This week on CounterSpin: Congress has passed legislation on military commissions and detainee treatment that will allow forms of detainee abuse recognized internationally as torture, and make secret evidence and coerced evidence admissible in court. It will also degrade habeus corpus, the traditional right of prisoners to challenge their detention. Why is the media largely ignoring the substance and historic significance of the legislation in favor the stories about the political battles over it? We'll talk about all that with Michael Ratner of the Center for Constitutional Rights.

Also on the show: FCC Chair Kevin Martin has called for an investigation into the suppression of research on media ownership—which is starting to look like something of a habit for the Commission. What was in those studies that the FCC disliked so much they had them quashed? And how should that information impact the current debate over further loosening those rules? We’ll hear from Hannah Sassaman of Prometheus Radio Project.

Links:

—Center for Constitutional Rights

—Hannah Sassaman's blog

—Prometheus Radio Project