Special: Orwell Rolls in his Grave
Just last December, the media landscape changed dramatically - but you may not have even heard about it. FCC Chairman Kevin Martin pushed through a radical new change in the rules: For the first time in 32 years, television broadcasters in the top 20 markets can also own a newspaper and a radio station in the same area. It allows even greater media consolidation, and makes independent media even rarer. Michael Copps, one of two FCC Commissioners to vote against the rule, called it “a decision that would make Orwell proud”.
Can a media system controlled by just a few corporations really deliver on the promise of the First Amendment? Or is this just the beginning of an Orwellian nightmare where lies can become truth?
In this special Link TV presentation we take a look at the consequences of unchecked media consolidation with guest Greg Palast, the award-winning BBC journalist famous for breaking the 2000 Florida election scandal. Also airing as part of the special is the essential documentary Orwell Rolls in His Grave.
Orwell Rolls in His Grave
Director Robert Kane Pappas’ Orwell Rolls in his Grave is the consummate critical examination of the Fourth Estate, once the bastion of American democracy. Asking whether America has entered an Orwellian world of doublespeak where outright lies can pass for the truth, Pappas explores what the media doesn’t like to talk about: itself. Meticulously tracing the process by which media has distorted and often dismissed actual news events, Pappas presents a riveting and eloquent mix of media professionals and leading intellectual voices on the media.
From the very size of the media monopolies and how they got that way to who decides what gets on the air and what doesn’t, Orwell Rolls in his Grave moves through a troubling list of questions and news stories that go unanswered and unreported in the mainstream media. Are Americans being given the information a democracy needs to survive or have they been electronically lobotomized? Has the frenzy for media consolidation led to a dangerous irony where in an era of more news sources the majority of the population has actually become less informed? Orwell Rolls in his Grave reminds us that 1984 is no longer a date in the future.
LEARN MORE:
To learn more about this film, visit Orwell Rolls in his Grave
Visit Greg Palast online
The Center for Public Integrity - Investigative journalism in the public interest
Free Press: Media reform through education, organizing and advocacy
FAIR - Fairness and accuracy in reporting
For more links and information on other special programs visit our Specials page.
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