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This week representatives from 191 nations gathered for the 59th meeting of the U.N. General Assembly. President Bush gave the traditional welcome, drawing a "polite" reception from those gathered. His remarks came less than a week after U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan agreed that the US-led invasion was illegal. Brooke reviews the response to Bush's speech in the global media with Martin Walker, editor in chief of United Press International.
This summer, 9/11 Commission Chairman Thomas Kean noted that three-quarters of the classified material he reviewed during the investigation shouldn't have been classified in the first place. Since then, we've heard a new round of calls for revising federal guidelines on secrecy, and not just from the usual suspects. Heritage Foundation staffer Mark Tapscott is among the conservatives calling for more transparency. He makes his case for Brooke.
The "war on terrorism" brings with it an ever-present state of alert, and constant warnings about the threat to our society. Most of those warnings are from our government, in the form of color-coded threat levels. But now comes an alert about our government's incremental assault on the public's right to know. Lucy Dalglish is executive director of The Reporter's Committee for Freedom of the Press, which compiled the report. She discusses the findings with Bob.
Whether tort reform is good social and economic policy is a legitimate political issue. But it's also a serious journalistic concern. Investigative reporter Morton Mintz, who broke the Thalidomide story during his many decades as a staffer at The Washington Post, tells Bob how court records from civil litigation are critical to shedding light on major problems otherwise hidden from public view. And why trial lawyers don't deserve the denigration they're receiving of late.
Most of the time, trial lawyers don't ever make it to trial. Personal injury lawyer Len Gabbay often serves his clients' interests by keeping them out of court. And he does it with the help of a video camera. Gabbay compiles documentaries on the suffering of the plaintiff, and screens it for the defendant. He tells Brooke that nine times out of ten they settle, and everyone is spared the ordeal of a trial.
Months after it punished a New York Times reporter for unflattering coverage, the Brazilian government is again under fire for a new measure to keep the press in check. Lawmakers are debating a proposal for a Federal Journalism Council that would have the power to "orient, discipline, and monitor" reporters, and could theoretically bar reporters from the profession if they violated a new code of ethics. Brazilian journalist Antonio Brasil discusses the controversy with Bob.
More plot twists this week in what's been called the CBS "Docu-Drama." Dan Rather apologized for his network's irresponsibility, rumors swirled about the origins of the forged documents, and CBS created a panel to investigate. Bob gives a sampling of the response to our own coverage of the scandal, and Brooke fills in the picture.
Leaks are part and parcel of the Fourth Estate, and a tremendous irritant to the Bush Administration, especially back in the early days of the War on Terror. That was when Bob produced this piece on the pros, cons and mechanisms of the ever-present, and indispensable, Washington leak.
Highlights from Past ShowsSince CBS weighed in last week with its own expose of George W. Bush's National Guard service, the rest of the media have been consumed with the story behind that story. But while the talking heads went back and forth over the authenticity of the CBS documents, did they lose sight of the bigger picture? And was the kerfluffle the best thing the Bush campaign could have hoped for? Bob takes a look at media scandal-as-diversion.
In the throes of the Beslan hostage catastrophe last week, the Russian government reverted to the standard procedure employed in previous crises: it lied. But is it possible that the latest embarrassment, which met with harsh criticism from much of the media, will finally coax the government into more honesty with its people? The Christian Science Monitor's Fred Weir tells Bob not to hold his breath.
On the Media is funded by The Bydale Foundation, The Ford Foundation, The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Overbrook Foundation.
