Fred J. Cook

August 4, 1987: The Federal Communications Commission repeals the “Fairness Doctrine.” Instituted in 1949, the FCC implemented the policy as hundreds of applications were submitted for radio stations amid limited frequencies. The FCC was worried that these stations could be used as mouthpieces for a single point of view, so the Fairness Doctrine required that all broadcasters represent multiple perspectives on issues and stories. The policy was further cemented during the Supreme Court hearing of Red Lion Broadcasting Co., Inc. vs FCC, which concerned a station in Pennsylvania that aired a program called “Christian Crusade” by Reverend Billy James Hargis. During the program, Hargis talked about “Barry Goldwater: Extremist of the Right” and said that author Fred J. Cook had written the book as part of a smear campaign against Barry Goldwater, who had just lost the 1964 presidential election to Lyndon B. Johnson. Hargis further accused Cook of having been fired from a newspaper after making false charges against city officials, that he later worked for a newspaper with Communist ties and that he defended Alger Hiss, who was released from prison ten years earlier following a conviction of perjury in connection with allegations about his Communist affiliations. Cook heard that he had been attacked, and asked the station for time to give his reply. The station refused, and in the law suit which followed, the Supreme Court upheld Cook’s right to reply under the FCC Fairness Doctrine.

One side effect of the policy, which the FCC perhaps had not anticipated, was that journalists backed away from covering controversial news items altogether because they believed the doctrine imposed on their decisions to balance their reporting as they saw fit. In 1987, under President Reagan, with many more channels and broadcast options available than there were in 1949, the FCC could no longer make the argument that they were trying to balance a limited airspace for news and views, and the FCC itself dissolved the doctrine. In an interesting side note, the anniversary of the Fairness Doctrine’s repeal coincides neatly with another repeal of FCC policy–the “Indecency Policy” which barred the use of fleeting expletives on radio and television. Like the Fairness Doctrine, the unintended side effect of the Indecency Policy was that media outlets backed away from presenting material which included profanity, lest they be fined millions of dollars. Although a federal appeals court decided that the law was too vague and inhibited freedom of speech, the ruling may also follow in the footsteps of the Fairness Doctrine, all the way to the Supreme Court.

Still from "Fantasmagorie"

August 17, 1908: The first full-length animated film, “Fantasmagorie” premieres in Paris. Artist Emile Cohl brought black-and-white drawings to life by photographing black line drawings on white paper, then reversing the negatives so that the drawings appeared to have been done on a chalkboard. Cohl even used (his?) actual hands to interact with the drawings. Lasting just over a minute, “Fantasmagorie” has no coherent storyline, but it nonetheless amazed audiences, and marked the dawn of a new medium of limitless possibilities.

August 18, 1958: Vladimir Nabokov’s “Lolita” is published in the United States. Having first appeared in Paris in 1955, the story of the 12-year-old nymphet and the stepfather who loved her was famous before it even appeared in the US, but in its time was received with mixed reviews. New York Times book critic Orville Prescott called it “repulsive” and “dull, dull, dull in a pretentious, florid and archly fatuous fashion.” However, Charles Rolo of Atlantic Monthly called it “wild, fantastic, wonderfully imaginative” and :one of the funniest serious novels I have ever read.” Regardless, “Lolita” remains a powerful force in popular culture and media, yielding two feature films, a book about reading it and is frequently a euphemism for a particular type of young girl as well as a mode of Japanese fashion. It may always be controversial, but it seems that it will also always be influential.

This week at Mount Hope, we started off the session by plunging right in to a exercise that carried into a discussion about images and assumptions. For the exercise, we showed the students photographs of different people and asked them what kind of words or roles they associated with them and why they made those kinds of associations. We also challenged the students to think beyond their immediate reactions to the photos, which yielded some interesting and unexpected responses.

The students are now gearing up to start their own projects that will encourage them to think about telling stories through taking pictures. We asked them to come up with an advertising campaign that we would then execute as both a print and a broadcast advertisement. In order to help prepare them for this, we decided to get a little technical by looking into some of the mechanics of filmmaking and how a narrative is built using words, then images, before finally coming to its final incarnation as a moving image. First we watched a clip from the film O Brother Where Art Thou? which used a variety of different shots and points of view. We wanted the students to think about how these decisions can help shape a narrative. Next, we moved onto the concept of storyboarding. Using a recent story from Wired about the animation of Toy Story 3, we showed these students an example of storyboarding, and how these initial sketches are carried to their full-blown conclusions. After these brief lessons, we had our final brainstorming session before starting our projects. The students had some fantastic ideas and seemed really excited to get started next week!

During the afternoon, the students had their last session with Gamestar Mechanic. A Gamestar Mechanic game designer came to visit, which was really great for the kids to hear about what decisions went into the final product. It was a good thing to talk about in the beginning of the afternoon because the majority of students spent their time creating their own games for the remainder of the session. This was really fun (especially for me!) because students got to play each other’s creations! One student even built a game that a Gamestar Mechanic employee had trouble beating. Judging by the way some students were reluctant to turn off their computers—we had to ask them to shut down their computers even though they were *this close* to beating a level! (wince)—we’re guessing this last Saturday won’t be the last time playing Gamestar. Gamestar has been a great activity for the students and was a really awesome partnership for The LAMP. Gaming is a huge component of young people’s media consumption, and so often we hear parents and teachers complaining that their children and students sit in front of computers and television screens mindlessly playing violent games — but this is not always the case. Gamestar Mechanic is a great program that allows students to play games but also to understand the mechanics of designing games — and thinking critically about media is just the kind of mindfulness we at The LAMP want to promote.

–Megha Kohli, lead facilitator for Taking Pictures, Telling Stories

July 23rd marked the end of this summer’s LAMPcamp, with two-week sessions held in both Brooklyn and The Bronx. Kristin Tretheway, lead facilitator for our Bronx camp, summed it all up for us below. Plus, check out the News 12 video segment about Bronx LAMPcamp!

“Over the course of the two weeks the students completed four projects. The first was a podcast based on an environmental issue of their choice. The second was a mock TV commercial, the third was a commercial talk back and the fourth was a documentary.

We screened commercials in class, both ones the students chose, as well as the ones the LAMP provided. We also screened the documentary DVD provided by the LAMP. The students used video cameras and the iMovie software to produce their commercials, talk backs and documentaries.At the close of each project we screened and discussed the students work.”