From his perch high above the convention floor (but not as high as the blogging section), WNYC's talk-show host Brian Lehrer spent the week looking for the local aspects in the national story. He was one of the many members of "radio row" broadcasting back to listeners at home. Brian shares some of his observations with Brooke.
This weekend, Showtime kicks off a ten-episode series that aims to select a "people's candidate." The contest winner will claim $200,000 in cash and a national platform from which, producers say, the victor could mount an actual write-in campaign for president. New Hampshire Public Radio's Josh Rogers filed this report from his home state, where part of American Candidate was taped earlier this summer.
There's good news and bad news for those who miss the longtime voice of NPR's Morning Edition. The good news is that you'll once again be able to set your clock radio to the sonorous tones of Bob Edwards. The bad news is that clock radio will have to be a satellite clock radio, for which you'll have to pony up the monthly subscription price of $9.99. Filling out the rest of XM Radio's brand new "public radio" channel will be a lineup of shows already familiar to public radio listeners. Brooke gets the scoop from XM spokesman Chance Patterson.
Public radio isn't entirely new to satellite radio. For years, NPR and PRI have provided a slate of shows to XM's competitor, Sirius. But NPR has stopped short of offering its flagship newsmagazines for fear of siphoning off the audience and revenue of its member stations. So what does it mean that Bob Edwards will now compete against the stations that used to depend on him? And does his move signal the beginning of the end for over-the-air public radio? Brooke talks to Carol Pierson, president and CEO of the National Federation of Community Broadcasters.
Earlier this month, a woman in France told the police she had been attacked on a train by a gang of immigrants who drew swastikas on her stomach and overturned her baby carriage. None of her fellow passengers, she reported, came to her rescue. The attack was immediately condemned by politicians and journalists alike. When it turned out to be a hoax, everyone backtracked. But not before a blow had been dealt to the credibility of French media. Thomas Marzahl reports from Paris.
Honest souls may disagree about what the Americans have brought to Iraq - freedom, or just more suffering. But one product of the invasion is indisputable: reality TV. The genre's first hit in the cradle of civilization is called "Labor and Materials," and airs weekly on satellite channel Al Sharqiya. Essentially a home makeover show, it aims to clean, fix, and furnish Iraqi homes destroyed in the war. Christian Science Monitor correspondent Annia Ciezadlo tells Bob that the renovations are winning over a big audience.
We know by now that proclamations of irony's death after 9/11 were, at best, premature. But since the short hiatus of dark humor ended, the subject of the Muslim-American experience has not exactly been the butt of many jokes. Luckily, in one corner of cyberspace a group of satirists is filling that humor hole. Bob talks with Mirza Baeg, one of the founders of Islamica News.
Highlights from Past Shows
In politics, 2004 is shaping up to be the year of the weblog. During the primary, candidates discovered they could raise money from supporters by featuring blogs on their websites. And for the first time, bloggers have been accredited to cover this summer's political conventions. They'll be allowed to visit the convention floor, interview delegates, and do everything the other journalists do. Some guardians of the old order are none too happy about their presence, but others are excited about the prospect of bloggers shaking up convention reporting. NPR's Jim Zarroli reports.
With both halves of the Democratic presidential ticket accounted for, campaign season is finally in full swing. There wasn't much novelty in the substance of the candidates' stump speeches this week. But when it came to the ever-important war of images, it was clear that at least one major element of the race is still up for grabs. Namely, says Paul Waldman, editor-in-chief of The Gadflyer, the character flaw that will ultimately define John Kerry. Waldman and Brooke look at how the two campaigns have used the media to define the top John.
On the Media is funded by The Bydale Foundation, The Ford Foundation, The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Overbrook Foundation.
