beyond its current fossil-fueled civilization toward one that is sustained on recycled materials and renewable energy. This is not a trivial shift. It will require a major transition in all aspects of our lives.
This weblog explores the transition to a sustainable future on our finite planet. It provides links to current news, key documents from government sources and non-governmental organizations, as well as video documentaries about climate change, environmental ethics and environmental justice concerns.
The links are listed here to be used in whatever manner they may be helpful in public information campaigns, course preparation, teaching, letter-writing, lectures, class presentations, policy discussions, article writing, civic or Congressional hearings and citizen action campaigns, etc. For further information on this blog see: About this weblog. and How to use this weblog.
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