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Tucked away into President Bush's 2009 budget was language that eliminates the FOIA ombudsman. The newly-created position was at the heart of legislation that Bush recently signed into law, and was intended to expedite government's response to Freedom of Information Act requests. Cox Newspapers' Rebecca Carr explains that without the ombudsman position we shouldn't expect any improvements in the painfully slow FOIA process.
The (now vacant) Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board wrapped up its first term with its second annual report. Has the 5-member panel been a genuine check on government power, as the 9/11 Commission had in mind? Lisa Graves, of the Center for National Security Studies, has her verdict.
In the midst of violence following a disputed presidential election, Kenya’s government banned all live radio and television broadcasts. This seemingly mild restriction has been surprisingly damaging to Kenya’s press, argues Ida Jooste of the media advocacy group Internews.
If you’re a partner at a powerful law firm and your client is in secret settlement talks, you really don't want to send a confidential e-mail to the wrong person - especially not a reporter. Guess what the New York Times' Alex Berenson found in his inbox? He tells the story.
Movie and record companies claim combined annual losses in the billions due to file-sharing, pitting the entertainment industry against those who believe all content wants to be free. Wired Magazine senior writer Daniel Roth describes one recent battle in the ongoing piracy wars.
The legal basis for this show, the various media we cover and, frankly, for the style of our coverage is the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. But how well do any of us know our beloved protection? Not that well, explains Anthony Lewis in his new book Freedom for the Thought We Hate.
Miami Herald reporter Carol Rosenberg observes that Guantánamo has become a recurrent pop-cultural trope throughout the world – in memoirs and novels, visual arts and theater, and even song. Rosenberg, who has visited the prison dozens of times, believes that Gitmo has long since left the island of Cuba and taken on a symbolic life of its own.
Highlights from Past Shows
John McCain and the press have been through a lot together – obsessive love, a bittersweet break-up, an attempt to work things out again. Mainstream media is torn. For conservatives like Rush Limbaugh, however, McCain is nothing short of a bête noire.
The first piece in the The New York Times’ “War Torn” series – about Iraq War veterans who’ve committed homicide here at home – sparked criticism and praise among the military and the blogosphere. It also contributed to the emerging narrative in the media about the Iraq War vet. Brooke talks with veterans and the reporters who cover them about capturing the nuances of the story.
On the Media is funded by The Bydale Foundation, The Ford Foundation, The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Overbrook Foundation.
