Sept. 14
7:30 p.m.
Light Industry
177 Livingston Street
Brooklyn, New York 11201

Hosted by: Electronic Arts Intermix

Back in 1977, Anthony Ramos created About Media, a deconstruction of the evening news that focuses on President Jimmy Carter granting amnesty to Vietnam War draft dodgers as well as Ramos’ own stint serving time for conscientious objection. For his “crime,” Ramos was incarcerated for 18 months.

The video compares Ramos’ unedited interview footage, which shows a patronizing attitude and line of questioning by reporter Gabe Pressman and his crew, with the final report that eventually made it onto the news. The goal of the piece is to break down the illusion of the news’ alleged objective approach to storytelling.

At the time, criticism of the media from the left was something of a rarity. While the right had long complained about the mainstream media’s alleged “liberal bias,” About Media shows how the news skews the stories it runs to whatever agenda it feels like pushing. The video is also a personal rebellion with Ramos re-inserting his voice into a news story that robbed him of it.

Ramos will be present at this screening of About Media to introduce it and to screen other video pieces he’s produced. He’s been present at some of the biggest events of recent memory, including being in Tehran during the 1980 hostage crisis and in Beijing immediately prior to the Tiananmen Square massacre.