As it whirled toward shore this week, Hurricane Isabel churned up fear and pounded down rain into the homes of tens of millions…of TV watchers. The weather coverage climaxed on Thursday, as reporters did their best to remain upright throughout the duration of their stand-ups. Bob checks in with one of the news directors who dispatched reporters into the gale, Larry Silbermann of WTOC in Savannah, Georgia.
Two years after the September 11th attacks, the sympathy expressed around the world for the U.S. has largely dissipated. A quick flip through the major newspapers of other countries is a sober reminder that billions of people are getting very different versions of the news than are Americans. Bob talks to UPI Chief International Correspondent Martin Walker about the foreign media's response to recent events like the WTO walkout, U.N. deliberations over Iraq, and Israel's threats to eliminate Yasser Arafat.
The tally of Americans killed in combat since the official end of the war in Iraq stands near 80, and the number grows almost daily, but this is a war in which we know very little about "the enemy." Several weeks ago, reporter Hannah Allam set out to learn more about the men carrying out attacks on American troops in Iraq. She tells Brooke about her meetings with the resistance fighters, and about the mixed reaction she's gotten from readers of her article.
Brooke and Bob read from listeners' letters.
Over the past decade, more than 100 girls and women have been raped, murdered, and disappeared around the Mexican border town of Juarez. But the case remains far from solved, and many believe law enforcement officials are bending over backwards to stymie the investigation. In the absence of thoroughgoing police-work, local journalists have aggressively taken up the case, and in doing so are blurring the lines between journalism, activism, and law enforcement. OTM's Marianne McCune reports.
Crime writing abounds on the newsstands and it's a genre that includes some of today's most compelling writing, covering a diverse spectrum of subjects from a tale of an aging pimp in Las Vegas to a body farm in Tennessee. Bob speaks with Otto Penzler, the co-editor of the just-released 2003 edition of Best American Crime Writing.
Highlights from Past Shows
The Democratic presidential race is heating up, and judging by this week's candidate debate, so is its entertainment value. Might the surprising liveliness of Tuesday's event have anything to do with its unlikely co-sponsor - Fox News? Slate.com's deputy Washington Bureau Chief Chris Suellentrop attended the 9-way face-off, and recounts some of the on- and off-stage highlights for Brooke.
Lobbyists for CBS, NBC and Fox have descend on Washington, armed with new data from a poll by Republican pollster Frank Luntz that says the public doesn't mind media consolidation. Their first move was to place ads in two Washington-insider papers: Roll Call and The Hill with the slogan: "America Says: Don't get between me and my TV." NBC vice president and chief lobbyist Robert Okun lays out the network's case for Brooke.
On the Media is funded by The Bydale Foundation, The Ford Foundation, The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Overbrook Foundation.
