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The bunting from Super Tuesday was hardly torn down when the President unleashed his first round of re-election ads this week. Critics are already lashing out at the Bush-Cheney campaign for exploiting 9/11 imagery, but at least one advertising critic thinks the spots are surprisingly tasteful, and restrained. Just so happens that critic is Ad Age columnist Bob Garfield. He joins Brooke to deconstruct the ads.
A disillusioned former CIA agent has been tapped to head up an elite new counter-terrorism force. His partner is the widow of his former partner, and is determined not to let anything undercut her love for and commitment to her government. Thus the stage is set for the new TV drama D.H.S. - The Series. The show might not have a home yet, but the high-adrenaline dramatization of the War on Terror does have the backing of the Department of Homeland Security, and the support of President Bush. Brooke talks to Executive Producer Joseph Medawar and lead actor Alison Heruth Waterbury.
A humanitarian disaster is brewing in a remote western region of Sudan. Armed conflict has driven one million refugees from their homes, and survivors are telling stories of burned villages and ethnically motivated killings. Media coverage of the crisis has been scanty in the U.S., but some observers don't think it's too soon to talk about genocide. Bob talks to Samantha Power, author of A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide.
Media analysts have been wringing their hands more and more ferociously over the ubiquity of unidentified sources. And newspapers seem to be responding. Following similar moves by other papers, the New York Times this week instituted a new policy on the use of anonymous sources. But when it comes to stories like the fall of Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide - stories that involve the federal government - will anything change? Brooke speaks with NYT Assistant Managing Editor Allan M. Siegal.
Last week, Clear Channel booted Howard Stern from its stations on the stated grounds of indecency. Some say the radio giant was tidying house before a date with Congress. But others - Stern included - point to his recent political left turn. They say he was silenced after using his almighty mic to Bush-bash. Bob asks Salon senior writer Eric Boehlert to weigh-in on the theory.
Under stepped-up pressure from north of the border, the Mexican government has begun cracking down on movie piracy. But at the same time, some DVD distributors are trying a new tack. They are selling legal DVDs to street vendors for less than the price-tags on the faked copies. OTM's Marianne McCune reports from Mexico City.
Thirty years ago, Francois Truffaut's Day for Night took the Oscar for Best Foreign Film. It was hardly the last film that spun the camera back on the moviemaking process itself. But in the years since, it's hard to find a movie that casts such an adoring eye on its own business. Slowly but surely, it seems, power, greed, and mental illness have infected the plot lines of this self-reflective cinematic genre. WNYC's Sara Fishko surveys the history of movies about movies.
Jayson Blair is once again the topic-of-the-week among media ethics types. But this time, there is far less agreement about how to deal with the former reporter, fabricator, and plagiarizer for the New York Times. Should media organizations refuse to review his new memoir so as not to give the scoundrel Blair free publicity? After careful consideration, we decided that no, we couldn't ignore this media story. OTM's Stephen Glassman presents our review of Burning Down My Master's House.
Highlights from Past ShowsViolence and chaos is ravaging Haiti, as armed opponents of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide make their way across the island attacking police stations and government supporters. And once again, Haitian reporters are being targeted too. Brooke speaks to Michelle Montas, former director of Radio Haiti International and widow of slain journalist Jean Dominique, about the threat to journalists and the story that is emerging over Haiti's airwaves.
Political reporters have been busy this week writing obituaries for the Howard Dean campaign, and trying to explain what on earth happened to the candidate who a few weeks ago was the undisputed frontrunner. Some blame Dean for not keeping his cool, and some blame his staffers for squandering the campaign's nest-egg. Many blame the media. But Clay Shirky, a theorist on the sociology of the Internet, tells Bob that we should instead be trying to explain why we ever thought Dean's lead existed at all.
On the Media is funded by The Bydale Foundation, The Ford Foundation, The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Overbrook Foundation.
