The Corporate Coup D’Etat (FREE VERMONT)
December 20, 2019Plan V-TV/82: Chasing Wolves Across North America With Lisa and Ky Koitzsch (FREE VT TV)
December 20, 2019Publisher’s Note: A pleasure to podcast with J.G. Michael of PARALLAX VIEWS. Listen in here. Here’s some background: Since May 2018, Parallax Views has produced over 100 quality conversations with academics, journalists, filmmakers, radio hosts, and others from all walks of life. Previous guests include whistleblower Barrett Brown, “The Godfather of Reality TV” John Barbour, investigative journalist Alexander Stille, best-selling author Steve Alten, Alternate Reality Game pioneer Joseph Matheny, punk rock musician Vadge Moore of The Dwarves, music video vixen “The Cherry Pie Girl” Bobbie Brown, horror author Ramsey Campbell, environmental reporter Joshua Frank, true crime author Dr. Harold Schechter, scholar of existentialism Dr. David Detmer, History on Fire podcast host Danielle Bolelli, private investigator Ed Opperman, and The Majority Report/The Michael Brooks Show host Michael Brooks, among others.
On this edition of Parallax Views, we discuss two very distinct topics with Dr. Rob Williams, a Media/Communications/Global Studies professor at UVM and Champlain College and the University of Vermont, as well the publisher of Vermont Independent (not to mention a musician, author, and a yak farmer/chef/enthusiast; Dr. Williams wears many different hats!). First up, Dr. Williams tells us about the Vermont Independence Movement or Second Vermont Republic, which would like to see Vermont return to it’s former status as independent republic by seceding from the United States. Regardless of one’s thoughts on secession the topic has had occasionally breached mainstream discourse vis-à-vis not only the 2nd Vermont Republic’s efforts but also CalExit, a California secessionist group, in recent years. It is my hope that this part of the conversation with Dr. Williams, who is a staunch supporter of 2VR, can provide an insight into what leads a small-but-vocal number of citizens to advocate for secession.
Then, in the second half of our conversation, we discuss Dr. Williams short book The Post (Truth) World: Fighting Fake News with a 21st Century “Propaganda Model” for our Digital Age. In this brief work, Dr. Williams updates Noam Chomsky and Edward S. Hermann’s “Propaganda Model” for understanding systemic biases in corporate media as outlined in their 1988 book Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media. We begin this portion of the discussion by delving into Dr. Williams’ critical take on Steven Spielberg’s recent critically-acclaimed film The Post, which detailed The Washington Post‘s publishing of the scandalous Pentagon Papers during the Vietnam War. From there, we explore the issues facing news media today and the digital age’s impact on said media.
