MEDIA ROOTS – On this episode of Breaking the Set, Abby talks about a new program in multiple states aimed to track children with RFID chips in student IDs. She speaks to independent journalist Tim Pool about live streaming and the rise of new media. BTS then highlights Russell Simmons for defending the message of the 99%, and calls out Pat Robertson for his hateful rhetoric toward Muslims and women. RT Producer, Manuel Rapalo joins Abby for the final segment to debate the political impact of Occupy Wall Street Movement.
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RFID Spying on Kids, Citizen Journalism, Occupy Wall Street
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Tune in from 6-6:30 EST M-F on your local cable station
MEDIA ROOTS – At Ground Zero this past September 11, a more docile crowd congregated at the site for eternal mourning. The number of family members and protestors were generally smaller and most in the 9/11 Truth movement honored a four-hour silence out of respect for the victims and their families. What ensued was a gathering of people from across the 9/11 landscape with several constructive conversations and very few emotional diatribes.
The goal for this year’s annual gathering of 9/11 questioners was to capture activists’ collective experience. Several individuals from around the country were featured, some whom made the pilgrimage from as far as the state of Georgia. New York City is the de facto home of the 9/11 Truth movement where weekly street actions continue at Ground Zero every Saturday for several hours each afternoon.
Reflections from the 9/11 Truth movement after 11 years.
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Oscar Mosko is a producer at truth-march and is managing editor at Media Roots.
MEDIA ROOTS – Media Roots is a not-for-profit community news sharing platform that has been keeping followers in the loop since 2009. We follow stories that are often marginalized by mainstream outlets and are always looking for fresh perspectives, particularly from the artist and activist community.
Is there a song about the struggle for justice that you’ve heard recently that you think needs to get out there?
Did you watch a film online that deserves a solid review?
Have you read a poem or story that really captures the spirit of a social movement that’s important to you?
Submit your review (1000 words max.), as well as a hyperlink to the original content, for consideration by September 23 and our editors will select the top two entries for distribution on the site. A grand prize of $50 will be awarded in the form of an online gift card and both will receive a Media Roots T-shirt!
With your submission please include your name, phone number, and your city and state. (Only your name will be published with the article.) Also, please mention your desire to contribute to Media Roots in the future, if applicable. All submissions will become property of Media Roots and can be used for any purpose.
Good luck and we look forward to hearing from you!
MEDIA ROOTS — One of the greatest myths perpetuated by anti-gay politicians is that children raised by a hetero-normative male/female unit turn out better than ones raised by gay parents. Statistics and facts have defeated this myth countless times–but regardless of the data–members of the religious right continue to spread this disinformation.
While Abby was working with Luke Rudkowski from WeAreChange, she happened to catch up with Rick Santorum in a DC hotel lobby. But when WeAreChange posted the video on its YouTube channel, the reaction from the organization’s base was mostly negative, ranging from people calling it a ‘distraction’ or ‘wedge issue’ to agreeing with Santorum’s viewpoint on homosexuality.
The video’s reaction revealed how a large percentage of people who associate themselves with the ‘liberty’ movement let their bigoted views trump respecting LGBT civil rights in this country. To illustrate this hypocrisy, check out the video’s top rated YouTube comments:
“Oh wow more dislikes than likes on a WeAreChange video! Probably because your asking Rick Santorum an irrelevant question on gay marriage. Go back to chasing down the power brokers of the NWO, and I wont dislike your video again.”
“Gay marriage is a NWO strategy to destroy morality and any real human values (like honor and dignity) and you are for it????”
While unfortunate that a movement focusing on the erosion of civil liberties would react so poorly to such a confrontation, other media outlets like Raw Story recognized the importance of slamming Santorum with such a question.
Robbie Martin for Media Roots
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Abby Martin confronts Rick Santorum
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RAW STORY – The socially conservative politician — who once said he was willing to die to prevent same sex marriages — was recently confronted about his views by Abby Martin of Media Roots.
“You said during your campaign that homosexual parents — that kids don’t thrive under homosexual parents, but actually studies have shown that kids thrive equally under homosexual parents as they do straight parents,” she asked Santorum. “Do you think this hateful rhetoric, you know, you’re fighting a losing battle here — as homosexuality is more accepted by the day.”
“I don’t think it’s hateful rhetoric,” Santorum answered. “I think having public policy discussions is not hateful rhetoric.”
“But it’s incorrect,” Martin interrupted.
“I think characterizing it as such is a typical tactic that those who do not want to have a real discussion about the issues,” Santorum said.
MEDIA ROOTS — Ever since the Internet took off there has been a positive push back against the corporate controlled mainstream media establishment. Many educated people now rightfully believe that they are being lied to and manipulated by these large corporate organizations that use sensationalism, fear mongering and titillation to emotionally effect the viewer into reacting on a base reptile level rather than with their higher critical brain.
In response to the criticisms about RT being ‘state sponsored propaganda,’ Abby Martin did a segment called ‘Media Wars’ for RT America where she breaks down the ownership of the corporate and state media establishment while encouraging viewers to critically think in the face of a barrage of differing media/infotainment/news bombardments.
Robbie Martin for Media Roots
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Abby Martin on RT America, ‘Media Wars’
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RT – Here at RT our motto is “Question more.” What that means is that audiences should critically think of what is being fed to viewers by the mainstream media. We like to provide a different angle to news stories and cover certain topics that are taboo to other media outlets. RT’s Abby Martin has more.
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SALON – A new news show hosted by Julian Assange debuted yesterday on RT, the global media outlet funded by the Russian government and carried by several of America’s largest cable providers. His first show was devoted to an interview with Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah (video below), who has not given a television interview since 2006. The combination of Assange and a Russian-owned TV network has triggered a predictable wave of snide, smug attacks from American media figures, attacks that found their purest expression in this New York Times review yesterday of Assange’s new program by Alessandra Stanley.
Much is revealed by these media attacks on Assange and RT — not about Assange or RT but about their media critics. We yet again find, for instance, the revealing paradox that nothing prompts media scorn more than bringing about unauthorized transparency for the U.S. government. As a result, it’s worth examining a few passages from Stanley’s analysis. It begins this way:
When Anderson Cooper began a syndicated talk show, his first guest was the grieving father of Amy Winehouse.
Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, unveiled a new talk show on Tuesday with his own version of a sensational get: the Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.
That contrast — between one of America’s Most Serious Journalists and Assange — speaks volumes already about who is interested in actual journalism and who is not. Then we have this, a trite little point, impressed by its own cleverness, found at the center of almost all of these sneering pieces on Assange’s new program:
Mr. Assange says the theme of his half-hour show on RT is “the world tomorrow.” But there is something almost atavistic about the outlet he chose. RT, first known as Russia Today, is anEnglish-language news network created by the Russian leader Vladimir V. Putin in 2005 to promote the Kremlin line abroad. (It also broadcasts in Spanish and Arabic.) It’s like the Voice of America, only with more money and a zesty anti-American slant. A few correspondents can sound at times like Boris and Natasha of “Rocky & Bullwinkle” fame. Basically, it’s an improbable platform for a man who poses as a radical left-wing whistleblower and free-speech frondeur battling the superpowers that be.
Let’s examine the unstated premises at work here. There is apparently a rule that says it’s perfectly OK for a journalist to work for a media outlet owned and controlled by a weapons manufacturer (GE/NBC/MSNBC), or by the U.S. and British governments (BBC/Stars & Stripes/Voice of America), or by Rupert Murdoch and Saudi Prince Al-Waleed Bin Talal (Wall St. Journal/Fox News), or by a banking corporation with long-standing ties to right-wing governments (Politico), or by for-profit corporations whose profits depend upon staying in the good graces of the U.S. government (Kaplan/The Washington Post), or by loyalists to one of the two major political parties (National Review/TPM/countless others), but it’s an intrinsic violation of journalistic integrity to work for a media outlet owned by the Russian government. Where did that rule come from?
Also, while it’s certainly true that the coverage of RT is at times overly deferential to the Russian government, that media outlet never mindlessly disseminated government propaganda to help to start a falsehood-fueled devastating war, the way that Alessandra Stanley’s employer (along with most leadingAmericanmediaoutlets) did. When it comes to destruction brought about by uncritical media fealty to government propaganda, RT — as the Russia expert Mark Adomanis documented when American media figures began attacking RT – is far behind virtually all of the corporate employers of its American media critics.
MEDIA ROOTS – At Ground Zero this past September 11, a more docile crowd congregated at the site for eternal mourning. The number of family members and protestors were generally smaller and most in the 9/11 Truth movement honored a four-hour silence out of respect for the victims and their families. What ensued was a gathering of people from across the 9/11 landscape with several constructive conversations and very few emotional diatribes.
MEDIA ROOTS – Media Roots is a not-for-profit community news sharing platform that has been keeping followers in the loop since 2009. We follow stories that are often marginalized by mainstream outlets and are always looking for fresh perspectives, particularly from the artist and activist community.
MEDIA ROOTS — One of the greatest myths perpetuated by anti-gay politicians is that children raised by a hetero-normative male/female unit turn out better than ones raised by gay parents. Statistics and facts have defeated this myth countless times–but regardless of the data–members of the religious right continue to spread this disinformation.
MEDIA ROOTS — Ever since the Internet took off there has been a positive push back against the corporate controlled mainstream media establishment. Many educated people now rightfully believe that they are being lied to and manipulated by these large corporate organizations that use sensationalism, fear mongering and titillation to emotionally effect the viewer into reacting on a base reptile level rather than with their higher critical brain. 