CPB Update
Brooke describes new developments in last week's story about alleged political meddling in public broadcasting content.
TV & Radio
Remote Control
This week, a coalition called TV Watch was founded with the backing of three big networks to oppose government regulation of TV content. It's the industry's response to pressure that's been building since Janet Jackson's Superbowl exposure, most recently in the form of calls from some lawmakers to crack down on cable TV indecency. Bob talks to TV Watch founder Adam Thierer about the prospects for regulating cable.
Playing One on TV
Among the ranks of talking heads populating the world of TV punditry are many men and women from the newsrooms of America's print and broadcast outlets. For some, it comes easy. But not everybody is born to bloviate. And so one Washington P.R. firm is training journalists with little or no TV experience for their star turns as pundits. OTM's John Solomon attended one class to see if he had what it takes.
We Now Interrupt This News Bulletin
Just before 9 o'clock Thursday evening, CBS News anchor Bob Schieffer offered a typical post-news conference wrapup of the president's remarks on Iraq, North Korea, education and, especially, Social Security. Except that it wasn't a post-news conference wrapup. It was a mid-news conference wrap-up. Bob reflects.
I Want My Darfur
When On the Media last covered what then-Secretary of State Colin Powell called "genocide" in the Darfur region of Sudan, some 50,000 people were dead. That death toll may now be close to 400,000. So where is the television coverage? It's on mtvU, an offshoot of MTV. mtvU executive, Stephen Friedman, tells Bob the coverage is having an impact among students. Georgetown activist Nate Wright agrees.
Hearing Voices
God? Satan? The dead? Those are just a few of the explanations listeners came up with to account for the voices they heard in the early days of radio. The dial was rife with charismatic voices that worked the medium like a revival hall, captivating their far-flung congregations with the magic and mystery of radio. In a piece for PRI's The Next Big Thing, Amanda Aronczyk aired some of those voices one more time.
Who are the People in your Neighborhood?
Like any agency whose board is appointed by the President, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting is vulnerable to accusations of political bias. Lately, such accusations have surfaced over staff shake-ups, the appointment of new ombudsmen, and a push to enforce CPB’s "objectivity and balance" mandate. Jeff Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy, is worried that the CPB is in the midst of a coup. Karen Everhart, senior editor of Current, isn’t so alarmed. Both make their case to Bob.
Generation Gore
Al Gore and his business partner Joel Hyatt have officially announced the summer launch of their new cable and satellite network. The creators of “current.tv” envision it as a news and information outlet specifically for young people and by young people. Programming chief David Neuman explains to Brooke how the network will embody the ideals of citizen journalism.
