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You listen to public radio, so you probably know that public broadcasting’s federal funding came under the ax, again. Half of the $200 million dollar proposed cut was restored by a House amendment on Thursday, though the exercise itself was instructive. The cut was put forth partly as an austerity measure, and partly, some say, as a response to perceived bias. Brooke explores various funding options for the perennially staticky public airwaves.
The New York Observer recently took note of an odd political flirtation developing between none other than the junior senator from New York and the News Corp. mogul from Australia. Ben Smith wrote the piece, “The Odd Couple ’08,” and joins Brooke to discuss how a Clinton/Murdoch alliance could benefit a well-established media empire and a potential presidential nominee.
In a trade that insists on truth and integrity, journalists who confuse fact and fiction have a tough row to hoe on the long path to reportorial atonement. Brooke follows fallen New York Times reporter Michael Finkel’s bizarre discovery that a suspected murderer had co-opted his identity in Mexico – just as the real Michael Finkel was being fired for fraud. And Brooke speaks to David Brock, whose own public transformation from a staunchly conservative journalist to a staunchly skeptical media critic points to the difficulties of changing political horses midstream.
Recent deportation cases in U.S. courts have some litigants concerned about what they call the latest tool in the war on terror: journalism. Immigration lawyers say that since 9/11, the Feds have increasingly relied on independent reportage as evidence against those it accuses of having ties with terrorist organizations. Does the practice deny due process? From KPCC in Los Angeles, reporter Rob Schmitz has this story.
Recalls of popular drugs like Vioxx and Celebrex raise questions about how smart it is for drug companies to bypass doctors and hawk their wares directly to consumers on TV. Some claim the $4 billion spent annually on the ads increase awareness of treatments; others say the result is an overmedicated public clamoring for pills. Brooke consults with Jim Davidson, counsel to the Advertising Coalition, about the ethics of direct-to-consumer ads.
If you’ve been watching TV news recently, you know about the vacationing teenager who went missing in Aruba. On the broadcast networks alone, there have been nearly 200 news segments on Natalee Holloway; on cable there have been many more. Network execs apparently see this kind of story as a recipe for success, and so they’re joining forces to give the people what they want. With a nod to the blogger who calls himself “The Poor Man,” we introduce the new network devoted to tracking the every move of white women, around the clock and around the world.
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, charged with promoting and funding public broadcasting in the U.S. was created by Congress in 1967. But when President Lyndon Johnson signed the Public Broadcasting Law, he had more than radio and TV on his mind. Listen to the moment when LBJ invented the Internet.
Highlights from Past ShowsAt a joint media appearance by Tony Blair and George Bush this week, a Reuters reporter asked about the Downing Street Memo, which allegedly proves the Bush administration was planning for war eight months before the invasion. And suddenly the memo was in play in the American press - even though reporters have known about it for more than a month. Bob talks to USA Today reporter Mark Memmott about the nature of the coverage.
This week, journalism's most mysterious anonymous source, Deep Throat, revealed himself to be former G-man W. Mark Felt. Media portrayals have cast him, alternatively, as a crusader driven by affection for the Bureau or a disaffected bureaucrat with an axe to grind. Bob reflects on the media's final installment of the "kind of crazy &$!#@ story" that imbeds itself in the psyche of a nation.
On the Media is funded by The Bydale Foundation, The Ford Foundation, The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Overbrook Foundation.
