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Photographs of American soldiers killed in Iraq are a window onto the cold reality of war there. Does that mean we should see those images in our morning papers? So far, the answer from editors seems to be no. LA Times media writer Jim Rainey surveyed eight major newspapers, and joins Brooke to discuss what he found.
There was a time that novelist Jim Lewis favored the wide publication of graphic war photos. Like many others, he believed that they accurately conveyed the real horrors of war. But after photographing the aftermath of a horrific atrocity in Congo, Lewis changed his mind. In the wake of the killing of American contractors in Fallujah last year, he told Bob why he no longer thinks images of suffering and death help anyone to understand the real story.
It’s a ritual of diplomacy we’ve all come to expect - foreign dignitary visits White House, and the two leaders hold a press availability. But when Afghan president Hamid Karzai dropped in this week, many White House reporters took a pass. White House staffers reportedly scrambled to fill empty seats with interns. Did it signify newfound spine on the part of reporters? Brooke speaks with Ron Hutcheson, president of the White House Correspondents Association.
Circulation for the Christian Science Monitor has plummeted in recent decades, and costly broadcast ventures by the organization haven’t helped. Recently, the Monitor named a new top editor, who, incidentally, is not a practicing journalist but rather a longtime church member. Is the paper in the midst of its most serious crisis ever? CSM managing editor Marshall Ingwerson gives Bob the view from within.
In Italy, they re known as soccer missionaries - priests and even Cardinals who provide commentary on sports. And recently, the official Vatican radio started a new show devoted entirely to sports. Listeners tune in weekly to hear the Church’s take on anything from doping in cycling to bad calls by soccer referees. Megan Williams reports from Rome.
Since its unsolicited selection for the axis of evil, North Korea has largely fulfilled its media role as America's Asian arch-nemesis. But there's at least one place where North Korea's image has been softening - South Korea. Wall Street Journal reporter Gordon Fairclough explains to Bob how the improvement of North Korea’s image is increasingly apparent in South Korean TV and film.
For several years, marketers have been rediscovering the power of the world’s oldest advertising technique: word-of-mouth. And a company called BuzzMetrics thinks it s found an effective way to track it. Researchers there sniff out cyberspace's most influential visitors and monitor everything they say. They then sell that information to clients with a stake in the chatter’s outcome. Bob talks to BuzzMetrics president & CEO Jonathan Carson.
For millions of Americans, the final word on the filibuster is Frank Capra s Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. The 1939 film depicts 24 hours of uninterrupted oratory by a heroic junior Senator, who ultimately succeeds in defeating a corrupt political machine. But Slate senior writer Tim Noah tells Brooke that Mr. Smith embodies not only an outdated portrayal of the filibuster, but perhaps the biggest obstacle to eliminating the legislative maneuver altogether.
Highlights from Past ShowsNewsweek lied, people died. At least that has seemed to be the shorthand adopted by many news organizations in the aftermath of Newsweek's retracted item about alleged abuses at Gitmo. Cable news pundits have gone apoplectic over what they see as the latest in a long line of media indiscretions, even while it remains unclear how responsible Newsweek was for the violent protests. Media war... or culture war? Brooke weighs in.
Last year, it was revealed that a number of prominent newspapers were exaggerating their circulation numbers to boost advertising revenue. Faced with a crisis, some of those newspapers assigned their own newsrooms to the story unfolding in their boardrooms. Others stayed mum. Bob speaks with media reporter James Madore of Newsday, one of the papers that chose to report on its own dirty laundry.
On the Media is funded by The Bydale Foundation, The Ford Foundation, The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Overbrook Foundation.
