TopicsOn The Media is produced by:
The jury’s verdict is in – Scooter Libby is guilty of perjury and obstruction of justice. And yet still, editorialists have found plenty of room for dispute in what it all means. The Nation’s David Corn and the New York Sun's Josh Gerstein analyze the spin.
For 18 days in 1972, Thomas Eagleton, who died this week, was the Democratic vice-presidential candidate. Clark Hoyt was the cub reporter who abruptly ended his bid for office. Hoyt reflects on journalistic responsibility and regret.
The president’s plan to send more than 20 thousand additional troops to Iraq is being hotly debated on Capitol Hill. But the troops are already shipping out. Defense analyst Bill Arkin says that while the press obsesses over politics, they’re missing the facts on the ground.
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.
Through much of George Bush's tenure, a common narrative has suggested that the president surrounds himself with smart advisors who really make the tough decisions. Recently, a new press narrative has emerged. Ron Suskind, Paul Begala and Ari Fleischer discuss Bush’s changing image.
A few years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court started releasing same-day audio recordings of selected oral arguments. We get reactions from two legal correspondents. Slate’s Dahlia Lithwick wants all the tapes or none at all, but NPR’s Nina Totenberg says more tape means more headaches.
One constituency that will benefit from the Democratic takeover of Congress is journalists. At least that’s what National Journal columnist William Powers says. It’s not that Dems appeal to journalists’ own sympathies exactly, but that they’re prone to infighting and hijinks, both of which make for good news copy. And, he tells Brooke, journalists will go to great lengths to prove that they’re not lapdogs of the left.
These days, partisan politics are everywhere – dinner parties, the editorial pages, movie previews, and even children’s literature. But can simple prose and bright illustrations help explain the confusing world of politics? Or is it just colorful propaganda? Are children developmentally equipped to understand politics? Bob talks to Katherine DeBrecht, author of Help! Mom! There Are Liberals Under My Bed!, and to Jeremy Zilber, author of Why Mommy is a Democrat. And he gets the expert opinion of psychology professor Dr. Andrew Getzfeld.
