News & Media

Author Robert Schmuhl, Professor and Director of the Program on Ethics and Media at the University of Notre Dame. His new book is "Statecraft and Stagecraft: American Political Life in the Age of Personality." (published by Notre Dame Press). He'll talk with Terry about the personalities in this year's election.

Journalist Lawrence Weschler. He's a staff writer for the New Yorker and has been covering Eastern Europe for the past decade. Terry talks with Weschler about leadership in Czechoslovakia, where parliamentary elections were just held.

Benjamin Cheever is the son of the late John Cheever. Ben is also a writer, and he grew up in the shadow of his father's fame. He's just written his first novel, for which he says he finally found his own voice, separate from his father's. "The Plagiarist" (Atheneum) is loosely based on Ben's life, and the time he spent working at "Reader's Digest" magazine. Ben was also the editor of "The Letters of John Cheever," published in 1988.

Journalist and lawyer Wendy Kaminer (cam-AH-ner). Her new book, I'm Dysfunctional, You’re Dysfunctional, is a critical look at the recovery and self-help movement. Kaminer believes that the movement tends to trivialize suffering by refusing to distinguish among levels of suffering or victimization (for instance, one recovery expert suggests that childhood is a holocaust.) Kaminer also considers the political implications for democracy if people view themselves as victims. (by Addison-Wesley Publishing Company).

Southeast Asia Correspondent for The New York Times, Philip Shenon (SHE-none). He's been following the protests between Thai troups and pro-democracy protestors in Bangkok, Thialand. The protestors: students, professionals, and workers have been demanding that the Prime Minister Suchinda Kraprayoon step down. Suchinda, a former military leader, led a coup last year against the democratic Government and took power in April as an unelected Prime Minister. Many people have died in the protests. SHENON will update us on the situation. (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)

Stan Sesser, a staff writer at The New Yorker magazine, just wrote a lengthy article called "Report From Cambodia." A country that's been dirt poor for several decades is experiencing a new prosperity since the United Nations peace agreement was signed last October. Oddly, the agreement calls for a sharing of power with the Khmer Rouge, an action Sesser equates with allowing the Nazis back into power in post war Germany. (The article is in the May 18, 1992 issue of The New Yorker.)

Pollster David W. Moore is the Director of the Survey Center at the University of New Hampshire, where he also teaches political science. His polling results have been picked up by all the T-V networks and most of the major newspapers and newsmagazines in the country. He's written a new book about the history of polling, called "The Superpollsters: How The Measure and Manipulate Public Opinion." (Four Walls Eight Windows Press)

Bob Simon is the CBS News correspondent who was taken prisoner during the gulf war and held for six weeks. He's just written a book about the experience called "Forty Days." (Putnam) In it, he describes the indignity and loss of control he felt as a captive. (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)

New York Times reporter Elaine Sciolino. She was the first American and the first woman to interview the Ayatollah when he came into power in 1979. She was expelled from Iran ten years ago and recently returned there for the first time since to cover the elections. Terry talks with her about the changes she saw in Iran from the ten years previous.

Commentator Maureen Corrigan reviews "The Girls in the Balcony," by Nan Robertson about how women at "The New York Times," struggled for equality.

Journalist Nan Robertson. Robertson spent more than three decades at the New York Times. Her new book, "The Girls In the Balcony," is a look back at the sexual inequality that for many years was part of working life at the Times, and throughout journalism in general. (It's published by Random House). (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)

Christopher Hitchens, the Washington editor for "Harper's Magazine" and columnist for "The Nation," talks to Marty about how pre-election polling becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)

Roger Simon, a syndicated columnist for the Baltimore Sun. He'll analyze yesterday's New Hampshire primary, and speculate about the results will affect the rest of the campaign. (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)

Writer Gay Talese. His new book, "Unto The Sons," is the story of the immigrant experience in America, and also the chronicle of Talese's own Italian ancestors coming to this country. Talese's previous works include the best-sellers "The Kingdom and the Power," "Honor Thy Father," and "Thy Neighbor's Wife."

Book critic John Leonard reviews "To The End of Time," by former Time magazine journalist and executive Richard Clurman. The book is an account of the big stakes merger between Time Inc and Warner Communications.

Maureen Corrigan wonders why Americans don't read as much as they used to.

Michael Klare, defense correspondent for the Nation. In the February third issue, Klare examines the current state of arms sales throughout the world. He says although nuclear arms sales have been curtailed, and the Soviet Union is gone, the sale of conventional arms to the third world continues unabated. Klare is also an associate professor at Hampshire College, and director of the Five-College Program in Peace and World Securities.

We look back on the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait one year later:
1) CNN producer Robert Wiener (wee-ner). Wiener was executive producer in Baghdad for 5 months leading up to and including the beginning of the war. His book, Live From Baghdad, tells how Wiener worked with Iraqi officials to cover the war from inside.
2) We speak with Aziz Abu Hamad, senior researcher on Kuwait for Middle East Watch about the current state of human rights in Kuwait..

Journalist Stan Sesser. He is a staff writer and reporter for The New Yorker. He talks with Terry about Singapore and the neo-authoritarianism that exists there. Neo-authoritarianism combines communism's authority over its population with capitalism's free market system. Sesser says its a growing trend in the Pacific Rim. (His article about Singapore appears in the January 13, 1992 issue of The New Yorker.)

Columnist Cynthia Heimel ("HIGH-mel") tells us what the new year holds for her. Heimel writes about the perils of being a single woman in the 90s for both The Village Voice and Playboy. There's a recent collection of her columns, titled "If You Can't Live Without Me, Why Aren't You Dead Yet?" (It's published by Atlantic).