News & Media

Writer and editor Corby Kummer. He's written a series of articles for the "Atlantic Magazine" on coffee, covering health effects, brewing, and decaf versus caffeine.

Commentator Maureen Corrigan is fed up with the way such writers as George Will and Charles Kerault wax romantic about baseball.

Film critic Owen Gleiberman (gly-ber-mann) reviews the home video release of "Let It Ride," last summer's comedy starring Richard Dreyfus as a man who can't stop betting on the horses.

Harold Bronson and Richard Foos, the co-founders of Rhino Records. Their label specializes in off-the-wall novelty records and anthologies of out-of-print recordings by the past greats of rock.

Freelance journalist Robert Draper. He's just written a profile of America's leading rock magazine, titled "Rolling Stone Magazine: The Uncensored History." It's published by Doubleday.

Political journalist Christopher Hitchens. His latest book, "Blood, Class, and Nostalgia," looks at the ironic relationship between America and Great Britain.

Herr's 1977 book, Dispatches, was based on his time covering the Vietnam War. He also contributed to the films Apocalypse Now and Full Metal Jacket. Herr died last week. Originally broadcast in 1990.

Michael Herr. He wrote what's considered the definitive Vietnam book, "Dispatches." His new book is a novel based on the life of Walter Winchell.

Journalist Hedrick Smith. He's the host of the new PBS series, "Inside Gorbachev's U.S.S.R." Smith won the Pulitzer Prize for his reporting from the Soviet Union in the 70's. His book, "The Russians" was a bestseller. He's now writing another book on Russia, "The New Russians."

Journalist and broadcaster John Chancellor. He's currently senior commentator for NBC News. Chancellor's new book is "Peril and Promise: A Commentary on America." (published by Harper & Row).

In his 1990 interview with Terry Gross, Safer discussed his groundbreaking coverage of the war in Vietnam. He died Thursday at 84.

Journalist Morley Safer. His first book is "Flashbacks: On Returning to Vietnam" (published by Random House). In 1965 Safer went to Vietnam as CBS'S correspondent. His famous report of U.S. marines torching the Cam Ne hamlet in August 1965 angered the White House with threats to expose SAFER'S "Communist ties" unless CBS fired him. Safer went back to Vietnam in 1989 as a correspondent for 60 Minutes, and out of this trip came "Flashbacks," a look back at the war and an examination of Vietnam today.

Journalist Robert Cullen. He's a former Moscow correspondent for Newsweek, and he writes regularly on Eastern Europe for The Atlantic and the New Yorker. An eyewitness to the fall of the Ceaucescu regime in Romania, Cullen discusses with Terry the difficulties that country faces in setting up a democracy after so many years under a dictatorship.

Political cartoonist Pat Oliphant. His jabs at the high and mighty are seen in more than 500 newspapers and numerous collections. Oliphant's depictions of American politics have earned him the anger of presidents and a Pulitzer Prize. The National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC, has just opened an exhibit of 41 of Oliphant's cartoons, as well as his lesser-known sculpture, lithographs, and color work. The exhibit runs through November 25th, then tours nationally.

Television critic David Bianculli previews "Capital News," starring Lloyd Bridges as the head of a Washington DC newspaper. It premieres this week on ABC.

Book critic John Leonard reviews Janet Malcolm's controversial book, "The Journalist and the Murderer." The book questions the ethics involved in the trust journalists create in their subjects, focusing on the case of writer Joe McGinnis, whose book "Fatal Vision," was a portrait of murder suspect Jeffrey MacDonald.

Rock musician and producer Nick Lowe. Lowe was a main figure of the British pub-rock scene in the early 70s, then in the late 70s Lowe joined forces with Dave Edmunds to form "Rockpile." At the same time, Lowe was producing albums for artists such as Elvis Costello and Grahm Parker. Lowe went solo in 78, and had hits with "I Love the Sound of Breaking Glass," and "Cruel to be Kind." His production credits during that period included The Pretenders, the Fabulous Thunderbirds, and John Hiatt.

Soviet commentator Vladimir Pozner (poez-ner, not pahs-ner). Pozner is a fixture on American talk shows...an intelligent, affable, understandable interpreter of Soviet events and policies. Pozner was born in France, grew up in Brooklyn, and moved to the Soviet Union at age 19. In his new book, "Parting With Illusions," Pozner looks back on his life, talks about the Soviet Union under leaders from Stalin to Gorbechev, and discusses the recent "ending" of the cold war. (The book's published by the Atlantic Monthly Press).

Reporter Tom Rose. Rose covered the 1988 rescue of three California grey whales that were trapped in the ice off Barrow, Alaska. The plight of those whales became an international media event. Rose has now written a book about the media hype surrounding the event, called "Freeing the Whales: How the Media Created the World's Greatest Non-Event." (Published by Birch Lane Press, division of Carol Publishing Group, NY).

Journalist John Hockenberry. For the past two years he's been National Public Radio's foreign correspondent in the Middle East, where he covered events from his wheelchair. He's also served as host for "All Things Considered," "SoundPrint," and other shows. In 1987 he won a Peabody and in 1988, a Unity in Media award. In March, he'll be hosting "Heat," a new nightly interview, performance, and call-in show over NPR.