Chris Hayes just tweeted a link to this article about the film "Won't Back Down"

[highplainsdem]

Chris's tweet:

http://twitter.com/chrislhayes/status/250427033660825600

Christopher Hayes
?@chrislhayes

Well this is interesting: http://reporting.sunlightfoundation.com/2012/back-school/ …


9:50 PM - 24 Sep 12

The link goes to an August 27 Sunlight Foundation article, "Back to school: Privatizers turn to big screen to push charters, trigger laws":

http://reporting.sunlightfoundation.com/2012/back-school/

Conservative bankrollers Rupert Murdoch and Philip Anschutz have teamed up to produce "Won't Back Down," a film that presents the inspiring, yet one-sided, story of parents fighting to take over a failing public school using Parent Trigger legislation. Parent Trigger laws give dissatisfied parents the option to convert schools into charters and seek bids from outside organizations--both nonprofit groups and for-profit companies--to run them. The laws are the latest item on the push for privatization and have already been enacted in seven states. According to the Huffington Post, they have received backing from a politically diverse group of supporters ranging from the Walton Foundation and the American Legislative Exchange Council to the Bill Gates Foundation and some Democratic lawmakers.

Murdoch and Anschutz have pulled together a star-studded cast for Won't Back Down, due to premiere Sept. 28, including well-known actresses Maggie Gyllenhaal and Viola Davis. The two men are media powerhouses: Murdoch's vast News Corp. empire includes 20th Century Fox. Anschutz is a conservative publisher who two years ago teamed up with some political liberals to produce "Waiting for Superman," another documentary that was harshly critical of the public school system. Movie critics liked it; teachers unions, not so much.

In an audio clip published by the Nation in October 2010, anti-union consultant Richard Berman reflected on the best strategies for pushing forward private education reforms. If we can't "intellectualize ourselves into the [education reform] debate…we need to hit on fear and anger," Berman explained. "Because fear and anger stays with people longer. And how you get the fear and anger is by reframing the problem."

Murdoch, whose News Corp. is now investing heavily in the education market, has put Berman's strategy into action. Previews of "Won't Back Down" feature inspiring background music, touching parent-child scenes, and words flashing across the screen "the system can fail...but a parent can't."