Networked Audiences: MoveOn.org and Brave New Films

This chapter considers the influence of digital networks and social networking on political organizing and documentary film production/distribution. Utilizing the collaboration between MoveOn.org and Brave New Films in the early 2000s as a case study, it demonstrates that the shared politics of the two organizations and their separate specializations (political organizing, viral media, film production) enabled them to experiment with novel forms of film production and distribution, foreshadowing many of the innovations later associated with social media such as crowdsourcing, user generated content, social networking, viral media, etc. The production of Outfoxed, in particular, demonstrates the role that alternative media played in countering the perceived influence of Fox News and other conservative outlets.