KCRW's Back Channels

Summary: Every week on BACK CHANNELS, will bring stories from the cracked mirror of television, where reality and fiction duke it out for your viewing pleasure on a cable dial so large you'd need the rest of your life to watch a week's worth. We'll peer behind the screen, where talking heads and network bigwigs live, love and dream up desperate new ways to keep your attention. TV remains the most powerful communications medium we have, but it's one that's changing rapidly. We'll gauge its power at every turn, observing how a single TV event - a scream, a nipple, Martha Stewart - can suck the e n t i re media into its maw and alter cultural perceptions. This year, we'll pay close attention to how network and cable news cover the 2004 presidential race, as President George W. Bush and Senator John Kerry arm-wrestle over the divisive issues of the moment - issues invariably framed by TV executives, producers, and of course anchors, those wellgroomed and highly-respected information arbiters with the uncanny ability to tell it like it is using nothing more than a teleprompter.