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As this week’s iPhone unveiling made clear, Apple chairman Steve Jobs is a master of the product rollout. Every year, the company uses its MacExpo to seduce fans, critics and even skeptical reporters. Wired’s Mac columnist Pete Mortenson explains why everyone finds Apple so delicious.
With the new Congressional leadership promising to get serious about carbon emissions, Big Oil is appealing directly to the public for a little sympathy. Wall Street Journal reporter John Fialka previews the energy industry’s latest hearts and minds campaign.
When Syria's computer-savvy president Bashar al-Assad took office, some expected it to usher in a new era of freedom of expression, at least online. Six years and a war in Iraq later, World Politics Watch editor Guy Taylor went to Syria to assess the online environment there.
Listen to Guy Taylor's interview with Syrian telecomminications minister Amr Salem.
A new social networking technology allows Internet users all over the world to get around government censors. It's called Psiphon. Developer Ron Deibert discusses the history and benefits of disappearing in plain sight.
Judging from our mail, the public’s biggest frustration with news media is about what is and what isn't covered. But complaints are anecdotal, unless you count column inches and airtime minutes. Enter the News Coverage Index. Mark Jurkowitz of the Project for Excellence in Journalism explains.
Political bloggers often make a point of keeping the media honest. Take a recent case involving an oft-cited AP source, which the rightosphere claimed didn’t exist. It turns out he does, and now the leftosphere is crowing. Conservative blogger Ed Morrissey helps us plumb the psychology of the ’sphere.
Fox News Channel is still cable news’ leader of the pack, but the competition is gaining fast. Some commentators see Fox’s ratings decline as a repudiation of partisan, fear-mongering media. But Rolling Stone contributing editor Matt Taibbi says hate media is alive and well.
MSNBC anchor Keith Olbermann has a weekly segment called "the worst person in the world," and frequently awards that honor to Fox News' Bill O'Reilly. O'Reilly never misses a chance to fire back, and away they spar, all the way to the bank. We took cable news' toughest two emcees, and added a beat.
Highlights from Past Shows
How is Saddam Hussein’s execution playing in the Arab media? Depends on your sectarian filter. Arab media watcher Marc Lynch says that even the few outlets representing Shiite and Sunni viewpoints are themselves starting to come apart at the seams.
When Bill Clinton's press secretary, Mike McCurry, started allowing TV media to carry his daily press briefings live, he profoundly changed the daily ritual. McCurry and ABC News veteran Sam Donaldson discuss the extent to which the White House press corps is playing to the cameras.
On the Media is funded by The Bydale Foundation, The Ford Foundation, The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Overbrook Foundation.
