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This week, we learned that the war on terrorism may soon be a thing of the past. Not that militants are laying down their suicide bombs, or that the U.S. is making peace with its enemies. It's just that the phrase "war on terrorism" is being retired. From now on, it will officially be referred to as the "struggle against violent extremism." Brooke speaks with CIA counterterrorism veteran Michael Scheuer about the semantic overhaul.
U.S. military officials recently found themselves in the awkward position of having to explain why two news releases, about two separate insurgent attacks in Iraq, included virtually the same quotation from an unidentified Iraqi. An Army spokesman called it an "administrative error," but we weren't so sure. And so we phoned Mr. "Unidentified Iraqi" to get the real story.
During a recent White House visit by Tony Blair, President Bush claimed his administration had tripled its aid to Africa in the last four years. The claim was widely reported, but was it true? Not exactly. Brooke talks to Jamison Foser of the progressive watchdog group Media Matters about why journalists seem to be biased against… doing the math.
Watching TV health news may be bad for your health. That's according to Gary Schwitzer, a 14-year veteran of the television health journalism biz. But he thinks that a lot of the journalistic malpractice could be ameliorated if voluntary certification were available to health reporters, the same way it is for broadcast meteorologists. Journalists usually cringe at any mention of "licensing," but as Schwitzer tells Bob, this is different.
Ten years ago this month, a pocket of hot air settled over Chicago. By the end of the week, 739 people had succumbed to the heat. And yet, the Chicago heat wave of '95 remains one of the most overlooked disasters in American history. Why do heat waves get so little attention, even though they kill more people than all other natural disasters in the country combined? Bob gets some answers from Eric Klinenberg, author of Heat Wave: A Social Autopsy of Disaster in Chicago.
Ever since Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide was deposed last year, violence has wracked the country. At least 600 people have died at the hands of armed gangs in the past year, and in recent months, random kidnappings have been common. Most end with a ransom payment, but not in the case of the popular Haitian journalist and poet, Jacques Roche. Michael Kavanagh reports from Port-au-Prince that outrage over Roche's death has calmed the spasms of violence in the capital - at least for now.
The American media's portrait of Africa is constructed from images of war, of famine, of AIDS - as well as soft-focus fodder like The Lion King. But seldom do the continent's 53 countries have the power to define their own portrayals. James Makawa, a longtime NBC News correspondent originally from Zimbabwe, tells Bob that he aims to change all that with the launch of the Africa Channel.
This week, Ukraine's President Victor Yushchenko chewed out a reporter for asking questions about his son's incongruously lavish lifestyle. In response, some 200 Ukrainian journalists signed a strongly-worded letter protesting the reporter's treatment. And Yushchenko responded with a letter of his own. A sign of tough times ahead for journalism in the nascent democracy? Or an indication that Ukraine's free press is alive and well?
Highlights from Past ShowsThe media have wasted no time in getting to work on the past record of John Roberts Jr. But with only two years' experience as a judge, the Supreme Court nominee has left relatively few clues as to his judicial philosophy. Is he a traditionalist? A strict constructionist? A judicial activist? What do these labels mean anyway, and do they really tell us what we need to know? Bob talks legal language with literary theorist and legal scholar Stanley Fish.
Ever since the prosecutor in the Valerie Plame leak investigation started targeting journalists, many have worried about a resulting chilling effect that would shackle investigative reporters and gag would-be whistleblowers. Two weeks ago, it appeared the chill had arrived, in the form of a column by the editor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. It said his newspaper would hold two stories, fearing legal ramifications for several anonymous sources. Bob talks to the editor, Doug Clifton, about the decision. And Brooke recaps the week's developments in the search for the leaker.
On the Media is funded by The Bydale Foundation, The Ford Foundation, The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Overbrook Foundation.
