Media Matters

While network television is mired in rerun and reality show hell as film and television producers unwisely choose not to negotiate and settle their differences with striking members of the Writers Guild, there is worthwhile viewing to be found on some public television stations.

The Freedom Files is a nine-part series returning for its second season this fall with a slate of new programs examining the legal inequities around the death penalty, same-sex marriage, gay parenting, voting rights, immigrants’ rights, surveillance, sex education, the school-to-prison pipeline, and unlawful imprisonment and torture.

These half-hour documentaries feature the firsthand accounts of real people who have taken on the powers that be, often at great risk to themselves, in order to preserve their precious constitutional rights. They draw on the power of true stories to highlight vital civil liberties issues of our time and inspire viewers to take action.

This excerpt from an episode called, “Freedom to Marry” follows the lives of three Maryland couples seeking to overturn state law that bars same-sex couples from marriage. Takia Foskey and Jo Rabb had a commitment ceremony four years ago but despite being in a committed relationship, they lack the hundreds of legal protections afforded to heterosexual married couples, and must worry about how to protect their family without these protections. 

Filmmaker and political activist Robert Greenwald, whose ground-breaking films include Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers and Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch’s War on Journalism, continues as executive producer of the series.

The episodes will be distributed nationwide to public television stations, and sneak previews will air in the fall on Peabody award-winning Link TV. The programs also will be made available on Web sites such as YouTube.com.

Meanwhile, Newark, NJ-based public radio station 88.3 WBGO-FM will shed light on an overlooked and neglected segment of that city’s population, its LGBT community. Thursday night at 8 pm ET, on Newark Today first-term Newark Mayor Cory Booker will answer questions and field listener calls and emails on some of the harsh conditions facing the city’s gays and lesbians. Those conditions recently came to light in a New York Times article that contrasted the progressive social legislation happening across the rest of New Jersey with the often blatant homophobia that exists in its largest city.

Listeners outside the area can tune in via the internet at www.wbgo.org.