Brooke Gladstone

On the 25th anniversary of the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Southwest Alaska, the media reported, as they have since the disaster happened, that the amount of oil spilled was 11 million gallons. In 2010, Brooke spoke with Riki Ott - a marine toxicologist and author - who explained that the 11 million number is in fact a disputed figure the media have incorrectly adopted.

 

Brooke and Bob read a few of your letters and comments.

Brooke and Bob share their results from a number of quizzes - including Which Public Radio Host Are You? - and discuss what (if anything) they've learned about themselves and this viral sensation. 

By the way, we have our own quiz, too! Find out which 19th century media baron you are here. 

Bob speaks with Yurina Melara who covers public health for the Los Angeles-based La Opinion, the largest Spanish language daily in the US. She says that telling the 38 million Spanish-speaking Americans about Obamacare is only half the battle. The other half is making sure they understand what it is...beginning with the literal translation of “health care.”

The BuzzFeed quiz is ubiquitous; it seems as irresistible as it is inescapable. But when did we first start taking quizzes? Writer Sarah Laskow recently embarked on a quest to find out. She takes Brooke through her search for the Ur Quiz.

Try On the Media's first (and maybe last) quiz: Which 19th Century Media Baron Are You?

For the past four years novelist David Bezmozgis has been writing a book set in Crimea. His forthcoming novel, The Betrayers, was intended to be set in August 2014, but that isn't possible now. Brooke speaks with Bezmozgis, as he sits between manuscript lock and book release, about trying to adjust his fictional story set in a fraught, factual place. 

Michael McFaul has just returned to Stanford University after a couple of tumultuous years in Moscow as the U.S. ambassador to Russia. He talks with Brooke about the tropes he saw in the Russian media while he was there, and what he's noticed in the American media since he's been back.

Four times a year, members of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICAAN, take part in an elaborate ceremony (iris scanners!) designed to assure the world that the organization is doing its best to keep the web connected and safe. Brooke explains the meeting of the keyholders, with insight from Guardian reporter James Ball, who attended one of the ceremonies last month.

As we’ve previously reported, US Customs and Border Protection, under the aegis of the Department of Homeland Security, is one of the least transparent agencies in the country. But late last week, sparked by a leak of a review done by the Police Executive Research Forum, CBP shone a little light on its processes. Brooke speaks to Brian Bennett, National Security Correspondent for the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune, who was the recipient of that initial leaked report. 

The Freedom of Information Act has been around since 1966, but according to a new report card, federal agencies haven’t yet mastered the art of disclosing. Brooke speaks with Sean Moulton of the Center for Effective government, which just released The Access to Information Scorecard 2014, a sobering look at government transparency.

Fifty years ago, the Supreme Court made a decision in the case New York Times v Sullivan that would forever alter the way journalists practiced journalism. Brooke speaks with Andrew Cohen, contributing editor at The Atlantic and fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice, about the decision's impact on the First Amendment.

Supreme Court audio courtesy of Oyez®, a multimedia judicial archive at IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law

Back in September, OTM producer Sarah Abdurrahman, her family, and her friends were detained for hours by US Customs and Border Protection on their way home from Canada. Everyone being held was a US citizen, and no one received an explanation. Sarah tells the story of their detainment, and her difficulty getting any answers from one of the least transparent agencies in the country.

The border is a legal gray area where the same constitutional protections one expects inside the country don't necessarily apply. When graduate student Pascal Abidor had his electronic devices searched and seized at the border back in 2010, he filed lawsuit against the federal government. But in December, a federal judge upheld the government's right to search travelers' devices at the border without a warrant. Brooke speaks with Pascal about his experience at the border and the lawsuit.

Getting information from Customs and Border Protection and the Department of Homeland Security is not just difficult for journalists and private citizens—even members of Congress have a hard time getting answers. Brooke speaks with Representative Beto O'Rourke of Texas' 16th District about the oversight needed to ensure more transparency from DHS.

And a crowdsourcing project to Shed Light on DHS!

The proposed merger of Comcast and Time Warner Cable could do more than mess with our TV and Internet bills. It could shape how many of us experience the flow of ideas. Brooke talks with communications law scholar Susan P. Crawford about the potential impact of this mega-merger on the information we access through Comcast's digital pipe. 

The Oscar-nominated documentary “The Square” turns a lens on the Egyptian revolution and its aftermath through the eyes of three very different men whose lives intersected in Tahrir Square in 2011. Brooke talks with director Jehane Noujaim and producer Karim Amer about capturing Egypt’s unfolding narrative on camera. Audio courtesy of the Paley Center for Media.

The latest Jeopardy sensation has thus far amassed $102,800 dollars on a four-game winning streak -- but his playing style is making traditionalists shudder. Arthur Chu has rejected t...

Last week an Italian court found Amanda Knox guilty of the murder of British student Meredith Kercher. Again. Knox was first found guilty in 2009. In the almost seven years since this story broke, an industry of books, websites and made-for-tv movies has emerge to exploit  - or investigate - the case of Amanda Knox. Brooke speaks to author Nina Burleigh, who wrote one of the best accounts of the Knox case, “The Fatal Gift of Beauty, The Trials of Amanda Knox."

As the global spotlight fixes on Sochi this weekend, the Russian government is crushing dissent...and there’s a lot of it. As the Committee to Protect Journalists notes in a new report, people there have suffered long-lasting power outages, environmental damage, evictions, corruption, and widespread violation of labor laws. But local news organizations are silent on these issues, instead functioning as public relations agencies for the government. Brooke talks with Nina Ognianova about the stories that aren't being told in the Russian media. 

This weekend’s superbowl comes just over 50 years after the Army-Navy football game of December 1963, when we saw the very first use of instant replay. As Anna Clark wrote in Pacific Standard, the television trick that transformed the way we watch and officiate sports is thanks to an intrepid producer named Tony Verna, who would go on to achieve acclaim overseeing myriad live TV events like the bi-continental charity concert “Live Aid” and specials with Pope John Paul II. Brooke talks with Tony Verna about why it was so hard to replay live television back then, and how he found a way to outsmart his equipment.