On The Media is produced by:
Since September 11th, the White House has done its best to keep secret the names of some 1200 people detained in the so-called 'War on Terrorism.' This week a Federal Appeals Court agreed with the Administration's argument that the secrecy is essential to national security. Jane Kirtley, the Director of the Silha Center at the University of Minnesota, joins Brooke to discuss the ruling.
When The Washington Post first reported the capture and rescue of Private Jessica Lynch, some critics challenged the paper's reliance on "battlefield intelligence" and unnamed sources. This week, the Post revisited the story with a lengthy investigation that acknowledged the facts were "far more complex and different" than initial reports. Brooke talks to Dana Priest, a staff writer for the Washington Post who contributed to both iterations of the Lynch story.
Weapons of mass destruction have been found in Iraq! At least that's what a third of the American public believes. A poll released earlier this month shows that despite the media blitz during the Iraq war, many Americans are still deluded about the basic facts of the war. Brooke talks with Republican pollster Frank Luntz about the mistaken beliefs amongst the American public.
Try as they might, newspapers can never completely correct the record. Once an error goes to press, it becomes part of history. But online publications can simply fix the gaffe, and in doing so make the error disappear forever. Brooke and Slate Editor Jacob Weisberg take a look at corrections in the age of ones and zeroes.
Thursday marked the 50th anniversary of the execution of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg. Five decades on, the story of that historic moment in American history is as contentious as ever, and even people intimately involved with the case continue to re-evaluate the story. WNYC's Sara Fishko takes stock of the myths that have evolved over the past five decades around the Rosenbergs.
Radio stations with a political agenda are virtually as old the medium itself. Throughout the 20th century, these gadfly stations have irritated governments of the nations that receive their signals. Recently, more and more underground radio stations have begun operating above ground. Brooke talks with Nick Grace, Managing Editor of clandestineradio.com, about the range and influence of clandestine radio stations worldwide.
The young cease-fire between the Sri Lankan military and the Tamil Tiger rebels is again in jeopardy, after the Tigers rejected the government's latest compromise proposal. Meanwhile, ethnic minority Tamils continue to tune into 'Voice of Tigers' - the radio station run by the guerillas. Miranda Kennedy reports from Sri Lanka on the official broadcast outlet of the unofficial Tamil homeland.
Highlights from Past ShowsThe eyes of journalists around the world may be turning away from Baghdad, but Baghdadis themselves have more options than ever for reading about their city. A recent estimate pegged the number of new newspapers in Baghdad at more than 100, up from just five during Saddam's reign. NPR's Deb Amos gives Brooke a view from the ground, and tells Brooke about how the American occupiers are attempting to manage the explosion of new voices.
Most media critics, if they believed it would happen at all, figured it would take a few months, a decent interval, before Howell Raines left the helm of the New York Times. But in the wake of the Jayson Blair scandal, Howell's departure came sooner rather than later. Newsweek media reporter Seth Mnookin speaks to Brooke about the unfolding drama at the Grey Lady.
On the Media is funded by The Bydale Foundation, The Ford Foundation, The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Overbrook Foundation.
