FRONTLINE Schedule

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News War: Secrets, Sources & Spin (Part I)
Feb. 13, 2007 at 9pm
Correspondent Lowell Bergman examines the relationship between the Bush administration and the press; the controversies surrounding the use of anonymous sources from Watergate to the present; and the unintended consequences of the Valerie Plame investigation -- a confusing and at times ugly affair that ultimately damaged both reporters' reputations and the legal protections they thought they enjoyed under the First Amendment. (more »)

News War: Secrets, Sources & Spin (Part II)
Feb. 20, 2007 at 9pm
The series continues with a look at the legal jeopardy faced by a number of journalists. Correspondent Lowell Bergman interviews reporters facing jail for refusing to reveal their sources and asks how much the press can reveal about secret government programs in the war on terror without jeopardizing national security. FRONTLINE examines how much of this battle is politics and whether such reporting actually harms national security. (more »)

News War: What's Happening to the News
Feb. 27, 2007 at 9pm
(90 min) The third part of News War puts viewers on the front lines of an epic battle over the future of news. Correspondent Lowell Bergman talks to network executives, journalists, Wall Street analysts, bloggers, and key players at Google and Yahoo! who are all battling for survival and market dominance in a rapidly changing world of news. FRONTLINE also goes inside the embattled newsroom of The Los Angeles Times. (more »)

A report from the media's front line

By ERIC DEGGANS
Published February 11, 2007


I hate to admit it. But far-right Republican pundit/candidate Pat Buchanan best sums up the heart of News War: Secrets, Spin and the Future of News, Frontline's excellent four-part documentary on government's struggle with the modern press that debuts at 10 p.m. Tuesday on WEDU-Ch. 3.

His take: "The battle between the White House and the national media is a battle over who controls the national agenda."

Ostensibly, Buchanan was talking about his days in the Nixon White House, resurrecting the canard that the press robbed America of its will to fight in Vietnam (I tend to think it was the mounting body bags). But his words also highlight the forces at play in News War.

For journalists who have always believed we were serving as a surrogate for the public, it is jarring to see, at the start of News War's second installment, crowds gathered at the New York Times protesting its decision to publish details of a government spying program.

Correspondent Lowell Bergman draws a potent contrast, juxtaposing coolly erudite New York Times editor Bill Keller insisting that "terrorists tend to assume (government has) extraordinary powers" with an angry, plain-spoken President Bush thundering, "It was a shameful act . . . to disclose this very important program in a time of war." No wonder average people are demanding their right not to know. In this war of images, those who create media accounts every day have forgotten how to tell their own stories.

Bergman, who has worked for both the New York Times and 60 Minutes, offers four hourlong episodes - the others air Feb. 20 and 27 and March 27 - outlining the major challenges facing the modern mainstream news industry, from court-centered efforts to unveil confidential sources to competition from the Internet.

Of the first two installments provided to critics, the best stuff comes in the second. It's focused on the fight over publishing news on subjects the government wants to keep secret, such as the CIA's secret prisons for suspected terrorists and testimony during a grand jury investigation into steroids in baseball.

Bergman's implication: The government is increasingly disregarding an unspoken truce between the press and prosecutors, in which the latter avoided pursuing mainstream journalists for fear of harming press freedoms.

Like many PBS documentaries, News War often feels like the TV version of eating your vegetables: a parade of talking heads with few celebrities or big moments. Those who know these issues will find little new information. But Bergman's effort ultimately proves a startling thesis: The danger facing the modern press has never been higher. And the public may be okay with that.

[Last modified February 11, 2007, 01:13:30]