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A federal appeals court in Philadelphia this week joined the ranks of those who disapprove of the FCC's recent decision to relax media ownership caps. Bob and Brooke give a brief update on the status of the deregulation skirmishes.
On Wednesday, a judge in Florida heard arguments in a case brought by CNN against the State of Florida. At issue is the list of convicted felons in the state, who under Florida law, must be purged from the voting rolls. State law allows the press to view the list, but not to copy or disseminate it. Florida Senator Bill Nelson, who has joined CNN in its lawsuit, tells Brooke why he thinks it's so important that the media have full access to the list
Clear Channel Communications has agreed to pay the government $1.75 million, in exchange for the FCC scrapping all pending indecency complaints against the radio conglomerate. It's the largest indecency settlement ever, but it could have been even larger. Lawmakers have proposed boosting fines for broadcasters to 500 thousand dollars, which could then be multiplied by the number of stations which aired the material. Then again, the prospects for any indecency legislation reaching Bush's desk this year aren't what they were a few months ago. The New York Times' Jacques Steinberg updates Bob on the campaign against broadcast indecency
The digital evolution will be televised. Whether or not you can see it depends on whether you are still watching an analog tube. Seven years ago, Congress created a plan for the government to take back the analog spectrum, making television a strictly digital affair. Now, the FCC has proposed speeding up that process, and broadcasters are none too happy. Former FCC chief economist Tom Hazlett joins Bob to discuss the winners and the losers of the high-def changeover.
The Freedom of Information Act, known as FOIA, can be a lean mean fighting machine in the battle against excessive government secrecy. The FOIA request is not a difficult tool to wield – it takes just a little know-how and a lot of patience. Russ Kick knows the drill. Independently, he’s filed hundreds of FOIA requests and they have yielded some unforgettable results. Russ Kick offers Bob a how-to lesson on freeing information from secrecy.
Brooke parses two surveys so that you don’t have to. One from the Pew Center for People and the Press, and one from Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR). The findings, and her conclusions shed some light on where journalists stand in a deeply divided America. Brooke parses two surveys so that you don’t have to. One is from the Pew Center for the People and the Press, and the other is from Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR). The findings – and Brooke’s conclusions – shed some light on where journalists stand in a deeply divided America.
New York Times correspondent Larry Rohter can stay in Brazil, after all. Earlier this month, the Brazilian government declared it would revoke the reporter's visa because of an article he wrote about President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's drinking habits. The nation's media rallied to Rohter's defense, but only on principle. For the most part, they remain uniformly critical about the article in question. As Brazilian journalist Antonio Brasil tells Bob, many of them saw the episode as more evidence of the sorry state of American journalism.
Howard Stern wants the Bush team out of the White House come November, and he's wielding his mighty mic to influence millions of listeners to vote. For his efforts he has won little support from Democrats who probably find the self-titled King of All Media a little too hot to handle in an election year. But Stern battles on. He may stand alone, but with a massive army of listeners behind him. New York Observer columnist Joe Hagan joined Brooke to discuss his recent story, "Howard's Private War."
