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Broadcasters are legally required to serve “the public interest.” But as long as the FCC equates “public interest” with “local interest,” the result is likely to be hours upon hours of crime reporting, which only exacerbates implicit racism in viewers. At least that’s what UCLA law professor Jerry Kang thinks. He lays out his argument for Daljit.
Before suspects were taken into custody in the July 21st London bombings, the media frenzy was well under way. But immediately after the arrests, civil liberties groups complained that the sensational coverage was jeopardizing the suspects' right to a fair trial. The fact that Fleet Street capitulated to those complaints is largely due to Britain's sub judice law, which allow courts to effectively gag the press. Media attorney David Hooper explains the law to Bob.
Lolita follows the travails of an older man obsessed with a young girl, and was first published … in 1916? 42 years before Vladimir Nabokov's novel, a short story by Heinz von Lichberg titled "Lolita" was published in Germany. Was Nabokov a plagiarist? Or did he suffer from cryptomnesia? Brooke talks to New York Observer columnist Ron Rosenbaum about the line between appropriation and regurgitation.
A Christian station here, a Christian station there. But together, religious broadcasters account for well over half of the low-power FM licenses granted by the FCC. And now, they've banded together to create de facto networks. Does this sort of large-scale mobilization by religious broadcasters defeat the intent of low-power legislation? Bob puts the question to San Francisco Chronicle staff writer Joe Garofoli.
Earlier this month, a judge in California ruled that three bloggers must divulge the source of information posted on their websites. The information detailed soon-to-be released Apple hardware, and had been leaked by Apple employees. The bloggers claimed that they were protected from having to testify by California's "shield law." But the judge said that no journalist, online or other, could bow out of an investigation that had to do with trade secrets. Bob talks to internet law maven Susan Crawford about the ramifications of court-endorsed secrecy for journalism. David Berkman "Leaving Home" Album: Leaving Home Label: Palmetto Jazz
This week, President Bush promoted FCC Commissioner Kevin Martin to chairman of the agency. Because he's already on the FCC, confirmation hearings won't be necessary. And so Martin, a shrewd political strategist and a hawk on indecency, becomes the person with the most influence on media regulation - with no questions asked. Bob has a few questions of his own, and turns for answers to Broadcasting & Cable senior writer Bill McConnell.
Last month, the FCC hit Fox stations with the largest ever aggregate fine for indecency on TV. The offending material was a scene on the short-lived reality show "Married by America," involving strippers and whipped cream. Regulators said the move was triggered by 159 citizen complaints. But Buzzmachine.com blogger Jeff Jarvis tells Bob that the actual number of angry missives was much, much smaller.
A reporter in Providence, Rhode Island this week joined the ranks of reporters facing jail time for refusing to disclose a confidential source. Reporter's Committee for Freedom of the Press executive director Lucy Dalglish weighs in on what it portends for the health of American journalism.
