In world events this week: popular unrest in Iran grew, the Honduran President was the victim of a military coup and US troops withdrew from Iraqi cities. On the news this week: obituary-porn following Michael Jackson's death and the Sanford affair gabfest. Did media coverage hit a new low point this week?

We'll talk about that and the arrival of Senator Al Franken. Beneath the spin and beyond the hype, we welcome to our GRITtv Media Round Table: Bob Moser, Editor of the Texas Observer and author of Blue Dixie: Awakening the South's Democratic Majority; Jill Nelson, Author, Let's Get It On: A Novel and finally, Sam Seder, Host of Breakroom Live.

Journalist by day, sexy novelist by night. Mixing sex, politics and fantasy, Jill Nelson stays with us to talk about her new book, Let's Get It On: A Novel, a follow-up to her bestselling novel, Sexual Healing: A Novel about a group of savvy friends who start a “full service spa” that caters to professional women.

Nighttime activists freeing animals from science labs: does that sound like terrorist activity? This week's Got Docs? "Behind the Mask" sells itself as "The story of the people who risk everything to save animals."

Thanks to The Daily Show, A-Films, The Ed Schultz Show and Kate Clinton for the footage in today's show. Have a safe and hopefully sunny holiday weekend!

Immigration reform is hardly the front page issue it was one year ago, even though thousands of immigrants end up in detention centers every year. More than 90 immigrants have died in detention in the last few years and the cost of maintaining these facilities is about $1.7 billion. The facts on the ground haven't changed, so where does the movement stand? And is there a real possibility for reform under Obama?

Roberto Lovato, Associate Editor at New America Media, Mallika Dutt, Executive Director of Breakthrough, Ravi Ragbir who spent two years in immigration detention and is a member of Families for Freedom, and Lynn Tramonte, Deputy Director of America's Voice on the state of immigration reform.

Then, Jeffrey Perry on one of America's great black intellectuals and radical voices. In the first part of a two volume biography, Hubert Harrison: The Voice of Harlem Radicalism, 1883-1918, Perry examines the life of a forgotten radical activist, journalist, and public figure whose short life reveals much about early 20th century America. 

Finally, The Uptake’s Jason Barnett on the resolution of the Al Franken-Norm Coleman senate saga. What happened? And what does it mean?  

Thanks to Naomi Klein and Breakthrough for video in tonight’s show. 

What can the progressive movement learn from the LGBT community? On the 40^th anniversary of Stonewall there has been a good deal of reflection and soul searching on the role of the struggle for gay rights within the larger civil rights movement. Yesterday when Barack Obama met with gay couples in the White House he said, “It’s not for me to tell you to be patient any more than it was for others to counsel patience to African-Americans who were petitioning for equal rights a half-century ago. We’ve been in office six months now. I suspect that by the time this administration is over, I think you guys will have pretty good feelings about the Obama administration.” That could be applied to a number of issues, not only those affecting the LGBT community. 

Richard Burns, Chief Operating Officer of the Arcus Foundation, Naomi Clark of the Sylvia Rivera Law Project, Richard Kim, Associate Editor at The Nation, and independent journalist Nancy Goldstein on the role of LGBT politics within the progressive movement.

Then, Stephen Cohen, author of Soviet Fates and Lost Alternatives: From Stalinism to the New Cold War on Obama’s upcoming trip to Russia and what to expect from the new administration. Will US/Russia relations change in any fundamental way? And who’s advising Obama when it comes to the former Soviet Union? Some of the very same architects of shock therapy who have little credibility inside Russia today.

Thanks to Firedoglake, RH Reality Check, Beyond Hatred, and Eileen Clancy of I-Witness Video for video in tonight’s show. 

As we're following the story of the military coup in Honduras, I came across these two articles that I thought were worth linking to for a quick bite: Obama Must Strongly and Unequivocally Condemn the Coup in Honduras by Roberto Lovato and A Few Thoughts on the Coup in Honduras by Jeremy Scahill.

Opposition to union organizing within the workplace has become more intense and punitive in recent years making it incredibly difficult and risky for workers to unionize. As unemployment continues to rise and workers struggle for a bit of parity, will the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) pass? Kate Bronfenbrenner of Cornell's Labor Education Research in a new report, No Holds Barred: The Intensification of Employer Opposition to Organizing, details the hurdles that workers face in trying to form unions and why EFCA would help. Bronfenbrenner, Mark Winston Griffith, Director of the Drum Major Institute, Pat Purcell, Director of Special Projects at the United Food & Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 1500, and Bob Master, Political Director of Communications Workers of America on whether the recession will strengthen unions.

Brave New Films takes a look at the happy union of Goldman Sachs and Burger King. Sachs, along with two private equity companies, purchased the fast food chain in 2002 for $1.5 billion. They’ve battled unions, fair wages, and are now fighting EFCA. Not to mention the billions in taxpayer dollars they've received. Check out the campaign here.

Then, Greg Grandin author of Fordlandia: The Rise and Fall of Henry Ford's Forgotten Jungle City looks at how American hubris and imperial ambitions led to the establishment of an outpost of the auto industry in the Brazilian rainforest. Grandin also discusses the military coup in Honduras and Alvaro Uribe’s visit to Washington.

And finally, Warehouse Workers for Rite Aid have been fighting to unionize in California. We speak to one of the workers, Angel Warner, about her experience.

Protests surrounding elections in Moldova and, more recently, Iran have been singled out for their use of social networking tools, particularly twitter. Many have said that cell phones and text messaging played a crucial role in Ukraine's Orange Revolution in 2004/2005. But are these claims justified? And how is twitter changing the role that journalists play in covering international events such as the street protests in Iran? Can the new technology fill the void? John MacArthur of Harper's, media technologist Deanna Zandt, independent filmmaker and educator Simin Farkondeh, and Robert Huesca, a professor of communications at Trinity Univeristy, on the twitter revolutions and the future of journalism. 

Then, historian Kim Phillips-Fein discusses her new book, Invisible Hands: The Making of the Conservative Movement from the New Deal to Reagan. Phillips-Fein is a professor at NYU's Gallatin School. 

Thanks to Greenpeace, Vinterneo, The Real News Network, Simin Farkondeh, and Los Angeles Pride for video in tonight's show.   

As a primary candidate, Barack Obama posited himself as the Fair Trade candidate in opposition to Hillary Clinton, whose support of NAFTA during the her husband's administration was seen as a liability. But as soon as Hillary was out of the picture Obama began to backpedal on trade and told Fortune magazine that his anti-NAFTA stance was “overheated and amplified.” Now that he’s in the White House what do we know about his trade policies?  

Lori Wallach, Executive Director of Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch, Jose Schiffino, Chair of the Fair Trade Committee of the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA), Ana Maria Quispe, a human rights activist from Peru, and Christy Thornton, Executive Director of the North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA) on Obama and free trade.

Then, an interview with Hamza Perez, a Puerto Rican rapper who gave up his life as a drug dealer 12 years ago and converted to Islam. He is the subject of the film New Muslim Cool, an exploration of Perez’s efforts to build a religious community in post 9/11 America. 

Thanks to Amazon Watch, Greenpeace, and the National Coalition Against Censorship for video in tonight’s show. 

40 years after Stonewall, a defining moment in the struggle for gay rights and social justice, discrimination against LGBT people is still common throughout the world. The Obama administration’s Justice Department has upheld the Defense of Marriage Act passed in 1996 that defines marriage as a legal union between one man and one woman. Sangeeta Budhiraja, Program Officer of Building Movements at the Ms. Foundation for Women, Writer and activist Kenyon Farrow, and Mab Segrest, Professor of Gender and Women’s Studies at Connecticut College on the historical roots of discrimination against the LGBT community and the struggle for equal rights.

Then, Obama’s regulation policy is being carefully scrutinized. Will he subject banks, rating agencies, and financial institutions to the kind of regulation that many think necessary to prevent another financial train wreck? William Black, Professor of Economics and Law at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and a former senior bank regulator, Nomi Prins, Senior Fellow at Demos and author of It Takes a Pillage: Behind the Bailouts, Bonuses, and Backroom Deals from Washington to Wall Street, and Les Leopold, Huffington Post Contributor and the author of The Looting of America: How Wall Street's Game of Fantasy Finance Destroyed Our Jobs, Pensions, and Prosperity—and What We Can Do About It on the President’s regulatory policies. Also, Elizabeth Warren, a pofessor of Law at Harvard, on comments on Obama’s new regulatory plan.

Finally, the American News Project reports on fallout from the GM bankruptcy. 20,000 of the 123,000 GM workers left in North America are set to lose their jobs as the auto task force, led by Wall Street financiers, aims to restore profits and boost stock prices.

Thanks to After Stonewall for video in tonight’s show. 

William Black, former senior bank regulator and Professor of Economics and Law at the University of Missouri -Kansas City, weighs in on President Obama's financial regulation proposal.

He'll join us again this Monday with journalist Nomi Prins, a Senior Fellow at Demos and author of the forthcoming, "It Takes a Pillage: Behind the Bailouts, Bonuses and Backroom Deals from Washington to Wall Street," and Les Leopold, a contributor to the Huffington Post and author of "The Looting of America."

The city of Baltimore is suing Wells Fargo for racial profiling while workers in Chicago took to the streets to protest its recent refusal to extend credit for Quad City Die Casting Company. As a reminder, Wells Fargo is the country's 2nd largest mortgage lender, 5th largest bank and recipient of $25 billion in TARP money --taxpayer money that they will now likely be spent fighting the discrimination cases filed against them in court.

Joining us in studio are Sarah Ludwig, Co-Director of Neighborhood Economic Development Advocacy Project, Kai Wright, who wrote about the 'Subprime Swindle' for The Nation Magazine, Leah Fried, Organizer with the United Electrical Union, and Beth Jacobson, formerly one of the most successful subprime mortgage loan officers for Wells Fargo who became a whistle blower in the Baltimore case and is now offering advice to homeowners facing foreclosure through her agency, Paralegal Services and Consulting.

Then, New Yorkers gathered at Union Square to show solidarity to the protesters in Iran. Alex Barbone and Melanie Breault talked to some of those who came out. And in this week's Got Docs?, Lydia Nibley's Two Spirits chronicles the life and premature death of Fred Martinez, a transgendered Navajo who was killed by one of his peers.

Steve Early is a self-proclaimed participatory labor journalist. He started out in the 1970s with a union of retail clerks and has been writing about the labor movement ever since. Despite the decrease in union membership and the never-ending obstacles to workplace organizing, Steve says there is a lot to be hopeful about. He sits down with GRITtv to help us see the rays of light and talk about his new book, Embedded with Organized Labor: Journalistic Reflections on the Class War at Home.