Presidential candidate and anti-corporate crusader Ralph Nader's new book hit stores this month, courtesy of publishing house HarperCollins. The irony is that HarperCollins is owned by Rupert Murdoch, the media mogul who does not hesitate to use his media organs to promote Republican causes. Is HarperCollins admirably backing books that fly in the face of its owner's politics? Or is Murdoch another one of the powerful Republicans cynically supporting Nader to re-route votes from John Kerry? Bob talks to Salon senior writer Eric Boehlert.
This spring, Beacon Press released an updated edition of Ben Bagdikian's The Media Monopoly. When it was first published, critics dismissed the book's grim portrayal of increasing media concentration as "alarmist." But twenty years later, it looks like Bagdikian's predictions were right on target. Bob talks with the author about his ground-breaking book.
When the Republicans take Manhattan later this summer, among the billboards they'll see in Times Square will be two with an antiwar message. That's the upshot of a deal this week between the activist group Project Billboard and Clear Channel Communications, who owns the billboards. Clear Channel had originally rejected the group's business on the grounds that its message was "inappropriate" for terror-rattled New Yorkers. Bob reflects on the growing power of the Davids who stand up to the Goliaths of media consolidation.
A brief update the deteriorating situation for press freedom in Russia.
This week, The New York Times and its columnist, Nicholas Kristof, were slapped with defamation lawsuits by Steven J. Hatfill, the former government scientist once named a "person of interest" in the FBI's investigation of the anthrax attacks. He was never charged, but did feature prominently in several of Kristof's columns, thinly disguised as "Mr. Z." Who gave Kristof the information? Two years ago, when Hatfill first defended himself in public, Brooke filed this report on the law enforcement tactic of intentionally leaking information to the media.
For decades, TV ratings were based on diaries kept by so-called Nielsen families. Over time, far more accurate devices called "people meters" gradually replaced the diaries to gauge national ratings. But the introduction of people meters to local markets around the country is causing a big commotion. A coalition of activists and broadcasters argue that the new system undercounts viewership by ethnic minorities. Not so, says Nielsen. This week, the two sides faced off on Capitol Hill. Bob talks to Cable World contributing editor Simon Applebaum about the brouhaha and its implications.
New York Times readers this week were treated to a serialized printing of The Great Gatsby as a supplement in the paper. Critics who have bemoaned the downfall of pleasure reading in America were surely heartened by the newspaper's daily dose of literature. After all, we all know reading is sound mental hygiene and watching stuff, on big screens or small, is cerebral sloth. Don't we? Brooke gets a contrarian's view on the value of the printed word from new media visionary Douglas Rushkoff.
Highlights from Past Shows
The metaphor of the week was "last piece in the puzzle." The piece in question was Senator John Edwards of North Carolina, newly anointed contender for vice president. And "the pick" was the news that kept on giving. From Tuesday morning, when Senator Kerry made his choice known, through this Sunday, when the two Johns will appear together on 60 Minutes, the new look of the presumptive Democratic ticket dominated headlines, thanks to a carefully crafted media strategy of photo-friendly events spread over the course of the week. Brooke and Bob recap.
Americans awoke this past Monday to learn that the much-anticipated "handover" of sovereignty to Iraqi officials, scheduled for later in the week, had already happened. If the Coalition Provisional Authority was trying to avoid a violent attack during the ceremony, the strategy seemed to have worked. But after weeks of meticulous planning for covering the event, television news crews were left as much in the lurch by the last-minute change as were insurgents. Marcy McGinnis, Senior Vice President for News Coverage at CBS News, tells Bob about her network's early-morning scramble.
On the Media is funded by The Bydale Foundation, The Ford Foundation, The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Overbrook Foundation.
