Media

Inside the mind of Gen. Pervez Musharraf, president of Pakistan:

I might be the first head of state in history who refused to answer a question at a press conference -- because I was contractually obligated to keep my mouth shut in advance of my appearance on 60 Minutes. When faced with a choice between my country and my company, I chose ... my company. The company pays better, and I will need rich American capitalists in the future. Probably the near future.

Anywhere else, it might have played out as just another low-stakes battle between policy wonks. But in Japan, a country struggling to find a brand of nationalism that it can embrace, a recent war of words between a flamboyant newspaper editorialist and an editor at a premier foreign-policy think tank was something far more alarming: the latest assault in a campaign of right-wing intimidation of public figures that is squelching free speech and threatening to roll back civil society.

Inside the mind of John Mark Karr: Don’t worry, I won’t take you all the way inside my mind -- I have to save something for my Barbara Walters interview!

But I will tell you three things. I am the logical culmination -- or at least predictable result - of three cultural trends visible during my 41 years on this Earth: First, baby-boomer hedonism. Second, rights-based legal proceduralism. And third, the media’s enabling of what I regard as "authentic" behavior.

Israel has yet to figure out that wars aren’t just fought on the battlefield. They are also fought on the mediafield.

And the mediafield ultimately is larger than the battlefield. Why? Because world opinion is what ultimately settles issues of world politics. As Shakespeare put it, "There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so." It is thinking, for example, that tells us the difference between self-defense -- and murder.

Ben Goldhirsh is zipped into his wetsuit, at the wheel of a cluttered old Ford. He pulls into the parking lot at Topanga Beach, kills the ignition and checks the surf. "Do you know Biggie’s 10 Crack Commandments?" he asks. (That’s the Notorious B.I.G.) "Interestingly enough, a lot of the life lessons my dad tried to pass on to me bear a striking similarity to Biggie’s 10 Crack Commandments." He laughs, a little uncomfortably. "Rule No. 1 is never let anyone know how much money you have."

Maybe we should think of Iraq as a test war. You know, a test of whether we can win a war with leaks, lawyers and litigation.

The Bush administration didn't plan on any of these problems in Iraq, of course. George W. Bush's idea was that we'd win with a lightning military strike in 2003, declare "Mission Accomplished" and then move on to Syria and Iran. To W., the key ingredients for success were moral clarity and advanced technology; everything else would take care of itself.

The British are coming! And so are the Arabs, the Chinese, the French, and the Russians. In fact, the age of the SOMSM is upon us. The what? Perhaps I should explain.

With the FCC dramatically increasing fines for indecency over broadcast TV -- and influential members of Congress threatening to extend decency standards to cable and satellite networks -- the debate over how best to protect children from inappropriate media has reached a fever pitch.

Three new phenomena in the media illustrate the oldest wisdom in show business -- there's nothing new under the sun.

Oh wait, that's from the Bible. But of course, the Bible, one of the oldest books in existence, is a never-ending source of artistic and commercial inspiration.

All of which reminds us that, if something worked in the past to enlighten or entertain, it will likely work again. And, if it didn't work in the past, watch out. Technology changes, but not human nature; it's human feelings that drive showbiz.

Not to build up expectations or anything, but one has to assume that the newly designated White House press secretary has something good up his sleeve. Surely he is not leaving his gigs at Fox News and on the lecture circuit just to come and suffer the same painful fate as Scott McClellan.