What should have happened was that political coverage on TV should have gotten much better over time ... but what did happen is that we now have, in large part thanks to Buckley ( CIA operative ) and Ronald Reagan, a country that has been taken over by money and power.
This movie and its precise angle and POV on America focusing on elections and broadcast TV and news is the exact right view to explain what happened.
Over time all our of media has been bought out by giant corporations that have killed news and journalism throughout our country. I remember all the names I used to see thinking they were well meaning Americans, Jeff Greenfield, Sam Donaldson, and many others in this documentary who turned into lackeys for the right wing and said nothing as TV news was destroyed, journalism undercut, but they got richer and more famous. It is a national disgrace.
Buckley and Vidal should have been the start of a way to present cultural visions to Americans ... at a time when we trusted TV new. What is there now .... nothing?
As a kid this movie pretty much take place during the time I was just growing up, until today. I missed these debates being just mentally growing up at the time of the 1968 election, but I followed William F. Buckley and Gore Vidal for decades. But as I got older I watched and criticized Buckley and Firing Line for decades. I never agreed with Buckley on almost anything, but I did appreciate his show. Maybe that is why it had to end ... because it did the job of the Left too well.
I had problems, agreements and disagreements with both of them. I was not a big fan of either of them, but they set the tone for an age. And age that should have evolved into something better.
What I enjoyed most about this movie was the way it tells people who might not have lived during this time what the American outlook was. The ending where they talk about how media and the nation has changed to me is the saddest thing and most important.
During these times there was a lot of debate and interaction. It was a time as they say in the movie that the most trusted institution in American was the nightly network news. That is completely dead now, and news has been absorbed by giant corporations that do not care about news, but only care about propaganda, and it is another center for profit and power. It makes me sick to see our media and national culture today. It is a wispy shadow of what it was during this time, even with all its problems.
There used to be a lot of news shows and talk shows ... very intelligent shows on TV during this time. Now what is on free TV is reruns of murder shows, CSI, idiotic reality shows, and infomercials that run for hours at a time. We have lost our culture, and that is what informations our civilization, and if we thought inequality was a problem back then, look at it now.
The free market, Buckley's and Reagan's free market and strangling government was supposed to fix things, instead it has wrapped itself around our throats and is killing us, but toxic junk.
What happened?
This is the best movie/documentary I have seen all year, maybe longer.
This movie and its precise angle and POV on America focusing on elections and broadcast TV and news is the exact right view to explain what happened.
Over time all our of media has been bought out by giant corporations that have killed news and journalism throughout our country. I remember all the names I used to see thinking they were well meaning Americans, Jeff Greenfield, Sam Donaldson, and many others in this documentary who turned into lackeys for the right wing and said nothing as TV news was destroyed, journalism undercut, but they got richer and more famous. It is a national disgrace.
Buckley and Vidal should have been the start of a way to present cultural visions to Americans ... at a time when we trusted TV new. What is there now .... nothing?
As a kid this movie pretty much take place during the time I was just growing up, until today. I missed these debates being just mentally growing up at the time of the 1968 election, but I followed William F. Buckley and Gore Vidal for decades. But as I got older I watched and criticized Buckley and Firing Line for decades. I never agreed with Buckley on almost anything, but I did appreciate his show. Maybe that is why it had to end ... because it did the job of the Left too well.
I had problems, agreements and disagreements with both of them. I was not a big fan of either of them, but they set the tone for an age. And age that should have evolved into something better.
What I enjoyed most about this movie was the way it tells people who might not have lived during this time what the American outlook was. The ending where they talk about how media and the nation has changed to me is the saddest thing and most important.
During these times there was a lot of debate and interaction. It was a time as they say in the movie that the most trusted institution in American was the nightly network news. That is completely dead now, and news has been absorbed by giant corporations that do not care about news, but only care about propaganda, and it is another center for profit and power. It makes me sick to see our media and national culture today. It is a wispy shadow of what it was during this time, even with all its problems.
There used to be a lot of news shows and talk shows ... very intelligent shows on TV during this time. Now what is on free TV is reruns of murder shows, CSI, idiotic reality shows, and infomercials that run for hours at a time. We have lost our culture, and that is what informations our civilization, and if we thought inequality was a problem back then, look at it now.
The free market, Buckley's and Reagan's free market and strangling government was supposed to fix things, instead it has wrapped itself around our throats and is killing us, but toxic junk.
What happened?
This is the best movie/documentary I have seen all year, maybe longer.