This week on CounterSpin: The White House says they've abandoned the warrantless wiretapping program that spied on US citizens. They also say they're continuing it unchanged, both with court approval. Confused? Hard not to be, but how are journalists handling the story? We'll speak to former federal prosecutor and author Elizabeth de la Vega about the domestic surveillance program that won't go away.

Also on CounterSpin today: The sexual assault investigation of three Duke University lacrosse players could have been a different media story altogether—a serious examination of race, class and privilege. But the intense media scrutiny often focused elsewhere: on prosecutorial misconduct or, as is often the case in rape investigations, the personal history of the alleged victim. With many pundits declaring the case all but over, what lessons are the media drawing? And what questions should they be asking themselves? We'll speak to writer and journalism professor Kristal Brent Zook.

Links:

— Lying and Spying: How the Administration Slip-Slides Away, Elizabeth de la Vega (TomDispatch, 1/23/07)

— Digging at Duke, Kristal Brent Zook (Women's Media Center, 1/22/07)