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Rupert Murdoch added the Wall Street Journal to his media empire this week. While many scramble to determine if this is good or bad news for journalism, Mark Jurkowitz, Associate Director of the Project for Excellence in Journalism, explains that Murdoch has a surprisingly varied track record in the U.S. newspaper industry.
Media mogul Sumner Redstone and his daughter Shari are embroiled in a nasty, public feud over the future of National Amusements Inc., parent company of Viacom, CBS, BET, MTV, and the list goes on. Silicon Alley Insider Managing Editor Peter Kafka joins us to talk about succession in the Redstone empire.
Almost every major sport is marred by scandal at the moment and many journalists are quick to discuss what the scandals' implications mean for the games. But Michael Hiltzik, Pulitzer-Prize winning investigative journalist-turned-sportswriter, says more scrutiny should be paid to the allegations and those who make them.
The National Football League is defending and promoting its own media brand by issuing new rules that would seem to penalize reporters who are just doing their jobs. Running interference for the journalists is Gilbert Bailon, president of the American Society of Newspaper Editors.
When the FCC devised new rules for some cell phone carriers this week there was an 800 lb. search engine in the room. Why would Google want to free you from your restrictive cell phone contract? Media professor Siva Vaidhyanathan explains how the internet giant is following the web wherever it leads.
Teenagers are always ready for the next hip social networking site, many hoping that class barriers in the real world will vanish online. But after months of interviewing American teenagers, danah boyd has found that socio-economics help determine which site teens choose.
Ratings are never easy to calculate. Especially on the web, where visits to sites can last mere seconds. But now Nielsen has released internet ratings that include “total minutes” and “total sessions.” Abbey Klassen, writer for Advertising Age, explains who benefits from the new system.
For more than 20 years, the only media outlet consistently covering alien abductions, werewolf sightings, and the latest on Bat Boy has been the Weekly World News. Faced with a dwindling readership, the venerable paper is packing up its presses and publishing strictly online.
Highlights from Past Shows
How did Al Jazeera respond to the detention of one of its employees? For over a year, they didn’t. Al Jazeera producer Ahmad Ibrahim produced a documentary about al-Hajj’s case. He says there was no response because Al Jazeera had little information and a lot of fear.
As a media liaison for the Marines during the early days of the Iraq War, Josh Rushing was stuck between his military superiors and reporters at Al Jazeera. Four years later, Rushing is a reporter for that very network. In his new book, he writes about his unusual career path from marine to war correspondent.
On the Media is funded by The Bydale Foundation, The Ford Foundation, The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Overbrook Foundation.
