People In The News

Inside the Mind of a Talking Head

When news happens, and even when it doesn't, Rachel Maddow is there to discuss it. She has a radio show on Air America and often appears on MSNBC as a sidekick, guest, or panelist. Maddow gives a pundit's-eye-view of Tuesday's primary coverage and discusses the compromises of professional punditry.


Object Lesson

Think you know reality? Ayn Rand did, and through her novels and nonfiction she gave legions of followers a practical philosophy by which to live. Brooke looks at the enduring legacy of the original Objectivist.


Illegal Sects

The story of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has been irresistible to the news media for weeks, with images of FLDS women living as though in another century. But now the sister wives are fighting back in a very 21st century way. Salt Lake Tribune’s polygamy reporter Brooke Adams reviews the narrative.


Jungle Love

Fidel Castro resigned this week. Before his lengthy tenure began, New York Times reporter Herbert L. Matthews interviewed Castro in the jungle—and fell in love with his cause. Years later, reporter Anthony DePalma wrote about the exchange and joined us to talk about it.


Public Affairs

Sex, diamonds and rivalry. Just a few ingredients of the permanent reality show that is the personal life of French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Daily Star opinion editor Michael Young says Sarkozy’s constant courting of the press may be vulgar but it’s working.


En Passant

From brash beginnings to cold war heroism to tragic final years, former world chess champion Bobby Fischer was a magnet for public admiration and criticism. Biographer Frank Brady of St. John's University followed Fischer's complex relationship with the media.


Daughter of the East

In the wake of Benazir Bhutto’s assassination, the Pakistani press faced the question of how to remember her. Was she a symbol of hope for Pakistan’s future or a corrupt figure from the past? The Christian Science Monitor’s Shahan Mufti describes coverage of Bhutto’s life and death in the Pakistani media.


Get Happy!

Bob offers his appreciation of one reporter's global search for a journalistic rarity, happy stories.


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