i'm frank sesno. [applause] >> this program has been brought to you by a grant from the ford foundation, working with visionaries on the frontlines of social change worldwide. for more information, visit...

i'm frank sesno. our guests today both bring a deep understanding of the importance of news as a public good in this country. farai chideya is an award-winning journalist and author. she's hosted npr's "news and notes" program and is the driving force behind the web blog pop and politics. dan rather has spent his life in news and is a highly acclaimed reporter and news anchor. he's covered major stories of our time for cbs news and now anchors "dan rather reports" on hdnet. welcome to you both. >> thank you, frank. >> glad to have you here. very different career arcs, perspectives. let me start by asking you the big question: are the media today serving the public interest? dan, what do you think? >> overall in the main, i think yes--less so than has been the case in some of our history, particularly in the period beginning just before world war ii and continuing into the mid nineties, but overall in the main, yes. journalism, particularly journalism at its best in the best traditions of the american

i'm frank sesno. thanks for joining us. [applause] >> this program has been brought to you by a grant from the ford foundation. for more information, visit...

let me go to frank sesno to ask him first. this is a book about what happened to the auto industry.re have been books that come out about what happened behind closed doors with the bailout. we're now looking at this panic-stricken time in our history, in a rearview mirror, thank god for that. do you think after looking at this and listening to steven ratner the government did the right thing with respect to the auto industry. >> i do. when you look at what the alternative is, which is to have lost the companies, the ripple affect on the economies and the fact is these companies need add life line in a desperate moment, this in the end, i think, will prove to be a wise move. i think one of the interesting things ratner is saying and i've climbed into some of these cars, some years in my career i did a deep dive into the auto industry, spent a lot of time in detroit and elsewhere. the key issue is the products have been lousy. we're starting to see, this is what is interesting to me, and i'll be watching closely, we're seeing competitive interesting products out of detroit. general mo