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Even as the death toll from Katrina continued to climb, TV news by Monday was already focused on Rita. The catastrophe of three weeks earlier infused the new Technicolor swirls with a sickening menace. But with or without Katrina, those satellite images were already well fixed in the TV lexicon. Bob discusses the history of hurricane reporting with weather historian David Laskin.
Just as Hurricane Katrina punctured the levees in New Orleans, it also created some surprising rifts in Washington. Republican loyalists are suddenly departing from the party line, and they are wading into the media to do so. Could it be that the Bush Administration P.R. machine, legendary for its message discipline, has begun to break down? The Washington Post's Dana Milbank talks with Bob about the post-Katrina political climate.
Bob ruminates on media saturation in a world where passengers trapped on a damaged airplane could watch real-time newscasts about their harrowing flight.
With DVR-enabled "time shifting" and the alternative distribution channels of the Internet, the future of network television is looking grim. Bob sees the obsolescence of broadcast TV as the first step in the collapse of mainstream media's advertiser-driven business model. But Washington Post staff writer Paul Farhi disagrees. He tells Bob that though the networks might change, they won't go away.
On Tuesday, ABC will premiere the new drama Commander in Chief. The show promises a heaping helping of politics, though it may not be politics as usual. The central character is a president with no party affiliation, and also happens to be a woman. Brooke considers the real-world implications of Geena Davis' ascendancy to a fictional Oval Office.
According to Working Today, the national freelancers' union, there are an estimated 50 million independent, self-employed workers across the country. But writer Ben Yagoda is no longer among them. Why is he leaving the ranks of freelancers? Unanswered query letters, undignified treatment by editors and an outdated pay scale, and that's just for starters. Bob talks to Yagoda about the travails of his former biz.
Among the ranks of talking heads populating the world of TV punditry are many men and women from the newsrooms across the country. For some, it comes easy. But not everybody is born to bloviate. And so one Washington P.R. firm is training journalists with little or no TV experience for their star turns as pundits. OTM's John Solomon attended one class to see if he had what it takes.
Highlights from Past ShowsSupreme Court nominee John Roberts gave what most observers agreed was an ace performance on the Hill this week. But it often seemed that his Senate interrogators were trying to steal the spotlight for themselves. In the Republic's earlier days, was the process any less theatrical? Bob discusses the history of confirmation hearings with University of Connecticut law professor David Yalof.
In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the National Association of Black Journalists called on media outlets to refer to people fleeing New Orleans as "evacuees," rather than "refugees." Many complied, but others, after consulting their dictionaries and style guides, decided the new term lacked the scope befitting a national catastrophe. Bob examines the debate and discovers that even in the midst of a crisis, language can be critical.
On the Media is funded by The Bydale Foundation, The Ford Foundation, The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Overbrook Foundation.
