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For financial journalist Michael Lewis the desolation emanating from Wall Street is all too familiar. He’s edited a new book Panic: The Story of Modern Financial Insanity that returns to five of the most recent market meltdowns and analyzes what reporters thought was happening before, during and after each of them. Lewis explains why the past isn't really past.
After two terms of the famously opaque Bush White House, secrecy watchdog groups like the National Security Archive have high hopes for the new administration. Archive General Counsel Meredith Fuchs describes three steps Obama can take on day one of his presidency to bring some transparency to Washington.
Bloomberg LP has quietly grown from an indispensable financial information provider to a global media company. And according to Seth Mnookin's story in December's Vanity Fair; Bloomberg News has a business model that could weather the economic storm.
Small, web-only, not-for-profit newsrooms are springing up around the country and scooping much larger dailies with nuts-and-bolts reporting. Voice of San Diego, for example, has managed to uncover a handful of government scandals in the past few years with a staff of only ten. Executive editor Scott Lewis believes this may be the future of journalism.
Rarely a week goes by without news media using an anniversary peg for stories and this week is no different. The Jonestown massacre, a mass poisoning of over 900 members of Peoples Temple, occurred 30 years ago this Tuesday. Tim Reiterman, a reporter who has covered the story since the beginning, talks about revisiting it every five years.
Brooke and Bob read your letters and comments.
Most studies published in scientific journals, it turns out, are either exaggerated or wrong. How come? According to epidemiologist John Ionnidis, editors of science journals are no different than everyone else in media. Sensationalism sells.
For Netflix, and a host of other online companies, being able to recommend another film, book or song you might like has become the holy grail of Internet business. As the New York Times Magazine’s Clive Thompson explains, the information is so valuable that Netflix is offering a million dollars to the first person who can know you better then you know yourself.
Highlights from Past Shows
After months of asking The Federal Reserve to disclose the details of two trillion dollars in government loans to troubled financial institutions, Bloomberg News is suing The Fed under the Freedom of Information Act. Bloomberg News editor in chief Matt Winkler says taxpayers should know where their money is going.
On Tuesday night, by 9:30pm anyone who was able to add could predict Barack Obama’s victory. But as Brooke experienced firsthand, many waited to mourn or celebrate until the authoritative voices on the networks called the race. Brooke reflects back on election night.
On the Media is funded by The Bydale Foundation, The Ford Foundation, The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Overbrook Foundation.
