TopicsOn The Media is produced by:
In recent weeks, the intended overhaul of the Telecommunications Act seems to have shriveled into a minor revision, as such issues as network neutrality and video franchising slide on and off the table. Now, committee members are weighing the power of the baby bells (not quite babies anymore) against the power of public pressure. Congress Daily reporter David Hatch talks with Bob about the political wrangling.
Dan Brown, author of The Da Vinci Code, is being sued in a London court for copyright infringement. Plaintiffs Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh claim that aspects of the mega-hit novel were cribbed from their non-fiction book, The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail. Brooke talks first with Katherine Rushton, a reporter for Bookseller, then with Sarah Dunant, author of In the Company of the Courtesan, about the case and the nature of historical fiction.
Brooke and Bob have an update about the case against two civilians charged with leaking, and a bit of news about a lawsuit against one of our recent interviewees.
In a couple of weeks, Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk is scheduled to go on trial for the crime of insulting his country. European Union officials now debating Turkey’s application to join the group have decried the prosecution as an affront to freedom of expression. But some of those critics come from countries that have similar laws on their books. Media lawyer Kevin Goldberg speaks with OTM guest host Rick Karr about what are known as insult laws.
This week, FCC chairman Kevin Martin suggested that consumers should be allowed to pick and choose "a la carte" which cable channels come into their homes. The cable industry cried foul. As Los Angeles Times reporter Jube Shiver explains to Bob, the debate has confronted one group with an especially thorny set of issues – religious broadcasters.
Broadcasters are legally required to serve “the public interest.” But as long as the FCC equates “public interest” with “local interest,” the result is likely to be hours upon hours of crime reporting, which only exacerbates implicit racism in viewers. At least that’s what UCLA law professor Jerry Kang thinks. He lays out his argument for Daljit.
Before suspects were taken into custody in the July 21st London bombings, the media frenzy was well under way. But immediately after the arrests, civil liberties groups complained that the sensational coverage was jeopardizing the suspects' right to a fair trial. The fact that Fleet Street capitulated to those complaints is largely due to Britain's sub judice law, which allow courts to effectively gag the press. Media attorney David Hooper explains the law to Bob.
Lolita follows the travails of an older man obsessed with a young girl, and was first published … in 1916? 42 years before Vladimir Nabokov's novel, a short story by Heinz von Lichberg titled "Lolita" was published in Germany. Was Nabokov a plagiarist? Or did he suffer from cryptomnesia? Brooke talks to New York Observer columnist Ron Rosenbaum about the line between appropriation and regurgitation.
