"Nobody Speak: Trials of the Free Press" *** (out of ****)
The media. Are they "the enemy"? Do they report "fake news" (God I hate this "fake" term)? Do they hate America as Chancellor Trump says? Do they want to bring down Trump and the government?
"Nobody Speak", a Netflix documentary, currently streaming, takes a look at the state of journalism and allegations that the first amendment right of a press free is under attack from multi-million and billionaires that not only want to avoid bad press but want to control the media.
I don't think we would really have a documentary made like this if we weren't living in the age of Trump. Donald Trump, as most dictators do, has created an environment of "us" versus "them". "Them" is anyone that doesn't support "their cause". Trump has repeatedly attacked the media because of their coverage of him, never mind Trump benefited greatly from a media that gave him over exposure. He has called the media the enemy, has indicated the media is full of dishonest people, has popularized the term "fake news", denied access to various organizations (the New York Times and CNN) and stated he believes the media doesn't want America to succeed.
By doing this, Trump has created a hostile situation where his minions (supporters) have repeated his idiotic ravings, supporting his belief that the media is the enemy. His supporters only watch Fox News (talk about "fake news") and live in a bubble where they only hear praise for Trump. He can do no wrong and if he doesn't succeed it is all a conspiracy. It is because the "establishment", "the Liberal Elite" didn't allow him to succeed.
"Nobody Speak" comments on the these issues and the threat of Trump however the movie is really divided into two halves. The first half revolves around former professional wrestler Hulk Hogan (whose real name is Terry Bollea) suing the "news" website Gawker, for posting a sex tape between Hogan and the wife of radio personality Bubba the Love Sponge.
Gawker founder Nick Denton, along with various Gawker writers, comment on how the lawsuit may serve as the beginning of an ugly trend of the rich and powerful threatening to silence our free press. They all speak to how Gawker was an anti-establishment website. A website that reported on the important stories the "traditional" media wasn't.
This would all make more sense if it wasn't a sex tape that eventually brought down the website. A celebrity sex tape is "news"? Intellectually I understand the broader "First Amendment" argument Gawker and director Brian Knappenberger are making. Any attack on a free press is a dangerous attack. We can't pick and choose what the media should be able to publish, it is all protected. But emotionally I have a difficult time siding with Denton and his Gawker writers.
Gawker wants to claim it provided news and was an alternative source of information reporting on issues not being covered but it appears to be more of a trashy, gossip website and "click bait" headlines. Maybe if Gawker was reporting on how corporations control the media and set the agenda or discuss corporate fraud, social injustice..ect I could buy into the grandiose image Denton has of his website.
This leads into the second half of "Nobody Speak", which is far more interesting. As the Gawker lawsuit continues it is revealed Hogan had a rich backer, Peter Thiel, founder of PayPal (and Trump supporter) who funded Hogan's legal team in the hopes of bankrupting Gawker, a site that had posted negative articles on Thiel, including outing him as a gay man.
It is the second half of the documentary that comments on how rich men; Thiel, Sheldon Adelson (owner of the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas) and Trump want to control the media. Adelson for example buys the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the largest newspaper in Nevada, all because of negative articles written about him by the paper. He and his company can now set the tone for what is "news" and what is reported in the paper. Not unlike the Murdock family and Fox, who are not mentioned in the documentary.
Here I can sympathize more with the traditional media. The media is not perfect and definitely can be improved upon but I see more value in what they do than Gawker. When they speak of the First Amendment being under attack by Trump and business people who want to open libel laws in order to sue journalist and dictate the news people get to hear, the scope of what is at stake, hits you.
"Nobody Speak" could have been a much better documentary without the Hogan stuff, focusing on the agenda of wealthy individuals that want to control the media to push their personal agenda and how people like Trump are a vessel for them to reach their goal. As it stands now, this is an entertaining but slightly uneven documentary that spends too much time following the wrong story, trying to make a greater connection. The media is under attack. Trump is leading the attack to a dangerous end game. The public should know this already but "Nobody Speak" packages it in an effective, compelling way.
"Get Me Roger Stone" *** (out of ****)"Get Me Roger Stone" (2017) is another Netflix documentary currently streaming.
Who is Roger Stone? To know who Roger Stone is, is to know everything that is wrong with American politics for the last 40 years. To know Roger Stone is to know who is the mastermind of the Donald Trump experiment.
Roger Stone is a Republican consultant who way back in 1988 wanted Donald Trump to run for president. Roger Stone first gained national attention working for Richard Nixon's re-election campaign in 1972. Roger Stone is credited with creating negative political ads as we know them. Roger Stone is credited with creating one of the first PACs (Political Action Committees). Roger Stone is a man who learned the value of disinformation and understands, in his words, hate is a stronger motivator than love.
He worked for Trump during his recent presidential campaign and was either fired or quit, depending on who you ask. He is cited as being the man who influenced Donald Trump's worldview. Even though he stopped working for the campaign in an official capacity, his fingerprints were on the campaign throughout, even getting his old business partner Paul Manafort a job as Trump's campaign manager.
Stone says he is a provocateur and relishes all the negative attacks aimed at him. To his way of thinking, it means he is doing his job. Stone of course symbolizes everything that is wrong with politics. Stone is among the many that really don't care about this country but enter politics because it means money and power for them. Greed is what motivates them not love of country. They throw money into the sytems in the hopes of buying politicians to advance their agenda. Stone even created a Super PAC for Trump (who spoke against such PACs during the campaign). A "man" like Stone wouldn't care about such attacks. Not because he likes them but because he sees no wrong in what he does. He defends his actions and says he has done nothing illegal. Winning at all cost is what is most important. And that's the problem.
"Get Me Roger Stone" is a one sided documentary but that only seems because there is one side to Stone. The guy changed politics for the worst. Even the talking heads shown here that like Stone say that. Donald Trump is interviewed and speaks of how tough Stone is. "Tough" is political code for ruthless. The majority of it covers his relationship with Trump but does go into his prior years working for various campaigns.
Here is a documentary that shows us how the people behind the curtain play the public for suckers. They know how to manipulate the public's emotions. They know dirty politics works. The know the majority of the voting public are low information voters. It may sound ugly, it may sound mean, but that's politics. "Get Me Roger Stone" is an eye opener of a documentary showing us the puppet-masters that make politics what it is today. Too bad the Trump supporters don't realize the fools they were played for.
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