''Spin'' is a 1995

documentary film A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

by Brian Springer composed of raw satellite feeds featuring politicians' pre-appearance planning. It covers the

presidential election A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is President. Elections by country Albania The president of Albania is elected by the Assembly of Albania who are elected by the Albanian public. Chile The p ...

as well as the

1992 Los Angeles riots The 1992 Los Angeles riots were a series of riots and civil disturbances that occurred in Los Angeles County, California, United States, during April and May 1992. Unrest began in South Los Angeles, South Central Los Angeles on April 29, after ...

and the Operation Rescue abortion protests. ''Spin'' is a follow-up to the 1992 film '' Feed,'' for which Springer provided much of the raw satellite footage.

Summary

Among other things, the film captured an 'open mic' discussion between

Larry King Larry King (born Lawrence Harvey Zeiger; November 19, 1933 – January 23, 2021) was an American TV and radio host presenter, author, and former spokesman. He was a WMBM radio interviewer in the Miami area in the 1950s and 1960s and beginning in ...

and George Bush about sleeping pills, King talking about how he "changed the world", and

Pat Robertson Marion Gordon "Pat" Robertson (March 22, 1930 – June 8, 2023) was an American Media proprietor, media mogul, Televangelism, televangelist, political commentator, presidential candidate, and charismatic movement, charismatic minister. Rober ...

making homophobic comments in-between takes. The film also documents behind-the-scenes footage of

Larry Agran Lawrence Alan Agran (born February 2, 1945) is an American lawyer and the current mayor of Irvine, California. In May 2023, Agran announced that he would be running as a candidate for the 2024 Irvine mayoral election. He won the election with 3 ...

, who unsuccessfully sought the Democratic Party nomination for president. As covered in the documentary, the media generally ignored Agran during his candidacy. The media did not report his polling numbers, even as he met or exceeded the support of other candidates, such as

Jerry Brown Edmund Gerald Brown Jr. (born April 7, 1938) is an American lawyer, author, and politician who served as the 34th and 39th governor of California from 1975 to 1983 and 2011 to 2019. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic P ...

. Party officials excluded him from most debates on various grounds, even having him arrested when he interrupted to ask to participate. When he managed to join the other candidates in any forum, his ideas went unreported. He was excluded in photographs with other candidates.Media Burn Archive
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Reception

Stephen Holden Stephen Holden (born July 18, 1941) is an American writer, poet, and music and film critic. Biography Holden earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Yale University in 1963. He worked as a photo editor, staff writer, and eventually be ...

of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' described the film as "a devastating critique of television's profound manipulativeness in how it packages the news and politics".

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, id=0114512
''Spin''
at the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...

''Spin''
( Video Data Bank) 1995 films Documentary films about journalism Documentary films about American politics Documentary films about abortion Films about propaganda 1990s English-language films 1990s American films English-language documentary films American collage films Collage television Films set in 1992 Films about Bill Clinton 1992 Los Angeles riots Documentary films about television

Summary

Reception

See also

References

External links