On The Media is produced by:
The White House worked to tamp high expectations for Obama's Cairo address but, by the end of the week, the world was watching and listening. Naila Hamdy, Chair of the Journalism Department at the American University in Cairo, discusses the changing landscape of Egypt's media and how they covered the speech.
For several years, Shibley Telhami has been conducting public opinion polls in six Arabic countries, asking people about their views of, among other things, American diplomatic efforts and policies toward the Middle East. He then presented the results to White House officials shortly before Obama's speech. Telhami talks to us about some key findings.
With an explosion in the number of Arab satellite channels dedicated to Islam, a new breed of preacher has emerged. New York Times reporter Robert Worth says these so-called "Satellite Shieiks" tend to be young, moderate, and entertaining to watch. One of Saudi Arabia's most popular, Ahmad al-Shugairi, tells us about his approach to preaching.
The war in Afghanistan shows no signs of letting up and one of the most complicated tasks for the U.S. military is responding to the Taliban's public relations offensive. Greg Bruno, staff writer for the Council on Foreign Relations, says virtually everything the Taliban does is a part of their P.R. strategy.
To counter the perception that America is losing the war in Afghanistan, the U.S. command has adopted the practice of releasing a detailed daily accounting of enemies killed. The P.R. campaign started in April of last year and has since announced nearly 2,000 insurgent casualties. Wall Street Journal reporter Michael Phillips says that body counting is controversial in military circles and hasn’t been done this way since the Vietnam War.
Baby-boomer journalists have a knack for alluding to characters from vintage TV series, plots from obscure films, and political events from who-knows-when. Author Ralph Keyes says these “verbal fossils” make it more difficult for an entire generation of young readers to have any clue what's being discussed.
Just as older writers have to be on guard to make sure their references don't alienate young readers, young writers also have to make sure that their references make sense to a wider audience. Sasha Frere-Jones is a music critic who writes online and in the pages of the New Yorker. He says that he explains things differently depending on the medium he's using.
Highlights from Past Shows
With the choice of Federal Judge Sonia Sotomayor for the US Supreme Court this week the machinery of advocacy groups, pro and con, was sparked into action. Defying and supporting a supreme court nominee has become a veritable cottage industry for these groups and for the next six weeks we’ll watch them stir up public opinion and the press. Lawyer Tom Goldstein, founder of ScotusBlog, says any High Court nominee is but fuel for the politics industry.
This week former Vice President Dick Cheney and President Barack Obama went head to head, toe to toe, and back to back. It was the ultimate battle, at least in the coverage. PEJ's Mark Jurkowitz explains why the media love a showdown like this one.
On the Media is funded by The Bydale Foundation, The Ford Foundation, The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Overbrook Foundation.
