Our friend Max Blumenthal recently participated in the Independent Film Channel's Media Project (you might have noticed the ads on the site). Max's segment on "Fear" -- a look at the Tea Party movement and its discontents -- airs tonight at 8 p.m. EDT.
The video above looks great. The Denver Post's reviewer liked it:
As a mainstream media type myself, I'm always suspicious of projects that purport to "take on" the mainstream media (or MSM).
But "The IFC Media Project" succeeds to the extent that it lets idealistic journalists express themselves in a conversational and sometimes dramatic way, being informative and media-like while bashing The Media.
The series returns for a four-part documentary, "Fear, War, Greed and Disaster," in half-hour episodes airing at 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday next week on IFC, Comcast Channel 503.
Four award-winning journalists — some more on the fringe than others — tackle projects that "aim to uncover what the mainstream media often misses," according to the series creator Meghan O'Hara (who worked under Michael Moore on "Bowling for Columbine" and "Fahrenheit 9/11" ). O'Hara learned from collaborations with Moore that a fast pace, music, candid and down-to-earth interviews, judicious use of animation, a cynical take on capitalist impulses and bobbing hand-held cameras help tell the "alternative" story in a captivating way.
In this case, author and journalist Max Blumenthal's episode, "Fear," examines the Tea Party movement and the use of fear tactics by the right-wing as orchestrated by the Republican Party. He charts the shift from inflammatory to violent language, says Fox News is "reveling in what they created," and interviews rally-going wackos who think President Barack Obama is the foreign- born anti-Christ. He's smart, doing more than making fun of easy targets.
Be sure to check it out.
