How is the media reportingthe stories you’ve seen in the news this week? You can count onEric Burns and FOX News Watch to cover the coverage!
This weekend, on the Saturday,May8edition of “FOX News Watch” …
• Reports of Abuse
We’ll examine the national and international media coverage of the alleged mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners by American military personnel assigned to Iraq’sAbu Ghraib (search)prison. We’ll also look atmedia coverage of photos ofAmericans being mistreated in Iraq.
What role did photographs play in the media coverage? Didthe CBS News program“60 Minutes II” (search)do the right thing when it held its report on the Abu Ghraid prisoner mistreatment for two weeks?
• Howard vs. Oprah
Is “The Oprah Winfrey Show (search)” as indecent as the radio show hosted by shock jockHoward Stern (search)when sex is the topic of the day?Are Oprah and her showheld to a different standard because herprogram may be deemed educational? Are the standards different for a “beloved” figure like Oprah as opposed to a man like Howard Stern whom some see as a divisive figure in our society?
Then, inour “Quick Takes on the Media” segment:
– Moore’s Movie Flap
The Walt Disney company says it will not allow its subsidiary, Miramax, to distribute controversial filmmaker Michael Moore’s latest film, “Farenheit 911.” Moore says he’s being censored. Is he or is something else going on here?
– Journalist Snared?
Did a magazine writer cross the line when he went along as an observer with members of a radical environmental group as they sought to deraila cougar hunt in Arizona? We’ll tell you about a story that raises several interesting questions about the role ofjournalists in our society.
– Showtime’s “American Candidate”
The Showtime (search)network is producing a new reality show called “American Candidate (search).” According to the show’s Web site, 12 contestants will face off against each other in a series of challenges designed to test their presidential mettle.” The show’s winner will receive $200,000 and a nationwide media appearanceto give an “address to the nation.”
Forinsightfulanalysisofall the week’sprovocative media stories, host Eric Burns turns toour News Watch panelists this weekend to “cover the coverage”:
• Jim Pinkerton of Newsday
• Jane Hall of American University
• Monica Crowley, radio talk show host and Fox News contributor substitutingfor Cal Thomas syndicated columnist and Host ofAfter Hours on Fox News.
• Neal Gabler media writerand author
Don’t miss FOX News Watch this weekend!
Watch at 6:30 p.m. ET or catch one of our repeats at 11:30 p.m. ET, 2:30 a.m. ET and 6:30 a.m. ET!
— The Associated Press contributed to this story.