Earlier this month, a judge in California ruled that three bloggers must divulge the source of information posted on their websites. The information detailed soon-to-be released Apple hardware, and had been leaked by Apple employees. The bloggers claimed that they were protected from having to testify by California's "shield law." But the judge said that no journalist, online or other, could bow out of an investigation that had to do with trade secrets. Bob talks to internet law maven Susan Crawford about the ramifications of court-endorsed secrecy for journalism.
David Berkman "Leaving Home" Album: Leaving Home Label: Palmetto Jazz
Journalist William Arkin is a one-time Army intelligence analyst and longtime crusader for military transparency. Last week, Arkin confronted a potentially career-ending accusation, when a Washington Times reporter was handed leaked evidence that Arkin had been a spy for Saddam Hussein. A complete lie, it turns out. But a chilling reminder of the occupational hazards of whistleblowing. Brooke talks to Arkin about the power of the smear.
David Berkman “Forever Astor” Album: Leaving Home Label: Palmetto Jazz
When federal employees blow the whistle on corruption, incompetence, or other abuses of power, they are entitled to protection from retribution by the U.S. Office of Special Counsel. But according to several watchdog groups, the OSC has been behaving more like a dead letter office than an ally in exposing government wrongdoing. Bob is joined by one of the complainants, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility executive director Jeff Ruch. He also hears from Special Counsel Scott Bloch, who sees things from a very different perspective.
Bob and Brooke relay the latest in the ongoing Valerie Plame investigation. Journalists Matthew Cooper and Judith Miller continue to face jail time for not revealing their sources. Legal appeals on First Amendment grounds have failed, however, according to some, it is possible that no crime was committed by the leaker who revealed Plame’s identity as a CIA official. No crime, no case.
David Berkman “Mayor Of Smoke” Album: Leaving Home Label: Palmetto Jazz
Chris Lightcap Quartet “Big Mouth” Album: Bigmouth Label: Fresh Sound New Talent
On March 31st, 2004, with Democratic drumbeater Al Franken behind the microphone, the openly abrasive, unabashedly liberal Air America Radio was born. Advertised as an antidote to just about everything else on the dial, the network's inaugural year was one of turbulent staff shakeups and near economic collapse - all captured intimately on hundreds of hours of tape and distilled into the new HBO documentary Left of the Dial. Filmmaker Patrick Farrelly tells Brooke how Air America survived, and CEO Danny Goldberg talks about its future.
Lest you thought Air America had a monopoly on liberal talk radio, tune in sometime to The Ed Schultz Show and you'll hear a self-described meat-eatin', gun-totin' pull-no-punches progressive, broadcasting from Middle America. Schultz is a former conservative who, after a change of heart, began preaching his own brand of political gospel in North Dakota. If you're not paying close attention, he sounds a lot like another radio talk-show host. Big Eddie tells Brooke what makes good radio and why Democrats need to get in the game.
Highlights from Past Shows
If no news is good news, then what's fake news? If you're producing it, it's good news too. And so for the past four years, the Bush Administration has been churning it out, in the form of "video news releases" designed to shoehorn the government's message seamlessly into TV newscasts. Last year, the Government Accountability Office deemed the practice "covert propaganda." But the Justice Department recently told federal agencies to ignore that ruling. Bob hashes out the difference between public information and propaganda with G.A.O. managing associate general counsel Susan Poling.
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.
On the Media is funded by The Bydale Foundation, The Ford Foundation, The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Overbrook Foundation.
