Last Thursday brought leaks that about a government program called PRISM. But while the early reports described a program that had unilateral, unfettered access to companies like Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft, subsequent reports made the program look significantly less intrusive. Brooke talks to Wired's Kim Zetter about the evolution of reporting on PRISM, the perils of national security reporting, and what we still don't know about the government program.

After Hasan Elahi somehow ended up on an FBI watch list and found himself being repeatedly detained after flights, he decided to become "radically transparent." Elahi made an art project of documenting every part of his life and put it all online.

On this week's show we discuss Thursday's revelations about government surveillance of both foreign internet content and domestic phone call records. The data news team at our parent station WNYC wants to know how you feel about this. Check out this surveillance sentiment matrix below and add your opinion. Also be sure to listen to this week's episode to hear interviews with Washingtonian national security reporter Shane Harris and co-director of the Liberty and National Security Program at the Brennan Center for Justice, Elizabeth Goitein, about the what we can glean from the information that became public this week. And yes, the irony of the surveillance sentiment matrix requiring you to enter your zip code and email to use is not lost on us.

This week saw several revelations about US government surveillance of both Americans and foreigners. Brooke and Bob talk to Washingtonian writer Shane Harris and co-director of the Liberty and National Security Program at the Brennan Center for Justice, Elizabeth Goitein, about the what we can glean from the information that became public this week.

In November of last year, Bob interviewed Craig Brittain, the founder and operator of a revenge porn website called 'Is Anybody Down?' The interview elicited strong reactions from the audience, because of the contentiousness between Bob and Craig, most notably their last exchange, in which Bob tells Craig there's more dignity in starving than in running a revenge porn site.

But if Brittain's twitter feed is to be believed, he has had a change of heart and is now out of the revenge porn business.

Brooke takes a look at the three scandals that have dominated the news cycle for the past couple weeks: the IRS targeting conservative political groups, the DOJ looking through the phone records and email of reporters, and the attack on the diplomatic mission in Benghazi.

Anton Karas - The Third Man Theme

Yesterday, the Washington Post published an article about the 2010 search warrant on a government adviser named Jin-Woo Kim. Kim allegedly leaked sensitive information to a Fox News reporter named James Rosen, and Kim was eventually indicted. But unlike last week's story of the DOJ subpoenaing Associated Press phone records, this case has the Justice Department not only tracking a journalist's movements, but requesting a warrant to seize two days worth of his emails. In the warrant application, the DOJ says there is probable cause to charge Rosen "at the very least, either as an aider, abettor and/or co-conspirator of Mr. Kim."

Fox’s Executive Vice President of News Michael Clemente released a statement to the press today, which read:

We are outraged to learn today that James Rosen was named a criminal co-conspirator for simply doing his job as a reporter. In fact, it is downright chilling. We will unequivocally defend his right to operate as a member of what up until now has always been a free press.

We're going to be following this story as it develops this week. What do you think of this about it?

Last week, it was revealed that journalists at Bloomberg News were using financial terminals sold by their parent company, Bloomberg LP, to spy on (and report on) their users. Brooke speaks with the Washington Post's Neil Irwin about Bloomberg's secret sauce for making money.

Music: Beacon - Late November

A company called Aereo is delivering real-time network TV on the internet with a novel technical setup which has drawn the legal wrath of all the major networks. Bob speaks Aereo CEO Chet Kanojia about how the company plans to make money in the face of legal threats from some of the most powerful media companies in the country.

Music: Joe Henry & Ornette Coleman - Richard Pryor Addresses a Tearful Nation

On our May 3rd show we talked to Mark Caramanica  of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, about the Supreme Court’s recent decision concerning FOIA requests. Caramanica told us that as a result of the high court’s decision, if you live outside of a state like Virginia, that limits public records requests to state residents, you will have to find a “straw man” to file on your behalf. Michael Morisy, co-founder of MuckRock, is one of those straw men. MuckRock has filed some 2000 FOIA requests for citizens, academics and journalists in all 50 states. Brooke talks to Michael Morisy, who says access to information has obsessed him since he was reporter on his college paper.

Throughout the more than six-decade celebration of Jackie Robinson's desegregation of baseball, the journalist who brought Robinson's story to the world has remained unknown. Brooke talks to Los Angeles Times sports writer Bill Plashcke, who recently penned a portrait of writer Wendell Smith, who helped secure Robinson's place in American history. 

The Boston bombing has become a Rorschach blot for the media, who have tied it to everything from immigration to welfare to national security. Bob talks to The Daily Beast's Peter Beinart about the media and the culture's desire to impose meaning on tragedy.

NPR's Quil Lawrence spent a decade in Iraq and Afghanistan as a war correspondent. But now, he's covering a new beat - veterans from those wars as they transition back to civilian life. Bob talks to Quil about challenging his own assumptions and the conventional wisdom on the veteran beat.

Between battling for high profile legislation on guns and immigration and consoling a nation, Obama had to walk a tightrope this week. Brooke talks to Glenn Thrush, Senior White House Correspondent for Politico, who says that reconciling what was happening inside and outside Washington, was not as hard as it might seem.  

Today, it is easier than ever to create and consume video, with billions of computers, TVs, and cell phones providing the world with access to the medium.  This should be good news for television news, but according to veteran TV journalist Dave Marash American TV news is actually using less and less video.  Brooke spoke with Marash about why American TV news is capping its lens.

For years, network television news has seen a steady decline in viewership.  But new Nielsen ratings show an increase in audience numbers for the first time in a decade.  Brooke spoke to NewsLab Executive Director Deborah Potter about the new signs of life for network TV news.