The Brian Lehrer Show

Screenshot from the make-it/buy-it site Threadless (threadless.com)

The Era of the Amateur

Tuesday, May 30, 2006

Through “crowd-sourcing,” amateurs using today’s media technology sometimes make better movies, clothing and encyclopedias than the professionals. Find out what happens when companies open up their labor to the masses. Also, a conversation with former Drug Czar and Secretary of Education William Bennett.

Listen to the whole show

Primary Focus

Jonathan Tasini, candidate for US Senate
- on his run for Senate against Hillary Clinton

» Tasini for New York

Snowed Out

Ken Walsh, senior White House correspondent for US News and World Report
- on the replacement of US Treasury Secretary John Snow with Henry Paulson

The Wisdom of the Crowd

Jeff Howe, contributing editor for Wired Magazine
- explains how companies are outsourcing labor to the masses

» The Rise of Crowdsourcing in Wired Magazine

It's All History

Bill Bennett, former Education Secretary and author, America the Last Best Hope, Volume I: From the Age of Discovert to a World at War(Nelson Current 2006)
- discusses American history prior to World War One.