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The Supreme Court has declined to hear the appeal of reporters Judith Miller and Matthew Cooper, the defiant duo who have resisted court orders to reveal their government sources. Miller appears headed for prison, a martyr to the end. But Cooper may still walk free. On Thursday, his bosses at Time Magazine caved and said they would hand over his documents. Brooke reflects on the case with First Amendment lawyer Geoffrey Stone, who says that Time is doing the right thing.
A new study conducted by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press shows that the people do, by and large, support the press - under certain circumstances. At the same time, there's been a falloff in the percentage of Americans who find their daily newspaper believable, who think news organizations "stand up for America," and who think that the media "protect democracy." Pew president Andy Kohut interprets the numbers for OTM guest host Mike Pesca.
The recent election of hard-line conservative Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as Iran's new president left observers in the Western media scratching their heads. For weeks, their coverage had focused on reformist candidates Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Mustafa Moin, who many expected would be the first- and second-place finishers. Brooke speaks with blogger Nema Milaninia about why the English language media - and their counterparts in Tehran - were caught off guard.
The sharing of media content and infrastructure was a theme in two Supreme Court decisions handed down this week. In the Grokster case, the Court ruled against peer-to-peer sharers, saying software makers can be held liable for copyright infringement by their users. Sharing was also nixed in the Brand X decision, in which the Court effectively ruled that cable companies don't have to share their lines with independent Internet providers. Brooke parses the decisions with University of Pittsburgh law professor Michael Madison.
What do a bunch of foul-mouthed 4th-graders have in common with the Republican Party? Plenty, according to Brian C. Anderson, author of the recently-published South Park Conservatives. Mike Pesca speaks with Anderson about the anti-liberal inclinations of one of Comedy Central's most popular shows, the pitfalls of celebrity politics, and the future of mainstream media.
Former Atlanta prosecutor Nancy Grace doesn't like high-powered defense attorneys. The Court TV and CNN Headline News host has built a media career out of her strongly-held opinions about the current state of the criminal justice system. Mike cross-examined her about the effect of the 24-hour news cycle on due process.
The big concern with saturation media coverage of trials is that juries will be unduly swayed by that which happens outside the courtroom. But that’s not necessarily what the data show. Communications scholar William Loges argues that press hype has no discernible effect on trial outcome. Loges makes his case for Mike.
The mania of obsessive record collectors has long been fed by the re-release of rare and out-of-print recordings. But soon that experience may also be rare, because of copyright issues that apply to even the oldest recorded music. OTM's Rex Doane - who has an amazing record collection - reports.
Highlights from Past ShowsYou listen to public radio, so you probably know that public broadcasting’s federal funding came under the ax, again. Half of the $200 million dollar proposed cut was restored by a House amendment on Thursday, though the exercise itself was instructive. The cut was put forth partly as an austerity measure, and partly, some say, as a response to perceived bias. Brooke explores various funding options for the perennially staticky public airwaves.
At a joint media appearance by Tony Blair and George Bush this week, a Reuters reporter asked about the Downing Street Memo, which allegedly proves the Bush administration was planning for war eight months before the invasion. And suddenly the memo was in play in the American press - even though reporters have known about it for more than a month. Bob talks to USA Today reporter Mark Memmott about the nature of the coverage.
On the Media is funded by The Bydale Foundation, The Ford Foundation, The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Overbrook Foundation.
