As I am currently teaching my course on media and society, some of my attention is drawn to issues other than technology and copyright. Those interested in issues of contemporary journalism might want to check out Frontline’s new 4-part special called “News War“. The first part is set to run on your local PBS station on Tuesday, Feb 13 at 9pm. Here’s their description of the program:

In a four-and-a-half-hour special, News War, FRONTLINE examines the political, cultural, legal, and economic forces challenging the news media today and how the press has reacted in turn. Through interviews with key figures in the print and electronic media over the past four decades — and with unequaled, behind-the-scenes access to some of today’s most important news organizations, FRONTLINE traces the recent history of American journalism, from the Nixon administration’s attacks on the media to the post-Watergate popularity of the press, to the new challenges presented by the war on terror and other global forces now changing — and challenging — the role of the press in our society.

Topics included in the discussion will be the press’ relationship to the Bush administration, the question of using anonymous sources, the implications of the Plame investigation, reporting on issues of national security, the implciations of corporate ownership, the challenge posed by cable news and by emerging forms of online journalism, and how international news coverage may shape global opinion about the U.S. These are vital issues, and Frontline has a history of handling questions of media quite well — check out Merchants of Cool and The Persuaders in that regard.