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A new study conducted by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press shows that the people do, by and large, support the press - under certain circumstances. At the same time, there's been a falloff in the percentage of Americans who find their daily newspaper believable, who think news organizations "stand up for America," and who think that the media "protect democracy." Pew president Andy Kohut interprets the numbers for OTM guest host Mike Pesca.
The big concern with saturation media coverage of trials is that juries will be unduly swayed by that which happens outside the courtroom. But that’s not necessarily what the data show. Communications scholar William Loges argues that press hype has no discernible effect on trial outcome. Loges makes his case for Mike.
The New York Observer recently took note of an odd political flirtation developing between none other than the junior senator from New York and the News Corp. mogul from Australia. Ben Smith wrote the piece, “The Odd Couple ’08,” and joins Brooke to discuss how a Clinton/Murdoch alliance could benefit a well-established media empire and a potential presidential nominee.
In a trade that insists on truth and integrity, journalists who confuse fact and fiction have a tough row to hoe on the long path to reportorial atonement. Brooke follows fallen New York Times reporter Michael Finkel’s bizarre discovery that a suspected murderer had co-opted his identity in Mexico – just as the real Michael Finkel was being fired for fraud. And Brooke speaks to David Brock, whose own public transformation from a staunchly conservative journalist to a staunchly skeptical media critic points to the difficulties of changing political horses midstream.
Recent deportation cases in U.S. courts have some litigants concerned about what they call the latest tool in the war on terror: journalism. Immigration lawyers say that since 9/11, the Feds have increasingly relied on independent reportage as evidence against those it accuses of having ties with terrorist organizations. Does the practice deny due process? From KPCC in Los Angeles, reporter Rob Schmitz has this story.
If you’ve been watching TV news recently, you know about the vacationing teenager who went missing in Aruba. On the broadcast networks alone, there have been nearly 200 news segments on Natalee Holloway; on cable there have been many more. Network execs apparently see this kind of story as a recipe for success, and so they’re joining forces to give the people what they want. With a nod to the blogger who calls himself “The Poor Man,” we introduce the new network devoted to tracking the every move of white women, around the clock and around the world.
A certain anxiety has been visible for some time in the headlines of the nation's hottest real estate markets. Namely, how long can housing prices keep going up? Bob talks with Slate.com columnist Daniel Gross about media coverage of what many fear to be a housing bubble, and why everyone wants to get on the record before the bubble bursts in journalism's face…again.
In 2001, Slate.com deputy editor David Plotz set out to tell the tale of a millionaire businessman turned modern eugenicist, who wanted to impregnate young women with the sperm of Nobel prize-winning men. But Plotz himself became part of the narrative when he brought together family members, helping to propel the very story he was reporting. He talks to Bob about his jump from journalist to middleman.
