This post is cross-posted with www.MissRepresentation.org, in advance of the film’s debut tonight on OWN, 9pm (8c).

In Miss Representation, actress-activist Rosario Dawson talks about how important it is for women to write their own stories. This is equally important in entertainment and in journalism alike.Yet as I discuss in the film, today’s media climate is extremely toxic for women and girls, and for people of color. That’s because the main purpose of TV programming today is not to entertain, engage or inform us. Sad but true: the purpose is generate sky-high profits for the six major conglomerates (Disney, Time Warner, NewsCorp, Viacom, CBS and General Electric) that own and control the vast majority of what we’re given to watch, see, hear and play in newspapers, magazines, TV, radio, movies, billboards and video games.

As a result, women are misrepresented and marginalized as op-ed writers, front-page news sources, lead anchors, and broadcast journalism commentators… that is, when they aren’t missing entirely (as decades of research document). Scripted entertainment isn’t much better. As filmmaker Nia Vardalos wrote at WIMN’s Voices, Hollywood studios ignore data that show that audiences actually do want to support films with strong female leads, calling the success of “Sex and the City” and “Mamma Mia” “a fluke.” When Nia tried to follow up her hit “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” with a new script, studio execs pressured her to change female leads to male characters—exactly the opposite of the kind of climate Rosario Dawson is rightly calling for.

DVR Alert: Tune in to the award-winning documentary “Miss Representation” TONIGHT, Oct. 20, 9pm(8c) on OWN (the Oprah Winfrey Network).

I had the honor of being an adviser on — and being interviewed in — this powerful film about women and the media. “Miss Representation” is the first mainstream film to delve into sexism in commercial media — from advertising and pop culture’s sexualization of girls, to triggering eating disorders, to media normalizing violence against women, to reality TV as anti-feminist backlash (which I discuss both in the film and Reality Bites Back), to double standards in news reporting on female politicians, to the trivialization of women who work in broadcast news, to the causal role advertising and media consolidation plays in all of this, to the need for media literacy to help youth and adults become more active, critical media consumers.

OWN will decide whether to re-air “Miss Representation” based in large part on the ratings it draws tonight. So please tune in… and ask five friends to set their DVRs as well. Tweet it, Facebook it, email people. (If for no other reason than the cognitive dissonance that results from seeing me and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice agree on something!)

I am extremely humbled to announce that Reality Bites Back: The Troubling Truth About Guilty Pleasure TV has been voted by Ms. readers onto Ms.‘s Top 100 Feminist Non-Fiction Books list.

The magazine is revealing their Top 100 list in batches of ten books at a time, and so far I am blown away by the heavy-hitter company in which I have found myself. Fellow Top 100 authors include, in no particular order: bell hooks, Assata Shakur, Robin Morgan, Melissa Harris-Perry, Eve Ensler, Leslie Feinberg, Gloria Feltd, Judtih Butler, and many other impressive writers of both classic feminist texts as well as emerging thought leaders. Some of these writers I have the pleasure of calling friends, and a few have been formative intellectual role models in my work.

The depth of the authors I’m sharing this space with is mind-blowing. I’m not sure if any award has

made me this happy since I got a “certificate of hotness” from The Real Hot 100 back in 2006 (award slogan: “See how hot smart can be!”). In both cases, being counted among brilliant, landscape-altering women is a shot in the arm for those days when the #brokeasswriter / #brokeassactivist life feels a bit too frustrating. It’s honors like these that remind me that the work I’m doing is making an impact, and it helps me keep going.

Yesterday, I wrote that I’d be appearing on CBC News’s Connect with Mark Kelley to discuss the state of reality television on the 25th anniversary of MTV’s iconic The Real World. Today, I’m happy to share the interview with you. My discussion is part of the following six-minute video package, starting at 2:14:

Quick hit: Tonight, to mark the premiere of the 25th season of The Real World, I’ll be on the CBC News show Connect with Mark Kelley to discuss how reality TV has morphed from one iconic (yet fringe) MTV show about strangers living together in 1992, to the landscape-altering genre it became once it traveled to network television in 2000.

Connect with Mark Kelley airs live from 8 – 9pm EST; I’m told that my segment will air at 8:45pm. Tune in live, or watch it online at http://www.cbc.ca/connect/

(And for those of you who care about such things… why, yes, that will be a big box of tissues right outside the camera’s frame! I’m

battling a nasty cold right now. Just consider me your puffy-eyed, red-nosed media analyst, at your service!)

I hope to be able to address some of the following, from the introduction to Reality Bites Back: The Troubling Truth About Guilty Pleasure TV (all footnotes available in the book; bracketed descriptions and names provided here for context):

Are you a last-minute Christmas gift-giver? Do you owe belated Chanukah and Solstice presents? Well, take it from Feministing, Isak, Hello Ladies and Women’s Voices for Change: Reality Bites Back makes the perfect gift!

I wrote the book to spark a national conversation about the meaning and impact of reality TV on our culture, and in doing so I hoped to make media literacy not only enlightening, but fun. So, I’m really excited to see Reality Bites Back popping up on holiday gift guides by respected media outlets and blogs who seem to find the book engaging and enjoyable. I’m also gratified and flattered to see the book recommended by readers on Twitter as “The Must-Have Book This Season” and discussed as good holiday reading options on Facebook by professors who say, “I’ve read it, I’ve taught it, Jenn has been in LA to discuss it — I’m all about it. If you haven’t yet, go get it!”

At Feministing, the book tops Courtney Martin’s “Not Oprah’s Book Club: Holiday Edition” gift guide:

Media Matters for America has weighed in on TLC’s decision to invite — and then uninvite — me to participate in a podcast about the reality show, Sarah Palin’s Alaska. (My previous two blog posts have discussed what I originally agreed to talk about on the podcast, followed by my response to my segment being scrapped.)

Media Matters’ post is headlined, “Sarah Palin’s Alaska cancels non-political guest’s podcast appearance, fearing politics (Yeah, right).” MM’s Jamison Foster writes:

If you’ve been paying attention to Sarah Palin’s Alaska, you probably know that the folks behind the show are obsessed with pretending that the show doesn’t have anything to do with politics. That obsession took an amusing turn this weekend as media critic Jennifer Pozner, author of a new book about so-called “reality television,” was invited to participate in a SPA podcast — then abruptly un-invited.

Foster quotes from podcast host Brian Reich’s explanation for the segment’s cancellation, and his statement that “Sarah Palin’s Alaska is not a political show.” (Reich’s comments are printed in full at the bottom of yesterday’s Reality Bites Back blog post.) Foster concludes:

Earlier today, I announced that I was invited to be a guest on TLC’s podcast about Sarah Palin’s Alaska, the new reality show starring and executive produced by the former Governor, GOP VP nominee, and potential future POTUS candidate. I wrote to give you all a sneak peek into what I planned to talk about on the show, which — as I blogged — was exactly what I had discussed with the podcast’s rep prior to being booked for the segment.

Turns out, dear reader, that your sneak peek is to be your only peek: my segment has been canceled specifically because of that blog post.

I was first told that my “tone” in my blog post made the podcast and show’s powers-that-be uncomfortable. I reminded the booker that I hadn’t said anything in the blog post (other than my thoughts about the show’s sop to the NRA, which I hadn’t been asked about and had forgotten to mention) that I hadn’t previously, honestly and clearly stated before she booked me. I explained that I reserve my snark especially for you, my lovely readers, but that I am always professional and appropriate when I offer media commentary in broadcast forums — as the dozens of TV, radio and podcast interviews listed on the media page attest.

UPDATE: This segment has been canceled–specifically because of this blog post. I may still participate in the TLC podcast and/or blogs in some other capacity, and will discuss in a blog post to come.

Am I being Punked? Perhaps. But at 10:20 EST, I’ll be a guest on TLC’s TalkBack Live podcast to follow tonight’s new episode of Sarah Palin’s Alaska, the new reality show starring — and executive produced by — the 2008 Republican Vice Presidential nominee, former half-term Gov. of Alaska, and Fox News contributor. In the episode, the Palin family and the Gosselin family (Kate Gosselin and her “plus eight” kids, stars of another flagship TLC series) will go camping together in Alaska.

I’m not sure TLC understands who they’re getting as a guest. I didn’t try to hide it: “You know I’m a media critic, and not a cheerleader for reality TV, right?” “Yeah. That’s ok,” the booker said. “You know I just wrote a book called Reality Bites Back, right?” “Yes. That’s not a problem.” Well, ok then…