Topic: Martin Kaplan

The Hollywood Health & Society program, part of the USC Annenberg Norman Lear Center, works to embed specific social and political messages into television storylines. Director Martin Kaplan described how the group provides "story bus tours" and briefings to writers to encourage the inclusion of topics like the Affordable Care Act and climate change. Between 2011 and 2013, the organization successfully influenced over 335 storylines across 91 different TV shows.

In response to a donor request, the hosts explain the significance of the Smith-Mundt Act and its 2013 repeal via the NDAA, which legalized the use of government propaganda on American citizens. They play a clip from Martin Kaplan of the Lear Center detailing how hundreds of storylines in popular television are used to disseminate specific social and political messages.

The George Clooney film "Tomorrowland" is described as a vehicle for global warming propaganda, equating climate change with the dystopian futures of Orwell and Huxley. The hosts play a clip from Martin Kaplan of the Norman Lear Foundation, who discusses how his organization successfully embeds specific social "storylines" into popular television shows. The episode concludes with a final thank you to the "No Agenda" producers.

The hosts discuss how advocacy groups work with Hollywood writers to insert specific political and social "memes" into television scripts. They use a clip from a drama series to illustrate how "bullying" is being reframed as a "cybercrime" to justify future internet regulation. They express concern that such narratives are used to build public support for FCC oversight of online content.