B. J. Bullert

Antioch University Seattle, Undergraduate Studies - Liberal Arts, Emerita

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I retired from Antioch University in 2021. I taught undergraduate classes in communication, media and social change for a decade. Prior to that, I served as Core Faculty at Antioch's Center for Creative Change. During my academic career, I maintained my practice as a documentary filmmaker producing films on social issues, local history and the arts. For more information, visit www.seattlefilms.org. Or my vimeo page, https://vimeo.com/bjbullert
Address: Seattle, Washington, United States

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Papers by B. J. Bullert

"The Young Palestinians".PDF

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"Dark Circle"

Public television : politics and the battle over documentary film I B. J. Bullert. p. cm.-(Commun... more Public television : politics and the battle over documentary film I B. J. Bullert. p. cm.-(Communications, media, and culture) Includes bibliographical references and index.

This is a case-study of how 'Dark Circle,' a provocative documentary about the nuclear weapons industry, ended up being accepted for a PBS broadcast, and then cancelled in the 1980s. The award-winning film was produced by San Francisco based filmmakers Judy Irving, Ruth Landy and Christopher Beaver.

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The anatomy of controversy : PBS, independent producers and the promise of public television /

ABSTRACT

Earl Robinson: Ballad of an American

The Journal of American History, 1995

Earl Robinson: Ballad of an American

The Journal of American History, 1995

Strategic Public Relations, Sweatshops and the Making of a Global Movement

When an estimated 40,000 1 marched in Seattle to protest the World Trade Organization's meeting, ... more When an estimated 40,000 1 marched in Seattle to protest the World Trade Organization's meeting, months of organizing by environmental groups, trade unions, human rights organizations and others, came to fruition. Organized publics in the form of trade unions, human rights groups and political elites succeeded in linking labor, environmental concerns and human rights to the WTO. The citizens who took to the street succeeded in drawing the attention of the reading and viewing public through the media to what they contend is the human and environmental costs of the "free trade" in the global economy. Although many reporters, especially television newsmen, were keen to capture the dramatic visuals of breaking glass, Darth Vader cops, and a youthful protestor running off with a Starbucks espresso machine, the overall impact of the protest shifted the media frame on the globalization debate in the press initially by expanding the coverage of genetic engineering and labor conditions in the developing economies. 2 The environmental, human rights, labor rights and sweatshop issues culminating in the protests against WTO were years in the making, and strategic public relations professionals working with grassroots organizations and NGOs were integral in shaping them. They publicized a vision of the global economy that countered one based on profits, market-share and high returns on financial investments for stockholders. One of their greatest successes has been in linking consumers to the producers of consumer items through the anti-sweatshop campaigns against Nike and Kathie Lee Gifford. This paper has two objectives. First, it tracks the role of these public relations professionals in the shaping and defining of the sweatshop awareness movement, and second, it examines the campaign against Nike as a window into an emerging form of political activism suited to computer-savvy youth, lifestyle politics, global interdependency and consumer choice. Linked by E-mail, the Net, and common symbols, these political actors under the age of 30 are becoming increasingly visible players in the debate about transnational corporate responsibility. Now, a word of caution: my analysis of the anti-sweatshop campaign is provisional and intended to spur discussion. New information is coming to light daily, and this can set off a chain of actions and reactions shifting, focusing and transforming the issues and debates. For example, the anti-sweatshop campaign is expanding its gaze beyond clothing and shoes to working conditions and wages in computer and electronics assembly factories, toy factories, and other industries in export and industrial zones in Asia, Latin America, and the United States. How will governments, transnational corporations, non-governmental organizations, workers, the media, and consumers respond? Cracks in the coalition are beginning to appear when some coalition members, such as Global Exchange, want to declare victory on Nike and move on to other targets, such as the GAP and Starbucks, or coalition partners take opposite stands on foreign trade debates, such as whether the U.S. should grant China new, normalized trade privileges despite its human rights record and the concern that it will further accelerate the exodus of U.S. manufacturing jobs. 3 Another factor is financial: the reluctance of some foundations, such as the Ford Foundation, to fund advocacy campaigns that target one particular company rather than industry-wide strategies to spur structural reform. 4 Whether the anti-sweatshop campaign presents an enduring form of civic consumerism or a step toward conscious global citizenship, is unclear at this writing, yet in the short term, a dynamic coalition of groups has been successful at putting the underside of the global economy on the front pages of the newspapers. Students, in particular, have been extremely successful in politicizing the decisions of marketing and sports establishments at major U.S. universities by focusing media attention on the production-consumption chain of university merchandise. 5 This is no small task. Academic Frames: Controversy, Strategic Communication and Post-Materialism Communication scholars have observed that the political process is increasingly mediated by the press. In a political/media system where press coverage largely filters how and what general publics have an opportunity to know, if groups don't have a voice in the media, they usually don't have a voice at all in public dialogue or in political decision-making. The pernicious influence of a corporate perspective has long influenced the media's filter on economic globalization, but in recent years, the anti-sweatshop campaign has had an impact on this equation through two effective media strategies that make news by making controversy: one targets a highly visible company, such as Nike, and the other targets a highly visible celebrity as a way to capture the attention of the press and the concerned publics. Data linking producers to consumers have anchored the news in a tangible reality. In the anti-Nike sweatshop awareness campaign, grassroots activists and NGOs working with savvy media practitioners have successfully subverted corporate public relations campaigns

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