This program explores the characteristics that define a desirable audience, the history of audience ratings, and the ways in which audiences are assessed. Because the mass media is supported largely by selling time and space to marketers, it has evolved into the main delivery vehicle for advertising, in which the company offering a product or service is the true consumer and the attention of the viewer is the product that is being bought. With billions...

Racism, unemployment, aggression, excess-the USSR's animation studios frequently took aim at these aspects of American culture. Representing five decades of animated Soviet propaganda, this program features short films that blast the United States and its perceived evils. Black and White and Mister Twister extol the absence of bigotry in Soviet society, while Someone Else's Voice portrays jazz as an enemy of the people. Ave Maria condemns America's...

In a consumer culture, the pressure to buy can be as subtle as it is relentless. This program introduces the craft of advertising, explaining the difference between needs and wants while analyzing the power of celebrity endorsements, the psychological advantage of product placement, and other aspects of the business of steering wallets to cash registers.

Writings on human life and the refugee crisis by the most important political artist of our time. Ai Weiwei (b.1957) is widely known as an artist across media: sculpture, installation, photography, performance, and architecture. He is also one of the world's most important artist-activists and a powerful documentary filmmaker. His work and art call attention to attacks on democracy and free speech, abuses of human rights, and human displacement--often...

Some stories are simply too good to be true. In this program, John Kampfner, political editor for the New Statesman (London), skewers heroic reports of the ambush, capture, and rescue of Private Jessica Lynch, calling them misrepresentations designed to bolster wavering support for the Iraq War. Kampfner also scrutinizes the controversial practice of embedding members of the news media in military units and questions the sincerity and overall informational...

As globalization of trade rapidly expands, the mainstream media is being accused of inadequately reporting the issues. This program canvasses some of the dissent by exploring conflicts of interest within the media and showing how technology, such as the camcorder and the Internet, is challenging the monopoly of big news broadcasters. Differences between mainstream and "indie" media are highlighted in coverage of the economic summits and related protests...

The Center for Media and Public Affairs reports that during the 1990s the homicide rate in the U.S. dropped 50 percent, yet homicide news coverage increased by an incredible 700 percent. In this program, the Center's Bob Lichter and the Threat Assessment Group's Greg McCrary join ABC News anchor John Stossel to examine some of the factors that contribute to the exaggeration of risks and dangers in the news media. Recent stories involving murder, shark...

Immersed in technology and caught up in the impulse of the moment, a teenager sends a sexually explicit text message to one of his or her classmates - and ruins a life in a matter of seconds. Exaggeration? Sadly, no. This collection of six ABC News segments makes clear to viewers the dangers involved in what has become known as "sexting" - a form of spontaneous free expression which, all too often, becomes a digital avenue for bullying, harassment,...

Perhaps the best example of paparazzi-aided self-promotion, Paris Hilton has almost single-handedly refocused Big Media's editorial priorities. This program studies the cultural and technological forces that have shaped the modern tabloid industry and propelled Hilton's bizarre ascent to worldwide stardom. Experts featured in the program include celebrity photographer Jeff Vespa, media consultant and Hilton associate Elliot Mintz, New York Times columnist...

The development of authentic self-esteem and a healthy sense of self has always been a vitally important part of growing up. But this process is a challenge that has gotten even trickier to negotiate due to the widespread integration of digital technology into everyday living. Drawing on the insights of a clinical psychologist/family therapist, an adolescent psychologist, and a number of students, this program introduces the dynamics of child/adolescent...