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During his campaign, President Obama criticized the Bush Administration's profligate use of the State Secrets Privilege. But this week, lawyers for the Obama administration invoked that rule in an ongoing trial. Slate's Dahlia Lithwick has some possible explanations for the shift.
Among those who disagree with the particulars of the stimulus plan is a public policy group called Free Press, which said that 44 billion dollars should be allocated to broadband internet alone to get us competitive with the rest of the developed world, as opposed to the six billion now in the bill. Slate columnist Farhad Manjoo wrote about the tech infrastructure wish list and what he would do.
When it comes to investigative reporting of criminal activity, news organizations have traditionally worked parallel to, not in collaboration with, law enforcement, lest journalists be viewed as agents of the government. Why then is NBC ambushing alleged war criminals with foreign prosecutors in tow? Goucher College president Sanford Ungar discusses the day a news crew arrived on his campus.
News reports on climate change now have the tone of certainty that global warming is upon us. But there is anything but certainty when it comes to the cost of action. Shorenstein Fellow Eric Pooley says the media don't scrutinize the economic projections of pro-business groups, who rig their models to say climate change legislation will break the bank.
Being a brilliant scientist doesn't always translate into being a good talking head on television or even a good source for a science reporter. So the Aldo Leopold Leadership Program at Stanford University was created to give scientists a better understanding of how to deal with the media. Program director Pam Matson explains what goes on at their training camp.
Twenty years ago this week, the Ayatollah Khomeini called for the death of author Salman Rushdie for insulting Islam in his book The Satanic Verses. Rushdie's lawyer Geoffrey Robertson gave Rushdie a place to hide out in those days and defended Rushdie against the crime of blasphemy. Robertson reflects back on that time.
When President Barack Obama paraphrased a passage from 1 Corinthians in his Inaugural Address, he made a point of attributing it to Scripture. Had he not, many in the audience – including many reporters – would not have recognized the Biblical reference. That journalists too often “don’t get religion” is the subject of a new book, Blind Spot, which seeks to describe how the media missed the mark on stories from the War on Terror to the 2004 presidential campaign to human rights. Former Bush speechwriter Michael Gerson, who wrote the forward, explains.
As a born-again Christian, L.A. Times reporter Bill Lobdell was frustrated by media coverage of religious people. So he lobbied his editors and prayed for the religion beat. He eventually got his wish, only to lose his faith in the church and in God after eight years on the job. Here is our 2007 interview with Lobdell and here is his new book, Losing My Religion.
Highlights from Past Shows
Late last month, former National Security Agency analyst turned whistleblower Russell Tice said definitively that the NSA monitored domestic communications of American journalists. Reporter Lawrence Wright, who has long believed he was a target, says he's not surprised by the allegation.
This week, President Obama gave his first formal interview as commander in chief to Al Arabiya's Washington bureau chief, Hisham Melham, and the Muslim world watched. Melham says the massive outpouring of reaction to the interview surprised even him.
On the Media is funded by The Bydale Foundation, The Ford Foundation, The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Overbrook Foundation.
