The hundreds of government-produced fake news packages are part of a $254 million P.R. effort by the Bush Administration. But that money would be going straight down the drain were it not for the many local affiliates willing to air the spots in their newscasts. Brooke talks to Barbara Cochran, president of the Radio & Television News Directors' Association, about broadcasters' complicity in the dissemination of fake news.
This week, in its first hearing on FOIA compliance in 13 years, the Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously approved the "Faster FOIA Act," a measure designed to reduce delays in the turnaround of public information. It's one of several new bills intended to improve the public's right to know. Could this be a sign that lawmakers on both sides of the aisle finally agree that the federal government has grown too opaque? Brooke speaks with GOP Senator John Cornyn, co-sponsor of two of the bills.
This week, President Bush promoted FCC Commissioner Kevin Martin to chairman of the agency. Because he's already on the FCC, confirmation hearings won't be necessary. And so Martin, a shrewd political strategist and a hawk on indecency, becomes the person with the most influence on media regulation - with no questions asked. Bob has a few questions of his own, and turns for answers to Broadcasting & Cable senior writer Bill McConnell.
If you rely on cable TV reporters for news, you're accustomed to taking their word for it. A new study by the Project for Excellence in Journalism finds that only a quarter of the stories on cable news channels contain two or more identifiable sources. That's compared with more than 80% on the front pages of newspapers. And the networks don't just ask viewers to trust them with sourcing. As PEJ's senior associate Dante Chinni tells Brooke, many TV reporters and anchors feel compelled to, well, opine.
Listeners weigh in on last week's story about gun owners in the media.
Ever since the 1983 bombing of the U.S. embassy in Beirut, Lebanon has been etched in the minds of many Americans as a dangerous mix of factions and infighting. The competing interests there have created a story that's often hard for Western media to untangle. And so we wondered how Lebanese journalists have been portraying the recent turmoil in their own country. Michael Young, opinion editor for the Daily Star in Beirut, sketches the picture for Brooke.
Earlier this month, a Jordanian newspaper ran a story linking a well-respected lawyer to a suicide bombing in Iraq. In response, the reporter who wrote the story was reportedly arrested by Jordanian intelligence. It was a stark reminder that despite rhetoric of a blossoming democracy in Jordan, true freedom of expression remains an elusive goal for reporters there, who must continually negotiate how not to run afoul of the monarchy. Bob sent us this report from Amman.
Highlights from Past Shows
Plenty of observers on the political Right think they know who's responsible for the recent outburst of democracy in the Middle East - President Bush. Observers in the region give credit to opposition movements closer to home. But some see the catalyst of freedom as close as their own living rooms, in the programming of Al Jazeera, Al-Arabiya, and 150 other satellite channels that blanket the region. Lebanese journalist Hisham Melhem makes the case for Bob.
Last Veteran's Day, 66 ABC affiliates cancelled a scheduled broadcast of "Saving Private Ryan," because of its spattering of profanity. The affiliates said they were uncertain, in the post-Janet, post-Bono climate of decency enforcement, about what would pass FCC's muster. This week, the Commission unanimously ruled that "in light of the overall context of the profanity," the movie was not indecent. Brooke speaks with FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein about where the FCC draws the line.
On the Media is funded by The Bydale Foundation, The Ford Foundation, The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Overbrook Foundation.
