Kristen Lopez
It was just this week that we saw the biggest merger in recent history between Fox and Disney. What does this mean to us? What does this mean to a free press that’s just as reliant on reporting the news as it is pleasing the people and institutions that provide it? All of this is terrifyingly laid out in Brian Knappenberger’s documentary, Nobody Speak.
It’d be easy to dismiss Nobody Speak as the “Gawker doc,” detailing the lawsuit between the media site and wrestler Hulk Hogan over a sex tape. What starts out as a typical “sex and lies in Hollywood” story soon transitions into something far more insidious, a cold and calculated attack against a website by a powerful man who didn’t like what they had to say — and I’m not talking about Hogan.
The film explores the legal system and how, in this world where corporations are “people,” CEOs and business conglomerates can bankrupt any news site they disagree with. If Disney can stop the L.A. Times from covering its screenings, what could stop them from suing the paper over a slight, forcing the paper to close up shop? According to Nobody Speak: nothing, and that should be more than enough to force you to sit down and watch it.
Availability: Netflix
