If It's Too Bad to Be True, It Could Be DISINFORMATION
If It's Too Bad to Be True, It Could Be DISINFORMATION
1985
audio archive
image not available online
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This video was part of an installation with the same title, taken from an article in The New York Times accusing the U.S. Government of spreading false information on Nicaragua. According to the U.S. Government, Nicaragua had bought MIG planes to attack the United States. By incorporating press material, Rosler creates a collusion of text and image that questions the authority and objectivity of the media. As in other of her works, the formal structure is inseparable from her political analysis. In a clear reference to the NBC Nightly News and other news programmes on U.S. television channels, Rosler analyses their deceptive syntax through the asymmetry and incoordination between text and image, and captures the confusion inserted intentionally into the news script. Stressing the fact that there is never a straight story, Rosler asserts her presence in a character-generated text that isolates excerpts from the original broadcast sources, rolling over the manipulated images.

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original title
If It's Too Bad to Be True, It Could Be DISINFORMATION
year of acquisition
2008
type of object
Audiovisual recording
credits
MACBA Collection. Barcelona City Council long-term loan
registration number
R.3238
date
1985
fonds
MACBA Collection. Long-term loan of the Barcelona City Council
media
Single-channel video, color, sound, 16 min 26 s
Copyright
© Martha Rosler
original title
If It's Too Bad to Be True, It Could Be DISINFORMATION
registration number
R.3238
date
1985
year of acquisition
2008
fonds
MACBA Collection. Long-term loan of the Barcelona City Council
type of object
Audiovisual recording
media
Single-channel video, color, sound, 16 min 26 s
credits
MACBA Collection. Barcelona City Council long-term loan
Copyright
© Martha Rosler
Mass media
Disinformation
Nicaragua
United States
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