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When it comes to informing the public, President Bush and his Cabinet have tended to avoid what Bush calls the media "filter." But an embedded reporter in Kuwait this week slipped through the administration’s filter, by planting one of his own questions with a soldier at a Q&A session with Donald Rumsfeld. Reporters had been banned from the event, but Rumsfeld was forced to address an issue he’d previously ignored. Bob and Brooke mull it over.
This week, reporters in two cases stared down jail time for refusing to name their confidential sources. The journalists believe that they should be protected from having to testify. Afterall, if they revealed their source they could never be trusted again. But law professor and author Geoffrey Stone says the law is simply not on their side. As well, he says that even if a federal shield law did exist, it wouldn't protect the likes of Judith Miller or Matthew Cooper. Geoffrey Stone joins Brooke to explain. And, Time Magazine's Matthew Cooper joins the show to talk about the illegal leaker whose name he is simply not willing to give up.
Following a series of unbecoming articles in the Baltimore Sun, Maryland Governor Robert Ehrlich recently declared that no one in the Maryland state government would be allowed to speak to Sun reporters. The Sun countered with a First Amendment lawsuit, but the Governor’s embargo continues. University of Maryland Law School Professor Abraham Dash speaks with Bob about the legalities of a media freeze.
Antagonism between the government and the press is something we're used to. But in Venezuela under President Hugo Chavez, that antagonism has approached all out war. Private media owners there side with the opposition movement, and were key players in the failed coup of 2002. Chavez loyalists, meantime, are blamed for violent attacks on anti-Chavez journalists. This week, Chavez signed the Law of Radio and Television Responsibility, a law that human rights groups call a serious threat to democracy. Carole King reports.
On Tuesday, The Washington Post ran a small story on the bottom of page A19 entitled "Bush Ties Attack in Saudi Arabia to Iraqi Elections." The article caught Bob's eye, because instead of simply parroting the president's assertion, and including a perfunctory opposing view, it carefully debunked the notion that last week's terrorist attack in Jiddah was an attempt to derail the Iraqi elections. And so Bob called the story's author, Peter Baker, and made his feelings known.
Tom Shone is an unabashed fan of the American blockbuster, and he declares so in his new book, "Blockbuster: How Hollywood Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Summer." With massive budgets, flashy effects and uber-stars, says Shone, the blockbuster has evolved from a phenomenon to a genre. Shone and Brooke trace the genre's growth from Jaws to Jurassic Park, and talk about whether it lost its soul in the process.
American movies aren't just for Americans anymore. They are conceived of and made for a global audience, and in the process they are losing their American-ness. That's according to Lynn Hirschberg, who recently asked the question "What Is an American Movie Now?" in the pages of The New York Times Magazine. She sat down with Bob to look for answers.
Have you ever dreamed about chatting on the phone with Tom Cruise? Or maybe you've fantasized about a call from Catherine Zeta Jones? Well, you may have to get over those dreams. But thanks to a new website, you may now get a ring from some lesser known stars. On the Media's Hal Humphreys reports on "Hollywood is Calling."
Highlights from Past ShowsFor years, reporters in Ukraine have been told by the government what news to cover and how to cover it. But after last month's deeply flawed presidential elections, a sort of media mutiny took place, as dozens of journalists publicly demanded the right to call the shots as they saw them. The owners capitulated, and suddenly Ukrainians are getting balanced news coverage. Brooke talks to Fedir Sydoruk, one of the first journalists to resign because of censorship.
Early this month, filmmaker Theo Van Gogh was brutally slain in Amsterdam. A Dutch-Moroccan Muslim extremist stands accused of killing Van Gogh because of a film he made critical of women's status under Islam. The murder has led many Dutch citizens, politicians, and journalists to reconsider their long tradition of tolerance. UPI editor in chief Martin Walker talks to Bob about how European papers are learning to handle the hard questions.
On the Media is funded by The Bydale Foundation, The Ford Foundation, The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Overbrook Foundation.
