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Journalists in Iraq face an increasingly dangerous situation every time they step outside their hotels. On Monday, what little sense of refuge remained inside their hotels was shattered when suicide bombers attacked the Palestine and Sheraton Hotels, home to many foreign correspondents. Reporter Mark Danner joins Brooke to discuss the insurgents and their new "media strategy."
As the nation mourned the death of Rosa Parks this week, most obituaries focused on the story we all know: how the humble seamstress changed history by refusing to give up her seat on the bus to a white man. But while that account is accurate, it's only part of her story. Bob talks to University of Wisconsin historian Tim Tyson about the construction of an American hero.
Politicians are well-accustomed to the chorus of cat-calls emanating from the blogosphere. But a town councilman in Delaware couldn't take the heat, and went to court to "out" one of his online anonymous critics, so that he could sue for defamation. Earlier this month, the Delaware Supreme Court ruled against him, maintaining a wide berth for the right to anonymous speech. University of Minnesota journalism professor Jane Kirtley tells Bob why she's thrilled about the decision.
At the moment, the United States sets the rules for the Internet, through the non-governmental Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). Whether the U.S. will retain its hegemony, however, is uncertain; it's up for debate next month at the World Summit on the Information Society in Tunis. Kenneth Neil Cukier outlined the debate for Foreign Affairs, and joins Brooke to discuss what's at stake.
In its early days, cyberspace had no formal governing body. There was just the handful of academics and engineers that had gotten the Internet up and running, people like Jon Postel. Brooke talks to John Perry Barlow, co-founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, about Postel's legacy.
Fifty years ago this weekend, the nation's first "All-Girl" radio station went on the air in Memphis, Tennessee. Legendary music producer Sam Phillips launched WHER with cash he made selling Elvis Presley's record contract to RCA. To mark the golden anniversary, we present a shortened version of a radio documentary produced several years ago by The Kitchen Sisters.
Highlights from Past ShowsThe 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.
Soldiers 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.
On the Media is funded by The Bydale Foundation, The Ford Foundation, The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Overbrook Foundation.
