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

The Comedy Factory at Second City

For 50 years the Second City comedy theater has been producing top-notch comic talent. Alan Arkin, Fred Willard, John Belushi, George Wendt, Tina Fey and Stephen Colbert are all alums of the "comedy factory" of Second City.

Chicago Sun-Times writer Mike Thomas interviewed over a hundred Second City alums and high-profile fans about the history of the comedy franchise for his new book THE SECOND CITY UNSCRIPTED. Thomas talks about the competition, camaraderie and craft of the famous comedy troupe.

LISTEN: MIKE THOMAS - SECOND CITY

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

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

The Southern Vampire Romance of Charlaine Harris

Charlaine Harris includes healthy dollops of humor, social commentary and satire in her Sookie Stackhouse series of books. The "southern vampire romance" novels are the inspiration for the HBO series TRUE BLOOD.

Harris finds inspiration for the supernatural subculture of her fictional world by "people watching" in her home town in Arkansas.

LISTEN: CHARLAINE HARRIS