Had a recent plan by the Pentagon moved forward, traders would have been invited to invest in futures contracts on political events in the Middle East. The idea of the scheme was that the accumulation of all known information, as reflected in securities trades, is more revealing than even the best experts' knowledge of what reality is. Slate.com's Daniel Gross speaks with Bob about what's behind the old economic axiom: "the tickertape knows."
The semi-monthly Baghdad Bulletin launched in June, chronicles the struggles of daily life in Iraq and is largely reported by a handful of young Brits. The Baghdad Bulletin describes itself as "a non-partisan publication whose only tenet is that the presence of a free press offering a forum for all sides is an inalienable human right." David Enders is editor and chief of the Bulletin and he speaks to Bob from Iraq.
Vermont Governor Howard Dean's weblog has set records for fundraising, and sped his rise from insurgent to frontrunner. Now, pundits have announced the dawn of the Internet Age in politics several times before, but as OTM's Raquel Maria Dillon reports, maybe, just maybe, the Internet and the political world are finally ready for each other.
The first TV ads of the campaign season are already on the tube…with variations on an extra line you haven't heard before: "That's why I approved this message." Its because of a new "Stand by Your Ad" provision that requires candidates to acknowledge responsibility for their ads. Brendan Koerner writes for Slate.com, and he speaks with Brooke about the new mandate.
If the media see themselves as under siege from all sides - government, Wall Street, and public opinion - there is relief at least on one front: the courts. At least in the arena of libel and privacy law, the pressure seems to be steadily easing. According to a new study by the Media Law Resource Center -- news media outlets successfully defended themselves against libel and privacy charges four out of five times in 2002. Bob speaks with Sandra Baron, the Executive Director of the MLRC.
Nowadays when it comes time to select a jury, lawyers are choosing among people who are already drenched in the details of the case…and wise to the ways of the courtroom. Dr. Jo-Ellan Dimitrius is a jury consultant. Using such tactics as telemarketing and mock trials, she helps lawyers navigate potential jury pools to identify their perfect jurors. She speaks with Brooke.
Comedian Bob Hope, who died early this week at the age of 100, was an American cultural institution and a mass media phenomenon in films, radio and TV. He even had a website of his jokes. But he also filled another role, widely ignored in the coverage surrounding his death. He was the successor of Will Rogers and the predecessor of Johnny Carson as a "public oracle," in his day the preeminent ridiculer of officialdom. Bob speaks with William Robert Faith, colleague and biographer of Bob Hope.
Bob and Brooke read some letters
Highlights from Past Shows
Ever since the FCC voted to relax media ownership rules, congressional opponents of deregulation have been working to reverse the changes. But because the leader of a key House committee opposed the effort, nobody thought it would get very far. Undaunted, deregulation opponents took an alternative tack, and were vindicated this week in a vote by the full House. Cable World Senior Editor Alicia Mundy fills Bob in on the latest in the FCC saga.
Two years after being conspicuously passed over for the top job at the New York Times, Bill Keller was named Executive Editor of the paper this week. He replaces Howell Raines, who resigned in disgrace last month in the wake of the Jayson Blair scandal, but who maintains that he was just trying to do what was best for the paper. Brooke speaks with Keller about the job that lies ahead.
On the Media is funded by The Bydale Foundation, The Ford Foundation, The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Overbrook Foundation.
