TopicsOn The Media is produced by:
On September 6th Israel launched secret air strikes against Syria. Or did they? Over three weeks later none of the governments reportedly involved, Israel, the U.S. or Syria, have officially confirmed the action, much less the details. Keith Richburg, foreign editor of The Washington Post, explains how hard it is to report on a secret.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was the most visible dignitary to address the United Nations this week. Columbia University Professor Edward Luck explains that Ahmadinejad is part of a long list of demagogues who have turned their U.N. address into a theatrical production.
During a speech at the Veterans of Foreign Wars convention last month, President Bush invoked a host of historical analogies to buttress his case for sticktoitiveness in Iraq. But what can we really learn from looking at Vietnam or Cambodia or Korea? Brooke dwells on the past.
This week brought the long-awaited congressional testimony from General David Patraeus. Subsequent chatter centered on Iraq War policy, but a sub-narrative emerged in the media: should Democrats condemn a MoveOn.org advertisement? MoveOn's Tom Mattzie defends the controversial ad.
Stories this week about the Iraq War policy debate sat next to others about the anniversary of September 11th. A more deliberate attempt to link the anniversary and the war came in a series of TV spots from the conservative group Freedom’s Watch. Founding member Ari Fleischer defends the controversial ads.
U.S. detainee accounts of waterboarding, temperature extremes and sleep deprivation have reinvigorated the legal and political debate over what constitutes torture. But writer David Peisner describes another all too common U.S. interrogation tool - popular music. He explains the history and application of sonic suffering.
This week in Baghdad began another crimes-against-humanity trial for 15 flunkies of Saddam Hussein, accused in the massacre of Shia in the wake of the first Gulf War. Journalist Christopher Hanson says that – amid the euphoria of military triumph - the story was undercovered at the time, leaving the question of culpability a murky one.
Frances Harrison was the BBC bureau chief in Tehran for three years, during which time Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s regime instated a harsh crackdown on journalists and Iranian citizens. Harrison completed her post recently and reflects on her time there.
