Nobody Speak: Trials of the Free Press
Dir: Brian Knappenberger
2017
****

I thought that Hulk Hogan’s 2015 legal action against the gossip website Gawker was just about his inflated ego and a need for some much needed cash after his career took a hit, following the revelations that he’d been caught on video cheating on somebody else’s wife. Gawker released the video because that’s the sort of thing Gawker does, but I would wager that very few people were able to bring themselves to actually watching it and that more people knew about it thanks to Hogan’s legal action. I totally get why he’d go after Gawker, it is a grubby little website but I had no idea there was so much more to the law suit than there first appeared. Hogan’s case took a dramatic turn when certain aspects of the law suit were changed and the whole thing became personal. Essentially, Hogan’s case was a vanguard operation in the aggressive new reactionary philistinism and hatred of press freedom being nurtured by some of America’s super-rich which was encouraged as a political diversionary tactic by Donald Trump. After the giggling and stomach churning regarding the sex tape had died-down, it became clear that Hogan’s suit was secretly bankrolled by the Silicon Valley billionaire, Ayn Rand-ist libertarian and Trump supporter Peter Thiel, apparently out of revenge for Gawker outing him as homosexual some years ago. I can’t say I care much about what either man does in their own (or their best-friend’s) bedroom, and I can’t say I particularly like what Gawker does, but, after more digging, it becomes clear that the Hulk, like so many other celebrities before him, leaked the video on purpose to further his career but only wanted part of the video to be shown, as he had accidently filmed himself using racist language. Thiel saw his opportunity, backed Hogan and went for Gawker’s jugular. Gawker had continually picked up on Thiel’s underhandedness and had been critical of his financial performance, after many interviews with Gawker staff, you start to see through the garbage and see that they do also cover important stories and go after the biggest villains when no one else will. However, it’s a free press, if you live by the Constitution then you have to adhere to it, starting with the First Amendment. Thiel and Hogan won a massive $140m in damages, enough to put Gawker out of business and make a mockery of Constitution rights (specifically the First Amendment). Thiel represents part of an arrogant breed of elite who is irritated by the endurance of the free press who dare look into his business dealings. The Hogan case was a perfect example of sleight of hand, everyone looks into the sensational aspect of the story, while a much bigger atrocity plays out almost unnoticed. Gawker wasn’t going to receive much sympathy from anyone, at least not until it was too late, they were a perfect set up for such a precedent-setting attack. This is the world we live in, the world of Donald Trump. Trump started it during his rallies, urging crowds to turn on the press, accusing them of fake news and in some cases inciting violence. The film also looks at attempts of controlling the press by owning it, something that backfired for casino mogul Adelson Sheldon who bought out the Las-Vegas Journal in secret and ordered that nothing could be written about him - before being ousted by his own journalists, who then walked out en masse. It seems the rich and the powerful are becoming less tolerant of criticism, Trump being the leader. He doesn’t own a press outlet but one could consider his huge Twitter following as the next best thing – he himself has compared it to owning a newspaper without any of the losses. He and his financial backers want to see the libal rules loosened to suit them, to go about their underhand business deals without the fear of the whistleblowing press. Gawker may have shot themselves in the foot by relying on sensationalism, the bigger stories are often overlooked for lack of sex scandal, which is probably the least thing of interest when your statutory rights are being taken away from you without you even knowing. It’s not just Gawkers who will be effected however, I have no love for 90% of the free press but they have a right to print the truth, indeed that is what they are there for. I just fear that by the time the public have tired of sex scandals and celebrity that it’ll be too late. However, we should be able to count on great documentaries such as this to pave the way forward, as a well told documentary doesn’t need to spell certain things out that might get them in trouble, the truth is quite clear and often comes from the horse’s mouth as it were. Arrogance, intolerance, self-importance, the greedy rich, manipulative politicians, bent lawyers and Hulk Hogan naked – probably one of the most terrifying films you’ll ever see.