Current Updates

On March 30th, the Jack Rabbit Speaks posted the following:

> : Is it true that there was a reality TV show being filmed on playa
> this year?
>
> A rumor began before the event this year that the Discovery Channel
> would be filming a reality TV show in Black Rock City. The show was
> Discovery Times, which focuses on alternative culture, such as power
> tool races, etc. Mainstream media has been coming to Burning Man for ten
> years now. Recently the organization held our annual staff retreat for
> over 100 of our managers. A group of non Media Department staff, who
> were troubled about the Discovery Times piece, discussed the decision to
> allow Discovery Times to film. The staff members concluded that after
> analyzing the decision they felt the problem is that our participants do
> not understand our media selection process. If you fall into this
> category and want to learn more then please visit
>

It appears that this valid question (e.g is it true a reality tv show was filmed) was not answered, but buried in an explanation and a justification as to why media is at the event.

It is indeed a fact and not a rumor that Discovery-Times "Only In America" is a reality television show. And by BMorg's own admission (listen to BURNcast #1), it is also true that it paid a site fee for the privilege to film at Burning Man.

Even the New York Times, the partner company for the Discovery-Times network identifies this show as "reality programming". On September 2, 2005, New York Times review by Carlo Rotello, made the following comments about the show calling it what it is: "The need to construct a reality-show plot arc, clumsily signposted with portentous teasers and galumphing mood music, also hamstrings Mr. LeDuff's reporting." Below is the article in it's entirety.

As of yet, the JRS has yet to suppport or announce BURNcast, podcasts that resulted in our efforts here at SaveBRC, in an effort to educate the community about media presence at Burning Man.

These podcasts (which include interviews with Andie Grace, Larry Harvey, Danger Ranger and Maid Marian) were recorded two days before this show aired reflect a positive resolution to the questions raised by SaveBRC.org. They go in great depth how the media process works at Burning Man. In fact, Twan, the Los Angeles regional rep posted it to the LA Burners list when they first were released.

We've been were holding off on publishing the next Burncast until the JRS announcement took place because of concerns with issues of bandwidth if all three podcasts were posted at once and announced at the same time. At an average size of 30 mb per show, the downloads may be overwhelming.

The podcasts have thus far been submitted several times to BMorg.

Surely Burning Man supports independent media as well as commercial media?

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September 2, 2005
Answering Call of America's Weirdness
By CARLO ROTELLA
Every once in a while, maybe three times an episode (to judge from the first two), "Only in America" produces a moment that stays with you.

Dan, a member of an Oakland biker club called the East Bay Rats, describes the long-ago humiliation of being gang-stomped while his friends looked on and did nothing. It can't happen to him again, he says, now that he's a Rat. (Of course, you have to endure a group beating from fellow Rats when you join the club, and members regularly pound each other in a makeshift ring while friends cheer them on during informal fight nights, but people are complicated.)

Dan chokes up and walks away from Charlie LeDuff, the show's host, who stands there with his chin in his palm. The camera lingers, allowing another Rat to wander into the frame and exchange a sympathetic look with Mr. LeDuff behind Dan's back. Everything the episode wants to address, especially the urge to ratify community with intramural violence, hangs unspoken in the air between them.

In another episode, Mr. LeDuff, wearing fancy Western wear chosen by two cowboys who ride on the gay rodeo circuit, visits Thad Balkman, a Republican state representative from Oklahoma who crusades against gay marriage. After some inconclusive political fencing, Mr. LeDuff shows off his new threads to Mr. Balkman, who pronounces them "very handsome." When Mr. LeDuff asks if he looks gay in his getup, Mr. Balkman says, "No, it kind of looks like a Roy Rogers kind of deal." Mr. Balkman is so bland that at first you might not notice he's kidding.

Mr. LeDuff, a reporter for The New York Times, claims to have a populist agenda for "Only in America," which has its premiere tonight on the Discovery Times Channel. "There's so much stuff going on in this country that's not covered correctly," he says, and covering it correctly, for him, means participating: fighting in the ring, riding a bull in the rodeo. "You should certainly live, feel, breathe, eat and understand the way the other people do." He adds, "I put my body out there so the guy on the couch watching might understand the guy he won't talk to."

America's enduring weirdness beckons to an enterprising reporter seeking resonant subcultures. In addition to bikers and gay rodeo riders, Mr. LeDuff will visit arena football players, fashion models, battle re-enactors and others. Find a scene, work your way into it, hang out, point the camera at people with something to say and let them say it. You can't go wrong.

Actually, you can. Mr. LeDuff too often gets between us and the people he wants to introduce to us. He has a sense of humor, and one can appreciate the gameness of a reporter who will dress up in drag to fall off a steer, but there's just too much of him, and he can't seem to get over himself. His overstyled voiceovers do little to frame the action in an explanatory bigger picture, and he takes up too much screen time. He talks too much, and too often he's talking about himself. "These guys respect me, like, I'm a gamer," he says of the East Bay Rats. Even if true, the line makes you wince.

One also grows tired of Mr. LeDuff's self-regarding need to mark his territory. Depending on whom he's hanging out with, he will start droppin' his g's and otherwise broadening his variable regular-guy diction. When he offers an analytical insight - for instance, when women fight, "it's kinda hot" - he'll put some extra stoner drag in his voice to assure us he's no egghead. Hanging with the head Rat at ringside, Mr. LeDuff is moved to remark, "You're like the Svengali of a lost generation, man."

"Well," says the guy, "at least I throw a good party."

The need to construct a reality-show plot arc, clumsily signposted with portentous teasers and galumphing mood music, also hamstrings Mr. LeDuff's reporting.

Each episode has a sustained gimmick. Charlie's going to fight a giant Rat named Big Mike. Charlie's not going to let any gay wannabe cowboy outride him. Will he walk out or be carried out? It's forced and lame, and it suggests that "Only in America" doesn't trust regular weird American folks to hold our interest.

--

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/02/arts/television/02tvwk.html ?ei=5070&en=6effb0d4d4a52c83&ex=1144641600&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx =1144470271-9WIo1XUrhuNVslxomEIs+g&pagewanted=print

Carlo Rotella's most recent book is "Cut Time: An Education at the Fights" (Houghton Mifflin). He teaches at Boston College.