Race and Class
Basta Ya!
Paper Tiger collaborated with youth in Brooklyn to create a video on how gentrification and development affects residents. Rents and property values skyrocketed over the past few years in Sunset Park, a mostly Latino and Asian working class neighborhood in Brooklyn. People are being displaced as condominiums are being built. This video was created to inform residents about what is happening and to inspire the community to take action. However gentrification is happening in communities everywhere, and we want this video to also be seen in a global context. More info...
2010 TRT: 28 minutes #332
Reality Unreeled: The Really Real Unreal Reality of Real Reality TV
Is reality television real? Is this the real life or is it just fantasy? Paper Tiger created a show on reality television, to explore the social impacts and affective stereotypes of this explosive and exploitative genre that has taken TV networks by storm. The show features an interview with media critic, journalist and founder of Women in Media and News, Jennifer L. Pozner. Pozner explains the social, economic and cultural context of reality TV. More info...
2010 TRT: 28 minutes #334
Class Dismissed
Class Dismissed provides a critical look at how U.S. history is taught in high school, at the myths that reduce the complexity of history into simple soundbites, and the information that never seems to make it onto the textbook pages. How can we alter this system to address the limitations of the current curriculum, to allow students to find their own place in history and the world today, to inspire them to become active learners and agents for social change? More info...
2004 TRT: 28 minutes #320
Police Brutality and the Case of Abner Louima
Haitian Activist Ray Laforest discusses the 1997 brutal abuse of Haitian Immigrant Abner Louima by officers of the New York City police force. How did the media cover Mayor Guliani's response to this hideous crime and how does this reflect on the relationship between the media, the mayor, and Haiti? More info...
1997 TRT: 28 minutes #270
Fare Raiser II, The Tax Man Cometh
Produced by Community Voices, a high school group from Park East High School, Fare Raiser II takes a critical look at the subway fare increase of 1995. The price of a subway token increased by 20%, while the cost of the Metro North fare, mostly serving white upper class commuters, only increased by 9%. Youth-produced! More info...
1996 TRT: 28 minutes #277
America's Least Wanted
Lock your doors, buy 'The Club' and move to Connecticut: crime is everywhere, and according to your local media purveyors, it's getting worse. But is it? "America's Least Wanted" takes a bite out of crime hysteria by exposing the media's fetish for high-profile crime stories. Let Paper Tiger and Robin Andersen take you on a rare trip through the mean streets of corporate gangland, where necktied hoodlums get away with mass murder while a disinterested media and justice system turn a blind eye. More info...
1995 TRT: 28 minutes #264
Mumia Abu-Jamal: Giving a Face to the Death Penalty
Who is Mumia Abu-Jamal and why has he been sentenced to death in the state of Pennsylvania? This tape looks at the personal history of Mumia Abu-Jamal, from his membership in the Black Panther Party to his career as an award-winning journalist, to his unfair trial and sentencing in the death of a Philadelphia police officer. More info...
1995 TRT: 28 minutes #260
Steve Klassen Watches Segregated TV
Steve Klassen takes a look at the civil rights movement's often-overlooked fight to secure racial justice on the TV screens of the South. Focusing on the landmark FCC case of WLBT-TV, which went from white supremacist control to black ownership, Klassen examines the African-American fight for access to media and its repercussions in today's technologically expanding media world. Steve Classen teaches communications at Cal State - San Bernardino. More info...
1995 TRT: 28 minutes #259
Breathless: A Toxic Newsflash
In 1992, New York City announced its plan to build seven garbage incinerators as a way to solve the city's growing waste problem. These toxic incinerators posed a great health threat to people and the environment. In addition, the decision to build the incinerators in only lower income, disenfranchised neighborhoods was in 1992 the newest form of institutional racism. More info...
1992 TRT: 28 minutes #228
The Last Frontier: Nancy Hurley Explores Race Relations in Star Trek
In 1966 when Star Trek hit the air it was praised for its innovative representation of racial dynamics. However, host Nancy Hurley shows that the supposedly utopian racial politics of Star Trek were nothing more than an assimilationist vision of the future. In this PTTV episode, produced at Cambridge Community Access, Hurley exposes the underlying racial imperatives of the classic sci-fi thriller. More info...
1992 TRT: 28 minutes #221