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The late Rev. Jerry Falwell rose from leader of a few dozen congregants to megachurch founder, pioneering televangelist, fundamentalist provocateur and key player in making the evangelical movement a potent conservative bloc. Bob speaks with a Christian conservative leader, a critic and Falwell’s ghostwriter about what the man hath wrought.
Electronic surveillance just got a lot easier. This week brought the deadline for all broadband internet providers to have built-in surveillance capabilities so that law enforcement can easily snoop on internet users. Kevin Poulsen, editor at Wired News, explains that as wiretapping gets easier it also become more common.
For 17 years, BBC Newsnight host Jeremy Paxman has been both celebrated and criticized in the U.K. for his confrontational interviewing style. Paxman talks about some of his most memorable interviews and he tells us why he has come down in favor of the British monarchy in his new book, On Royalty.
Pasadena Now publisher James Macpherson caused an uproar this week when he hired two writers based in Mumbai, India to cover Pasadena City Council meetings using webcasts. But Macpherson says his coverage is not so different from other news outlets.
At midnight on Sunday, May 27, President Hugo Chavez is yanking the license of Venezuela’s most watched TV network, Radio Caracas Television. Chavez says the station is pornographic, that it’s a mouthpiece of the US Empire and an instrument of the Venezuelan bourgeoisie. Marketplace reporter Dan Grech filed this story.
San Francisco Giant Barry Bonds will soon break the all-time career record for home runs, eclipsing Henry Aaron. But unlike Hammerin’ Hank, Bonds is famously unlovable and widely suspected of using performance-enhancing drugs. San Francisco Chronicle columnist Ray Ratto says we may have to asterisk 15 years of baseball.
The shouting matches, strong opinions and favoritism so common on sports news channels are great for ratings. But Le Anne Schreiber, ESPN’s new ombudsman, explains that she plans to help the giant sports network balance its business interests with more accurate reporting.
Remember Jihad to Be There? Sure, we made it up, but not so Little Mosque on the Prairie – a CBC comedy about a small Muslim congregation in rural Canada, where headscarves, prayer mats and Islamic tradition all serve as props. Creator Zarqa Nawaz and producer Mary Darling explain.
Highlights from Past Shows
Over the years, the Dalai Lama has transformed the Buddhist concept of emptiness into an enormously successful P.R. strategy. Constant attacks from China don’t hurt his image either. On the heels of his latest U.S. tour, we look at the Dalai Lama’s enduring rock-star status in the American media.
15 years ago, riots raged across Los Angeles and TV screens worldwide. Much of the media portrayed the riots as a response to the beating of Rodney King. But historian Mike Davis says that simple narrative did L.A. another injustice: it ignored the reality on the ground.
On the Media is funded by The Bydale Foundation, The Ford Foundation, The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Overbrook Foundation.
