Starsuckers is the most controversial documentary of the year, and was released in British cinemas in November 2009 to critical acclaim. It's a darkly humourous and shocking exposé of the celebrity obsessed media, that uncovers the real reasons behind our addiction to fame and blows the lid on the corporations and individuals who profit from it.

As a TV democracy, the U.S. is linked into one televised nation throgh the use of Satellite feeds. These feeds carry the live raw TV image before it has been packed by the networks with music, graphics or commercials. Satellite feeds reveal images of TV personalities in from a live camera with open microphones before they go on-air and again during commercial breaks. Because the feeds are sent out unscrambled and are visible to over 4 million dish owners across America, anyone with a home dish can tune them in. The networks view the nation as one big patch bay on which they can spill feeds of TV personalities being made up, cajoling, primping and whispering. To the networks, these feed out-takes are trash, and to most home dish-owners, boring. To me, the feeds are a window into the construction and performance of character, and the floating TV talk-show called the 1992 U.S. Presidential election. - 58 Minutes

They are the merchants of cool: creators and sellers of popular culture who have made teenagers the hottest consumer demographic in America. But are they simply reflecting teen desires or have they begun to manufacture those desires in a bid to secure this lucrative market? And have they gone too far in their attempts to reach the hearts--and wallets--of America's youth? FRONTLINE correspondent Douglas Rushkoff examines the tactics, techniques, and cultural ramifications of these marketing moguls in "The Merchants of Cool." Produced by Barak Goodman and Rachel Dretzin, the program talks with top marketers, media executives and cultural/media critics, and explores the symbiotic relationship between the media and today's teens, as each looks to the other for their identity. - 53 Minutes

"Militainment, Inc." probes the developing relationship between militarism and popular culture - especially the phenomenon of the entertaining war. Narrated and produced by University of Georgia Professor Roger Stahl, the film examines the relationship between the Pentagon and the entertainment industries in nine, 10-20min segments: Spectacle, Clean War, Technofetishism, Demonization, Reality TV, Sports, Toys, Video Games, and Dissent. The film will be distributed in the spring of 2007 with the Media Education Foundation.

In Consuming Kids, psychologist Susan Linn takes a comprehensive and unsparing look at the demographic advertisers call "the kid market," taking readers on a compelling and disconcerting journey through modern childhood as envisioned by commercial interests. Children are now the focus of a marketing maelstrom, targets for everything from minivans to M&M counting books. All aspects of children's lives—their health, education, creativity, and values—are at risk of being compromised by their status in the marketplace.

Interweaving real-life stories of marketing to children, child development theory, the latest research, and what marketing experts themselves say about their work, Consuming Kids reveals the magnitude of this problem and shows what can be done about it.

Part scathing critique, part call to action, "Independent Media In A Time Of War" is a hard-hitting new documentary by the Hudson Mohawk Independent Media Center. This film is composed of a speech given by Amy Goodman, host of Democracy Now! illustrated by clips of mainstream media juxtaposed with rare footage from independent reporters in Iraq. The documentary argues that dialogue is vital to a healthy democracy. "Independent media has a crucial responsibility to go to where the silence is," says Amy Goodman, "to represent the diverse voices of people engaged in dissent." She makes a compelling argument that the commercial news media have failed to represent the "true face of war."

Director Robert Kane Pappas' ORWELL ROLLS IN HIS GRAVE is the consummate critical examination of the Fourth Estate, once the bastion of American democracy. Asking whether America has entered an Orwellian world of doublespeak where outright lies can pass for the truth, Pappas explores what the media doesn't like to talk about: itself. Meticulously tracing the process by which media has distorted and often dismissed actual news events, Pappas presents a riveting and eloquent mix of media professionals and leading intellectual voices on the media. - 103 Minutes

"Outfoxed" examines how media empires, led by Rupert Murdoch's Fox News, have been running a "race to the bottom" in television news. This film provides an in-depth look at Fox News and the dangers of ever-enlarging corporations taking control of the public's right to know. The film explores Murdoch's burgeoning kingdom and the impact on society when a broad swath of media is controlled by one person. Media experts, including Jeff Cohen (FAIR) Bob McChesney (Free Press), Chellie Pingree (Common Cause), Jeff Chester (Center for Digital Democracy) and David Brock (Media Matters) provide context and guidance for the story of Fox News and its effect on society. This documentary also reveals the secrets of Former Fox news producers, reporters, bookers and writers who expose what it's like to work for Fox News. These former Fox employees talk about how they were forced to push a "right-wing" point of view or risk their jobs. Some have even chosen to remain anonymous in order to protect their current livelihoods. As one employee said "There's no sense of integrity as far as having a line that can't be crossed." - 77 Minutes

Most Americans know the mainstream media manipulates stories, manufactures illusions, and exploits fears. But the reason is more than just liberal bias or sloppy reporting. Behind the Big News exposes a revolutionary agenda originating outside the media that defines today's headlines. This powerful and fast-paced video examines some of the biggest news stories in recent decades to discover how this subversive agenda is promoted. Behind the Big News also reveals an effective strategy to overcome this ongoing assault on American freedom. - 60 Minutes

n the past our politicians offered us dreams of a better world. Now they promise to protect us from nightmares. The most frightening of these is the threat of an international terror network. But just as the dreams were not true, neither are these nightmares. In a new series, the Power of Nightmares explores how the idea that we are threatened by a hidden and organised terrorist network is an illusion. It is a myth that has spread unquestioned through politics, the security services and the international media. - 3 60 Minute Episodes

Episode 1: Baby It's Cold Outside
Episode 2: The Phantom Victory
Episode 3: The Shadow In The Cave

Since the US-led invasion four years ago, the fifth estate has covered Iraq and the war on terror from virtually every angle--the military, media, intelligence, politics--revealing aspects of the story that you didn't find anywhere else. Now, as the White House warns about the latest threat in the region, this time from Iran, it's worthwhile looking back to examine the deception, suspect intelligence, even lies, that convinced the world of the rightness of targeting Saddam Hussein. The political decisions behind the invasion The Lies That Led To War is drawn from these stories: In 2003's The Forgotten People, the fifth estate examined the human rights arguments used to make a case for war. We looked at the sale of technology by the US to Iraq during the 1980's despite the fact that this equipment could be, and was used eventually, in military operations by Saddam Hussein against Kurdish civilians. After the gassing of the Kurds in 1988, American business with Iraq actually increased. - 44 Minutes

The experts have spoken. Mass media is reported to be on its last legs. A handful of new media entities with remarkably silly names: Blogs, Vlogs, YouTube, Podcasts, and Yahoo! are leading the charge, leaving traditional forms of communications to play catch-up or get left behind. The CBC's pop culture specialist Jian Ghomeshi ponders the fate of mass media and asks whether we are nearing a world without television, radio or print in THE END, a three-part series airing on CBC Newsworld. With new trends in media emerging on what seems to be a daily basis, many have been predicting the fall of traditional communications for some time. There are always new trends, toys and gadgets, but which of them will survive and emerge victorious? And what will our increasingly wired, (or is that wireless), world look like in this age of instant information gratification? Is this really the end of TV and radio as we know it?

Episode 1: Radio
Episode 2: Television
Episode 3" Print

American Teen is set in Warsaw, Indiana, and focuses on five graduating high school seniors as they struggle through school and life. The five students prominently featured in the film fit typical high school archetypes, such as a popular student, a nerd, a jock, and a loner.

The program talks about the key players in the Project for a New American Century (or PNAC); Wolfowitz is credited with being the mastermind behind the operation due to his "Defense Planning Guidance" draft in 1992. Further evidence cited is PNAC's the open letter to President Clinton in 1998 encouraging him to wage war on Iraq due to their possession of chemical and biological weapons. The important statement from Wolfowitz's and Bush's current doctrine that separates it from the earlier policy towards containment is that pre-emptive action to protect America's interests against hostile states, terror groups, and states that harbor terror groups is considered justified. This is a dramatic shift from the politics of George Bush Sr., and indeed was too radical for his administration. But after September 11th, George W. Bush took it to heart. In fact, Colin Powell may be the only reason that the US spent so long seeking UN approval for a war against Iraq. His opinions and politics align more closely with the idea that the US should seek multilateral approval first, and he worked hard to do so. But whether or not the UN inspectors would have made enough progress to peacefully disarm Iraq, Bush decided that the US had waited long enough. This war will be the first test of the US' new doctrine for foreign policy--The Bush Doctrine, which is perhaps best outlined in the White House's National Security Strategy. After more than a decade in the making, we have entered a new era in our diplomatic relations, and only time will tell whether it was a success or not. - 52 Minutes

Adam Curtis' acclaimed series examines the rise of the all-consuming self against the backdrop of the Freud dynasty. To many in both politics and business, the triumph of the self is the ultimate expression of democracy, where power has finally moved to the people. Certainly the people may feel they are in charge, but are they really? The Century of the Self tells the untold and sometimes controversial story of the growth of the mass-consumer society in Britain and the United States. How was the all-consuming self created, by whom, and in whose interests? The Freud dynasty is at the heart of this compelling social history. Sigmund Freud, founder of psychoanalysis; Edward Bernays, who invented public relations; Anna Freud, Sigmund's devoted daughter; and present-day PR guru and Sigmund's great grandson, Matthew Freud. Sigmund Freud's work into the bubbling and murky world of the subconscious changed the world. By introducing a technique to probe the unconscious mind, Freud provided useful tools for understanding the secret desires of the masses. Unwittingly, his work served as the precursor to a world full of political spin doctors, marketing moguls, and society's belief that the pursuit of satisfaction and happiness is man's ultimate goal. - 4 60 Minute Specials

Episode 1: Happiness Machines
Episode 2: The Engineering of Consent
Episode 3: There is a Policeman Inside All Our Heads
Episode 4: Eight People Sipping Wine

Viewers of one of Britain's best-loved breakfast TV shows have been fleeced out of millions of pounds, BBC One's Panorama programme will reveal tonight. (Monday 23 April) Millions of callers to GMTV were encouraged, over a four-year period, to enter premium-rate phone competitions when they could not win, in what could be TV's dirtiest secret. 29 Minutes