TV and media crews on the Playa for 2006

[dj_john69]

Anyone know where i can find what commercial tv crews that filmed on the Playa this year ?? Does BM have a list for the year of allowed film crews filming for tv ??

Im curious to see what their final projects are about.

Please post up if you have any useful info.

Thanks.

~John

[MrMullen]

Anyone know where i can find what commercial tv crews that filmed on the Playa this year ?? Does BM have a list for the year of allowed film crews filming for tv ??

Im curious to see what their final projects are about.

Please post up if you have any useful info.

Thanks.

~John

We had a crew in our camp for Swiss TV.

[robbidobbs]

So a reporter in this stoopid town asks me for an interview. Turns out he had to find a local that was going so his editor would buy him a ticket. I agreed, and all indicators said he was excited about going. Half of the interview was him pumping me for information. He states he's arriving on Tuesday. I tell him to read everything in the Survival Guide and the Media Mecca site.
Ok.
So on Tuesday, I go to Media Mecca, ask around, and put a "Find Me" notice on the chalkboard. I find his name at Playa Info, and leave a message at the empty camp where he's registered. I wait to see if the MM has any word.
Nothing.
I go back several times to MM and leave a second note at the VW van/camp with particulars on how to find me. I honestly wanted to show him around the city, and I was vehicle mobile so it would have been a nice tour. Turned out it was his friend's camp, and he hadn't seen him either.
I wait.
I come home to find he's written x4 scathing editorials, printed on the front page, about how BM is only about drugs and sex.
What???
He had left on Wednesday, after finding out there was no internet access available at MM. He's all bent out of shape because he had to fight with Gate about in/out privileges (yes, really, it's $20). He gets out, goes to the elementary school where there is a room for press to get internet access.
He interviews some locals who comment that they'd rather BM didn't come around anyway. So he quotes them.
He tries to get back in, only to be held up because of the dirt storm. Roads are closed until the dust clears to safe driving conditions.
He turns around and goes home.

This morning I ran into him at the Post Office. He reiterated that he'd seen enough to conclude that it's only about sex & drugs. I said it wasn't. He responded that I was in denial, and that he'd seen enough to substantiate that conclusion. Huh? I've worked the event for 8 years full time and that just ain't so. He also said that MM didn't provide adequate facilities for him, and that they never stated that he may not get internet access.
See #6 at: http://www.burningman.com/press/faq.html#facilities

The boyfriend is of the opinion that I should write a Letter to the Editor spelling out that he came to all these conclusions after one day on the Playa, that MM states clearly there are no guarantees, and that press like all participants are under the same in/out restrictions.
Phooey!
He must have had a personally awful experience and came in with a whole suitcase of expectations. This ain't Disneyland baby. Think moon-surface with 10' visibility at times.

So should I respond to this jerk and how he blemished the good reputation of BM, or just go on with my merry life?

[Eric]

Robbidobbs- I'd write that letter to the editor. He got 4 editorials out of a one day visit? Sounds like he made a lot of stuff up, and you know how the media is in an uproar over made-up stories (think of the big NYTimes scandal from a few years ago)

If nothing else it will put a nagging thought into his editors head next time a story is headed his way.

And, yes, I see the irony of someone from Piss Clear calling for high journalistic standards. At least we don't claim to be unbiased!

[Bin Noddin]

That's too bad, Robbi. I followed the H&N stories on line (even put links on the e-playa) and wondered why they ended abruptly with such a wrong, incomplete view of the event. I thought the pre-event stories were actually pretty friendly. Oh, well, its the Herald and News. Send them a letter. When I lived there it was fun to get into letter-to-the-editor tiffs with certain people. Now I just read them from a distance, hoping that curmugeons like Sam McKeen have a long, long life. Cheers!