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You've probably seen this by now -- the latest Romney attack ad on Newt Gingrich that features neither Gingrich or Romney (or at least not until the disclaimer at the end). Instead, it's all Tom Brokaw, from a 1997 NBC Nightly News segment.

NBC has now asked that Romney pull the video, with Brokaw adding that he feels "extremely uncomfortable" with the use of his likeness. On today's Brian Lehrer Show, ABC chief White House correspondent Jake Tapper weighed in on the controversy:

Here's the full Tapper response from today's Brian Lehrer Show:

What do you think? Fair use on the part of the Romney campaign? Over the line? Let us know in the comments!

A few weeks ago, I pitched Bob and Brooke on my idea for an iPhone app that gives you ideas for iPhone apps - plus some of the ideas that would be in my app. (They were skeptical.) I then asked listeners to send along their own great ideas for apps by emailing me.

Lots of you did, here are some highlights. If you have more, email me at ideasfortheideasforanappapp@gmail.com or Tweet to @jodyavirgan

This is Politics Bites. Every once in a while we'll post short audio to It's A Free Country: The Podcast that deserves a little extra attention.

The Story Pirates take stories written by kids and turn them into musical theater. For the State of the Union 2012, It's A Free Country asked our audience to answer the question: “What would you say if you were addressing the country?”

The Story Pirates compiled the answers and some responses from their own workshops - with kids from ages 6 to 17 - and here are the results. Take a listen, download for free!

We're gathering tonight in The Greene Space for the State of the Union viewing party, but you can join in the fun from home. Here's the playlist of songs about states we're listening to as we get ready for the speech, courtesy of Brian Lehrer Show producer Jody Avirgan.

States of Our Union from jta on 8tracks.

Yesterday on the show we tested your knowledge in our annual year-end news quiz. (Listen here) Below are 10 of our favorite questions from the True/False lightning round at the end of the show. See how much you were paying attention in 2011 -- and no googling.

Happy New Year from everyone at the BL Show!

Smartphone apps are big business, and increasingly complicated to develop. WNYC producer Jody Avirgan talks with Rekha Murthy of PRX and Lisa Bettany of Camera+ about what it takes to get one made -- and pitches his idea for an app to Bob and Brooke.

After the assassination of Osama bin Laden, the US was split about whether to release images of his body. With Moammar Gadhafi we had no such decision to make - dozens of videos and pictures instantly found their way around the world. Once again, we're in a discussion about how these images help, hurt, repulse, enshrine or dehumanize their subject. But this is not a new conversation.

For some reason, I've been thinking a lot about Jesse James this past week. Something in the images of Gadhafi remind me of the pictures that circulated of James after he was killed by Robert Ford in 1882: the angle of repose, the beard, the crowd.

And the way we relive the death of Gadhafi on YouTube every time we watch one of those videos -- that reminds me of how Ford relived his assassination of James night after night on stage.

Moammar Gadhafi is dead, and there are pictures to prove it. Gruesome video and photographs of the Libyan dictator’s body being dragged through the streets have emerged and spread like wildfire online and on cable news.

As you’ll recall, in the aftermath of the death of Osama bin Laden there was heated conversation in this country and elsewhere about whether the photographs of his body should be made public. This show covered that topic on May 6th with Paul Waldman of The American Prospect and Phillip Gourevitch of The New Yorker. Full audio is above, it's worth another listen, and here's the transcript.

Waldman supported the release of the Bin Laden photograph:

While Gourevitch opposed it:

To be clear, the circumstances around the Gadhafi death and photos are quite different. We don't know if Gadhafi was captured before he was killed (some of the videos floating around suggest he was). The White House is not controlling the distribution of these pictures. And this is, ultimately, Libya's moment, not ours. That said, the contrast gives us a chance to reflect on how we felt about the bin Laden photographs. Have you changed your opinion about whether these types of photographs should reach the light of day?

We've reached out to Waldman and Gourevitch for follow-up comments, but for now feel free to start posting your reactions.

UPDATE: Paul Waldman writes us:

This is a very different situation from the Bin Laden question. First, in that instance there were very few pictures of Bin Laden, and so an image of his end would be all the more important. Second, any photograph the U.S. government released would have been carefully composed to represent the American victory over him. In Gadhafi's case, the images are from cell phones -- they're much more spontaneous, chaotic, and violent. They don't display the considered decisions of a government, but the actions of a mob (no matter how justified). If the new Libyan government has difficulty making an orderly transition to a new system, these images could come to have symbolic meaning, representing something not about Gadhafi but about what replaced him, the chaos and violence of the transition. I suspect that in the end, that will determine how much persistence these images have. The more successful and stable the Libyan government is, the less important these violent images will be over the long term.

[[Warning: after the jump we've included a video that shows Gadhafi's bloody body.]]

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To wrap up our New Littles project, the Brian Lehrer Show asked local artists and illustrators to represent the various new neighborhoods we'd discussed on a map. Not knowing what to expect, we put out a call for entries and waited. The response was incredible, full of talent, inventiveness and community spirit. Check out the entries below, and be sure to visit the artist's website to support their work - many of the pieces are even for sale! Thanks to all for participating in The New Littles.

We won't bury the lead - there wasn't much new in President Obama's morning press conference on the debt ceiling negotiations. But at the end of a long week of highly partisan standoff (and ahead of what looks to be a working weekend in Washington) here are five talking points that caught our ear.

Here's a little-known (at least here in the US) tidbit that's re-emerged in the News of the World scandal. British singer Billy Bragg has weighed in on the scandal engulfing Rupert Murdoch's media empire with his new song "Never Buy The Sun."

The song is a broad critique of British media practices ("someone's hiding in the bushes/ with a telephoto lens") but one line of the refrain requires a bit of historical context. Bragg sings "The Scousers never buy The Sun."

The who? Why do they never buy The Sun?

Over the course of our New Littles project, we've identified some of New York's overlooked ethnic communities. Now, we want artists and illustrators to draw a new neighborhood map. Our favorites will be featured on the WNYC website and on-air during the Brian Lehrer Show. Upload your artwork directly below, or post a link in the comments page. Deadline for submission is Monday, July 11th. Here are some of the neighborhoods you may want to include (though you can obviously include others you know about):

UPDATE: Check out the New Little Map Below! We've taken our data set and mapped it.

Each Thursday in June, the Brian Lehrer Show and Andrew Beveridge of Social Explorer will discuss New York’s diverse communities - areas of ethnic concentration you may not know about or are changing quickly. ...

I'm a light enough sleeper that even the phone's buzz will wake me up. There was no way I was sleeping through the four calls, five texts, and other forms of digital intrusion that descended upon my device just before 11pm on Sunday night. 

It's A Free Country's The Mix, where we take some of the notable clips and other voices found on WNYC this week and mix 'em up. Voices are in bold, connections are in italics.

It's A Free Country's The Mix, where we take some of the notable clips and other voices found on WNYC this week and mix 'em up. Voices are in bold, connections in italics.

It's A Free Country's The Mix, where we take some of the notable clips and other voices found on WNYC this week and mix 'em up. Voices are in bold, connections in italics.

It's A Free Country's The Mix, where we take some of the notable clips and other voices found on WNYC this week and mix 'em up. Voices are in bold, connections in italics.

It's A Free Country's The Mix, where we take some of the notable clips and other voices found on WNYC this week and mix 'em up. Voices are in bold, connections are in italics.