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Last week, millions of people around the world took to the streets to demonstrate against the looming war in Iraq. It has been called the largest coordinated anti-war protest ever. It was also the first protest in recent months to garner serious media attention. Editor & Publisher's Greg Mitchell joins Brooke to survey the coverage.
Last week's antiwar rallies seem to have banished the collective shrug with which much of the media have regarded the peace movement. OTM Producer Megan Ryan tackles the question of what makes an anti-war protest easy to cover…and easy to ignore.
When a newsmaker takes a stand against an individual journalist based solely on where that journalist is from, should fellow journalists take a stand against the newsmaker? That question is fueling strong debate among foreign correspondents this week, after Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz refused to answer a question from an Israeli reporter at a news conference. OTM contributor Megan Williams reports.
If another war does happen in Iraq, this time hundreds of reporters will be on the frontlines to witness it. The Pentagon is "embedding" around 500 reporters with military units in the Persian Gulf…on the condition that the reporters agree to certain ground rules. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Media Operations Brian Whitman outlines some of those rules for OTM, and military historian Major Robert Bateman joins Brooke to discuss some of the potential impacts of close contact between reporters and soldiers.
Official guidelines imposed upon journalists in war come with the terrain, but there are times when the restraint comes from within. Veteran radio producer Helen Borten found it hard to separate her own sympathies for the troops from the need for editorial objectivity in a piece that was recently aired. She shares some of her experiences with Bob, and reflects on some of the material that didn't make her final cut.
The Oscars are just around the corner, but for those filmmakers with more independent proclivities, the year's biggest soiree is already history. Screenwriter Cami Dalavigne arrived at this year's Sundance Film Festival with a movie to screen, a script to pitch….and a tape recorder. She brings us this report from the storied valleys of Park City, Utah.
Chances are, if you've seen an airplane in a movie, it was a set. The same set, in fact, that was used in that other movie you saw with the airplane in it. And that other one. Reporter Rachael Myrow journeys to the San Fernando Valley, where moviemakers pay big to get inside a plane that never leaves the ground.
This week, Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge unveiled Ready.gov, a new website to prepare the American people for a possible terrorist attack. But in the middle of his news conference, CNN cut away to a dog being rescued from an iceberg. Whaaaa? Bob reflects on the media's role in a time of permanent alerts, and suggests some possible uses for all of that duct tape he's been buying.
Highlights from Past ShowsRhetorical jabs at the war-reluctant French were surfacing in the American press this week, with "cheese-eating surrender monkeys" among the choicest barbs. Surprisingly, the response from French papers has been calm. As the clock ticks down to a potential war in Iraq, Martin Walker of United Press International surveys headlines from around the world.
Quick response to disaster, like the crash of the space shuttle Columbia last week, is a mainstay of the news industry. Radio is especially relied upon by some communities for news and information from the outside world. More and more though, radio stations are automated so that they can neither effectively report breaking news nor disseminate important safety information to their listeners. Brooke's report compares local coverage of various disasters and questions the role of media consolidation in the process.
On the Media is funded by The Bydale Foundation, The Ford Foundation, The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Overbrook Foundation.
