They are Chase Whiteside and Erik Stoll, currently students at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio. Kids. And they are fantastic at what they do. Which is making compelling videos of ordinary people answering questions at political events-- on both ends of the ideological spectrum. Whiteside, who does the interviews, is respectful and asks simple, direct questions. It's the subjects who reveal themselves and 'tell the story' by their ability to formulate answers- or not.
Journalism as it should be.
Unlike our crappy, shallow mainstream media who pluck soundbites that serve a narrative then play them ad nauseum, molding the story, shaping the message. Whiteside just asks a question then gets out of the way.
Here, in his own words:
A little about me
I am a 22-year-old documentary filmmaker, social activist, and full-time student at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, concerned that the new and disparate media landscape is reducing the quality of our political discourse and making us dumb.
The talking haircuts on cable television who report as much on what each other are saying as they do on reality, and the hyperbolic headline writers at Politico or The Huffington Post (to say nothing of many blogs), have confused politics with sports, government with entertainment, and politicians with celebrities. We are replacing journalism with punditry and "newstainment", dangerously accepting that merely following the horse-race makes one knowledgeable, and that learning to sound like a politico makes one qualified.
Their latest was filmed on April 15, 2010 at the Tax Day Tea Party Rally in Washington D.C.:
Wherever your own politics lie, you have to admire the passion and initiative of these 2 kids to create the kind of journalism they see lacking in the mainstream. While trying to maintain a respectable college GPA.
If you'd like to support Whiteside in his effort to win a Democracy For America scholarship to attend the Netroots Nation convention this summer, nominate him here.
I made it through 3 minutes. These are some of the dumbest people in America. And they vote.
ReplyDeleteAs I stated on FB today: I have figured out the difference between crazy conservatives and loony libs-- crazy conservatives scare me b/c they're in my bedroom (birth control), my doctor's office (abortion) and my safety (everybody gets all the guns they want); whereas loony libs just want to spend my money and make me poor (so that they can get me dependent on government handouts). Sure that sucks, but that's better than dying poor, with 20 kids and no birth control. I really have had it with both parties and the tow the line partisans. Can you believe the woman accused Obama of being a socialist but could not state one reason why? I can believe it, and I wish she (and her loony liberal counterpart) were not allowed to vote.
my sweet old etcetera
ReplyDeleteaunt lucy during the recent
war could and what
is more did tell you just
what everybody was fighting
for,
my sister
Isabel created hundreds
(and
hundreds)of socks not to
mention fleaproof earwarmers
etcetera wristers etcetera, my
mother hoped that
i would die etcetera
bravely of course my father used
to become hoarse talking about how it was
a privilege and if only he
could meanwhile my
self etcetera lay quietly
in the deep mud et
cetera
(dreaming,
et
cetera, of
Your smile
eyes knees and of your Etcetera)
-e.e. cummings
(published 1926)
Mel- it's the extremists on both sides that reliably vote... it's truly frightening how lemming-like these rabid believers are. They've memorized cable tv talking points and that's it. It's all very cultish... devouring the words of their cable tv and radio stars without applying critical thinking.
ReplyDeleteply- thx much.