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After only 18 months at the helm of CNN, Walter Isaacson is stepping down to take a job at a Colorado think-tank. On the eve of his departure, Isaacson chats with Bob about his tumultuous tenure at the cable giant, and reflects on the current state of television news.
As the FCC prepares to review its rules for media ownership, the trustees of the media are increasingly finding themselves in the media spotlight. This past week FCC commissioners were on the defensive as critics of deregulation made their voices heard in Washington and New York. Brooke speaks with one of these critics, Jonathan Rintels, Executive Director for the Center for the Creative Community.
Since Disney owns a prolific amount of copyrighted intellectual property, it's tougher than ever to use the branded image or likeness of a certain big-eared, giggling rodent. Still, OTM fears no corporate giants, so we offer up this variation on a Disney standard that we hope won't get us sued.
In the months following September 11th, Al-Jazeera became a household name throughout much of America. Now, the Arabic language television network is launching a new English language web site. Joanne Tucker, the site's managing editor, speaks to Bob about the need for an Arab perspective in the Western media.
Joining a local school board. Wearing a political campaign button. Participating in a protest march. These are some of the things that staffers at The New York Times will not be permitted to do under the paper's new ethics code. Brooke discusses the new rules with the Poynter Institute's Bob Steele and with Slate.com founder Michael Kinsley.
When activists mounted a media campaign to condemn Nike's labor practices, Nike used the media to respond. But the activists cried foul, and California's highest court agreed. Now, it's up to the U.S. Supreme Court to decide where free speech ends, and advertising begins. Brooke discusses the case and its implications with Harvard Law Professor Lawrence Tribe, who is defending Nike in court.
Listeners respond - favorably and otherwise - to last week's conversation with Al Franken and Alan Colmes about the dearth of liberal media pundits.
Considering the power and subtlety of public relations today, it's hard to believe there was once a time when advertising was crude - and avoidable. But in the early 20th century, one keen observer of human nature observed that the best pitches were the ones you couldn't see coming. Brooke tells the story of Edward Bernays, the double-nephew of Sigmund Freud and the self-proclaimed father of public relations.
While the newsworthiness of the stories on the nightly news is sometimes debatable, viewers can at least rest assured that the stories were produced by journalists. Or can they? Bob reports from the fuzzy territory where public relations becomes news, in the form of the ubiquitous, but largely invisible, "video news release."
Highlights from Past ShowsJust before Al Gore announced he would not be a candidate for president in 2004, he vented to the New York Observer that he and his fellow Democrats could not get a fair shake from media increasingly in the pocket of Republicans. But Al Gore has been flogged by media across the political spectrum. Paul Waldman documents this all in the latest issue of the liberal "American Prospect" and talks with Brooke.
As the world waits for definitive proof that a baby has been cloned, we can amuse ourselves by reading about the cult that claims to have done it - the Raelians. Perhaps the most remarkable part of the story is that news outlets led with it before there was any proof that this cult had accomplished at all. Adam Bly, editor-in-chief of Seed Magazine, tells Brooke that we've all been badly served.
On the Media is funded by The Bydale Foundation, The Ford Foundation, The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Overbrook Foundation.
