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The New York Times and reporter Judith Miller have become a mysterious sideshow to the CIA leak investigation set to conclude next week. Something of an explanation began last week with 9,000 words of newsprint. The stories answered several questions, but raised a great deal more. Bob takes a closer look at the Timesian approach to coming clean.
When the American pharmaceutical industry looks north, it sees a great menace. And so a staffer at PhRMA had the bright idea of commissioning a novel about terrorists who taint the supply of Canadian generics. When PhRMA bosses found out about the book, they weren't so thrilled, but it was already too late. Brooke recounts the strange genesis of "The Karasik Conspiracy," a tale of secret payments, terror, and revenge.
When Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf coast, radio stations throughout the region were devastated along with everything else. But an unprecedented collaboration emerged from the wreckage. Within hours of the storm, rival radio conglomerates Clear Channel and Entercom had formed United Radio Broadcasters of New Orleans, 75 miles away in Baton Rouge. It's been going 24/7 ever since. KERA's Bill Zeeble reports.
Journalist and historian Alvin Josephy Jr. died this week at the age of 90. He's most remembered for his writing on Indians of the American West. But in his earlier life as a reporter, he was best known as one of very few correspondents recording the sounds of World War II for the people back home. WNYC archivist Andy Lanset plays some of Josephy's old tapes for Brooke.
In her first tournament as a golf professional, 16-year-old sensation Michelle Wie finished fourth in the Samsung World Championship - that is, until a Sports Illustrated reporter turned her in to officials for breaking a rule. She was promptly disqualified. But didn't the reporter break the rules, too, by becoming a participant in a story he was meant to report? Bob speaks with Sports Illustrated editor Jim Herre about the rules in golf and journalism.
This month, millions of Muslims are following their break-the-fast meals with an evening in front of the TV, watching one of the dozens of mini-series broadcast throughout the Arab world for Ramadan. In recent years, the series have chased after viewers by taking on current events and historical allegory. Bob talks to political science professor As'ad Abu-Khalil about Ramadan's postprandial must-see TV.
Just as Arab-language broadcasters know that people stay in during Ramadan, American broadcasters assume that people go out on Saturday night. Once a time for testing offbeat and experimental shows, now Saturday is a wasteland of reruns, movies and college football. NBC executive Mitch Metcalf tells Brooke that in the cut-throat world of TV Monopoly, Saturday is Baltic Avenue. But cultural critic Steven Stark reminds us of some notable exceptions.
Highlights from Past ShowsSoldiers are not necessarily known for their acting skills. And so it was hard not to see through what was billed as a conversational "back and forth" between the president and a small group of his troops this week. Any remaining doubts about its scripted nature were dispelled when news organizations broadcast tape of the videoconference's rehearsal. Bob and Brooke reflect on one of the least slick P.R. maneuvers of the Bush presidency.
A federal judge recently ordered the Defense Department to release a second batch of photos from Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison. But the Pentagon maintains that the pictures will only inflame Anti-Americanism and endanger soldiers overseas. Bob discusses the FOIA case with Senator John McCain, sponsor of a new measure that would standardize policies for military interrogation techniques.
On the Media is funded by The Bydale Foundation, The Ford Foundation, The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Overbrook Foundation.
