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For years, gun ownership has been one of the most persistent and polarizing aspects of America's "culture war." But have the media done justice to both sides of the issue? Some journalists have admitted that mainstream media tend to stereotype hunters and gun collectors as raging lunatics. Which, in turn, has led many gun owners to believe in media conspiracies to repeal the Second Amendment. OTM's John Solomon sets out to find some common ground.
On Tuesday, veteran CBS newsman Dan Rather announced that he will soon be leaving the anchor chair. Over the course of his 24 years behind the evening news desk, Rather's critics have found plenty to take issue with. But where some see bias, Brooke sees the sincere, if overly raw, expressions of a man who just couldn't keep his feelings to himself.
In 1960, legendary disc jockey Alan Freed was indicted for accepting music industry money in exchange for radio air time. The scandal sparked anti-"payola" legislation, but loopholes have persisted. Last month, New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer launched an investigation into modern forms of pay-for-play by the major record labels. Brooke speaks with New Yorker columnist James Surowiecki about "spot buys" and the gaming of the Billboard charts.
Perhaps history will determine that the so-called values gap was a myth based on misleading exit-poll data. But even if the values gap is a myth, it's still likely that the media's knowledge gap about the American electorate is all too real. Peter Johnson, media columnist for USA Today, surveyed news managers in the midst of heavy soul searching, and reports his findings to Bob.
All's not well in Langley. That's the impression, at least, created by headlines in recent weeks. This week, two high-level CIA officials joined the exodus of malcontents from the agency that was triggered by the naming of Porter Goss as the CIA's new chief. But the way the story has unfolded tells us just as much about the workings of the often inscrutable press as it does about the CIA. Slate columnist Jack Shafer joins Brooke to anatomize the coverage.
Sick and tired of the mindless pap that constitutes campaign coverage, New York Press columnist Matt Taibbi finally decided to take action. This year, he launched the First Quadrennial Election Hack Invitational. The goal of the tournament was to determine America’s worst political reporter, the wretch who truly deserves the scorn of the masses. Taibbi tells Brooke why he chose to fight fire with fire.
Over the past four years, OTM has often been accused of tilting in the direction of the president’s opponents. And we’ll be the first to admit that criticism has flowed often from these fonts. But we do, after all, focus on media, and the news media rely on the free exchange of information. As we prepare for another Bush Administration, Brooke takes the opportunity for a long, hard look at how freedom of information has fared under our once and future president.
It begins with C, rhymes with grunt, and refers to female anatomy. And its origins and usage were the subject of a freelancer’s story in the Chicago Tribune last week. But when editors decided that the story shouldn’t run after all, it was already too late, and staffers had to remove an entire section from hundreds of thousands of newspapers by hand. The word never actually appeared in the story, nor will you hear it in this one, from Chicago Public Radio's Diantha Parker.
