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The trial of Saddam Hussein was back in session this week. Here we saw brief excerpts of courtroom theatrics. But in Baghdad, viewers followed the trial's every twist and turn on TVs throughout the city. Brooke talks to L.A. Times correspondent Borzou Daragahi about the spectacle of the Saddam trial as well as its larger backdrop - the heated campaigning of candidates in next week's parliamentary elections.
The 9/11 commission has issued its final report card on the government's implementation of recommendations for preventing another terrorist attack. The overall grade: C-, with 5 Fs and 12 Ds among the 41 categories. Was it big news? Should it be? Editor and Publisher's Greg Mitchell surveyed major dailies, and tells Bob what he found.
In the days following Hurricane Katrina, we heard stories of chaos and violence in the streets of New Orleans. Only later did it become clear how much of that initial reporting was exaggerated and flat-out false. Bob talks to New Orleans Times-Picayune reporter Brian Thevenot about whether the myths created in the initial coverage can ever be fully dispelled.
How involved reporters should become in a story is one of journalism's age-old ethical dilemmas. But the question was anything but hypothetical in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Rachel Smolkin, managing editor of the American Journalism Review, describes to Brooke how some major journalists reassessed their codes of conduct in light of what they experienced then.
For tourists in Rio seeking an experience beyond Carnaval and the Copacabana, there are tours of favelas, the infamous Brazilian shantytowns. An enterprising Argentine imported the idea, offering visitors a drive though the villas miserias of Buenos Aires. Reporter Ian Mount looks at what happens when there is a "poverty tour," and only journalists show up.
In May, we spoke to the editor of the Spokane Spokesman-Review, which had just netted the city's mayor in an online sex sting. This week, Spokane voters recalled Mayor Jim West in a special election.
Every day, journalists turn to "experts" to predict the outcome of current political trends. How often are these professional prophets right? Psychologist Philip Tetlock, author of Expert Political Judgment: How Good Is It? How Can We Know?, followed-up on the prognostications of a few hundred "experts." He tells Brooke that being an expert is often the best predictor... of being wrong.
The holidays are upon us, but not everyone is celebrating. Prominent members of the Fox News Channel's anchor chair are frothing-mad about a supposed liberal plot to ban Christmas and everything it stands for. And they are taking to the airwaves to fight back. Salon senior writer Michelle Goldberg tells Bob about the long history of anti-anti-Christmas hysteria.
Highlights from Past ShowsLast 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.
Last 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.
On the Media is funded by The Bydale Foundation, The Ford Foundation, The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Overbrook Foundation.
