June 18, 1998 All Things Considered (entire program) Requires the RealAudio Player

An index of the day's stories:

TOBACCO: ON THE HILL -- One day after parliamentary moves killed a tobacco bill in the Senate, Democrats have pledged to keep bringing up the tobacco bill "over and over and over again." They tried to tack it onto an unrelated bill today, but failed. President Clinton also says he won't stop fighting for the tobacco bill, and that it will be a campaign issue this fall. NPR's Peter Kenyon reports. (3:30

TOBACCO: PUBLIC OPINION -- Robert talks with David Moore, the managing editor of The Gallup Poll. They discuss how public opinion about tobacco and tobacco use has changed in the last few years. (5:15)

FAIR MEDIA STUDY -- A new study says the most "influential" members of the media (Washington-based bureau chiefs, editors, and reporters), are actually to the right of the American public on most issues (with the environment as one exception). Basically, their opinions match their paychecks. They tend believe in curbing entitlements like welfare but protecting Social Security, they are less suspicious of corporate power than the average American and look less favorably on health care reform. NPR's Brooke Gladstone reports. (3:00)

BRILL & STARR-GATE -- NPR's Chitra Ragavan reports that Steven Brill's new magazine on journalism, Brill's Content, raises serious questions about how reporters covered the Monica Lewinsky story, especially in the early stages of the scandal. He says reporters allowed themselves to be led along by independent counsel Kenneth Starr, book agent Lucianne Goldberg and others. Several journalists mentioned in the article say Brill has misrepresented what happened and that they, themselves, exercise extreme care in their reporting. (8:00)

MINERS LAID OFF -- NPR's Anne Garrels reports from Moscow on a protest by miners who've been camped outside the offices of the Russian government for more than a week. Three hundred men journeyed from the far north to demand payment of salaries owed them, and the resignation of President Boris Yeltsin. (4:30)

NORTH KOREA MISSILES -- NPR's Mike Shuster reports on North Korea's announcement this week that it sells missiles to other countries and will continue to do so. Experts on North Korea say that the troubled country does indeed export missiles, but may be trying to goad the United States into giving North Korea economic help in exchange for limiting or stopping the arms sales. North Korea is currently caught in a downward spiral of drought, as well as economic and agricultural problems, which have resulted in a widespread food shortage. (4:00)

FIRST SPY SATELLITE -- The Naval Research Laboratory has just declassified documents that reveal when the first US spy satellite was launched. In 1960, a satellite designed to help Navy ships navigate was sent into space. But it had a double mission: it also spied on the Soviet Union. NPR's Ivan Amato reports on how the satellite worked and what its mission was. (3:30)

JUST US -- Linda talks with author Melissa Balmain and her mother, illustrator Gina Ingoglia. The two collaborated on a book about their adventures traveling together called Just Us: Adventures and Travels of a Mother and Daughter. They talk about how their experiences have affected their relationship to one another. Just Us: Adventures and Travels of a Mother and Daughter is published by Faber and Faber. (8:00)

US & IRAN -- NPR's Ted Clark reports that Secretary of State Madeleine Albright has announced a new, cautious US policy toward Iran that seeks to repair 20 years of enmity between the two nations. The announcement was a response to overtures made earlier this year by Iranian President Mohammed Khatemi, a moderate cleric who is seeking to open up Iranian society. (5:00)

STRENGTHENING TIES WITH IRAN -- Commentator Ralph Peters on the importance of Secretary of State Madeleine Albright's move to open up relations with Iran. He asserts this is a good and courageous move. (3:00)

HOLBROOKE APPOINTMENT. -- NPR's Tom Gjelten reports on the nomination of Richard Holbrooke as US ambassador to the United Nations. The veteran diplomat would take over the position at a difficult time, with world attention focused on the Kosovo conflict and the failure of the United States to pay its UN dues. (4:00)

TOBACCO: FALL ELECTIONS -- NPR's Elizabeth Arnold reports that Republican congressional leaders took a political gamble in killing anti-tobacco legislation. They are assuming that the legislation does not have broad public support, and that there will be no negative repercussions for Republican congressional candidates on election day this fall. (4:30)

LETTERS -- Linda and Robert read from listeners' comments. To contact All Things Considered, write to:

All Things Considered Letters,
635 Massachusetts Avenue Northwest,
Washington DC 20001.

To contact us via the Internet, the E-MAIL address is:

atc@npr.org.

(3:00)

AIDS RISK BEHAVIORS -- A new study shows that intervention with high risk individuals does change behavior, if it's intensive enough. Public health workers were able to increase the rate of condom use, reduce the number of unsafe sex practices and consequently the rate of sexually transmitted diseases among African Americans and Latinos in inner city communities by reinforcing safe sex practices. NPR's Brenda Wilson reports. (4:00)

MAPPING THE AIDS VIRUS -- Linda talks with Joseph Sodroski, a principal investigator on the study Structural Studies of HIV Envelope of Glycoprotein, which has been published in Science magazine. Scientists at Columbia University and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston have taken an x-ray picture of the moment the human immuno-deficiency virus infects a human cell. Previously, researchers understood only in a general way how the infection occured. But this new image is a precise picture of how the virus makes contact with its target cell, a component of the immune system known as a T-cell. This information indicates that the AIDS vaccine that recently entered clinical trials may not be effective, but it provides new possibilities for developing cures. (4:30)

CHAPSTICK -- Commentator Scott Brunner of Jackson, Mississippi, talks about visiting his father after quadruple by-pass surgery and feeling helpless ... until he notices that one of his dad's needs has remained unfulfilled by modern medicine: chapped lips. Brunner applies the balm and feels that he has helped his dad. (3:30)

A BEAUTIFUL MIND -- Robert talks with Sylvia Nasar, the author of A Beautiful Mind. The book is a biography of John Forbes Nash, Jr., who invented a theory of rational human behavior when he was only 21 years old. Nine years later, he suffered the first in a series of psychotic breakdowns that would last for the next thirty years. But he eventually recovered from his mental problems, and received the Nobel Prize for his theory. A Beautiful Mind is published by Simon & Schuster. (8:00)