Mark & Olly: Living with the Machigenga was aired on BBC Knowledge and the Travel Channel A series about an Amazonian tribe that aired on the BBC has been accused of “faking” scenes and mistranslating interviews to negatively portray the tribe as “sex-obsessed, mean savages”, according to accusations made by two eminent experts. The show, called Mark & Olly: Living with the Machigenga, was shown on BBC Knowledge in South Africa in June and July last year and by the Travel Channel, owned by broadcasting giant Discovery, in the US in 2009, and made by Paddington-based Cicada Productions. The six-part series followed travellers Mark Anstice and Olly Steeds journeying to live in the remote Matisgenka Indian village in the Amazon rainforest over a period of several months. However, the show has been called “staged, false, fabricated and distorted” by Dr Glenn Shepard, an anthropologist who has worked with the tribe for 25 years and speaks their language fluently, and Ron Snell, who grew up with the tribe as the son of US missionaries and also speaks their language. Dr Shepard has written an article in the latest issue of Anthropology News outlining the alleged misrepresentations and in a longer piece on his blog he argues that the show is an example of “reality TV reach[ing] new depths of irresponsibility”. Shepard accuses the show of “fabricating” many of the translations in order to present a “false and insulting” portrayal of the tribe. Examples include inaccurate references to the sex life of the tribe as well as their supposed hostile attitude to outsiders. Other accusations include “staging” events, such as a pig dance which Snell says on his own blog he has never heard of in 35 years of living in the tribe’s villages, and scenes such as initiation trials, being forced to sleep outside and taking a psychoactive drink before going on a “phony” pilgrimage. “I am shocked by Mark & Olly’s narcissistic antics, their gross misrepresentations of Matsigenka culture, and their disregard for consequences inflicted on native communities,” said Shepard. “I wonder what Living with the Machigenga was modelled on. Borat comes to mind.” BBC Worldwide said it had acquired the show from Fremantle Media and that there were no plans to air it again. “BBC Worldwide is committed to the highest editorial standards and will examine the claims made,” said a spokesman. “We have only just been made aware of these concerns and we are in discussion with Fremantle to establish the full facts.” FremantleMedia Enterprises, which distributes the show, said the series was made by Cicada Productions. “FME did not make this programme. However, we are investigating the claims made earlier today,” said a spokeswoman for FME. A spokesman for Cicada Productions said that the company was not aware of the issue and did not have a statement at this time. Survival International , the human rights organisation which has released the information about the discrepancies in the making of the show, said it was a “depressing example” of the way tribal people are routinely portrayed on TV. “One stereotype followed another, with the [tribe] variously portrayed as callous, perverted, cruel, and savage,” said Stephen Corry, director of Survival International. “TV is now getting away with portrayals which wouldn’t be out of place in the Victorian era.” The same series also courted controversy in 2008 when a scouting expedition among the Matsigenka tribe prior to filming was said to have provoked a flu epidemic killing four . Cicada Films denied the accusations, claiming at the time that when they arrived in the area local people were already ill. •
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David Norris drops out of race over revelation he pleaded for clemency for former partner over rape of 15-year-old boy The prospect of Ireland electing Europe’s first gay president is over after the leading candidate dropped out of the race following a scandal involving his former partner’s rape of a 15-year-old boy. David Norris announced he was withdrawing from the contest after it emerged he had written to the Israeli authorities in 1997 appealing for clemency for his former partner, Ezra Yitzhak Nawi. The Israeli peace activist was later found guilty of the statutory rape of the Palestinian boy and served time in prison. On the steps of his Dublin home, Norris acknowledged the enormous damage inflicted on his campaign after appearing to be the popular choice with a consistent poll lead over his rivals. While his decision to enter the race had made it possible for a gay candidate to stand for president, the independent senator said it was time to bow out. “I would have loved to have had the opportunity as president of Ireland to extend that to the service of the entire people but that is no longer possible.” He said he had always conducted himself with the dignity and decorum that would be expected of any potential president. “The recent frenzy threatened to erode that principle and it is now time for me to reassert as far as possible control of my life and destiny.” Norris’s fate was sealed on Tuesday night when members of the Irish parliament withdrew their support for his candidacy. Under the Irish constitution, a candidate cannot stand for the presidency unless he or she has the support of 20 TDs or senators, or command the backing of a number of county councils. Norris had won the backing of one council while some councillors had refused to even meet him. His campaign was also damaged by the resignation of several election workers over the Nawi scandal. They were angered over being kept in the dark about Norris’s letters on Irish parliamentary notepaper to Israeli authorities, giving a character reference to his former partner and pleading for clemency. Norris, Ireland’s leading James Joyce scholar, refused to answer questions from the media outside his house on the street where he established the James Joyce Centre. Defending his record, Norris said, speaking from a script: “I deeply regret the most recent of all the controversies concerning my former partner of 25 years ago, Ezra Nawi. The fallout from his disgraceful behaviour has now spread to me and is in danger of contaminating others close to me both in my political and personal life. It is essential that I act decisively now to halt this process.” With characteristic flourish, he added: “As I came across the Samuel Beckett bridge today into my mind came his words about humanity and frailty: ‘Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better.’ ” Struggling to be heard among the media throng outside the house, a middle-aged woman cried out: “Stay in the race, don’t let the media drive you out.” But Norris had already gone back inside, his attempt to succeed Mary McAleese as the head of the Irish state this October in ruins. Ireland Europe Henry McDonald guardian.co.uk
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In amateur videos released by the SHAMS News Network, protesters in different Syrian cities, were shown taking to the streets at night after Tarawih prayers, chanting slogans against Syrian government. (Aug. 2)
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A bill to raise the debt ceiling and cut federal spending limits passed the Senate just after noon Tuesday, and is now headed to President Obama’s desk to be signed into law. (Aug. 2)
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enlarge Credit: Political Carnival The difference between a documentary and a reality show is staging. A documentary tells a story about real life. The subjects are normally not paid, not actors and the story is non-fiction. It’s a quiet, illuminating and thoughtful genre (read: boring). Reality shows are like life, in that people on these programs do things people do in real life, (i.e. travel, date, lose weight) but the circumstances are contrived. The contestants are put in artificial situations with heightened rewards and it’s put on camera. The stakes are fake. The participants pre-screened. The episodes are scripted. It’s “reality” television. It’s like reality…only augmented for drama and ratings. Enter the United States Government. Civics and public servants are usually a snooze fest. Rules and procedures and suit-fillers giving long speeches are not all that interesting. Sure there was the occasional duel involving a member of Congress in the last 235 years. Bill Clinton’s enemies brought us a primetime sex scandal. But for the most part politics was watching history in the making, which is like watching anything else being made…slow and tedious. Think documentary. It’s hard to pinpoint the exact moment politics crossed over into full reality show mayhem. These things usually happen in a “perfect storm” situation. Meaning: it wasn’t just one thing. It was a couple of unforeseen events happening all at once – all horrifying to Republicans. One was the meltdown of the financial system in 2008. It was the moment Bush had to “abandon free market principles to save the free market system” with TARP. The other was McCain’s concession. Go ahead and watch the speech again . The homogeneous crowd looks like they’re at a wake for a Ralph Lauren and L.L. Bean murder/suicide as their candidate says Barack Hussein Obama will be his president. If deregulation and tax cuts had done what they was claimed they would do and not wreck the world’s economy – then maybe having a guy whose middle name was the same as a Middle Eastern dictator we’ve spent trillions to take out, as the new president – wouldn’t have seemed so drastic. But this is the moment when politics went from CSPAN to Jerry Springer . What happens when a guest on Springer gets accused of something and he’s clearly at fault? He gets louder and starts throwing out desperate accusations. “How do I know you didn’t give it to me ?!” So instead of contrition – they opted for defensive blustering with something vaguely foreign-sounding to blame. This is the tea party: Freaked out Republicans. Lovers of unpaid-for tax cuts, unpaid-for wars and saturnalia on Wall Street were faced with the evidence that their ideas, when implemented, are terrible. So they took a cue from reality shows – they went full bombast. Then it was Obama (whose name also sounds like Osama) who passed TARP and doubled the debt ( when that actually happened under the “compassionate conservative” Bush with a GOP Congress). And just like when reality show producers figured out backstabbing and borderline psychopathic contestants meant ratings – during the health care reform debate the Republicans learned anything chanted by old people on television (no matter how nonsensical) dominates the debate. “Keep the government out of my Medicare!” For the last two and a half years politics has been trash television. We’ve had right-wing stars staying relevant through mudslinging and shamelessness. The tea party wouldn’t be satisfied with just one Snooki. We’ve had fake stings by phony pimps and ideology-driven hoaxes. Astroturf is being sold as organic outrage. In short: it’s staged. It’s over-produced indignation by interest groups that don’t do as well in the dullness of documentary style politics and need the chaos of the ridiculous to keep progress at bay. Cutting government spending (think government jobs ) during record unemployment? More tax cuts for the top 1% during record low tax rates and unprecedented tax exemptions? Do these ideas sound like something people come up with when they’re not just cynically throwing everything against the wall to see what sticks? How many times do the cable news networks need to have a countdown clock up for congressional dustups that could shut down the government? We’re being held captive by stunts. Choreographed stunts. This is not what deliberative government looks like. This is what deliberate turmoil looks like. Re-printed with permission
Continue reading …Hypocrite Scarborough Laments Media Comparing Tea Party to ‘Terrorists,’ But Ignored Similar Smears on ‘Morning Joe’ Set
August 2, 2011 No Comment
MSNBC's Joe Scarborough on Tuesday mourned the “absolutely dreadful” behavior of journalists and politicians who have compared Tea Party Republicans to “terrorists,” among other things. But as NewsBusters previously reported , the “Morning Joe” co-host repeatedly ignored such transgressions when they occurred on his own show. [Video follows page break] “Everyone's been calling Republicans terrorists and Nazis and fascists and Stalin and Hitler,” noted Scarborough, who went on to issue a blanket condemnation of the “mainstream media,” even though he has a history of sitting idly by while his guests employ vitriolic language to denigrate conservatives. The trend dates back to at least July 6 , when Newsweek editor Tina Brown smeared congressional Republicans as “suicide bombers” for not supporting tax hikes in a deficit-reduction deal. Moments earlier, co-host Willie Geist had remarked that conservatives were “holding the hostage.” While Scarborough was not on the set that morning, he has still yet to directly criticize Brown for the insult and co-host Mika Brzezinski, who was present at the time, did not object to the comparison. On July 27 , even though House Minority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) claimed House Republicans “want to shoot every bullet they have at the president,” none of the “Morning Joe” co-hosts protested against the House Minority Whip's choice of words. Two days later , disgraced former Obama car czar Steve Rattner got away with asserting the Tea Party was engaging in “economic terrorism” over the debt ceiling: You know, the problem with this is it's like a form of economic terrorism. I imagine these Tea Party guys are like strapped with dynamite, standing in the middle of Times Square at rush hour and saying, 'either you do it my way, or we're going to blow you up, ourselves up, and the whole country up with us.' So you tell me how those kinds of standoffs end. Aside from failing to practice the civility he preaches, Scarborough on August 2 complimented Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) for displaying a “profile in courage” with his handling of the debt-limit debate. “I got to say, profiles in courage, Harry Reid, coming out very quickly, supporting a bill he did not like,” gushed Scarborough, omitting the fact that Reid, as Senate majority leader, hasn't proposed, let alone passed, a budget in over 800 days. A transcript of the segment can be found below: MSNBC “Morning Joe” August 2, 2011 JOE SCARBOROUGH: Let me ask you this question because, and I hate to say this, because everyone's been calling Republicans terrorists and Nazis and fascists and Stalin and Hitler and all the things that – I mean, the mainstream media is just, no seriously. And actually, I guess Joe Biden, did Joe Biden call? WILLIE GEIST, co-host: He denies it. JOHN HEILEMANN, New Yorker: He's denying that he said it. SCARBOROUGH: Four Democrats said he did call Republicans terrorists. I certainly hope that's not the case. That would be dreadful for the Vice President of the United States to be saying that, absolutely dreadful. So with that precursor, let me just ask this question: if you're a Republican in the House, how do you vote against this bill? How can you vote against, listen, I just said it doesn't cut that much. But you're running the country. I think every one of those Republicans that voted against the bill, and let's start with Michele Bachmann, need to go out on the campaign trail and explain to us the economics of allowing the United States of America to default on its debt obligations, which were racked up, in large part, over the past decade under Republican leadership. I got to say, profiles in courage, Harry Reid, coming out very quickly, supporting a bill he did not like. As many House Democrats voting for this as voted against it. I mean, if I'm sitting there taking note as a small government conservative, that the Democrats are acting like grownups, I got to say there have got to be some independent voters out there that notice the same thing. –Alex Fitzsimmons is a News Analysis intern at the Media Research Center. Click here to follow him on Twitter.
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We’ve been down this rocky road before. The history of rock ‘n’ roll is littered with “creative differences,” often massaged with phrases that are employed to throw fans off the scent that something, to rip off that well known front-man William Shakespeare, is rotten in the state of Denmark (or in this case, a group).
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After years on the circus stage, animals including an Olympic bear are found crammed in small cages outside St. Petersburg, Russia. Animal rights activists say the conditions are terrible. The circus says the animals are cared for. (Aug. 2)
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After years on the circus stage, animals including an Olympic bear are found crammed in small cages outside St. Petersburg, Russia. Animal rights activists say the conditions are terrible. The circus says the animals are cared for. (Aug. 2)
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President Barack Obama says the emergency bill Congress passed to prevent a government default is just the first step to ensuring the country lives within its means. (Aug. 2)
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