On The Media is produced by:
White House Spokesman Ari Fleischer announced his resignation this week, after more than two years at the podium in loyal service to the President. He has weathered major events such as the 2000 election, 9/11, and the Iraq war. But among the press corps, few will miss his obfuscating style and bullying tactics. Slate columnist Tim Noah reviews Fleischer's tenure with Brooke.
One of Ari's acrimonious relationships among the gaggle (there were many) has been with reporter Russell Mokhiber. The correspondent for Washington, D.C.-based Corporate Crime Reporter has made a sport out of asking questions that few other reporters would dare to, and Fleischer has responded in kind. Mokhiber tells Brooke about the experience of being on Ari's blacklist.
When President Bush tail-hooked onto the deck of the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln, critics railed against what they saw as an expensive stunt for promoting the President's image. But among those who were not surprised was New York Times White House reporter Elizabeth Bumiller, who has been observing similar grandiosity for years. She chronicles for Bob some the greatest hits of the Bush P.R. machine. .
The few Iraqis who own televisions have a new station on their dial - the U.S.-sponsored Iraqi Media Network. The channel went on the air last week amid allegations of censorship by the very authority that was funding it, and so far hasn't won over many viewers. Reuters correspondent Saul Hudson tells Bob about the controversy, and the media options that Iraqis seem to prefer.
The dramatic story of Private Jessica Lynch's rescue from a hospital in hostile Iraq was well covered by American media. It was also scripted and packaged by the Department of Defense. NBC has acquired the rights to the Pentagon sanctioned version of the rescue, but a much different account is presented in a new BBC documentary called "Saving Private Jessica: Fact or Fiction?" Its producer, Sandy Smith talks with Brooke.
Over the past several weeks, new facts have emerged which cast doubt on the original story of the Private Lynch rescue. To Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen the nation's major newspapers haven't done enough to set the record straight. He talks with Brooke about his confusion as a reader.
In the mountains of rural El Salvador, seasoned journalists are returning to square one in an attempt to gain credibility for their radio station. Radio Victoria was born as a mouthpiece for guerrillas during the war; now, in peacetime, the struggle is for journalistic objectivity. Sharon Lerner reports from El Salvador.
Journalist Andrew Meldrum has documented the 20-odd years of President Robert Mugabe's presidency from inside Zimbabwe. His increasingly probing coverage of the regime earned him harassment, some prison time and a week ago culminated in his expulsion from the country. Meldrum, who was the last foreign correspondent in Zimbabwe, recounts his experiences with Bob.
New York Times reporter Chris Hedges returned to his alma mater to deliver the commencement address this week, but cut the speech short after he was booed and heckled by audience members. Brooke has some words for the graduating class of Rockford College in Illinois.
Highlights from Past ShowsThe Federal Communications Commission is poised to make sweeping changes to its restrictions on media ownership. The rules were created to promote a diversity of voices on the airwaves and in the papers, and many fear that the changes, should they pass, could undermine that goal. OTM's Paul Ingles reports on what's at stake in next month's FCC vote.
Over the past couple of years the satellite TV network Al-Jazeera has often been criticized by U.S. government and military officials. But the network's critics include Arabs as well - among them the Abdul Rahman Al-Rashed, Editor-in-Chief of the London-based Arabic newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat. He joins Brooke to discuss what he saw to be Al-Jazeera's skewed coverage of the war in Iraq.
On the Media is funded by The Bydale Foundation, The Ford Foundation, The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Overbrook Foundation.
