Congressional Democrats charged the supposedly independent Social Security Administration with bowing to pressure from the White House. In a new report, they allege that over the past four years, the SSA's communications materials have become more and more alarmist about the program's future, thereby generating support for overhauling Social Security. Bob speaks to Representative Henry Waxman, whose office released the report.
ARTIST: Miles Davis TRACK: Someday My Prince Will Come ALBUM: Someday My Prince Will Come LABEL: Sony
BREAK I: ARTIST: Miles Davis Quintet TRACK: It Could Happen to You ALBUM: Relaxin' with the Miles Davis Quintet LABEL: Fantasy
There may have been a time when baseball writing was confined to... baseball. But it's hard to write 162 stories a year about what happens on the field. And the business of being a beat reporter is, after all, the business of seeking drama. But New York Times columnist Murray Chass says that this season, sportswriters have created that drama to an extent rarely seen before. Chass joins Bob to discuss the merits of the "Red Sox v. A-Rod" story.
ARTIST: Denardo Coleman, Jack DeJohnette, et al. TRACK: Long Time No See ALBUM: Song X LABEL: Geffen
In the aftermath of 9/11, many speculated that American news organizations would finally tear off their blinders and dedicate themselves to quality foreign reporting. But the media's newfound interest in the outside world was short-lived, and network news quickly returned to its race-to-the-bottom. That's the assessment of Tom Fenton, veteran CBS newsman and author of the new book "Bad News: The Decline of Reporting, the Business of News, and the Danger to Us All." Fenton speaks with Brooke.
16 years ago, TV producer Charles Lewis left "60 Minutes" to found the Center for Public Integrity. In the years since, the Center has become the largest non-profit investigative journalism organization in the world, uncovering some of last decade's most important political stories. Lewis, who has just left the Center, tells Bob about the mainstream media's appetite for his muckraking.
BREAK II: ARTIST: Ornette Coleman TRACK: Angel Voice ALBUM: Something Else!: The Music of Ornette Coleman LABEL: Fantasy
Henry Grunwald, longtime editor at Time Magazine, steered that publication through some of the most dramatic changes in its history. A Jewish refugee from Austria, Grunwald began his career as a copyboy, and worked his way up the journalistic ladder until he was editor-in-chief of all Time Inc. publications. Grunwald died last week at the age of 82. Bob reflects on his legacy with New York Times public editor Daniel Okrent.
Hollywood was slow to pick up on the realities of the Holocaust. But when the political climate allowed it, the films began to flow, and they've been flowing ever since. The German film industry, on the other hand, is just now beginning to address what happened more than 60 years ago. Brooke talks history with Daniel Anker, director of "Imaginary Witness: Hollywood and the Holocaust." She also speaks with Oliver Hirschbiegel, director of Germany's Academy Award-nominated "Downfall," and Bruno Ganz, who plays Hitler in the movie.
Highlights from Past Shows
President Bush was on tour this week in Europe, meeting with heads of state in an attempt to bridge a transatlantic gap that has grown wider in recent years. With the Iraq war looming as a backdrop to the official visits, Bush and his counterparts discussed dicey issues like nuclear proliferation in Iran, the arms embargo on China, and the state of democracy in Russia. Brooke joins Susan Caskie, contributing editor of The Week, for a roundup of what the European papers had to say.
"Blog swarm" is the term applied to a critical mass of blogosphere chatter that forces a story into the mainstream media. Lately the phenomena hasn’t simply been claiming column space, it’s been claiming high profile media careers. It happened to Dan Rather, to Jeff "James Gucker" Gannon and most recently to CNN executive Eason Jordan - who misspoke last month at the World Economic Forum. After the resulting "blog swarm" Eason was forced to resign. Bret Stephens, reporter for the Wall Street Journal, joins Bob to suss out the damage done by the swarm.
On the Media is funded by The Bydale Foundation, The Ford Foundation, The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Overbrook Foundation.
