Showing posts tagged myvideos

I would like to formally wish my co-nominee Werner Herzog luck in the 2012 History Makers International Awards. He’s a real up-and-comer and can use the boost to his career. Fault Lines is nominated for our film about Juarez “Mexico: Impunity and Profits.” (see above)

I would also like to publicly congratulate my friend and colleague Andrea Schmidt for an amazing year of journalism that is being recognized this month, not only by History Makers International, but also by the DuPont Awards for her Fault Lines episode out of Haiti. My love of watching her episodes of Fault Lines (we have a number of producers who each do their own episodes) is surpassed only by the honor of actually getting to be in her shows. 

Fault Lines: On the Pulse of the Pentagon

The US announced a new military strategy today at a Pentagon briefing. Much of the discussion concerned what could be read as predictable—and cyclic—budget cuts of a post-war drawdown. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta also took pains to mention what wouldn’t feel the fiscal pinch: offensive and defensive cyber security and unmanned systems.

We at Fault Lines have covered and predicted both of these trends.

First with an episode called Cyberwar.

A growing fear of computer hackers—a term encompassing a broad range of entities from digital spy rings to information thieves to cyberarmies of kids, criminals and terrorists (some backed by nation states)—and their potentially massive threat to national security has Washington maneuvering into position to defend its assets from a new style of warfare: one without foot soldiers, guns or missiles. Crucial national infrastructure, high value commercial secrets, tens of billions of dollars in defense contracts—as well as values like privacy and freedom of expression—are at stake. 

In this episode of Fault Lines, I enter the domain of “cyber” and speak to a former US national security official turned cybersecurity consultant, a Silicon Valley CEO, a hacker, and those who warn of a growing arms race in cyberspace.

Is the US contributing to the militarisation of cyberspace? Are the reports of cyber threats being distorted by a burgeoning security industry? And are the battles being waged in cyberspace interfering with the Internet as we know it? 

Then last week we filed a report titled Robot Wars.

Over the past decade, the US military has shifted the way it fights its wars, deploying more unmanned systems in the battlefield than ever before.

Today there are more than 7,000 drones and 12,000 ground robots in use by all branches of the military.

These systems mean less American deaths and also less political risk for the US when it takes acts of lethal force – often outside of official war zones.

But US lethal drone strikes in countries like Pakistan have brought up serious questions about the legal and political implications of using these systems.

Fault Lines looks at how these new weapons of choice are allowing the US to stretch the international laws of war and what it could mean when more and more autonomy is developed for these lethal machines.

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Here’s the promo for my latest episode of Fault Lines…

Check out some of the photos from this trip below…

And see the full episode HERE…

My latest episode of Fault Lines! Check it out…

ajfaultlines:

Here’s the new episode that just aired on Al Jazeera English. Description below. 

This is our last episode in this season, and we expect to be back in early spring. We’ll keep you apprised here, on Twitter @ajfaultlines and on our Facebook page. 

Chilean students have taken over schools and city streets in the largest protests the country has seen in decades.

These actions are causing a political crisis for the country’s billionaire President, Sebastian Piñera.

The students are demanding free education, and an end to the privatization of their schools and universities. The free-market based approach to education was implemented by the military dictator Augusto Pinochet in his last days in power.

As the demonstrations in Chile coincide with protests erupting globally, Fault Lines follows the Chilean student movement during their fight in a country that is among the most unequal in the world.

This episode of Fault Lines first aired on Al Jazeera English on January 2, 2012 at 2230 GMT.

(Reblogged from ajfaultlines)

Here’s last week’s Fault Lines, where we looked at the increasing use of robots by the US military and ask what that means for the world. Enjoy or our robot overlords will get you. 

Have you watched all the Holiday movies you can stand? Time for something different? Join me tonight at 5:30 pm EST to watch my new Fault Lines episode on killer robots (see promo above). It’s a Capraesque look at what happens when killing can be automated. Critics rave, “It’s the feel-good Fault Lines of the year!” I’ll live tweet throughout the show, so it’ll be like we’re watching it together. Pass the popcorn…

PS — If you can’t get Al Jazeera English at home: first, shame on your cable provider, go here for help; second, you can stream it live for free here; third, I’ll post the video here on tumblr tomorrow,where you’ll be able to ask me questions about it, reblog it, even share it with friends and family as a hoilday bonus gift. ;-)

the show will be online by tomorrow, I’ll post it here

ajfaultlines:

Tonight at 2230 GMT/ 5:30 p EST, our new Fault Lines episode on how drones change the way the US fights wars airs on Al Jazeera English. Above, the trailer, and we’ll post the entire episode here after it airs. 

Watch online.

(Reblogged from ajfaultlines)

Here’s the promo that ran for the episode below…

The Supreme Court has agreed to review Arizona’s harsh immigration law SB1070. I interviewed the author of the law, Russell Pearce, for my Fault Lines episode (above) about it last year. Pearce told me then that he hoped the law would be challenged up to and reviewed by the Supreme Court. He believes, if SB1070 is upheld by the highest court in the land, his anti-immigration movement will receive a boost of credibility.

Next up in Pearce’s master plan: tackling the 14th amendment, specifically the part of the constitution that says, anyone born in the US is a citizen and has equal rights and protection. Pearce says that babies born to undocumented immigrants are as illegal as their parents and should be prosecuted and then kicked out as well.

While I’m sure he’s celebrating today’s news, it’s not from his former office in the Arizona legislature. He was recently recalled by Arizona voters last month, even after a campaign that engaged in some of the most cynical, underhanded, dirty political maneuvers imaginable.

Here’s a story I did yesterday about Iran airing the video of the captured US Drone.

I was on The Stream today to discuss drones. I also filmed an episode on the topic for Fault Lines. It airs December 26th at 2230 GMT. I’ll be live tweeting during that episode, so if you tune in, it will be like we’re watching it together. If you can’t tune in, it will be posted for eternity here.

Alfanso Cano was killed over the weekend Colombia. Cano was the head of the FARC. I was surprised to learn that he was killed near Suarez in the Cauca department of southern Colombia, because I was just there earlier this year and attempted to arrange an embed of sorts with the local front of the FARC. My meet up with the FARC didn’t work out, but we got a great story about gold fever hitting Colombia. If you’re interested in the area Cano was killed fast forward to about the 14th minute of the video above. It’s a beautiful area. Over the next few days, I’ll post a few photos from the trip as well.

Here’s the promo for the Fault Lines episode Fast Food, Fat Profits. The full show is in my previous post.

There’s a good op-ed in the New York Times challenging the idea that junk food is cheaper than real food. While I don’t agree with all of the arguments the author makes, I’m fully behind his premise that Americans (including me) need to change their attitude about cooking at home; specifically that cooking should be a joy, rather than a chore. My wife and I were rarely cooking at home before I filmed Fast Foods, Fat Profits (above) for Fault Lines. The story really changed the way we eat and view food. I hope you enjoy watching it as much as we at Fault Lines— Jeremy Young, producing; Elizabeth Gorman, associate producing; Thierry Humeau, filming; Warwick Meade, editing; and Mathieu Skene executive producing—enjoyed making it. Let me know!  

DYING INSIDE

The New York Times this morning has a front-page piece about the increasing power prosecutors have in extracting guilty pleas from defendants without going to trial. 

After decades of new laws to toughen sentencing for criminals, prosecutors have gained greater leverage to extract guilty pleas from defendants and reduce the number of cases that go to trial, often by using the threat of more serious charges with mandatory sentences or other harsher penalties.

These tougher sentences have led to a boom in elderly inmates in US prisons. The fastest growing segment of prisoners is those who are 50 and older. In Oklahoma they expect that group to increase by 45% a year for the foreseeable future. For the Fault Lines episode above we gained access to prisons across the US and were shocked by what we found…

Gary Johnson gained national attention with the one-liner of the night at this week’s presidential election. Shortly after the debate GQ published a noteworthy profile of Johnson. I interviewed the laid-back Johnson last Fall in San Francisco for a Fault Lines episode about the vote to decriminalize marijuana in California last year  (above — Make sure to watch it in HD and on full screen if you can. The controls are in the bottom left of the screen.). Voters narrowly rejected the proposition at the polls; however, for pro-decriminalization types, like Johnson, the campaign was successful in moving the debate about the political, social and economic impact of marijuana from the fringe to mainstream. Check out the program and let me know what you think.