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Announcement :: Media |
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IDF Presents "Going Upriver: The Long War of John Kerry" a documentary by George Butler to counter WICD bias |
Current rating: 0 |
by Aaron Smith, IDF Assistant Director
Email: idf (nospam) prairienet.org (unverified!)
Phone: (217) 352-8721 |
20 Oct 2004
Modified: 03:35:41 PM |
IDF will present the film "Going Upriver: The Long War of John Kerry" a documentary by George Butler as a response to WICD's biased decision to show segments of the "Stolen Honor" documentary. The film will be shown at the IDF on Tuesday, October 26 at 7pm.
The event is intended to provide citizens of CU with a balance to the viewpoint being presented by WICD, and to educate the community about the inaccuracies and falsehoods about the veterans' anti-war movement during the Vietnam war that are presented in "Stolen Honor."
THIS EVENT IS NOT IN ANY WAY AN ENDORSEMENT OF JOHN KERRY OR ANY OTHER CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT. |
"Going Upriver: The Long War of John Kerry"
A documentary by George Butler
Next Tuesday, October 26th, 7pm
Wisegarver Lounge (1st Floor of IDF)**
Free and open to the public
*****************************
"Going Upriver: The Long War of John Kerry" is a documentary, directed and produced by George Butler, that chronicles Kerry's service in the Navy during the Vietnam War and his activism against the war upon his return. But it is more than simply a biography of Kerry; "Going Upriver" documents a generation of Americans who were affecting by the Vietnam War and how those issues have resurfaced today.
Sinclair Broadcasting has ordered 40 of its 62 stations, including the Champaign station WICD, to air a special news program entitled "A POW Story." In this "news" program, a portion of an anti-Kerry documentary, "Stolen Honor: Wounds That Never Heal," will be included despite its obvious bias towards the upcoming presidential elections. In an effort to give citizens a chance to hear fair and balanced coverage that the
mainstream media has yet to offer, the Illinois Disciples Foundation has chosen to show an alternative to "A POW Story."
DISCLAIMER: By showing this film, the Illinois Disciples Foundation is in no way endorsing John Kerry or any other candidate for president of the United States.
The University YMCA is cosponsoring this event and has graciously offered their projector to show the film.
**The IDF is a pioneering peace with justice campus ministry, located at the NW corner of Springfield and Wright St. in Champaign. Wisegarver Lounge is located on the first floor of the building and is wheelchair
accessible.
For information about the IDF or this event, please contact the IDF at (217) 352-8721, idf (at) prairienet.org or check out the website at www.prairienet.org/idf. |
See also:
http://www.prairienet.org/idf
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This work is in the public domain |
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Re: IDF Presents "Going Upriver: The Long War of John Kerry" a documentary by George Butler to counter WICD bias |
by gehrig
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
21 Oct 2004
|
To be fair to WICD, it's not "deciding" to show the attack ad, it's being commanded to by the corporate bosses in Baltimore.
@%< |
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Re: IDF Presents "Going Upriver: The Long War of John Kerry" a documentary by George Butler to counter WICD bias |
by Jack Ryan
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
21 Oct 2004
|
I am confused by the part in the title "Long War". Kerry served for 4 months actual combat duty in Vietnam. Even his detractors say he did do some slightly heroic deeds while there. He did afterall, waste a VC.
However, after his suspect 3 purple hearts, for which he spent not one night in a hospital, he requested for and was approved to leave his short tour of duty.
Perhaps you should consider a new title: How about: 4 months in Nam, Many protests undermining my former mates who were still in country, meeting with the enemy in Paris, all to launch my Political Career in which I proposed 5 bills that actually became law over 20 years.
Granted, it is a little long winded, but I think it sums up the man nicely.
Jack |
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Re: IDF Presents "Going Upriver: The Long War of John Kerry" a documentary by George Butler to counter WICD bias |
by armchair constitutional scholar
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
22 Oct 2004
|
To be really fair, we have to suspend judgment on the bias of any of these documentaries until we actually see them. What the IDF is doing is providing an alternative; whether it corrects bias or not is a question that has to wait until people have actually seen them.
The U.S. is in trouble here. To regulate political advertising, we have to decide what to allow based on content. But there's that pesky first amendment. The problem is that the first amendment is fundamentally at odds with laissez-faire capitalism, since richer media conglomorates can essentially dominate public discourse by fiat, like Sinclair is trying to do here. When political advertising is an expensive privilege granted by media organizations only to their political allies, the right to free political speech in those media is transformed into a privilege. Laws which permit media conglomeration violate the first amendment, which says that congress shall make no law violating the right to free speech. It's clear; to protect the right to a free press, we have to regulate media markets so that they don't end up distributing that right inequitably. We have a regulatory framework, but Michael Powell at the FCC, a laissez-faire capitalist, is asleep at the switch. |
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Re: IDF Presents "Going Upriver: The Long War of John Kerry" a documentary by George Butler to counter WICD bias |
by Jen Tayabji
tayabji (nospam) shout.net (unverified) |
Current rating: 0
22 Oct 2004
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Hi. I'm the Executive Director at the IDF and I want to try to answer some of these posts. First, yes it is true that WICD is being "forced" to air "A POW Story." But people (and businesses) always have the option of refusing if they think an order is unjust. I know it's not that simple, but we have to give WICD some accountability for airing it while acknowledging the order came from Sinclair Broadcasting.
The term "Long War" refers to Kerry's struggle when he came back from Vietnam as he began doing anti-war organizing. For more information about the film, please check out www.goingupriver.com.
With showing this film, we hope to simply give an alternative to SInclair's "A POW Story" because when they claim to do a news program but air only one side of an issue with very inflammatory interviews, we want to give people a chance to be exposed to an alternative. |
