Media, Culture & Society

The mayor of New York, Mike Bloomburg, has announced his movement to stop movie piracy by releasing a series of PSA’s which talk about the crime and its effects. He also has made videotaping in a theatre a misdemeanor, instead of just a violation. I don’t want to go too in-depth about the article because then you wouldn’t read it for yourself, but at the end they start to talk about some of the ideas.

The link to the Reuters article is here

And then here is an example of an anti-piracy PSA (although it is not one from the article, or even from New York)

More examples, with scripts, of public service announcements.

Audio spot from the American Heart Association.

In anticipation of your final projects, I’ll be posting sample public service announcements (PSAs) from time to time. Here’s one from world renowned filmmaker, David Lynch, director of Eraserhead, Blue Velvet, Lost Highway, and the recently released, DV feature, Inland Empire.

The Radio and Television News Directors Association (RTNDA) has created a series of public service announcements to promote “Sunshine Week” — a celebration of Freedom of Information, especially public access to government information. You might find these PSAs useful as you begin planning your class projects.

If you don’t know about RTNDA, you should, especially if you are interested in a career in TV, Radio news. The website has lots of information on the association, job services, resources of journalists, academic research and workshops.

View the site and check out the PSAs here.