Frontline’s News War is a four-part series examining the   news media today and the future of journalism in the age of media convergence   and the internet revolution. The last part of the series starts on March 27 on   Frontline’s World edition, Stories from a Small   Planet, and examines media around the globe to see how international news   influences American journalism, focusing on Al Jazeera TV.

The News War

website includes over 60 full interviews with journalists, lawyers, media analysts and politicians   organized by name and by subject, an extensive set of links, an online discussion, a Guideline to   Journalism Standards and Practices, and each episode   of News War in its entirety. Parts I   & II: Secrets, Sources and Spin, examines the   consequences of the Valerie Plame investigation and the historical conflict   between the U.S. government and the news media.

Part III: What’s   Happening to the News follows the upending of   traditional reporting in the age of media convergence and the “democratization”  of media and asks what the future holds.

Each episode of News War is reported and co-produced by   Pulitzer-prize winner, Lowell Bergman. In an

online   forum hosted by the Washington Post, Parts I   & II producer, Raney Aronson, said of investigating the news, “it was one of   the hardest areas I’ve ever reported on…getting people to be frank on camera   about our industry was difficult as well.” Two weeks later, Part III producer,  Steven Talbot, participating in another Post   forum, said that deregulation and corporatization   are “Killing the idea of news as a public service” and that, “The constant   demand for news—all the time, anytime—puts enormous pressure on editors   and reporters to publish or broadcast first and fact-check later.” News War even   spun-off reporting on the content, including a piece by

The   Raw Story, about Carl Berstein’s interviews.

A. Mullikin

Published: March 23, 2007