Reading the Media
Founded by a collective of radical media makers in 1981, Paper Tiger Television pioneered edutainment. Broadcast on public access television, the collective took a grassroots, DIY approach to media production that showcased how television was made through television, while critiquing corporate media and attempting to build a more equitable form of moving image. As one of the founders put it: “It is one thing to critique the mass media and rail against their abuses. It is quite another to create viable alternatives.” Punk and experimental, Paper Tiger Television was such an alternative. The series, Reading the Media, featured all manner of intellectuals, artists, and activists analyzing, and satirizing newspapers, magazines, and even cigarette ads to decipher their hidden codes, messages, and ideologies.
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Cast
Seasons
- Ep 1
1.Donna Haraway Reads 'The National Geographic'
TBA28mDonna Haraway— of A Cyborg Manifesto fame, and one of today’s most recognized public intellectuals—reads National Geographic in this 1987 video. Interested in the ways meaning traf...
- Ep 2
2.Flo Kennedy Reads U.S. Press on South Africa
TBA28mWith dry wit and unremitting intensity lawyer, actor, and activist Florynce “Flo” Kennedy investigates the way U.S. media acted in support of apartheid in South Africa through what...
- Ep 3
3.Noam Chomsky Reads the New York Times
TBA38mLinguist and social critic Noam Chomsky discusses U.S. foreign policy towards Central America through deconstruction of an article published in The New York Times on the Nicaraguan...
- Ep 4
4.Martha Rosler Reads Vogue
TBA26mVogue: It is glamour. It is excitement, romance, drama, wishing, dreaming, winning, success. The artist Martha Rosler is known today for, among other work, her videos exploring the...
- Ep 5
5.Murray Bookchin Reads Time Magazine
TBA28mHistorian, political philosopher, environmentalist, and anarchist Murray Bookchin demonstrates how Time magazine obliterates time in this 1982 episode of Paper Tiger Television.
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