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March 13, 2007
Podcast of My Interview with Dan Rather
The video is still being edited, but I've got a quick and dirty podcast of my 25-minute interview with Dan Rather. The audio quality leaves much to be desired, as it was compressed multiple times while transferring formats. Once I get the raw footage from Chuck Olsen I hope to make a better quality recording, but for those of you eager to hear what we talked about, this version is better than nothing, I guess. (UPDATE: I've created a much higher quality recording of the interview and posted it, so when you click on the link now you'll get the better version.)
Before the interview, I put together around a dozen questions, including a mix of my own and some from suggestions posted to the blog. In the end, we got around to tackling only half of them, due to his long responses and our time being cut short by a few minutes. Nonetheless, I feel like we covered some interesting ground, including these questions:
You alluded earlier to the effects of media concentration and cross-ownership on journalism and civic discourse. Could you say a bit more about the effects of media concentration at both the local and national level?If the relationship between media, corporations and politicians has gotten too cozy as you have suggested, how can the system change for the benefit of the public interest, given the fact that it's not in their interest to change the system?
In your talk today you lamented what you described "the ability to be anonymous and say scurrilous things" on blogs. How do you balance this with the role played by anonymous bloggers in places like China and Zimbabwe, who feel forced to blog anonymously to speak truth to power? Are there times when anonymity is the only solution?
Can you picture yourself ever publishing your own blog?
Video blogger Josh Wolf has been spent just over 200 days in jail for contempt of court for refusing to turn over footage he shot during a protest, with prosecutors arguing that his is not a "real" journalist. In France, they've just introduced a new law that would criminalize citizens from recording or broadcasting acts of violence if they're not accredited journalists. Do you see a growing clash between governments and citizen journalists, and if so, why now?
Do you worry that the public lacks the media literacy skills to recognize when bloggers have ulterior motives and when they don't? Has the rise of the blogosphere made media literacy even more important? (Built upon a question suggested by Shava Nerad)
You also talked today of one of the roles of a journalist is to hold politicians accountable. Do they have a similar role in holding their peers accountable, given the coziness you alluded to between beltway journalists and politicians?
Again, sorry about the crappy audio. What can I say; I'm a video guy. But I'll try to get a better version of the audio online later. Enjoy the new version of the podcast. -andy
Posted by acarvin at March 13, 2007 12:54 AM
Listen to a computer-generated podcast of this article
