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Last week, the British tabloid The Daily Mirror alleged that in the spring of 2004, President Bush suggested bombing the Qatar headquarters of al-Jazeera. The U.S. press has trod lightly on the story, which was based on a leaked memo that has not yet been published. But the rest of the world clamored for answers. Bob talks to Joel Campagna, senior program coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists.
American war planners are once again fending off challenges to their credibility in the wake of news that they paid Iraqi newspapers to publish good news stories. Many question the ethics - and efficacy - of the project, but others say this sort of "psychological operation" is an integral part of war. Bob talks to intelligence expert James Bamford about the Rendon Group, one of the government's favorite contractors for "strategic communications" campaigns in the lead-up to war.
In what was billed as a major policy speech, President Bush on Wednesday unveiled his "National Strategy for Victory in Iraq." While interpretations varied in the ensuing media flurry, Brooke noticed that many of the reportorial techniques, from man-on-the-street interviews to instant fact-checks, came straight from election season's bag of reportorial tricks.
Ten years ago, the philosophy known as neo-conservatism was on the outs among Republicans in D.C. But these days, the "neocon" agenda is reflected in much of the Bush Administration's foreign policy. What changed? For one, there was 9/11. But there was also the rise of a certain forum for neoconservative thinking called The Weekly Standard. Brooke talks to Bill Kristol about his magazine's first ten years. And she hears from American Conservative editor Scott McConnell, who's none-too-happy about the Weekly Standard's success.
When Supreme Court Justice Scalia spoke recently at Time Warner headquarters, he insisted it be "off the record." And so gossip columnist Lloyd Grove, who attended the event, published a "hypothetical" account, describing what Scalia "might have said." Bob and Lloyd discuss his end-run around the rules.
Listeners weigh in on military-issue photojournalism, Pakistani earthquake coverage. Also, an update on the legal case of former FBI translator Sibel Edmonds.
This week, FCC chairman Kevin Martin suggested that consumers should be allowed to pick and choose "a la carte" which cable channels come into their homes. The cable industry cried foul. As Los Angeles Times reporter Jube Shiver explains to Bob, the debate has confronted one group with an especially thorny set of issues – religious broadcasters.
For some, Google stands for a new model in advertising, and reflects the increasingly interconnected nature of our media and economy. But do we really want total omnigooglization, as the French call it? Brooke speaks with Matt Thompson, creator of an eight-minute Internet movie entitled "Epic 2014," wherein the future media landscape is dominated by a single company: Googlezon.
Highlights from Past ShowsLast week, Democratic Congressman John Murtha called for a resolution terminating U.S. troop involvement in Iraq. Amid an increasingly acrimonious debate on the Iraq war, his comments drew an extremely sharp reaction from congressional Republicans and the White House. Bob talks to Mark Halperin, political director of ABC News and editor of The Note, about the press coverage of this latest war of words.
The Washington saga that has gripped journalism watchers for many months has taken another unexpected turn. Seems that storied scribe Bob Woodward may have been the first journalist contacted by the notorious Valerie Plame leaker. And he kept mum until this week. Brooke reflects on the transformation of Watergate Bob into White House Bob.
On the Media is funded by The Bydale Foundation, The Ford Foundation, The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Overbrook Foundation.
