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"Mistakes Were Made"
That's how Attorney General Alberto Gonzales characterized his department's handling of the dismissal of eight U.S. attorneys. Bob anatomizes Washington's favorite non-apology apology.
The Gonzales 85
If 8 prosecutors were fired because they weren’t hard enough on Democrats, does that mean the other 85 were? Maybe. Communications professor John Cragan has found that Bush’s Justice Dept. has prosecuted 7 times as many Dems as Republicans.
Please Please Me
U.S. attorneys, and the Attorney General for that matter, serve “at the pleasure of the president.” Slate’s Dahlia Lithwick explains the phrase, and grades the media's usage of it.
Pay for Play
Payola - bribes paid to DJ’s to play certain songs - is as old as radio. Recently, the FCC tried to address the problem by fining the four biggest radio station groups. Industry watcher Paul Porter says the more payola changes, the more it stays the same.
Bowing Before the Royalty
Radio webcasting has proven to be a real alternative to the stultifying sameness of broadcast radio. But a new set of royalty fees could put many internet radio stations out of business. Media attorney David Oxenford explains the cost to online listeners.
Clip Joint
This week, Viacom sued Google, claiming intellectual property infringement by YouTube. Will the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act protect “Goo-Tube?” Is the future of user-generated web media at stake? NYU’s Siva Vaidhyanathan explains.
Bill of Goods?
A paperless world! TV online! Microsoft founder Bill Gates sits down with Bob and shares his vision for the future.
Health Craze
Brain Awareness Week is drawing to a close... but National Inhalants and Poisons Awareness Week is right around the corner! Endometriosis, for its part, gets the whole month. Bob explores the phenomenon of government-sponsored awareness.
Highlights from Past Shows
Death to America
March 09, 2007
As Steve Rogers lay dead on the steps of the Federal Courthouse in New York City, comics fans pondered the metaphors of Captain America and the Marvel Universe. Marvel writer Ed Brubaker believes we’ll better understand what Rogers meant to us in his absence. Still, Cap creator Joe Simon mourns.
The Charmer
March 02, 2007
News headlines of Louis Farrakhan’s farewell speech last Sunday described a man who preaches peace and calls for religious amity. But the outgoing leader of the Nation of Islam – a onetime calypso singer turned Black Nationalist – wasn’t always treated so gently in the media.
On the Media is funded by The Bydale Foundation, The Ford Foundation, The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Overbrook Foundation.
