Journalism & Photojournalism

On November 11, 1994, Eddie Polec was clubbed to death in a Philadelphia suburb by a group of rival high school kids. He was clubbed with a baseball bat on the steps of the St Cecilia's Church where he had been an altar boy. Investigators say he was beaten until limp and then held aloft "to give the bat-wielding youths a better shot." He had been waiting for his young brother, to walk home together when the group of kids arrived, looking for a fight. Eddie hadn't been part of the rivalry. He was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Linguist Geoff Nunberg comments on William Safire's recent choice of words for describing Hillary Clinton: "congenital liar."

Senior Editor at National Review, Richard Brookhiser. Recently the conservative magazine has come out in favor of some kind of drug legalization. Brookhiser is also a columnist for The New York Observer. (Interview by Barbara Bogaev)

Ethan Nadelmann, Director of The Lindesmith Center, a research center devoted to broadening the debate on drug policy, and looking at strategies that have been overlooked or ignored. (The Lindesmith Center is located in New York City, 212-887-0695) (Interview by Barbara Bogaev)

Washington Editor of "The Atlantic Monthly," and NPR commentator James Fallows. He won a National Book award for his 1981 book "National Defense" about the post Vietnam War era national defense establishment. Fallows new book examines what has gone wrong with the media, how it has failed to meet its public responsibilities, and what can be done about it. His new book is "Breaking the News: How the Media Undermine American Democracy," (Pantheon).

Former Executive Editor of The New York Times James Reston. He died this week at the age of 86, from cancer. He spent fifty years with The New York Times. He began as a reporter in London in 1940, covering the war. He was also Washington bureau chief, executive editor, and columnist. He retired in 1989 at the age of 80. In 1991 he wrote a new memoir, called Deadline (Random House). (REBROADCAST from 10/30/91)

Investigative journalist for the New York Times, Steve Engelberg. He's the co-author of the article "Birth of a Vision" (Sunday, Dec 3, NYT) about Newt Gingrich and GOPAC, the political committee that supports Republican party candidates and office holders. The organization was headed by Gingrich until last spring. Documents that have just become public disclose that as early as five years ago Gingrich and his "political intimates" planned a takeover of Congress. But they failed to gain support from President Bush.

Journalist George Lardner, Jr. is an investigative reporter for The Washington Post. In 1993 he had to investigate the murder of his own daughter, who was stalked and killed by an ex-boyfriend. Lardner won a Pulitzer Prize for his story which showed how the system had failed to protect his daughter, Kristin. His new book is The Stalking of Kristin: A Father Investigates the Murder of his Daughter. (Atlantic Monthly Press). (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)

Nicaraguan poet Daisy Zamora. She was born into a well-to-do, upper-middle class family. When she was four her father was arrested for his part in an attempted coup against the dictator Somoza. Later in adult life Zamora was part of the Sandinista Revolution. After going into exile in Honduras and Costa Rica, Zamora was announcer for the clandestine Radio Sandino. She'll talk with Terry about her work with the voice of the revolution. Zamora now teaches at the Universidad Centroamericana in Managua, Nicaragua.

New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman. Friedman spent the last decade covering the Middle East, work that won him two Pulitzer Prizes. His book, From Beirut to Jerusalem has recently been updated, to include information on the Peace Process. It's now available in paperback. The book looked at the inside of Arab and Israeli power circles, and examined the Intifada and the perceptions American and Israeli Jews have of each other.

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews the new memoir by Mary Cantwell, Manhattan, When I Was Young.

Television anchor and author Robert MacNeil. He steps down tonight as co-anchor of the PBS news show The MacNeil/Lehrer Newshour. Terry talked with him this week. We'll hear that interview and one from 1989. His books include, Wordstruck, a memoir that explores the roots of MacNeil's fascination with language and the best-selling The Story of English. (Contains excerpt of MacNeil's March 14, 1989 interview).

Former Executive Editor of The Washington Post Ben Bradlee. During his stint at the paper he helped transform the Post into one of the most influential investigative newspapers. Under his leadership, reporters investigated and broke open the Watergate story. The paper also challenged the federal government over the right to publish the Pentagon Papers. Bradlee has written his autobiography: Ben Bradlee: A Good Life: Newspapering and Other Adventures. (Simon & Shuster)

Correspondent for The New York Times Roger Cohen who is covering the war in Bosnia. He'll discuss the recent offensive by Bosnian Muslims and Croats around Banja Luka in northwestern Bosnia, and he'll talk about the history of Serbs, and the betrayal many Serbs feel by Serbian nationals.

Journalist Mark Bowden ("Bow" like "Cow") for The Philadelphia Inquirer. He's just concluded a three part series (September 10-12, 1995) of articles on police corruption in Philadelphia. Most of the corruption was centered at the 39th Police District, and involves potentially thousands of cases in which persons have been falsely arrested and imprisoned.

Publisher and editor Richard Stratton of the magazine Prison Life. The magazine is written for and about prisoners, and includes such regular features as In Cell Cooking and Cellmate of the Month. It also includes legal advice, medical and health tips, and fiction, poetry, and art by prisoners and ex-prisoners. Stratton spent eight years in prison for pot smuggling. This year HBO began a series of documentaries on life behind bars with the Prison Life magazine.

Jo Giovannoni, she is the editor of Harley Women. She says the sound of a loud Harley can hardly be described as noise but finds the word "music" a better description and she says women are changing the image of "bikers."

Investigations Editor for the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel Fred Schulte. He has received many awards for consumer-oriented journalism including the George Polk award for exposing patient abuses in health maintenance organization. Schulte's new book Fleeced (Prometheus), looks into telemarketing rip-offs and how to avoid them. (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)

Croatian journalist, critic, and feminist Slavenka Drakulic. She is the author of How We Survived Communism and Even Laughed, and The Balkan Express. Drakulic will talk about the recent developments in the Bosnian conflict: that is, the Croatian Government's assault to reclaim the Serb populated area, Krajina, which broke away when Croatia established its independence. (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)

Reporter for New Yorker magazine David Remnick. He recently traveled to the Republic of Chechnya where he toured the devastation, talked to survivors and officials of the Russian Army and the Chechen Army. His article, "In Stalin's Wake," appears in this week's edition of New Yorker. He also covered the Soviet Union for The Washington Post from 1988-1990.