The Web and Deep Thinking

Is Google making us stupid? That's the question that Nicholas Carr introduced with his Atlantic Magazine cover story in 2008.

In search of the answer, Carr looked into the science of how our brain processes information. He also looked into the history of how media has changed language and learning.

The result of his research, THE SHALLOWS: WHAT THE INTERNET IS DOING TO OUR BRAINS, makes the case that deep thinking may be on the way out as new media usage is going up.

LISTEN: NICHOLAS CARR - THE SHALLOWS

Evan Thomas on Obama and new media journalism

Newsweek senior editor Evan Thomas has won numerous journalism awards for the type of feature-style pieces that take weeks or months to research and write. Often Thomas would work under an "embargo," speaking to sources and gaining access to figures on the understanding that the story the writer was working on would not be released until after, for instance, an election.

With the rise of the blogs and the demise of the market-share for publications like Newsweek, does that mean that the style of journalism practiced by Thomas is also in danger?

Thomas discusses the future of Newsweek and gives his thoughts on the subject of one of his award-winning depth pieces, Barack Obama...

LISTEN: EVAN THOMAS - NEWSWEEK & OBAMA

When Politics Took Over: Clinton v. Starr

In his book, THE DEATH OF AMERICAN VIRTUE: CLINTON VS. STARR, historian and law professor Ken Gormley unpacks a turbulent and politically charged period in recent history.

Gormley spoke with all the major players in the Clinton-Starr affair and found more than one disturbing detail about how politics got in the way of the law, the operation of government and even national security.

Gormley gives some less-than-commonly known details about the Starr investigation and reflects upon what that era kicked off in terms of the political polarization.

LISTEN: KEN GORMLEY - CLINTON VS. STARR

Money For More Speech: Campaign Ad Rules Change

The Supreme Court's 5-4 ruling to overturn a long-standing prohibition on corporations and unions funding political campaign ads has many worried that monied interests will have even more power to "buy" elections.

Robert Thompson, director of the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture at Syracuse University says that the real danger of big money influence comes not just from the ability to buy ads, but from the murkiness of who is behind the political messages.

LISTEN: ROBERT THOMPSON - SUPREME COURT & CORPORATE POLITICAL AD MONEY

Soap Operas on CNN

It's the end of an era for popular and long-running daytime dramas like GUIDING LIGHT and AS THE WORLD TURNS. But the real-life serial dramas of scandal play out with greater emphasis on the 24-hour news networks and in the mainstream news.

Robert Thompson from the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture discusses the celebrity focus in the news. Thompson says that celebrity scandal is a kind of "cultural glue."

LISTEN: ROBERT THOMPSON - CELEBRITY CULTURE AND THE NEWS

When "Breaking News" Gets It Wrong

The bread and butter of CNN and the other cable news networks is breaking news. The problem with the "breaking news" model of broadcasting is that the amount of information immediately gathered does not equal the amount of airtime that needs to be filled. The result: inaccurate reporting, speculation, and a general lax in the application of the journalistic standards applied to the "old media" age.

Coverage of the recent Ft. Hood shooting included all of these unfortunate elements.

But are these problems new ones or old ones? Does new technology like Twitter make the problem of inaccurate reporting worse? Should we even worry about it?

Robert Thompson, Director of the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture at Syracuse University discusses these issues as and more.

LISTEN: ROBERT THOMPSON - BREAKING NEWS COVERAGE

Daily Show Writers Get Bookish

Two of the men behind the razor-sharp comedy of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart have produced some work without pictures... at least not moving ones.

Current Daily Show Executive Producer Josh Lieb used the 2007 screenwriter's strike to pen the young adult novel I AM A GENIUS OF UNSPEAKABLE EVIL AND I WANT TO BE YOUR CLASS PRESIDENT.

David Javerbaum has a long list of comedy credits including working for The Onion, The Late Show with David Letterman and last year he wrote the lyrics for Stephen Colbert's musical Christmas special. Javerbaum formerly served as Exec. Producer for The Daily Show. He still works with the staff as writer emeritus. His venture into paperback comedy is faux-advice book WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN YOU'RE EXPECTED: A Fetus' Guide to the First Three Trimesters.

Both Lieb and Javerbaum talk about their comedic approach to news, media criticism and analysis on television as well as the work they have on book shelves.

LISTEN: JOSH LIEB - UNSPEAKABLE EVIL AND THE DAILY SHOW

LISTEN: DAVID JAVERBAUM - ADVICE FROM A FORMER FETUS

Taking Inventory of Pop Culture

Everyone has their all-time top-1o desert island discs. There is no quicker way to start and angry argument with a STAR WARS fan than to dispute their ranking of the quality of the six Star Wars movies.

List making seems naturally linked to pop culture in a way that it is not with higher culture. Does anyone have an all-time top-10 Renaissance frescoes? The populism of listing, and ranking, comes from the chance for everyone to be an expert.

The Onion AV Club has created INVENTORY, a book of lists ranging from "10 Songs Nearly Ruined By Saxophone" to "6 Keanu Reeves Movies Somehow Not Ruined By Keanu Reeves." Entertainment Editor from The AV Club Tasha Robinson talks about the process of list-making and sifting through pop culture.

LISTEN: TASHA ROBINSON - THE ONION AV CLUB

Pencils to Pixels: Language and the Digital Age

It is obvious that a universe of digital technology is changing the world.

A nearly bottomless amount of information available on the internet. Social networking in cyberspace and the digital soapbox of websites and blogs have opened up new options for human communication.

But are these new tools changing the way we think, talk and write? Is the internet having a negative affect on our brains?

Dennis Baron says no. Baron suggests, the negative ramifications of computers are no more harmful than the invention of the written world.

University of Illinois professor of English and Linguistics examines the impact of the digital revolution on reading, writing and communication in his book A BETTER PENCIL.

LISTEN: DENNIS BARON - A BETTER PENCIL

The Cable News Audience and Influence

Fox, CNN and MSNBC battle for eyeballs and influence on the political news cycle.

Blogs, opinion columns and even the old-style broadcast networks seem to take their cue from the cable nets. But the cable outlets don't command as many viewers as the bluster of the prime time hosts would seemingly indicate.

Dr. Robert Thompson, Director of the Blier Center for Television and Popular Culture at Syracuse University watches it all. Who else is watching might be surprising.

LISTEN: ROBERT THOMPSON - CABLE NEWS

Kurt Andersen and the Reset Button

What exactly is the United States going through? Have we seen it before? Is it like the Great Depression? Is it like the end of the Roman Empire?

Kurt Andersen thinks we are at a point in time when political, economic and technological cycles have collided. As we are at a unique point in history, Andersen says, the nation is also offered a unique opportunity. He lays out those opportunities his book RESET: HOW THIS CRISIS CAN RESTORE OUR VALUES AND RENEW AMERICA. Andersen, bestselling author and co-founder of Spy magazine, based his book on the response to a Time magazine cover story titled "The End of Excess."

LISTEN: KURT ANDERSEN, RESET

Joe Queenan Takes Aim

Joe Queenan has a chip on his shoulder. This is apparent to those who have sampled his writing, which pulls no punches in criticizing art, culture, public figures and just about anything else. In his memoir CLOSING TIME, Queenan turns the focus to his harrowing childhood, part of which was spent in a housing project in Philadelphia.

In this interview Queenan talks about his background but more about how in the depts of the financial crisis those that are left out of the conversation are the poor. He reserves a fair amount of venom for a culture he feels gives those hit hardest by financial stress the least amount of concern.

INTERVIEW: JOE QUEENAN'S "CLOSING TIME"