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Life & Times Transcript
04/13/06 Val Zavala>> Tonight on Life and Times -- The role of the media in the protest marches. Did Spanish-language stations go too far? David Ayon>> This has been conveyed by Spanish-language media in a rather aggressive way, in a way in which they're stepping up their role as advocates, not just as reporters. Val Zavala>> And then, "The Notorious Bettie Page" has sold millions of photos, but can she sell movie tickets? Our FilmWeek critics will help you decide. These stories and more next on tonight's Life and Times. Announcer>> Life and Times is made possible through the generous support of the L.K. Whittier Foundation dedicated to improving the quality of life by supporting innovative endeavors in the fields of medicine, health, science and education. And by a generous grant from Jim and Anne Rothenberg. Val Zavala>> The number of people who have turned out for immigrant protests lately have surprised a lot of people, but it's not just the issue that's bringing them out. In many cases, Spanish-language radio and television don't cover the demonstrations, but encourage people to protest. Are they going too far? Hena Cuevas has the story. Hena Cuevas>> On March 25 as hundreds of thousands made their way downtown, images began appearing on Spanish-language television around ten a.m. [Film Clip] Hena Cuevas>> On KMEX, Channel 34, the media's news station in town, coverage was nonstop all day. But there was no live coverage on English-language television. Why not? According to Jorge Mettey, News Director for KMEX, it's another example of how immigration has long been ignored by the mainstream media and they did it again that Saturday. Jorge Mettey>> We were talking about it in the Hispanic media. We were talking about it for three or four weeks before the march happened. I am surprised the media in English were taken by surprise. I mean, half a million people marching through the streets and they were outside. Hena Cuevas>> But why were their English-language counterparts so surprised on March 25? After all, only a few weeks before in Chicago, over two hundred fifty thousand people had taken to the streets to protest the Congressional bill, so it was expected that Los Angeles would be huge. Was it sloppy journalism or media bias, as News Director Mettey describes it? Jorge Mettey>> Not to inform the community that there is a march with half a million neighbors? At the end of the day, their neighbors were marching on the streets and nobody cared about that? I mean, for me, that is bias. Hena Cuevas>> In addition to the news coverage, they put out this promo. [Film Clip] Hena Cuevas>> These are the prime time anchors from two competing television stations encouraging Latinos to come together. "Show that you are good, that we can be united. Participate with pride. Do it with dignity. Do it for our community. Unite." Mettey says the spot was made as a public service announcement and not as a call to urge people to show up. Jorge Mettey>> It was not a promo pushing our audience to participate in anything. It was a promo, you know, trying to put into context what is happening. Hena Cuevas>> However, at the end of the spot, the time, date and location of the march are posted. Mettey explains the graphic is something his promotions department added on and says it wasn't an endorsement from the news department. Jorge Mettey>> It was to call them to participate in a march, to be responsible every day of their lives. It's not only for the march. The march is the smallest of the challenges in their daily lives. Hena Cuevas>> Nobody is questioning the role that Spanish-language media played in getting so many people out. But for Professor David Ayon of the Center for the Study of Los Angeles, in this case, Spanish media outlets may have overstepped their bounds. David Ayon>> This has been conveyed by Spanish-language media in a rather aggressive way, in a way in which they're stepping up their role as advocates, not just as reporters, but as analysts and as advocates. Hena Cuevas>> Actually, one of the things that they've been criticized for is the fact that they took an advocate role, that it wasn't just impartial reporting, but that there was also a little bit of opinion included in the coverage. David Ayon>> There was actually quite a bit of opinion and, like I say, I think that this is a phenomenon that we're seeing in American broadcasting across the board. I would even argue that cable television and talk radio in English, mainstream AM talk radio and mainstream English-language cable television, cable news, really pioneered this. Renan Almendarez Coello>> "Please talk to me in English." >> "You don't speak any Spanish?" Renan Almendarez Coello>> "Nothing, I'm sorry (laughter)." Hena Cuevas>> Renan Almendarez Coello is host of one of Los Angeles's highest rated radio shows either in Spanish or in English. His on-air name is El Cucuy, or The Boogie Man, and his seven-hour daily show is like a Latin American version of Howard Stern. [Film Clip] Hena Cuevas>> But amid the jokes, there's also a serious side, one that reflects the views of his mostly immigrant listeners. Today he's interviewing Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante. [Film Clip] Hena Cuevas>> He asks him about the immigrant rights marches filling the streets of Los Angeles. [Film Clip] Renan Almendarez Coello>> In the contracts of all the companies I've worked for, there is a clause that says I should be given time, enough air space, to help out the community. Hena Cuevas>> His way of helping his community was joining other Spanish-language radio and television stations in promoting the massive protest of March 25. Renan Almendarez Coello>> We began promoting it. For example, here on my show, I would rotate the voices of many other DJs from more than eighty to a hundred stations, inviting the people to the march. Hena Cuevas>> He says that, for the first time in his twenty-five years of broadcasting in Los Angeles, the Spanish-language media joined forces and he says that show of unity is why nearly half a million marchers showed up in downtown Los Angeles. Renan Almendarez Coello>> I think that's what people liked because they said they really are united. Because I said no station logos, no photographs, no call letters, nothing. The people are going to be the stars. Hena Cuevas>> But as a talk show host, nobody expected El Cucuy to be impartial. For Professor Ayon, the media outlets in Spanish are only doing what their English-language counterparts have been doing for a while. David Ayon>> On CNN, on Fox News, you've had anchors such as Lou Dobbs and Bill O'Reilly arguing very strongly against in particular undocumented immigration. Lou Dobbs>> "Hidden deep within that five hundred page Senate legislation, that immigration bill, are programs that we would provide for illegal aliens, foreign workers that would greatly, greatly injure American workers. . ." David Ayon>> The Spanish-language media has felt both the need and the license to respond if not in kind, in a similar sort of fashion, taking up the cause of their community and their audience on the other side of the issue. Jorge Mettey>> This is an issue we talk about all the time and my viewers are better informed and they are more sensitive to this issue and this is important for us. Hena Cuevas>> When it comes to journalism standards, radio hosts aren't subject to the same expectations as news anchors and reporters. On radio, a host can have strong opinions on issues and promote them. Renan Almendarez Coello>> I will continue to promote that everything be done in a civil manner with the United States flag in an orderly way with no destruction, with intelligent words, clear messages they can hear in English and in Spanish. Hena Cuevas>> As for those who question his coverage, Mettey says he does hope this will be a wakeup call for the mainstream media. Jorge Mettey>> This is important and relevant for everybody, so in the best interest of everybody, not only Hispanics, I hope everybody goes the extra mile and we do our jobs. Hena Cuevas>> And if recent marches and rallies are any indication, those in the English-language media may have heard that message loud and clear. I'm Hena Cuevas for Life and Times. Announcer>> Kcet.org is the place to look for the very latest on Life and Times. You'll find previews of upcoming stories, plus transcripts and audio of past episodes and links to some of our most interesting features. Just go to kcet.org, scroll down the page and click on "Life and Times". Val Zavala>> During this Holy Week, believers are flocking to churches and temples. But what about young people and, in particular, college students? Well, a comprehensive survey shows that less than half of our college students actually practice a religion and yet most of them believe in God and are very interested in life's big questions. Helen Lena Astin and Alexander "Sandy" Astin of UCLA oversaw a comprehensive survey of college students' spiritual beliefs. College students these days are often characterized as consumed by careers and financial success or just fun. But a multi-year survey of more than a hundred thousand students on two hundred thirty-six campuses revealed a different side of this generation. The survey is called "The Spiritual Life of College Students" and I talked with the Astins about what they found. Helen Lena Astin>> I was taken by surprise to see the extent which students cared a great deal about these big questions, special questions about the spiritual fields, about the religions. So it came as a surprise to us really how involved they are in some of these questions and concerns. Val Zavala>> Do most of them have a basic belief in God or have they not decided or don't know yet? Helen Lena Astin>> The majority tell us -- a pretty high majority, close to eighty percent -- that they do believe in God and they do pray and that took us by surprise also. A very high portion. It was interesting to find out what they pray for. They pray to think, they pray for their families, they pray for wisdom. So they were much more mature and they show a depth of themselves that I hadn't seen before. Val Zavala>> So clearly, being a college student is a time when many young people are searching, are seeking, are wanting answers to the meaning of life and it's a great time for them to explore it, right? Helen Lena Astin>> Exactly. It's a perfect time for them to explore. They have high expectations that college would enable them to deal with those questions and help them to grow along these lines. They do have high expectations, but also what they've told us is that their institutions, their colleges and universities, do not address religion. It's not part of the curriculum necessarily. So they're kind of left alone in that search and that quest. I don't know if I told you that we also did a study of the faculty. We just finished a survey of the large -- well, several of the faculties, forty-five thousand faculties in over four hundred institutions. We also asked them about their own spirituality, but also we asked them if they see a role of spirituality in colleges and universities. They're much more ambivalent there. So it's fine for me to search, but I'm not sure whether this has a place for them and that's where the challenge for us now is, to make it okay, because you should be very much in the center of the liberal arts education. Val Zavala>> The Astins also looked at the influence that spiritual beliefs have on students' politics and personal behavior and, again -- Alexander "Sandy" Astin>> We found some big surprises too. The highly religious students don't follow the complete party line when it comes to conservative viewpoints. For example, on the death penalty, they're actually more opposed to the death penalty than students in general. Val Zavala>> Another surprise might have been about gun control which you normally equate with conservative religious people being anti-gun control. Alexander "Sandy" Astin>> Right, right. Well, again, the pattern's broken there and you have the religious students and the non-religious having the same viewpoint about gun control. Namely three-fourths of both groups say we ought to have more gun control. Val Zavala>> Oh, really? So college students in general would like to see more gun control? Alexander "Sandy" Astin>> Oh, yeah. Oh, for sure. We think for the environments that college students in general are much more committed to environmental cleanup and environmental control than I think the population in general. Val Zavala>> So maybe the influencing factor is education level more than spiritual or religion. Alexander "Sandy" Astin>> That may be a big one, yes. As you might guess, the liberal students are much more favorable toward, you know, maintaining the environment than the non-liberal. But when it comes to religion, that doesn't seem to relate particularly to environmentalism. Val Zavala>> Now a lot of parents will tell you they're often concerned about the things that go on during college with the drinking and the smoking and the sex and the drugs. Did you see a big difference in behaviors among religious or spiritual students in terms of those behaviors and non-spiritual students? Alexander "Sandy" Astin>> Well, probably the biggest difference in behavior is in consumption of alcohol. There's a huge difference between strongly religious and the non-religious. Now when it comes to their beliefs about these things, again, you find very large differences on the legalization of homosexuality, legalization of same-sex marriage, the keeping abortion legal, what we call casual sex. We have a question that sort of gets us students' attitudes about casual sex with somebody you don't really know that well. With respect to all these issues, there are enormous differences between the strongly religious and the non-religious students. Val Zavala>> And when it comes to students' religious preferences, the largest percentage, twenty-eight percent, say Roman Catholic. The second largest portion, seventeen percent, say none. And nearly half of the college students surveyed, forty-eight percent, described themselves as doubting, seeking or conflicted. Alexander "Sandy" Astin>> Less than half of them say that they're secure in their faith. So you've got the majority of them who are searching or doubtful or who say they're not interested. That's a small group of about one in five who say they're not interested in religion. So there's a lot of searching and it will be interesting to see, if we follow these students through college, how they change and develop and hopefully we can help to identify some of the things the colleges do that facilitates this part of the students' lives. Val Zavala>> Sandy Astin, thank you so much for your work and your time. Alexander "Sandy" Astin>> My pleasure. Val Zavala>> For details on the survey of college freshmen and spirituality, you can go to this website: spirituality.ucla.edu. Announcer>> To send a comment or a question to our program, you can reach us by mail at this address: Life and Times 4401 Sunset Blvd. Los Angeles, California 90027 You can also call our viewer comment line (323) 953-5555) or contact us the fast way by e-mail at kcet.org. Larry Mantle>> Welcome to FilmWeek on Life and Times. I'm Larry Mantle of 89.3 KPCC. Our first film this week is the intense drama, "Hard Candy", in which a fourteen year old girl meets a thirty-something photographer on the internet and their relationship takes some bizarre turns. [Film Clip] Larry Mantle>> I'm joined this week by critics Henry Sheehan of henrysheehan.com and Andy Klein of City Beat and Valley Beat. Henry, it looks like tough stuff with "Hard Candy". Henry Sheehan>> Well, this is a very disturbing film, but it's also a very compelling one that opens with a twenty minute sequence of a fourteen year old girl played by Ellen Page, a wonderful actress, meeting a man that she first dallied with over the internet, a thirty year old photographer, also very well played by Patrick Wilson. What you see is the very creepy pickup of the young girl by Wilson's character who gets back to his apartment. It's there -- and I'm going to tell you this because the trailers are giving it away -- she turns the tables on him. She dopes him and ties him up and begins to both question him and torture him about the murder of a girl her age who has disappeared. I don't know where this film is going. That's my problem. It's a revenge movie with a mystery plot and I think it's an interesting subject to engage. I don't know if the film engages it intellectually, but it certainly engages it dramatically and, while it can repel you in a lot of ways, you can't stop watching it either. So I think it's a very good movie on one level and a kind of blank one on another. Larry Mantle>> Andy? Andy Klein>> Yeah, this is an unpleasant experience to sit through definitely. I had some feeling that they almost worked it all out a little too well. There are interesting moral issues going on throughout this film and you're wondering whether the girl might be a little crazy or whether she's justified in what this guy really has or hasn't done. In the end, it wraps up in a way that just was morally neat that I felt like that was actually a flaw in the film. Larry Mantle>> Our second film this week is "The Notorious Bettie Page". It tells the life story of the 1950s pin-up icon. Gretchen Mol portrays Page. [Film Clip] Larry Mantle>> Andy Klein, what do you think of this bio-pick of pin-up idol, Bettie Page? Andy Klein>> This is a really interesting film and I think it's very, very well done. There were pitfalls all over in making a film like this. It manages to give us a sense of Bettie Page as someone who never really was ashamed of what she did even after her being reborn into Christianity. She has never retracted or apologized or anything like that. The film is a little bit distant, very deliberately. I think that it tries not to make judgments at all and it is very, very accepting even of the characters you might think of as the bad guys in the film. It's beautifully put together. It's great to look at. It's mostly in black and white with a few very rich color sequences. And Gretchen Mol does a great job. Larry Mantle>> Henry, do you agree? Henry Sheehan>> Well, I think the problem with this movie is that I never figured out what the director, Mary Harron, actually thought of Bettie Page. I mean, there's a certain blankness to the movie. It's very attractive, the scenes are well-shot, Gretchen Mol is very attractive in this convincing performance of this kind of blithe woman who, you know, not only did nudie pin-ups but also was involved in sadomasochistic films, you know, somewhat innocently apparently. I think this movie is pitched right at the Bettie Page cult because they want to see certain events in her life re-enacted. They want to see certain pin-ups done. They want to see certain 16mm films made. They want to see her converge and all that. But, you know, who Bettie Page is and what Mary Harron thinks of her, I never got that feeling from the film and I was left, you know, as ignorant about Bettie Page as I was before the movie in terms of a full-blooded human being, although I learned a lot more about Gretchen Mol's anatomy. Larry Mantle>> Next up is the documentary, "Our Brand is Crisis", which follows a team of United States political consultants as they export their approach to elections. [Film Clip] Larry Mantle>> Andy Klein, "Our Brand is Crisis"? Andy Klein>> Documentarian Rachel Boynton, whose first film this is, went down to Bolivia to follow the election campaign of -- and I want to make sure I get the name right -- Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada, who is called Goni throughout the entire film, who had been president in the mid-nineties, had lost his seat and, in 2002, was running to recapture it. He brings in the consultancy firm of Greenberg, Carville and Shrum and James Carville is on camera a certain amount and, as usual, he's great fun. But really what this film was about is the notion of exporting American election image techniques into the rest of the world. It's kind of disturbing and it's meant to be. I mean, Boynton doesn't so much tell us what she thinks about this guy's policies as she does about the way that this kind of image molding can backfire. Larry Mantle>> And finally, the film from Tibet, "Kekexili: Mountain Patrol", which tells the story of a group of villagers who band together to try and protect the endangered Tibetan antelope. [Film Clip] Larry Mantle>> "Kekexili: Mountain Patrol", Henry Sheehan? Henry Sheehan>> This movie was a total shock to me. I went in knowing that the background was the protection of the Tibetan antelope which has been slaughtered in almost unbelievable amounts. The population went from a million to less than thirty thousand because its fur was good for scarves that were popular in Europe and the United States and Canada. This is about indigenous Tibetan villagers who get together to form patrols to protect the antelope from these poachers who use automatic weapons. What this turns into is, in fact, a movie -- the only filmmaker I can think of who makes films comparable to this is John Ford. It's very much like the John Ford western in which a group of people who are not -- for instance, there's a Beijing newspaper reporter with these Tibetan villagers and they set out to track down the bad guys, the poachers. It's about the depredations that affect them. You know, one of Ford's great scenes was victory in defeat. You think of "They Were Expendable". This is a film very much like they were expendable about these people going out against impossible odds, against this incredible natural backdrop and sacrificing themselves for an ideal within the group. A really tremendous film. Larry Mantle>> Thanks for joining us for another FilmWeek on Life and Times. I'm Larry Mantle of 89.3 KPCC joined by critics Andy Klein of City Beat and Valley Beat and Henry Sheehan of henrysheehan.com. We look forward to your joining us next week at this same time for the next FilmWeek on Life and Times. Val Zavala>> And remember you can hear a full hour of FilmWeek Friday mornings at eleven on KPCC public radio. And that's our program. I'm Val Zavala. For everyone at Life and Times, thanks for watching. We'll see you next time. Announcer>> Life and Times was made possible through the generous support of the L.K. Whittier Foundation dedicated to improving the quality of life by supporting innovative endeavors in the fields of medicine, health, science and education. And by a generous grant from Jim and Anne Rothenberg. Sponsored in part by:  | |
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