New Video on Media: Lines in the Sa

[PeaceNet Middle East Team]

From: <pnmideast>
Subject: New Video on Media: Lines in the Sand

I recently had the opportunity to review this
video which I think is an excellent resource
for people to know about. Excellent short video
perfect as a discussion starter in a classroom
or group. It also has a companion classroom study
guide available, which is very useful and includes
good teaching aids.

Jennifer Smith
Middle East facilitator, PeaceNet
pnmideast at igc.apc.org


PRESS RELEASE

For more information call
Peter Wirth (315) 476-3396


Lines in the Sand

"Modern wars are not won and lost on battlefields but in front 
of television screens, where attitudes and perceptions are 
bought and sold." With footage from Vietnam, the invasions of 
Grenada and Panama, Lines in the Sand illustrates how the 
Pentagon increasingly manipulates the news we see. Michael 
Deaver, who served as President Reagan's principal media 
advisor, said that the Persian Gulf war was such a propaganda 
success that a team of public relations experts could not have 
planned it better.

This 12-minute video essay explores how information was 
controlled and news managed during Operation Desert Storm to 
keep the disturbing realities of war from affecting the 
conscience of the U.S. public. Lines in the Sand raises crucial 
questions concerning the ways that limited access to 
information shapes public opinion. Footage shot in Baghdad by 
producer and writer Ed Griffin-Nolan shows us the faces of the 
victims we did not see on the nightly news.

An interview with a geology professor who lost his wife and 
four daughters in the Ameria bomb shelter along with hundreds 
of other civilians puts a human face on a war that was 
skillfully and intentionally kept from our view. "Victory - but 
victory at what price?" is the troubling moral question that 
Lines in the Sand leaves us to ponder.

Now in use in hundreds of schools and churches in the US and 
Canada, Lines in the Sand premiered in the 35th London Film 
festival last November. Steven Bode, an organizer of the 
festival wrote "their analysis of the media coverage of the 
war and the questions it left unanswered is sharp, insightful, 
and sobering." More recently, it aired on PBS in New York, 
Washington, DC, San Francisco, and a number of smaller cities.

Randy Pitman of the Video Librarian gave Lines in the Sand a 
"Four Star - Editor's Choice" rating. He wrote that Lines in the 
Sand reminds us that not only were the human costs of the war 
neither calculated nor reported - they were ignored on 
purpose." Lander's Film and Video Review rated Lines in the 
Sand in their "Highly Recommended" category.

Dr. Charles Kimball of Furman University in South Carolina, 
whose book Angle of Vision: Christians and the Middle East was 
selected to be the principal text for the 1992 ecumenical 
study of the Middle East writes:
 "I am hopeful that your video will be used by many in these 
local church programs since it illustrates some of the issues 
and concerns I raise in my book. It is an important resource 
complementing my book."

Professor William Griffen in the Education Department at SUNY 
Cortland writes, "Congratulations on your video - Lines in the 
Sand. I have used it with my college students and teachers and 
the feedback was dramatic. Questions and issues either 
minimized or ignored in the mass media were developed 
intelligently, making Lines in the Sand one of the most 
effective audio-visual aids I have used in the past decade."

Gabrielle Tinto, an eighth grade student at Levy Junior High 
School in Syracuse wrote the following letter after viewing 
the video in her social studies class: "Overall I liked the video 
we were shown in class. It showed a side of war I hadn't seen 
before. For myself and others who didn't have relatives in the 
war, it seemed very distant. The US went in, bombed a few 
bases, showed their guns and the opposing side surrendered, 
neat quick and clean. What I never thought about were the 
hundreds of people, civilians, who were being killed, family 
members lost, homes burnt down . . . I gained a new perspective 
of war from watching this video."

Lines in the Sand is produced by Ed Griffin-Nolan, former 
media director for Witness for Peace, and edited by Laura J. E. 
Marini. Available for $21.95, or $37.95 complete with a study 
guide. Send orders to Griffin-Wirth Associates, 168 Parkway 
Drive Syracuse, New York 13207, or call (315) 476-3396. 
Prices include postage and handling.

Recommended for schools (junior high through college), 
libraries, religious organizations and community groups.