Activism

There is a new media literacy curriculum. It is at:
http://www.oscars.org/education-outreach/teachersguide/medialiteracy/pdf...

This curriculum, produced by Hollywood's premier representative, the MPAA, is a joke. It is what John Stauber calls astroturf public relations. It is media literacy very, very lite.

Retired ACME board member and father-to-be Josh Golin of the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood throws down a fine keynote at the sold-out ACMEVermont conference this fall.

Don't miss it.

Watch Josh's keynote here.

ROB'S NOTE: Thanks to Frank Baker for passing on this fascinating article.

I was asked last week by a local reporter here in Vermont's Mad River Valley how I was coping with the digital set top box conversion, the subject of much consternation and angst in my community these past few weeks.

I answered as truthfully as I could - "I have no opinion since I have not owned or watched television since 1985."

Now I am trying to decide if I am "crunchy granola," "a religious right ultraconservative," or just a plain cave-dweller.

Enjoy, and happy Friday,

Rob

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Rob's note: I've been sifting through a tremendous number of convention articles - this one seemed useful. Folks familiar with Daniel Boorstin's classic THE IMAGE would do well to re-read it right about now.

Convention stage is a show in itself
By David Bauder, Associated Press Wed Aug 27, (Via Yahoo News)

The stage of the Democratic National Convention is a mix of modern stagecraft and political consciousness.

Three plasma screens tower 103 feet above the stage. A video projection wall backs speakers with a sea of blue. The podium retracts when it's not being used.

Hear ACME Co-President Dr. Rob Williams speak on media education for media reform at Senator Bernie Sanders' town meeting at St. Michael's College.

From Free Speech TV:

Rob sez: Kudos to ACME partners John Stauber, Sheldon Rampton and Diane Farsetta at the Center for Media and Democracy for their cutting-edge work on this issue.

One might argue that most of what passes for "news" on television is "fake" - a small sliver of our daily reality extruded through a variety of epistemological, economic, and political filters like so much shredded wheat.

But the widespread use of VNRS (video news releases) smacks of propaganda of the highest order. Thanks to CMD, this debate, on the heels of FCC fines, seems like a step in the right direction.

ACME advisory board member and independent Canadian journalist/author Naomi "No Logo" Klein, whom I first heard speak on "No Logo" at the NMMLP-sponsored Taos Talking Picture Festival almost a decade ago, is back with a brand-new book called "The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism."

I've read all four excerpts online - the book will no doubt pack a tremendous wallop - seeking to expose the new post-9/11 "military/industrial/terror" complex that is re-making corporate globalization using radical free market "shock doctrine" techniques.