Brooke Gladstone

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. 

10 years ago, the 90 million people who were watching the 38th Super Bowl's half time show bore witness to the first so-called "wardrobe malfunction" when Justin Timberlake accidentally exposed Janet Jackson's breast. That nine-sixteenths of a second had profound and far reaching effects on our culture, writes Marin Cogan for ESPN Magazine. Brooke talks with Cogan about her article, "In the Beginning, There Was a Nipple," that explores how history changed in the wake of "Nipplegate."

Brooke speaks with Jack Dunn, the Director of the Boston College News and Public Affairs office about what Boston College has done to protect the tapes from the Belfast Project and the future of academic oral history projects.  

A recent Pew poll found that although 45% of Americans believe Snowden's leak helped the public, 56% wanted criminal charges brought against him. Did he act to protect the rights of Americans, or dismantle what he considers a surveillance state? Does it matter why he acted? Brooke talks to New Republic contributing editor Sean Wilentz about his cover story that asks that very question.

Beacon - Late November

The Israeli Knesset has given preliminary approval to a bill that would criminalize use of the word Nazi, and Nazi symbols, except in certain educational or artistic contexts. Violators could face fines as high as twenty-nine thousand dollars, and up to six months in jail. Backers of the bill seek to prevent disrespect of the Holocaust that results when Nazis are invoked casually, whether in political invective or adolescent insults. Brooke talks with linguistic anthropologist Paja Faudree about this legislative attempt to control the use of language.

The Bees - Winter Rose

On Tuesday a DC circuit court of appeals dealt what many are calling a death blow to net neutrality, the principle that all content providers should be treated equally. To understand this ruling and its potential effects on the future of the internet, Brooke talks with Siva Vaidhyanathan, chair of media studies at the University of Virginia and author of The Googlization of Everything (and why we should worry).

In New York City, 30 percent of all shootings are tied to youth gang rivalries. There are over 300 street crews in the city, loosely affiliated gangs that battle mainly over turf. The rivalries often play out in rap videos made by the gangs and posted on YouTube. Those videos - and threats of violence in their lyrics - are being used as evidence by New York City police to make arrests. Brooke talks with WNYC reporter Kathleen Horan about this policing technique. 

Today President Obama announced changes to the United States’ surveillance policies. While Obama addressed greater security measures for telephone data, much of the NSA’s surveillance...

Tech entrepreneurs say a federal court ruling will have a profound and negative impact on the Internet. "You may find that your Internet service provider is functioning more like a ca...

In recent years the FBI has faced increasing criticism over a series of high profile blunders, and this week's discovery of the identities of the 1971 Media burglars reminded us of some of the agency's more sinister activities. But despite all the negative coverage, the media has always had a soft spot for the G-Men. Brooke looks back on a piece from 2001 in light of these recent revelations. 

A recent Pew Research Center analysis finds that one-third of Americans reject the theory of evolution, believing that “humans and other living things have existed in their present form since the beginning of time.” Brooke speaks to Edward Caudill, author of Intelligently Designed: How Creationists Built the Campaign Against Evolution, who says that modern media has been a godsend for Creationists.

In an article for Foreign Policy’s ‘The Cable”, reporter John Hudson noted a substitution in the FBI’s fact sheet: its primary function had been changed from ‘law enforcement’ to ‘national security.’ Brooke talks to Tim Weiner, author of Enemies: A History of the FBI, about this not so new mission statement. 

For more than 30 years Cyndi Lauper has been a creative force, as a singer, songwriter, author and now composer of the music and lyrics for a hit Broadway play. In an interview that originally aired in May, Brooke talked to Cyndi Lauper before a live audience in NYC about her life, her art and where she draws her inspiration.

Watch Brooke's entire hour-long conversation with Cyndi Lauper below.

Cyndi Lauper - She Bop

David Lowery of bands Cracker and Camper Van Beethoven thought the internet would become a vibrant new marketplace for creators. Instead, he says, the internet era is worse for artist...

Brooke examines the current arguments over ownership and intellectual property with the help of a chair that collapses after just eight uses.

Artists often draw inspiration from other sources - from musicians sampling songs to painters recreating existing masterpieces. Kenneth Goldsmith, MoMA’s new Poet Laureate, believes w...

In Batavia, a small city in upstate New York, and neighboring towns in Genesee County, residents turn to their hyperlocal news source named, naturally, The Batavian, to learn lots of the latest local news. Yes, the Batavian is both filling a need and paying its bills. Brooke speaks to The Batavian’s Publisher Howard Owens, who has been at the helm of website, which he runs with his wife, Billie, and some local stringers.

Quantic - Una Tarde en Mariquita

Last Sunday's 60 Minutes profile of the NSA was almost universally reviled. But 60 Minutes is not the only outlet that has spent time at the agency's headquarters in Maryland. Brooke talks to Daniel Drezner, who wrote about his trip to the NSA's headquarters and the agency's new PR push for Foreign Policy.

Shigeto - Ringleader

In the late 1970s, Ronald Reagan told the story of a woman in Chicago who became known as the welfare queen, the embodiment of the problems with the welfare state. Like most myths, there’s some grain of truth embedded in this narrative: there was a woman in Chicago who was indicted on welfare fraud,  but her other crimes were far more grave. Brooke speaks with Josh Levin, executive editor of Slate, about his investigation of Linda Taylor, America’s original welfare queen.

Ike & Tina Turner - I Smell Trouble

This week, the White House released a 300-page report, which included a list of 46 recommendations to change the NSA’s surveillance techniques and increase transparency and oversight. Brooke talks with Richard Clarke, a member of the panel, about the group’s attempt to address the privacy concerns of Americans.