Matters of the media are central to WAMC's existance. Virtually every major media policy change affects public radio stations in some way. From WAMC's busy newsroom to the In Conversation With... series, ethics, truth, and responsibility are constant considerations. The following interviews represent a selection of people who confront many of these issues either as filmmakers, journalists, authors, and media critics.

Peter vam Agtmael
Alan speaks to Peter van Agtmael, war photographer and author of 2nd Tour: Hope I Don't Die, about his experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan and on other assignments around the world.

 

David Bianculli
David Bianculli is a longtime syndicated TV critic, a frequent contributor and guest host of NPR's Fresh Air, and author of Dangerously Funny, a new biography on the Smothers Brothers.

 

Thomas Bass
Internationally renowned author, journalist, and professor, Thomas Bass's work has been serialized in The New Yorker, as well as being named one of the "Notable Books of The Year" by The New York Times. Dr. Bass is a professor of English and journalism at the State University of New York at Albany.

 

Theodore Bikel
Folk singer; theater, film and television actor; radio host; president of Actors' Equity; political activist; Jewish spokesman, and author are some of the many careers to which Mr. Bikel can lay claim.

 

Ken Burns
Celebrated documentary filmmaker Ken Burns has been directing and producing films for over 25-years.His 1990 mini-series for Public Television The Civil War became the first documentary to gross over $100-million dollars. His work has been honored with Emmy awards, Academy Award nominations and several other distinctions, and has earned him a reputation as a dynamic and pioneering filmmaker.

James Barron and Mitchel Levitas
Alan is joined by journalists James Barron and Mitchel Levitas to discuss "The New York Times' Book of New York: Stories of the People, the Streets, and the Life of the City Past and Present."

 

Daniel Ellsberg
Alan Chartock interviews Daniel Ellsberg, who in 1969 brought public the 7000 page top secret study of decision making in Vietnam. Here Mr.Ellsberg discusses his life, the threat of life in prison, and his anti-war stance.

 

Steve Kroft
Steve Kroft was named a correspondent of 60 Minutes in May 1989 and delivered his first report that September. Alan spoke with Kroft during the 2005-2006 season, his 17th on the broadcast. In January 2005, he celebrated 25 years as a CBS News correspondent.

 

Greg Palast
BBC nvestigative journalist Greg Palast is back to talk about the 2004 Presidential election and how he has documents to back up that this election was stolen. He also talks about the war in Iraq.

 

Matthew Penn
Matthew Penn is the former Executive Producer of Law & Order. He began his career as an actor and appeared in 8 films and over 30 plays. He started directing theatrically in numerous venues both off-Broadway and regionally. Matthew Penn began his television career with Law & Order and has directed extensively for that series and also NYPD Blue. He received an Emmy nomination for his work on Law & Order and is a member of the Directors Guild of America.

Mary Beth Pfeiffer
Pfeiffer's reporting drew national attention in 2001 when she began a three-year series of reports on a rarely explored and little reported reality of prison life: suicides.Her reporting on New York State prisons won a dozen state and national awards from 2001 to 2006.

 

Leon Podles
Leon Podles is president of the Crossland Foundation, and a contributing editor of Touchstone magazine. Among the numerous journals for which he has written are America, The American Spectator, Crisis, and American Enterprise. He is the author of Sacrilige: Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church.

 

Louis Uchitelle
Louis Uchitelle worked as a reporter, a foreign correspondent, and the editor of the business news department at the Associated Press before joining The New York Times in 1980. He has been writing about business, labor, and economics for the Times since 1987. He was the lead reporter for the Times series "The Downsizing of America," which won a George Polk award in 1996.

Sander Vanocur
Sander Vanocur began his journalism career as a reporter on the London Staff of The Manchester Guardian. Since that time, Vanocur has accumulated more than 40 years in the business including a stint as Whitehouse Correspondent for NBC News.

 

Av Westin
A 52-year veteran of the news business, Westin is the former Senior Vice President of ABC News and served as a producer for the ABC Evening News, 20/20 and many other news programs and documentaries. During his tenure with ABC and CBS, he won six Emmy awards, four Peabodys, and numerous other awards for his leadership in the field. He is now Executive Director of the National Television Academy Foundation.

Simon Winchester
Author, journalist, and broadcaster, has worked as a foreign correspondent for most of his career. His work has taken him to Belfast, Washington, DC, New Delhi, New York, London, and Hong Kong, where he covered such stories as the Ulster crisis, the creation of Bangladesh, the fall of President Marcos, the Watergate affair, the Jonestown Massacre, and assassination of Egypt's President Sadat, the death and cremation of Pol Pot and, in 1982, the Falklands War. During this conflict he was arrested and spent three months in prison in Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, on spying charges.