Jim Webb, Public Media Journalist, and McCain Aligned on Lebanon (c. 1983)

Jim Webb’s well-timed book tour has made him “one of the veep candidates of choice for the liberal intelligentsia” according to Greg Sargent at TPM. In the flood of blog posts about Webb, his experience as an Emmy-award winning reporter for the MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHours is rarely mentioned. Robert Timberg discussed Webb the journalist in his 1996 book The Nighingale’s Song.

Webb’s [1983] report from Beirut, which lasted barely seven minutes, was awarded an Emmy. It was his first foray into television. He would later say that the lesson of Lebanon was: “Never get involved in a five-sided argument that’s been going on for two thousand years.”

According to Timberg, Webb was in agreement with then-Rep. John McCain:

John McCain wasn’t buying anything coming out of the White House about Lebanon…”The fundamental question is, What is the United States’ interest in Lebanon? It is said we are there to keep the peace. I ask, What peace? It is said we are there to aid the government. I ask, What government? It is said we are there to stabilize the region. I ask, How can the U.S. presence stabilize the region?

Chicago Public Radio’s Life After Bush

It’s not on one of them fancy coastal stations, but WBEZ’s Worldview is one of the global affairs shows on public radio. This month Jerome McDonnell’s show has been looking at Life After Bush; the ongoing series on Global Activism is also worth a gander.  Interviews that stand out for me include one with Iraqi-American environmentalist Azzam Alwash of Nature Iraq and another with Domincan nuns and anti-nuclear protesters Ardeth Platte & Carol Gilbert of Jonah House.

Two other WBEZ notes: Natalie Moore is blogging the R. Kelly trial; and This American Life’s The Giant Pool of Money is an amazing look at the housing crisis.

A final public radio love letter, to On the Media, for Bob Garfield’s snarky, yet sweet, piece on the Newseum.

KPBS Stands Out for San Diego Fire Coverage

I’ve friends and family in San Diego and therefore was especially glad to find KPBS’ extensive coverage of the fires. [Update, thanks to Frank Taylor for the pointer.] It has created, or is linking to, Google Earth and Google Maps and is sending out updates over Twitter (8 in the last hour alone) to more than 650 subscribers. (I first heard of the fires not through radio or the web, but rather via a Twitter from Kenyatta Cheese regarding the cancellation of classes at UCSD.)

The maps are cool, but the highlight is the audio, featuring the station’s own reporters, reps from other news orgs and community folks calling in with evacuation updates and details on where volunteers and supplies are needed. This is all the more extraordinary given that the station was knocked off the air this morning due to the fire and are looking for a new transmitter. (I’m sure they wouldn’t mind some cash contributions, either.) The station feed has been picked up by alt-rock station KBZT– rather an indictment of commercial radio’s ability to cover news. I also gather that the station has sought, and received, help from other pub radio stations in managing demands for streaming audio.

Nonprofit community service Voice of San Diego is also providing good coverage.