All language subtitles for Shadows.Of.Liberty.2012.1080p.WEBRip.x264.AAC-[YTS.MX]

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- [Voiceover] Temperatures are
generally in the upper 50's

Official YIFY movies site:
YTS.MX

to around the 60 degree
mark and they'll be rising.

[reporters speaking
over one another]

- [Voiceover] Thanks,
I'm Bill Griffith.

We have an update on that crash

that was causing tie ups on

Southbound 163 near the 15.

[sirens wailing]

- [Voiceover] We spoke to
the DEP's deputy commissioner

moments ago and
he says that this

main burst simply
because it's old,

100 years old to be exact.

[reporters speaking
over one another]

- [Voiceover] Also good to know,

I think I remember the Roeblings

built the Brooklyn
Bridge 125 years ago.

- In this country,

the most powerful
country on earth,

is is so actually difficult
to get information,

especially outside our borders.

Not to mention what's going
on inside this country.

- [Voiceover] Four
hours and 20 minutes ago

at 9:42 PM Eastern time

that would have put it at five.

- Public information,

the news we rely
on to learn about

what's happening in the world,

to learn about one another,

is in the hands basically

of commercial enterprises.

- [Voiceover] And agreement
on health care is close,

but support could still crumble.

- Giant media corporations like

Time Warner and
News Corporation,

Disney, and so forth,

they get to decide what is news,

what is newsworthy,

and what is not newsworthy.

- [Voiceover] This is America,

how many of you
people want to pay

for your neighbor's mortgage?

- What the press is
pushing is distortions,

lies, lack of balance.

- [Voiceover] I have
900 channels on my TV

but 700 of them
are selling the--

[reporters speaking
over one another]

- The American public

knows far more information
about sex scandal,

celebrities,

Hollywood,

than they know about
economics and the environment.

That's by design.

- When was the last
time, Governor,

that you were at a
Wendy's and had a Frosty?

- Make no mistake about it,

it's to control people's ideas,

it's to control
their imagination.

[reporters speaking
over one another]

[intense music]

- They wouldn't
say it in that way

but they would edit my pieces,

they would push me in
different directions,

they would turn down stories
that were more critical.

- We're in a profound
crisis of democracy.

You can't choke off discourse

and have a free society.

- [Voiceover] This is what you
get with drunkard kneeling,

it's gonna happen.

- [Voiceover] These are
stories you will not be told

on radio,

in newspapers,

or on television.

[sirens wailing]

A clash between two worlds,

big media corporations

spinning public
perception for profit

versus the defenders of truth

who stand for liberty
and democracy.

- [Voiceover] And that's
our news for tonight.

[light switching]

[flickering]

[subdued rumbling]

[car driving past]

[car honking]

- I'd often been asked if
there was any pressure on me

because of the kinds
of stories that I do.

I was always asked,

"Are there some stories
that you can't do?

"Are there sometimes
that you're not allowed

"to report on certain things
because of advertisers?"

And my answer is always,

"Absolutely not."

[guns firing]

[intense music]

- [Voiceover] Two decades after
the end of the Vietnam War

the United States lifted the
trade embargo against Vietnam.

And CBS chief correspondent
Roberta Baskin

looked into one
corporation's search

for cheaper labor markets.

- The premise for the story
was the fact that Nike

were subcontracting
to these factories

on the other side of the planet,

but they weren't really
taking responsibility

for how the shoes were made.

[plane taking off]

And I asked to follow the trail.

- [Voiceover] In August of 1996

Baskin and a CBS news film crew

flew to Vietnam to investigate

the Nike factories.

- We were able to kind of
peek through the key hole

but we were not allowed inside.

We were barred.

[talking confusedly]

- Go!

[cars honking]

- One of the things
that really shocked me

was to discover
that the word Nike

had become a verb.

The word Nike meant

to abuse your employees.

[machines running]

There were incidences
of physical abuse,

women who had their
mouths taped shut

for talking on the line.

15 women who were
systematically hit

with a top part of a Nike shoe

around the face and the neck.

[somber orchestral music]

It was this disparity
between seeing

the corporate image
that the company sells

and the reality in
these factories.

"Just do it, or else."

[cars driving past]

- [Voiceover] Roberta
Baskin's news report

about Nike abuses
was broadcast on CBS

news television across
the United States.

- CBS was very pleased,

submitting it for
prestigious awards.

For me what was really

exciting about it was that

the phones rang off the hook.

[gentle orchestral music]

[yelling]

There was picketing of Nike
towns across the country.

There were boycotts that
were being organized

by students on campuses.

- [Voiceover] We are
not a Nike school.

We are not a Nike school.

- I realized that
it had touched them

kind a nerve.

- [Voiceover] Nike's labor
abuses reached the media

and the shoe giant came forward

to limit the damages.

- We don't have abusive labor
conditions in our factories,

and really never have.

- [Voiceover] With
Nike in denial,

CBS news commissioned
Baskin to do

a follow up investigation

working with a
Vietnamese labor group.

- Roberta's work
was mainly about

the corporal punishment.

We helped add another
dimension to the problems,

the wages and the excessive
amount of overtime.

[rhythmic rock music]

[ringing]

[clinking]

NIke's not the good guys.

Even though they've done a lot

of commercials saying they are,

but people at that
moment realize

that they are not
part of a good team.

- [Voiceover] As Baskin
was putting together

the updated news report
on Nike's labor practices

she received unexpected
news from inside CBS.

- I got a call from
my executive producer

who said, "The story
is not gonna air,

"it's been taken off schedule.

"There's some sort
of deal being made

"between Nike and CBS news

"for the upcoming
winter Olympics."

The air went out of my soul.

[somber music]

[car honking]

- CBS News was
paying an enormous

amount of money for the rights.

And so by definition
they would be seeking out

commercial sponsors who
would pour lots of money

into it so that
they could recoop

the millions that
they were paying

for the rights of the Olympics.

- [Voiceover] The 18th
Olympic Winter Games on CBS.

- [Voiceover] As CBS revealed
their Olympic coverage,

the deal between Nike
and CBS was plain to see.

- The women's super ge--

- [Roberta] Correspondent
after correspondent

are wearing these Nike
jackets on the air

with a little CBS
something or other,

you really couldn't read it,

in a big swoosh on the shoulder.

- Is also scheduled on
the adjacent race course.

- That was the deal.

Nike had convinced CBS news

to turn it's correspondents
into billboards.

It was heartbreaking.

[gentle music]

- The CBS news
correspondents were furious.

They had to wear the Nike harkus

whenever they appeared on air.

It's just not done.

- [Voiceover]
Baskin wrote a memo

requesting CBS management
to take the Nike logo

off the correspondents.

- CBS had crossed
this incredible line.

How do you trust serious stories

when you're seeing the reporter

wearing a bunch of logos?

Immediately the
president of CBS news

responded saying,

"This was a breach of
professional etiquette. "

It meant that I should shut up.

How dare I raise a question

about the integrity of CBS News.

[car driving past]

- [Voiceover] After
questioning the deal with Nike

Baskin was removed
from her position

as the chief
correspondent of CBS News.

- It wasn't an
ordinary transfer,

a change,

it was a demotion.

And it was a demotion that was

to send a message.

[door shutting]

- I ended up asking if I
could get out of my contract.

The president responded,

"Great."

They were, you know,

happy to see me go.

- Hi, Mr. Southron.

I'm Roberta Baskin
from CBS News.

- Yeah?

- I wanted to talk to you about

the problems that you're having.

- [Voiceover] To
this day CBS Network

has buried both of
Baskin's reports

on the Nike sweatshops.

- These are the
kind of fundamental

conflicts of interest that

result in censorship,

that result in a narrow debate,

and they come
directly from the fact

that we have made these
historical choices

to allow corporations to
own and control our media.

[subdued orchestral music]

- [Voiceover] Media
today is dominated

by a handful of corporations.

This is a far cry
from the original

ideals of the country.

[crackling]

As Americans fought
for independence

from imperial rule,

the Revolution found
it's inspiration

in an unexpected place.

[suspenseful music]

[hoof beats]

[guns firing]

[yelling]

- The United States
was in many senses

founded by a journalist,

Tom Paine,

whoh called Americans
to revolution

against a British empire
that was thought to be

completely unbeatable.

[fireworks exploding]

- This country
was really founded

on the concept that
if you gave citizens

the information they needed

they could govern themselves.

- [Voiceover] The founders
of the United States

gave citizens the fundamental
right to a free press.

- [Voiceover] A revolution
for freedom of information.

[crowd yelling]

- One of the primary reasons

for freedom of the
press was that it was

the only way that
people outside of power

could keep the government
from becoming an empire.

Stop militarism,

stop the corruption,

the secrecy,

and the cronyism.

That was the function
of freedom of the press.

[sliding]

- There is a reason
why our profession,

journalism,

is the only one
explicitly protected by

the US Constitution.

'Cause we're supposed
to be holding

those in power accountable,

asking the critical questions.

[printing machine running]

- [Voiceover] One of the first
steps of the new government

was to encourage the
distribution of independent news

through subsidies.

[rhythmic orchestral music]

[printing machine running]

- [Voiceover] Read all about it!

- This was actually America's
revolutionary contribution.

The genius of the
subsidies is that

it did not discriminating,

it's the content
of the newspapers.

- The abolitionist movement

didn't start in Congress,

it started in those
freely distrubuted

weekly newspapers.

And that was really
where we began to

address the most
fundamental sins

of the American experiment.

[chains clinking]

- It's simply information
that is power.

It's information that frees us,

because when people
get information

they then can decide what to do.

- [Voiceover] Today
the founding vison

of America'a
journalistic independence

has become deeply distorted.

- Media is the conversation
we have as a society.

It's the way we learn
about the world,

it's the way we learn
about one another.

We see the range
of public debate

constrained because there may be

many things that citizens
of a democratic society

need to know about

that private
corporations may not be

interested in telling them.

- [Voiceover] The
International Silver Company.

[radio static]

[lighthearted music]

- [Voiceover] Just as
newspapers had been

the driving force
behind democracy,

the great hope of
the 20th century

was the birth of mass media.

[applauding]

- We think Google and
Facebook is a big deal,

imagine what it must have
been like in rural Kansas

to suddenly be able to
listen to a broadcast

from New York City every night.

- [Voiceover] And now
we move down 45th Street

to the Music Box Theater.

- You people must have faith.

You must not be stampeded
by rumors or guesses.

Together we can not fail.

- It was apparent to
people at that time that

the control over this
medium was going to be

a form of social control.

[radio hosts speaking
over one another]

- [Voiceover] With
advertising money pouring in,

corporate networks
pressured Congress to uphold

profit as the basis for
American broadcasting.

- [Voiceover] Your
cigarette taste.

- This was publicly
owned property,

and lots of American protested

the we would turn over
this scarce resource,

these extraordinary airways,

to a handful of private
commercial interests

to make money by selling
advertising to us.

- [Voiceover] From Hollywood,

the Rolly's Cigarette program.

- [Voiceover] In 1934

Congress passed the
Communications Act,

sealing the future of
America's broadcasting

as a for profit system.

- NBC, CBS, ABC,

these huge empires,

were built upon
the gift for free

of monopoly rights to
government property.

It was an extraordinary
corporate welfare

that boggles the mind.

[gentle rhythmic music]

- [Voiceover] With
broadcasting set up

as a commerical enterprise,

government regulations
were put into place

to prevent monopolies.

- There was a cross
party agreement

that commercial activity
would be regulated

by the government.

No individual should
have such dominance

of our media that they could

effectively define
the discourse.

The great transition came in
the election of Ronald Reagan

as president of
the United States.

- [Voiceover] Government is not

the solution to our problem,

government is the probem.

[clapping]

- Ronald Reagan
believed the answer

to any concern,

an question as
regards how to create

a good media system

was to get government
out of the way.

[gun firing]

[cheering]

- [Voiceover] In order to
restructure media ownership

Reagan removed regulations.

[crowd chanting]

- [Voiceover] Driving
the bears back

into permanent hibernation,

we're going to turn
the bull loose.

[cheering]

- That whole model

was the idea that if you removed

all controls and regulations

and allowed the free market rip,

then everything would be fine,

everything would be wonderful.

In reality what it
does is it allows

a handful of giant
corporations to come in

and gobble up everything.

And these
conglomerates don't see

journalism as
actually being central

and essential to the
functioning of a democracy.

Their main interest
is making profit.

- [Voiceover] One
merger symbolized

the takeover of mass media

by conglomerates seeking
ever higher profits.

- [Voiceover] For
General Electric,

here is Ronald Reagan.

- Good evening,

on this last Sunday
before Christmas.

The Christmas season is
a time for the family.

- People should remember that

Ronald Reagan was funded
by large corporations.

And so suddenly we saw
a radical transformation

of the media system
in the United States.

[somber music]

- [Voiceover] General
Electric and RCA,

two of America's biggest
and best known companies,

in a dramatic move last night

the two announced
plans to merge.

- We'll now have the
strongest network,

we'll have a stronger
defense piece.

This is gonna be one
dynamite company.

[camera snapping]

- The concentration
of mass media

in the hands of a very few,

very large international
corporations

who have a lot of
different businesses.

Defense business,

theme parks.

And news became a
smaller and smaller

part of ever larger
corporations.

- [Voiceover] The
Reagan administration

approved General
Electric's purchase

of major media holdings,

despite ongoing
violations of industry

laws and practices.

[gentle music]

- [Voiceover] Meanwhile,

from General Electric

and from my family and myself,

a merry, merry Christmas.

Addy, don't you want
to say merry Christmas?

- The original sin was
going to Wall Street.

The demands of Wall
street will require

empty desks in your newsroom.

So why don't you minimize
your actual product

and make more money?

Capitalism is not the best judge

of what's good for society.

When I knew it was time to go

the last speech
I got from a CEO,

he had been selling cereal,

breakfast cereal,

before he was
selling newspapers.

He came in at the
bottom where he

gave a speech about product.

He never once mentioned news.

He never once mentioned

the role of a newspaper.

- We're now at a stage where

every journalist
who isn't asleep

understands that corporate
power has made it

impossible for
them to do the job

as it needs to be done.

[subdued suspenseful music]

- [Policeman] Police, freeze!

- [Voiceover] One of
the biggest news stories

of the 1980's was the explosion

of crack cocaine in
the United States.

- The crack epidemic
not only destroyed lives

in the sense that
people were addicted

to this powerful drug,

but also it set off gang wars.

Certain communities like the
African American communities

were disproportionately hurt.

Gary Webb,

he began investigating that.

- Gary Webb,

he thought being a reporter

was the best thing you could be.

The only independent
force in the society

to establish truth.

[motorcycle driving past]

- What first caught his eye,

he's got Nicaraguans
dirty in a drug deal

and they're not going down,

they're getting a walk.

Now if you're a reporter
you look into that.

- [Voiceover] As Webb
looked at the suppliers

of the crack trade
in Los Angeles,

the trail led back
to a US sponsored war

a decade earlier
in Central America.

- The Reagan
Administration wanted

to be proactive in

sticking it to the
communists around the world.

President Ronald Reagan
authorized the CIA

to spend hundreds of
millions of dollars

building,

supporting,

directing the contras

against the Sandinistas
in Nicaragua.

[helicopters flying]

- They are the moral equal

of our founding fathers,

we can not turn away from them.

- Sponsoring violence in a
small Central American country

was far more important
[guns firing]

than stopping drugs from
flowing in to our cities

and our communities.

- [Voiceover] After a
year long investigation

Webb's report broke new ground

by becoming the first
major news investigation

published both in print
and on the internet.

- As a consequence,

even though the San
Jose Mercury News

is considered a
regional newspaper,

it was able to get
national traction

and even international
traction on this story

because it was now on the web.

- We've got all the
DEA under cover tapes,

we've got the FBI reports,

we've got the court records,

and they're all posted
for people to see.

- By the way,

when you look at his research

and what he was doing,

and tracing it,

and he was hip enough to
check it and know it was true.

[cheering]

- [Voiceover] By November 1997

the website was getting over

a million hits a day.

- [Voiceover] Thank you.

What is the word
on the street now?

Have you heard about

the CIA?

Well you know what?

We have heard,

we have seen,

and now we are moved to action.

- [Voiceover] With the
CIA on the defensive

and the public
demanding answers,

the major national newspapers

waded into the controversy.

- You have the fact that

the San Jose Mercury News

being in Silicone Valley

was sort of challenging
the gatekeeper function

that the New York Times,

The LA Times,

The Washington Post,

and other big papers,

had assumed was theirs.

[machine running]

- The Washington post
weighs in and says,

"Gary Webb got it wrong,

"but we can't tell you
exactly how he got it wrong

"'cause we haven't the
fainted god damn idea."

It was accompanied by
a piece that declared

that the African
American community

was conspiracy prone.

So that sort of set the tone

that Webb's story
would be dismissed

and to agree, ridiculed.

[paper machine running]

- You had major media outlets

going to the CIA and saying,

"Is this true?"

And the CIA would say,

"Oh no, this is not true."

And then the reportage was,

"Oh, well it's not true."

- This is nonsense.

Come on, come on.

I mean, come on.

Listen, listen,

there has never
been a conspiracy

in this country.

- The fact is that the shoddy
reporting on this story

was not from Gary Webb,

it was from his corporate
back detractors.

[paper machine running]

- Now, I had a drink
with a major figure

at the LA times

and I asked him
about the crack back,

and he said, "Look,
there were meetings

"in the building that
they weren't gonna let

"a guy from San Jose, California

"come into their turf and
win a Pulitzer Prize."

- [Crowd] Expose CIA.

Expose CIA.

Expose CIA.

- [Voiceover] As the
press attacked Gary Webb,

the public protested.

- I got involved
with the protests

because Gary Webb,

he had no hidden agenda,

he's not lying.

- And we gonna put the CIA

and this country on notice.

[gentle drum beating]

- [Voiceover] With
the national media

calling for a retraction,

the Mercury News took down

the Dark Alliance website

and reassigned Webb to a bureau

150 miles from his home.

[computer shutting off]

- [Voiceover] In the beginning
they were behind you.

- [Voiceover] That's right.

And then they caught
a wild world of hell

from the establishment media

and now they're not
behind me anymore.

- And here is this guy
that had all these awards,

they scar that and broke a story

that everyone warned
him not to break.

All of a sudden a journalist
that sould be hailed

is treated like a piece of crap.

- [Voiceover] A year
later the CIA released

it's internal report into
the agency's involvement

with contra drug traffickers.

- There are instances where CIA

did not in an expeditious
or consistent fashion

cut off relationships
with individuals

supporting the Contra Program

who were alleged to have engaged

in drug trafficking activity.

- The contents of the report,

if you go in to the actual
nitty gritty of them,

what you find is that there
was a serious problem that

the US government knew about it,

and that the contras
were far more guilty

of drug trafficking

and the CIA was more guilty
of looking the other way

than even Gary
Webb had suggested.

- [Voiceover] With
the CIA's report about

it's realtionship with
contra drug traffickers,

the media had a chance to
vindicate Webb's investigation.

- The New York Times,

they do a story that is
half kind of mea culpa,

"We should have
done more with this,

"it was worse than we thought."

And half, "Gary Webb's
still an idiot."

The Washington Post
waits several weeks

and does a rather
dismissive article.

And the LA Times never reports

on the CIA's findings.

So even though Webb
was proven correct

he's still considered a flake

who got a story wrong.

[gentle music]

- When he was interviewing
on another job,

they'd always say,

"Aren't you the guy who
wrote Dark Alliance?"

And then they would
kill the interview.

He couldn't make a living
being a journalist anymore,

and that ripped his heart out.

- He's despondent about
his inability to find work.

He got his father's pistol,

laid out a certificate
for his cremation,

and then he shot himself.

- [Voiceover] Frankly you know,

if I have to stand
up and take a beating

for putting the issue
of government complicity

in drug trafficking on
the national agenda,

I'll take that beating
any day of the week.

I mean, I was glad
to do this story,

I'm proud of what we did,

and I'd do it again in a second.

[gentle music]

- We killed one of the few

decent working reporters
in the country.

By that we,

I mean the business I'm in,

media.

- [Voiceover] With the new
technological revolution,

Congress began drafting
new media legislation.

- The media conglomerates
created the fantasy

that if they were allowed to own

dramatically more media

they could make
dramatically better media.

Big is better,

effectively.

- Media corporations need
that favorable policy

that's gonna allow them to grow

and make more and more money,

and politicians need that media

to give them the
air time that they

couldn't exist without.

Who's left out of that deal,

of course, is the public.

[clapping]

- At that point
behind closed doors

these media conglomerates
are asking for the rules

to be loosened even more.

[clapping]

- [Voiceover] Fantasy
became reality

for the media conglomerates

when President
Bill Clinton signed

the 1996 Telecom Act into law.

- This law is truly
revolutionary legislation

that will being the
future to our doorstep.

[clapping]

- Telecom '96 really
rang the dinner bell

for media conglomerates to come

and eat up every station
that they wanted.

- [Voiceover] Following
the Telecom Act

a wave of massive
mergers swept through

the media industry.

- [Voiceover] A handful
of entertainment stars

using mega mergers

are preparing to dominate TV
[shattering]

and movie screens worldwide.

- [Voiceover] The combination
of the two together

gives us the
opportunity to become

the strongest creative
company in the world.

- [Voiceover] The
superlatives were flying

as Viacom and CBS announced

the biggest media merger ever.
[shattering]

- [Voiceover] A new
multi media giant

will soon control
an enormous amount

of the entertainments.

Viacom is buying CBS,

parent of CBS News.

- When you think
about the new Viacom,

you really only have to remember

a single number,

that's number one.

- [Voiceover] Capitalize
on the convergence

of media, entertainment.

- [Voiceover] Almost as American

as apple pie.
[shattering]

The world's largest
provider of internet access

is merging with the
world's largest media

and entertainment company.

- When media consolidation
began to happen

the local broadcasters
weren't able to compete.

Well guess who those local

radio station owners were?

They might have been
a person of color,

or it might have been a woman.

This really just knocked
people out of the game.

[wind blowing]

[ringing]

- We've totally
detroyed the localism

of broadcasting purely to
serve corporate interests.

There's nothing in market
economics that justifies it,

it's pure crony
capitalism at it's worst.

[siren ringing]

- In this high tech digital age

with high definition
television and digital radio,

all we ever get is static.

A veil of distortion and lies

and misrepresentations
and half truths

that obscure reality.

[helicopters flying overhead]

- In times of war the press

loses all critical distance.

Journalists see themselves as

first and foremost, patriots.

The result is essentially

the dissemination of propaganda.

- [Voiceover] in the
word's media capital,

on September 11th, 2001,

the unthinkable happened.

[cheering]

- The people who knocked
these buildings down

will hear all of us soon.

[cheering]

- The terrorist attack
of September 11th,

as tragic as it was,

was almost like a godsend
to the Bush adminsitration

because it gave
them the reseondete

that they were looking for

to invade Iraq.

[printing machine running]

- [Voiceover] To link
Saddam Hussein to 9/11

the Bush administration turned

to the intelligence community.

[bell ringing]

- You have to
remember this is not

an inductive proccess,

it's inductive.

You decide to go to war

and then you go find
the justification.

And this is exactly
what happened.

- Look, I ran Iraqi operations.

We didn't have any information.

[paper machine running]

- [Voiceover] With no evidence

of Saddam Hussein's
role in the attacks,

defectors starting
emerging from Iraq

with exclusives for
US news outlets.

- There was an
Iraqi by the name of

Adnan Ihsan Saeed al-Haideri.

He claimed to have
evidence of you know,

biological and nuclear,

and various kinds of
weapons of mass destruction.

- He also talked about
various facilities

being under Saddam's
main palace,

he talked about
nuclear facilities

being disguised as water wells.

I mean, he was their
best corroboration

that Saddam was
stock piling weapons

of mass destruction.

[subdued techno music]

- Saddam has resumed his efforts

to acquire nuclear weapons.

Among other sources
we've gotten this

from first hand
testimony from defectors.

- We know where they are,

they're in the area
around Tigrett and Baghdad

and east, west, south,
and north somewhat.

[paper machine running]

- [Voiceover] The success
of their propaganda campaign

would depend on one news outlet.

[cars driving past]

- I watched this
from the inside.

They created a stage
and broad journalists

into the audience dutifully

took notes and reported it.

They believed all the
crap they were fed.

- The New York Times

is the intellectual and
political opinion leader

in the United States.

Sucking up to
government in the most

outrageous ways.

Constantly trying to placate

the military
intelligence complex.

- There's a story in the
New York Times this morning.

- Read in the New
Tork Times today.

- [Voiceover] And I want
to trip to The Times

and I want to talk
about this week.

- [Voiceover] Closer to
aquiring nuclear weapons.

- We don't want the smoking gun

to be a mushroom cloud.

- The smoking gun

that could come in the form

of a mushroom cloud.

[gentle music]

- [Voiceover] With
the mainstream media

convinced of the
necessity for war,

the administration
took their case

to the world stage.

- The coup de gras

and the most brilliant
propaganda maneuver of all

was Colin Powell's
absolutely fraudulant

presentation in front of

the United Nation's
security council.

- Let me share with
you what we know

from eye witness accounts.

We have first hand descriptions

of biological weapons
factories on wheels

and on rails.

And Saddam Hussein has not--

- Much of the fabricated
information that was passed on

by the quote on
quote, "defectors"

form the basis for Colin
Powell's accusations.

He didn't have
any hard evidence,

but you should have seen the

press fall all over themsleves

as soon as he was
done saying that this

had been a definitive
case for war.

- This irrefutable,

undeniable,

incontrovertible evidence today.

Colin Powell brilliantly
delivered that
smoking gun today.

- [Voiceover] He just flooded
the terrain with data.

- He has closed the deal.

[paper machine running]

- CNN, FOX,

CBS, ABC,

the giant echo
chamber that creates

public perception
in the United States

were giving out the
administration lines.

- [Voiceover] Show down Iraq.

if America goes to war,

turn to MS NBC.

- If you looked at
the television screens

with these graphics,

and drumrolls,

and countdown to Baghdad,

and this kind of stuff,

it was a raw and open

celebration of American power.

- This hour American
and coalition forces

are in the early stages
of military operations

to disarm Iraq,

to free it's people,

and to defend the world
from grave danger.

[missile launching]

[exploding]

[guns firing]

- [Voiceover] After
the fall of Saddam,

Al Haideri,

the INC's defector,

finally had the chance
to show the world

the justification for war.

- Mr. Haideri couldn't
bring these guys

to a single place

that he claimed had
housed the weapons

of mass destruction programs.

The media fell hook,
line, and sinker

for the administration's
case for war.

And in fact,

certain publications appear
to have been deliberately used

and openly receptive of

information that the
Bush Adminsitration

produced that was wrong

but that bolstered
it's case for war.

- [Voiceover] Ladies
and gentlemen,

the President of
the United States.

- King, John King.

This is a scripted.

[laughing]

- Thank you, Mr. President.

- [Voiceover] You
can not go against

the White house and survive.

You're finished.

- April.

Did you have a question

or did I call upon you cold?

- I have a question.

- [George] Okay.

[laughing]

I'm sure you do have a question.

- The whole idea in Washington

is to marginalize people

who go against the consensus,

and they do it very well,

you don't get
invited to the party.

- For me to blame the reporters

is to miss the point,

you have to blame the owners.

These are the people
who are responsible

for the conduct of the
people who work for them.

[somber music]

[plane flying overhead]

- [Soldier] I want
everybody to get back,

in the back of it now.

- It is my belief that wars

really are started by
the mainstream media.

It is my belief that
the press getting

too close to the government,

actually we are talking about

a sort of interbreeding

or intermeshing between

the structures of
the mainstream media

and this structure of the
military intelligence complex.

[helicopter flying overhead]

- The impact is that
we've got all of these

innocent people in
Iraq that have died,

we've got thousands
of American soldiers

and British soldiers
that have died.

They died for a lie that
was so easily uncovered,

but it wasn't allowed in
the biggest news outlets.

- These private
corporations are making

profit off the killing.

They push for more war,

it builds their audiences.

They limit the discussion about

whether war should continue.

The bring you the General
versus the Colonel,

or the pro war republican versus

the pro war democrat,

and they have these
extremely limited debates.

When most people are
outside of that spectrum,

most people are against war.

[gentle music]

[children yelling]

- The rapid
consolidation of media

across broadcast,

also into film,

book publishing,

created a situation where

instead of having the
democratic media system

that the founders anticipated,

with thousands of
different owners

of small weekly newspapers.

You no longer had Tom Paine,

you had Rupert Murdoch.

- [Voiceover] Rupert is any
agenda that you want to shape.

For example, take the war.

You're having a global
media enterprise,

and if you shape
that agenda at all

in terms of how
the war is viewed?

No, I didn't think so.

I mean, we've tried.

[laughing]

- [Voiceover] Tried in what way?

- Well, we basically
supported our papers,

I would say supported
the Bush policy.

- News Corp and
others have eaten out

nearly every single
independently managed newspaper

with the United States.

That is something that
is quite dangerous,

in putting it's
business interests

and it's political
interests over

the top of all that.

- [Voiceover] In order to
prevent media monopolies

the Federal
Communications Commission

was charged with
regulating the media.

- The most important
job the FCC has

is looking out for
regular citizens

and making sure that whatever
media policy is made,

that it's the best
for the public

and the best for democracy.

- I'm available for questions.

- [Voiceover] So.

- Colin Powell leads
the drum beat for war,

and his son Michael
Powell was attempting

to lead the war
against diversity,

of voices at home.

[gentle techno music]

- [Voiceover] Once in office

Powell waged war against
the last remaining

rules on media ownership.

[water spraying]

- Here is this
agency that very few

people knew about.

And they were trying to
push through regulations

that said, "In a town

"the newspaper, radio,

"and television could be owned

"by one person."

By a media mogul,

someone like Rupert Murdoch.

- This is what people
feared the most,

that all the content for TV,

radio,

and the newspaper,

coming out of one shot.

A one size fits all,

one news room community.

- [Voiceover] There was
almost no public scrutiny

until Michael Powell
called network coverage

of the Iraq War, "Thrilling."

- There were these
millions of people

and they hear the FCC guy

is calling the
coverage "thrilling"

while he's trying to obliterate
the last remaining rule.

And it just tapped
into this anger

that people were
feeling about the war.

- [Voiceover] Despite
millions of people

protesting against the FCC,

Michael Powell didn't
get the message.

♪ Mass communication

♪ Is the end of democracy

- Even when people did say,

"Hey FCC, we're the public,

"we don't want you to do this."

The FCC turned around
and did exactly

what those mega
corporations wanted it

to do in the first place.

[cheering]

- [Voiceover] With
vicotry at hand,

the media giants
publicly expressed

their gratitude.

- And it was pretty stunning.

The head of Viacom,

the Sumner Redstone,

he repeatedly said,

"Having a republican
in the White House

"is better for my company.

"And I vote Viacome

"and for that reason I
endorse Bush's election."

[siren wailing]

- These large
conglomerate companies,

they contribute to
political campaigns.

They expect to get
something for their money.

Deciding on their own and
for their own purposes

the news we see and hear.

[reporters speaking
over one another]

- Is an inescapable conclusion

that we must reach if we are to

have a better society.

The only reliable,

durable,

and perpetual guarantor

of independance is profit.

Thank you.

[clapping]

- Every aspect of our lives,

from what we buy,

what is sold to us,

who produces it,

all those things are connected.

it's not only a
monopoly of wealth,

it's a monopoly of
information as well.

[gentle guitar music]

- [Voiceover] In 2007,

with the FCC reviewing
it's media ownership rules,

the public came forward.

- Millions of people
wrote to Congress,

wrote to the FCC,

emailed,

spoke out at forums.

You'd have a forum
of 1,000 people,

this was unheard of,

saying, "No."

One media mogul
can't own the radio,

television,

and newspaper in a city.

- Here was an example

where the public had intervened

and gummed something up.

- [Voiceover] Under new
chairman Kevin Martin,

the FCC announced
public hearings

on media ownership in cities

across the US.

- We have some of the most

entertaining people
on the planet,

but we don't know
a lot about what's

going on in the world

because the way our world is,

we have something.

[cheering]

- Four companies
controlling the 6%

of four places of your markets.

That is not diverse,

it is not competitive.

[cheering]

- Look where I am,

we are concerned citizens.

We're tying to believe
that we matter,

don't make fools of us.

[cheering]

- And I beg the FCC to help us.

- [Voiceover] You can switch
from channel to channel

and see the same thing.

- It's very clear that
this country has become

profits over people.

[cheering]

- [Voiceover] Despite
overwhelming public opinion

against more consolidation,

Kevin Martin sided with
the media conglomerates

and removed the
cross ownership ban.

- The two democratic
commissioners have voted.

- What Kevin Martin
did was demonstrate

his absolute
thoroughgoing contempt for

doing his job and representing
the public interest.

Embracing entirely the
interest of wealthy

corporate benefactors, period.

Pure and simple.

[gentle rhythmic music]

[car driving past]

- I think the people
that own the media

would be much happier
if we were a nation

of mindless consumers

rather than a
nation of informed,

active citizens.

[fireworks exploding]

[birds singing]

- To seize this moment
we have to ensure

free and full exchange
of information.

That starts with
an open internet.

I will take a back
seat to no one

in my commitment to
network neutrality.

Because once providers start--

- It's simple,

it's net neutrality,

it's non discrimination,

and it's a basic
principle that politicians

pay lip service to it.

That if the same
players like AT&T,

Comcast, and Time Warner,

are able to take
over the internet

through lax public policy,

that we'll lose
even the internet.

[cheering]

- [Voiceover] Despite
his election promises,

President Obama
has brought in new

internet pricing rules,

going against the
principles of a free

and open internet.

- It is by making
publishing cheap

that permits many more
people to become publishers

that permits many
more different voices.

That's where the internet
has really excelled.

Blue Helix has published
a lot of information

about war,

about militaries,
how they behave,

intelligence organizations.

And that information
often come as a surprise

to the public.

It's because the public
has been lied to.

- [Voiceover] Come on, fire.

[gun firing]

- [Voiceover] We have
moved the envelope for

what is acceptable
for people to publish.

- [Voiceover] The United
States do something

to stop Mr. Assange.

- [Voiceover] We're
looking a that right now.

- Mr. Connels says he's
a high tech terrorist,

others say this is akin
to the Pentagon Papers,

what do you comment?

- I would argue that
it's closer to being

a high tech terrorist

than the Pentagon Papers.

[rhythmic rock music]

- The greatest fight we have had

in bringing the First
Amendment to the world

was in the bringing
the First Amendment

to the United States.

- [Voiceover] This
guy's a traitor,

a treasonist,

and he has broken every
law of the United States.

- [Voiceover] Will the
internet remain free

or will a few companies
be able to control

and monetize it?

That's the debate of the era.

[children playing]

- We have to stop,

recognize that our
media is in crisis,

and ask ourselves,

what is the media that we want?

- We want more information,

access to more information,

we have fewer people who
control the information.

- Can't allow this country
to go down for the count

'cause some guys in
Wall Street can't make

money producing garbage news.

- The media is
that kind of issue

where if we want it to be better

we have to fight for it.

- These are the critical battles

we face right now

in th United States and frankly,

in the countries
around the world.

How we respond to this moment

will be every bit
as definitional

as how the Founders
responded to their moment.

- This is really about
having a conversation about

what kind of decisions
we want made in our name.

That's really what will save us,

is when we really
know what's going on.

Not filtered through the lens

or the microphone
of corporation.

[rhythmic rock music]