Counterspin

Pres. Barack Obama has announced his pick for Supreme Court justice-- former Harvard Law School dean and Solicitor General Elena Kagan. And the media debates have begun: about her record, her credentials and her likely impact on the court. We'll sort through some of what you're hearing and what you perhaps aren't hearing in a conversation with Court watchers Glenn Greenwald, of Salon.com and author and law professor Marjorie Cohn.

Arizona's new immigration law has sparked national protests and a renewed political discussion about something usually called 'comprehensive reform. Gabriel Arana from the American Prospect will talk about how media depictions of border crime and violence are related to this new law. Also Dr. Ron Daniels, president of the Institute of the Black World 21st Century, and founder of the Haiti Support Project, talks about the idea of reparations to wronged African-Americans.

Andrew Cockburn, co-producer of the documentary American Casino talks about the realities of the so-called bank regulation proposal. Author Heather Rogers looks at the “green” economy her new book Green Gone Wrong: How Our Economy Is Undermining the Environmental Revolution.

A New York Times report gives the impression that the debate over genetically engineered foods is largely over. We'll hear from Ben Lilliston of the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy. Also, on the surface, Teach for America sounds like a great idea: sending bright young college grads into needy schools to teach. But there's much more to it than that, as journalist Barbara Miner found.

Dramatic videotape of a 2007 U.S. helicopter attack was published by the website Wikileaks on April 5—prompting waves of coverage across the world, though only sporadic attention from the US corporate press. Independent journalist Jeremy Scahill talks about the media reaction to the chilling video. Also, as the program is recorded, efforts continue to rescue 4 miners believed still trapped by the April 5 explosion that killed 25 in West Virginia, and media are tracking the story. But was it an “accident?” Journalist Jeff Biggers, author of Reckoning at Eagle Creek: The Secret Legacy of Coal in the Heartland, answers that question.

The long debate over health care reform might be, at least in some respects, over. Will conservatives still warn of creeping socialism and the end of American freedom? Sure. We'll talk to Trudy Lieberman from Columbia Journalism Review about what we learned-- and didn't learn-- over the past year. Also on Counterspin: What does the recent exchange of heated language between US and Israeli officials actually translate to in terms of US policy toward the country?

The network camera crews have mostly packed up and gone home, but the political fights over reconstruction and rebuilding in Haiti are only just getting started. University of Texas professor Jemima Pierre was part of a delegation that recently visited Haiti, and she wrote about what she saw for The Nation. Also on the show: Media technology can put more control in consumers' hands over the gathering and sharing of information and entertainment. Megan Tady of the group Free Press talks about some of the most significant media industry battles going on right now that affect what you get to see and hear.

The network camera crews have mostly packed up and gone home, but the political fights over reconstruction and rebuilding in Haiti are only just getting started. University of Texas professor Jemima Pierre was part of a delegation that recently visited Haiti, and she wrote about what she saw for The Nation. Also on the show: Media technology can put more control in consumers' hands over the gathering and sharing of information and entertainment. Megan Tady of the group Free Press talks about some of the most significant media industry battles going on right now that affect what you get to see and hear.

Counterspin

Sikivu Hutchinson looks at the real story on the Tea Party movement and Carl Conetta looks at Pentagon spending.

Journalists are lining up to tout the Tea Party movement's relevance and strength, but show little interest in probing its deep contradictions or finding out what actually makes the activists tick. In her report "Mainstream Media's Tea Party Tryst," Sikivu Hutchinson digs a little deeper. Also, Carl Conetta from the Project on Defense Alternatives will talk about the facts about Obama's military budget and why the corporate media is not talking about it.

The big story inside the news media business is the collapse of the business itself. What are the implications for citizens? What can we do about it? And how concerned should we be about the failures of corporate owners that have done so little to promote good journalism in the first place? Guests Robert McChesney and John Nichols, co-authors of the new book "The Death and Life of American Journalism: the Media Revolution That Will Begin the World Again," explore these topics and more.

The Supreme Court ruled 5 to 4 that corporations may not be limited in their spending to influence elections, because they have the same free speech rights as people. Among the many questions raised are not just what this means for elections, but what it means for 'free' speech. We'll hear from Charlie Cray of the Center for Corporate Policy on that story. Plus, some “good” news from Haiti.

Corporate media chatter about the Republican Senate victory in Massachusetts reflects participants’ priorities: which means you're unlikely to hear advice offered to Democrats other than that they should act more like Republicans. Is that the takeaway?

Haiti's status as the poorest nation in the hemisphere has been mentioned time and again by journalists, but where were journalists before the earthquake hit? You’ll hear from Bill Fletcher, former president of TransAfrica Forum. Also on the show: Charles Overby is CEO of the Freedom Forum, a foundation ostensibly dedicated to principles of free speech. He's also a director and shareholder of the Corrections Corporation of America, the largest private jailer in the country.We'll get that story from journalist Beau Hodai.

It had the elements of a nightly news story: Protestors, including some Americans, being abused by officials in an Arab country. But this story was a non-starter with U.S. media. We'll talk to Sam Husseini of the Institute for Public Accuracy, who just left Egypt where a delegation of human rights activists were abused by Egyptian police when they protested that country’s refusal to let them cross the Egyptian border into Gaza for a Freedom March.

Walkouts and protests at the Copenhagen summit have highlighted the political friction in responding to climate change. But is the press corps that brings us headlines like the New York Times' "Poor and Emerging States Stall Climate Negotiations" the right place to look for an understanding of concerns about the inequality of climate change's human impacts? We'll get a different perspective from writer Michelle Chen, who’s been following the story.

Also on the show: those looking at the Comcast NBC merger say the combining of the country's biggest cable provider and NBC poses very real threats to the diversity of video content and how much we'll have to pay for it. We’ll hear that story from Corie Wright, policy counsel at the group Free Press

The so-called Climategate scandal seems to have thrown media coverage of climate change back a decade. Part of the problem has been the media's general laziness in explaining what is actually in the hacked emails.

On Counterspin:  President Obama has called for 30,000 new troops to Afghanistan at the ‘fastest possible pace.” Norman Soloman talks about the Afghanistan escalation and Robert Naiman discusses the Afghan civil war.

Maryann Napoli talks about the latest mammography guidelines which suggest screening begin at 50, rather than 40 and ten years ago this week, the world’s eyes were focused on Seattle and the anti-WTO protests. Rebecca Solnit recalls 'The Battle for Seattle' on Counterspin.

The Stupak Amendment, a last-minute addition to the House’s recently passed healthcare reform plan, would severely restrict abortion coverage for those on the "public option" part of the plan and those buying private insurance using government money. Jodi Jacobson, editor of the RH Reality Check website talks about Stupak. Also, there's a lot of talk in the media about education reform. Barbara Miner from Rethinking Schools will join us to talk about the issue and how the media mishandles it.

A report by McClatchy newspapers’ Greg Gordon reveals that in 2006 and 2007, Goldman Sachs sold more than $40 billion in securities backed by risky home mortgages, "but never told the buyers that the value of those securities would plummet." Greg Gordon talks about his story. Also, Phyllis Bennis, author of, among other titles, "Understanding the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict" discusses the current status of relations and talks in the region.

Greg Gordon reports on Goldman Sachs profits and its links to the White House. And, Phyllis Bennis looks at the on going Israel/Palestine conflicts.

THIS WEEK: The Performance Rights Act would require broadcasters to pay royalties that would be split between recording artists and record companies. Kristin Thomson, of the Future of Music Coalition, a group that supports the bill, discusses the Act. Also, Jennifer McLennan of SPARC, the Scholarly Publishing & Academic Resource Coalition, talks about the first international Open Access Week, in which hundreds of academic, research and advocacy groups will show support for free, immediate, online access to the results of scholarly research.

Marie Trigona reports on Argentina media law and Peter Richardson on the magazine book:   "A Bomb in Every Issue" 　

The story of Iran's nuclear program certainly isn't going away. What should we make of that story, and the general media consensus on the Iranian threat? Analyst and Iranaffairs.com blogger Cyrus Safdari will share his thoughts. Also on the show: The implication from many corners of corporate media is that the government's bank bailout scheme for all its flaws has pretty much worked. Nomi Prins, author of It Takes A Pillage: Behind the Bailouts, provides an update on efforts to subsidize the country's financial sector.

Did the White House really disclose the existence of Iran’s new Uranium enrichment plant, and does the plant really violate the law? You’ll hear from free lance journalists Gareth Porter about the latest of allegations. Also this week: Who's behind the anti-ACORN campaign? Find out from Christopher Martin, professor of journalism at the University of Northern Iowa and co-author of a new report on ACORN and the media.

COUNTERSPIN - I.F. Stone was not only among the greatest American investigative reporters, he was also an activist and man of the left, according to D.D. Guttenplan, who has just published the latest biography of the journalist. According to Guttenplan, Stone was never an unbending ideologue but a progressive who was quick to change his mind when new information intervened. Today, a special extended interview with D.D. Guttenplan, author of American Radical: the Life and Times of I.F. Stone.

Counterspin - There’s been a lot of coverage of the murder of Dr. George Tiller. But there has been relatively little discussion of the culture that such violence arises from, where mainstream anti-abortion figures regularly demonize abortion providers.
Counterspin talks with Fred Clarkson, who has been monitoring and writing about anti-abortion violence for years.

Also on the show:

CounterSpin - No Child Left Behind may be up for reconsideration in Congress soon, but if current coverage of national math and reading scores is an indication, media coverage will need to get a lot deeper to be useful. We'll hear from Stan Karp of Rethinking Schools about what questions ought to be asked. Also, with an online campaign, and the "real time" documentary, Rethink Afghanistan, Robert Greenwald and his colleagues at Brave New Films are trying to break through the media embargo that excludes true critics of the Afghanistan war from U.S. policy discussions.

COUNTERSPIN - The White House's proposed military budget comes to some $534 billion dollars. So why on earth are some saying Obama is "disarming America". We'll hear what this budget does and doesn't do from Miriam Pemberton, research fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies. Also, the polarization of America. In the media there's talk of a dangerously polarized electorate, a far cry from the centrism the elite press corps prefers. Are media misreading the national mood? We'll talk about that with Terence Samuel, deputy editor of the online magazine The Root.

Disaster anniversaries are ready-made news hooks for media always in search of one. March sees 20 years since the Exxon Valdez spilled at least 11 million gallons (and likely much more) of oil in Prince William Sound, Alaska. It's also been 30 years this month since this country's worst nuclear accident, the partial core meltdown at Pennsylvania nuclear plant Three Mile Island. Both incidents were seen as watershed revelations of institutional failures and engendered activism and calls for reform.

COUNTERSPIN - Ryan Chittum, from Columbia Journalism Review's the Audit, discusses the on-air rant by CNBC reporter Rick Santelli about the Obama White House bailing out "losers" with its mortgage proposal. Also, despite mounting evidence against it, the myth of the liberal media just won't die. A new study by Indiana University scholars takes another whack at the myth using a novel approach.

To watch Rick Santelli's CNBC rant visit:
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1039849853t"

Journalist Miranda Spencer discusses the lack of real reporting on research linking breast cancer to environmental factors.

And, tax problems or no, many saw Tom Daschle as the ideal choice for Secretary of Health and Human Services in the Obama Administration. 

But not so Ken Silverstein, Washington editor of Harpers. He weighs in on Tom Daschle’s lack of qualifications and insuitability for the job...and they have nothing to do with his taxes.

The House passed a nearly 900 billion dollar economic stimulus package.

White House efforts to reach out to Republicans resulted in exactly zero GOP voters. You’ll hear from economist Dean Baker.

Also President Obama's executive order to ban torture hasn't settled the issue for many commentators. Michael Ratner of the Center for Constitutional Rights will talk about the language and about the possibility that torture may continue in some form.

Phyllis Bennis on Gaza & the law, Charles Kaiser on Bush-era torture

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A special year-end look behind the headlines of the mainstream news. On this program, we’ll take a look back at some of the stories covered by the corporate media in 2007, but not always covered so well.

As usual CounterSpin tried to bring you guests—activists, researchers and journalists—that had an angle on events that we thought worth hearing and, more often than not, one you weren't hearing many other places. Our guests responded to media coverage of U.S. foreign policy from Iraq to Darfur, as well as press attention or inattention to domestic issues that also affect all of our lives.

Counterspin: Kali Akuno, Andy Worthington and Francesca Grifo on the Bush legacy.

December 2008 marks not just the conclusion of another calendar year, but the end of eight years of the George W. Bush administration—an era notable for, among other things, particular predations on civil liberties, the free flow of information and the public's right to know.

CounterSpin - The Tribune Company that owns the Chicago Tribune and the LA Times along with much else declared bankruptcy this week, just a year after new owner Sam Zell took over, with his notable lack of background or interest in newspapers.

CounterSpin - For years veterans claiming to suffer from Gulf War Syndrome were derided as cranky and hysterical by the department of defense and even by some journalists. Will that change now that a definitive report says the Gulf War illnesses are real, incurable, and caused by toxic materials used by the U.S. military during the 1991 Gulf War?