Saddam Hussein had his first day in court this week, and gave a defiant performance that was watched closely by media all over the world. It offered another opportunity to reflect on the gulf separating Iraq coverage by Arab networks from that of their American counterparts. Earlier in the week, that gulf was also apparent, as the news that many Iraqis had been waiting so long for came and went before they heard a word about it. Bob talks to Knight Ridder Baghdad Bureau Chief Hannah Allam about the Arab media's coverage of the week's two big media events.
In a 5 to 4 decision on Tuesday, the Supreme Court ruled that the Child Online Protection Act probably violates the First Amendment, and sent the case back to a lower court. This is the latest in an ongoing conflict between free speech and parental peace of mind - a conflict that has seen various legislative solutions sent back to the drawing board. Professor Jonathan Zittrain, co-founder of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard, joins Bob.
In April of 2002 in the Russian city, Togliatti, a newspaper editor was shot to death in his car. Valery Ivanov was murdered following a series of stories in the Togliatti Observer exposing ties between the local mafia, businesses and corrupt law enforcement agencies in the region. Although shocking, the assassination wasn't necessarily out of the ordinary. Ivanov was the sixth journalist targeted in Togliatti since 1995 - killings documented in the film "The Russian Newspaper Murders," to air as part of the PBS Wide Angle series this week. Bob spoke with the film’s director, Paul Jenkins.
Despite repeated warnings from Bush Administration officials that terrorists could strike the U.S. this summer, most Americans have made more preparations for barbecues than for a potential attack. In the first of a two-part series on homeland security readiness, OTM's John Solomon looks at how the Bush Administration is doing in its effort to market civil defense preparedness to the public and the press.
Listeners weigh in on our coverage of voter disenfranchisement in Florida, as well as our handling of the 9/11 Commission's recent reports.
Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 opened to blockbuster box offices numbers, making it the highest grossing documentary of all time. But like previous Moore films, it has been criticized as being more of a polemic than a serious work of journalism. Moore is accused of selectively representing the truth with footage that serves his point of view, and discarding facts that are inconvenient. Bob chats with one skeptical truth-squader, Newsweek correspondent Michael Isikoff. Read Craig Unger’s response to Isikoff’s Newsweek article here .
The Carlyle Group – a private equity house in Washington – is frequently mentioned in articles about the Bush administration’s many ties to businessmen dealing in the Middle East. Most recently, Michael Moore’s blockbusting anti-Bush bonanza singled out the firm for particular scrutiny. For years, countless websites have portrayed the group as a sinister network of well-connected insiders operating in the shadows of the military-industrial complex. It all makes for an uphill battle for the guy in charge of maintaining the firm’s public image. Bob talks with Christopher Ullman, Carlyle Group’s vice president for corporate communications.
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When the so-called handover of sovereignty from the Coalition Provisional Authority takes place in Iraq on Wednesday, the Iraqi Media Network will be one of the institutions that changes hands. Network officials say it will form the backbone of a new public broadcasting service in Iraq, but critics counter that its independence has already been nipped in the bud by excessive regulation on the part of the CPA. Brooke talks to the CPA's head of media development and regulation, Simon Haselock.
The 9-11 Commission concluded this week that there is no credible evidence of a collaboration between Iraq and al Qaeda in planning the attacks on America. The President and other administration officials deny they ever said there was a collaboration… but maintain that there was contact. What part do the media play in this battle of semantics? Christy Harvey compiles the "Progress Report" for the Center for American Progress, a liberal Washington-based think tank. She and Bob discuss the anatomy of this story
On the Media is funded by The Bydale Foundation, The Ford Foundation, The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Overbrook Foundation.
