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Last weekend, the American news media reported celebration in the Arab world. But according to Martin Walker, Editor of United Press International, the response in the Middle East to the capture of Saddam Hussein was actually much more nuanced. Martin gives Brooke a summary of the coverage of the historic event by the Arab press.
Closer to home on Sunday, celebrations and congratulations were in no short supply throughout much of the broadcast media. And when the trading day opened on Monday, the big question for financial reporters was whether the general euphoria would be driving the markets on Wall Street. Fair enough…but as Bob reported this past summer, the compulsion to tie market movements to much less significant external events is all too often a reflex for financial reporters.
Listeners weigh in on our interview with Ted Koppel, and on our stories about product placement and the media's prejudice against fat people.
Video games, for the most part, are still associated with their roots in the corner arcade, and written off by many as a time-drain to be grown out of. Slowly but surely, however, they are winning an increasingly dominant share of the entertainment industry. Last year alone, the video games generated 28 billion dollars in sales. Bob chats with Jonathan Dee, who wrote in this week's New York Times magazine about how narrative is pushing gaming to a whole new level.
Video game companies aren't the only ones profiting from the gaming craze. Players of one game, Everquest, have been known to sell their fantasy fashion accessories and weapons on E-Bay. The game is one of the more popular, and addictive, role-playing games to come along recently. At its peak, some 100 thousand people played it simultaneously. A couple of years ago, Brooke ventured into the parallel universe of Everquest to find out what the hype was all about.
In a recent email fired off to reporters, the John Kerry for President Campaign made some disparaging comments about Gov. Howard Dean's anti-war stance, with the caveat that the information was not to be attributed to Kerry's people. But when New York Times reporter Adam Nagourney included the comments in a story, he also included their source. Brooke talks to Nagourney about the rules of the political reporting game.
For more than four decades, Walter Mears covered national politics for the Associated Press. He was famous on many a campaign bus for his speedy writing and his uncanny knack for honing in on the essence of a story. In his new book, "Deadlines Past: 40 Years of Presidential Campaigns, a Reporter's Story," he shares the view from his front seat of presidential history, as well as some secrets of the trade. Here, Mears chews over his career with Bob.
Before the talkies, there was Charlie. And despite the enormous technical innovations in cinema over the past century, Chaplin is hardly forgotten. This summer, fans were able to get their hands on digitally re-mastered versions of several Chaplin favorites, and more re-releases are just around the corner. The resurgence of interest in Chaplin led WNYC's Sara Fishko to ponder the peculiar timing of the original release of what is possibly the greatest Chaplin film, "Modern Times."
Highlights from Past ShowsThis week, the nine Democratic presidential hopefuls squared off for the final televised debate before the Iowa Caucus. There wasn't a lot said by the candidates that made much of a splash in the press. Instead, the media analysis centered on the performance of debate moderator Ted Koppel. Koppel joins Brooke to defend his heavy focus on issues like polling and endorsements, at the expense of more substantive issues.
On Wednesday, three Rwandan journalists were convicted of crimes against humanity and inciting the 1994 genocide that killed 800 thousand minority Tutsis. It was the first such verdict since the 1946 Nuremberg trials. Lead prosecutor Stephen Rapp joins Bob to discuss the landmark case.
On the Media is funded by The Bydale Foundation, The Ford Foundation, The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Overbrook Foundation.
