Brave New Films Using Online Videos for Agitation and Propaganda By Neil Maghami Summary: A veteran Hollywood producer of shoddy made-for-TV movies is the latest propagandist for crude left-wing politics. Unfortunately, he’s developed some very ef- fective methods using the latest technology— video and the Internet—to stir up trouble. And he’s rethinking how nonprofi ts can deliver political messages. ovement conservatives like to think ideas are important. They Mcompile reading lists of books they have (or should have) read: Tocqueville and the Federalist Papers, Hayek and Fried- man and Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations. “Ideas have consequences” is a conservative slogan. By comparison, books and ideas don’t seem to matter much to the modern Left. Academic leftists may continue to read Marx and babble about postmodernism, and a few Two left-wing propagandists: Robert Greenwald (at right) of Brave New liberal pundits cite John Maynard Keynes to Films poses with media magnate Arianna Huffington in 2009. defend stimulus spending, but most radical activists don’t need arguments to believe life kind of information torpedo that will sink a should be fair, with everyone equal and Dick rival’s chance of victory. November 2011 Cheney in jail. The era of serious political debate about means and ends, rights and Online videos are one such weapon. In an CONTENTS responsibilities is long gone. age when attention spans are short, when the spoken word is more powerful than the Brave New Films These days what counts is marketing the written word, and when images and music are message. Political activists, conservatives Page 1 more persuasive than arguments and ideas, as well as liberals, focus on using modern political and issue campaigns have discovered technology to spread the word and prompt Briefl y Noted online video. Activists are producing video people to action. They look for new political Page 8 messages for your computers, iPhones and campaign wonder-weapons, for just the right OrganizationTrends iPads. And Internet-savvy philanthropists The Propaganda Portfolio also can be emailed to a friend or posted to are funding their productions. A group called Brave New Films is a media the viewer’s Facebook page along with a pioneer in the production of short online personal endorsement, an invitation to sign It makes sense. So many people go online for political videos. Unwaveringly left-wing, an antiwar petition, and a chance to record basic information (Google, Wikipedia), for it’s not waiting to be hired by political one’s thoughts on an online blog. The truly consumer purchases (Amazon) and rentals candidates and their consultants. Instead, committed can host a screening of the full- (Netfl ix), for feedback about everything from it promotes nonstop the political causes it length hour-long documentary in their local medical conditions, the reputation of doctors believes in. communities. and dentists, and the quality of hotel rooms— why not harness the power of the Internet to Consider “Rethink Afghanistan,” a 2009 Brave New Films rejects President Obama’s mold political opinions? Imagine partisan documentary produced by Brave New Films plan to gradually wind down the American “surround sound” videos that mesmerize the that argues for an immediate pullout of U.S. military presence. It urges viewers to donate viewer and drown out rebuttals. troops from Afghanistan. As every fi lmmaker to its affi liated Brave New Foundation in knows, documentaries are a hard sell. The- order to “drive public and insider opinion Editor: Matthew Vadum aters must be secured for limited dates and against the war until the administration audiences persuaded to see a fi lm according brings our men, women, and tax dollars Publisher: Terrence Scanlon to a fi xed schedule. Most documentaries are home.” Arianna Huffi ngton says the videos Organization Trends lucky to be shown at a few fi lm festivals. “should be required viewing for everyone is published by Capital Research Center, a non-partisan education and in the White House, the Congress, and the research organization, classifi ed by Brave New Films not only has solved these Pentagon.” the IRS as a 501(c)(3) public charity. logistical problems but it’s created new Address: audiences for its fi lm. It released “Rethink Another Brave New Films online project is 1513 16th Street, N.W. Washington, DC 20036-1480 Afghanistan” in multiple segments online called “War Costs.” This website combines and for free. The fi lm’s website provides a videos on the Defense Department budget Phone: (202) 483-6900 Long-Distance: (800) 459-3950 series of two to four-minute video segments. and the cost of the Afghanistan war with They have topical names like “Nato forces in online petitions urging Congress to cut the E-mail Address: [email protected] Afghanistan can’t deny they killed civilians defense budget to protect Social Security in Sangin anymore,” “Stop Drone Attacks and Medicare. The warcosts.com website Web Site: http://www.capitalresearch.org Outside of War Zones,” and “How many also provides tips on how to write an op-ed more troops have to die before politicians piece or letter to the editor supporting the Organization Trends welcomes let- ters to the editor. end this war?” The online fi lm clips can documentary’s thesis. Reprints are available for $2.50 pre- be watched immediately and all at once or paid to Capital Research Center. singly at the viewer’s convenience. They In an article on the website, Brave New 2 November 2011 OrganizationTrends Films founder Robert Greenwald explains that America’s fi scal crisis is an opportunity to reduce the armed forces. “The debt limit crisis that’s consumed Washington, D.C. created an unexpected silver lining: the fi rst opportunity in a decade to make real cuts to our runaway military budget,” Greenwald writes with Derrick Crowe, political direc- tor of Brave New Foundation and a former spokesman for House minority leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and the national offi ce of the Children’s Defense Fund. “If we seize this opportunity, we can make big strides toward correcting a broken foreign policy that’s made our weapons, not our ideals, the most prominent face of America abroad,” they write. The Brave New Films series of videos “Sick for Profi t: Where Do Our Premiums Go?” profi le the CEOs of the fi ve largest health in- surance companies who “are making millions at the expense of your health.” As a narrator reports the stock options and salaries of the company executives, the videos show photos of their mansions. These are contrasted with interviews of people who describe the prob- lems they face obtaining insurance coverage for their sick children. The pie-in-the-sky “Power Without Pe- troleum” campaign demands that America pursue a “clean-energy economy” and end all domestic drilling for oil. The videos here promote “green jobs,” the idea that subsidized wind and solar energy projects will substitute Senate nominee Carly Fiorina. It appeared Some Brave New Films video productions for coal mining and oil drilling to produce during her campaign to unseat California have no purpose but derision. Brave New the jobs needed to cut unemployment and senator Barbara Boxer. As for the petition PacMan is a silly online video that mocks grow the economy. campaign that accompanied the video series Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh “Lieberman Must Go,” it generated 43,000 and Bill O’Reilly. Modeled on the popular There is a “War on Greed” video series signatures and 4,000 phone calls to the Senate 1980s video game, PacMan players capture with such self-explanatory titles as “Stop Democratic Steering Committee, urging it the head of a conservative commentator, Starbucks,” “Stop Rush Limbaugh” and to strip the Connecticut Independent of his which triggers an audio clip. A sarcastic “Who’s Keeping Burger King Workers in committee chairmanship. Limbaugh says, “How’s that hoax and change Poverty?” “The Real Carly” campaign is working for you?” a series of online videos about Republican November 2011 3 OrganizationTrends Other video campaigns are oddly parochial. As the founder of Brave New Films—the Canal” [mom discovers chemical dumping], The “Stop Kennedy Smears” campaign was name is an ironic reference to Aldous “Redeemer” [quest to release reformed Black aimed squarely at Hollywood entertainment Huxley’s novel Brave New World—Robert Panther from prison] and “Steal This Movie” industry insiders. “The Kennedys” is an Greenwald no doubt sees himself as speak- [aging radical activist exposes past FBI eight-hour television miniseries that dramati- ing truth to power. According to his website, spying]. Greenwald’s production company cally reenacts episodes in the personal lives of Greenwald churns out these movies to fi ll the limitless the Kennedy clan. Brave New Films assailed hours available on TV. the program and launched a petition drive “is a producer, director and political urging The History Channel and Showtime activist. Greenwald is the founder and It’s only been since 2000 that Greenwald to refuse to show it. When the series eventu- president of Brave New Films, a new made the jump to negotiating rights and ally aired in April 2011 on the lesser-known media company that uses moving im- raising money to produce political documen- cable ReelzChannel it got so-so reviews ages to educate, infl uence, and empower taries. In 2000 he was executive producer for its portrayal of such well-documented viewers to take action around issues that of “Unprecedented: The 2000 Presidential stories as the marital infi delities of John F. matter… In total, Brave New Film’s short Election,” and in 2004 he was co-producer Kennedy.