News & Media

In the early 1990s, NPR journalist Scott Simon reported from war-torn Sarajevo. Those experiences formed the basis for his debut novel, Pretty Birds, the story of a 16-year-old girl who adapts to her violent times.

Editorial cartoonist Nick Anderson has won fans for the edgy messages often found in his seemingly conventional drawings. Now Anderson has won a Pulitzer for his work.

Crawford is co-author of the book, "Border Radio: Quacks, Yodelers, Pitchmen, Psychics, and other Amazing Broadcasters of the American Airwaves." It's about the "border blaster" stations that set up across the Mexican border to evade U.S. regulations, and beamed their broadcasting into the United States.

Legendary blues and rock pianist Johnnie Johnson died Wednesday in St. Louis. He was 80 years old. For more than 20 years, Johnson was Chuck Berry's pianist. He played on all of Berry's greatest hits, and he gained rock-and-roll immortality when Berry wrote the song "Johnny B. Goode" about him. (Originally aired July 31, 1991)

Colbert is the senior correspondent on Comedy Central's The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Colbert started his comic career with Second City in Chicago. He wrote and performed sketches on The Dana Carvey Show. He is also the voice of Ace for Saturday Night Lives's animated shorts Ace & Gary: The Ambiguously Gay Duo. This interview was originally broadcast on Jan. 24, 2005.

Rami Khouri is Palestinian-Jordanian, with a U.S. citizenship. He is an internationally syndicated political columnist and the host of Encounter, a weekly current affairs talk show on Jordan Television. He also hosts a weekly radio program, and he spent the 2001 academic year at Harvard University as a Nieman Fellow. He was editor-in-chief for the Jordan Times newspaper for seven years. He often comments on Middle East issues for the BBC, NPR and CNN.

Journalist Hugh Miles is the author of Al-Jazeera. Al-Jazeera, the premier news channel in the Arabic-speaking world, plans to launch an English channel sometime in the next few months.

In April, New York Times reporter Dexter Filkins will receive the George Polk Award for War Reporting for "his riveting, first-hand account of an eight-day attack on Iraqi insurgents in Fallujah." We talk with him about the rebuilding country and its recent elections.

Critic at large John Powers on CBS anchorman Dan Rather, whose last broadcast from the anchor chair is Wednesday, March 9.

Journalists Judith Miller and Matt Cooper discuss their court case, in which they face jail time for refusing to reveal their sources in an investigation into the leak of a CIA officer's name. Despite attorney Floyd Abrams's efforts, on Feb. 15, 2005, a federal appeals court upheld a ruling against the two.

Steve Chapman, whose twice-weekly column for The Chicago Tribune is syndicated to about 50 newspapers, says reporters should give details on their sources to investigators in the case of the leak of a CIA officer's name. In Chapman's Feb. 20, 2005, column on the Miller and Cooper case, he sides with the court, stating, "in this case, principle should yield to the need to protect agents who are serving their country."

Anchorman, starring Will Ferrell, is now out on DVD. It's a spoof of local TV news shows. McKay was the head writer for Saturday Night Live from 1997 to 2001 and a founding member of the Upright Citizens Brigade comedy troupe. This interview was originally broadcast on July, 8, 2004.

Filmmaker Robert Stone's new documentary tells the story of the Symbionese Liberation Army, the radical group that kidnapped heiress Patty Hearst in 1974. We speak with Stone and with reporter Tim Findley, who covered the kidnapping for the Hearst newspaper The San Francisco Chronicle.

New York Times reporter Dexter Filkins recently accompanied the Marines of Bravo Company of the 1st Battalion, 8th Marines for eight days in November as they took over Fallujah.

Richard Viguerie is considered the "funding father" of the conservative movement. In the 1970s and 80s he pioneered direct mail political fundraising. He is a co-author of America's Right Turn: How Conservatives Used New and Alternative Media to Take Power. He now heads the organization American Target Advertising Inc.

We remember the gay journalist who was the founder and first president of the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association. He died Sunday at age 70. He worked at The Washington Post for 14 years, with posts as bureau chief in New York and Los Angeles.

Critic-at-large John Powers talks about last night's election coverage.

Koppel talks about politics, the media and covering the 2004 presidential election. Koppel is the author of the book Nightline: History in the Making and the Making of Television.

The 'Philadelphia Inquirer' is running a 21-day endorsement of Sen. John Kerry, outlining 21 reasons why voters should elect him president. Editorial page editor Chris Satullo and commentary page editor John Timpane talk about the endorsement. On the paper's op-ed page, they've invited guest commentators to write about the reasons why voters should elect Bush instead.

Chicago is considered to be a Democratic city, yet The Chicago Tribune is endorsing President Bush. The paper received thousands of letters and e-mails in response. From the Tribune we speak with editorial page editor Bruce Dold, and letters editor Dodie Hofstetter.