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After years of negotiations, Rupert Murdoch has succeeded in his bid for DirecTV. The satellite broadcasting operation adds 11 million American viewers to Murdoch's global empire, making his media company not simply the biggest, but probably the most powerful as well. Bob queries Cable World Senior Editor Alicia Mundy about Murdoch's ever expanding media holdings.
Lately, many celebrity entertainers are getting political, and their agents are getting nervous. But while these celebrities risk their profits by knocking the war, leading media consultants are advising their clients to make money by promoting it. Vivian Goodman reports on the interplay between patriotism and ratings.
This week, television went back on the air in Iraq. But instead of the familiar faces of government leaders, Iraqi TV now features Dan Rather, Tom Brokaw, and other American newscasters. The programming package is funded by the U.S. government, and is coordinated by Westwood One chairman Norm Pattiz. Brooke speaks to Pattiz about the project, and about his larger effort to create a U.S. government-backed satellite TV network for the Middle East.
CNN News Chief Eason Jordan has spent the week defending his decision to stay silent about death threats by Saddam Hussein's regime so that CNN could stay in Iraq. The New Republic's Franklin Foer wasn't shocked by the substance of Jordan's revelations, but by his choice to publicize them at all. Foer shares his thoughts with Bob.
Sometimes, when covering a war zone, reporters employ the locals as "fixers," to help them navigate unknown territory and customs. Newsday's Matthew McAllester covered the war in Kosovo in 1999. In Beyond the Mountains of the Damned, he admits that he may have jeopardized the safety of the very people who were helping him report. Bob talks to McAllester about the reporter's guilt.
People who watched live images of the Saddam statue toppling in Baghdad might not recognize the version repeatedly broadcast on TV since then. In its repackaged form, the drawn-out, American-managed event looks more like a spontaneous popular uprising. Brooke reflects on what may be the second draft of history.
The war in Iraq may be drawing to a close, but that doesn't mean television can't continue to draw viewers with the promise of live battlefield coverage. There's always a war going on someplace in the world, so is it possible that we'll soon see a "war channel" added to the standard cable lineup? Paul Saffo of the Institute for the Future thinks so. He shares his predictions with Brooke.
It's an advertiser's dream - the bedridden audience. And now there's a media company that's exploiting it. As of last fall, patients in hospitals nationwide have been tuning into the new 'Patient Channel,' a channel featuring programming and advertising directed specifically at the ill. Jon Kalish reports.
How do you sell an enormously oversized vehicle with awful gas mileage and a price tag of 50 thousand dollars? You appeal to people's most basic fears and desires. That's according to Clotaire Rapaille, a medical anthropologist and SUV marketing consultant, who chats with Bob about GM's new advertising campaign for the Hummer.
Highlights from Past ShowsThis week, U.S. strikes on buildings housing reporters in Baghdad left three journalists dead, raising the total number of journalists killed in the war to 12. Press representatives from all over the world, as well as the Committee to Protect Journalists, have condemned the "reckless" American attacks. CPJ Acting Director Joel Simon discusses the war's toll on journalists with Bob.
With its unflinching coverage of the war in Iraq, Al Jazeera is ruffling feathers on both sides of the conflict. The cable channel has already been ejected from the New York Stock Exchange and now in a strange twist, a correspondent has been booted from Iraq. Despite that, last week Al Jazeera was the most searched-for term on the Net. Bob talks with Joanne Tucker, managing editor of Al Jazeera's English language website.
On the Media is funded by The Bydale Foundation, The Ford Foundation, The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Overbrook Foundation.
