On The Media is produced by:
In the wake of the Jason Blair scandal at the New York Times, former Newsweek media reporter Seth Mnookin has written "Hard News," a look into how the scandal occurred and how the Times reacted. Bob speaks to Mnookin about the book and the Times' attempts at investigating and correcting itself.
When it was revealed that Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Janet Cooke had invented her prize-winning story, calls for systemic reform reverberated throughout the media world. But more than two decades later, has anything changed? Brooke looks at the checks and balances in the newspaper industry, and asks whether anything could have prevented the Jayson Blair debacle.
Over the course of the week, as the casualty count from the Indian Ocean tsunami mounted, we were inundated by images of catastrophe on an epic scale. It was a reminder of how small the world has become, how clearly we see each other and how clearly others around the world see us. A few years ago, the great culture critic Susan Sontag, who died this week, argued for more representation of suffering – not less. Brooke weighs Sontag’s argument and what it requires of us.
Journalists make mistakes, enough so that most newspapers publish daily corrections along with their headlines, articles and crossword puzzle. In its storied history, the New York Times has averaged seven goof-ups a day, the best of which are collected in the book "Kill Duck Before Serving." Brooke chats with the book's editors, Dylan Loeb McClain and Linda Amster.
In the aftermath of the Jayson Blair scandal, the New York Times published a 7600-word post-mortem that offered readers a rare look at its newsroom practices. But the Times is not the only news organization of late to give the public a fuller view of how the journalistic sausage is made. In a similar spirit of transparency, OTM's John Solomon illuminates a few aspects of our own radio production process that might come as a surprise to some listeners.
We all know that TV is mind numbing. Try watching 12 at a time. For a week straight. OK don't. You might not have time for NPR, let alone meals. Also, you'd just be copying Jack Lechner, who wrote about his television immersion in the book "Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You: One Man, Seven Days, 12 Televisions." Given Mr. Lechner's willingness to give up his life for the media, we at On The Media thought it would be interesting to ask Mr. Lechner to listen to 18 hours of radio taken from 1939. Caution: Your results may vary.
Teenagers are big consumers, and media is just another part of many teens' daily diet. On The Media asks sixteen-year-old Janesse Nieves of the South Bronx to disgorge the contents of her daily media intake.
Highlights from Past ShowsIn his second White House term, George W. Bush will be surrounded by new faces, and not just in his Cabinet. There will be changes in the White House press corps, most notably that of the Washington Post, which is being completely revamped. White House correspondent Dana Milbank joins Bob to reflect on his time in the press briefing room.
A jury in California this week decided that Scott Peterson should be executed for murdering his wife Laci, who was eight months pregnant. Reversing years of tradition, the media in this case have tended to refer to the second victim as Peterson's "unborn child," not as a "fetus." The Chicago Tribune has opted for "fetus," but that too will soon be changing. Brooke talks to Tribune deputy editor Randy Weissman and public editor Don Wycliff about language usage on a political tightrope.
On the Media is funded by The Bydale Foundation, The Ford Foundation, The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Overbrook Foundation.
