There’s been much debate in recent months about how journalists should handle illegally-leaked information, and whether they can be prosecuted for passing it on. Media lawyer Ted Boutrous is among those who think they shouldn’t, but tells Bob that if courts look to precedent, they may well decide otherwise. Boutrous tells Bob about the biggest legal threat to journalists we’ve never heard of.
The co-dependent relationship between colleges and students has spawned the lucrative industry-within--the-Magazine-industry called College Guides. US News & World Report, Newsweek and others collect reams of data from US colleges and crunch the numbers to rank the best, the less and the rest. Jay Mathews, education reporter for the Washington Post, says the heads of schools hate the exercise, which they deem arbitrary and coercive, but can't afford not to participate.
For the uninitiated, lonelygirl15 is the summer’s internet superstar. YouTube users have been riveted as her story has unfolded over the course of twenty+ episodes. Fans are investigating lonelygirl15 and conspiracy theories abound but after a summer of investigation all the big questions remain unanswered. Virginia Heffernan is a TV critic for the New York Times but she’s been watching the small small screen too and she joins Brooke for a tour of the lonelygirl15 saga.
A recent gaffe by Virginia Senator George Allen suggested the ubiquity of YouTube may be a campaign liability, but to what extent can it be an asset? Indiana Senator Evan Bayh is trying to find out. He’s been posting videos of his speeches on the video-sharing site. And he’s created a Facebook profile, all in an attempt to woo younger voters. WFIU’s Adam Ragusea reports.
On Monday, The New York Times reported new details about the British investigation into the foiled terrorist plot there. But it was the accompanying editor’s note that raised eyebrows in the media. The Times said it was restricting access to the article in Britain because of that country’s strict pre-trial legal code. Brooke talks to Stewart Tendler, crime correspondent for The Times of London, about what the so-called Sub Judice rule means for reporting on terrorism.
It’s been said that “writing about music is like dancing about architecture.” The same could be said for writing about food, or dance, or painting. And yet every day, critics attempt to do just that in the pages of American newspapers. Smell, however, is the one sensory experience that has gone un-translated…until now. Bob speaks with perfume maven Chandler Burr, who’s just been hired by The New York Times to write about the art of scent.
As a listener of NPR you may have at one time or another been stereotyped as an educated, white, maritini swilling, New York Times reading, Volvo driving, West Wing watcher. Using a new and very detailed profile, Brooke investigates how much truth there is in the stereotype.
Highlights from Past Shows
The view from here is that Iran is a closed society with no outside (aka Western) news, information, or entertainment slipping in. Is it true? Or, are Iranians offered a variety of global views via satellite television and the internet? As America’s diplomatic stalemate with Iran becomes increasingly prominent in the headlines, Bob asks Tehran-based Time reporter Azadeh Moaveni about the perceptions, and misperceptions, across the cultural divide.
With a tentative ceasefire taking hold this week in Lebanon, Israel and Hezbollah were quick to blame the other side for the destruction, and disseminate propaganda to reinforce their claims. Their spinning reflected an anxiety that the first draft of history is often more than just a draft. Bob speaks with UC Irvine Middle East historian Mark LeVine about the lasting impacts of early media coverage
On the Media is funded by The Bydale Foundation, The Ford Foundation, The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Overbrook Foundation.
