Here are some great lists of free online documentaries. I’m sure there are more.
- ABC Documentaries
- Best Online Documentaries (505 videos)
- Documentaries (Noname Blog)
- Documenary-film.net (75 videos)
- Educated Earth (55 videos)
- Frontline (PBS)
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Seeker,
Excellent links! Out of all of those, Frontline is a much watch documentary series. They do the kind of hard news investigative reporting that the traditional networks have not done in over a decade and the likes of Fox and CNN could never dream of (due to their bowing to the ratings god over the value of public service news content).
Their recent 4 part series called “Newswar” covering the media, the influence of the administration on controlling coverage, and the state of journalism in America today was just fantastic.
Excerpt:
“In a four-part special series, News War, FRONTLINE examines the political, cultural, legal, and economic forces challenging the news media today and how the press has reacted in turn. Through interviews with key figures in print, broadcast and electronic media over the past four decades — and with unequaled, behind-the-scenes access to some of today’s most important news organizations, FRONTLINE traces the recent history of American journalism, from the Nixon administration’s attacks on the media to the post-Watergate popularity of the press, to the new challenges presented by the war on terror and other global forces now changing — and challenging — the role of the press in our society.”
In my mind (while it does not make this point directly) it makes for a very strong argument to return to some of the tenets of the Fairness Doctrine.
Since it is online and also now on my AppleTV from a copy I recorded on my TiVo (hee hee), I think you should check it out
– Silver
I concur about Newswar, Silver. I saw that on PBS :) Did you hear the Chicago Tribune was sold?
Cin,
Did you hear the Chicago Tribune was sold?
Yes, I did. It along with the prestigious LA Times were sold to a private investor. That is actually a good thing. The argument goes that without being publicly traded there is less pressure to turn a profit and be more reliant on “fluff” stories to move the paper.
In fact, there is already precedent for such moves with previous Newspaper buyouts by private investors…greater emphasis on investigative reporting and a sense of serving the public interest.
I can see even as I type this Aaron rolling his eyes and disagreeing. Oh, my. LOL. ;)
– Silver
Why would Aaron not like it? Maybe I missed something. Newspapers have fallen on hard times, and even TV news is really swayed by the need to attract eyeballs rather than focusing on things that may actually be more important.
Regarding the Fairness Doctrine, I don’t know much about it. Is that what forced NPR to stop being so liberal? ;). Also, is it related to the use of ombudsmen?
Seeker,
Why would Aaron not like it? Maybe I missed something.
I am not going to go and dig that out of the trash again. Suffice it to say that we have all gone down that path with regard to journalism, equal access for rebuttal and the fairness doctrine. Based upon those conversations, I can only infer that Aaron would wholeheartedly disagree with many of the points raised by Newswar and the trend in diluting news coverage by big media conglomerates in the interest of profits.
Aaron, I don’t want to put words in you mouth, but I am basing this based upon our previous chats about journalism in American and the Fairness Doctrine. If you disagree with this generalization, then speak up.
Seeker, look here for that thread. You can see where Aaron and I spar on this point.
– Silver