New York Times reporter William L. Laurence was with American troops in a plane over Nagasaki when the atomic bomb was dropped. He won the Pulitzer Prize for a series of stories he subsequently published, many of which included details about the development and production of the bomb that he had previously kept secret. But it turned out those weren’t the only secrets Laurence was keeping; he was also on the payroll of the U.S. War Department. Bob speaks with author David Goodman about Laurence’s dueling allegiances.
Earlier this year, New York Post gossip columnist Jared Paul Stern was accused of trying to extort his sources in exchange for favorable coverage. He hasn’t been charged with a crime, but if it does turn out Stern is guilty he wouldn’t be the first person to cash in on the power of the pen. Columbia University journalism professor Robert Love tells Bob about a few of Stern’s seedy antecedents.
This week marks the 10th anniversary of MSNBC and MSNBC.com. A longtime ratings loser, the cable news network may be celebrating quietly. But the website, a leader in online news, has many happy returns to toast. Brian Stelter, who writes the blog TVNewser, joins Brooke for cake and a piñata.
John Wilkes was an 18th century libertine, philanderer and author of what has been called the dirtiest poem in the English language. He was also a civil liberties pioneer, one of the first stalwarts of the free press. Brooke probes Arthur H. Cash, author of John Wilkes: The Scandalous Father of Civil Liberty about Wilkes’s illustrious, debaucherous career.
In the 40 years since President Johnson signed the Freedom of Information Act, it has been both a revelatory tool and a beleaguered statute. Historians, journalists and proponents of open government have filed millions of requests, and increasingly lawsuits, to uncover what the government does in the name of its citizens. Brooke looks back and forward with a number of FOIA experts, including PBS’ Bill Moyers, who was press secretary for Johnson at the time of the signing.
On November 10, 1898, a mob of white supremacists ransacked the city of Wilmington, North Carolina, and toppled its biracial government. But last week, the 1898 Race Riot Wilmington Race Riot Commission concluded that it was not so much a riot as an insurrection, orchestrated by prominent local Democrats and their allies in the media. Bob speaks with Duke historian Tim Tyson about how newspapers turned neighbor against neighbor and helped usher in Jim Crow.
A little while ago, Bob took out his crystal ball, and looked into the brave new media future. What he saw didn’t bode well for traditional keepers of the broadcast universe: viewers using DVRs to tune out commercials, and networks bypassing affiliates with online content streaming. A year later, Bob’s “chaos scenario” appears to be in full swing, at least according to BuzzMachine blogger Jeff Jarvis. While proof may not be in the pudding just yet, says AdAge editorial director Scott Donaton, this year’s annual “upfronts” market may be one of the last. And, Bob hears from media consultant Terry Heaton about what all of this means for local affiliate stations.
Journalists have long been among the casualties of foreign wars, and Iraq is no exception. But we’re less accustomed to reporters dying in the line of duty here at home. Which may be why the death of The Arizona Republic’s Don Bolles still resonates. He was covering organized crime when his car exploded in Phoenix 30 years ago last week. KJZZ’s Steve Goldstein reports on the Arizona Project, a collaboration of dozens of reporters who converged upon Phoenix to finish Bolles’ work.
