Sunday, August 23, 1998

Cutting through the static generated by Monica and the Media, the Press and the President... Also: a look at a new advertising strategy aimed at cynical teens. And an update on Boston Globe columnist Mike Barnicle - finally buried this week under mounting evidence of journalistic misdemeanors.

The President, the People and the Press
Reaction to coverage of the President's speech...and other recent developments.
GUESTS:
ANDREW KOHUT, Director, Pew Research Center for the People and Press
ROBERT SHOGAN, National Political writer, Los Angeles Times; author of upcoming book, "The Double Edged Sword: How Character Makes and Ruins Presidents from Washington to Clinton"
HENDRIK HERTZBERG, Senior Editor, The New Yorker; former Speechwriter for Jimmy Carter
JANNA MALAMUD SMITH, psychotherapist; author, "Private Matters: A Defense of the Personal"

Making Media Sense
What to make of a story reporters say they didn't WANT to report, but were compelled to cover and that the public says it didn't WANT to hear about but tuned into in record numbers? And what about the changing role of reporters who no longer wait until Sunday to give their opinions, but include them in their NEWS reports? Plus: the "Wag-the-Dog" question and the changing relationship between the media and the White House.
GUESTS:
MARVIN KALB, Director, Harvard University's Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy
WILLIAM POWERS, columnist, National Journal
DEBORAH POTTER, Exec. Director, Newslab; former network correspondent

Commentary: Questioning the Motives:
Maybe it means we have a stronger press
Commentator: JAMES PONIEWOZIK, media columnist, Salon magazine

Down and Out in Boston: Mike Barnicle Has to Leave
After two weeks of controversy over the columnist's journalistic misdeameanors, the Globe reversed itself again and asked Barnicle to leave.
REPORT from Toni Randolph

The Professor and the Madman
A new book examines how thousands of citations in the most definitive of all dictionaries, the Oxford English Dictionary, were provided by a murderer and madman from his cell in a mental institution.
GUEST:
SIMON WINCHESTER, author: "The Professor and the Madman"

Commentary: Advertisers Court Media-Savvy Teens
Commentator: John Carroll, reporter and media critic, WGBH-TV, Boston

WNYC archives id: 23988