Media Videos - The Documentary Network

Bangladesh – An Attack on Bloggers

Documentary.net staff — Wed, 25 Nov 2015 15:12:33 +0000

Blogging is a dangerous business in Bangladesh. Four prominent secular bloggers have been brutally murdered this year and a publisher linked to one of them was recently slashed to death. Police blame religious hardliners for the killings, and there are fears more attacks could follow. But it’s not just hardliners who are causing concern. The government too, appears to be cracking down on free speech. Some bloggers are now leaving Bangladesh while others have gone into hiding. In this edition of 101 East, we meet people whose lives are in peril because of the opinions they share online. Are the attacks on bloggers a sign of a deeper problem in Bangladesh?

Inside the New York Times – Print Archive “Lively Morgue”

Documentary.net staff — Fri, 24 Apr 2015 05:58:32 +0000

Print archives that were once the heart of many newspapers have gone the way of the floppy disk. But at the New York Times, home to the Lively Morgue tumblr, the technology that has threatened to kill the morgue may also save it.

Changeover – From 35mm print to digital projection

Documentary.net staff — Mon, 14 Apr 2014 17:27:48 +0000

Changeover is the story of Bill Frankhouser, a life-long projectionist, who owns a drive-in theater with his wife Barb in rural Pennsylvania. Bill and Barb are caught in the middle of a transition in their trade. In 2014 it will be nearly impossible to get a first run feature film on 35mm print. The film industry’s switch to digital projection means that thousands of independent theaters will have to replace their film projectors with new, expensive digital ones. Before shutting the machines down forever, Bill gathers his friends to watch one last night of film presentation. He muses about what the change will mean to him, his business, and his community, and he bids an emotional farewell to the machines that have been with him for his entire career.

Meet Glenn Greenwald: Snowden’s Journalist of Choice

Documentary.net staff — Sun, 19 Jan 2014 17:59:56 +0000

We traveled to Rio de Janeiro to meet the man who broke the biggest news story of 2013. Glenn Greenwald is an American journalist and author who's best known for reporting on the leaks of classified National Security Agency documents by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden. Before he was a journalist, Greenwald was a constitutional law and civil rights litigator, and until 2012 he was a contributing writer at Salon. He has authored four books: How Would a Patriot Act, Tragic Legacy, Great American Hypocrites, and With Liberty and Justice for Some. For 14 months Greenwald was a columnist at the Guardian, where he broke the first NSA story in June of 2013. He has since left the newspaper to team up with filmmaker Laura Poitras and journalist Jeremy Scahill to start a new media venture, First Look Media, backed by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar.

TPB AFK – The Pirate Bay Away From Keyboard – Documentary

Documentary.net staff — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 14:36:51 +0000

It’s the day before the trial starts. Fredrik packs a computer into a rusty old Volvo. Along with his Pirate Bay co-founders, he faces $13 million in damage claims to Hollywood in a copyright infringement case. Fredrik is on his way to install a new computer in the secret server hall. This is where the world’s largest file sharing site is hidden. When the hacker prodigy Gottfrid, the internet activist Peter and the network nerd Fredrik are found guilty, they are confronted with the reality of life offline – away from keyboard. But deep down in dark data centres, clandestine computers quietly continue to duplicate files. Directed by Simon Klose Edited by Per K. Kirkegaard Sound Design Morten Groth Brandt Composer Ola Fløttum Titles by Finsta Produced by Martin Persson, Simon Klose, Signe Byrge Sørensen, Anne Köhncke

What’s The Deal With Internet Comedy?

Documentary.net staff — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 08:07:53 +0000

Comedy is a huge part of entertainment and culture, but for decades there have been very limited opportunities for comedians to reach audiences and succeed. Fortunately, the internet has blown that wide open, providing new venues for the creation of comedy, removing the limitations of the old guard, and opening new doors to laughter. Podcasts, Twitter, and sketch videos are brand-new mediums that have given birth to new kinds of humor, and allow comics to connect with audiences in a deeper, more meaningful way. Featuring: Mike Lawrence http://cavecomedyradio.com/nerdofmouth Jon Friedman https://twitter.com/friedmanjon Sam Reich http://www.collegehumor.com/videos

A Gift for the Hackers

Documentary.net staff — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 19:42:15 +0000

IT companies are failing to secure devices connected to the internet, leaving them open to hackers. This report reveals how anything from your pins to your passport could now be accessed online. "Is this your pin? Is this a letter you received from your bank? Do you have a HP e-Print scanner?" The young man answers yes to every question, stunned that all of his information was accessible on the internet for anyone who wanted to see it. And he's not alone: the wealth of information available is staggering. From shop owners whose security cameras can be watched and controlled remotely, to medical records and confidential documents for international companies like Unilever, Orange and KLM, it's a bonanza for any would-be hackers. While it would be simple for the IT firms who provide printers, scanners and software to make the system more secure, they don't see it as their problem and argue that attending to basic safety protocols is a bit of a marketing nightmare. "There are people who know all about how this works, security-wise, but it's too much trouble to explain all that." One company went so far as to call consumers who didn't know they had to change their passwords "idiots". As the rate of technological change continues at a frightening pace, do technology companies have a duty to prevent our privacy being eroded?

Latin America’s Media Battlefields

Documentary.net staff — Sun, 23 Dec 2012 08:13:07 +0000

One continent, multiple media battlefields. This year, some of our most compelling stories have come from Latin America. During the Mexican presidential elections, the country's media giant Televisa stood accused of colluding with the man who is now president of the Republic, Enrique Pena Nieto and his party. Meanwhile, the media death toll continued to rise in the country's bloody drugs war. In central America, journalists continued to face the dangers of reporting impunity in a region scarred by the legacy of civil war. Otto Perez Molina, Guatemala's former army chief and new president pledged to protect journalists and freedom of expression - but will he succeed? And the mother of all media stories: the battle between media conglomerates and democratically elected left-wing presidents around the continent. Ecuador's Rafael Correa was one of those leaders: press freedom pariah for some, press freedom fighter for others. This year he took the country's media to court for trying to incite a coup to overthrow him - and he offered WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange refuge in the Ecuadorean embassy in London. As the year comes to an end, we have put together a special edition with three very different stories. In Argentina, the legal showdown between the government and the country's most powerful media group Clarin. In 2009, the Kirchner government pushed through a media reform law that was as contentious as it was comprehensive. The law is designed to break up media conglomerates. Media reform has been on the cards since the end of the dictatorship and her supporters say the reform is long overdue. Critics say the target of the legislation is just Clarin and that freedom of expression and the president's credibility is on the line. This is one of Argentina's most contentious struggles over power and public influence in years and its only just heating up. In Mexico, journalists are some of the first in the firing line in a drugs war that has claimed more than 60,000 lives. This year alone, at least 27 journalists have been killed; media outlets have been bombed and even those who thought social media might be a safer way to report have died in the attempt to fill the information vacuum. In this part of the show, we team up with Al Jazeera's documentary programme Witness to bring you the story of a photographer Ernesto Martinez working in the western Mexican state of Sinaloa. Filmed by Rick Rowley and John Gibler, the report follows Martinez for two days and reveals the risks some journalists are prepared to take to report what has become one of the world's deadliest beats.

The Impact of Twitter on Journalism

Documentary.net staff — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 16:36:58 +0000

The world of journalism has changed in the internet era. Newsrooms are significantly smaller now than they were 10 years ago, and news is no longer a once-a-day product, but instead a constant flow of information. The rise of Twitter brought concerns within the industry - would this overwhelming source of direct raw information put professional reporters out of business? Journalists are now faced with the challenge of adapting their roles in this digital era, finding new ways to add value to content, and helping to ensure that the internet is changing our worldview for the better. Featuring: Jeff Jarvis, Director, Tow-Knight Center for Entrepreneurial Journalism Mark Luckie, Manager of Journalism & News at Twitter Craig Kanalley, Senior Editor of Big News & Live Events at Huffington Post Chris Anderson, Director of Research, Tow-Knight Center for Entrepreneurial Journalism

The Art of Web Design

Documentary.net staff — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 17:52:16 +0000

The explosion of the internet over the past 20 years has led to the development of one of the newest creative mediums: the website. Web designers have adapted through the technological developments of html, CSS, Flash, and JavaScript, and have mastered the balance between creativity and usability. Now with the advance of mobile, the greatest websites have taken user experience and responsive design to the next level, and continue our evolution from print to a digital world.

The Worlds of Viral Video

Documentary.net staff — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 17:32:51 +0000

"Viral Video" is the signature phenomenon of internet media. Something akin to pop songs, these videos with irresistible hooks have saturated video culture online and have now evolved into a multitude of sophisticated forms. Whether rooted in comedy, spectacle, schadenfreude, cuteness, politics, performance, or deep meaning, the idea of viral videos, and the huge audiences they generate, have forever changed the values and potential impact of video online. Featuring: Jonah Peretti, Buzzfeed Kevin Allocca, YouTube Brad Kim, Know Your Meme Dan Gurewitch, College Humor Mark Douglas and Todd Womack, Key of Awesome Michael Learmonth, Advertising Age Casey Neistat

The Culture Of Reddit

Documentary.net staff — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 06:34:44 +0000

Since its creation in 2005, Reddit has grown into one of the most influential communities on the internet. More than just a content aggregator, it generates information and new content, and has given birth to intriguing collaborative projects that reflect a particular group character and value system. The Reddit community has become so active that it has had an impact on recent political events like SOPA/CISPA. And like any real-world community, it also has its share of internal social issues, forcing it to grapple with its commitment to free speech and the lawlessness of the internet.

Jaws – Blu-Ray Restoration Documentary with Steven Spielberg

Documentary.net staff — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 15:34:33 +0000

Director Steven Spielberg worked with Universal's in-house archives and restoration services on the new print, starting with the original negative of the film — which Spielberg calls "pretty crummy" in a featurette on the Blu-ray. You can watch that special on the restoration below, along with exclusive before and after shots from the film that show just how painstaking the visual renovation was.

Everything is a Remix – Part 4

Documentary.net staff — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 06:46:31 +0000

Our system of law doesn't acknowledge the derivative nature of creativity. Instead, ideas are regarded as property, as unique and original lots with distinct boundaries. But ideas aren't so tidy. They're layered, they’re interwoven, they're tangled. And when the system conflicts with the reality... the system starts to fail.

We Are Legion: The Story of the Hacktivists – Documentary [Trailer]

Documentary.net staff — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 11:10:48 +0000

“We Are Legion: The Story of the Hacktivists” is a documentary that takes us inside the world of Anonymous, the radical “hacktivist” collective that has redefined civil disobedience for the digital age. The film explores the historical roots of early hacktivist groups like Cult of the Dead Cow and Electronic Disturbance Theater and then follows Anonymous from 4chan to a full-blown movement with a global reach, one of the most transformative of our time. The team is currently shooting and editing at Luminant Media in Los Angeles. wearelegionthedocumentary.com