Spectrum: Recent Episodes
WOUB Public Media
Spectrum features conversations with an eclectic group of fascinating people, some are famous and some are not, but they all have captivating stories.
Both Diddy and former President Donald Trump have had their properties searched by law enforcement authorities pursuant to search warrants.
Diddy just recently had his properties searched by Homeland Security and in August 2022, Trump had his Mar-a-Lago home searched by the FBI.
Both searches took place after judges reviewed sworn affidavits from law enforcement officers alleging that evidence of criminal activity was present at the locations.
Judges then issued the warrants for gathering evidence of potential crimes. In Trump’s case, the warrant called for the seizure of the allegedly classified documents from Trump’s Florida residence.
Trump’s search warrant was issued after numerous requests and a subpoena for the return of the documents were unsuccessful.
Subpoenas and search warrants are often confusing to the average citizen. It is sometimes difficult to understand the difference. They also should not be construed, alone, as indicators of crimes.
On this edition of Spectrum, host and retired judge Tom Hodson joins with legal analyst and retired judge Gayle Williams-Byers to explain subpoenas and search warrants in understandable terms.
They talk about how they are issued, executed, and enforced if there is noncompliance.
They explain the complexities of these legal processes by using simple examples to which all people can relate.
Retired judges Gayle Williams-Byers and Tom Hodson dissect Donald Trump’s legal issues into understandable terms for the public.
In this episode, they examine two recent rulings by Judge Scott McAfee of Fulton County Georgia concerning the dismissal of six counts from the multicount, multiparty Trump indictment.
They also explain Judge McAfee’s ruling allowing Prosecutor Fani Willis to remain on the case against the former President and his co-defendants.
Judges Byers and Hodson use understandable language and examples to break down complex legal motions and rulings.
Both think it is important for the public to understand what is going on in the courts and both think the mainstream media is not doing an adequate job of deciphering crucial terms and legal proceedings.
“People don’t trust what they don’t understand,” said Judge Byers. So, these retired judges have committed themselves to raising the public’s level of understanding.
Besides both being former jurists, Judge Byers was a former Assistant Prosecutor and Judge Hodson was a former defense attorney. Therefore, they also can give insights into various attorney strategies taking place in the cases.
In addition to talking about Georgia in this episode, the judicial duo also discusses pretrial judicial rulings in the Mar-a-Lago document case against former President Trump.
Psychiatrist and author Dr. Stephen A. Goldman tackles postwar life of Union Civil War soldiers and their commitment to social change.
In his book, One More War to Fight: Union Veteran’ Battle for Equality through Reconstruction, Jim Crow and the Lost Cause, Dr. Goldman delves into how Union veterans’ obligation to their country did not end when they returned home. It had only just begun.
Using primary sources and firsthand accounts, the book explores the role of military soldiers after returning to civilian life and the fight against racism.
Dr. Goldman examines the contentious post-Civil War period and the role of former soldiers in effectuating social change.
He examines the commitment of both white and African American veterans to completing the “unfinished” business” of the War as President Abraham Lincoln termed it.
He looks at the contentious post-Civil War period from the perspective of former Union soldiers who survived the war to carry on the fight for equality in decades to come.
Dr. Goldman, as a psychiatrist, has spent decades treating and working with combat veterans. This gives him a unique perspective that he shares with us in his book.
You can read more about One More War to Fight at https://www.stephenagoldmanmd.com/.
Ohio, like most states, has vast regions that have too few lawyers based upon population needs.
In Ohio, 82 of the 88 counties do not have adequate representation. Only the top six urban counties meet the standard of one lawyer per 700 people, says Chief Justice Sharon Kennedy of the Supreme Court of Ohio
That leaves 6.5 million people or 56 percent of Ohio’s population without access to attorneys to meet their basic legal needs such as issues related to health care, housing, food assistance, criminal defense and cases involving children, including custody, neglect, and abuse.
For example, Vinton County, Ohio only has two lawyers for a county population of 12,000 people, according to Chief Justice Kennedy.
To help solve this problem, Ohio is launching a pilot program to bring young lawyers to these underserved areas. There is a partnership between the Ohio Department of Higher Education, the Ohio Access to Justice Foundation and the Supreme Court of Ohio to ease the crisis.
Third year law students and lawyers who have been licensed less than eight years who want to practice in one of the underserved counties can work for a prosecutor’s office, a public defender, or take court appointed cases totaling 520 hours per year.
If they apply to the program and qualify, the attorneys can earn between $30,000 and $50,000 toward repaying student loans. There is a three-year commitment with $10,000 being paid each year with the possibility of extending the term for two additional years.
If this program is successful, then the partners will work to expand the program and possibly try other incentives to fill the lawyer gap. Other states also will be monitoring Ohio’s efforts.
If interested, you may apply by March 15, 2024.
For more information go to: https://highered.ohio.gov/initiatives/workforce-development/rural-practice-incentive-program#HowtoApply
At the end of each year, the editors and staff of the MIT Technology Review select the top 10 new technologies that will breakthrough in the coming year.
The list is prepared and published to give the average person a glimpse of what is on the horizon and what might be incorporated into our daily lives, according to Amy Nordrum, executive editor.
Besides being executive editor, Nordrum also is a frequent guest on WNYC and NPR’s Science Friday with Ira Flatow.
The Review staff spends months discussing and analyzing what might be hot for the next 12 months. In addition, the Review allows readers to vote on an 11th addition to the list. That selection will be revealed in April.
To further educate the public, Nordrum added in December five things that were not put on the 2024 Breakthrough list but items that should be watched.
In this podcast episode, Nordrum breaks down each of the selections and explains its importance in understandable terms.
Some items she describes are:
· A-I for everything
· Apple Vision Pro
· 1st Gene Editing Treatment
· Weight Loss Drugs
· Twitter Killers
On the list of five items left out, she discusses:
· New drugs for Alzheimer’s disease
· Sustainable aviation fuel
· Male to male reproduction.
Listen to the podcast to hear her description of each breakthrough, and visit their website to see more:
https://www.technologyreview.com/2024/01/08/1085094/10-breakthrough-technologies-2024/
There are mutual obsessions between the news media who cover former President Donald Trump and Donald Trump and the news media.
Both rely on the other and both benefit from the other. The news media makes money off covering Trump and Trump gets unending publicity from the news media, regardless of his activities or misstatements of facts.
This unholy alliance is unhealthy for the true dissemination of news and for our democracy, according to Dr. Michael Bugeja, Distinguished Professor of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Iowa State University.
While networks like Fox, MSNBC and CNN are singularly focused on Trump’s every move, other news events no longer get covered, says Bugeja.
Instead of news on national and international levels, we get a constant diet of analysis from all political viewpoints, he adds. Analysis and speculations on what might happen next have replaced hard news coverage of truly breaking events.
We also are bereft of local news coverage in many parts of the country, leading to a true news void.
As a result, people have migrated to their own media silos for opinions that match our own and the general public becomes more ignorant about true news and news events.
Bugeja also notes that the news media are ill equipped to cover a possible autocracy if Trump gets elected in November 2024.
In a recent article for Poynter, a think-tank for journalists, Bugeja said:
“Tenets about impartiality and balance do not apply when covering autocracy. Journalists cannot hold a tyrant accountable by framing his viewpoint as one side of a partisan story.”
Many experts, quoted by Bugeja, fear retribution towards journalist if Trump is re-elected and overt attacks being made on the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
He strongly suggests that Americans need to prepare themselves to fight an autocracy by reading and understanding the powers within our Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
For more articles by Dr. Bugeja: https://www.poynter.org/author/michael-bugeja/
While 60 percent of Americans have more trust in local news than national news, local media are disappearing at an alarming rate.
We are losing an average of two newspapers per week and by 2025, we will have lost nearly one-third of our local newspapers nationwide, according to a 2022 study done by Northwestern University.
Currently about 20 percent of the nation lives in a news desert with little to no access to local news.
Will anything replace the dying newspaper population? Local and regional non-profit news organizations are springing up across the country as an alternative.
There are various business models for these non-profits depending on the region they serve.
Leadership for these new publications is coming from various directions. Some leaders have had long careers in journalism, and some are early in their journalism careers.
Regardless of the experience level, many journalists are seeing the revival of hyperlocal news media to be critical to the survival of our democracy.
Andy Alexander is a long-time award-winning journalist. He was Washington Bureau Chief for Cox Newspapers and is a former ombudsman for the Washington Post. Today, however, he currently acts as board chair for the Foothills Forum, a non-profit news agency in Rappahannock County, Virginia.
Dani Kington is a young journalist who decided to leave mainstream media to be one of the founders of a local news non-profit in Athens, Ohio…a rural part of Appalachia.
They both give their perspectives on this new form of journalism and talk about what might be the next steps to saving this valuable form of public media.
For more information on the Foothills Forum, visit : https://foothills-forum.org/
Read the Athens Independent here : https://athensindependent.com/
Philip Elliott, Washington correspondent for Time and author of Time’s newsletter, D.C. Brief, breaks down the status of national politics as we sit just less than a year away from the 2024 Presidential Election.
Although former President Donald Trump is leading in the early polls for the GOP nomination, Elliott reminds us that the first Republican primary in Iowa is always unpredictable.
He also says that GOP candidate Nikki Haley is doing well with traditional Republicans and has amassed noteworthy support and financial backing for the Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina primaries.
Elliott also says that the 2024 is volatile with the two main candidates, Trump and President Joe Biden, both being unpopular with large segments of voters.
If one adds potential Independent candidates like Liz Cheney and Robert Kennedy Jr. to the mix, the election picture becomes even more murky, he says.
Elliott also talks about the political quagmire of issues such as funding for Israel, the unexpected support of Palestinians by many Americans, and the need for continued funding of the Ukraine war.
He points to the precarious status of House Speaker Mike Johnson and the disarray among House Republicans.
Finally, Elliott expresses his concerns about the ratcheting up of violent rhetoric and the impact that might have on potential violence in America.
Subscribe to the DC Brief : https://Time.com/DCBrief
Recently, the fifth National Climate Assessment was released by the US government.
It is an interagency effort mandated by Congress to provide the scientific foundation for informed decision making about climate change for the next five years.
“The report states that no part of the US is insulated from climate change impacts even if they differ geographically,” says Dr. Geoff Dabelko, professor at the Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Service at Ohio University and a senior advisor for the Environmental Change and Security Program at the Wilson Center in Washington, D. C.
The Assessment says we are experiencing climate changes that are “unprecedented over thousands of years.”
Although the Assessment focuses primarily on the US, it also examines climate change internationally. Dr. Dabelko was one of the authors of the International Chapter.
“What happens with climate change overseas does not stay overseas,” Dabelko says. “Both impacts and international responses affect the US economically, politically, and security wise.”
We cannot understand climate change in isolation, he says. Instead, we must study environmental, economic, and political connectivity to form viable solutions.
The Assessment stresses three terms necessary for addressing climate change: mitigation, adaption, and resilience.
Newspapers and other forms of news media are disappearing in the wake of more people getting their news through social media,
The result, according to the Medill Local News Initiative, is that our democracy is being threatened; civic engagement is declining; political polarization is increasing; and misinformation proliferates.
Dr. Janice Collins, multiple Emmy winning journalist and award-winning educator, says that the loss of local news strikes at the bedrock of our society and imperils our democracy.,
Studies show that one-third of U.S. newspapers that existed in 2005 will be gone by the end of 2024. As a country, we are losing more than two newspapers a week leaving 6.4 percent of the country without any local news outlet.
Dr. Collins advocates that this crisis must be addressed at multiple levels. She asserts that more national support needs to be given to emerging local and hyper-local non-profit news efforts.
She also says that the news media must embrace the newest technologies and not shy away from innovation.
Dr. Collins suggests that news media must be more transparent on how they function, utilize research to target opportunities, and solicit and train citizen journalists to partner in news gathering and disseminating efforts.
While disheartened by the current demise of certain news media, Dr. Collins enthusiastically embraces the future of journalism and its role in society.
Dr. Collins is an associate professor of journalism at the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University.
Too often legal terms are used, without definitions, by the news media while covering cases involving former President Donald J. Trump. This leads to public misinformation, misunderstanding and confusion.
Periodically, this season, WOUB’s Spectrum podcast will endeavor to translate these key terms and procedures into understandable language so that the average person can keep up with the legal proceedings.
Retired judge and legal analyst Judge Gayle Williams-Byers along with retired judge and Spectrum host Tom Hodson will translate legalese into bite-sized digestible terms by using examples that everyone can understand.
These episodes will explain what is happening in Trump’s cases from a judge’s perspective instead of from the viewpoint of the parties. If you listen, you will be able to follow the cases better and understand more.
In this episode, Judge Byers and Hodson delve into “gag orders” – why they’re issued –how they’re structured-- what they really mean – and how they are enforced.
They talk about the difference between the state gag order in Trump’s New York civil fraud case and the one in the federal criminal election interference case in Washington, D.C.
Listen and learn about gag orders and the impact they may have on trials to come.
David Collins, an eight-time Grammy award winner, has been producing groundbreaking films, documentaries, television and streaming projects for over 25 years.
The common thread to his expansive body of work is that his projects give voice to marginalized populations and feature inclusive and omni culture content.
He, with his partner Michael Williams, created Scout Productions in 1994 – just five years after David’s graduation from Ohio University.
Scout Productions has gone on to produce Queer Eye for the Straight Guy for Bravo in 2003, Queer Eye for Netflix in 2018, Legendary for HBO Max in 2020 and his current effort in partnership with Amy Poehler called The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning for Peacock.
Collins says his award-winning company is provides culturally transformative and emotionally gripping content across multiple platforms with humor and heart.
He has two new series launching in May 2023.
An investigative documentary, The Secrets of The Hillsong Church, premieres on May 19 on FX and the following day on Hulu and “Merpeople” will open on Netflix on May 23.
David returned to Ohio University this spring to deliver the undergraduate commencement address and shared with WOUB’s Spectrum some insights into his education, his early career, and what keeps his company and his storytelling fresh.
Two- and one-half years ago, the Goldsberry family was robbed of over $230,000 by international computer scammers who took control remotely of a family computer and emptied several bank accounts.
This happened through 14 wire transfers to Thailand from December 16, 2020 to January 11, 2021.
During this time, the family noticed strange transactions happening and notified the national fraud department of their bank plus the local bank authorities.
To date, however, the Goldsberry family has yet to be reimbursed for their loss and they are frustrated.
Retired Ohio judge Alan Goldsberry and his financial consultant son Stuart have unsuccessfully tried various means to get reimbursement.
They contacted the local police, the local prosecutor and the FBI but have come up empty on a mechanism to get their money back.
They have attempted multiple times to get cooperation from their bank but to no avail.
They also have filed suit in federal court to get the bank to release its records. This was only partially successful.
Finally, they have turned to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) but have not heard from the FDIC for several months.
Meanwhile, they are running out of options.
Listen to their story as a warning on how this might happen to you.
If you have any suggestions on other options the Goldsberry family may have, please email them to me at hodson@ohio.edu.
This fall, the National Judicial College (NJC), located on the campus of the University of Nevada-Reno, will hold its second groundbreaking course to teach judges from across the nation how to develop and maintain anti-racist courtrooms.
This four-day course will be held in Montgomery, Alabama. Last years, inaugural course took place in Memphis, Tennessee.
“Participants will be challenged to examine their own beliefs, including unconscious beliefs, and consider anti-racist theory with practice as potential antidotes to bias,” says Judge Benes Aldana, president of the NJC.
The course is designed to identify sources of personal and systemic bias in courtrooms and to create or facilitate effective interventions.
Successful participants in the class are expected to lead “impactful initiatives to identify and mitigate sources of bias in the legal system, according to Judge Gayle Williams Byers, a Fellow at the NJC.
The course curriculum includes history, experiential learning, cognitive science, and psychological and sociological research.
“Masking” is a term used for when people with commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs) get lenient treatment in our nation’s courts. This allows offenders to hide their traffic offenses and stay on our highways without retribution.
Masking, although too often commonplace, is actually a violation of federal law and prohibited and states could get in trouble if their judges do not comply, according to retired Judge Gayle Williams-Byers.
Too often, however, a person with a CDL may be cited for a traffic offense in his/her private vehicle. When the violator appears in court, they claim that they will lose their job if the offense is reported to a state Bureau of Motor Vehicles.
As a result, says Judge Byers, prosecutors and judges too often reduce the original charge to a minor offense that is not reportable to the state, or which does not carry any points against the offender’s license.
This masking process is prohibited yet in some places it is the norm. It is being opposed by the National Highway Safety Administration.
To promote compliance, Congress passed the Motor Carrier Safety Improvement Act of 1999 which requires the withholding of certain federal dollars from states who are not in compliance. Yet too many judges do not know that “masking” is illegal.
The National Judicial College and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration are teaming up to raise awareness and thus make our highways safer.
Before traveling to the Midwest, New Yorker Fran Lebowitz talked with Spectrum’s guest host Emily Votaw and share her views on life, mortality, friends and smartphones.
Lebowitz is a writer, humorist and intellectual. A child of the 1950’s, she shares her social criticism with wit, wisdom and a dose of sarcasm.
In 1978, her first book of essays “Metropolitan Life” was published followed by another book of essays in 1981 called “Social Studies.”
Since then, she has been a frequent talk show guest and public speaker due to her engaging banter and her sometimes skewed slant on the world and pop culture.
Lebowitz spoke with Votaw recently before a speaking engagement in Marietta, Ohio.
Local television newsrooms are often chaotic with breaking news and even routine stories spreading news crews and reporters across a wide geographic area.
All are gathering news for both digital distribution and broadcast purposes with multiple and constant deadlines.
Someone must coordinate this mayhem and that person in the tri-state area of S.W. Ohio is Ramsay Fulbright, the Assignment Desk Manager for WCPO 9 News. He daily is sending reporters and photographers to stories across Cincinnati, SW Ohio, Indiana, and northern Kentucky.
Once the news is gathered, Ramsay also leads a team of assignment editors who feed the news products to various producers of multiple local television news shows every day.
Experience pays off for Ramsay. Over the years, his news judgment has been honed by his time as a news photographer.
Prior to jumping to the assignment desk, Ramsay spent 11 years as either a photographer or the head photographer at stations in Arkansas, Tennessee, Arizona and at his home station of WCPO News 9 in Cincinnati.
He lives in a fast-paced professional world, but he relishes the challenges. He boasts that no two days are the same and that the variety makes his job fascinating.
Learn more as you listen to this edition of WOUB’s Spectrum Podcast with Tom Hodson.
In the third of our Spectrum Podcast series on the inner workings of local television news, Janelle Bass gives us insight on being a managing editor at an urban television station in Cleveland.
Bass not only manages the reporters at WEWS News 5, but she also heads an award-winning podcasting project at the station. It is part of local television’s entrée into all forms of digital media: print, social media, podcasting and video.
She says every day on the job presents different situations and new challenges. There is no time to be bored or to rest.
She compares her job to trying to organize chaos, especially on breaking-news days.
Earlier in her career, Bass served as a wedding planner in North Carolina. She admits that many of the skills she honed coping with couples about to get married are the human relations skills she now uses managing the newsroom staff.
As an African American woman in media management, Janelle also has encountered some special challenges over her career even though she has a communication degree from The Ohio State University and an MBA from Baldwin Wallace University.
Some employees have balked at taking direction from a woman who is also Black, according to Bass. She says that this prejudice, however, cannot get in the way of delivering the news.
She says when that happens, she reminds them of the job they must do first, and then, after the job is completed, they can discuss whatever gender or racial issues are bothering them.
This the second in a series of episodes of WOUB’s Spectrum podcast focusing on the importance of local television news in our news consumption.
Allison Herman is a young news director. She only graduated from journalism school at Ohio University in 2010 yet she has climbed the ranks quickly in the news busines.
Already in her brief career, she’s worked in Huntington-Charleston, West Virginia, Louisville, Indianapolis, and Raleigh-Durham until she landed at WTKR-News3 in Norfolk, Virginia in 2021.
About seven months ago, she was promoted to news director. In just a short time, she has changed the news coverage from leaning more towards soft news to a more hard-news format.
Allison endeavors to service a large sprawling geographic area taking in numerous cities along the Virginia coast. Her viewing area also includes the country’s largest naval base in Norfolk. The region is quite diverse, racially, and economically. It also includes urban and rural areas.
To meet the news needs of such a large and diverse footprint is a real challenge, according to Allison, but one that she happily embraces.
Hear how this young news director attacks her job every day and get a glimpse of what it’s like behind the scenes in a local new room.
Listen to how reporters, photographers, editors, directors, and producers work together to bring you the latest in local news.
A study conducted by Gallup and the Knight Foundation has found that local television news is trusted by more people than national news outlets.
The latest poll showed the gap between trust in local and national news has grown by three percentage points since Gallup/Knight’s findings on this measure in 2019.
“In 2021, Americans were 17 points more likely to say they trust reporting by local news organizations “a great deal” or “quite a lot” than to trust reporting by national news organizations,” the report said.
As a result, WOUB’s Spectrum podcast is doing a special series on the impacts of local news by talking with representatives of three television stations: WEWS TV in Cleveland, WCPO TV in Cincinnati and WKRT in Norfolk, Virginia.
We are trying to learn how local news stations operate, how they determine their content, and how they meet the needs of their audiences.
Our first guests are Joe Donatelli, digital director at WEWS and Mark Ackerman, Investigative Executive Producer at WEWS in Cleveland.
They discuss the need for strong investigative reporting on the local level as well as the demands of constantly changing and updating digital content.
We also learn of their individual career paths.
Donald Wiggins is an attorney and an advocate for prison reform, expanding voting rights, and restorative justice.
He is working to get prisoners the right to vote, not only in his home state of Ohio but across the nation.
If prisoners can vote, they will have a voice in bettering the conditions of the correctional institutions in which they are incarcerated, according to Wiggins.
He claims that most prisons are old and generally need major upgrades to correct what he calls deplorable conditions. He gives an example of an Ohio prison that has had brown and smelly water for prisoners to use because the system supplying water is antiquated.
Wiggins also presses for changes in the criminal justice system which would restore inmates to some dignity and help them upon their release to prevent recidivism.
Wiggins is currently in private law practice but continues his history of advocacy. Over his career, he has been associated with several political action groups.
Journalist, reporter, and morning news co-anchor Matt Barnes has found his career sweet spot in Columbus, Ohio.
It also just happens to be his hometown.
After graduating from the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University and leaving his four years of work at WOUB Public Media, Barnes, in 2008, was convinced his life work would be in sports broadcasting.
He headed to his first professional job in Augusta, Georgia at WRDW-TV where he covered local sports and the Master’s golf tournament.
In 2010, Matt returned to WCMH4 in Columbus as a sports reporter and anchor, a position he relished for 6 years.
Then an opportunity presented itself to change his broadcast focus. In 2016, Matt gave up the sports microphone and instead jumped to be the morning co-anchor of NBC4 Today.
He has been there for the past six years. When asked about whether he wants to move to a bigger market, Barnes shared that he already has turned down some notable offers but for now, he loves broadcasting in Columbus, the city he loves.
Barnes has become highly involved in civic and charitable projects and in 2020 was named Ohio Big Brother of the Year.
Barnes shares with WOUB’s Spectrum Podcast some of the ups and downs of his career and what it’s like to be a young black male in today’s broadcast industry.
Hidden in the archives of the Library of Congress were two memoirs of an American reporter, Herbert Corey who covered the World War I from its start in 1914 up through the Paris Peace Conference in 1919-1920.
He was the American reporter who covered the war the longest, from a full three-years before participation by the United States.
The memoirs were discovered by two authors, historians and journalists, John M. Hamilton, and Peter Finn.
They decided to edit the memoirs, annotate them with notes and footnotes and put the memoirs in perspective for a 21st Century audience.
Herbert Corey’s Great War: A memoir of WWI by the American Who Saw if All was released in June 2022 by the LSU Press.
It contains first-hand accounts of Corey’s adventures covering both sides of the war from the German frontlines to the trenches of the allies. He covered the angst and travails of the foot-soldiers and the war lives of non-combatants.
He viewed the war from nine European countries as he traveled for the Associated Newspaper chain.
Corey’s memoir reflects the many obstacles that reporters faced in covering WWI, especially censorship from the Allies.
He also was a keen observer of misinformation campaigns by the British and others to urge the Americans to get involved in the war.
John M. Hamilton is the Breazeale Professor of Journalism in the Manship School of Communication at LSU. He also is a Global Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C., and an award-winning author.
While surveys show that many people are regretting getting degrees in journalism and communication, Meryl Gottlieb, Senior Partner Manager, Business Development at Insider believes just the opposite.
She says that the diversity of media and multiple and innovative ways to tell stories has never made journalism more diverse and open to creativity.
Gottlieb, a 2016 graduate of the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University, is excited about new delivery systems for stories and completely new formats that are on the horizon for storytelling.
Although the media landscape is changing so quickly, she finds that the rapidity of change to be both challenging and exhilarating.
Gottlieb recently was the first speaker at Ohio University’s Scripps College of Communication in the Joe Berman Lecture Series on the Future of Media.
She talked with nearly 300 students, faculty, and staff about the “power of the pivot.” She says that to survive and thrive in the media world, one must be able to change course quickly and embrace new and sometimes untraditional methods of storytelling.
Gottlieb claims that to be successful in today’s media world that one must be flexible and be able to quickly adapt to new delivery systems.
That adaptability has been evident in her career as she has gone from an intern at Insider to a senior partner manager in just six short years. She also was one of the leaders of Insider’s social media distribution.
Beverly Jones is an executive coach, author, attorney, and host of WOUB’s popular podcast “Jazzed About Work.”
Jones also is a long-time veteran of fighting for women’s rights since the 1960’s.
She talks with WOUB’s Spectrum Podcast host Tom Hodson about today’s conditions facing women, especially since the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent anti-abortion ruling.
She also discusses whether advocacy strategies employed by women and feminists in the 1960’s and 1970’s are still applicable today or whether technology and social media have changed the way advocacy must be conducted.
They also chat about what comes next in the fight for women’s rights and the rights of various minority groups in this country.
Jones spent the bulk of her professional career as an attorney in Washington, D.C. and since leaving her practice, she has concentrated on career counseling and executive coaching.
She also is the author of two books: Find Your Happy at Work: 50 Ways to Get Unstuck, Move Past Boredom, and Discover Fulfillment and Find Your Happy at Work: 50 Ways to Get Unstuck, Move Past Boredom, and Discover Fulfillment
In this episode of the Spectrum Podcast, Walt Bogdanich, a three-time Pulitzer Prize winning reporter, emphasizes the importance of investigative reporting while explaining his new book: When McKinsey Comes to Town: The Hidden Influence of the World’s Most Powerful Consulting Firm.
Bogdanich and his co-author Michael Forsythe have unveiled the secrets behind one of the world’s most powerful consulting firms, McKinsey and Company. They show how the firms tentacles ensnare and entangle almost all aspects of American life from our largest cities to our smallest town.
For example, the firm has worked with companies to promote opioids while at the same time representing the Food and Drug Administration assigned to regulate the industry.
McKinsey also represented cigarette manufacturers long after cigarettes were targeted as a major health hazard.
Until Bogdanich and Forsythe started digging, the company had been cloaked in secrecy since its inception in 1926. No one knew the firm’s clients or their fees until these investigative reporters started peeling back the layers of secrecy.
In the interview, Bogdanich also touts the need for good investigative reporting in the 21st century. He notes that with all the social media and political news silos, investigative reporting is more important than ever to look deeply and factually into issues.
Bogdanich, now with the New York Times, won his first Pulitzer in 1988 while at the Wall Street Journal for a series about substandard medical laboratories.
His second was for the Times in 2005 for a series about the safety record of American Railroads called “Death on the Tracks.”
His most recent Pulitzer was in 2008 called “Toxic Pipeline,” a series about dangerous pharmaceutical ingredients coming into American from China.
Marlon Primes served more than 30 years as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Northern District of Ohio before recently joining the law firm of Brennan Manna Diamond handling complex civil litigation.
Primes has risen to the heights of the legal profession while at the same time, giving back to his community.
He stresses the importance of the rule of law in a democracy and orderly society. He notes that no one should be above the law. His sterling legal career reflects that dedication.
He has been active in both work for the legal profession and community improvement work.
Primes is the Past President of the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association ("CMBA"). It is one of the largest associations of lawyers and judges in Ohio. He was the first African American attorney to serve as president of the CMBA and the first government attorney to do so.
He also served as national Vice President of the National Bar Association, which is the nation’s oldest and largest association of African American lawyers and judges.
Primes also was the Chairman of the Litigation Section of the Ohio State Bar Association and has spent countless hours educating young lawyers and K-12 students on the importance of the law.
In 2020, he received the first ever Craig Tame Award for Excellence in Community Outreach based in part on his teaching of high school students about both rights and responsibilities under the U. S. Constitution.
In 2022, he was named one of Crain’s Cleveland “People on the Move.”
He received his undergraduate degree from the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University and his law degree from Georgetown University Law Center.
The Rust Belt of the Midwest is transitioning to the Tech Belt of the heartland and that story is being told by author, CNBC contributor, and media entrepreneur Rebecca Fannin.
Her latest book, “Silicon Heartland” paints the picture of “fly-over country” emerging from the depression of the collapsing Rust Belt industries to a new entrepreneurial spirit with high-tech companies.
Fannin views this transition with a seasoned journalistic eye. Her career has spanned from New York to Silicon Valley to Asia.
She has been a guest on the BBC, Fox News, and NPR. Her writing has ranged from three previous books to articles for the Harvard Business Review, Inc., Fast Company, and Forbes.
She also has been a guest speaker at Harvard, Yale, Oxford, the Brookings Institution, and the Asia Society.
During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Fannin explored her homeland, the Midwest. She tells the story of Midwestern rebirth that everyone else has ignored.
Hear her talk about her journeys and the many interviews she had with people trying to rebuild with high technology concepts.
Chris Witherspoon has become a powerful entertainment journalist who has interviewed top-level celebrities throughout his career.
He also appears as a regular on MSNBC, the TODAY show, the Wendy Williams Show, and NBC’s Nightly News giving his insights on entertainment news.
But his latest project shows his entrepreneurial side. He has created PopViewers, a website and an app.
According to its website, https://popviewers.com/, “PopViewers is the platform that helps you find what to watch next, invites you to react to the TV shows and movies you’ve watched, and encourages you to share the experience with fellow content-lovers.”
Witherspoon’s intent is to give the common person a voice in content creation and the direction of entertainment media…just like the established critics. PopViewers democratizes public opinion about media content.
He also wants to give a forum for diverse voices to be heard about media produced by major media companies and register those diverse opinions.
You can see more about PopViewers on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.
Guest host Emily Votaw talks to Witherspoon about his career and his projects.
Philip Elliott, Washington Correspondent for TIME, says the mid-term elections have become a toss-up as to whether the Democrats will lose power in both the House and the Senate.
He explains that across the nation surprise Democratic wins in special elections, the rise in President Joseph Biden’s popularity, and the abortion issue have turned the tides from a sure Republican victory in November to races that have become much closer.
Elliott, the author of TIME’s newsletter “The D.C. Brief”, spent August traveling the country to feel the pulse of real voters in the heartland. Two issues stood out above all others, he says.
The reversal of Roe v. Wade has put abortion front and center as the primary issue followed closely by people fearing for democracy and the stability of our country.
Elliott notes that the abortion issue is expected to bring Republican, Independent, and Democratic voters to the polls to express anger over women’s reproductive rights being eroded.
He also noted that other groups fear future curtailment of rights such as interracial marriage, same-sex marriage, minority rights and voting rights for minority groups. He says these fears are expected to bring people out to vote.
Elliott also notes that there are some fringe Republican candidates in important races especially for the Senate. These candidates have been hand-picked by former President Donald Trump. Elliott notes that it may give Democrats an advantage in swing states like Ohio, Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Arizona.
However, he expects all races to tighten between now and election day in November and that any of the hotly contested Senate races could flip Republican at the last minute.
You may subscribe to “The D.C. Brief” for free and it will be delivered to you via email. https://time.com/tag/the-dc-brief/
A new limited podcast series has been released by WOUB Public Media. “Who Lies Beneath: The Asylum” tells the true-life stories of people who were buried in numbered graves at an abandoned mental health facility.
Host and creator Cheri Russo describes to Spectrum host Tom Hodson how she and a team of experts identified those buried in certain graves and fleshed out their lives through the help of voice actors.
It is her hope to bring dignity and respect to those who were abandoned by their families and reduced to numbers upon their deaths at what was once called a “Lunatic Asylum.”
She talks about how women were often institutionalized and abandoned for problems like postpartum depression and other childbearing issues.
Men, who were veterans, were often put in the asylum for what we now call post-traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD).
Through the help of a library archivist, a medical historian, a counsellor and others, the lives and situations of these individuals have been reconstructed.
It is the desire of Russo to expand this series to help people across the nation bring recognition to forgotten loved ones. If you would like to share your story with the Who Lies Beneath team, please email: wholiesbeneath@woub.org.
A recent Washington Post-Ipsos poll conducted after the killing of 10 blacks in Buffalo in a racially motivated shooting spree indicates that 75 percent of Black Americans “are worried that they or someone they love will be attacked because of their race.”
In addition, after the attack, “only 10 percent think the problem of racism will improve in their lifetime, while a 53 majority think it will get worse.”
The Poll also found that a “70 percent majority of Black Americans think at least half of White Americans hold white supremacist beliefs” and 75 percent say, “white supremacists are a major threat to Black Americans.”
Such is the state of race relations in America.
Considering this rise in racism, racial violence, and escalating fear, WOUB’s Spectrum Podcast reached out to two Black women professionals to get their unique perspectives.
We talked with Dr. Janice Collins, an author, scholar, teacher, and journalist. Dr. Collins is the author of “250 Years and Still A Slave.” She also is a multicultural humanitarian.
Also joining the conversation is Judge Gayle Williams Byers of the South Euclid Ohio Municipal Court. Judge Byers also is a Judicial Fellow at the National Judicial College and is president-elect of the American Judges Association.
They outline the rise of racism in America, the dangers of those espousing “replacement theory” and the growing fear of Black Americans. They also discuss the role of media in promoting dangerous conspiracy theories.
The terms “comic storytelling” and “journalism” may sound a bit discordant to the average news consumer.
Yet, “comic storytelling in journalism” is rapidly becoming a growing trend to get younger eyes on the news products of mainstream media. It is the marriage of drawn images and text to tell serious stories in a series of drawn panels similar to a comic strip.
Hannah Good and Rachel Orr of the “Washington Post” are strong proponents and practitioners of this form of journalistic storytelling.
Good is a journalist and a comic artist and Orr is art director and comics editor. Good curates Gender and Identity coverage and Orr leads the visual identity and social strategy for Gender and Identity.
Currently, they help contributors tell their personal stories through graphic images and text in 10 panels.
Good and Orr also are working with other groups at the “Washington Post” to expand this graphic form of storytelling to other topics.
This form of storytelling brings younger eyes to news products. It attracts people who are drawn to visual images more than linear narrative reporting.
Good is a graduate of Western Kentucky University and formerly was the social media producer at the “Washingtonian Magazine” before joining the Post. She also has worked for HaperCollins Publishers, Apple TV+ and Barnes and Noble as an illustrator.
Orr is a graduate of the Ohio University School of Visual Communication majoring in graphics and publication design with a specialization in magazine journalism. She worked at the “Arizona Republic” before joining the Post in 2013.
Veteran comedian Lewis Black is on the road with his “Off the Rails” tour.
While traveling, he took some time to have a conversation with Spectrum’s guest host Emily Votaw of WOUB.
They talked about his philosophy of comedy, the importance of education in our society and his work with the Kurt Vonnegut Library and Museum.
Even though he is known for his outrageous ranting humor on stage, he also professed some cautious optimism that the human condition can improve.
He will perform in Cincinnati at the Taft Theater on April 21 and in Akron at the Goodyear Theater on April 22.
Given the current controversy over the incident between Will Smith and Chris Rock at the Oscars, WOUB’s Spectrum Podcast wanted to get the perspectives on the issue from two notable black women.
Recently, we met with journalist, scholar, and author Dr. Janice Collins and path-setting jurist Judge Gayle Williams Byers for their perspectives
They examine the issue from multiple aspects including race.
The two women have a wide-ranging conversation on topics from role modeling to the impact on the public perception of black men and violence.
They share opinions that have been given to them from both black men and women about the incident including the impact this incident may have on black children.
Dr. Collins and Judge Byers also note the disparaging treatment given to Smith by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and note how different it was from past white men like director Roman Polanski and movie mogul Harvey Weinstein.
Ken Burns has been a documentary filmmaker for 45 years and his latest series is a four-hour PBS special about Benjamin Franklin airing on PBS Stations April 4 and 5.
He discusses, with guest host Emily Votaw, the complexities and brilliance of Franklin and the many different venues in which he excelled. Some call Franklin a genius of his age.
Burns describes how he traverses the complexities and nuances of history for his films and how he ferrets out stories and facts previously untold.
Burns also explains how he has given voices, in his films, to marginalized groups of people and tells historic stories often through the eyes and emotions of “ordinary people” and not just major historical figures.
Policymakers, leaders, and corporate heads need to look at the world through a “population lens,” according to Dr. Jennifer Sciubba, an international expert on political demography and demographic security.
Sciubba is an author, associate professor at Rhodes College and a Global Fellow at the Wilson Center in Washington, D.C.
Her latest book, is “8 Billion and Counting: How Sex, Death, and Migration Shape the World.” In it, she differentiates between the 20th Century which was a century of population growth and the 21st Century which is a century of differential growth.
She claims in the first two decades of this century we have a rising differential in populations with undeveloped countries with poorer populations growing much faster than aging developed countries.
Sciubba states that 98 percent of the world’s population growth is now centered in underdeveloped countries causing an even greater disparity between the economic haves and have-nots of the world.
She thinks leaders should view these growth differentials not only as potential problems but as potential opportunities.
Sciubba also talks about the impact of mass migrations of populations. She cites the current example of millions of refugees fleeing Ukraine. This, she forecasts, will have a major impact on Ukraine and neighboring nations for generations to come.
She also thinks that some demographers misread the true threat of Russia by previously characterizing it as an aging country with high male death rates and therefore a weakened former power.
This translated, according to Sciubba, in the United States and other world powers underestimating the war capabilities and the aggression of Russia.
Since the Supreme Court of the United States eliminated much of the 1960’s Voting Rights Act in 2013, many states have added restrictions to voting and some are considered draconian.
This is especially true after the 2020 Presidential Election and former President Donald Trump and his followers spreading theories that he really won the election, according to Dr. Katherine Jellison, an award-winning history professor and author at Ohio University.
Most changes impact women more than men, says Dr. Jellison.
Although states like Georgia, Texas, and Florida have led the way in massive changes restricting a person’s opportunities to vote, other states have been eroding those rights as well.
Dr. Jellison says “Voter ID” requirements may seem, at first blush, innocuous. However, they discriminate against women who have changed their names because of marriage and discriminate against the elderly and certain minority groups who might not have drivers’ licenses.
Also, she asserts that limiting hours of voting and cutting back on the ability to vote by mail also impact women who are generally working long hours at a job and then working equally long hours being a mother, wife, and caretaker of most homes.
Cutting the number of polling places also leads to extremely long lines for people to vote, according to Dr. Jellison. This impacts women, primarily, who are trying to manage childcare while trying to exercise their constitutional right to vote.
The only way to counteract these new restrictions is massive public awareness and a refusal of being denied a chance to vote. She cites the public awareness campaign in Georgia as a good example.
Dr. Jellison, besides being a history professor, also is the Director of the Central Region Humanities Center.
While other news media are fading in popularity, local television news programming is gaining popularity across the country.
Newspaper staffs have been gutted and cable and network news have been staggering but local news is hiring more people and is becoming more popular than ever, according to Lesley Van Ness, Director of Talent Acquisition at Gray Television.
Gray television currently owns 113 local television stations across the country including WOIO Television in Cleveland, OH.
Ian Rubin, TV and Digital News Director at WOIO, says audiences are demanding more out of local television news than in the past. They want faster news that is multi-platformed and available on mobile devices in an instant.
The assertions of Van Ness and Rubin are supported by the latest findings by the Pew Research Center. Local television stations in 2020 dedicated 6.2 hours of local news coverage in a day, according to Pew. This was an increase from 2019.
Staffing for local television news operations also have increased while we’ve seen the numbers for newspapers plummet, says Pew.
However, reporters for local stations now must have a greater mix of skills than in the past, says Van Ness. They must be technologically sound as well as journalistically savvy.
New hires need to know how to tell stories in multiple ways on a variety of different delivery platforms, says Rubin.
He also adds that if a young journalist also is fluent in Spanish that it is a real plus in the marketplace.
In just over a decade, America will face a shortage of up to 124,000 doctors and 200,000 nurses will need to be hired each year, according to the American Hospital Association.
Overall, there will be a 3.2 million shortage of healthcare workers by 2026, according to a white paper presented by https://www.mercer.com/.
Some of this is attributable to “COVID burnout” by healthcare workers but we also are facing a crisis of both our population getting older and healthcare workers quitting the profession, says Dr. Kenneth Johnson.
Dr. Johnson is the Dean of the Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine and chief medical officer at Ohio University. Dr. Johnson also serves as chair of the Ohio Council of Medical School Deans.
Dr. Johnson says we have known about this looming crisis for years but as a country, we have failed to adequately address it.
COVID also has exacerbated this situation. Some 30 percent of healthcare workers are considering leaving the profession and almost 60 percent have reported impacts to their mental health because of work during the pandemic, according to a Washington Post-Kaiser Family Foundation Survey
One reason for a shortage of doctors is that most doctors’ residencies in hospitals are funded by Medicare and about 25 years ago, Congress capped the number of residencies as a cost-cutting measure. Congress has failed to agree to remove the cap.
Dr. Johnson also says that there is a paucity of faculty members to teach new medical personnel, especially in nursing fields. The American Association of Colleges of Nursing says that 80,000 qualified nursing applicants were turned away in 2019 due to lack of qualified faculty, clinical sites, classroom space and other budget constraints.
Dr. Johnson explains to Spectrum host Tom Hodson what needs to be done to quell this crisis.
Author, career counselor, podcast host and executive coach Beverly Jones explains to WOUB’s Spectrum Podcast how we can chase away the “Winter Blues” and shake ourselves out of those “February Doldrums” at work.
She gives us tips on how we can improve of emotional, spiritual, and physical wellbeing during these dull days of isolation from weather and the COVID pandemic.
She outlines concrete steps for us to improve your purpose, your people skills, and your performance.
Jones is a strong proponent of us “checking-in” with our state of wellbeing and making appropriate adjustments. Those adjustments may be becoming more physically active or learning something new to stimulate your brain.
She also stresses that we need to create a list of positive people in our lives and start reaching out to them. Personal contact through emails, texts, letters, or digital chat is important to stay connected and to combat our sense of isolation.
Jones’ most recent book is “Find Your Happy at Work: 50 Ways to get unstuck, move passed boredom and discover fulfillment.”
She also is host of the popular WOUB podcast, Jazzed About Work, where she tackles, along with her guests, major issues involving careers and jobs.
Dr. Janice Marie Collins is an author, journalist, documentarian, educator, and humanitarian.
Her most recent book is Teaching Without Borders: Creating Equity, and Inclusion with Active Centralized Empowerment (ACE).
She also authored, 250 Years and Still a Slave.
Dr. Collins says that people, and especially students, can feel marginalized, trapped, and enslaved through lack of diversity, inclusion, and empowerment.
She is a strong advocate for giving students power and opportunities in the classroom and providing students a fair chance to maximize their talents and potentials without demonizing them.
In this episode, Dr. Collins gives numerous examples of how ACE works and succeeds.
In addition to her education advocacy, she has won a journalism award for her student-based website: hearmyvoiceonline.com. It gives an outlet to many and varied student perspectives.
Dr. Collins is currently president of World Changers Media International Foundation. (WCMIF).
“WCMIF is a non-profit foundation that is in the transformational business of creating, discovering and promoting platforms, stories and voices to help change the world into a kinder, gentler, more educated, inclusive and empowering one,” says Dr. Collins.
She can be contacted on Instagram at @drjaic, on Facebook at “Active Centralized Empowerment with Dr. Janice Marie Collins,” on Twitter @janicemcollins and on LinkeIn at “Janice Marie Collins, Ph.D.”
Author, food journalist, content creator and social media celebrity Katie Quinn just finished her first personal book tour in the United States to promote her book “Cheese, Wine, and Bread: Discovering The Magic of Fermentation in England, Italy, and France.”
She recently spent time in Manhattan and made some personal appearances in the Midwest before heading back to her current home in Italy. This was her first time to promote her book in person in America since it was published by Harper Collins/William Morrow in April of 2021.
Her book, which was three years in the making, has garnered outstanding reviews from a wide variety of publications such as The Wall Street Journal and Real Simple Magazine. It is touted as one of the top cookbooks of 2021.
The book is a combination of personal stories, observations, personality profiles, scientific facts, and recipes. It is a narrative cookbook with stunning photography and illustrations that leap off the pages.
While visiting Ohio, Katie stopped by the WOUB studios to give our Spectrum Podcast a taste of her book, update us on its success, and share with us some holiday recipes that might be fun for the whole family to make.
We talk about her career, her writing, the success of her “QKatie” YouTube channel and her passion for both storytelling and food.
She also discusses some of the difficulties in trying to promote a book through American media while residing in Italy. She shares some of her humorous and fretful moments of being on live television from her small kitchen in Europe.
Earl Johnson trained as a pastor at Yale’s Divinity School, worked for anthropologist Margaret Mead in African and observed firsthand violence in London and in Jerusalem.
He then returned to a church in Columbia, Missouri but was restless. He then made major life decisions. He took a sabbatical from his church, came out as a gay man, and moved to New York City.
While in New York, he was discovered by agents, and he became a world-renowned model for high-end men’s clothing designers in Europe and the United States. He toured the globe.
However, he felt that he wanted to do more, so he gave up modeling and trained as a hospital chaplain. In the mid- 1990’s, he worked at New York’s Cabrini Medical Center and gave comfort to dying AIDS patients, their partners, and families.
In 2001, he moved to Washington D.C. to become a hospital chaplain and on his second day of work, he was inundated with victims and families from the 9/11 attack on the Pentagon.
Johnson had so much experience comforting the hurt and bereaved that he was recruited by the American Red Cross to create its crisis response teams. He managed those teams for a decade through some our nation’s greatest tragedies.
Now, Johnson has put his decades of experience into a new book, “Finding Comfort During Hard Times: A Guide to Healing after Disease, Violence and Other Community Traumas.” The book helps readers discover ways to find comfort even through the most trying of life’s circumstances.
Johnson talks with WOUB’s Spectrum Podcast about his life, his career, and the book in this new episode. His advice is perfect for those who may be suffering during this Holiday period.
Joe Nuxhall was a famous pitcher for the Cincinnati Reds. He also was a highly popular broadcaster for the club for over four decades.
Radio fans loved him for his colorful stories about his career and the game he loved.
He was the youngest pitcher ever to pitch in a major league game at age 15, toiled in the minors, and then became a stalwart part of the Reds’ pitching staff.
Later, he remained batting practice pitcher while holding his place in the broadcast booth.
All the time he was collecting stories of baseball, life, and broadcasting.
Those stories have been compiled and shared in a new book, “Joe Nuxhall: The Old Lefthander & Me”, written by author, journalist, and long-time media critic John Kiesewetter.
You don’t have to be a baseball fan to like the book, according to Kiesewetter.
Many of the stories share conversations about life in general and being a sports broadcaster.
Nuxhall was beloved by his teammates, his broadcast colleagues, and Reds’ fans.
He also was beloved by his hometown Hamilton, Ohio where he resided until his death in 2007.
Listen as Kiesewetter shares some of the stories with us and talks about his book.
Former President Donald Trump’s power over the GOP is not waning, instead it is growing stronger.
Trump’s influence surges as Democrats and President Joseph Biden tries to find ways to push their agenda through a gridlocked Congress, according to Philip Elliott, Washington correspondent for TIME and author of TIME’s weekday newsletter “The D.C. Brief”.
Elliott tries to unravel some of the current Congressional complexities and make them understandable.
He also charts what we might expect before the end of the year as the government struggles with legislation to increase its debt ceiling.
Elliott paints a rather dire picture for Democrats approaching the mid-term elections in 2022 and gives us insight on the Georgia gubernatorial Republican primary and the monumental general election upcoming.
He describes the disconnect that often appears between average Americans, working to support families, and the machinations of politicians of both parties in Washington.
Elliott predicts, however, that Democrats will be rolling out major messaging events in 2022 to try to convince people of the advantages they will receive from Biden’s Build Back America efforts across the country.
As a veteran Washington correspondent, Elliott gives us clear, non-partisan analysis from a seasoned perspective.
Judge Gayle Williams Byers, a black female judge in Northeastern Ohio, and Tom Hodson, Spectrum host and legal analyst, break down the impact of the Kyle Rittenhouse acquittals on the judicial system, on the black community and on the future of peaceful protest.
While both respect the sanctity of the jury’s verdicts, they highlight advantages in the trial process that were given to Rittenhouse. They discuss the judge’s behavior and some of his rulings along with the inherent racism and white privilege that permeate our judicial process across the country.
Judge Byers states that if Rittenhouse had been black that the verdicts would probably be much different, and he would have been convicted instead of released.
She recounts the fear that these verdicts have caused black parents who worry about their children and their relationships with both police and militia-type people armed with high powered weapons.
Hodson expresses concerns that the verdicts will weaponize people who are anti-peaceful protests and put future protestors at risk for violent retribution.
Both claim that the verdicts and the weaponization of anti-protestors will result in a “chilling effect” on free speech and the constitutional right to peacefully protest.
Judge Byers and Hodson both express fear that Rittenhouse will become the new “poster boy” for the alt-right and militaristic fascist groups in the country and that violence will increase, as a result.
While many of us have been mired in malaise about our careers during the COVID-19 pandemic, executive coach, career consultant and author Beverly Jones tells us how we can “Find our Happy at Work” in a new book that helps us get unstuck, move past boredom, and discover fulfillment.
Jones, in short pithy chapters, lays out 50 ways to turn your tedium into active steps to take control of your emotions and actions and to make work much more enjoyable and less dreary.
She says if you hate your job and want a change, that the starting point is with you and motivating yourself to transcend past bad habits and create good new ones.
She is a strong proponent of self-care and mindfulness to help alter one’s attitudes in positive ways.
In her book, Jones suggests concrete ways to improve your work habits to give you more joy and job satisfaction
She also prompts people to not stay isolated and gives tips on how one can continue networking even during periods of physical seclusion.
This is Jones’ second book. Her first was “Think Like and Entrepreneur and Act Like a CEO.”
Jones also is the host and producer of a highly popular podcast “Jazzed About Work.” It is available through Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Podcasts or at NPR One. It also is available through the NPR Podcast Directory: https://www.npr.org/podcasts/524588388/jazzed-about-work
Carolyn Bailey Lewis is a woman who has been determined to always push herself and to set new standards throughout her career. She has been a pioneer in her field, but it hasn’t been easy.
While forging her path, as a black woman, Carolyn has had to fight battles against racism, bigotry, and prejudice as well as sexism.
Coming from the small town of Bluefield, West Virginia where she attended segregated schools and lived in a segregated neighborhood, Carolyn became the only black woman in her class of journalism students at West Virginia University.
Being able to adapt to a “white world” and function as the only person of color took great strength, will, and dexterity.
In 1971, Carolyn became the first black woman to graduate from the Perley I Reed School of Journalism, now the Reed College of Media at West Virginia University.
She continued her trailblazing in 1993 when she became the first African American woman named to manage a full-service public television station in the continental United States at WNPB-TV in Morgantown.
In 1997, she became the Director and General Manager of WOUB Public Media at Ohio University, where she stayed until her retirement.
That same year she also became an ordained minister.
During her 14 years at WOUB, Carolyn rose nationally in the ranks of public broadcasting. She was a member of the Board of Trustees of the Association of Public Television Stations (APTS), a member of the Board of Directors of the National Education Telecommunications Association (NETA) and Chair of the PBS Advertising and Promotion Advisory Committee.
But she wasn’t finished. Against all odds and while confined to a wheelchair, she received her Doctor of Philosophy degree in Communications Studies – 36 years after her undergraduate degree from WVU.
Most recently, she received the 2020 Medal of Merit for Professional Achievement from Ohio University.
Currently, in her retirement Carolyn has authored a book, is the co-founder and chairman of the Dr. Carolyn Foster Bailey Lewis Family Foundation and is the co-founder and CEO of LifeDay Greeting Cards, Inc.
Her LifeDay cards celebrate surviving a major life-altering event or monumental moment in life.
The Republican Party has morphed from one in chaos shortly after President Joseph Biden’s inauguration to one that is now firmly under the thumb of former President Donald J. Trump.
Loose ends are being roped in by the former President and the GOP is now firmly in Trump’s hands, says Philip Elliott, Time Washington correspondent and author of TIME’s weekday newsletter “D.C. Brief.”
Elliott believes that efforts by Trump devotees to limit voting access in many states, along with redistricting of Congressional districts after the 2020 census give the GOP the distinct advantage to gain seats in the House and the Senate in the 2022 midterm elections.
Add to that mix, Trump is still promoting the falsehood that his Presidency was stolen from him through election chicanery. This whips up and perhaps expands his base, Elliott notes.
This promise of regaining control of the legislative branch for the last two years of President Biden’s term is enough to keep, even anti-Trump Republicans in line through the midterms, Elliott adds.
All these factors lead to the conclusion the Trump is still in control and will be leading the GOP, at least through 2022 and most likely right up to the 2024 Presidential race.
Katie Quinn, sometimes known as qkatie to her millions of follows, has written a new book that was over 3.5 years in the making: “Cheese, Wine and Bread: Discovering the Magic of Fermentation in England, Italy and France.”
She studied the role of fermentation in the trio of staples of life: cheese, wine and bread as she worked in and studied all three industries in three different countries.
The book is a combination of personal stories, personality profiles of people she encountered and recipes. Mix in some scientific facts about fermentation and you have a book that is delightful but difficult to characterize.
It is part memoir and part travelogue, with huge doses of riveting storytelling and amazing photographs and illustrations.
Quinn also told WOUB’s Spectrum podcast about her rise from small town girl in Athens, Ohio to being a page at NBC in New York City and how that experience allowed her to learn from some of America’s greatest food personalities.
She talked about her rise in New York broadcasting but then her shift to attend the Le Cordon Bleu in Paris to become a chef.
Quin also tells us the story behind her “QKatie” YouTube channel with over 50,000 subscribers and her current life in Italy.
She also has a podcast called “Keep It Quirky,” her catchphrase for not being mundane or boring and she has a new podcast collaboration on the horizon
Dr. George Wood is an educator, a former school administrator, a writer, and a podcaster. He also is a resident of small town Amesville, Ohio.
Just before the onslaught of the COVID-19 pandemic, he retired from a lifetime in education, and he found himself restless and looking for something meaningful to do.
After conversations with his wife, he took off on a two-month 7,500 trip through the Midwest. He started his journey as a trout fishing trip but ended up spending much more time talking to people in the small towns that he visited.
He had two rules…he would not eat in a national chain restaurant and he would avoid driving on Interstates as much as possible.
Therefore, he spent his time on the backroads of the Midwest, eating in small town diners, and talking with fascinating people.
At night, he would go back to his small travel trailer and write about the conversations that he had and about the pride people took in their hometowns.
When he meandered back to Ohio, he started writing stories about these small forgotten towns and the interesting people who inhabit them.
He joined with two colleagues and turned the stories into a new podcast called “Positively No Outlet.”
He describes the podcast as: “Stories from Unplugged America - Our goal is to bring you stories from rural America — from the fly-over places that are far from the hot light of the national media. Stories of ordinary people doing ordinary and sometimes extraordinary things.”
Dr. Wood has now embarked on more trips. This time to the South. He hopes to continue his small-town storytelling and even expanding his podcast’s breadth.
Currently, you may find “Positively No Outlet” on one of your favorites podcast outlets.
As the trial of Derek Chauvin for George Floyd’s death comes to its conclusion this week, against a backdrop of additional police violence, many African Americans still feel the trauma of police violence.
While the trial of police officer Chauvin has moved forward, at least, two other people of color have been gunned down by police. Duante Wright in Minnesota and a 13 year-old Latino Adam Toledo in Chicago.
The other cases amp up even higher the desires in the Black Community for guilty verdicts in the Chauvin case, says Gayle Williams-Beyers, the first black judge of the South Euclid Ohio Municipal Court.
On this episode of WOUB’s Spectrum podcast, Judge Byers and host and former judge Tom Hodson break down the Chauvin trial. They examine prosecution strategies and defense positions in terms that non-lawyers can understand.
They discuss the importance of this trial and the anticipated verdicts on the future of policing and race relations.
Judge Byers also expresses the frustrations she feels that while one trial is transpiring, other incidents of police violence keep happening.
She also notes that the Chauvin trial has prompted a form of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in many African Americans. She says it has been like reliving the horror of George Floyd’s and other deaths all over again.
She says it has caused major anxiety in black families – especially those that have young black sons. Mothers fear for their sons’ safety and fear that old precautions no longer can prevent unwarranted police attacks.
Conspiracy theories have grown and continue to multiply as newsrooms downsize and more people rely on social media to fill the void.
This is the belief of Dr. Michael Bugeja, distinguished professor of liberal arts and sciences at the Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication at Iowa State University.
“Journalism is not dead but on life support. Social media dominates civic, political and familial debate, offering snap judgments to affinity groups,” Bugeja adds in a recent commentary.
Bugeja, an author, scholar, ethicist and journalist, lays much of the blame on the rise in conspiracy theories, at the feet of a news industry that has lost its way.
As use of social media as a news source has risen, the reliance on mainstream balanced journalism has plummeted, according to Bugeja.
In a recent commentary for “Poynter,” a journalism think-tank, Bugeja said: “…conspiracy theories have less to do with breakdowns in social machinery, weaponized politics or reason vs. intuition. Polarization materialized as millions of Americans googled answers from affinity groups, increasing screen time while mainstream media downsized newsrooms.”
As newsrooms have cut back reporting staffs, the need to fill a 24-hour news cycle has increased. However, mainstream media cannot fill the void. So, instead, it is filled by bloggers, social media and affinity groups pushing wild theories.
Newsrooms need to hire more reporters, editors and producers, according to Bugeja, and more clearly delineate their content as objective reporting versus analysis.
He also says that we should require courses in “media and technology literacy” in our schools and he is a strong proponent of non-profit localized news models to supplement mainstream media.
He concludes his Poynter commentary by saying: “We must replenish newsrooms, create more nonprofit outlets and require social media payouts, or conspiracies will continue, eroding what is left of democracy and the public’s ability to differentiate between fact and factoid.”Conspiracy theories have grown and continue to multiply as newsrooms downsize and more people rely on social media to fill the void.
This is the belief of Dr. Michael Bugeja, distinguished professor of liberal arts and sciences at the Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication at Iowa State University.
“Journalism is not dead but on life support. Social media dominates civic, political and familial debate, offering snap judgments to affinity groups,” Bugeja adds in a recent commentary.
Bugeja, an author, scholar, ethicist and journalist, lays much of the blame on the rise in conspiracy theories, at the feet of a news industry that has lost its way.
As use of social media as a news source has risen, the reliance on mainstream balanced journalism has plummeted, according to Bugeja.
The Biden Administration has targeted climate change as a priority in its first 100 days. It is unraveling four years of President Donald Trump’s deregulation and laisse-faire attitude toward the environment.
Rarely have we seen so much change so quickly, says Dr. Geoffrey Dabelko, professor and associate dean at the Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Policy at Ohio University and senior advisor on “climate issues” at the Wilson Center in Washington, D.C.
President Joseph Biden has made sweeping changes across administrative fields, according to Dabelko. Biden is appointing key cabinet members who promote tackling climate change problems, and the appointment of former Sec. of State John Kerry as a White House coordinator of climate change policies is significant.
Biden is seeking a more integrated approach to tackling climate change issues. He is even including the State Department and major financial institutions in his battle, Dabelko notes.
Although there have been far-reaching changes in the country’s climate change policies in the first 100 days of Biden’s presidency, Dabelko sees potential battles on the horizon.
Biden may confront skirmishes even within his own political party as “Progressive Democrats” push him to do more than “Moderate Democrats” find desirable.
Biden also will face staunch opposition from House and Senate Republicans.
This opposition may spark further debate about eliminating the “Filibuster Rule” in the Senate that requires 60% of the Senators to stop a filibuster and bring a matter to the floor for a vote.
Some Democrats are advocating the elimination of the rule while others find it a safeguard against overwhelming partisan changes when the party is in the minority.
On the international front, Dabelko sees American rejoining the Paris Climate Accords but questions whether the USA can re-establish its former leadership role.
Eunice Hunton Carter and her family were “unsung heroes” in social justice movements in the early 20th Century and now her life is brought into focus by a new biography, “Eunice Hunton Carter: A Lifelong Fight for Social Justice,” published by the Fordham University Press.
Co-Author and noted biographer Marilyn Greenwald highlights the many accomplishments of Carter. She was the first black woman prosecutor in the Manhattan Prosecutors Office in the 1930’s.
While trying her cases, Carter established the link between organized crime and prostitution, according to Greenwald. Carter used that information to be the only black woman and black attorney on the team of attorneys that convicted mobster Charles “Lucky” Luciano in 1936.
Earlier in her career, Carter was a writer and was active in the Harlem Renaissance. She wrote short stories and art criticism, says Greenwald.
Later in her career, she consulted with the United Nations and promoted causes for women on the global stage, Greenwald notes.
Carter’s family also was quite active in social justice causes. Her grandfather was a slave who purchased his freedom, moved to Canada and became a wealthy businessman.
Her father was a top official for the YMCA and devoted two decades of his life to integrate YMCAs in the South, says Greenwald.
Carter’s mother was a major pivotal figure in the Black Women’s Club movement and she even traveled to France during World War I to assist black soldiers.
The new biography of Eunice Hunton Carter will be out in April 2021, but it is available now through “pre-order” at Amazon and Barnes and Noble.
The Dave Thomas Foundation recently celebrated its 10,000th adoption of a child from foster care and the milestone was reached during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Foundation was created by Wendy’s founder Dave Thomas as an independent non-profit foundation separate from the restaurant chain, says Rita Soronen, CEO of the Foundation.
The Foundation focuses on the adoption of children who have been in foster care the longest and those who might soon turn 18 without being adopted by a family.
It works with its Wendy’s Wonderful Kids program which partners with private and public adoption agencies to fund specially trained adoption recruiters. These recruiters work specifically to find adoptive homes for teenagers, children with special needs, and siblings who have been in foster care the longest, according to Soronen.
The Dave Thomas Foundation tries to find adoptive homes for children before they “age-out” of foster care – turn 18 or 21 years of age depending on the state. The Foundation understands that if a child ages-out of foster care they are more likely to be homeless, unemployed, and face a myriad of other issues.
The Foundation also has been urging states to put moratoria on youth’s aging-out of the system during the COVID pandemic, says Soronen. To date, through Soronen’s efforts, the Foundation has convinced 9 states and the District of Columbia to enact such moratoria.
The COVID-19 crisis has presented special problems for the Foundation’s work, but it has successfully pivoted to find ways of continuing its adoption efforts even through pandemic isolation.
The Foundation was recently highlighted by the “New York Times” for its pandemic efforts.
After President Joseph Biden’s inauguration and the attack on the Capitol on January 6, the Republican Party has undergone a struggle to chart the future of the party.
Will it still be the party of Trump and his zealous base or will more traditionally mainstream Republicans take the party’s helm? Will Trump’s appeal fade?
Daily news unfolds showing a chess game for control between groups led by GOP Senate stalwart Mitch McConnell and more radical members of his party in the House and the Senate aligned with former President Trump.
Each move is met by a countermove as the story unfolds.
All of this political drama is playing out against the backdrop of upcoming 2022 elections which have at least six GOP Senators at risk, says Philip Elliott, Washington correspondent for TIME and author of TIME’s weekday newsletter D.C. Brief.
Also, according to Elliott, people are already lining up to be the GOP presidential candidates in 2024. This adds to the jockeying for position and appeals to certain elements of the Republican base.
Threats of primary battles, a possible third party launched Trump, and further party disruptions paint a vary blurry landscape of the GOP’s future, Elliott says.
He also notes that Democrats are not totally unified either and that President Joseph R. Biden’s early months are going to be clouded by Congressional disarray.
You can read Elliott’s daily newsletter at https://time.com/tag/the-dc-brief/
As of Jan. 13, the Athens County Ohio Health Department has vaccinated only 438 of its approximately 65,000 population for a frustratingly low .67 percent. Meanwhile, the county remains one of the counties in Ohio that is in greatest danger of COVID-19 spread.
Athens County is a rural Appalachian County in Southeast Ohio that also houses a major state university – Ohio University. Athens County is indicative of many rural counties across America.
The Spectrum Podcast decided to look deeper into this issue
Why is the number of vaccinations so low? The answer is lack of supply of vaccine, according to Dr. James R. Gaskell, Athens City-County Health Commissioner and Medical Director. Each Thursday or Friday, the local Health Department is notified by the Ohio Department of Health of the number of vaccine doses it will receive on the following Monday.
The trickle-down of the vaccine from the manufacturers to the federal government, to the states and then to local rural areas is not flowing smoothly.
For example, next week, Athens County hopes to get about 200 to 300 more doses of vaccines to start to inoculate people 80 years of age or older. About 600 local people in that age group have requested the shot, but less than half will be able to be inoculated next week. The delays continue and the disease spread grows.
Meanwhile, residents of some assisted living facilities and other congregate settings for older Athens County residents (Groups 1-A) have still not received vaccinations to be supplied by CVS and other pharmacies.
So, Group 1-A in priority has not been served and now Groups 1-B (ages 65 and over) will need to wait because supplies are not reaching the local areas.
Dr. Gaskell emphasizes that every week’s supply of vaccine is put into arms that same week.
The slowdown is not in the administration of vaccinations. It is in obtaining the vaccine.
We have the facilities and the staff to get the job done if we can get the vaccines, Dr. Gaskell says.
Athens County has about 8,000 residents 65 years old and older, according to Dr. Gaskell, and to date, about 1,300 have requested the vaccine. At this point, Dr. Gaskell cannot predict how long it will take to get vaccines in the arms of this group.
Meanwhile, COVID-19 case numbers continue to rise, and masking and social distancing are mandatory to protect against spread, Dr. Gaskell says. He suggests that virus precautions will need to be taken until 80 percent of the population has been vaccinated.
We are ready if we can get the vaccines, says Dr. Gaskell, even though his staff is already stretched thin with increased case numbers, increased contact tracing and vaccinations.
Add to these problems, thousands of Ohio University students return next week to increase the area population and increase congregate living settings.
Yet, Dr. Gaskell calls his staff indefatigable and ready to go when doses get to the county. But, for now…they wait.
Too often African American women and girls are targets of violence and abuse in America.
The abuse is caused by interactions with law enforcement as well as domestic abuse, says Dr. Aretina Hamilton, a human geographer, scholar, and author.
She says Black women live in a patriarchal environment where they are, unfortunately, valued less than even Black men.
As a result, Dr. Hamilton says that too often Black women and girls are considered “disposable” in society and are not valued in the caste system in which they live.
Not only are Black women and girls subject to domestic violence in their homes, they are a subset of Black people being shot by police.
Since 2015, 247 Black women were killed by police officers and 89 of them were killed at home or in their residences, according to a “Washington Post” October 21, 2020 article.
The “Washington Post” has been tracking deaths of black women by police since 2015.
The fact that the lives of Black women are often considered less valuable or less newsworthy than black men is a major concern of advocates.
This slight is seen by many scholars and public policy makers as a major problem.
Dr. Hamilton is joined in this conversation by Judge Gayle Williams Byers the first Black female judge in the S. Euclid Municipal Court in South Euclid, Ohio.
Judge Byers adds her personal perspective of seeing Black female victims of domestic violence in her court.
In our everyday conversations, many of us use words or phrases that have racist meanings or derivations, even if we don’t intend our speech to be racist.
Many of these words or phrases have worked their way into our common vernacular in a covert way and by their use promote inequality.
Just a few examples are “master bedroom or master bathroom,” “blacklisting” someone, “uppity,” “black mark,” “sold down the river,” or “black sheep of the family” all have their derivations during slavery or reconstruction.
The list of these types of terms is voluminous.
The use of phrases of this nature perpetuate the master/slave dynamic and covertly and subtlety advance systemic racism through our normal speech, says Dr. Kalvin Harvell, professor of sociology at Henry Ford College in Dearborn, Michigan.
Dr. Harvell has been the president of the Michigan Sociological Society and his is the founder of Harvell and Associates, an educational consulting firm.
While the bulk of our racist speech is directed toward African Americans, we do have other phrases that target other ethnicities. For example, the term “gypped” is a verbal slam towards gypsies (or Romani people). “Paddy wagon” is a reference to Irish immigrants being lawless and arrested.
These racist terms also can be coded and merge into our lexicon. For example, often the media, uses the term “urban” to mean inner-city, poor, and black. If we want to refer to a gentrified part of a city, we refer to it as “metropolitan.”
These types of terms not only appear in our daily lexicon, but they also are often used by journalists, thereby perpetuating racial stereotypes and tropes, says Dr. Harvell.
To be anti-racist, he says, one must examine one’s own speech patterns and purge words and phrases that are hurtful and promote inequality.
We are in the last seven days of the 2020 Presidential election, but it is a campaign and a race like no other. Traditional campaigning has been turned on its head.
With seven days to go, 66 million people have already voted, eclipsing the total early vote count from 2016. Some experts say that by election day 85 million out of a total of 240 million eligible voters will have already submitted their votes.
We have had 48 percent of the total vote in 2016 already vote, thereby, altering the dynamics of last-minute campaigning, says Philip Elliott, Washington Correspondent for TIME and a columnist for TIME’s new daily political newsletter, “The D.C. Brief.”
Rallies and campaign events now rile up a candidate’s base vote, but last-minute policy arguments or issues are lost since so many people have already voted, he notes. The rallies also may not alter turnout.
Campaigning during a pandemic also has highlighted the different personal styles of the candidates. President Trump has been full speed ahead having massive rallies with few masks and no social distancing while former Vice-President Biden has been doing a great deal of virtual campaigning and trying to follow public health safety guidelines.
The contrasts in styles place the divides in the country in stark contrast with one-another. Trump is trying a more scatter-shot approach compared to Biden’s more laser directed messaging.
Trump’s surrogates, like Chief-of-Staff Mark Meadows and Senior Advisor Jared Kushner, also have seemed to be spouting public messaging contrary to the President’s talking points. On the other side, former President Obama and Vice President Candidate Senator Kamala Harris have been more in tune with Biden’s messaging.
Elliott says that all of these nuances and variations from traditional campaigning make the race more difficult to track. He notes polling is much better in 2020 than in 2016 but there still may be silent Trump voters who will vote on election day but not participate in any polling.
He also notes the Republicans have bested Democrats in getting more new registered voters who the GOP hope go to the polls for Trump.
In any event, this last week of campaigning will be interesting. Listen to Elliott give us his inside the beltway perspective on this week’s Spectrum Podcast episode.
In World War I, President Woodrow Wilson started an agency for governmental propaganda. It became the precursor and template of today’s governmental manipulation of information which often creates fictions and promotes those in power.
Author, scholar, and journalist Dr. John Maxwell Hamilton delves into the birth of American government propaganda in his new book “Manipulating the Masses: Woodrow Wilson and the Birth of American Propaganda“ and traces its impact on the American Presidency from Woodrow Wilson to President Donald J. Trump.
The first governmental propaganda agency was created just eight days after the USA entered World War I and only existed for 1.5 years, but it became the template for how the government can manipulate information to steer public opinion, says Dr. Hamilton
The Committee on Public Information (CPI) was America’s first and only ministry of propaganda but it left a powerful legacy.
Hamilton explains the pervasiveness of the Committee’s reach. It touched every part of America including advertising, artists, universities, travelling salesmen and even the Boy Scouts, according to Hamilton.
He notes that the CPI did instill some valuable information practices such as creating the “Federal Register” to bring governmental information to the masses and to delve into international policies.
However, he also says that the CPI was often racist, undemocratic and coercive.
Today, Dr. Hamilton writes that governmental propaganda is “out of control. Too large to control. And, we have insufficient guardrails to curb it.”
It has developed cynicism about government among our citizens and it’s a precursor of many of the techniques we see used by Presidents and other politicians today.
Hamilton is the Hopkins P. Breazeale LSU Foundation Professor of Journalism in the Manship School of Mass Communication at Louisiana State University. He also is a global fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C. Dr. Hamilton also serves as a senior associate for the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C.
The book is published by the LSU Press.
Despite protestations from some politicians, most medical experts and scientists are concerned with the rise of COVID-19 cases across the country, even before colder weather and flu season arrives.
Numbers are rising in 33 states plus Puerto Rico with approximately 40,000 new cases daily.
This is a major concern, says Dr. Kenneth Johnson, Executive Dean of the Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine and Chief Medical Affairs Director at Ohio University.
Overall, we really haven’t made adequate progress in slowing the virus, he notes. He also worries about cold weather on the horizon.
Colder weather forces more people inside where air circulation may be compromised allowing droplets and air contamination to spread more easily. In addition, colder weather brings on flu season. The flu plus COVID-19 may be a lethal combination.
Combatting the coronavirus also is made more difficult when science and politics clash, according to Dr. Johnson. People, too often to their detriment, question the science behind trying to control the pandemic.
He cites conflicting edicts from the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and other governmental agencies as a source for public confusion,
Dr. Johnson says that a “safe and effective” vaccine distributed throughout the country to all citizens is the only way to effectively curb spread of the disease. He worries, however, about the conflicts between the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the White House over the pre-release testing of vaccines.
He suggests that the FDA releasing raw test data to the scientific world will allow medical and scientific experts to assess the vaccine. He says that transparency is the key to public acceptance.
Until a vaccine is available, Dr. Johnson heartily recommends using a mask, social distancing, and frequent handwashing as alternatives. He stresses that using or not using masks should not be based on politics but instead, be based upon good medical practices.
With the COVID-19 pandemic plus racial turmoil across the nation, we are facing a Presidential Campaign and election like no other, says Philip Elliott, veteran Washington reporter and TIME’S Washington correspondent.
As Public Health issues, the economy and racial inequities take center stage in this Presidential election year, an onslaught of books and media revelations have further complicated and muddled this election cycle, according to Elliott.
Just recently there has been the publication of journalist Bob Woodward’s book “Rage” and the accompanying recordings about President Trump’s handling of the coronavirus threat, the military and foreign policy.
Then there is the new book by Andrew Weissman disclosing political interference with Robert Mueller’s investigation of President Trump.
The New York Times has unveiled an in-depth look at Trump’s tax records for multiple years showing he has either paid no or very little federal income tax for decades.
Add to all of that, we have foreign interests continuing to meddle in our elections through sophisticated disinformation campaigns.
Polls are being questioned based on 2016 results and as a result no one feels they have a grasp on what is really happening with voters, Elliott noted.
Also, the campaign season has been shortened by “early voting’ in many states, which means that many voters are deciding earlier than ever who to vote for or against.
All of this leads to a mish-mash of election coverage with tides changing and new issues arising multiple times each day. It is difficult, if not impossible, for the average person to keep up with the news and all the changing developments.
In short, this election season seems to be far more chaotic than usual, Elliott says.
To try to keep people abreast of daily Washington DC news from the White House to Capitol Hill and the Courts, Elliott writes for a new free newsletter that TIME sends to subscribers. It’s called The D.C. Brief and it is available through https://time.com/tag/the-dc-brief/.
Although it was found that foreign governments meddled with our 2016 Presidential Elections, the 2020 elections are still being plagued by foreign interference.
However, more governmental units are working together to combat a repeat of the 2016 insurgence, according to Philip Ewing, veteran Washington reporter and Elections Security Editor for National Public Radio.
The FBI as well as numerous intelligence agencies have targeted interference from Russia, China, Iran and other countries. This type of meddling involves foreign entities trolling Americans to sow extreme divisiveness among voting groups and against candidates, Ewing says.
This election there is more coordinated government action, not only among agencies, but with social media companies like Facebook, Google, and Twitter regulating content, Ewing adds.
Despite the amped up government attacks against outside interference, it still continues, according to Ewing. He also indicates that foreign governments have solicited America citizens to sow divisiveness and suspicions about the validity of our election processes.
Even though havoc is still being played with public opinion about our electoral processes, Ewing says that the integrity of the individual vote is still highly secure
He cites various studies that show that the voting processes in states, whether mail or in-person voting, are highly accurate and not subject to widespread fraud as President Donald Trump espouses.
Ewing also notes that with early voting the campaign season is no longer targeted for the late October crescendo but instead starts to reach its peak by mid-September.
Although our elections are still being interfered with by foreign entities, Ewing notes that voter suppression issues are just as important to address domestically.
There are too few African Americans in the country’s newsrooms and especially in news management positions.
In 2020 racism still exists in America’s media companies from the smallest to the largest. Sometimes it is evident in hiring practices, promotions, or just in daily professional life.
Traversing this media landscape is often difficult for Black journalists, says Allison Hunter, journalist, educator, activist and mother of two college age sons.
Hunter has fought the racial battles within news organizations for the bulk of her career and she shares how she has survived professionally.
She has over 20 years of experience in commercial television as an executive producer, assistant news director, and interim news director. She has worked from Cleveland, Dayton, and Cincinnati to Chicago and Los Angeles.
Hunter is currently the Editor in Chief of WOUB News as part of WOUB Public Media at Ohio University.
In this edition of WOUB’s Spectrum podcast, Hunter shares some of her survival tips and talks about the advice that she gives young students about to embark on a journalism career in an industry replete with racism.
She talks about how they need to have a great grasp of who they are as people and to be true to themselves – especially when they are slighted or perhaps targeted based on race.
They need to always be thinking about and analyzing their positions and how they can advance professionally without compromising themselves, Hunter adds.
She also talks about how she has had to compartmentalize her life being a journalist, an educator and a mother of two black young men. She also has to compartmentalize her personal passions for change and activism for movements for equal rights.
Juggling these various aspects of life can be difficult, Hunter says.
She advises her young journalism students who feel overwhelmed to sometimes just take a break…unplug and do whatever works to clear your head. Otherwise, things can become muddled and more problematic.
Historically, racism has permeated the American entertainment and music industries including movies, radio, television, and the recording industries.
Blacks and black life have not been portrayed accurately and African Americans have been kept out of prime roles.
However, there is some hope that the industries are taking seriously the recent claims of systemic racism and are trying, to some degree, to improve. So says Dr. Akil Houston, associate professor of Cultural and Media Studies at Ohio University.
He notes that some improvements have been made since the recent killings of black men and women by white police officers but that any progress will be slow coming to an entertainment industry that is still white-centric.
Dr. Houston highlights the racism that has been standard practice in the movie industry, television, and radio since their inception. He also talks about how racism has long been the cornerstone of the music industry.
He is a cultural studies scholar who is multifaceted. He is a filmmaker, DJ, social critic, and hip-hop scholar. Dr. Houston specializes in Africana media studies. His scholarship and research are interdisciplinary.
He notes that “looking white” was a distinct advantage of early black entertainers in getting roles. He points to Dorothy Dandridge, Lena Horne and Diahann Carroll as examples. He claims they got roles that dark-skinned blacks couldn’t get.
He also explained that many of the early roles for blacks on radio comedies and dramas were actually played by whites trying to talk in so-called black dialects.
Dr. Houston sees some encouragement in the explosion of new television shows, movies, and series through outlets such as Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu. He says that the current genres give more space for a truer depiction of black life in America.
He also says the younger generation of Americans are less likely to stereotype race and are more culturally diverse and inclusive than previous generations.
There are major concerns about attempts being made around the country to suppress the black vote along with other non-white populations. This is especially true in urban areas and in the South.
Polling places have been closed in some areas and voting machines have been limited thereby creating long lines of potential voters.
These suppression attempts are teamed with President Donald Trump’s attacks on mail-in voting to raise doubts about the sanctity and security of our Presidential Election.
Congresswoman Marcia Fudge has studied these issues in-depth and chairs the House Administration Committee’s Subcommittee on Elections.
She and several of her colleagues are working feverishly to stem this tide but time is running short for this upcoming election.
She has been working on a new Voting Rights Act that improves the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that was gutted by the United States Supreme Court in 2013.
Congresswoman Fudge also has championed the Vote SAFE Act which promotes voter security and provides $3.6 billion in funding to help states conduct safe and secure elections.
She claims that President Trump has “systematically destroyed the trust and confidence in our election system” and that must stop, she adds.
The Congresswoman knows that major election changes are unlikely prior to this Presidential Election. Therefore, she urges all people, but especially African Americans and other people of color to do everything possible to vote and make sure their vote counts.
She highlights that this election is so important to create change that will allow federal legislation to pass to protect voting for all people in the future.
Congresswoman Fudge joined Congress in 2008. Before that she was the first black and the first woman mayor of Warrensville Heights, Ohio and she also worked in the Cuyahoga County Prosecutors Office.
Courts must speak out “clearly” against systemic racism in our criminal justice system and make much needed corrections, says Judge Benes Aldana, president of the National Judicial College.
The National Judicial College has been in existence since 1963 and has educated thousands of judges from all 50 states and 150 different foreign countries. It is the premier national institution for continuing judicial education.
In July, the Judicial College, under the leadership of Judge Aldana issued a statement condemning racism. The statement said, in part:
“The National Judicial College condemns the recent killings of African-Americans George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Rayshard Brooks and many others. We call for all people of conscience to commit to the hard work of confronting bigotry at every turn and ending racial injustice.
Systemic racism has afflicted our justice system for far too long. Accountability has been lacking. The work to correct attitudes and prevent further discrimination, pain and death must begin now.
As judges and lawyers, we are called to keep the promise engraved in the West Pediment of the U.S. Supreme Court: EQUAL JUSTICE UNDER LAW.”
The statement’s issuance prompted some push-back from judges but Judge Aldana says that courts must “recognize the truth” when justice fails.
The National Judicial College also conducted an unscientific poll showing that 65 percent of the judges polled found they believe systemic racism exists within the criminal justice apparatus, which includes police, courts, prosecutors, prisons and probation.
You may see more about the poll including some comments from judges at this link: https://www.judges.org/news-and-info/most-judges-believe-the-criminal-justice-system-suffers-from-racism/
As a result, the National Judicial College is instituting new courses for judges to address systemic racism in the courts.
State courts across the country also are making statements condemning racial inequality in the criminal justice system. Here are a few: https://www.ncsc.org/newsroom/state-court-statements-on-racial-justice
Judge Aldana joined the National Judicial College in 2017 after serving as Chief Trial Judge for the Coast Guard. He held various leadership posts and three judgeships in the Coast Guard from 1994.
It’s not easy for policy makers to determine how to open K-12 schools in the fall.
Each school district must weigh multiple variables in determining whether face-to-face instruction is worth the risks or whether some form of remote learning is better.
Each school must assess its situation and develop a comprehensive plan if re-opening face-to-face, says Dr. Kenneth Johnson, executive dean of the Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine at Ohio University.
He says local school authorities have a “huge challenge” in making sure that students, staff, and teachers are medically protected during this COVID-19 pandemic.
Dr. Johnson outlines some factors that should be considered by school administrators, teachers, parents and students.
Not only must the school adhere to mask-wearing policies and social distancing protocols, but the school must have procedures in place for testing students, faculty, and staff members, Dr. Johnson says.
Additionally, there must be a comprehensive plan for a circumstance where a student, staff member or teacher tests positive for the COVID virus.
Who must self-isolate and how will contact tracing be done? These are basic questions that must be answered before traditional re-opening takes place.
Dr. Johnson also clarified that recent studies have disclosed that students age 9 and above can act as carriers of the COVID-19 virus and be able to infect family members and other with whom they come in contact.
He also noted that some children can become sick themselves. Children are not immune from the virus.
He also cautioned about the possibility that contact sports like football or basketball may help spread the disease.
Dr. Johnson also serves as the chief medical affairs officer at Ohio University and is the chair of the Ohio Council of Medical School Deans.
Code-switching is the ability of a person to switch between languages or dialects to meet communication needs. It also is the alteration of clothes, hairstyles and music from one environment to another to be accepted.
Code-switching is something that white culture demands of blacks. In short, to be acceptable and not “other”, the white establishment demands that African Americans shed some of their racial being to navigate a white world.
Inclusion means becoming like whites in speech and mannerism. Many whites see a person’s blackness in looks and culture to be alien and “less than.”
Therefore, African Americans are faced with code switching daily. What is an acceptable way of speaking, looking or acting among their family members and friends may not be acceptable to a predominant white culture or the “professional world” that still judges people by white criteria.
“It is difficult situation. Black people are not allowed to be black people in white spaces without adapting to white ways of speaking, dressing and acting,” says Patrice Willoughby, Managing Director and Head of Diversity and Inclusion for the Signal Group, a Washington D.C. firm that offers counselling in strategic communication, public affairs, and government relations.
Willoughby joins Judge Gayle Williams Byers of the S. Euclid Municipal Court on this week’s Spectrum Podcast to discuss the racism associated with code switching. She was the former Chief of Staff for the late House member Stephanie Tubbs Jones and the former Executive Director of the Congressional Black Caucus.
Judge Gayle Williams Byers is the first black female judge of her trial court in Northeastern Ohio.
Both say that younger blacks are less accepting of code-switching and are demanding to be included in society “as they are.” Many people assert that the only way to have “diversity” is to have people be themselves and not try to react to other’s norms.
Code switching also puts extra stress on blacks to be able to adapt equally to both white culture and their black heritage. That stress can lead to health issues and emotional problems.
Are African American female public office holders treated differently than their white counterparts by local media?
Two black female judges answer that questions with a resounding: YES.
In our continuing in-depth conversations about race and racism, WOUB’s Spectrum Podcast talks with two first-time African American female judges from Northeastern Ohio, who bring to the bench a wealth of legal experience.
Both were asked if they perceived any different treatment from local news media than is given to their white counterparts. Both provided situation upon situation where white judges were praised for activities that black judges were criticized for doing.
These stories even include situations of disparate treatment by news media between how white and black judges handle court matters during the pandemic or follow guidelines from the state Supreme Court.
The unfounded inferences often are that black female judges are lazy, dishonest, “shifty” and cannot be trusted to follow appropriate legal guidelines. None of those accusations have been made over the same period of time of white judges of equal legal stature.
In fact, it is alleged by our two judges, that white judges are not only not criticized but they are praised for the same activities for which the black judges are denigrated.
Hear the stories of Judge W. Mona’ Scott, the first black female judge elected to a full term on the Cleveland Municipal Housing Court and Judge Gayle Byers Williams, the first black female judge of the S. Euclid Municipal Court.
Judge Scott came to her court from experience in private legal practice and stints with the Cleveland City Prosecutor’s Office and the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office. She has had a diverse legal career expanding two decades with experience in family law, civil litigation, criminal prosecution and criminal defense work. She is a long-time proponent of social justice causes.
Judge Byers first became judge in the S. Euclid Municipal Court in 2012. Prior to that she served over a decade as an Assistant Prosecutor in Cuyahoga County, Ohio. Judge Byers also is a Fellow at the National Judicial College located on the campus of the University of Nevada-Reno. It is the premier educational arm of the judiciary, helping to train judges from across America and around the globe.
Dr. Greg Hall is a primary care physician in Cleveland, Ohio who tailors his practice to specifically helping African Americans who have been short-changed by the traditional medical establishment.
He says that racism is a public health crisis that manifests itself in many disparities between treatment of black patients and white patients. He cites the current COVID-19 pandemic as one example.
But, Dr. Hall notes that 400 years of bad relationships between the white power structure and blacks have bred an inherent mistrust in the medical establishment by most blacks. He also notes that history is replete with medical abuses of blacks by whites, thereby heightening mistrust.
Dr. Hall notes that there are medical differences in caring for African Americans who have illnesses like high blood pressure, diabetes, and other diseases but that there also are major communication differences.
He must gain the trust of his patients before he can adequately treat them. Therefore, he gives them personal attention and listens to their stories about their life and health issues. Listening is key, he says.
Dr. Hall also notes that blacks have extremely high infant mortality rate in this country. He feels that the tension of dealing with racism on a daily basis can lower a mother’s ability to deal with the stresses of childbirth, regardless of socio-economic status.
He is attempting, in his practice, to combat racial disparities “one patient at a time,” he says.
Dr. Hall has dedicated the bulk of his career to helping African American patients. He served on the Ohio Commission on Minority Health from 2002 and served as chairman until the fall of 2018.
In 2008, Dr. Hall was appointed to the Ohio Medicaid Medical Care Advisory Committee and currently serves on the Cuyahoga County Board of Health.
Dr. Hall holds two teaching appointments at the Northeast Ohio Medical University College of Medicine and also is an Assistant Clinical Professor at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.
In January 2020, his new book “Patient-Centered Clinical Care for African Americans: A Concise, Evidence-Based Guide to Important Differences and Better Outcomes” was published by Springer International Publishing.
African American children are often told by the white establishment that “education” is the way to obtain equality yet, at the same time, black children are not given equal educational opportunities.
They are told to get a quality education at the same time their schools are underfunded, have old textbooks, and have overly stretched teachers, says Ray Freeman, vice-president of the Warrensville Heights School Board in Northeastern Ohio.
The “achievement gap” is evident, according to Freeman and Judge Gayle Williams Byers of the South Euclid, Ohio Municipal Court.
Black students with the same years of schooling do not perform overall as well as whites.
But, it’s not the black child’s fault.
They are told to succeed but not given the tools to succeed. Freeman adds. They are short-changed in many different ways on their educational experience.
Freeman is a midwestern regional member of the National School Board Association and travels the country visiting schools, especially in impoverished neighborhoods. He says the achievement gap is nationwide and not just regional.
Black children just are not given equal opportunities for success, Freeman and Byers note.
Often black children are given low expectations by whites for academic acumen equal to their white counterparts. There also is the expectation of the pipeline to prison for many black men instead of academic success.
Black young men and young women are not “expected” by white culture to have equal academic prowess to whites, says Freeman. But he contends that is so wrong.
Therefore, black students are not given many of the same opportunities. Freeman and Byers are firm believers that co-curricular activities in predominately black schools are lacking. Little is offered beyond sports.
Freeman suggests that there should be an array of co-curricular opportunities in black schools that would spark academic interests and a desire to succeed. He says that these activities are just as important as the rigor in the academic classrooms.
An African-American father and a black mother explain how they need to warn children about possible violence against them by police or others. This starts at a very young age and continues through young adulthood in a repetitive manner.
It’s called “The Talk” and it happens in every black family with children, says Isaiah Simmons, a father, a minister, and a court bailiff. Simmons has a son and a daughter and also has mentored his teenage nephew and niece.
“The Talk” gives practical tips to young blacks about how to behave if confronted by a police officer or another person in authority, where to put their hands and what to say or not say.
These are not just parental lectures but instead are survival tips delivered by parents so that their children stay alive.
I tell my son that when he goes out …I just want him to come home alive, says Gayle Williams-Byers judge of the South Euclid Municipal Court. Do whatever it takes to comply to protect your life, she says to him. We can work out the other details later, she adds.
However, both Judge Byers and Simmons question whether “The Talk” is even relevant anymore because the level of police violence against blacks does not seem to match any form of aberrant behavior. Blacks can do everything correctly and still be subject to police abuse.
Special instruction for black children starts way before teenage years.
Judge Byers says she started very young with her son and other young relatives to tell them that they unfortunately need to work twice as hard to reach half of the success levels of white culture.
Our culture, still in 2020, is stacked against a black child succeeding at the same level as his/her white counterparts.
The violence and other societal factors place an extra burden on black parents to rear their children safely.
Too often we, as a country, focus only on the incidents of violence perpetrated on African Americans by police officers instead of looking at the total picture of racism that perpetuates the criminal justice system from the streets to the courtrooms, says Judge Gayle Williams Byers, of the South Euclid Ohio Municipal Court.
Racism goes well beyond what happens in the streets, she says. It truly is systemic.
Judge Byers complains of over-policing in minority neighborhoods.
“Overall, the issues related to police brutality and its intersection with black folk is “ground zero.” While the media has largely focused on the overreaching and many times illegal police tactics employed while interacting with the black community, they have overlooked the role that City Councils and Courts often play in setting these confrontations in motion,” says Judge Byers.
She also claims that City’s use courts and over-policing as revenue streams.
“Often, local governments use police forces and courts as revenue generating ATMs or piggy banks. They pressure police chiefs, officers (with required ticket quotas) and court officials to increase traffic and low-level criminal enforcement fines and fees without regard to public safety or tangible outcomes. The vast majority of the people who are targeted with these often heavy-handed enforcement measures to meet these monetary targets are Black, brown and poor people,” she adds.
Under these processes, blacks are often stopped and searched with little reasonable suspicion and arrested with only the barest probable cause. They then are expected to post bonds that many times, Mark Zuckerberg couldn’t afford and the scheme, in many cases, is to make it hard for them to keep their court date, she notes.
If they are working, then often they are forced to choose between keeping their job or maintaining their court obligation. If they don’t come to court, their bond is forfeited to the city/county government and a warrant can be issued for their arrest. Reasonable or tangible access to justice is not even considered, according to Judge Byers.
While in court, blacks are confronted by an often-times confusing system that is dominated by whites and stacked against the defendants.
Judge Byers says that to effectuate true reform that the whole criminal justice system must be scrutinized and not just the activities of the police in the streets.
“The problem is that the system itself is inherently broken,” Judge Byers says “and we haven’t even tipped the iceberg about the Racism that masquerades as disrespect but is far more insidious.
Judge Byers has initiated a “night court’ in her jurisdiction to make it easier for people to come to court, because true access to justice should be more than a mere modern day slogan.
In 2012, Gayle Williams Byers was elected to become the first black judge for the South Euclid Municipal Court in Northeastern Ohio. She came to the job with a wealth of experience after being a Congressional staffer on Capitol Hill and after spending nearly a decade as an Assistant Prosecutor in Cuyahoga County (Cleveland-area).
However, despite her election win, her experience and the honor of being the first female black judge in her court, she confronted forms of overt and covert racism from the start.
Over the past eight years, it has been one racial insult or slight after another being generated by the white power establishment in her community. Repeated efforts have been made to intimidate her, question her character, and to minimize her powerful position.
“If I, as judge, get treated in a racist manner, I can only imagine what happens to the average black person in the streets,” Judge Byers says. “We need to have a real and meaningful conversation about race as it permeates all aspects of society.”
South Euclid is a racially diverse community with about 50 percent of the population being African American and other people of color. However, the Mayor, police chief, city law director and five of the seven council positions are filled by whites.
The first racial incident happened to Judge Byers about six months after taking office when the police chief, law director and some members of council met with the judge to discuss one of her rulings with which the police chief disagreed.
The chief started his presentation by saying to the white group: I’m not here to “lynch” the judge, according to Judge Byers.
Judge Byers took great umbrage at the lynching reference. She said she had an immediate and intense reaction that the white chief of police would utter those words to a black female judge to minimize her and her elected position as head of the local judicial system.
She remembers digging her fingers in the arms of her chair.
This was only the beginning of one incident after another. Despite being chosen by the electorate for a second term, she has been falsely accused of not knowing her place, dishonesty, laziness and other racial tropes by white office holders.
They even installed ceiling cameras in her jury room without any consultation with her about the sanctity of jury privacy.
Even though she receives national honors and accolades for excellence, she still must fight racial battles with her own city administration. For example, Judge Byers has been selected as the only Judicial Fellow to the National Judicial College, a prestigious judicial position. Yet, that honor has been besmirched and marginalized by whites in power.
Judge Byers calls on white allies to become anti-racists. She says it is not enough to say you are not racist. Instead, you have to fight racism by being ANTI-RACIST.
Hear Judge Byers tell her story on this week’s Spectrum Podcast. This will start a series of serious conversations about racism in American.
Since the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis Police, demonstrations against police violence have traversed the nation.
Yet, during these demonstrations, there have been 383 press freedom incidents including some 173 assaults on journalists 78 physical attacks (50 by police) —49 tear gassings —27 pepper sprayings —89 rubber bullet / projectiles injuries and 48 equipment/newsroom damage cases, according to U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.
There also have been 56 arrests of credentialed reporters by police. One CNN reporter was arrested on live television to be released shortly thereafter as the Governor of Minnesota apologized for the police action.
Dr. Michael Bugeja, Distinguished Professor of Journalism at Iowa State University, says that this much targeting of journalists is “unprecedented.”
He tells WOUB’s Spectrum Podcast that he feels some police are reacting to a new level of accountability brought on by the use of cellphones and technology. Cellphone videos captured by reporters and citizen journalists have documented police abuses against African-Americans and other people of color.
Since everyone can be a broadcaster through social media, police are subject to a new, higher level of accountability, Dr. Bugeja says. As a result, journalists have been targeted during disturbances for just exercising their First Amendment rights.
The police abuses against reporters have been so bad that the ACLU in Minnesota has filed a federal class action lawsuit under the federal Civil Rights Act claiming that the police were depriving journalists of their First Amendment freedoms, that journalists and their property were being seized without warrants in violation of the Fourth Amendment and that journalists were being denied their constitutional rights and freedoms without due process of law under the Fourteenth Amendment.
Dr. Bugeja believes that reporters covering any large demonstration should hand a copy of the federal Civil Rights Act to police at the scene as a “paper trail” of notice not to abridge constitutional freedoms.
He is extremely concerned about the safety of journalists and the escalating denial of their rights. He notes that journalists are trained to report and report accurately where too often the general public relies on news from social media which often is not accurate and can easily be manipulated to distort reality.
Therefore, he says, mainstream journalists need protection, especially against the police.
Dr. Bugeja has a specialty in media ethics and technology. He is author of 24 books across genres. His latest is Media Ethics: Across Platforms, published by Routhledge, Taylor and Francis in 2019.
Dr. James R. Gaskell has been a physician for over 50 years specializing in pediatrics. He also is the Health Commission of Athens City and County in Southeastern Ohio.
When he took that job 20 years ago, he certainly didn’t expect to be fighting a major pandemic from the bottom up—from the grassroots front lines.
He normally does his job in a small Appalachian community and rural county. His major fights concern populations who are impoverished, unemployed, and often opiate addicted.
At the other end of the economic spectrum, his area also is the home of a major residential university…Ohio University, with nearly 19,000 undergraduates, graduate students and medical students from all over the world on the main campus. This adds to the disparate nature of the populations he serves.
As the Coronavirus entered our country early in 2020, his job changed.
His days now consist of making sure testing is available for his people (although it was slow trickling down to the rural areas), preparing local hospitals for potential surges, assuring that nursing homes are as safe as possible, and informing his various populations about the seriousness of the COVID-19 pandemic.
He also acts as a major liaison with Ohio University to help determine whether students will be back on campus this fall and if so, under what conditions. He consults with the university’s medical team attempting to find the safest way possible to have students congregate again.
In addition, Dr. Gaskell heads the local enforcement team to assure everyone that State Department of Health rules and regulations are being followed in re-opening his state’s economy.
He is part of a law enforcement and licensing team to assure the public that restaurants and bars are functioning with appropriate safeguards and social distancing.
He also spends a great deal of time in teleconferences with state health officials who are working daily with the Governor to keep Ohio as safe as possible while re-opening.
Dr. Gaskell tells us the unvarnished story of what it’s like to be on the front lines battling this virus from the trenches instead of the mountaintop.
Some Memorial Day crowds seemed large and people were not self-distancing. They were jammed in swimming pools, on crowded boardwalks and watching auto racing. Most without masks.
It seems that many want to reopen the economy and break out of isolation regardless of the risks. They are tired of lockdowns and restrictions.
However, recent polling still shows the large majority of Americans are fearful of re-entering into normal daily activities such as work, shopping, hair care, and being around large groups of people. These people also get angry when they see others flaunting rules and regulations promulgated by Health Departments.
Dr. Kenneth Johnson, executive dean of the Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine at Ohio University and a frequent guest of the Spectrum Podcast, reminds us that the dangers of the virus are still present and probably will be until we find therapeutic drugs or a vaccine.
It has not gone away, says Johnson, the chief medical affairs officer at Ohio University and chair of the Ohio Council of Medical School Deans. As we re-open the country, the Coronavirus remains a very real threat.
Opening the economy, in fact, allows more people asymptomatically carrying the virus to mingle with others thereby increasing the possibility of spread.
Many citizens and experts alike are fearing a resurgence of the virus and increased hospitalizations and deaths as more stay-at-home orders are lifted.
Dr. Johnson is a strong proponent of mask wearing to not only protect the wearer but those around him or her. He also advocates for continued social distancing, even as we move to open greater parts of our society.
On this edition of Spectrum, Dr. Johnson talks about the COVID-19 virus and the dangers we still face – especially in the Midwest and in rural areas where numbers of cases are rapidly increasing.
He also warns us that children are not immune from the virus and that this virus appears to be mutating as it spreads. This causes even great alarm among medical experts.
Dr. Johnson gives us some tips on how we can re-emerge into some sense of normalcy while we still maintain some degree of protection.
Colleges and universities and average families are all feeling the financial pinch from the COVID-19 pandemic and the impacts are dramatic.
Dr. Richard Vedder, emeritus distinguished professor of economics at Ohio University, outlines, for the Spectrum Podcast, how these loses will really be felt.
He notes that higher education was already under financial distress before the pandemic arrived. Many universities were facing declining enrollments and rising expenses. Cutbacks were already in the offing.
However, the pandemic added another layer of financial losses on top of a crumbling financial model for many colleges. He notes, that across the country, universities were having to cut staff and administrators even before closing campuses this spring.
Some colleges are even closing their doors—not to be reopened.
Now, with declining state funds along with plummeting enrollments, higher education is making further cuts of staff, administrators and faculty in unprecedented fashion.
At the same time, Vedder says many families now are questioning whether their child should even go to college. He cites the rise in young people following various trades from welding to plumbing and other service professions. He notes that many doing better financially than some college graduates.
Vedder also describes the sudden financial hardships facing the average family. Jobs have been lost and some will not be replaced. Expenses continue while incomes are have suddenly and sharply declined.
This is an environment, he notes, that is reminiscent of the Great Depression.
People don’t know where to turn for help as unemployment rates skyrocket and retail sales figures plummet.
In these times of uncertainty, it is not clear whether students will return or campuses or even come initially. This breeds continual upheaval for universities and makes planning extremely tenuous.
Vedder is a Founding Director of the Center for College Affordability and Productivity in Washington, D.C. and a fellow at the Independent Institute.
Almost every aspect of government and certainly the legislative and executive branches are addressing multiple aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic from medical protocols and providing medical supplies to economic devastation.
Some view the partisan pull about this issue in Washington as a battle between science/medicine and ideologies. However, TIME Washington Correspondent Philip Elliott says that characterization is not quite accurate.
Instead, he claims it is more nuanced.
He says that members of the federal government are traveling paths never trod before. They are trying to find their way and they are trying to overcome major fear factors simultaneously. There is fear in government itself and fear across the nation, he adds.
This pandemic is unprecedented, according to Elliott, and it is having an unprecedented impact on our government and our politics. There is no roadmap to follow to predict next events or next steps.
This pandemic is drawing battle lines between the President and Governors who are on the front lines. It is drawing lines between the medical and scientific communities and economists who demand that we re-open the economy now.
It also is rewriting traditional campaign playbooks and demanding journalists cover politics in a new way.
These battles ensue simultaneously while polls show there is a major fear factor among the population about reopening society too soon and suffering another wave of the virus and deaths.
Elliott talks with Spectrum Podcast about how these factors are impacting the White House and the Presidency, Congress, the judiciary, and the upcoming elections. He touches on all branches of government.
Elliott joined TIME in 2015, after spending almost a decade with the Associated Press covering politics, campaign finance, education and the White House.
He is a frequent guest on the Spectrum Podcast giving us Washington insight from a journalist’s perspective.
Colleges and universities across the country are trying to anticipate how to handle their students this fall.
Will they teach remotely or have students back on campus for in-person instruction? Will there be hybrids of partly remote instruction and partly regular classroom teaching?
Several institutions have already made decisions to have students back while others have chosen to teach primarily remotely. Many other universities are waiting until later in June to make their decisions.
Before academic administrations can make those final calls, they need data and they also need to have criteria to help make those decision.
They need to determine what factors are most important to protect the health and safety of students, faculty and staff at the same time that they provide quality educational opportunities.
In this episode of WOUB’s Spectrum Podcast, Dr. Kenneth Johnson helps us understand some of the criteria being used to make these critical decisions.
Dr. Johnson is the executive dean of the Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine and chief medical affairs officer at Ohio University. He also is the chair of the Ohio Council of Medical School Deans.
It is important to open universities fully for the economic well-being of the institutions plus the economic well-being of the broader communities in which the universities reside, says Dr. Johnson.
However, it also is imperative to protect the health and safety of the broadly defined university community and its neighbors, he adds.
Data is vital, but data sets are ever-changing, almost on a daily basis, Dr. Johnson notes.
So many universities are waiting until society opens a bit to see whether there is any significant resurgence of COVID-19 cases and whether the dangers increase.
Long-term planning is extremely difficult in an environment of ever-changing facts and projections.
There are valid arguments for opening the country after the COVID-19 shutdowns.
But those actions must be tempered by good medical data and with the safety of people being foremost, says Dr. Todd Fredrick, Associate Professor of Family Medicine at the Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine at Ohio University.
These decisions to open our businesses and society should be based on good science that minimizes the risk of a resurgence of the virus, Dr. Fredrick adds.
He cautions against having the decisions of when and how to safely reopen society being based on politics. He notes that politics of the extremes on the right and the left often cloud decision making that should be neutral and fact-based.
He also cautions against people looking for “perfect” solutions but instead, Dr. Fredrick suggests that we need to find “acceptable” options knowing there will be some increase in infections with the Coronavirus after states reopen.
He notes that we should not be seeking a “one-size fits all” solution for reopening but instead each state and each region should tailor an approach that maximizes openness while protecting the most vulnerable people in our populations.
Dr. Fredrick has an extensive military background and is a physician deeply knowledgeable about outbreaks such as the COVID-19 pandemic.
He is one of the founders of Media in Medicine, a multi-disciplinary program that assists both students and professionals with science and health related communications using a multimedia approach.
In addition to teaching and doing research, Dr. Fredrick also is the producer of the “Rotations Podcast.” It is a podcast available through Apple Podcasts that looks broadly at medical issues from human interest stories to highlighting the latest in medical research.
Local news outlets are being used more than ever by people during the Coronavirus pandemic. However, these local outlets are struggling for financial survival and many are losing the battle.
For the past month, major news outlets such as The New York Times, Atlantic, The Hill, Fortune and others have been ringing the death knell of local news media.
On April 10, the New York Times reported that 33,000 journalists have either lost their jobs, been furloughed or had their pay cut since the virus hit the United States.
Local advertising dollars have evaporated, according to Andrew Alexander, an award-winning journalist, former Washington Bureau Chief for Cox Newspapers and a former ombudsman at the Washington Post.
Although subscriptions are up, print advertising has hit a steep decline and online advertising is far less lucrative for local news outlets. Besides, digital advertising is dominated by Google and Facebook, Alexander says. This dilemma leaves local news entities in the lurch. Money to produce a local news product is scarce.
Conor Morris is the Associate Editor of the Athens News in Athens, Ohio, which prints a hard copy once a week. He is a journalist in the trenches of the local journalism battle for survival in a small college town in Southeastern Ohio.
He says that his local newspaper is definitely feeling the advertising pinch. They do the best they can in producing news but can’t do nearly as much as they once did. His hours even have been cut back to just 30 hours a week.
He adds that his newspaper has even resorted to asking people who read their free online content to give a donation to keep the local news coming. Morris equates the online donations to a “tip-jar” in a retail establishment.
Alexander notes that researchers had found that even before the virus struck that we had over 1,300 “news deserts” across the country – locations that have little to no local news available. Now that number is growing rapidly.
Researchers have also found that the lack of local news has a devasting impact on civic engagement. People pay less attention to the functions of local and school governance and even vote at lower rates.
Although the future looks dim for the resuscitation of local news, Alexander and Morris look to the possibility of grant funding, some non-profit models and governmental assistance to keep this vital part of our democracy alive.
While most of the focus, during this time of crisis, has been on our major metropolitan areas and big-city hospitals, state public health officials and local county health commissioners have been working overtime to make sure we are as safe as possible.
State Public Health doctors, like Dr. Amy Acton in Ohio and others have led the way in advising governors and assuring the public of up-to-date information and warnings, says Dr. Kenneth Johnson, executive dean of the Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine and medical affairs officer at Ohio University.
Public Health professionals have been the leaders in social distancing and other mitigation steps that have helped to blunt the curve of new COVID-19 cases.
Normally, public health doctors seldom gain any notoriety, but this health crisis has put many into the spotlight.
We have been able to see a system working that is mostly invisible to us in normal times, Dr. Johnson says. This includes the local county health commissioner who do the bulk of the “contact tracing” of infectious diseases.
If a person is diagnosed with COVID-19, the local health department must trace all people the infected person has come in contact with over a designated period of time. That potentially infected person is alerted and isolated to help dampen the spread of the disease.
Dr. Johnson announced that this week approximately 250 Heritage College third-year medical students will deploy to local health agencies where they will gain valuable clinical experience as they assist in containing the outbreak and supporting the hardworking public health teams that are directly addressing the pandemic. They also will help with contact tracing at local levels.
Dr. Johnson also is the chairperson of the Ohio Council of Medical School Deans and discusses in this edition of Spectrum how various medical schools are attempting to help the public health forces around the country battle this pandemic.
In any type of crisis, disaster or peril, trust is the most important element in successful crisis communications to the public.
This is according to John Born, who has had more than 30 years of experience in crisis communication.
Born served as the director of the Ohio Department of Public Safety for Gov. John Kasich and was on board during the Ebola crisis. He also previously served as colonel and superintendent of the Ohio State Highway Patrol, capping a 26-year career in law enforcement.
Although he admits that there are many different crisis communication styles among leaders, there are some fundamentals that are basic to all good communication. Born says that the spokesperson must be “truthful, consistent and trustworthy” in his/her messaging if he/she is to be believed by the public.
He also says that it is imperative that the messages presented by public officials be based on good science and be grounded in strong underlying facts.
He also adds that in today’s social media age, not only do crisis communicators need to talk directly to the public but they also must be able to counter erroneous narratives that breed on social media. It is necessary, according to Born, to do this immediately before a false narrative can spread.
Born also says that good crisis communication must be specific in what the public is being asked to do – for example, social distancing. The message must be repeated over and over repeating both the request and the underlying reasons for the request.
Born acknowledges that, although today many people get their news from biased sources at both ends of the political spectrum, that the public will eventually gravitate to the true facts and jettison political bias.
Born currently is working with the Scripps College of Communication and the Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs at Ohio University.
While we concentrate on medical pandemic experts and public health officials for prognostications about the Coronavirus pandemic, primary care physicians are often on the frontlines of the battle against COVID-19.
They frequently go unnoticed by the pundits and the policymakers.
They are the “unsung heroes” of this fight, says Dr. Kenneth H. Johnson, the Executive Dean of the Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine and the chief medical affairs officer at Ohio University.
Often, the primary care doctor is the first to determine whether a patient needs tested for the Coronavirus and handles the initial care of a patient.
More often, today, these initial decisions about care are made through telemedicine techniques including internet conversations and phone conferences, according to Dr. Johnson. This is a major change from the old method of going into an office to see a doctor.
The primary care physician routinely is in charge of a patient’s care before and after any hospitalization.
The frontline doctor also may be making choices about prescribing drugs for “compassionate use” to help patients in desperate need for relief, noted Dr. Johnson. This is a huge responsibility that is often placed on the primary care provider because the drugs may be originally designed and intended for a different use.
Dr. Johnson also describes how medical education is changing because of the pandemic.
He tells how medical schools have pulled their students from clinical situations for their safety. This does not apply to interns or resident doctors.
Medical school curricula also have converted to remote and online learning in lieu of being physically present for experiential learning. Medical students also are receiving a healthy dose of education about this particular virus and its evolving nature.
Dr. Johnson is the current chair of the Ohio Council of Medical School Deans.
When we are in times of crisis, we look to our leaders nationally, statewide and locally to provide us with guidance on how we will make it through the crisis and arrive safely on the other side.
At the foundation of what we expect from leadership is honesty and transparency, says Beverly Jones, an author, career consultant and executive coach.
Jones has been an attorney, lobbyist, corporate executive, trainer and career specialist as well as authoring the book, “Think Like an Entrepreneur and Act Like a CEO. Also, she is the host of WOUB’s Jazzed About Work podcast.
Jones notes that “positivity” is also at the top of the list of what we admire in leaders – not the overly optimistic type of positivity but the kind that gives confidence that we will get through this crisis and get through it together.
We also want our leaders to care about us, to have empathy and compassion—to be responsive to the broader needs of citizens or, at least, show concern about people’s pain and fears. We hate arrogance from our leaders in the time of crisis.
Jones claims that we also want our leaders to be collaborative in developing positions to meet a crisis. Bringing a team of top experts together and listening to their expertise is critical.
A leader must be decisive yet flexible enough to adapt to changing situations, she adds.
She cites Ohio Governor Mike DeWine and others as examples of leaders who have communicated honestly and often with constituents during the COVID-19 pandemic.
People rely on his daily press briefings which include the experts he is consulting. They display to the citizens of Ohio that there is leadership and a team approach to trying to keep the citizenry safe, Jones says.
She also cites Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, as a good example of honest and trustworthy leadership in the midst of our current crisis.
Health care will be one of the main issues facing Presidential candidates in the 2020 Election, according to Dr. Daniel Skinner, a political scientist and health policy professor at the Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine at Ohio University.
People are concerned about issues of health costs, access and health care quality, says Dr. Skinner. They also are extremely concerned that health insurance proposals cover pre-existing conditions.
He states that there is some confusion among the electorate when President Donald Trump says he is protecting people with pre-existing conditions at the same time his administration is in federal court asking that pre-existing protections be removed from the Affordable Care Act.
He says that determining President Trump and the Republicans position on health care is difficult because they really have not advanced or articulated a policy.
Dr. Skinner says that the Democrats certainly have not embraced a unified approach to health care.
In the podcast, he breaks down Sen. Bernie Sanders “Medicare for All” proposal into understandable terms. He also details the plans of other Democratic candidates.
Dr. Skinner says that the electorate folds into health care issues the concern over the high cost of pharmaceuticals. He states the strong pharmaceutical lobby in Washington has prohibited any Congressional action to lower prices but he thinks the Presidential candidates will be expected to address this matter.
Dr, Skinner is the co-director of the Osteopathic Health Policy Fellowship and an associate editor of a peer-reviewed journal “Critical Public Health.”
He also is the co-editor of the book “Not Far From Med: Stories of Opioids and Ohio” and the host of the podcast “Prognosis Ohio” addressing health care and health care policies.
Long before the Civil War and the Underground Railroad, “free people of color” were instrumental in settling the Northwest Territory as Americans pushed West after the Revolutionary War.
Dr. Anna-Lisa Cox, an award-winning historian on the history of racism and race relations in 19th Century America, has discovered hundreds of Black families who came West, owned land, and were instrumental in taming the frontier.
“When Detroit was still a Fort, African American pioneers were succeeding and rising on the nation’s earliest frontier,” says Cox. “Their story is one buried by violence and denial but a story of success on a level never thought possible.”
Their story, unfortunately, is one of backlash by many white settlers who, for example, taxed Black property owners for schools that African Americans were prohibited from attending among other discriminatory and prejudicial acts.
Cox tells the story of these black pioneers in her book, “The Bone and Sinew of the Land: America’s Black Pioneers and the Struggle for Equality.”
Cox is a non-resident Fellow at Harvard University’s Hutchins Center for African and African American Research. Recently, she also was a Research Associate at the new Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.
Most recently she was one of the keynote speakers at the Settling Ohio: First Nations and Beyond Conference at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio.
Anne Hazlett is the Senior Advisor for Rural Affairs at the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. In the year she has been in that post, she has traveled rural America to assess the drug crisis.
After meeting with grassroots elements across the country, she is encouraged that progress is being made in the opioid battle. Overdose deaths are down breaking a long-time upward trend.
Hazlett says she is heartened with the efforts generated by small rural communities across the country in taking command of this issue and providing innovative approaches to addiction and treatment.
She is especially laudatory about efforts at Ohio University to help local and regional communities. She especially noted a virtual reality segment on administering NARCAN in the case of an overdose. That project is being developed by the Game Research and Immersive Design Lab (GRID Lab) in the Scripps College of Communication at Ohio University.
While on the Ohio University campus, Hazlett met with community officials and several faculty and staff from the College of Health Sciences and Professions, the School of Nursing and the Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs.
Hazlett says that partnerships between universities and local communities are critical in combatting the opioid crisis and associated rural problems. She also says that the federal government plays a critical role in combatting addiction.
Lisa Friedman, a veteran reporter about climate change and environmental policy, says that covering climate change issues during the Trump administration has been a real challenge.
“I often feel like I’m just writing the obituaries for environmental and climate change policies,” she added.
Friedman notes that the Trump Administration has spent the bulk of the first three years in office ‘’undoing” the climate change policies and agreements of previous administrations.
She says, although currently the Trump Cabinet seems to have been purged of outright climate change deniers, that deregulation of climate issues still remains the norm.
Even though climate change is a global issue, the United States under the Trump presidency has tended to become more isolationist in its approaches.
Climate change, however as a political issue, is not dead, according to Friedman. She believes that it will be a vital part of the policy debates in the 2020 Presidential Election. Candidates will debate both climate change generally and the Green New Deal proposed by several new members of the House of Representatives.
Friedman will be the featured speaker on Tuesday, Feb. 11 at 7 p.m. in the Baker Center Ballroom at Ohio University. She will speak about “Covering Climate Change in the Age of Trump.”
Friedman’s lecture is the fourth installment of the “Challenging Dialogue” series created by Ohio University President Duane Nellis. The series provides an outlet for constructive conversations about hot global and national topics.
Three cases are pending before the Supreme Court of the United States that could have significant impacts on the employment rights of LGBT workers. Decisions will be issued before the Court recesses at the end of June.
These cases will determine if the 1964 Civil Rights Act prevents employment discrimination based upon sexual orientation and transgender status.
Lydia Lavelle, politician and law professor, breaks down these cases in plain English and gives us some context for these monumental decisions that could be issued at any time.
Lavelle is mayor of Carrboro, North Carolina near Durham. When she was elected in 2013, she was the first openly-lesbian mayor in North Carolina.
Lavelle also is a law professor at North Carolina Central University and one of her research areas has been the effects of anti-discrimination laws on LGBT people.
She notes that currently states across the country have a patchwork of civil right laws and employment discrimination against the LGBT population is allowed in much of the nation.
The cases, now pending before the Supreme Court, ask the Court to interpret Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation or transgender status.
Title VII bans discrimination based upon race, religion, national origin and sex. The question the Court is considering is whether the term “sex” applies to “sexual orientation” and “transgendered status.”
If the Court rules in favor of this interpretation, then state discriminatory practices would be banned under preemptive federal law. LGBT civil rights would be upheld across the country. The cases were argued before the court in early October.
These are the first LGBT rights cases to come before the court since the retirement of Justice Anthony Kennedy and the controversial appointment of Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Justice Kennedy was the swing vote giving same-sex couples the right to marry by a 5 to 4 Supreme Court vote.
We often hear stories about drug addiction and the opioid crisis from physicians, policy makers or people involved with the legal system. However, we rarely hear from people directly impacted by the epidemic.
That’s not the case in the book “Not Far from Me: Stories of Opioids and Ohio” co-edited by Dr. Daniel Skinner and Dr. Berkeley Franz from the Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine at Ohio University.
They collected some 50 personal stories from people living in 20 Ohio counties. The stories come from those directly affected by the drug and opioid epidemic. It showcases stories from drug abusers, their family members, member of the clergy, health professionals and policy makers.
The stories range from personal narratives to poetry and even photographs.
Although the book focuses on Ohio, the stories are reflective of personal experiences across the nation, Dr. Skinner says.
He believes it is important to hear first-hand from those who are directly involved in the opioid epidemic because it gives different perspectives to the conversations about the drug crisis.
The book is divided into five sections: establishing place, processing loss, making sense, devising solutions and challenging assumptions.
In addition to the book, Dr. Skinner and Dr. Franz have conducted town-hall type meetings in communities around Ohio to hear directly from people about how opioid abuse has affected them and their towns.
“Not Far From Me” is published by the Ohio State University Press. The website for the book and the community meetings is https://notfarfromme.org/
The Friday killing of Iranian Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani by an American drone has thrown the Middle East into chaos.
Philip Ewing, the former national security editor for National Public Radio (NPR) and currently an election security editor on the NPR Washington Desk, sorts out some of the possible short term and long term consequences of this action.
Even after Iranian officials have pledged “revenge” for the death of their national hero, United States President Donald Trump continues to threaten Iran with more violence and destruction claiming the United States will “take-out” 52 important targets in Iran – including cultural icons.
The U.S. is beefing up its military presence in the region by sending thousands more troops and B-52 bombers nearby.
Meanwhile, while the war of words escalates and preparations for possible conflicts solidify, the parliament in Iraq has passed a resolution demanding that America withdraw its troops from the country.
Mixed messages have been issued by the Pentagon whether the United States will comply.
As a result of the Iraq’s actions, President Trump has vowed to place crippling economic sanctions on the country – an American ally. However, the details of these sanctions are currently unknown, according to Ewing.
All of this preparation for conflict may be impetus for Iran and the United States to meet at the bargaining table, says Ewing. However, the prospects of that happening soon are nebulous.
In the short-term, the Middle East situation remains muddled and extremely dangerous.
Abdul Williams has had a hot decade of screenwriting for both the big screen and television. Over the past 10 years, he has written a feature film and two award winning series for the Black Entertainment Network (BET).
In 2010, his first feature film “Lottery Ticket” was released and in 2017 and 2018 BET released major series – “The New Edition Story” in 2017 and “The Bobby Brown Story” in 2018.
Both are winners of NAACP awards. Williams was the recipient of NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Writing in a Television Movie (2018) and he received the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Television Movie, Miniseries, or Dramatic Special (2019).
Williams talks to WOUB’s Spectrum Podcast about his career, his work, and his creative process.
He breaks down his writing rituals and explains how he develops and nurtures stories from his imagination to the final product.
He also discusses how he decides what projects he will work on and how he goes from the seed of an idea through all of the iterations of the work.
Besides his busy writing and producing career, Williams also has been a guest lecturer for the OHIO-in-LA Program of the Scripps College of Communication at Ohio University.
Since 2002, Rachel Dissell has been a reporter for the Cleveland Plain Dealer. During her 17 years at the newspaper, she has covered trauma and trauma victims and one major tragedy after another.
Her career has focused on complex and emotionally draining issues such as the impact of violence on women and children, life-changing environmental topics, corruption and several instances of social injustice.
Her reporting has instigated major policy changes, new governmental procedures, and legislation to protect the citizenry.
Covering trauma victims and tragedies call for several special reporting techniques, according to Dissell.
It often takes a special cautious approach and patience on the part of the reporter to get victims to tell their stories completely and thoroughly, she notes.
A reporter often must approach a victim with caution not to scare them or push them into isolation, Dissell adds.
She also notes that burn-out is a major factor facing reporters who spend their careers covering human tragedies. She discusses ways that she regains her perspective and her equilibrium after immersing herself in stories of violence and human turmoil.
Dissell is a Dart Fellow at the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma at the Columbia Journalism School and she also has been a Health Journalism Fellow at Annenberg School of Journalism at the University of Southern California.
Besides her full-time reporting, Dissell serves as an adjunct journalism professor at Kent State University, her alma mater.
The concept of using foreign correspondents housed in other countries to help inform the American public of the news is a concept that goes back to Colonial days.
Yet today, news organizations have drastically cut back on full-time correspondents abroad opting instead for a smaller reporting corps and the use of free-lancers and citizen journalists.
So says long-time journalists and authors John Maxwell Hamilton and Peter Copeland as they discussed the history, present and future of using foreign correspondents to report news to America.
Hamilton claims that Colonists re-published the news from newspapers abroad that arrived in the Colonies on ships. He says that the interest in the American public, at that time, was high to learn of news from the homelands of immigrants.
Foreign correspondents also were used to convey news in the 19th Century and on through the 20th Century, according to Hamilton. He believes, however, that the pinnacle of the status of the foreign correspondent was between World War I and World War II.
Copeland states unfortunately that news organizations started cutting foreign correspondent staffs as a cost cutting measure at the end of the 20th Century and the beginning of the 21st Century. He notes that now news organizations are relying more and more on freelance correspondents or citizen reporting through smart phones.
He notes that it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to check the accuracy of the some citizen reporting from world hotspots, thereby making accurate reporting difficult, at times.
Hamilton is the Hopkins P. Breazeale Professor in Louisiana State University’s Manship School of Journalism and a Senior Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center, in Washington, D.C. He also was the founding dean of the Manship School and served as executive vice chancellor and provost at LSU.
His most recent book is “Journalism’s Roving Eye” that won the Goldsmith Prize.
Copeland has been a reporter for four decades and has covered everything from local crime stories to foreign news as a correspondent. He most recently was the editor and general manager of the Scripps Howard News Service in Washington, D.C.
His latest book has just been released. It is “Finding the News: Adventures of a Young Reporter.” It is a recount of part of Copeland’s career but it also offers advice for aspiring young journalists.
Freelance journalist Tania Rashid says covering human tragedies can take a psychological toll on reporters who face human misery day-after-day.
She says it is immensely distressing to see people suffering, through no fault of their own, simply because of their race or ethnicity.
Rashid has spent a great amount of time covering the Rohingya refugee crisis as the Rohingya people flee Myanmar into Bangladesh to form the world’s largest refugee camp.
Her reporting of the trials, tribulations and turmoils of the refugees has led to stories about terrible living conditions, lack of food, rape, abuse and sex trafficking. She even went undercover to report how Rohingya young girls are recruited to work in brothels.
Rashid also reported on how 12 and 13 year old girls are being forced into marriages with strangers they don’t even know.
Rashid says that witnessing such immense human tragedy forces her, as a reporter, to sometimes reach out with help for the subjects of her stories. She cannot just remain a passive observer.
She also says that covering these types of stories of human carnage and degradation forces her constantly to examine her journalistic ethics. She is acutely aware sometimes of protecting the identity of her sources to prevent them from suffering further abuse because of talking with a reporter.
Rashid becomes infuriated with journalism colleagues who do not protect victims that they report about and sometimes cavalierly disclose names and faces of those who may suffer more abuse for telling their stories.
Rashid’s work has been seen on the PBS News Hour, CNN International, Vice News and on Al Jazeera. She has an undergraduate degree in history and global studies from UCLA and a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University.
You can review Rashid’s work at her website: http://taniarashid.com/
Author and election analyst Kyle Kondik, from the University of Virginia Center for Politics, says the latest poll results are tipping toward favoring impeachment because voters can more easily grasp the issues comprising the Ukrainian controversy.
The elements surrounding President Trump asking Ukrainian officials to provide political dirt on his potential Democratic opponent Joe Biden are much easier for voters to understand than the muddled and legalistic report from Special Counsel Robert Mueller, Kondik says.
Therefore, recent polls are showing over 50 percent of Americans favoring both impeachment of the President and removal from office by the U.S. Senate. However, Kondik cautions that these early polls are volatile and can easily change.
At this point, Kondik does not think there will be sufficient cross-over Republican voting in the Senate to remove Trump from office. Instead, he believes that Trump will be impeached by the Democratic House but not removed from office by the Republican Senate.
Two other Presidents have had similar fates…Bill Clinton and Andrew Johnson. Richard Nixon resigned the Presidency before being officially impeached.
Kondik also says that voter reaction to the impeachment process is especially important in key states like Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Ohio – where the Trump campaign has been focusing a great amount of time and resources.
Although Ohio has turned more and more Republican in recent elections, Kondik still predicts that Ohio will be a bellwether state for 2020. He believes it is volatile depending on the public’s reaction to President Trump as the election nears.
In 2016, Kondik authored “The Bellwether: Why Ohio Picks the President” – published by the Ohio University Press.
President Donald Trump’s newly announced withdrawal of American troops from Northeastern Syria opens the door for Turkey to attack America’s Kurdish allies in the region, says Dr. Nukhet Sandal, Chair of the Political Science Department at Ohio University.
The potential of Turkey attacking an unprotected U.S. ally is dangerous at many levels, according to Dr. Sandal.
Primarily it sends a message to other U.S. allies that we will not stand behind them during times of international upheaval. We will not protect them, she says. It makes America untrustworthy in her view.
Dr. Sandal also believes that this abandonment of the Kurds invites further meddling in this region by Turkey, Iran, and Russia.
Most importantly, she notes that currently, the Kurds have about 10,000 ISIS prisoners in their custody and about 70,000 ISIS family members. The Kurds have said that if they are fighting the Turks that they will not be able to appropriately guard these prisoners and their release or escape could be imminent.
Trump has said that the U.S. and its allies have totally defeated ISIS and destroyed the caliphate.
However, Dr. Sandal says that ISIS can easily become reconstituted perhaps even under a different name and become a huge threat to the United States very quickly, given Trump’s decision to abandon the Kurds and this region of the Middle East.
Dr. Sandal has both Turkish and Kurdish heritage. She is an award-winning teacher and researcher. She received her doctorate degree from the University of Southern California and was a postdoctoral fellow at the Watson Institute of International Studies at Brown University.
She is the author of numerous academic articles for prestige journals and has written two books about religion, conflict and international relations. She also has been featured by media outlets such as the BBC, the Washington Post and the Huffington Post.
Chris Thile is an acclaimed musician and songwriter, as well as the host of American Public Media’s nationally syndicated live, weekly variety show “Live From Here.”
WOUB’s Emily Votaw speaks with Thile about the creative process behind his work for “Live From Here”, what it’s like to host a live radio show in 2019, and what he enjoys about performing on college campuses.
Besides being a solo artist, Thile was one of the co-founders of the Grammy-winning acoustic trio, Nickel Creek, and is a member of the bluegrass group “Punch Brothers.” In 2012, Thile was a McArthur Fellow.
Emily Votaw is the Culture Editor at WOUB Public Media and an occasional guest host on WOUB’s Spectrum Podcast.
College and university student enrollments are in a downward spiral because of multiple factors including parents and students questioning the value of a college education, according to Dr. Richard Vedder, author, historian, columnist, and emeritus professor of economics at Ohio University.
Demographically, there is a decline in the number of traditional college eligible students born during a period of low fertility in America and the numbers are expected to get worse. The number of traditional 18-22 year old students will drop more than 15% between 2025 and 2029. Currently, we are in our seventh straight year of decline nationally.
Not only are there fewer students but students and parents are now questioning the value of higher education compared to the costs involved.
Dr. Vedder says there is a “flight to quality” – students want to get in the elite institutions of higher learning but if they can’t many do not see a lesser ranked college or university as a viable alternative.
Students look at the high costs of education, mounting student debt and balance that against the fact that 41.4 percent of college graduates are underemployed, according to Dr. Vedder.
College educated students are now doing jobs that were formerly done by those with lesser education and the earnings differential between college and high school graduates is now declining, Dr. Vedder adds.
In short, there are too many college graduates for the number of professional, managerial and technical jobs available.
Colleges and university who are most dependent on tuition as revenue will be hurt the worst by enrollment declines and Dr. Vedder says experts are noting that many universities will either close their doors or merge with other institutions over the next two decades.
He notes that universities have high labor costs and high fixed costs and those costs need to be met by enrollment driven tuitions and other fees. But, if students are not present more and more colleges and universities will find themselves in financial binds.
Some educators worry that colleges and universities have been too slow to recognize these trends and are lagging behind in innovations to increase the value of degrees.
Dr. Vedder is also a senior fellow at The Independent Institute and was a founding director of the Center for College Affordability and Productivity in Washington, D.C.
Ohio University researchers and students are fighting to prevent the dreaded Chagas disease in Ecuador and its spread to the United States.
Each year, according to the World Health Organization, over 8 million people are infected with Chagas disease mostly in Latin America. However, nearly 300,000 people in the United States are also infected.
The disease kills nearly 20,000 people each year. Additionally, some 15,000 babies are born infected with the disease.
Chagas disease is spread by a parasite called the “kissing bug” and it is prevalent in southern Ecuador. It thrives in rural and overcrowded urban centers, according to Dr. Mario Grijalva, the director of the Infectious and Tropical Disease Institute at Ohio University.
To prevent the spread of the disease, new housing units must be built for families to safely occupy. These units are free of the “kissing bugs.”
Dr. Grijalva’s Institute has partnered with various academic units at Ohio University to raise awareness of Chagas disease and to help raise money to build the new homes. To date, seven homes have been built and plans are to build 60 more over the next two years.
When this project is completed in 2021, enough data will be available to demonstrate whether new housing can act as a viable preventative tactic against this deadly disease.
Multiple colleges and departments of Ohio University are involved in this project of engaged research and service learning. For example, the Scripps College of Communication is providing marketing materials and helping to design a crowd-funding campaign, according to Dean Dr. Scott Titsworth.
Ohio University also is working with the Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador (PUCE).
Dr. Titsworth says that this partnership is a perfect example of community engagement on the part of both faculty and students. The work in Ecuador expands students’ world view and provides a real world laboratory for their communication skills, according to Titsworth.
You can read more about this multi-disciplinary effort and how to donate to the cause at the following website. https://www.h3living.org/
Amy Nordrum, a veteran science journalist, feels that fact-based science reporting helps an audience navigate through new technologies and new discoveries that will impact people’s daily lives.
Nordrum currently is news editor of “IEEE Spectrum,” an award-winning technology and engineering magazine based in New York City. She also is a frequent guest on Public Radio’s “Science Friday” with Ira Flatow talking about a wide-range of science topics.
Nordrum writes and edits news stories about computing, artificial intelligence, power and energy, biomedical engineering, and telecommunications.
Her favorite stories cover elements of business and technology and explain the importance of technology to the average person.
She says she really enjoys her guest appearances on Science Friday. She tells us how the appearances are scheduled and how she prepares for the show.
Over her journalism career, Nordrum has done a wide range of science reporting.
She has written about health care, biotech, and pharmaceuticals for the “International Business Times,” based in New York City before joining IEEE Spectrum.
Nordrum earned her master’s degree in science journalism from New York University and her bachelor’s degree in journalism from Ohio University.
She recently appeared at Ohio University to talk about ethics in science journalism.
Nordrum is currently completing an MBA with a focus on media management at New York University’s Stern School of Business.
Most entertainment news is generated on the east or west coasts and not in the heartland. Yet, John Kiesewetter spent 40 professional years at the “Cincinnati Enquirer” and three decades as its “Television Critic” writing everything from local criticism to major features.
After his job was eliminated at the Enquirer, his career continues to this day. He is now the TV/Media reporter for Cincinnati Public Radio, WVXU FM and wvxu.org. There he writes an almost daily blog, and contributes on-air interviews to various locally generated radio programs.
“I had a great run when newspapers were great, when papers had big features staffs and money to travel,” Kiesewetter says. Travel allowed him access to major celebrities and the latest in entertainment news.
But, Kiesewetter doesn’t want just any story. Instead, he focuses on stories he thinks are important to the average listener and reader.
That philosophy has served him well. He tells us how he traveled to meet stars as well as talking with celebrities who came through Cincinnati.
He has talked with classic comic performers like Lucille Ball, Bob Newhart, Bob Hope, Stan Freberg, Sid Caesar, Carl Reiner, Steve Allen, Red Skelton, Don Knotts, Andy Griffith and Bill Cosby.
He also focused on celebrities with local Southwest Ohio backgrounds such as: George Clooney, Woody Harrelson, Martin Sheen, Rob Lowe, Allison Janney, Johnathan Winters, David Letterman and sports commentator Dan Patrick.
The list of stars he has interviewed is endless and his stories are captivating.
In addition to covering the typical entertainment fare, Kiesewetter started critiquing local newscasts and anchors and he has a passion for sports commentators and play-by-play people such as Red Barber, Bob Costas, Al Michaels, Chris Collinsworth, Pete Rose, Joe Nuxhall and Marty Brennamen. He is currently writing a book about the life of former Cincinnati Reds pitcher and long-time broadcaster Joe Nuxhall.
“I think part of my success as a TV/Media writer is my solid news training, so I could cover a breaking story, see a trend story, and write a news personality profile, either on a local or a national level,” Kiesewetter adds.
“I wasn’t a real flashy writer, but I was informative as hell.”
Science reporting and writing has become the mainstay of award-winning journalist Maria Gallucci.
She feels that factual writing about the environment and in-depth science reporting is important and necessary in a world clouded with concepts of “alternative facts” and “spin.”
Gallucci is a bi-lingual reporter who has had global experience with an emphasis on reporting about energy and the environment.
One of her specialties is reporting about the environmental footprint and issues facing the container ship industry. She currently covers clean energy development and environmental issues in the world of maritime cargo shipping.
Gallucci is a former 2017-2018 University of Texas Energy Journalism Fellow and has worked for Mashable, International Business Times, Makeshift Media and InsideClimate News as a reporter and editor. She also has reported from Mexico City.
She talks with the Spectrum Podcast about science reporting and some of the issues she confronts as a free-lance journalist.
She also talks about ethical issues facing science reporters today.
Gallucci currently is working out of New York City.
Throughout his 31 years as an astronomer on the faculty at Harvard Dr. Robert Kirshner has been a leader in using supernovae to map the universe and chart the universe’s expansion over time.
Some of his discoveries gave him Science Magazine’s Breakthrough of the Year Award in 1998 and led to a Nobel Prize in Physics in 2011.
He is one of the leaders in the concept that the universe is not only expanding but it is doing so today at an accelerated rate compared to years past. This expansion is thanks to “dark energy,” says his team of scientists.
Dr. Kirshner, however, has not been satisfied with just communicating to fellow-scientists about his discoveries. He wants the average person to understand the concepts of the expanding universe and the rolls of our solar system and galaxy in the much greater cosmos.
He has broken down his discoveries into understandable terms for the non-scientist in his popular book “The Extravagant Universe: Exploding Stars, Dark Energy, and the Accelerating Cosmos, published by Princeton Science Library and updated in 2016.
Dr. Kirshner has been a definite leader in his field. He has worked with both NASA and the National Science Foundation to influence a national strategy in astronomy and astrophysics.
From 2004-2006, he was president of the American Astronomical Society, the national society for professionals working in astronomy and astrophysics.
Currently, Dr. Kirshner serves as the Chief Program Officer for Science at the Gordan and Betty Moore Foundation. He works to distribute about $100 million per year for science projects funded by the foundation.
As storms, tornadoes and flooding ravage the Midwest and The Plains and as a new and scary hurricane season approaches, more and more people rely on The Weather Channel and the Weather Group to provide them live coverage of major weather events.
We count on up-to-the-minute, live weather storytelling to keep us abreast of the latest developments and whether we, or our friends and relatives, are in harm’s way.
Most of us who watch the Weather Channel during times of live weather coverage rely on a woman we never see on camera and don’t know – Angela Massie. She is the vice president of live storytelling at The Weather Channel in Atlanta and coordinates the network’s live coverage across the nation during times of weather peril.
She determines what mandates live coverage and how assets and talent are distributed to bring the best and broadest form of coverage.
She came to the Weather Channel in 2014 as an executive producer and then became a senior executive producer before being promoted to vice president.
Currently, the Weather Channel serves about 81 million American households every day and that number spikes higher during times of weather catastrophes.
Massie traces her career path for this week’s Spectrum Podcast. She talks about how difficult it is to produce “LIVE” programming or news or weather events. She has had extensive experience in producing all types of live television.
Before coming to the Weather Channel, Massie rose through the producing ranks at CNN Worldwide Headquarters in Atlanta. She gave us live programming on “CNN Newsroom,” “Live from…” and “Rick’s List.” She also was the executive producer of CNN Headline News’ “Evening Express.”
For CNN, she produced live coverage of: the last space shuttle launch, the royal wedding of Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge, and the funeral of Pope John Paul II.
Massie has already won the Dupont and Peabody broadcasting awards and has been nominated for a national Emmy for coverage of Hurricane Harvey.
“The Wall: Unknown stories. Unintended consequences.” is a Pulitzer Prize winning multimedia series from USA Today Network and Gannett that delves into life along the southern border of the United States – the same border where President Donald Trump proposes to build his wall.
“The explanatory report, led by then Arizona Republic’s vice president of news and editor Nicole Carroll, recently named editor in chief of USA TODAY, provides an in-depth look at the border through immersive technology, including aerial and 360-degree video, virtual reality, bots, drones, documentaries, photos, podcasts, and LiDAR data,” says USA Today promotional material.
When The Wall received the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting, the Pulitzer Committee said it won “for vivid and timely reporting that masterfully combined text, video, podcasts and virtual reality to examine, from multiple perspectives, the difficulties and unintended consequences of fulfilling President Trump's pledge to construct a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico.”
Instrumental in the success of this project is Annette Meade, Senior Project Manager – Storytelling Studio USA TODAY Network and Innovation Director at Gannett Innovation Lab.
The USA Today Network explains Meade’s role as “…to bridge the space between digital development and content creation to help produce top-level and engaging story experiences.”
Meade recently talked with the Spectrum Podcast and explained how this major journalistic project was conceived and brought into reality. She also touts the virtues of multimedia and immersive storytelling as a way of putting the audience in the middle of the story being covered instead of being a passive reader or watcher on the periphery.
She believes the interactive and immersive storytelling are the wave of the future. No longer can major stories be told in just one manner but instead multiple media formats and innovations are required.
A new podcast will launch on Memorial Day – “Defining Moments Podcast: Conversations about Health and Healing.
The podcast is created by Dr. Lynn Harter and is produced by WOUB Public Media. Dr. Harter is a Communication Studies professor, Emmy-winning documentarian, storyteller and the co- founder of the Barbara Geralds Institute for Storytelling and Social Impact in the Scripps College of Communication at Ohio University.
Her academic specialty is narrative theory and storytelling practice and she is an expert in the field of health communication.
The new podcast showcases stories about living well in the midst of vulnerability and hardship. Episodes feature an eclectic group of guests who share moments of uncertainty, innovation and resilience.
Dr. Harter draws on twenty years of experience in health contexts to spark conversations that move between personal anecdotes and societal health challenges.
In a new podcast feature, each episode will be accompanied by articles written for “Health Communication” published by the Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group and other online resources.
Dr. Harter talks with the Spectrum Podcast and previews episodes coming in Season 1 and describes the purpose and the genesis of this new podcast concept.
In addition to this conversation, she also has available a three minute preview of the podcast.
You can access that preview at https://woub.org/listen/
or at Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/coming-soon-defining-moments-conversations-about-health/id1456643447?i=1000432224096.
The preview also is available on Stitcher https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/woub-public-media-2/defining-moments-conversations-about-health-and-healing?refid=stpr
and at Google Play https://play.google.com/music/listen?u=0#/ps/If73nhrtzc3j3mw6fvc4h7lsm6u
Listening is the key to important and difficult conversations, according to Al Letson the current host of “Reveal,” the first hour-long public broadcasting show and podcast produced by the Center for Investigative Reporting and the Public Radio Exchange (PRX).
He claims with the explosion of social media and cable news shows that Americans have lost the ability to listen to each other. We talk past one another instead of with one another.
He also claims that sometimes the best way to deal with a confrontational conversation or hostile ideas being expressed is to just walk away. He feels that bitter arguments should not replace constructive conversation--but if they do—he does not engage. He does not give them space in his life.
Letson equates true listening to an “act of love.” He claims that sometimes the most powerful thing that a person can do is “shut up and listen.”
Letson has spent much of his career listening and talking, especially on his famous radio programs and podcasts. From 2008 to 2014, he was the host and executive producer of PRX’s State of the Re:Union podcast where Letson travelled across the country talking to a wide variety of people.
He helped launch “Reveal” in 2015.
Letson also has created and is co-host of his own podcast “Errthang” – a show that features storytelling, radio drama, and pop culture.
Besides his active life in radio, Letson is a performance poet, playwright, writer, and actor. Currently, Letson also is writing for DC comics and he has produced two graphic novels.
He recently visited Ohio University as part of the Challenging Dialogue Lecture Series created by President Dr. Duane Nellis.
Dr. Venki Ramakrishnan, a molecular biologist, is president of the Royal Society in Great Britain, the same organization formerly headed by Sir Isaac Newton and Ernest Rutherford.
He feels it is the duty and obligation of top scientists to explain, in understandable terms, their discoveries to the general population to extend understanding and knowledge.
Dr. Ramakrishnan, in this Spectrum Podcast, explains ribosomes. They exist in every living cell to synthesize proteins.
For his work in ribosomes, Dr. Ramakrishnan shared a Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2009. In this podcast, he uses approachable metaphors to explain the functioning of these highly complex cell components.
In recent years, Dr. Ramakrishnan has extended his work in ribosomes and has taken his discoveries to a higher level.
He notes that malfunctioning ribosomes can be instrumental in causing certain diseases. However, harnessing and directing the functioning of ribosomes can bring about cures for some diseases and human maladies.
For example, greater knowledge of ribosomes may lead to better antibiotics being developed against bacterial infections.
Dr. Ramakrishnan also traces his career from his native India to getting a doctorate in physics from Ohio University. He then went on to have a postdoctoral position in biology with Dr. Peter Moore’s lab at Yale and he worked at several other American labs before transferring his talents to the Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, England.
Just recently, Dr. Ramakrishnan has released a book he authored titled: “Gene Machine: The Race to Decipher the Secrets of the Ribosome.” In the book, he talks about his discoveries and his path to uncover this critical component of living cells.
In May, Dr. Ramakrishnan will receive an honorary doctorate from his alma mater Ohio University.
Despite covering major stories in over 100 countries, award winning photojournalist Jeff Widener is best known for his iconic photograph of a lone Chinese protester standing in front of a column of tanks during the Tiananmen Square protest in Beijing, China in 1989.
The ‘Tank Man’ photo won Widener worldwide acclaim. He was a Pulitzer Finalist and his photo was picked by America Online as one of the top 10 photos of all time.
More interesting than the photo, however, is the backstory of how Widener got the photo and his surreptitious way of getting the film back to the Associated Press office in China to distribute the picture worldwide.
On this edition of the “Spectrum Podcast,” hear the details from Widener himself…the twists and turns of what he had to do to get this amazing photograph.
Also, hear how this famous photojournalist got started taking pictures at age 7 and while in high school won the 1974 Kodak/Scholastic National Photography Scholarship beating out over 8000 competitors.
He then worked for several major newspapers until he was, at age 24, named to a position as foreign correspondent photographer for United Press International in Brussels, Belgium. In 1989 he was named the Associated Press Southeast Asia Picture Editor in Bangkok, Thailand. He has covered the Gulf War and ethnic battles in Sri Lanka.
Widener also was the first photojournalist to capture and file digital images from the South Pole.
Widener currently is a freelance photographer based in Hamburg, Germany. He also presents guest lectures at colleges and universities across the globe.
Recently, Widener was a featured speaker at the 2019 Schuneman Symposium on New Media and Photo Journalism in the Scripps College of Communication at Ohio University.
Kashmir is a region located high in the Himalayan Mountains between two historical adversaries: India and Pakistan. It was partitioned in the 1940’s at the end of British colonial rule but it remains a point of unrest even today.
Over the past decades, Kashmir has been a battleground for skirmishes and armed conflict between the two nuclear powers of India and Pakistan. It is part of the geo-political tug of war between these two powers.
However, many groups within Kashmir are pushing for independence from both countries.
Kashmir is the focus of research for Dr. Haley Duschinski, the Director and Graduate Director of the Center for Law, Justice, and Culture at Ohio University. She recently returned from Brussels and the European Parliament’s human rights subcommittee hearing on Kashmir.
She also attended the United Nation’s Human Rights Council sessions in Geneva and conducted a human rights visit to Northern Ireland.
Although India and Pakistan continue to fight over the Kashmir region, many Kashmir residents are seeking independence from both countries and to establish their own country. In fact, many groups within the region feel that Kashmir is an “occupied territory.”
Dr. Duschinski, an anthropologist, studies, researches and writes about the human rights of the Kashmir people and especially the women of the region.
Recently, she was one of the editors of critical Kashmir studies resource: “Women and Kashmir: Knowing in Our Own Ways.” It was published by the Review of Women’s Studies, Economic and Political Weekly.
She also has co-edited “Resisting Occupation in Kashmir” published in 2018 by the University of Pennsylvania Press.
She, likewise, co-edited “’Rebels of the Streets: Violence, Protest and Freedom in Kashmir,” in Resisting Occupation in Kashmir, also published in 2018 by the University of Pennsylvania Press.
Dr. Duschinski is an award-winning teacher and scholar. Among her specialties are the studies of Kashmir, India and South Asia.
She plans to return to the region this summer to further her research and to advance the causes of human rights.
Tania Rashid views storytelling focusing on human rights and women’s issues through her own personal lens of experiences.
Her life encounters have molded her into the journalist and filmmaker that she is – tracking down stories of the enslaved, the impoverished, and women who are abused, raped, trafficked and discounted by various societies.
As a young girl, Rashid grew up in Saudi Arabia where she witnessed her Bangladesh mother be deprived of even the most basic rights – such as the right to drive or the right to an education.
She then moved back to her ancestral home in Bangladesh where she found rampant governmental corruption, political instability and violence.
From there, her family moved to the United States and settled in Utah where she was the “only brown, Muslim girl in my class, in a community of Caucasian Mormons.”
Rashid learned first-hand what it felt like to be “different” and to be the target of racism, she says.
Her background in the Middle East and South Asia combined with her being the subject of racism in Utah, led her to a degree in history and global studies at UCLA in 2007. She also did an internship with ABC’s “Nightline.”
Upon graduation, she worked for Al Gore’s global “Current TV Network” for three years watching other female journalist role-models. She learned that she had a unique perspective but wanted to learn more about journalism and filmmaking.
With encouragement from other women journalists, Rashid enrolled at Columbia University. Although she felt that she had to go the extra mile to prove herself to her professors, she received her master’s degree in broadcast journalism and documentary filmmaking.
“I learned to shoot, edit, and produce my own stories,” she says. “I wanted to be a one-woman shop to tell stories the way I wanted them to be told.”
To date, she has covered major breaking news events globally plus has delved deeply into dark issues such as sex trafficking in Bangladesh and the plight of refugees.
Rashid’s work can often be seen on the PBS NewsHour, Al Jazeera English, CNN International and VICE News. She recently visited Ohio University for the Schuneman Symposium on New Media and Photojournalism.
Jennifer Rudick Zunikoff believes in the power of stories and storytelling to build communities and to bridge cultural and religious divides in our country.
Zunikoff is a storyteller, poet, educator, facilitator and coach and is the founder and director of The Golden Door: Storytelling for Social Justice.
“It is an organization that brings storytellers and facilitators to schools to coach teachers and to educate students and build safe, encouraging classroom communities,” says Zunikoff.
For almost 10 years she also co-taught Oral Histories of Holocaust Survivors at Goucher College and coached over 100 students in the genre of oral histories.
Zunikoff will be in Athens this weekend as part of a weekend collaborative “Community Building” workshop organized by the Appalachian Ohio Storytelling Project. The theme of the weekend is “A Welcoming America: Take Your Place at Our Table,” according to Thomas Burnett, director of the Storytelling Project.
Zunikoff will be the featured storyteller at a Saturday, April 6, concert at Christ Lutheran Church at 69 Mill Street, Athens, Ohio at 7:30pm. There is a suggested donation of $10.00.
Sunday's, April 7th, "Building Community in Athens" workshop is at The Athens Friends Meeting House 26 Birge Street in Chauncey, Ohio from 2 to 4pm . There is no charge for the workshop and it is open to the public.
Zunikoff told the Spectrum podcast about the power of storytelling. Although she is a strong force in telling the stories of Judaism, Zunikoff has spearheaded projects bringing Jewish and Muslim communities together through stories to bridge cultural and religious divides.
She is a believer that personal stories can lead to inclusiveness.
She was named a 2016 Baltimore Social Innovator by the Warnock Foundation. She also is a fellow with the Institute of Islamic, Christian and Jewish studies.
Zunikoff is a strong advocate of not only telling powerful stories but in “listening” to the voices of others. She says that the best storytellers are great listeners.
A group of reporters at The Cincinnati Enquirer worked together to create a multimedia series that would tell the real story of one week of the heroin epidemic in the Cincinnati metropolitan area from many different aspects.
To tackle this voluminous task, it would take the commitment of the whole newsroom, says Dan Horn the leader of this reporting and photographic entourage. Once the group got approval from editors for this project, they launched into a massive effort to look at the heroin epidemic from many different angels.
They used data as well as personal stories of addiction, overdose, rehabilitation and death. They also examined the impacts of the newborns and babies of addicts, according to Anne Saker, who covers the science of health and the business of medicine for the Enquirer.
The result was that this series won the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting.
Horn says they were not looking for an award while assembling the story. Instead, they were seeking ways of bringing the scourge of the heroin epidemic into the minds and hearts of readers and viewers. They wanted to put faces on the statistics and show the problem of addiction at multiple levels.
For example, Saker followed one young mother who had an 8 month old child. The young woman was working her way through a rehab program and was about to emerge back into society. Saker then learned that after 10 days, the mother died from an overdose and the baby is now with relatives.
Horn and Saker say this type of story is not atypical. Yet, sometimes rehab does work and recovering addicts go on to lead productive and drug-free lives.
Horn and Saker also talked with the Spectrum Podcast about the emotional attachment they felt as reporters to the series and how many of the people in the newsroom felt real pain and anguish after the story had been published.
Horn and Saker were part of the Pulitzer Prize winning team that talked with students at Ohio University as part of the Schuneman Symposium on New Media and Photojournalism at the E. W. Scripps School of Journalism and the Scripps College of Communication.
Whether you like the content of his tweets or not, President Donald Trump will go down in history as one of our most transparent Presidents, according to Philip Elliott, a veteran Washington correspondent for Time, Inc.
Elliott claims that people know what the President is thinking or focusing on in real time if one follows the nature of his tweets on Twitter. This is especially true of this past weekend when the President delivered over 50 tweets on a variety of topics from Saturday Night Live’s parody of him, to John McCain, to Fox News, Fox News anchors, and corporate CEOs.
The scattering of topics, according to Elliott, also indicates to some White House observers that the President had nothing on his schedule and was attempting to grab the headlines away from the prior week’s rebukes by the Democratic House of Representatives and the Republican Senate.
Some pundits also believe that a common theme of Trump’s most recent “Twitter Blizzard” is that the President and his followers are being victimized by others in power in Washington and that Trump is a victim just like many people in his political base feel victimized. He contends he is a victim of Congress, the Democrats, the FBI, the Justice Department, the Special Counsel’s Office, former employees and the news media.
The analysis says that the more Trump’s base thinks he is being victimized like them, the more loyal they become to him.
In short, even though he is the President of the United States, Trump is framing himself as the “put upon outsider.”
While Trump paints his own portrait for 2020, the Democrats are fielding a record number of Presidential candidates. The field represents old and young, new ideas and well-worn Democratic principles. There are candidates steeped in issues, policy wonks, and there are candidates that have a following based upon personality and charisma.
Although this array is interesting from a reporter’s perspective, Elliott thinks that the Democratic Party could arrive at its convention in Milwaukee in 2020 without a predetermined candidate, thereby giving an advantage to Trump.
Finally, Elliott expressed concern over President Trump’s reference last week to potential violence from the military, police, and bikers. He also talks about the rise of white nationalism and anti-Semitism. He explains how reporters covering the White House are routinely subject to death threats based upon their profession, their heritage and/or their religion.
Until about 1920, rural women in the United States outnumbered urban women and they were the genesis of many historic women’s movement initiatives.
For example, rural women took the lead in temperance, women’s suffrage and gaining educational opportunities for women, according to Dr. Katherine Jellison, the Chairwoman of the History Department at Ohio University.
Dr. Jellison also is co-chair of the national Rural Women’s Studies Association whose purpose is to “improve the visibility of rural women’s studies research and activism around the world.”
Dr. Jellison describes to the Spectrum Podcast about how rural women in the Midwest founded the Women’s Christian Temperance Union the (WCTU) in the late 19th century to fight alcohol, alcohol sales and alcohol abuse.
The movement grew out of the concept that women were the protectors of the home and children and therefore, needed to curb alcohol abuse – especially among men. Women needed to protect the family from abuse, from the male wasting their limited money on alcohol and gambling and from other “immoral” and destructive behaviors.
The first WCTU group was organized in rural Hillsborough, Ohio (Highland County) in 1873. It was officially recognized in Cleveland, Ohio in 1874.
As rural women fought to advance the temperance movement, they realized they needed laws to curtail drink in addition to moral persuasion.
Therefore, according to Dr. Jellison, these women started the women’s suffrage movement to gain the right to elect representatives who reflected their beliefs in curbing access to alcohol.
The 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote was passed by Congress on June 4, 1919 and officially ratified on August 18, 1920.
In addition to its stands against alcohol and the push for women’s suffrage, the WCTU lobbied against child labor and in favor of opening educational opportunities for women.
The recent conflict between Pakistan and India makes an already volatile region of South Asia even more unstable.
Over the past two weeks, the two countries have battled with air strikes into each country provoked by a suicide bombing that killed 40 people in India on February 14. It was executed by a terrorist from the often contested Kashmir region.
This rare use of air power is a major concern because both of these neighboring countries are nuclear powers, says Michael Kugelman, a leading specialist of Pakistan, India, and Afghanistan and their relationships with the United States.
Kugelman is the Deputy Director of the Asia Program and Senior Associate for South Asia at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C. He is an author, editor, and contributor to major media outlets around the world.
The area of conflict is the Kashmir region controlled by India but always in dispute between the two countries and the indigenous population of the region.
The stability of this area is always important, says Kugelman, but because both countries have nuclear capabilities, any conflict between these two nations takes on heighten gravity.
He notes that these are two countries who have hated each other since they were partitioned from the former British Empire in 1947 and who are separated by a contested border (Kashmir), by religions Muslim and Hindu and both have nuclear arms.
Therefore, any disturbance in this region takes on global consequences and escalating military strikes generate grave concerns.
Normally, Kugelman states, that the United States has taken a “hands-off approach to this region except when there is a crisis.” Then the US tries to play the role of peacemaker.
Although the U.S. attempts to keep good relations with both countries, it has an expanding defense partnership with India which makes Pakistan uneasy.
Decades long protections afforded media against libel actions are being threatened to be upended by the duo of President Donald Trump and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.
President Trump repeatedly has said that is should be easier to successfully sue the news media for libelous stories and that protections now afforded the media should be eradicated. He claims he will lead that charge.
Just this month, he was joined in that belief by public statements made by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. He is calling for the destruction of the foundational ruling in the 1964 case “New York Times v. Sullivan” which says, that to be libelous against a public official, reporters must publish falsities with actual malice.
That means that to be libelous a reporter must know that the statements in a story are false or publish them with reckless disregard for their truth, according to Dr. Aimee Edmondson, graduate director of the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University.
Dr. Edmondson recently wrote an op-ed piece on the subject for “USA Today” saying that the easing of the standards of fault required for a libel case against a public official would stifle much needed investigative reporting and be detrimental to American journalism.
She also notes that much of the aggressive reporting of the civil rights movement, the anti-Vietnam War movement and Watergate would not have occurred without the protections of “New York Times v. Sullivan.”
Dr. Edmondson is a journalism historian who often researches the nexus between journalism and legal issues. Her new book, “In Sullivan's Shadow: The Use and Abuse of Libel Law during the Long Civil Rights Struggle” will be published in August.
Dr. Edmondson told the Spectrum Podcast that it is “ironic” that Justice Thomas, the only African-American on the Supreme Court, would be leading the attack, along with Trump, to strip away protections that encouraged courageous journalism during the Civil Rights Movement.
Dr. Edmondson also explains the differences between American libel laws and those in Europe. She also notes that libel in the United States is a civil tort where one party sues another for money damages. It is not a criminal act as it is in many other countries.
When the dust settles from U.S. troop withdrawals in Syria and Afghanistan and troop build-ups in Iraq, the primary target of American hostility in the Middle East is Iran, according to Dr. Ziad Abu-Rish, an expert in Middle East history, social movements, popular protests and U.S. Middle Eastern policy.
He says, that while other troops are coming home, some of President Donald Trump’s advisors are “openly calling for military action and more sanctions against Iran.”
Dr. Abu-Rish, the director of the Middle East and North Africa Studies certificate program at Ohio University, says that there definitely has been an “escalation of anti-Iranian rhetoric” by the Trump Administration and especially from National Security Advisor John Bolton.
Trump is even proposing more troops in Iraq to “keep an eye on” the activities of Iran, celebrating the 40th anniversary of its revolutionary government. There even has been talk by the Trump group of giving nuclear capabilities to Saudi Arabia as a protection against Iran.
Meanwhile, concerns are still present as Pres. Trump announces that the U.S. troops are coming home from Syria and Afghanistan.
Dr. Abu-Rish and other observers are concerned that the U.S. might just withdraw troops without negotiating any terms of withdrawal and leave allies like the Kurds abandoned to eventual conflicts with Turkey.
While withdrawing troops from the region is considered a positive by most foreign policy experts, it is not considered advisable to do so without negotiated settlements and negotiated terms. Dr. Abu-Rish says that even if the U.S. withdraws ground troops, U.S. bases will still remain in the region and U.S. will have open access to “ports of call.”
He also states that Trump’s statements about totally defeating ISIS are overblown and not realistic. Dr. Abu-Rish states that American bombing of alleged ISIS strongholds in Syria has cause grave “collateral damage” to civilians. It is out of this devastation that ISIS or its progeny might rise again.
Although American foreign policy in the Middle East sometimes seems ad hoc and haphazard, Dr. Abu-Rish says that one thing is certain. The Trump team has now targeted Iran to be the primary adversary in that region and American actions against Iran will continue to escalate.
Despite advances in civil rights in our country’s history, our society, in the 21st Century, is still plagued by racist symbols such as “blackface” and other racial stereotyping.
It has been recently brought to the public’s attention through the publication of a blackface photo involving the Governor of Virginia and the admission by that State’s Attorney General that he appeared in blackface while in college in the 1980’s.
Such denigration has continued in various forms to allow Caucasians to feel superior to other races and especially African-Americans, says Dr. Akil Houston, Associate Professor of Cultural and Media Studies at Ohio University.
Dr. Houston focuses his scholarship on the fields of Africology/African-American, Cinema, Cultural, and Gender Studies. He believes that pop culture is a fertile source for the study of ideologies and racial stereotyping. Additionally, Hip-hop is one of his scholarly interests.
He traces the history of “blackface” and other racist symbols and stereotypes that still prevail in our society. He has written a text about the topic – “Beyond Blackface: Africana Images in US Media.”
He notes that blackface originally started in the north in ghetto neighborhoods shared by poor Irish and African Americans. Although it did not begin as totally disrespectful, the practice quickly became racist and a way for whites to exaggerate and mock alleged racial stereotypes of African Americans.
It was perpetuated by the rise in popularity of Minstrel Shows and the blackface performer Al Jolson, who starred in blackface in the early “talky” movie “The Jazz Singer.”
The early radio program “Amos and Andy” was exceedingly popular. However, it was about a black neighborhood and its allegedly stereotypical residents. The roles were played on radio by white men mimicking being black. It was a form of “audio blackface.”
Blackface seemed to be disdained in the 1960’s and 1970’s as a result of the Civil Rights Movement but made a comeback in the 1980’s on college campuses as affirmative action sought to bring more African Americans and other racial minorities to campus.
Even after its long history of being a racist act and symbol, about one-third of Americans surveyed recently by the Pew Research Center found nothing wrong with whites using blackface at Halloween. This survey was done before the news broke in Virginia. http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/02/11/about-a-third-of-americans-say-blackface-in-a-halloween-costume-is-acceptable-at-least-sometimes/
A new study will examine how the relationship between science and religion impacts political power, social authority and culture, according to Dr. Myrna Perez Sheldon, assistant professor of Gender and American Religion at Ohio University and editor of “Cosmologics,” a magazine that is the project of the Science, Religion, and Culture Program at Harvard Divinity School.
Dr. Perez Sheldon believes that too often we become fixated on whether science and religion are polar opposites of one another and whether if one believes in one it precludes any belief in the other. She feels that concentration purely on science versus religion begs many more important questions.
Instead, Dr. Perez Sheldon thinks we should dig deeper and examine the relationship of religion and science and the impact of both on our political debates and cultural decision-making. She cites that in modern times that both “scientific knowledge and religious institutions are involved in debates over contentious topics such as reproductive technologies, immigration policy, environmental protection, and healthcare.”
Her most recent grant from the Templeton World Charity Foundation will enable her and her colleagues to study questions such as: Who should citizens trust to make decisions about their health and bodies? Who decides whether public funds should be used to support access to contraceptives and/or abortions? And, what uses of science and technology should be considered unethical by the state?
Critical Approaches to Science and Religion also will sponsor a symposium and an edited work from scholars studying this relationship. Additionally, Dr. Perez Sheldon will be piloting a new curriculum at Ohio University to address these issues.
If you wish to explore this topic beyond the Spectrum Podcast conversation with Dr. Perez Sheldon, go to the magazine “Cosmologics”: a magazine of science, religion and culture. https://cosmologicsmagazine.com/
The magazine shifts discussion away from science versus religion and instead examines looks at the impact of each on matters such as race, gender, and inequality.
As President Trump is deadlocked with Congress over border wall funding, the government suffers a partial shutdown and true immigration reform is put on the back burner.
The fight over border wall funding is distracting Washington from making true immigration reform, according to Dr. Andrew Selee, the President of the Migration Policy Institute – a fact-based institute seeking to improve immigration and integration.
Most Americans are in favor of controlled immigrations, according to Dr. Selee. But, immigration laws and loop-holes certainly need reform.
However, lawmakers can’t grapple with true reform while they are entrenched in positions about the border wall being proposed by Trump and part of the federal government remains shut-down. These are distractions away from a true immigration overhaul.
Dr. Selee also defines our immigration problems and describes the distinctions between illegal immigration and requests for asylum. He notes that most of the people currently seeking asylum from fearful conditions in their countries are from Guatemala and other Central and South American countries and not from Mexico.
Dr. Selee points out flaws in the arguments of both sides. He notes that the President is not correct when he says most hard-drugs come through illegal immigration or asylum seekers. Instead, they are ferried into the country in vehicles, planes and ships through ports of entry.
He notes that some in opposition are incorrect when they say that some walls don’t work. Dr. Selee notes that at some parts of the border walls are a proper deterrent whereas in other places walls would not work at all.
He is hopeful that politicians and policy-makers can pull back from current brinksmanship and delve into true immigration reform matters.
Prior to the Migration Policy Institute, Dr. Selee spent 17 years at the Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C. and founded the Center’s Mexico Institute. He also served as Vice President for Programs and Executive Vice President.
He has written several books including his most recent: “Vanishing Frontiers: The Forces Driving Mexico and the United States Together published by Public Affairs in 2018.
A new book, “The Snow Leopard Project and Other Adventures in Warzone Conservation” has been recently authored by Dr. Alex Dehgan.
Dehgan is an entrepreneur, expedition leader, diplomat and development official who specializes in creative science, technology and leadership.
The book is about his efforts as the Country Director for the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Afghanistan Biodiversity Conservation Program.
In the middle of a warzone, Dr. Dehgan helped created the first national part, established biodiversity laws and curtailed the illegal trade in wildlife. Currently, there are four national parks as a result of the efforts of his team.
Dr. Dehgan uses specialized innovative approaches using entrepreneurship and technology to solve global conservation issues. He also talks about how he incorporated the people of Afghanistan into the projects and the cooperation he received from various indigenous groups.
He has had experience working in 90 countries and six continents. He is the founder of a relatively new company, Conservation X Labs which uses high tech approaches to solving long-standing problems.
Earlier in his career, Dr. Dehgan was the Chief Scientist for the US Agency for International Development (USAID). There he grew the Office of Science and Technology into a $100 million research program in just four years.
“Story” is tantamount when a filmmaker decides whether to make a film. If the story doesn’t resonate with the film’s creator, then the project will just be a jumble of parts. Story is the linkage that brings the chapters together to make a coherent film that is both informative and entertaining.
This is the documentary filmmaking philosophy of Evan Shaw, a young award-winning producer of documentaries designed for public broadcasting.
His films have ranged from athletic profiles and behind-the-scenes sports series, to films about the impact of creative activities on people in trauma, and most currently, historical documentaries.
He has worked as a “one-man” shop in athletics and also has partnered with Dr. Lynn Harter who specializes in health communication for an award winning series of documentaries concerning the intersections of creativity and trauma.
However, when it comes to doing historical documentaries about a town or a county or a region, Shaw juggles all of the parts. He does the initial research, identifies images that are powerful, identifies people who are knowledgeable about the area, and starts talking. More importantly, he starts listening.
He listens to people’s stories – some true and some folklore and he then develops a chronological thread of events, unique people, the sanctity of place, and the spirit of a town, village or county. He collects still images and video of places and people that are highlighted. He also tries to capture on film intriguing stories unique to the town.
To date, Shaw has focused on small Appalachian towns that are overlooked by almost everyone. Yet, Shaw finds unique, captivating stories and brings them to life along with enlivening community spirit and pride.
He combines breath-taking images with still photographs. He writes a narration that is delivered by actors and voices of the region and he punctuates his films with indigenous music performed by his parents, both professional musicians.
Shaw, a native son of Appalachia himself, tires of the impression given by big-city media of the people and life in this region. Too often he feels that Appalachia people are stereotyped by words and images as poor, dirty, stupid and lazy. Shaw rebukes that characterization.
“This region has a rich heritage that is highlighted by major historical events and innovation and creative people,” Shaw says. “It is my honor to be able to display the richness of our culture and our people to the broader world through my work.”
Just reading a story, watching it on video, or listening to it on a podcast or audio book may be too static and traditional for new experiential story consumers.
With the maturation of virtual reality, artificial intelligence, holographics, and other forms of non-traditional storytelling, soon consumers will be able to control their own interpretation of a story and experience the story through senses beyond sight and sound, according to Beth Novak, associate professor in the School of Media Arts and Studies at Ohio University.
People want to control what they feel and hear and sense while consuming a story, Novak says. Many no longer want to consume stories in a passive way.
She notes that gaming and theme parks are two areas of experiential storytelling that already are implementing and advancing new technologies.
With some new technologies the consumer will actually be able to put themselves into the story and direct the storyline depending on choices they make.
These new ways of storytelling and consumption are not limited to gaming or entertainment.
Already these concepts and technologies are being used in training for doctors, military personnel and other professions. Students can have realistic training experiences without danger to themselves or others.
Novak says these experiences are amazingly realistic and that participants often feel totally immersed into the plotline and story environment.
This new way of relating information through experience also may be the new way that toddlers, who are being weened on electronic tablets, learn. Old, more static, ways of teaching may not be able to reach a young person steeped in technology and technological experiences.
Novak has a professional and academic background in design and visual effects. She worked for the Chicago Tribune and the Detroit Free Press before returning to graduate school. She received her M.F.A. from Ohio State University.
Since 2003, she has taught classes in the history of special effects, digital game production, computer animation and media in the Scripps College of Communication at Ohio University.
The consolidation of power in House of Representative leadership positions has spurred on the devolution of Congress from a “respected legislative institution to a body plagued by a win-at-all-costs mentality and a culture of perpetual campaigning,” says Donald Wolfensberger, author and scholar.
Wolfensberger, a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington, D.C., also was a former Congressional staffer for nearly three decades. He knows the inner workings of the House and its committee structure.
In his new book, “Changing Cultures in Congress: From Fair Play to Power Plays” says that leadership within the party in the majority has consolidated power and limited consideration of legislation and amendments.
Wolfensberger claims that this “top-down micro-managing of the legislative process by majority leadership…has discouraged members from developing expertise and ideas to address major problems.”
He also says that Representatives spend so much of their time returning to their districts, running for office and raising money that it is difficult for them to legislate.
He suggests change in the current three-day work week. Instead, he says they should meet five days a week for three weeks with one week off to campaign.
Wolfensberger suggests that the additional time might enhance a “culture of governing” which includes a greater role in “oversight” of the other branches of government as well as developing legislation to address national problems.
He capped off his 28 year Congressional career as Chief-of-Staff of the House Rules committee before launching a 22 year career with Washington think tanks studying Congress. His previous book was “Congress and the People: Deliberative Democracy on Trial.” published in 2000.
Although much of this country’s educational focus is on P-12 grades, adult education cannot be ignored and adult literacy education is proven to be valuable in breaking links to poverty and improving job possibilities for those who participate.
Adult literacy education improves a student’s abilities and possibilities across a lifespan.
Recently, the Patton College of Education at Ohio University became the first four year institution in Ohio to receive a special Aspire Grant from the Ohio Department of Higher Education to address adult literacy needs.
It has been called the first “GED to Ph.D. program” by John Carey, Chancellor of the Department of Higher Education.
The new program provides research opportunities for faculty and student engagement opportunities for both undergraduate and graduate students as well as educational opportunities for a large part of the region’s citizenry.
The new program “will show the power of adult instruction in literacy, numeracy and problem-solving and have a positive impact on people’s lives in our region,” says Julie Barnhart Frances, the director of the Stevens Literacy Center within the Patton College of Education.
Teacher Amy Guda describes the resiliency of these adult students and highlights how adult learners attack their subjects with intensity once they get over their initial fears about education. Many have had a bad educational experience as a youngster and Guda makes particular efforts to overcome those past negative thoughts.
She says once students get over their initial qualms about the educational process they often become avid learners. Sometimes Guda says she sees herself as an educational partner and mentor more than a “traditional teacher.”
Amanda Ailiff, a mental health social worker, is an example of success. She quit school at 16, got a job but soon felt dissatisfied. After having two children, she returned to get her GED through an adult education program and went on to a two year Community College.
After completing her Associate’s Degree, she obtained her Bachelor’s Degree. She looks at her life as being successful and she now works with prisoners with mental health issues and helps them successfully return to society upon their release.
She gives full credit for her current success to adult literacy education.
The United States once was a leader in recognizing and combatting the threats of climate change. But, under the Trump Administration, America has become the global outlier in the efforts to solve climate change problems, according to expert Dr. Geoffrey Dabelko.
Dr. Dabelko is a professor, director of the Environmental Science Program and Associate Dean at the Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs at Ohio University. Previously he served 15 years as director of the Environmental Change and Security Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C. He continues to work as a senior consultant to the Wilson Center.
On the Friday following Thanksgiving (Black Friday), the White House released the fourth National Climate Assessment since 2000. It was produced with input from 13 different federal agencies to assess the status of climate change and its perils in this country.
The report predicts dire consequences to life, the national health, quality of life, and the economy if major climate change issues are not addressed quickly, thoroughly and aggressively. The study describes deadly wildfires, major hurricanes and severe heat as just some of the indicators that we are already feeling the impact of climate change.
Although the report, about 1,600 pages long, was lauded by climate change experts for its candor and thoroughness, it was rebuked by President Donald Trump. He asserted to the news media that he had only read part of the report but that he didn’t believe it. Some of his aides called for more data. Instead, the Trump Administration continues to remove Environmental Protection regulations in order to bolster our short-term economy.
Additionally, the United States was the only country at the recent G20 conference who did not agree the terms of the Paris Climate Agreement. Instead, America reiterated it remarks from earlier this summer: “The United States reiterates its decision to withdraw from the Paris Agreement and affirms its strong commitment to economic growth and energy access and security, utilizing all energy sources and technologies, while protecting the environment.”
While the United States is exiting its leadership position in the fight against climate change, China is moving to fill the void and become the world leader in technology to stem the impacts of climate change, according to Dr. Dabelko.
He also notes that any progress being made here to fight known evils of climate change is coming from activities of the states and from progressive local leaders across the country. He cites California as an example of a state taking major leadership and policy stands in this battle.
Confusion has been a feature of the Trump Administration’s policies toward immigration and especially the current border issues with migrants and the caravan from Honduras.
Philip Ewing, national security editor for National Public Radio (NPR), says the recent tear gassing of migrants at the southern border of the United States was a result of some of that confusion. He notes specifically that the gassing was administered by border law enforcement officers who allegedly felt threatened by oncoming migrants and not the U. S. Military.
That rationale, however, is tempered by pictures of mothers and children being gassed by U.S. authorities.
Ewing notes that the military troops ordered to the border by President Donald Trump have been primarily there in support roles – such as construction. According to Sec. of Defense James Mattis, many of the U.S. troops do not even have weapons with them as they are performing their duties.
The troops are there for support of other law enforcement units but the extent of their authority remains murky.
Ewing also describes how the current hardline by Trump on border issues and how his threatening to close the Southern Border plays to Trump’s political base. He notes that matters concerning building a border wall and other border tightening measures may be tied to potential government budgetary bills coming before Congress in December.
A partial government shut-down may be threatened by the President as a bargaining chit to get at least some funding for his border wall through the budgetary process.
Ewing also talks about actions by Special Counsel Robert Mueller and how the recent court filings noting that former Trump Campaign Manager Paul Manafort violated the terms of his plea agreement may muddy upcoming legal actions.
Insight also is given by Ewing on Trump’s complicated relationship with his Intelligence agencies with respect to the Jamal Khashoggi murder by Saudi Arabian assailants and intelligence reports about Putin and Russia.
Finally, Ewing outlines what the average person should be expecting from the Trump Administration and the news in the next couple of months. He notes that the “sandblasting” by presidential Congressional Republican allies will be markedly diminished when the Democrats take control of the House of Representatives in January.
We also can expect potential conflicts between the Executive branch and the Legislative and Judicial branches of government fighting for power and turf.
When we hear the words “innovation” and “entrepreneurship” we don’t always think of well-established brands like Coca-Cola. However, Coke is one of the world’s leaders in developing new beverages and cutting-edge technologies to deliver them to customers.
Chris Hellman, global vice president and general manager of the Coca-Cola Freestyle Division, is the embodiment of innovation within the highly competitive beverage industry.
Hellmann says it is Coke’s goal to be a “total beverage company” that can bring innovations, new products, and new ideas to market quickly. He leads a multidisciplinary team of marketers, engineers, and computer experts to redesign how Coke products presented to consumers.
The Freestyle concept “reinvented the beverage fountain experience” using “micro-dosing” technology to deliver almost 200 different drink options with 117 being either low calorie or no calorie beverages, says Coca-Cola.
It is a dispenser that emphasizes choice and customization for each consumer. It started as a “disruptive technology”, according to Hellmann. But, it now is a multi-billion dollar business, he says. Some 50,000 Freestyle Units dispense nearly 14 million drinks per day in restaurants, convenience stores, movie theaters and other locations.
Coke cites that beverage servings are up 8% in Freestyle locations and calories-per-serving are down nearly 10%. Use of the machines is constantly monitored to provide an even greater consumer experience, Hellman states.
Hellmann thinks that the possibilities for innovation within Coca-Cola are unlimited. For example, experimental products are being developed to reduce packaging waste and reduce the carbon footprint of traditional soft drink syrup packaging and delivery.
In the age of fast-paced technology, even traditional brands and products are undergoing disruption through innovation and such companies are encouraging teams of employees to be entrepreneurs.
Rural Health Day is November 15 and it’s designed to throw a spotlight on health care problems facing rural areas and some of the solutions being proposed.
Currently, over 60 million Americans live and work in rural areas. That equates to nearly one in five Americans or 20 percent of the population. Yet, many health issues facing rural communities are still unresolved.
Local hospitals are closing in large numbers, doctors are disappearing from rural regions, and certain medical conditions such as pregnancy and obstetric issues, cardiac problems and strokes are underserved close to rural homes.
Some doctors, however, are fighting to bring more physicians to rural areas and Randall Longenecker, MD is leading the charge. He is a Professor of Family Medicine and Assistant Dean for Rural and Underserved Programs at the Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine. He personally served as a rural physician in Western Ohio for 30 years.
He is spearheading programs to bring more doctors and more facilities back to rural communities. At Ohio University, he has developed the Rural and Urban Scholars Pathways Program that prepares medical students to practice in rural regions or underserved urban centers.
He also is the Executive Director of the RTT Collaborative, “a national non-profit cooperative of rural programs to sustain health professions education in rural places, providing technical assistance to developing and existing programs. He also works with Rural PREP, a collaborative for rural primary care research, education and practice.”
Dr. Longenecker cites one major rural problem is the loss of hospital facilities and specialties in rural areas. From 2004 to 2014 more than 200 rural hospitals have closed their obstetric services, according to the University of Minnesota Rural Health Research Center.
The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission reported to Congress in June that 67 rural hospitals closed in 2013 and about one third of that number were more than 20 miles from the next closest hospital.
Dr. Longenecker notes that Ohio has more people living in rural areas than all but four other states and has more physicians than most states…but not in the needed rural regions. Last year, Ohio “ranked 36 of 50 and gets a D- from the Rural Health Quarterly in rural primary care,” Dr. Longenecker says.
He and the Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine are trying to improve those numbers by training and recruiting young doctors to practice in our rural regions. He is optimistic that the programs he is affiliated with will be successful in providing more rural physicians.
For more information about problems and solutions facing rural health go to http://www.powerofrural.org/
In addition to President Donald Trump’s scorched-earth campaigning, overall political races in 2018 have been meaner and more costly than ever, according to TIME, Inc. Washington Correspondent Philip Elliott.
Most candidates, at least on the Republican side, attempted to mimic the President’s combative campaign style, Elliott says. However, many did not feel comfortable with that type of overly harsh campaigning which often was not factually based. Democrats also found it difficult to respond to such tactics and not alienate their base.
The campaigns also were conducted differently due to the early voting allowed in most states. Issues needed to be raised earlier. No longer can candidates wait until Labor Day to start campaigning in earnest, Elliott notes. That makes campaigns longer, bitterer, and certainly more expensive.
Early voting hit an all-time record in the midterms with some 36.9 million voters taking advantage of early ballot casting. This compares to only 21.2 million in 2014.
Some prognosticators, however, have wrongly suggested that early voting favors Democrats. Elliott cites figures from Target Smart, a Democratic leaning firm, showing that, in fact, Republicans out voted Democrats in the early ballots. This is especially true in voters age 50 and over.
Regardless of the outcome of the elections, Elliott notes that Congress will be in a lame duck session between now and January 2019 and that several key items will be on the agenda – one being funding of the federal government. Current funding expires in the first week of December.
President Trump will be pushing his agenda along with key items of his administration such as building the wall along our southern border. To date, Congress has not funded wall construction.
Elliott also says you can expect Cabinet shake-ups after the midterms. Many suggest that Attorney General Jeff Sessions will be the first to go along with the Justice Department’s Rod Rosenstein who supervises the Robert Mueller investigation.
Others who will probably leave include the Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary of Homeland Security and Defense Secretary James Mattis.
Elliott also notes that Trump’s temperament will be mostly controlled by the outcome of this election ranging from petulant to even angrier that he appeared during the campaign.
Elliott joined TIME in 2015. Before that move, Elliott spent nearly a decade with the Associated Press where he covered politics, numerous campaigns, campaign finance, education and the White House. He has covered three Presidents: George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and now Donald Trump and numerous campaigns.
As a nation, our population is divided into political and ideological tribes who only listen to others who agree with them and demonize anyone who is different from them, according to Dr. Scott Titsworth, dean of the Scripps College of Communication at Ohio University.
Thus, we have a nation of rhetorically warring camps who do not agree even on the basics and find the opposition to not only be wrong but dangerous and evil, according to Dr. Titsworth.
As the verbal attacks ratchet up and the name-calling and dehumanizing of our opponents escalates, a “rhetorical environment” is created that can tragically spawn violence, he concludes.
He points to the escalating verbal warfare of the pre-midterm campaigns, led by President Donald Trump, as an example of this toxicity.
Although it cannot be proven that the recent acts of violence were directly caused by Trump’s political rhetoric, Dr. Titsworth thinks that a dotted line can be drawn between inflammatory words and violent actions. An environment has been created to either encourage or tolerate violent behavior against targeted “opposition” groups.
Just last week, two African-Americans were randomly shot down near Louisville just because they were black. A would-be bomber in Florida carried out the largest assassination attempt against public figures (all Trump critics) in the history of the country and 11 members of the Jewish faith were slaughtered in a synagogue near Pittsburgh. This was the largest killing of Jews ever recorded in America.
Unfortunately, Dr. Titsworth sees little hope for a changed environment until we, as citizens, demand from our leaders more powerful messages that transcend party lines and doctrine.
Even though he sees little likelihood for change with the generation currently in power, he has hope that the generation in college now and those even younger will bring the tolerance that is necessary to break our tribal bonds and allow the free flow of ideas and differences.
Dr. Titsworth has been dean of the Scripps College of Communication since 2010. In 2009, he was named a “Presidential Teacher.” This is the highest teaching honor awarded at Ohio University.
Dr. Titsworth also produces and hosts a podcast called “Teaching Matters” where he examines new ways of learning and teaching in a technological age. The podcast has recently started its third season. https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/teaching-matters/id1182990400?mt=2
Dr. Frank Papay is the chair of the Dermatology and Plastic Surgery Institute at the Cleveland Clinic Health System. He also is a physician who combines innovation with the healing arts of medicine.
Dr. Papay has spearheaded the Cleveland Clinic’s work in the emerging field of face transplants among other notable surgical breakthroughs. He and a team of gifted surgeons have been featured for this work in National Geographic. Here is the full story: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2018/09/face-transplant-katie-stubblefield-story-identity-surgery-science/?user.testname=none
He was part of the surgical team that performed the first “near-total” face transplant in the United States in 2008 and says that what was learned from that surgery has led to other medical discoveries.
That first face transplant patient is still alive and doing well, according to Dr. Papay. She is a strong advocate for the surgery, he says.
Dr. Papay talks about the extensive preparation that goes into the face transplant process from preparing the patient to picking a top-flight surgical team of numerous specialists. He also discusses the ethics underlying the procedure.
The costs of the various face transplants has been supported by the Department of Defense, says Dr. Papay. The military is interested in this surgery to potentially restore the faces of soldiers who have suffered injuries in battle.
Dr. Papay also is the holder of over 40 medical device patents. In 2017, he was inducted into National Academy of Inventors.
One of his more recent innovations is a device that can modify the transmission of pain signals to the brain and help control cluster migraine headaches.
He says that his innovative and entrepreneurial spirit has been cultivated and nurtured by “Forest Gump moments” – which he describes as serendipitous encounters with key people who have influenced his life and career.
Dr. Papay received his undergraduate degree from Ohio University in 1975 and a master’s degree in biomedical engineering from Case Western Reserve University in 1977.
He received his medical degree from the Northeast Ohio Medical University in 1984 and a doctorate in management (entrepreneurship/entrepreneurial studies) from the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University in 2013.
Since the successful vote putting Justice Brett Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court of the United States, President Trump has been characterizing the events surrounding that confirmation to fire the fears of his political base, according to Philip Elliott, a Washington correspondent for Time, Inc.
Trump has been using the protests of various citizen groups and the challenges by Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee to characterize the Democrats as an “angry mob” out to still “get” Justice Kavanaugh and Trump, himself – says Elliott.
This line of rhetoric is designed specifically by Trump to gin-up the fears of Republicans going into the November 2018 midterm elections and to spark them to go to the polls to protect Trump, Elliott notes.
Elliott also characterizes, in the same way, Trump’s statement to “60 Minutes” that Kavanaugh would not have won confirmation if Trump had not attacked and mocked Dr. Christine Blasey Ford and her testimony. Trump calculates that his attack on the “Me Too” movement also amps up his political base.
Elliott says this election will be a referendum on President Trump.
Although the situation is important to many, Elliott does not believe the foreign policy issues surrounding the disappearance of Washington Post reporter Jamal Khashoggi and his alleged murder by Saudi Arabian officials will have any impact of the impending midterm elections.
He agrees that the President is hedging when he espouses the line that Khashoggi may have been killed by “rogue killers” instead of blaming Saudi officials. However, Elliott does not believe that the bulk of Americans care that much about this issue.
Elliott, however, thinks that any new moves by the White House on immigration may have an election impact along with how FEMA handles the recent damages in the South from hurricanes Florence and Michael.
Elliott downplays that the President’s potential meddling with the Attorney General’s position and other possible Justice Department moves will have any great impact on Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation and potential indictments.
Elliott is convinced that Mueller has a game plan to counter any attack on his office by the President. He also notes that new counsel will be on the horizon in the White House and with the President’s outside counsel team – after the midterms.
Elliott has been with Time since 2015. Prior to that, he served a decade with the Associated Press covering politics, numerous campaigns, campaign finance, education and the White House. He has covered three Presidents: George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump
“New York Times” columnist and PBS NewsHour and NPR commentator David Brooks is searching for the heart, soul and future of America by traveling to smaller communities examining how they are successfully addressing issues.
In March 2018, Brooks was appointed Executive Director of “Weave: The Social Fabric Project” sponsored by the Aspen Institute. The project is searching for local initiatives that build trust, connection and relationships among local groups with sometimes disparate backgrounds and political leanings.
Recently, he spent a day in Appalachian Ohio and talked with local residents about their success in building the local economy and sense of community.
Brooks feels that nationally we are in a period of heightened distrust, extreme partisanship and a blurring of truth and facts. He fears that this angst keeps getting worse and he does not seeing it turn around on the federal level.
“We are lost in a valley of our hostilities and resentments,” he says.
However, on many local levels across the country, he is seeing a civic revolution led by local people with ideas for building community regardless of political affiliations.
On the federal level, Brooks notes a “lack of empathy” but in towns across the country, he is noting a movement he calls “radical mutuality.” That means an increase in social trust, improved human relationships and displaying human decency toward one another.
He thinks journalistically that we pay way too much attention to President Donald Trump and his statements and tweets. He also thinks that too often journalists are in ideological silos.
Instead, Brooks wants to use some of his journalistic influence to shine the national spotlight on local groups across America who are achieving positive goals for their communities and working across political and socio-economic lines.
Brooks says that human cooperation and relationship building can solve problems and improve a community’s way of life. He feels those efforts should be highlighted, nurtured and encouraged.
Higher education still has value either in preparing someone for a career or enhancing his/her worldview through general studies.
So says Dr. Robert Glidden, President Emeritus at Ohio University and California Polytechnic State University. He has had a career of over four decades in higher education administration.
Despite the rising costs of a university education, Dr. Glidden feels that a college education pays off for the student both through enhanced career opportunities and broader knowledge of the world. He argues that a good “liberal arts education” is still valued in our society.
Dr. Glidden concedes that the costs of higher education have escalated at an alarming rate and he is concerned about the amount of debt that most students have upon graduation.
However, he cautions that online and electronic education courses and degrees do not necessarily save money for colleges and universities. He is a strong believer in expanding ways to deliver higher education to a broader swath of the population but he does not think that online courses are a major cost-saver for the institutions sponsoring them.
He also says that it is incumbent upon the universities to assure that the quality of online education matches the quality on face-to-face classroom education.
Dr. Glidden still is a strong proponent of regional campuses to main universities. Not only do they provide non-traditional students with opportunities but they also enhance the geographic region in which they are located, he says.
Dr. Glidden spent 10 years as President of Ohio University from 1994 through 2004. He then became Interim President of California Polytechnic State University in 2010, a position he held for seven months.
His earlier career included three years as Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Florida State University and deanships at Florida State and Bowling Green State University.
Since his retirement, Dr. Glidden has been involved with several national organizations and associations advancing the causes of higher education and he has been a strong proponent of university and program accreditation.
Artificial intelligence may be on the brink of revolutionizing worldwide healthcare says digital strategist and award winning journalist Randy Rieland.
Data being analyzed by artificial intelligence have allowed improved diagnostics and more targeted treatments for many types of diseases, including cancer.
Artificial intelligence also has markedly improved medical record keeping and advanced radiological procedures, Rieland says.
In addition to improved diagnostics, record keeping and radiological techniques, artificial intelligence is being used as a predictor of certain health risks for individuals. It also is being used to predict future conditions in some patients based upon huge data sets of others with similar circumstances.
Although not foolproof yet, Rieland believes that the accuracy and reliability of artificial intelligence in healthcare far exceeds manual and other more traditional methods of data analysis.
Artificial intelligence also is being used to predict the threats of worldwide infections and when certain diseases may prove resistant to antibiotics, Rieland noted.
Experimentation also is being done to link artificial intelligence to our brains to help people with certain neurological diseases speak through electronic means and others to be able to move prostheses based on Brain-computer Interfaces.
Rieland is a digital media strategist and contributing writer about innovations for Smithsonian.com. He also is an experienced manager digital media projects and interactive strategies.
Some 70 environmental regulations have been rolled back by the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) since the beginning of the Trump Administration. And, Dr. Michele Morrone, professor of Environmental Health Science at Ohio University finds this to be “really alarming.”
She claims that these rollbacks are exposing citizens, especially in Appalachia and other poverty stricken areas to increased environmental health risks – including danger to the purity of drinking water. Anxiety and other mental health issues also may be associated with environmental health
Dr. Morrone claims the EPA is putting the promise of some jobs before concerns over people’s health. She cites the easing of regulations on coal burning power plants as an example.
The easing of these regulations will cause between 350 and 1,500 deaths nationally, according to the EPA’s own study.
The northern two-thirds of West Virginia and Pennsylvania will be hit the hardest, according to a recent Associated Press story.
In addition, the EPA has eased the monitoring of coal ash impoundment facilities. Coal ash, containing mercury, arsenic and other substances, is stored in large holes in the ground and the ash soaks into the ground or spills over causing dangers to ground water and the surrounding environment.
Recently, a coal ash impoundment facility burst as a result of Hurricane Florence and its contents spewed into the surrounding area.
Another concern is large lagoons used to store pig manure. These are vulnerable to Hurricanes and other natural disasters. For example, North Carolina, where Hurricane Florence struck, is estimated by the “New York Times” to have 9.7 million pigs producing 10 billion gallons of manure annually.
“The Trump Administration is showing no concern over people’s health today, people’s health tomorrow, or people’s health 15 years from now,” Dr. Morrone claims.
In addition to being concerned over environmental regulation rollbacks, she also is concerned about the fact that, under the Trump Administration, we no longer have viable climate change action plans. Former plans were revoked by the President.
All of these factors cause Dr. Morrone to have concerns for the health and safety of our population.
Dr. Morrone is the current Coordinator of the Environmental Health Science Program at Ohio University and also is the National Director of the Appalachian Rural Health Institute.
Long-time Democratic activist and author Thomas B. Reston says the Democratic Party has lost its way and lost its soul over the past generation or more.
In his book, “Soul of a Democrat: Seven Core Ideals that Made our Party and Our Country – Great,” Reston claims that the party has lost its focus and it has jettisoned old philosophies that historically sparked the electorate. He cites the Presidential Election of 2016 as an example.
He gives reasons for the party’s lackluster recent performances and outlines suggestions on how it can right itself.
Reston claims that Democrats spend too much time running against and attacking Donald Trump and not enough time and effort crafting a messages that would resonate with voters.
Instead of developing a unifying message that would appeal to the whole electorate, he claims Democrats also spend too much time and effort targeting specific blocs of voters and tailoring a number of messages to appeal to those individual blocs.
He asserts that President Trump, as a candidate, espoused messages that took many traditional Democratic voters away from the party.
Reston says Democrats need to get back to seven basic ideals: 1) Stand for the individual common person; 2) Fight for all outsiders; 3) Honor today’s secular altruism; 4) Making the ideas and ideals of the party understandable to everyone; 5) Bolster economic security for all; 6) Return to a pragmatic and idealistic foreign policy; and 7) Support the ongoing struggle for civil rights.
In his book, he uses historical references to individuals who are mainstays of the Democratic Party to make his points -- people like Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Lyndon B. Johnson.
Reston has spent his life in politics. He has worked for eight presidential campaigns and countless state and local elections. He was twice the Secretary of the Democratic Party of Virginia and was Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs under President Jimmy Carter. He also is a strong civil rights advocate. He has twice been Chair of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF).
David Crane has dedicated his professional life to intelligence and security issues both nationally and internationally. He has a long history of service and has risked his life for his country. But, at this point, he is extremely concerned about how President Trump in handling intelligence and security issues.
Crane says that Trump ignores or refuses to hear security briefings and he goes into major foreign policy events (like the meetings with Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un) grossly unprepared.
In fact, Crane says Trump treats the meetings more like “reality television” instead of diplomatic summits.
As a result of the President’s negative views on “intelligence,” Crane paints a rather dismal picture of where the United States is in world politics. According to Crane, America is withdrawing from the world stage and relinquishing its role as a world power.
America is at its weakest point since its war for independence, Crane notes.
Crane also in the podcast explains the rights of federal employees not to be fired without due process and just cause and explains the issues surrounding revoking of “security clearances.” Again, he cites the President’s actions as being more “theater” than “substance.”
Historically, the Congress and the House and Senate oversight committees on “intelligence” acted as checks and balances against abuses of Presidential power. However, Crane sadly reports that the House Intelligence Committee has abdicated that role and instead is doing the bidding of the President.
He also finds danger in the President demanding unswerving loyalty and allegiance to himself instead of the Constitution. Crane notes that the oath of office of any federal employee swears allegiance to the Constitution and not to a particular leader. He claims that President Trump either does not have the “intellectual capacity or the depth to understand that.”
Crane also notes that the national and international “rule of law” is threatened by this President. The President “does not believe in the rule of law” and “sees it as a hindrance,” Crane says.
Crane currently is the Ohio Glidden Visiting Professor at Ohio University in 2018-2019. He is a security specialist and international lawyer. He spent over 30 years in top-level intelligence work for the government. He also helped create and was the founding director of the Office of Intelligence Review for the Department of Defense.
From 2002 to 2005, Crane was the Chief Prosecutor of the Special Court for Sierra Leone. This was an international war crimes tribunal that brought Liberian President Charles Taylor to justice for horrific crimes.
For the past decade, Crane has been a Professor of Practice at the Syracuse University College of Law teaching international criminal law, international humanitarian law and national security law.
Crane received his undergraduate and graduate degrees from Ohio University and his law degree from Syracuse University. He received an Honorary Doctor of Letters from Ohio University in 2017.
The incessant drumbeat of news media criticism by President Donald J. Trump is causing some major concerns among the press and First Amendment advocates, according to veteran, award-winning journalist Andrew Alexander.
Alexander is a former Washington Post ombudsman, a former Washington Bureau chief for Cox Newspapers and an award winning veteran journalist with more than four decades of experience.
He says that the characterization of news media as “enemies of the people” has both domestic and global ramifications.
In this podcast, Alexander spells out some of the dangers this President poses to the First Amendment and how Trump differs—in that regard from past Presidents.
Alexander notes that the phrase “enemies of the people” is one that Vladimir Lenin used to characterized the news media during the communist takeover of the former Soviet Union. Reporters who were so named were often imprisoned to silence their voices.
Under the subsequent Joseph Stalin regime, alleged “dissident” reporters were often killed.
Alexander notes that as anger increases against reporters covering the President, that many are now being provided, for their protection, with private security guards by their news organizations. Some also have gone through special training on how to handle themselves in violent situations. This is not normal.
Alexander and other veteran reporters who have covered numerous Presidents have never seen the danger level against reporters to be this high. However, daily Pres. Trump stokes the fires of his base by the endless repetition of the phrases: “Fake News” and “Enemies of the People.”
Two factors make these attacks different than in the past, according to Alexander. One is the use of social media for Trump to talk with and to enflame his constituents directly and the second is the delineation of cable news into ideological segments: FOX News on the right and MSNBC on the left. This segmentation often leads to echo chambers and intolerance for other perspectives.
In addition to domestic turmoil, Alexander says that the President’s continued hostility against the American news media gives license to dictators and despots around the globe to crack-down on their reporters. President Trump is setting the example of how to demonize reporters, Alexander noted.
While White House reporters often are given releases and official statements by the President or his staff, it is more important than ever to vet the facts and go through a rather thorough fact checking process before publishing the material, says Toluse Olorunnipa, one of Bloomberg News’ six White House correspondents.
In the competitive White House journalism environment, Olorunnipa says it is important to be first with a story and beat other news organizations but it is more important to be accurate.
Bloomberg often will quote what the President says and then also note the facts as determined from other official sources.
Many of his media colleagues often quote unidentified sources or anonymous sources as a result of leaks. However, at Bloomberg, Olorunnipa is not permitted to quote an unidentified source.
Therefore, all of his material that is quoted must be “on the record” comments from officials. A similar policy is in place at the Associated Press but not so at the Washington Post or the New York Times.
In addition to regular reporting from the West Wing, Bloomberg correspondents have the additional responsibility to be one of three permanent members of the press pool that covers all of the President’s activities. They join Reuters and the Associated Press and provide extensive pool coverage of all the President’s moves and comments.
Olorunnipa believes that the news media would have greater credibility if the public actually knew how the news process operates and the myriad of checks, balances, and ethical considerations reporters and editors go through to produce the news.
In short, he is an advocate for more transparency in the news process.
In addition to his regular reporting duties, Olorunnipa also says it is part of his responsibility to appear on various television, cable and radio news programs to discuss the news of the day or a particular story. He says Bloomberg News expects its reporters to participate in those other media options.
Olorunnipa has covered the White House for Bloomberg since 2015 under both President Barack Obama and President Trump. Before that he was stationed in Florida covering breaking news in the South for Bloomberg.
By the year 2020, it is estimated that we will have over 6 million workers in nanotechnology industries, says Dr. Amir Farnoud, an Assistant Professor of Chemical, Biomolecular and Biomedical Engineering at the Russ College of Engineering and Technology at Ohio University.
The development of nanoscience is exploding at such a rate, it is difficult to predict with any accuracy how much and how fast the field will grow in an extremely short period of time, Dr. Farnoud adds.
Nanotechnology is the science of examining extremely small things such as atoms and molecules and adjusting them to have certain beneficial characteristics.
To give you an example of the tiny nature of a nanometer, if a nanometer was a marble then one meter would be the size of the Earth, Dr. Farnoud noted. Scientific journals also cite that there are 25.4 million nanometers to an inch.
Nanoparticles are now used in many products from sunscreens and carpet stain protection to devices delivery lifesaving medications. Nanoparticles are being developed synthetically for everything from mundane commercial applications to highly sophisticated cancer and other disease treatments.
Nanoparticles are being developed to not only fight cancer but to detect the presence of cancer within the human body. They also can detect bacteria and identify, with specificity, the types of infections a person may have so that treatments can be more effective and quicker to act.
The nanoscale materials can deliver medications with pinpoint accuracy to fight diseases. They also can be quick acting or slower acting – similar to time released over-the-counter medications. This may allow immediate relief and also protect a person on a long term basis, says Dr. Farnoud.
Nanoscience and nanotechnology began in 1959 with a lecture by famous physicist Dr. Richard Feynman. Advancements were made in the science in the 1980’s but it really has only been expanding, as a discipline and an industry, for the past 20 years.
Commercial and medical applications are being rapidly discovered and tested as well as potential for nanoparticle toxicity.
Dr. Farnoud feels that he has a personal mission to educate the public about nanotechnology. In addition to his work in the Farnoud Lab at Ohio University, he is planning to launch a national podcast to help people understand both the complexities and the usefulness of nanoscience.
Robert Scott is the Regional Administrator of the Great Lakes Region of the federal Small Business Administration (SBA) and he is on a mission.
Scott recently toured some of the areas of his region facing some of the greatest economic stagnation to spread the word about some of the benefits of the Small Business Administration.
He is responsible for the rustbelt in Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin.
He oversees the delivery of the agency’s financial assistance, technical assistance and government contracting activities.
He met with groups to explain the services that are offered by the SBA and how the average small business owner can benefit from them.
Scott says that too often people think the SBA only provides loans but he quickly adds that the SBA can help a fledgling business in all types of technical assistance and consultation. The SBA also attempts to match small businesses with potential government contracts, if possible.
Scott is a lawyer from the Dayton area and also serves as a Kettering, Ohio city councilman. He is a small business owner himself. He claims this experience helps him identify issues confronting other small business owners and assists him in providing assistance.
He received a “Forty under 40” award from the American Association of Political Consultants in 2016 and the Dayton Business Journal named him one of the city’s notable “Forty under 40” professionals in 2015.
He most recently served as the Ohio director for the Donald J. Trump for President campaign.
Covering this White House and this President is a 24 hour job, says Gregory Korte, award-winning Washington correspondent for USA Today.
He says that this President is more complicated in many ways from any other President in history. In part, Korte claims, because most traditional ways of handling issues and procedures are turned on their head.
This President often eschews the analytical approach to problem solving but instead governs “from his gut.” He often bypasses staff to make decisions based upon instinct.
Korte adds that we should not be surprised since President Trump is exactly the same person and personality as candidate Trump. However, he notes that as President, despite the turmoil and rancor, that Trump is slowly, one by one, keeping his campaign promises.
However, Korte expresses some concern that our news coverage of the President is giving the average person news overload. Instead of concentrating on issues, news coverage too often is focused on Trump as the individual.
He notes that in the first 100 days of the Trump presidency that 43 percent of the news coverage focused on Trump himself and not on his agenda.
Korte posits that the fixation on Trump the man often takes up the space that the ordinary person would use to examine issues and concerns. Trump, himself, has become the “all-encompassing story.” This gives Korte some concern.
We should note that this interview was recorded in April 2018 but it is still relevant today – perhaps even more so.
In 2017, Korte was awarded the Gerald R. Ford Foundation Prize for Distinguished Reporting on the Presidency. He was a nominee in 2014. He also has acted as a visiting professional teaching at the E. W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University – his alma mater.
Russia is trying to elevate its power in Europe and on the world stage and Russia’s leader Vladimir Putin is manipulating the United States and other countries in the process, according to professor, author and expert on Russia Dr. Steven Miner.
To gain prestige and power, Putin is wanting to split the NATO alliance as well as disrupt and denigrate European and American politics and democracies, says Dr. Miner. Disruption plays into Putin’s plans.
President Donald Trump gave the appearance of aiding that cause by his recent “bullying tactics” at the NATO Summit in Brussels, supporting an opponent of British Prime Minister Theresa May, and not supporting his own intelligence agencies during a press conference in Helsinki.
All of these factors, notes Dr. Miner, assists Putin and his strategy. He describes Putin as a master manipulator of people and situations for Russia’s own ends. This is what appears to have happened at the Helsinki Summit and with Russia’s interference with the 2016 U.S. Presidential election, Dr. Miner adds.
In addition to the Helsinki Summit, Dr. Miner notes Putin’s policy was in play with Maria Butina who was recently arrested in Washington, D.C. for being an unregistered Russia agent and for attempting to influence American politics.
Dr. Miner further states that Pres. Trump’s invitation for Putin to visit the White House this fall gives Putin and Russia additional status and prestige.
Trump’s verbiage about Russia and his friendliness with Putin belies the fact that Russia directly interceded in America’s electoral and democratic processes, Miner adds.
Dr. Miner is a professor at Ohio University with a specialty in Russia/Soviet and East European history. He is an award winning author and just completed writing a book called “The Furies Unleashed: The Soviet People at War, 1941-1945. He is a former director of the Contemporary History Institute at Ohio University.
Last year, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) spent nearly $5.5 billion dollars on contracts related to small businesses.
Some $2.7 billion or 16.5 percent of total procurements involved direct contracts between small businesses and NASA. Another $2.8 of contracts were subcontracts with small businesses -- contracts between small business and large prime contractors servicing NASA.
Even though those numbers are impressive, NASA wants to expand its small business contracting even more. NASA officials are traveling across the country to various big and small cities sponsoring programs called “Reaching High – Aerospace Business Matchmaker.”
The conferences aim to stimulate regional economic growth by trying to match small businesses with either NASA directly or prime contractors doing business with NASA.
Glenn Delgado, Associate Administrator of the Office of Small Business Programs at NASA helps coordinate these conferences.
He says the conferences give NASA and other groups the opportunity to educate small business owners on some of the requirements and technicalities of doing business with NASA or a NASA prime contractor.
On the second day of each conference, he notes, small business owners have the opportunity to meet one-on-one with NASA officials and representatives of prime contractors to see if there is a compatible match.
NASA also partners with Procurement Technical Assistance Centers (PTAC) in a particular geographical area to help sponsor the conferences.
Business opportunities are available in providing goods and services in mechanical and electrical engineering, IT infrastructure services, building maintenance, medical services, office supplies and equipment, office administrative services, testing laboratories, apparel, security and a large variety of other industries.
For more information, visit http://aerospacematchmaker.com.
In November 2017, Errin Whack was appointed to be the Race and Ethnicity Writer for the Associated Press.
She works closely with the Race and Ethnicity team dedicated to covering “race, culture and politics” in a changing and volatile America.
The Associated Press says it has developed a team that can focus on the complicated issues of race and provide rapid responses to racial issues developing across the country.
“America is currently hyper-racial,” Whack says.
She thinks, therefore, that stories about race are more important now than ever.
“The election of President Obama caused a huge racial backlash that people didn’t pay enough attention to at the time,” Whack adds.
Some people felt threatened by the racial progress of having a black President and it was those feelings of fear and unrest that President Trump tapped into during his 2016 election, according to Whack.
Trump fanned the flames of fear during his “Birther Movement” under President Obama and those fears continued and were magnified during the Trump presidential campaign. We are now seeing the results of that fear evidencing itself in many ways, Whack adds.
Whack is not a novice at covering racial matters. She started her journalism career writing for a black newspaper in her hometown of Atlanta. Since then, she has worked for the “Washington Post, “The Orlando Sentinel”, and the “Los Angeles Times”. Her worked also has been featured by NBC News, NPR, Politico Magazine, Time.com, BuzzFeed, Fusion, The Guardian, and City Lab.
Whack was named the Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists’ 2016 Print Journalist of the Year. She also was tapped as the Emerging Journalist of the Year by the National Association of Black Journalists and Print Journalist of the Year by the Atlanta Press Club.
A producer works behind-the-scenes and in the control room helping to write and direct the way the news is presented by the talent. It is an important and vital role to the delivery of broadcast news but it’s a role that is little understood.
A producer helps gathers the news, write it and sits in the control room advising the talent during the news delivery.
A producer and the news anchor must have a symbiotic relationship. It is like an intense plutonic professional relationship, according to Katie Hinman, an executive producer of special programming at CNN. She says that they often share the same world view but they sometimes bicker like an “old married couple.”
If the chemistry is right then there is a closeness that develops – a trusting relationship. The producer can be the voice in the news anchors ear to steer him/her in the right direction or to avoid misstatements or inaccuracies.
Before her new assignment, Hinman had that close professional relationship with Jake Tapper of CNN. Both had worked together previously at ABC and then both moved to CNN.
Hinman was the executive producer and helped launch Tapper’s Sunday show “State of the Union with Jake Tapper.” She also was the supervising producer for Tapper’s daily CNN show, “The Lead.”
Prior to joining CNN five years ago, Hinman spent 10 years at ABC News as a producer for “Nightline.”
She claims that good writing is the fundamental building block of all good journalism and she says that over her career she has learned to write in the “voice” of whomever will be delivering that report. She also says that she must assure the talent that she is writing in a way that everything she writes is 100 percent accurate.
Hinman has received two Emmys for her work and an Overseas Press Club Award. She also has received the prestigious Edward R. Murrow Award and a Peabody Award.
Hinman is a 2003 graduate of the E. W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University. While an undergraduate student, she worked at WOUB Public Media and interned at Nightline after her sophomore year. She also was a Cutler Scholar.
Editorial cartoonists, in the heyday of newspapers, were plentiful. Now the group is down to only 50 nationwide and that number is being threatened by slow extinction.
One of the survivors, however, is prize winning cartoonist, columnist, editor and author Jack Ohman of the “Sacramento Bee. “
Currently, his cartoons are syndicated by The Washington Post Writers Group. Previously, his work appeared in 200 newspapers through Tribune Content Agency, and he was, at age 19, the youngest editorial cartoonist ever nationally syndicated.
Ohman also worked for “The Columbus Dispatch,” the “Detroit Free Press” and “The Oregonian.” He won the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning and was a Pulitzer finalist in 2012 for the “Oregonian” in Portland.
Jack talks about the creative process of being a political cartoonist, some of the restrictions and some of the dangers of his profession.
Over his long professional career, he has complete about 13,000 finished cartoons – not counting the thousands of sketches and ideas in progress.
He gives us a view of how he goes about formulating a cartoon from the germ of the idea that starts the process to the finished product. The subject is central to the success of a cartoon, along with the pithy way of satirizing the situation. The art is secondary to a cartoons success, according to Ohman.
He also notes that there are self-restrictions and self-editing placed on cartoonists based upon each artist’s sense of ethics and good taste. Some topics or people are “off-limits” to Ohman but he self-edits those ideas. He does not expect his paper to censor his opinions.
Recently, however, “Pittsburgh Post-Gazette” editorial cartoonist Rob Rogers reportedly was fired for being too critical of President Trump and his administration.
Ohman also finds it is not difficult to lampoon Washington even from as far away as Sacramento. “Washington is just television now,” Ohman says. He thinks you can cover it well from anywhere.
Ohman also talks about his creative foray into creating 3-D cartoons for Virtual Reality for the McClatchy Company, owner of some 29 daily newspapers in 14 states.
In addition to the Pulitzer, Ohman has won the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award, the Society of Professional Journalists Sigma Delta Chi Award, the SDX Mark of Excellence Award, the National Headliner Award, the Overseas Press Club Award, the Scripps Howard Foundation Award and two first place Best of the West Awards.
Ohman also is the winner of “The Minnesota Daily Harrison E. Salisbury Distinguished Alumni Award.”
Since 2014, the faculty and staff of the Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine have been developing a new medical school curriculum called the “Pathways to Health and Wellness Curriculum.” Its design is revolutionary and may lead the way for other medical schools to follow.
Come August, gone will be the big auditorium lectures. Instead, greater emphasis will be placed on individual and independent studies through the use of a “flipped classroom approach.”
“Students will learn interactively through working collaboratively on 16 weeklong patient cases per semester. Students will work in teams along with appropriate faculty,” says Dr. Kenneth Johnson, the executive dean of the Heritage College and the chief medical affairs officer for Ohio University.
Students will prepare for classroom learning sessions through self-directed study including access to recorded mini-lecture and modules,” explains Dr. Jody Gerome, the new associate dean of curriculum.
“The different aspects of medicine, clinical, biomedical, and social, are woven naturally into patient cases, rather than taught as separate academic silos,” Dr. Gerome adds.
Likewise, the program will examine the students’ knowledge more often than the formerly once-a-semester exam. Tests will be given more frequently to make sure the student is keeping up and absorbing the material that is required.
During each semester, students and faculty both will have “protected time” for maintaining their own personal wellness and each student will be assigned a faculty mentor for all four years of study. The health and wellness of the patients and the physicians both are in balance under this new plan, says Dr. Johnson.
“The first two years of study will be divided into four 16 week semesters covering wellness, acute illness, chronic illness and return to wellness,” says Dr. Gerome.
“The changes we are making are designed to convey training in a way that is more aligned with today’s evolving best practices in care delivery, to improve the care provided to our patients and communities and for formalize our commitment to the personal wellness of our students during medical school and beyond,” Dr. Johnson explains.
“Health care has to change, and the college needs to adapt its curriculum so it can continue to train doctors who can not only thrive in the changing health care environment, but help lead that changes to improve the quality of care to our patients and communities.”
Dr. Johnson has been dean of the Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine since 2012. Dr. Gerome is a 2005 alumna of the college. She is a practicing physician and an associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology.
The meeting in Singapore between President Donald Trump and N. Korean leader Kim Jong Un was most assuredly historic. It was the first time that a N. Korean leader had met face-to-face with a sitting U.S. President.
But, was the meeting substantive and did it produce any lasting results? That is the question politicians, journalists, and analysts are asking as President Trump wings his way back to Washington.
The first reviews are tepid, according to TIME Washington correspondent Philip Elliott, and the President might not get the fanfare that he wants and expects.
The wait-and-see attitude is even pervasive with some members of Trump’s own party like Sen. Lindsey Graham. He said that this is a start but a long way from any “agreement” with North Korea to denuclearize the Korean peninsula, according to the veteran Senator.
Elliott in a conversation with the Spectrum podcast also discusses the optics of the summit and its political viability in the mid-term elections in November.
He contrasted the praise given to Kim Jong Un by Trump and other administrative officials on the heels of disparaging remarks by Pres. Trump and others toward U.S. allies like Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada.
Trump was openly hostile toward the G-7 allies and their leaders, says Elliott, while saying it was an “honor” to meet with Kim, calling him a “great leader.” The contrasts in Presidential styles between historic allies and an adversary were noted all across Washington, Elliott adds.
In his conversation, Elliott also talks about the onslaught of attacks on Special Counsel Robert Mueller by a quartet of GOP Congressmen, outside-counsel Rudy Giuliani, FOX News hosts and the President himself. Elliott notes that the “War against Mueller” is damaging the investigation’s standing with the general public. This may have long-term impacts on any potential Congressional actions against Trump.
Finally, Elliott gives Spectrum listeners insight on who’s “IN” and who’s “OUT” at the White House – the revolving door of political advisors and staffers.
Before joining TIME, Elliott spent a decade covering politics, campaign finance, education and the White House for the Associated Press.
As we feel racial tension from the White House and hear immigration horror stories from President Donald Trump’s Administration, it is refreshing to have a true scholar publish a book that is well researched and has an optimistic slant on the same issues.
That is what Dr. Andrew Selee, president of the Migration Policy Institute and former executive vice-president of the Wilson Center has done in his new book: “Vanishing Frontiers: The Forces Driving Mexico and the United States Together.”
Dr. Selee concludes that our two cultures have entwined together as well as our economies and that both countries rely on trade agreements such as NAFTA for mutual growth and dependencies.
We are involved in a number of manufacturing projects together as well as agricultural trade. He says tariffs and potential trade wars will only blow-up the progress that has been made.
He notes that Mexican immigration to the United States is down but that other Central and South American countries are funneling people to the USA through Mexico. He states, however, that the Mexican government is bulking up its own immigration enforcement measures to discourage wholesale immigration attempts to the U.S.
Dr. Selee laments that children are now being separated from parents who are attempting to enter the country by less than legal means. He thinks this is not what was intended by Congressional legislation or policies of our country.
He also notes that the “Dreamers” – those children born in the United States to illegal aliens – are still in limbo since the President and Congress cannot agree on a course of action to protect them. Dreamer legislation is being held hostage by the demands of the President for money to build a wall along the Mexican border.
Dr. Selee notes that about one-third of the wall has already been built by other administrations and the remaining portions promoted by Trump are either unneeded or purely symbolic. Instead of walls, Selee promotes international cooperation. He describes how San Diego and Tijuana have worked together to develop a number of joint projects including an international airport located just across the Mexican border.
Dr. Selee also states that Mexican immigrants have lower crime rates than other American groups and they have an entrepreneurial spirit. They are two times more like to start their own businesses than other groups – including American citizens, says Selee.
For 25 years, Stephen Crowley was one of two “New York Times” (NYT) photographers stationed in Washington to cover the White House, the President, and Congress. Being a politically-minded guy since childhood, Crowley says that covering politics was never boring and in fact, it often was exciting.
He says that covering politics is a lot like shooting athletic events…there are always surprises, successes and failures. There are stars and also-rans. Each personality is different and it reflects in the pictures of them, he notes.
For example, he says Obama often attempted to appear thoughtful and Lincoln-like when cameras were around while photographing President Donald Trump is like capturing a television variety show host. He also notes that Sen. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer can hear a camera go off from 20 yards away and quickly makes his reading glasses disappear before the second frame is shot.
He says that part of his job as a photographer is to be able to “quickly organize chaos” into some type of coherent image that tells a story truthfully and accurately.
Crowley, throughout his career, has traveled the world on assignments and has taken photographs in some 40 different countries. He has captured images of war, poverty, and devastation. His credo, however, in such horrendous situations, is “don’t victimize the victim.” He is careful to preserve the humanity and dignity of the person being photographed regardless of the situation.
In 2002, Crowley was named the Photographer of the Year by the White House News Photographers Association. He also was part of Pulitzer Prize winning teams at the NYT in 2001 and 2002 for “How Race is Lived in America” and his work during the war in Afghanistan.
Before arriving at the NYT, Crowley worked at “The Palm Beach Post,” the “Miami Herald” and the “Washington Times.”
He has had private showings of his work at the Library of Congress, the National Geographic Society and the Corcoran Art Museum in Washington, D.C.
The American Photo Magazine included Crowley in its list of the 100 Most Important People in Photography in 2005.
Medical historian Jacqueline H. Wolf, a professor at Ohio University, has just authored a new book tracing the history of the use of Cesarean Section baby deliveries in the United States noting a definite upward trend in the 21st Century.
The book, “Cesarean Section: An American History of Risk, Technology, and Consequence,” explores the history of the C-Section from the 19th century until today.
Wolf tells Spectrum podcast that Cesarean births rose in the United States by 455 percent from 4.5 percent to 25 percent for the period between 1965 and 1987. The growth has continued and now the rate for the procedure is one-third of all American births – one of every three.
This is twice what is recommended by the World Health Organization.
Although sometimes a C-Section is necessary for the welfare of the baby or the mother, too often it is used as a matter of convenience, according to Wolf. She details many of the risks associated with Cesarean deliveries compared to vaginal births and according to many, they are over-used.
The book has received impressive reviews. Recently Slate.com called the book “Absorbing,” “Plainly excellent,” and said “Its vividness is unrivaled.”
Jennifer Grayson, author of “Unlatched: The Evolution of Breastfeeding and the Making of a Controversy” said: “With meticulous research and sweeping insight, Jacqueline Wolf unfolds the unfathomable: how, over the course of a mere century, human beings normalized surgery as the means of bringing babies into the world. ‘Cesarean Section’ is an urgent wake-up call.”
This is Wolf’s third book. She already has written “Don’t Kill Your Baby: Public Health and the Decline of Breastfeeding in the 19th and 20th Centuries” and “Deliver Me from Pain: Anesthesia and Birth in American.”
This book is published by Johns Hopkins University Press.
As if the tangled and muddled web of potential Russian collusion and conspiracy with Americans to interfere in the 2016 Presidential Election was not confusing enough, we now have the activities of President Trump’s former attorney and “fixer” Michael Cohen to further complicate matters.
Philip Ewing, security editor for National Public Radio (NPR) in Washington, has been following the Cohen situation as it unfolds. He notes there are three main elements. First, what documents should be turned over to federal agents and secondly, what roll, if any, did Cohen play in the Russia collusion matter and thirdly, did Cohen break any laws in his representation of major global corporations by promising access to the Trump Administration?
Ewing tries to break the events down to understandable terms for the average person. He shares with us his insights and expertise.
In early April 2018, the FBI executed a court-ordered search warrant on Cohen’s office, his home, and his hotel. Multiple records and electronic devices were seized. Federal Judge Kimba Wood has appointed a former judge to do a preliminary examination of these documents to determine which ones should be turned over to federal prosecutors and which should be sealed under the theory of “attorney-client” privilege.
These documents could be potential evidence against Michael Cohen is an array of possible federal criminal charges and could possibly link the President and others to nefarious activities.
Cohen also has been linked to various significant foreign notables who might be involved in potential collusion regarding the election. He either has been seen meeting with them or records indicate he has received substantial amounts of money from them, says Ewing.
Finally, Michael Avenatti, the attorney for Stormy Daniels (a woman who claims to have had an affair with Donald Trump), is trying to break a non-disclosure agreement so that his client can speak openly of her relationship with the President. He also has sued Michael Cohen and President Trump for defamation for alleged “untruths” that they have said against his client.
Recently, Avenatti has released a report indicating that Cohen has received large sums of money from various global corporations and a Russian oligarch for some type of access to the President or influence over him. These money transfers might open Cohen and others to additional criminal liabilities.
Meanwhile, the “Washington Post” reports that President Trump is fixated on the raid on Cohen’s properties and speaks negatively of it some 20 times a day. No one, currently knows, why the President is so concerned. Ewing discusses some possibilities with the Spectrum podcast.
He also describes the chasm between the painstakingly methodical approach of Special Counsel Robert Mueller and the political/public relations frenzy being stirred up by President Trump and his attorney Rudy Giuliani. Ewing says some people will always believe Mueller’s investigation is a “witch hunt” regardless of facts proven in a court of law.
Ewing is a veteran Washington reporter covering primarily security and military issues throughout his career. He is a graduate of the Scripps College of Communication at Ohio University and the E. W. Scripps School of Journalism.
Investigative journalism is not the sole province of only big-city newspapers like the “New York Times” or the “Washington Post.”
Instead, it is starting to flourish at the grassroots level through the assistance of the Institute for Non-Profit News (INN), a collective of over 100 non-profit news organizations across the country. The groups are committed to transparency in government and to hold public officials accountable.
Affiliates across the country pay INN “a small fee each month in exchange for tech support; they help to negotiate deals on behalf of all members, and every year they have matching funds for member fund drives,” says Lucia Walinchus, the executive director of Eye on Ohio, the Ohio Center for Investigative Journalism.
Members also have the ability to share content from other member organizations.
Walinchus is an award-winning journalist, an author and an attorney. She often uses large data sets to research stories and is extremely adept at computer-assisted reporting. She has been published in many national publications and has made appearances on major television and cable news networks.
The scope of her reporting and investigations are wide but she is just an example of the type of reporter being attracted to non-profit journalism in 2018, says Walinchus
As the number of newspapers dwindles, the public is turning more and more to non-profit journalism to produce in-depth, long form stories that are relevant to the average citizen. These non-profits, like Eye on Ohio, bring top-flight investigative techniques to the heartland and produce stories that help define issues important to the readers.
Walinchus, for example, uses her journalism background and her law degree to decipher complex laws, regulations and financial transactions for her followers.
The mission of Eye on Ohio is: “to promote the public good by pursuing in-depth, underreported and high-impact journalism which exposes injustice and explores its consequences. Our reporting investigates the truth, holds those in power accountable, and seeks solutions.”
Examples of these types of stories and non-profit journalism can be found at http://eyeonohio.com/ and also at https://inn.org/2017/12/the-best-nonprofit-journalism-of-2017/
Andrew Revkin has spent his professional career covering environmental issues and writing about them contemporaneously. However, his most recent book, just published in May 2018, tracks climate change by looking at 100 historical events that help explain today’s climate debate.
The book is “Weather: An Illustrated History: From Cloud Atlases to Climate Change” published by Sterling and it is co-authored by Revkin’s wife, Lisa Mechaley.
He goes back to pre-history and brings the important climate events, people and milestones forward to our current political climate-change debate.
Each short narrative section is accompanied by stunning illustrations.
During his discussion with Spectrum’s podcast host Tom Hodson, he highlights some of the most noteworthy historical events and personalities with fascinating and sometimes witty stories about people such as Benjamin Franklin and his lightning rod and weather events like the killer London Fog of the 1950’s.
Revkin certainly has the credentials to write a retrospective on weather and climate change.
He is award winning environmental journalist, author, educator, musical composer and performer.
Andy spent 21 years writing about the environment for the New York Times and created the popular Dot Earth blog for the Times. He also was the first journalist to report from drifting sea ice at the North Pole.
He then spent time writing for ProPublica doing investigative pieces.
He now is the Strategic Adviser for Environmental and Science Journalism at the National Geographic Society. He also has spent time teaching at Pace University.
In addition to writing, Revkin is a musical composer and performer. He often performed with the legendary environmentalist/folk singer Pete Seeger. In 2013, he released his musical CD called a Very Fine Line filled with compositions he wrote. It is performed by “Andy Revkin and Friends.”
Journalist Leo Mirani has spent his life in big cities. He worked for the Guardian in Mumbai, India – a city with a metropolitan population of over 22 million people. And, he now lives in London with a population of about 9.8 million people.
His whole life has been spent in large cities and metropolitan areas.
He, however, has been curious about what small towns might be like and small cities in the United States. So, he came to America on a paid sabbatical to spend 70 days traveling the heartland of our country…examining what small town life is really like.
He is coming to the end of his journey and, soon, he will return to his position as News Editor of the Economist magazine in London. There he will write stories about his American experience and try to capture for his readers, the heart of small town American life.
Needless to say, the journey was a culture shock for a young man who has spent his life in large cities where anything is available at any time of the day or night.
While visiting the college town of Athens, Ohio, Mirini spoke with Tom Hodson of the Spectrum Podcast to share some of his observations about his travels and about the status of global journalism.
Mirini covered culture, movies, and the social scene for the Guardian in Mumbai, India. He then was a technology reporter for Quartz business news site until he joined the Economist in 2015.
Mirani talked with classes of journalism students at the E. W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio.
Dr. Steve Crocker was there for the birth of the Internet. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, he was part of the group that developed the protocols for the ARPANET. That was the foundation for today's Internet.
It was originally designed to share data and scientific research; however, it quickly morphed into a system used by millions of people for both productive and nefarious reasons.
He helped formulate the Network Working Group, the forerunner of the modern Internet Engineering Task Force. He also helped initiate the Requests for Comment (RFC) through which protocol designs are shared and changes made to systems for upgrades.
Dr. Crocker still remains optimistic about the thousands of positive uses of the Internet. He doesn’t think that we have even come close to maximizing the use of the Internet. However, he also cautions that security breaches remain a problem the need to be addressed with some urgency.
He, most recently, has been the CEO and co-founder of Shinkuro, Inc., a start-up company focused on dynamic sharing of information across the Internet and the deployment of improved security protocols.
Dr. Crocker also is extremely optimistic about the uses of Artificial Intelligence to enhance our way of living – especially in medical fields. He, however, does not want us to turn our lives over to being totally dominated by algorithms of someone else.
For his lifetime work, Dr. Crocker has been admitted to the Internet Hall of Fame.
The term “liberal” seems to be fading from the political lexicon. Instead, daily, we, as voters, are bombarded with the term “progressive.”
We constantly hear of progressive versus mainstream candidates. It was really apparent in the 2016 primary with Sen. Bernie Sanders challenging Hillary Clinton.
But “progressivism” also has seemed to invade state elections and grassroots politics.
For example, in Ohio’s Democratic Gubernatorial Primary, political rebel Dennis Kucinich is calling himself a progressive against more mainstream candidates. The state has become a microcosm of the fight between progressives and more centrist candidates.
But, what does that term “Progressive” mean?
In this edition of Spectrum, we talk with three people who give us their perspectives on what it really means to be a “Progressive Democrat” in 2018.
We hear from Dennis Kucinich who labels himself a progressive after a long and controversial life in politics. He was a young mayor of Cleveland, a U.S. Congressman, and ran for President twice in 2004 and 2008. He also, however, has served as a commentator and analyst on the conservative Fox News network.
We also hear from Dr. Susan Burgess, a professor of Political Science at Ohio University. A portion of her research has been in the evolution of political movements. She gives us some historical perspective.
And, finally we chat with Kyle Kondik, managing editor of Sabato’s Crystal Ball, at the University of Virginia and author of The Bellwether – a book about Ohio’s critical Presidential voting history and its influence on Presidential politics.
Artificial Intelligence quickly is becoming a greater part of our lives. Algorithms already trace our digital footprints and routinely send us targeted advertising and social media content compatible with our views.
AI checks our credit scores and approves/disapproves us for loans and mortgages.
It also is being used to predict behaviors – especially by law enforcement and criminal justice systems. But, is it biased and does it racially profile?
Randy Rieland, is an award-winning journalist and a digital media strategist in Washington DC. He also writes about innovation for Smithsonian.com. He recently wrote about how AI is used by some law enforcement. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/artificial-intelligence-is-now-used-predict-crime-is-it-biased-180968337/
“A program called PredPol was created eight years ago by UCLA scientists working with the Los Angeles Police Department, with the goal of seeing how scientific analysis of crime data could help spot patterns of criminal behavior,” Rieland wrote. “Now used by more than 60 police departments around the country, PredPol identifies areas in a neighborhood where serious crimes are more likely to occur during a particular period.”
The program, however, is not without controversy. Some notable groups like the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Brennan Center for Justice question whether the data used and the secret algorithms in the software create bias – especially against minorities and minority neighborhoods.
There are also questions whether the data and the resultant AI spurs law enforcement officers to be more aggressive in their arrest policies in certain neighborhoods. Some argue the AI programs create a type of racial profiling.
There is little accountability, at this time, for companies that produce AI systems because the software and the algorithms are “proprietary” and secret to the company.
Judges also have used AI to determine whether a convicted defendant is likely to commit more crimes. In short, judges were using AI in sentencing determinations. In 2016, a ProPublica investigation said that the system used by the judges was “biased against minorities.” The AI company objected to that conclusion.
There is almost no transparency in the development and applications of AI systems. Until they can be checked by the public and interest groups, the debate over their fairness and biases will likely continue.
The serious side of Dr. Michael E. Mann approaches his battle with the climate change deniers in the Trump Administration with scholarly excellence. But, the author side of Dr. Mann approaches the same topic with science, satire and cartoons.
Dr. Mann is one of the world’s foremost authorities on climate change and its impacts. He is an award-winning scholar. He is a Distinguished Professor of Atmospheric Science at Penn State University, with joint appointments in the Department of Geosciences and Earth and Environmental Systems Institute (EESI). He also is the director of the Penn State Earth System Science Center (ESSC.)
He has published over 200 peer-reviewed articles in his field and is known as one of the top scholars on this topic.
He discusses with the Spectrum podcast the serious side of climate change and the dangers we face with climate change deniers both in the Trump Administration as well as in Congress.
He also, however, discusses his most recent book and how he takes a different approach to effectuate change.
As an author, he makes the climate change issues accessible to the general public through the use of satire and cartoons in “The Madhouse Effect: How Climate Change Denial Is Threatening Our Planet, Destroying Our Politics, and Driving Us Crazy,” published by the Columbia University Press.
In this book he teamed up with Pulitzer-prize winning political cartoonist Tom Toles of the Washington Post to approach the topic with a combination of hard science, satire and humor.
According to a book summary presented by Amazon: “The Madhouse Effect portrays the intellectual pretzels into which denialists must twist logic to explain away the clear evidence that human activity has changed Earth's climate. Toles's cartoons collapse counter-scientific strategies into their biased components, helping readers see how to best strike at these fallacies. Mann's expert skills at science communication aim to restore sanity to a debate that continues to rage against widely acknowledged scientific consensus. The synergy of these two climate science crusaders enlivens the gloom and doom of so many climate-themed books―and may even convert die-hard doubters to the side of sound science.”
The book makes the complicated issues surrounding climate change accessible to both believers and deniers.
Dr. Mann is lecturing about his book at the Templeton-Blackburn Memorial Auditorium on the Ohio University campus on March 28, 2018 at 7:30 p.m.
In the early 1970s, Madeline Carvalho Lanciani traveled from suburban Dayton, Ohio to New York City as a young woman with dreams of being an opera singer.
After many twists and turns in life, she now owns the famous Duane Park Patisserie in the fashionable Tribeca District. She is famous for her baking, her creativity and for her tenacity.
March is National Women’s History Month and the theme this year is NEVERTHELESS SHE PERSISTED: Honoring Women Who Fight All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. Madeline is truly a study in persistence and the embodiment of this theme.
Early in her New York life, singing jobs became scare. Besides having a day job, Madeline started baking at home to help pay her bills. She sold her goods in local Greenwich Village shops.
Soon, she decided to put singing on the shelf and instead, she followed her passion of baking and cooking full-time. She attended a local culinary school where she was the only woman student.
After graduation, when she had to look for a job she ran into the stone wall of sexual discrimination. No one in the NYC food industry would hire a woman.
However, Madeline’s tenacity and resilience persisted and she talked herself into a job at the Plaza Hotel in Manhattan. She worked free for five months to prove herself. When eventually hired, she was the only woman in the kitchen of 99 men. Her story there was one of travails and triumph.
After on-the-job hazing, abuse and discrimination in the kitchen, she persisted and rose to be the chef at one of the Plaza’s top restaurants.
She and her first husband then started their own bakery in Greenwich Village but the business outlasted the marriage. They got divorced and both remarried.
Madeline’s second marriage produced her two children but it was a tough marriage for her. In various ways, it was an emotionally destructive marriage for Madeline.
Eventually, she divorced her second husband and was essentially a broke single mom of a six year old and a three year old.
Undeterred, Madeline found an empty warehouse in the Tribeca District of the city. She borrowed money, renovated it and started her own Patisserie. Today, her shop is one of the top in all of New York City. She is known for her superior quality and creativity.
Madeline paved the way for women in her field while suffering multiple levels of abuse in the workplace and emotional turmoil at home. She is truly an example of persistence and grit.
“Fake News” is a term that does not have one definite meaning. Its definition is fluid depending on who is using it to describe news coverage, says an assembled team of experts.
Spectrum brought together a veteran journalist, a scholar in the fields of communication and education, and a media executive with 30 years of experience in public broadcasting to dissect the topic of “Fake News” and what it means.
Allison Hunter is currently the Editor-In-Chief of WOUB News. Over her career she has had experience in both commercial and public broadcasting. She has produced award-winning news programming in the major markets of Boston, Chicago and Los Angeles as well as the smaller markets of Dayton and Cincinnati, Ohio.
Hunter also currently co-hosts a news related podcast #457SEO.
Dr. Scott Titsworth has been the Dean of the Scripps College of Communication at Ohio University since 2009. The Scripps College consists of the E. W. Scripps School of Journalism, the School of Media Arts and Studies, the School of Visual Communication, the School of Communication Studies and the J. Warren McClure School of Information and Telecommunication Systems.
Dr. Titsworth has an international reputation as a top scholar in the area of classroom communication effectiveness. He also hosts a nationally distributed podcast called “Teaching Matters” where he examines the unique needs of students in the 21st Century and the “Technological Age.”
Mark Brewer is the General Manager of WOUB Public Media. He is an experienced media executive with over 30 years in public broadcasting in Ohio, Minnesota, and Texas. He currently manages six public radio stations, six public television stations, social media, and an online news service.
All agree that the term “Fake News” is used by those who want to denigrate the news product either by claiming that the “event” never happened or that news reports have the facts wrong – thereby leading to a mistaken public impression.
If the term only was used to describe mainstream media, the panel, concurs that it would be easier to counteract the idea of falsity with greater media transparency and openness. However, the problem of “Fake News” is exacerbated by social media and the myriad of bots, trolls, fake news sites dedicated to distributing false reports.
In short, legitimate news is diluted and polluted by truly fake news that is generated by those who wish to advance a position or destroy someone else’s position.
“Fake News” needs to be counteracted by accurate reporting and complete transparency on how a story is resourced and produced. Openness counteracts the assertion of falsity, the panel says.
This month the civil war in Syria will enter its eighth year of fighting. More than 400,000 have been killed, nearly 1 million injured and over one-third of the nation’s infrastructure has been destroyed, says Dr. Bassam Haddad, an expert on Syria.
Millions have been displaced from their homes and other countries have felt the glut of millions of Syrian refugees fleeing the fighting.
What started as an internal civil war in 2011 against the dictatorship of President Bashar a-Assad has become a cauldron of international intervention. In addition to the United States and Russia, Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia have been involved in supporting one side or the other. Hezbollah also has been involved along with ISIS who, at one time, controlled 45 percent of the country, Dr. Haddad notes.
ISIS took control of much of the northern and eastern parts of Syria in 2013 in an effort to establish its own caliphate. But, ISIS was finally routed from their territory by a military coalition after fierce battles. ISIS now holds only limited portions of the rural countryside, Dr. Haddad says.
At the eight year mark of the Syrian struggles, the country still faces internal political unrest, external interventions, battles between Turkey and the Kurds and a massive task to rebuild the physical part of the country and infrastructure destroyed by war.
Dr. Haddad talks to Spectrum about all of these issues. He puts the conflicts into historical context from the beginning of the uprisings and discusses the current challenges facing this war-weary nation.
Dr. Haddad is a scholar, a teacher, an author, and a documentary film-maker. His second book is provisionally titled “Understanding the Syrian Tragedy: Regime, Opposition and Outsiders” to be published by Stanford University Press.
He also has been the co-producer/director of the award winning documentary film, “About Baghdad” and he also directed the acclaimed film, “Arabs and Terrorism.”
Students of color, students who don’t know English well and LGBTQ students are “vastly over-represented among students who face school disciplinary actions,” says Dr. Lisa Harrison and Dr. Theda Gibbs-Grey of the Patton College of Education at Ohio University.
This has led Dr. Harrison and Dr. Gibbs-Grey to launch a research study called “Black Girls Matter: Exploring the School Experiences of Middle School Black Girls Who Have Experienced School Suspensions.”
Discipline rates of Black girls far exceed those of white girls in the same classes.
“Instead of finding understanding, they get discipline,” says Dr. Harrison. This can have life-long impacts and contribute to high drop-out rates.
Harrison and Gibbs-Grey currently are following the progress of eight middle school Black girls at an Ohio school. They are conducting “school observations, interviews with the girls and their parents, as well as documenting their school disciplinary records,” Dr. Gibbs-Grey noted.
“We are also providing a year-long mentorship program that meets with the girls once per week for the school year,” Gibbs-Grey added.
The research has found school structures that work and those that don’t.
The researchers have found systems that need restructuring “to prevent negative academic and life outcomes for the girls locally and nationally who deserve much more,” according to Gibbs-Grey.
The two researchers hope to institute national and local changes in “school discipline and academic success among students who are marginalized.” They currently are in the seventh month of a year-long study.
Dr. Theda Gibbs-Grey has her doctorate in Curriculum, Instruction and Teacher Education with a specialization in Language and Literacy and Urban Education from Michigan State University.
Dr. Harrison has her doctorate from the University of Georgia in Middle School Education
Russia intended to support candidates against Hillary Clinton- the object of Vladimir Putin’s hatred, says expert on Russia, Dr. Steven Miner, scholar, author and professor in the Contemporary History Institute of Ohio University.
Russia also intended to disrupt American politics and social systems leading up to and after the 2016 Presidential Election, says Miner after perusing the 35 pages of indictments filed February 16 by United States Special Counsel Robert Mueller. The Russians intended to cause discord and chasms within the United States and Miner says they have been successful.
The indictments accuse 13 Russians, who infiltrated the United States with special agents, of illegal activities surrounding the 2016 Election and three Russian companies who helped illegally finance the espionage.
Some American experts have called this infiltration an act of war. Dr. Miner calls the operation acts of aggression. He agrees that the Russians have and will continue to breed chaos within the American systems and with the American public unless stopped by Congress or the Trump Administration.
Some five days after the indictments were made public, Dr. Miner is surprised that President Donald Trump has not condemned the Russian activities or done anything overtly to stop Russian meddling.
Trump also has not imposed sanctions against Russia for past election interference. Those sanctions earlier were passed by Congress by overwhelming margins.
Many, including Dr. Miner, are surprised with Trump’s apparent indifference to the Russian aggression and his lack of any coherent policy to counteract Russian interference.
Dr. Miner is an international expert and specialist in recent Russia/Soviet and East European history. He also is an award winning author. He just completed writing a book called “The Furies Unleashed: The Soviet People at War, 1941-1945.”
Often Appalachian natives decry the “drive by journalists” from big cities that come to small Appalachia towns just to capture pictures and depictions of poverty, unemployment, drug addiction and squalid and trashy living conditions.
They come, stay for a day or two, take pictures of the most decrepit conditions and human devastation, conduct a few interviews and then leave painting the whole region with the same brush of destitution.
The same criticisms have been levied by some against the recent book, Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis, written by J. D. Vance.
Michael Clay Carey, a former journalist and current assistant professor of journalism and mass communication at Samford University in Birmingham Alabama, instead thinks that local news media in Appalachian towns often ignore poverty and local social ills to the detriment of their citizenry.
They generally don’t report about poverty, economic or health issues, because they don’t want people to think that they are exploiting stereotypes, according to Carey in his new book, The News Untold: Community Journalism and the Failure to Confront Poverty in Appalachia.
However, in a study of three small towns in the Appalachian region, Carey found that by ignoring major indigenous problems that the local media, in fact, do perpetuate stereotypes. Ignoring the issues makes it more difficult to truly isolate the problems and discuss viable solutions.
Ignoring economic need can make it more difficult to find permanent economic solutions and be less vulnerable to “boom or bust” industries, Carey notes.
Instead of less coverage of problems, Carey proposes more coverage by local media.
“Critical and inclusive news coverage of poverty at the local level can help communities start to look past stereotypes and attitudes, and encourage solutions that incorporate broader sets of community voices,” Carey writes.
Before returning for his graduate work, Carey spent more than a decade as a small town reporter and editor. He now “researches the impacts of stereotypes and the roles media play in the formation and maintenance of individual and group identity,” according to his biography
The news in Washington D.C. regarding the investigation of the Trump campaign for possible conspiracy with Russians in the 2016 election and possible obstruction of justice on the part of the President is roiling.
According to Philip Ewing, National Security Editor for National Public Radio (NPR), the news comes at such a rapid pace that all journalists are scrambling to keep up with the latest developments and skirmishes.
Ewing, in this edition of “Spectrum,” attempts to bring us up-to-date on the latest moves by the parties and gives us perspective behind the Washington headlines we read and hear each day.
Most recently we have had attacks on the FBI and the Department of Justice by the White House. Meanwhile, some Republicans in Congress are raising questions about the investigative techniques used by the FBI.
These accusations of wrong-doing on the part of law enforcement are clearly part of President Trump’s defense strategy to ward off any potential damage from the Robert Mueller investigation, says Ewing.
That attack concept also has permeated the Republican side of the House Intelligence Committee chaired by Republican Devin Nunes. Last week, he released a memorandum claiming to outline improprieties by the FBI and the Justice Department in obtaining a warrant from a special court to secretly listen to conversations of former Trump campaign aide Carter Page.
The memorandum was unclassified by President Trump and released to the public and the media last Friday by the House Committee prompting the Democrats to seek to release their own 10 page memorandum contra to the GOP missive, according to Ewing.
On Monday, Feb. 5th, the House Intelligence Committee unanimously sent the Democratic memorandum to President Trump for a decision whether to declassify its contents. The President has five days to decide whether to declassify all or part of the memorandum. We await his decision.
Meanwhile, according to the New York Times, President Trump’s lawyers are advising him not to voluntarily submit to an interview with Mueller’s team for fear of possible perjury, Ewing adds.
As the “Battle of the Memos” goes on in Congress, other matters in Washington are getting limited attention. For example, the deadline for passing a federal spending bill elapses this week. Although Ewing says that he does not expect another government shut-down, some in Congress are working feverishly to come up with solutions to the funding impasse.
Also, this week President Trump refused to impose new sanctions on the Russians. This refusal is in direct contradiction to the wishes of Congress. Congress, by an overwhelming majority in both Houses, mandated the President to impose new sanctions against Russia. The President refused and that issue is now at an impasse between the White House and Congress.
The days of video or computer games being just for the entertainment of a small segment of our population are over.
The gaming industry is exploding and developing beyond the confines of simple games into applications for healthcare, rehabilitation, education and even finance.
The business of gaming is worth over a $100 billion globally per year. Games bring in more money that music and movies combined, says Chris Volpe, entrepreneur and CEO of Multivarious Games headquartered in Columbus, Ohio.
Volpe is also the co-founder of the Ohio Game Developer Association, a group designed to bring more gaming business to the heartland. Volpe says that the Midwest is perfect for start-up game development companies.
As more and more people become internet connected at younger ages, Volpe says that developers need to take advantage of this “opportunity for growth.”
Volpe notes that the average age of a gamer is 36 and a game purchaser is 40 years old. He also says that 42 percent of gamers are female. It is no longer just a teenage phenomenon.
Volpe also sees videogames as a storytelling medium. This is especially true of new Virtual Reality technologies being developed and explored.
Because the technology and game methodology are growing so fast, Volpe says that being a game developer is like operating in the historic “Wild West” where there are few rules or limitations and there are major opportunities.
Volpe’s company is working especially closely with healthcare professionals to provide therapeutic games. Recently, Multivarious Games produced a game for Nationwide Children’s Hospital to help children with muscular dystrophy.
Some observers characterize politics as a game…a sport where there are game plans, strategies, and winners and losers on almost a daily basis.
And, often the news media cover politics as if it were a sporting competition with play-by-play descriptions and color analysis.
Such was the case during the most recent three-day federal shutdown over the spending resolution– a battle between Democrats and Republicans and a battle between the White House and the Senate.
Terminology mimicked sports coverage. Was it the “Schumer Shutdown” or the “Trump Shutdown?” When it was resolved, did the Democrats “cave” or “choke” or did they “win” concessions from the GOP?
While the news media concentrate on covering the “game” of politics, stories about how the shutdown impacted average Americans in the heartland went untold, according to Andrew Alexander, former Washington Post ombudsman and former Washington bureau chief for Cox Newspapers.
Often the media report from a limited perspective or from a Washington D.C. point of view and ignore the ramifications of governmental actions on average Americans. Media does a good job of describing the impacts of actions for the coasts – Washington, New York, Boston, Los Angeles and San Francisco but too often ignore the heartland, where the bulk of President Trump’s base reside, Alexander said.
Alexander is a veteran of covering governmental shutdowns since back when House Speaker Newt Gingrich shut down the government during the Bill Clinton Administration in the 1990s.
Alexander is a former Washington Post ombudsman, a former Washington Bureau chief for Cox Newspapers and an award winning veteran journalist with more than four decades of experience.
During his career, he reported from more than 50 countries and directed major news coverage both domestically and internationally.
Alexander also serves on the New York based Committee to Protect Journalists – This group assists journalists who have been subjected to attacks, arrests and harassment worldwide.
He noted that during the first year of the Trump presidency that the media are encountering, for the first time, a President who by-passes reporters to deliver constituent messages directly through social media. This has left some media confused about how to cover those messages and the President himself – sometimes facing false leads or being misdirected from the “real news.”
Alexander, however, calls some of the investigative reporting done by news organizations to uncover stories of this President’s activities and falsehoods – “magnificent.”
Overall, however, Alexander is deeply concerned about the attacks of this Administration against the First Amendment and freedoms of speech and press. He believes our citizenry needs to be better informed about the fragility of those rights and take appropriate actions to protect them.
Do you ever feel overwhelmed by news daily pouring out of Washington D.C. and the White House that you find confusing, depressing or just plain outrageous?
Do you think that our democracy is in jeopardy by threats being made by the President and other governmental officials against free speech and civil liberties? Do you begin or end your day full of anger or rage at what our government has become?
Do you feel frustrated thinking, as an individual, that you can do nothing to counteract the tide of authoritarianism projected from the Oval Office?
Well, if you do, then you need to read “On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century” written by noted historian and Holocaust expert Dr. Timothy Snyder. This book is directed toward the average person and it outlines 20, very doable, things that individuals can do to protect democracy in America.
This New York Times best seller is only 128 pages and it is written in the form of a political pamphlet – like those distributed during our country’s early history, according to Dr. Snyder.
The book talks about the importance of “language” that we use in our daily discourse. “Freedom begins with language,” Snyder says. He also notes that authoritarian leaders also try to manipulate our language by repeating the same phrases over and over until they have become ingrained in our vernacular. He cites phrases like “Fake News” and “No Collusion” as examples.
He also cites the need, as a democracy, that we have for truth and he is concerned about how “truth” is often obfuscated by political rhetoric, talking points and purposeful clouding of facts by governmental officials.
Dr. Snyder also suggests that we get out of our Internet bubbles and echo chambers and actually talk with people face-to-face instead of always relying on others to formulate our opinions for us from media, governmental and political rhetoric.
If one follows the 20 steps outlined in this book, then democracy could be preserved and we could avoid an authoritarian takeover of our country, according to Snyder.
Our democracy is fragile, he says, and we, as individuals, must work diligently to protect it.
Dr. Snyder is the Levin Professor of history at Yale University. He also is a permanent fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna.
Besides, “On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the 20th Century”, he has written several other award-winning books. He wrote “Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin” that won 12 awards including the Emerson Prize in Humanities. He also wrote “Black Earth: The Holocaust as History and Warning.”
President Donald Trump is obsessed with and enraged by Michael Wolff’s “Fire and Fury” book that describes Trump and the West Wing in most unflattering terms, according to Philip Elliott, a Washington correspondent for TIME. The President can’t let it go.
It has consumed more than a week of Trump’s time and the ire doesn’t seem to be abating, according to Elliott.
The book also has uncovered a significant split between Trump and his once top political strategist Steve Bannon. Bannon was the named source on numerous unflattering depictions of Trump and his family members.
Meanwhile, as controversy over the book swirls, President Trump is advancing an “unsettling” foreign policy with provocative nuclear Tweets directed toward North Korea, cutting off some aid to Pakistan, designating Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and jumping to the verbal support of Iranian protestors.
Simultaneously, his State Department is gravely understaffed and morale is at rock bottom, says Elliott.
If this was not enough controversy, the federal government is facing another potential government shutdown if a budget or another continuing resolution is not passed by mid-January.
Also, while all of this is happening, Trump political opponent and former presidential candidate Mitt Romney will likely run for the U.S. Senate seat from Utah and 39 Republican members of the House of Representatives have decided not to seek re-election, Elliott adds.
Finally, the President is also facing an extensive interview with Special Counsel Robert Mueller or his staff within the next few weeks. This interview could go a long way in charting the legal course that Mueller will take visa vie legal action against the President and/or his staff members and family.
Spectrum discusses all of these issues with Elliott who spent a decade with the Associated Press before moving to TIME in 2015. He has covered politics, numerous campaigns, campaign finance, education and the White House. He is our eyes and ears inside the West Wing and gives us a “behind the curtain” look at this Presidency.
Robert Siegel came to Washington D.C. from New York City’s FM Radio scene some 41 years ago. He thought his transition to Washington was temporary and soon he would be back in the New York scene.
Then, he discovered a fledgling National Public Radio. He joined a group of pioneering young reporters, journalists and broadcasters who thought audio storytelling was important and limitless in its possibilities. In short, he never returned to his New York roots.
Instead, he flourished professionally and grew as NPR grew. Thirty years ago, he became one of the hosts of NPR’s afternoon news and talk show “All Thing Considered.” It was a position that he would not relinquish for three decades.
Last Friday, on Jan. 5th, Siegel retired from his broadcasting position. Shortly before he signed off, Spectrum special correspondent Emily Votaw had the opportunity to speak with him about his career at NPR and in broadcasting.
We bring you this special edition of Spectrum to share with you part of Siegel’s farewell to his loyal and fervent listeners and supporters.
Remember being taught to read through Dick, Jane, and Spot the dog along with Puff the cat, Tim the teddy bear and Sally the baby sister.
The Dick and Jane reading series began in the 1930’s and the books were published up until the 1970’s.
In the 1960’s the books went through a renaissance to match the changing times.
The art work was modernized. An African-American family was added to the storyline and the books became less sight based and more phonics based in teaching reading.
Leading that quiet revolution was Dr. Helen Mansfield Robinson. She was born in Athens, Ohio in 1906 and became an Ohio University graduate in 1926. She married and reared a family and received her doctorate in Chicago in the 1940’s.
From there she became a noted researcher, scholar and nationally recognized expert on teaching reading to children. Her contributions were stellar in combatting illiteracy and bringing the joy of reading to the masses.
This week, Kimberly Barlag the Director of Communication for the Gladys W. and David H. Patton College of Education at Ohio University and Julie Francis the Director of the new Edward Stevens Literacy Center at Ohio University talk with Spectrum about the history and the contributions of Helen Robinson.
We also will hear from the Patton College of Education Dean, Dr. Rene Middleton about Dr. Robinson’s efforts to bring diversity to the Dick and Jane series. Dr. Middleton, an African-American woman, has a special place in her memories for reading the Dick and Jane series that included people of color in the 1960’s.
Some of you love politics… But, don’t you get really tired of all the partisan wrangling, name-calling and finger pointing by our politicians?
The two parties usually can’t agree on the day of the week and the nastiness of their verbal exchanges is at an all-time high.
One result of this political vitriol is that little gets done in Congress and in many state legislatures and our trust in public figures is plummeting.
However, one retired politician is trying to erase the nastiness and re-establish CIVILITY in our public debate.
Ted Celeste is a former state representative from Ohio. He served in the Ohio General Assembly from 2007 to 2012. But, he’s now director of State Programs for the National Institute for Civil Discourse – a non-partisan center for advocacy, research and policy.
He leads the next generation project and travels the country doing legislative training called “Building Trust through Civil Discourse.” He has traveled to 22 different states trying to train state legislators and their staffs how to work toward consensus through civility.
He says that the political nastiness we hear today is counterproductive to getting things done and he points to Congress as a living example. Congress often is in gridlock based on overt partisanship or political verbal warfare.
Celeste says it doesn’t have to be that way.
While in office, he had a strong reputation of being able to reach across the partisan aisle to get legislation passed. He is now trying to pass along his tips to others in the hopes that we can be able to traverse the political divide we are now experiencing.
Recently, President Donald Trump announced that he was recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. The act received widespread bi-partisan Congressional support and kudos from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
However, the announcement was met by Palestinian condemnation and by protests from some U.S. European allies such as France and other leaders in the Middle East.
Protest demonstrations have raged throughout the region accounting for widespread injuries and some violent confrontations with police, according to news reports.
Dr. Ziad Abu-Rish, an expert in modern Middle East History, Social Movements and Popular Protests and U.S. Middle Eastern policy, also directs the Middle East and North Africa Studies certificate program at Ohio University.
He explains to the “Spectrum Podcast” the impact of Trump’s move on the region and how it alters an American policy that had been in place for 70 years. It also disturbs the delicate political balance in the area. He is convinced that the Trump action also has scuttled any chance for a two-party peace between the Palestinians and the Israelis in the foreseeable future.
Dr. Abu-Rish states that Trump’s action legitimizes and endorses territory taken by the Israelis in war. He notes, in the past, that even the United Nations recognized both the West Bank and East Jerusalem as territory “occupied” by Israel (as a result of war).
Although Jerusalem houses major religious icons for Judaism, Christianity and Islam, Dr. Abu-Rish believes that Trump’s recognition of it as the Israeli capital has more political and structural significance than religious.
On December 14, the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) is scheduled to vote to rescind a 2015 regulation that would end “net neutrality”.
Opponents of this action say it will consolidate too much power over the Internet into the hands of a few large broadband providers such as Comcast, AT&T and Verizon and cable companies.
If passed, the high speed Internet providers would be allowed to block certain websites (at their discretion) and “throttle” (slow delivery) content for others. The large broadband companies then could charge a premium to content providers to ensure faster service and delivery of content to customers.
Those additional charges would be passed along to consumers, according to Dr. Trevor Roycroft, an economist, and expert on consumer issues in telecommunication. Dr. Roycroft is a professor in the J. Warren McClure School of Information and Telecommunication Systems at Ohio University.
Also, not every Internet user would have equal access to legal and legitimate websites. Some may be blocked by various providers.
This action also will limit individual access to Internet sites as determined by the broadband carriers, according to Dr. Roycroft. He also believes it will curtail innovation and creativity on the internet and be a disincentive to small entrepreneurial developers.
This move is part of the de-regulation initiatives of the Trump Administration and is being led by FCC chairman and Trump appointee Ajit Pai.
It is uncertain exactly when this action, if approved by the FCC on December 14, will actually take effect. If passed, the action needs to be published in the Federal Register and will most likely be challenged in court. The court action will not prevent implementation unless a court grants a “stay” of the rescission.
“Philanthropologist” is a word created by two filmmakers Craig Martin and Earl Bridges. It is a combination of “philanthropist” and “anthropologist.” It also describes what these two filmmakers do. They share stories from around the globe of those sacrificing to serve others.
Martin and Bridges are philanthropologists with cameras and microphones. They travel the world documenting stories of humans making a difference…solving problems and seeking solutions for the betterment of humankind.
Their storytelling will soon come your way in a new PBS docuseries called “Good All Over” scheduled to air in June 2018. The first four shows are currently in the post-production stage. They also soon will be launching a new podcast called “Philanthropologist” to tell stories through audio.
Both Bridges and Martin started out together as children of missionaries in Thailand. They even played basketball together on a team there.
However, their paths split with Bridges getting an undergraduate degree in accounting and master’s degrees in International Business Studies , International Business and International Finance. He also calls himself a “technology entrepreneur and filmmaker.”
Martin has a Master’s of Arts in Communication and has traveled to more than 80 countries over two decades to make films about the human condition.
Despite their differences, the two childhood friends reunited to launch http://www.goodallover.tv/ and to document “the gritty, breathtaking work of people making a life and a difference on the edges of civilization.” Watch the trailer at the bottom of their webpage.
They started a Kickstarter fund to support their films and their travel. They have raised over $37,000 from over 140 different backers.
Now they are preparing their first season of programs and are planning more for the future. Listen as we discuss their histories, motivations, and observations in this entertaining and enlightening podcast.
The pomp, pageantry, and elaborate ceremonies honoring President Donald Trump on his recent Far East trip met the White House expectations for presidential optics and the perception of exalting the U.S. President.
However, many observers wonder if President Trump actually made much headway in negotiating new trade agreements or getting additional help in solving the N. Korean nuclear issue, according to Phillip Ewing, national security editor for National Public Radio.
Additionally, the magnitude of the trip has been minimized somewhat with the Twitter skirmish Pres. Trump has had with the father of one of the three UCLA basketball players released after shoplifting arrests in China. The battle over who should receive credit for their release has somewhat overshadowed the foreign policy ramifications of the trip, Ewing says.
Ewing also notes that current criticism of the President and some of his advisors by a rather substantial number of retired Generals is unprecedented in its volume and ferocity.
Simultaneously, the Navy is suffering from a number of fatal disasters at sea in the Far East bringing into focus the lack of training and maintenance in the Armed Forces, according to Ewing. This gives a black-eye to the perception of U.S. military superiority and efficiency. It displays vulnerability.
While the military is suffering from some perception issues, Ewing says the State Dept. also is undergoing a crisis in morale under Sec. of State Rex Tillerson. Many top level positions have not yet been filled by the Administration thereby causing some chaos in handling some key diplomatic issues.
Upcoming next month is the issue of the budget and whether Congress will allow the federal government to shut down or whether the Republicans can strike a deal with the Democrats to keep the federal government running. Ewing says that this is a key issue to watch develop over the next 30 days or so.
Ewing has been with NPR since November 2015. Also, he has had a long history of reporting about military and defense issues for POLITICO.com, military.com and Navy Times.
Dr. Mario Grijalva is a molecular cell biologist who has focused his career on helping to eradicate Chagas disease – especially in South America.
This bug, the Trypanosoma Cruzi parasite, exists only within certain parts of Latin America, and has caused havoc in most countries in the region. The parasites causing Chagas can be transmitted by certain insect bites. The parasites also can be transferred congenitally and through blood transfusions. Most of the people infected do not know of the existence of the parasite for 5 to 20 years. Then they develop defective heart symptoms that can often prove fatal.
Professor Mario Grijalva, director of the Tropical Disease Institute at Ohio University, he has spent his lifetime career researching and finding ways to curb the disease.
Ecuador, his native land, is a country that exists on the equator on the South American continent. As the name suggests, it is a country straddling the equator on South America's West Coast. It is a tropical country with a diverse landscape that covers all the way from the Amazon jungle to the Andean Highlands. And at the Andean Foothills, is Quito the capital which was previously a Spanish Colonial Center in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
But out here, in this tropical country, a disease has been ravaging and ending the lives of many Ecuadorians prematurely. This again, is where Professor Mario Grijalva comes into play. You see he came to Ohio as a graduate student and after he graduated… stayed on and spearheaded the Institute for Tropical Medicine at the state’s oldest university, Ohio University. The way he puts it, Chagas disease has shaped his professional career.
All of the world, malaria is the most known tropical mosquito-borne disease. But Chagas disease is less known because it's limited to certain parts of the world. Professor Grijalva, says Trypanosoma Cruzi is this little parasite that reproduces itself inside human or animal cells and hangs around for a very long time. If not treated, at its worst, it causes an inflammation of the heart. Basically, that means the heart will start growing and that is the beginning of real trouble.
Dr. Grijalva has dedicated his research to this disease and has taken over 600 American college students to Ecuador to work with Ecuadorian students and faculty in a new 100,000 square foot research facility and laboratory in Quito, Dr. Grijalva’s hometown. He also has developed a partnership between Ohio University and the Catholic University of Ecuador to fight the disease.
The disease generally targets the underserved citizens who do not have regular access to health care.
Dr. Grijalva is not only working on the science of Chagas but he is also trying to raise awareness of this devastating disease. To date, some 50 scientific papers have been published about Chagas. This has raised the knowledge base significantly.
While traveling on Air Force One this week in Asia, President Trump lamented the fact that Russia’s Vladimir Putin is insulted by United States accusations that Russia meddled in the 2016 Presidential election.
Trump contended that Putin’s bruised feelings would prevent him from making “deals” with the US concerning Syria and North Korea. The President also referred to former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and former C.I.A. Director John O. Brennan as “political hacks” and that the investigation into Russian meddling is an “artificial Democratic hit job.”
The next day, Pres. Trump adjusted his comments to say that he was not supporting the views of Putin but was instead just acknowledging his beliefs.
This latest “dust-up” again brings to focus the tenuous relationship between the U.S. and Russia and the strange relationship between the country’s two leaders.
To put this ongoing relationship into focus, Spectrum podcast talked with international expert and specialist in Russia/Soviet and East European history Dr. Steven Miner. He is also a professor at Ohio University.
Miner says that Putin is a far better political tactician than Trump but that, overall, he has not proven to be a good strategist.
Miner describes the tenuous nature of the Russian economy and its suffering from U.S. sanctions.
He also notes that Russia has dedicated part of its military strategy to cyber warfare and cyber interference with other nations’ electoral processes…especially the U.S. and others in Western Europe. Putin feels that effort has been successful. This tactic costs little money but causes major upheaval – as evidenced by the current U.S. Congressional and legal inquiries.
Miner also suggests that we watch for Russia to acquire more adjacent territory while the U.S. is preoccupied with N. Korea and our internal investigations into Russian meddling.
Miner is an award winning author and is putting the finishing touches on his latest book called “The Furies Unleashed: The Soviet People at War, 1941-1945.”
North Carolina Science Now is a statewide public television series that also is multimedia. It explains scientific discoveries, research, and principles using ordinary language that is understandable. Not only are the stories long-form news features on UNC-TV but they truly are multimedia.
Frank Graff, a veteran of more than two decades of local television news in at least seven different cities, in 2012 turned his sole focus to explaining science in a factual but interesting and entertaining way. He acts as reporter and producer.
In addition to the television piece, http://science.unctv.org/content/ provides a blog about the stories, additional reference materials, and sometimes animations. Graff also has teamed with an experienced educational professional and, together, they also produce model curricula that can be used by teachers to teach a 15 minute unit on the subject contained in each story.
North Carolina is a very diverse state scientifically with mountains in the west and the Atlantic Ocean on its east coast. Nestled between the coast and the mountains are the University of North Carolina, Duke and many other major research universities. There also is the famous Research Triangle with cutting-edge scientific discoveries.
Graff combs the research of scholars, individuals, government and the private sector to find fascinating stories that will resonate with the average viewer of public television.
“We try to provide a variety of stories from different geographical regions across this large state,” Graff says.
In addition to North Carolina Science Now, Graff and his associates have developed a second 30 minute show called Sci Tech Now North Carolina. It combines shorter stories together with science reporting from other public broadcasting outlets from around the country.
There is an increasing appetite of people to learn about and understand scientific discoveries that are in our midst, according to Graff. People want to know what is being discovered and how things work.
Graff spends full-time researching and finding topics that he thinks will be interesting to the average viewer and then travels on location to do key interviews and to film anything visual about the discovery.
The public feedback about the shows and the topics has been overwhelmingly positive, Graff notes.
He plans to continue the shows and perhaps even expand the current offerings.
After two 12 count indictments were issued against former Trump Campaign Manager Paul Manafort and his deputy Rick Gates, a guilty plea of a Trump Campaign security advisor was unveiled on Monday. Washington DC was buzzing with strategizing, gossiping, and worrying.
George Papadopolous, part of the Trump Security Group, admitted to communicating with Russians who promised Hillary Clinton’s emails after he initially lied about it to the FBI. It also was verified by court papers that Papadopolous had been involved in “proactive cooperation” with the FBI since July 2017. This put Russian involvement into the middle of the Trump campaign as the President continued to tweet that there was “no collusion.”
Special Counsel Robert Mueller had struck his first visible blow. Speculation now runs rampant as to what will come next and what political and legal positions should be taken in anticipation of Mueller’s next step.
Philip Elliott, Washington correspondent for TIME, described to Spectrum the current positions of the White House and also described congressional response.
The White House is characterizing the alleged crimes of Manafort and Gates as all occurring prior to being associated with the Trump campaign and therefore, not related. The President, it is reported, even felt relief after the first indictments were made public.
However, that relief was short-lived and after hearing of the Papadopolous plea he became so angry and volatile that staffers were avoiding him – even in hallways, according to Elliott.
President Trump, in tweets Tuesday, echoed the Monday statements of White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders demeaning Papadopolous as a young, low-level volunteer and a proven liar.
Elliott says that despite the White House public bravado that staffers are quite concerned about their potential legal liabilities and are “leaking” information like never before.
While the White House engages the public on the Mueller actions, Congress is trying to duck public comment as much as possible, Elliott says. Democrats are calling for protections of Mueller’s position and Republicans are saying that they are not going to be distracted by the latest legal actions. Instead, House Speaker Paul Ryan claims he will be singularly focused on tax reform.
Elliott notes that members of Congress from both parties are still playing the waiting-game to determine how much trouble the President and his campaign will ultimately be in as a result of Mueller’s investigations. He also notes the dual Congressional investigations are still ongoing.
He says the next big issue to watch will be the Russian involvement in Social Media.
Each stage of a career-early, mid-career, and retirement bring unique problems and issues that are addressed specifically by career consultant Beverly Jones.
Jones is an attorney, an executive coach, an author, a blogger and a podcaster. She works with people at all stages of their careers to help them traverse the ever-changing landscapes of the workplace.
Beverly is the author of the book Think Like an Entrepreneur Act Like a CEO – 50 Indispensable Tips to Help you Stay Afloat, Bounce Back and Get Ahead at Work and she hosts the podcast Jazzed About Work, available through Apple Podcasts, Google Play and on the NPR Podcast Directory.
Often she advises millennials just entering the workplace about when it’s time to move from one job to the next and how not to sacrifice a private life for a career. She also gives tips on networking – what it is and what it should never be.
For those in the mid-career doldrums, she suggests that they find a new challenge either in private life or on-the-job…something new to learn and master. She suggests that development of new skills will not only make life more rewarding but it often can boost a career at the same time.
She also spends a significant amount of her professional time advising new retirees. Often they are looking for new challenges or new careers and Beverly guides them through various exercises to allow them the freedom to try new things and to challenge themselves even at an advanced age.
She is a strong proponent of that there should be “fun” in every day of life and new challenges often produce that element of fun.
JJ DiGeronimo is President of Tech Savvy Women. She is a speaker, an award-winning author and an executive strategist. And, she is a strong proponent of women actively pursuing careers in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics).
DiGeronimo charted her own course in Silicon Valley after determining that a career in STEM was her ambition. However, she has left the tech world as an employee and now she owns her own company leading other women through the employment maze of STEM.
She notes that women and men approach careers differently and have different career expectations.
They even approach resumes differently, according to DiGeronimo. Men tend to be more direct and metric based whereas women tend to generalize, she says.
Recently, DiGeronimo released a new book “Accelerate Your Impact,” which is directed towards women in the workplace. The book has earned the Next Generation Indie Book Award.
Her latest book meshes with her 2011 book “The Working Woman’s GPS.” In addition to authoring books, DiGeronimo is a featured columnist for Smart Business Magazine and is often quoted in Forbes, The Wall St. Journal and on Fox Business.
Lidia Catalano is a multimedia journalist from Turin, Italy visiting this country to examine the growth of alternative work arrangements. Her primary observation is that this segment of our economy is growing beyond expectations.
Alternative work arrangements take many forms such as hiring temporary, on-call and independent contract workers. It also includes freelancers and some short-term contract workers. This economy is known as the “Gig Economy” – after the term for a short-term performance – a “gig.”
This economy is booming in the United States, according to Catalano. One reason is that employers do not normally have to pay benefits to “gig” workers. Instead, the compensation is usually paid hourly or by a set amount for a job or a period of time.
For employers this is a cost savings because they don’t pay benefits and for the worker, it gives him or her extra freedom and mobility, according to Catalano.
Catalano is on a 90 day tour of the United States studying work economies. Long-term she is a journalist for the Turin daily newspaper La Stampa. Her normal beat is education, migration, gender equality, labor markets and employment.
Catalano was recently presented with the Igor Man prize of excellence in journalism for a report she did about the Marcinelle, Belgium mine disaster of 1956.
The devastation in Puerto Rico, as a result of two major hurricanes – Irma and Maria, is beyond most of our comprehension. Half of the population, or 3.4 million people, lack drinking water and 95 percent are without electricity – after two weeks. Additionally, 80 percent have no phone service so outreach to friends and relatives is nearly impossible.
Natural disasters drain resources from Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and other Caribbean islands suffering from major infrastructure and structural damage, according to Roger-Mark DeSouza.
He is the director of population, environmental security, and resilience for the Wilson Center in Washington DC. He currently heads the Global Sustainability and Resilience Program, Environmental Change and Security Program, and Maternal Health Initiative.
But, not only are the islands threatened but mainland coastal areas of the United States also are facing elevated environmental threats, according to DeSouza.
DeSouza spoke with WOUB’s Spectrum podcast about the multiple factors facing areas of both the mainland and U.S. islands as a result of the recent hurricanes. He claims what we have experienced is not just an island issue or a Caribbean problem but instead natural climate change disasters face all coastal areas of the United States – areas that have expanding populations and deteriorating infrastructures.
Although DeSouza believes our country’s infrastructure is in terrible disrepair, he thinks that the increase in natural disasters forces us to have national resilience and gives us an opportunity to repair and replace with better and stronger systems.
Resilience is a main focus of DeSouza and he says that truly to be resilient a people must plan on ways to prevent devastation, engage communities and work together.
Prior to joining the Wilson Center in 2013, DeSouza was vice president of research and director of the climate program at Population Action International. From 2007 to 2010, DeSouza was the director of foundation and corporate relations at the Sierra Club.
For a decade earlier, he directed the Population, Health, and Environment Program at the Population Reference Bureau.
After being the voice of Bart Simpson in Fox’s animated series, The Simpson’s, for 29 years, voice-over actor Nancy Cartwright wanted to do something different artistically.
So, she fired up the “artistic muse” inside her and she co-wrote and produced an independent feature film based upon a portion of her life. It has just been released.
“In Search of Fellini” is about “75 to 80 percent” based upon a real adventure Nancy had in her early 20’s when she toured Italy alone in search of the world famous director Federico Fellini. She did this after being obsessed by the Fellini film “La Strada.”
She left her voice-over work behind and toured Italy searching for the great director. While there she received a marriage proposal plus encountered a life threatening situation among other major incidents. The adventure was life-changing.
The description of the film says: “A shy small-town Ohio girl who loves movies but dislikes reality, discovers the delightfully bizarre films of Federico Fellini, and sets off on a strange, beautiful journey across Italy to find him.”
Earlier in her career, Cartwright had helped create an award-winning one-woman show about this topic but the idea for creating “more” sat on her shelf until she became determined to make it into a feature length film.
Cartwright says that the movie is part of an overall artistic explosion in her life. She says that she has started really exercising her artistic talents in many ways including writing and creating sculpture – among other art forms.
Cartwright talks with Spectrum’s Tom Hodson about the movie, her artistic renaissance, and the stability that being part of television’s longest running show has brought to her life and her career.
Judy Woodruff, award-winning broadcast journalist, has spent over four decades covering Washington for PBS, CNN, and NBC. She currently is the anchor of the PBS NewsHour airing across the country on PBS stations each week-night.
She has seen monumental changes in journalism and how news is delivered over her career. One change is the role of women.
In 2013, Woodruff and her colleague Gwen Ifill were the first two women to anchor a major newscast together. Ifill died in 2016 leaving Woodruff alone at the anchor desk and leaving a hole in Woodruff’s life.
Woodruff explains that the PBS NewsHour, which is gaining audience numbers, is committed to thorough and accurate reporting in all of its stories underscored by a sense of fairness and balance.
She says, too often today, that people only want to hear news from their own political perspective – conservatives watch FOX News and liberals watch MSNBC. Instead, PBS tries to be neutral and attract all audiences interested in deep reporting.
Instead of having screaming pundits and yelling arguments among panel members, the NewsHour features veteran commentators David Brooks from the New York Times and political operative Mark Shields.
Brooks and Shields express different views but do so in a civil and respectful manner, according to Woodruff.
She also cites the explosion of social media as changing the news business. Instead of just preparing a story to be broadcast in the news segment, reporters now need to write the story for the website and add links to appropriate background documents. They also need to pepper social media with links to their work and real time updates.
As a result of technological changes, news consumers get more news today than any time in history, Woodruff says.
Recently, President Donald Trump rescinded an Executive Order called DACA issued by former President Barack Obama protecting undocumented immigrants who came to this country illegally as children.
The impact of Pres. Trump’s action could leave 800,000 people – the “Dreamers” as they are called – subject to deportation.
Instead of making the rescission immediate, however, Pres. Trump gave Congress six months to pass some form of legislation to protect the Dreamers status in this country. This may be a difficult task given the fractious nature of Congress and its displayed inability to pass major legislation.
To obtain protected status under the Obama order, Dreamers had to provide all of their vital information to the federal government, pass background checks, have no criminal record and be either employed, in the military, or attending some form of school, according to Dr. Andrew Selee, president of the Migration Policy Institute in Washington DC, a policy and research think tank.
As a result, these people are better educated and have better jobs that the average American citizen. They also have lower crime rates, Selee says.
Since Congress now must decide whether to extend protections to this group, Selee says that various ideological groups may splinter on this issue making agreement on any type of legislation difficult.
Most Americans, however, favor protecting this group.
Therefore, Selee believes that Congress will tie the Dreamer Act to another piece of controversial legislation to appease various factions in Congress. For example, he says, Congress may attach some funding for Pres. Trump’s border wall or a boost in border patrols in exchange for protecting the Dreamers.
In short, Selee feels that Congress will pass some form of Dreamer protection but it will be tied to legislation that give more conservative factions something they want – such as wall funding.
If Congress does not pass any protective legislation, Pres. Trump has “Tweeted” that he will “revisit” this issue – leaving the status of Dreamers uncertain.
In 2015, Jordan Phillips mother, Nicole, fought a bout with breast cancer. The diagnosis and treatments were totally unexpected and caught the family off-guard.
Jordan, then 12 years old, was sad and frustrated and wanted to do something to help her mother and others like her. So, Jordan, on her own, created a cozy for coffee mugs. She sewed them herself and has sold them in various ways for donations to cancer research.
She has called them “Cozys for the Cure” and to date, she had raised over $100,000 in donations for the Susan G. Komen for the Cure organization.
While delivering a speech about her project in New York City, along with her mother, Jordan piqued the interest of a manufacture and distributer.
As a result, her Cozys for the Cure are now being sold in over 1,600 Walmart Stores across the nation with a portion of the sales proceeds being donated for cancer research.
Jordan explains that one day she saw cardboard coffee cup cozys with illustrations drawn on them. That gave her the idea to make cozys out of cloth. Since she has sewn since she was five, she turned to her sewing machine and created the cloth coffee mug cozys.
She then went into full-out production in her home and started selling her cozys online and through Facebook to raise donations.
She even solicited some of her friends from her former home in N. Dakota to help out. A group of nine young girls, calling themselves “Jojo’s Cozy Tribe,” helped aid production along with two talented “sewing ladies.”
Just recently, the 14 year old has become an official business “Cozys for the Cure, LLC.” This will enable her to not only provide additional donation money to fight cancer but also, at a very young age, learn how a real business works.
Jordan told Spectrum that she wants to become a female entrepreneur and she wants to fight cancer until it is cured. Both are noble goals.
Jordan’s mother, Nicole, also has been dedicating her life to the spreading of kindness.
She is a much sought after public speaker and author of the book “Kindness is Contagious.” She also will be launching a new podcast about kindness in late October. Produced by WOUB Public Media, it will be distributed initially through Apple Podcasts, Google Play, and NPR One.
When you think of college students you might think of affluent young people reveling in the joys of care-free campus life…But, that doesn’t describe all college students – especially many non-traditional students.
They often are juggling families, jobs, mounting debt and hunger. Yes, hunger. Many go to regional campuses or community colleges. They are enduring current hardships for the promise of a better life with a degree.
Bob Long was a long-time voice on WMUB radio at Miami University in Southwestern Ohio. He spent almost 30 years working with students and gaining broadcasting and journalism awards.
Late in his career and since his retirement, Long started working with students at one of Miami University’s regional campuses. This is a campus inhabited by working students and those with limited resources in an impoverished area of the state.
“I was amazed at the conditions in which I found some of these students,” Long says. “Many of them had gone days without eating so that they could pay for school, books, and to support their families.”
Most of them are in debt for their education and the student debt is mounting each day. In addition, they need to spend money on books and transportation to and from the campus.
“All of this, too often, totals up to poverty. These students are financially strapped and they are NOT the spoiled college students we normally think of…far from it…” Long describes. “They need some help.”
Long, a long-time advocate for food pantries for the poor, wants to attack the hunger issues facing many non-traditional students at satellite campuses. He is starting college and university based food pantries for qualifying college students and he is trying to launch a national campaign to meet the needs of these low-income students.
He also is using his voice to argue for the lowering of student debt or the forgiveness of debt payments for qualifying students.
Long wants to give everyone a chance to get an education but he says it is not possible for many who already live on the economic fringes.
Children who have been in foster care are a special group of children to be adopted. Currently more than 110,000 children are waiting in this category for adoptive parents.
However, more than 20,000 will leave foster care without ever being adopted increasing their risks for anti-social behaviors as adults.
These figures are the result of a recent national survey conducted by the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, a national nonprofit public charity. One of its main purposes is to find adoptive parents for these foster care children.
Rita Soronen, the President and CEO of the foundation talked with SPECTRUM about this issue. She says that 80 percent of Americans who consider adoption now consider adopting a foster child. This is a significant increase over the past five years.
Foster children are often children taken away from birth parents by court orders for their safety. Instead, they are put in foster homes for their care. The study shows that four out of five children in foster care are there through no fault or actions of their own.
“These children are just like any other child. They’ve simply had a rough start in life,” Soronen says. “But they are available for adoption and they deserve to find a permanent family and a safe home.”
The Foundation works to find adoptive families that meet each child’s individual needs especially for children with special needs or siblings that need to stay together, according to Soronen.
The Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption was started by the founder of Wendy’s restaurants in 2001. It has multiple initiatives and grant programs that promote adoption.
In 2015, the Foundation spent more than $17 million in grants and awareness initiatives for adoption related activities in the United States and Canada.
This is a personal story…the story of journalist Colin Lasu…a son of South Sudan, Africa’s newest country.
Because of the chaos since its independence in 2011 and a Civil War beginning in 2013, over 1 million refugees have fled to neighboring Uganda and Ethiopia and over 200,000 have fled to other countries.
Lasu, a journalist in his home country, came back to America and received asylum here. He proved to the U.S. government that he would probably be killed if he had to return to South Sudan so the U.S. has allowed him to stay indefinitely.
Meanwhile, this seasoned journalist has obtained his master’s degree and now is studying for his doctoral degree.
He talks with SPECTRUM about his life in his home country and the chaos that ensued after independence. He also talks about his projects to train average S. Sudanese residents to become fearless radio reporters.
At one time, Lasu created a certificate program with the University of Juba and created the Sudan Radio Service. For two years, he helped non-journalists become reporters, mouthpieces of local news from their particular region.
They were taught by Lasu to talk with just “ordinary” people to get stories and reactions and not just public or governmental officials. The radio stations became quite populist.
The radio stations were very popular and Lasu trained a great number of people. However, the stations were deemed too independent by the government and a threat. Lasu became at odds with his home country’s government and he escaped to America.
Now, Lasu is studying conflict transformation, peaceful coexistence, media coverage, good governance and empowerment of disadvantaged groups.
USA Today, in partnership with YouTube, delivers a weekly virtual reality newscast called VRtually There, produced by VR veteran Robert Padavick.
It is the first native VR series, says Padavick and it produces three feature stories a week. Although VR is in its infancy, Padavick claims that watching something in VR is like having a movie theater on your face. The experience is totally immersive and like no other.
Consumers can experience stories…not just hear them or see them.
He thinks that VR is the news delivery vehicle of the future and it is now in its experimental and developmental stages. But, he thinks it will become mainstream soon.
Even though the visuals are the base of VR, Padavick claims that sound is equally important and spatial audio is complicated to capture and deliver. It also is in its developmental stage.
In creating VR new products that must be captured, produced, monetized and delivered to consumers, Padavick says he feels like a “pioneer.”
He also claims that “writing” is still the foundation of storytelling and that great writing is equally important in VR stories.
Padavick is not a newcomer to the news business. Before landing with USA Today’s VR team, Padavick had experience with both CNN and NBC.
He is a firm believer that the public will demand more and more experiential news and feature stories.
Laurel Wamsley, a young but veteran reporter and producer at National Public Radio (NPR), says she loves working there because she feels the NPR is truly serving the public. She also knows that NPR has made a concerted effort to attract a younger millennial audience and to broaden its base.
Wamsley is in her second stint at the radio giant. She has served as both a “producer” and a “reporter.”
She shares with us that there are two kinds of producers at NPR…show producers who work on a particular program like Morning Edition or All Things Considered and there are desk producers who work on particular topics such as politics, national desk, international, science and education.
A producer finds guests, books the guests, arranges for studio time or field logistics and edits interviews to fit the time slot needed. She said often 20 minute interviews need to be reduced to six minutes or less. That editing responsibility falls on the producer and not the reporter.
Currently, Wamsley is writing “breaking news” for NPR and for their digital product “Two-Way.” She rarely knows what she will cover on any given day and usually produces two to three different stories every work day. She says she likes the variety and it is a challenge to learn to report on and write the stories quickly.
Sometimes a story, such as one such did on Amelia Earhart will get her an additional interview with one of the hosts of All Things Considered or Morning Edition.
Wamsley also has been involved with the explosive popularity of NPR’s podcasts. She previously produced NPR’s wildly popular Politics Podcast.
She says that NPR’s podcasts plus the emphasis NPR has on its NPR Music products definitely attracts a younger audience. She notes that young people who are attracted to NPR Music may not be equally attracted to NPR News but there is more and more crossover.
Wamsley is a native of Athens, Ohio, the home of Ohio University, but she graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. To date, she has worked in Washington D.C.; Austin, Texas, and Chicago.
One of her passions is “urban life” and she calls herself an “urbanist.” She studies urban sustainability and urban self-sufficiency.
Never before have we had a President that spoke his mind almost daily to the American people. Like it or hate it, President Trump, through his use of social media, broadcasts across the globe his likes, dislikes, and policy thoughts. He is unedited.
While President Obama was closed, guarded and cautious, Pres. Trump says what he thinks or feels regardless of the consequences. Some argue, this makes him the most accessible and transparent President ever, while others claim his behavior reflects a dangerous, almost-cavalier approach to Presidential communications.
The contrast between Trump and Obama is significant for those assigned to cover the White House like Gregory Korte of USA Today. This veteran, award-winning journalist covered both administrations and he tells Spectrum of the differences between the two approaches.
Korte not only covers the White House but he accompanied President Trump on his nine-day trip through the Middle-East and parts of Europe and his most recent trip to the G-20 meeting in Hamburg, Germany.
When on foreign trips, Obama attempted to connect with the people and speak about ideals of democracy, Korte says. Trump, however, prefers bilateral meetings with foreign leaders, in secret and on the fringes of the regular meetings. He likes to meet one-on-one with foreign leaders and exercise the “Art of the Deal,” according to Korte.
It is too early to determine what the nature of Trump’s foreign policy exactly is but Korte says the primary objective is to defeat ISIS and to exercise military strength around the globe.
Korte also notes major differences in the way Trump treats cabinet members such as Rex Tillerson compared to the way Obama would work with cabinet members. Many believe Tillerson is about to resign this early in the President’s term because he is being undermined by the President and his public disclosures.
Korte says, in covering the White House, he tries to stay away from the “palace intrigue” of who has power and who is about to be fired. Instead, he tries to dig out the daily news nuggets from the chaff of distractions. He admits that some days that job is particularly difficult.
Besides covering the White House, Korte has acted as a visiting professional -- teaching at the E. W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University—his alma mater.
Graham Nash is a two-time Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee who created pioneering British pop-rock outfit The Hollies with childhood friend Allan Clarke in his late teens and was a featured initial in Crosby, Stills, and Nash. He continues to be socially and politically active well into his older years.
Last year he released his first solo project in 14 years, “This Path Tonight,” crafted with the assistance of longtime collaborator Shane Fontayne. Nash refers to himself as a writer, and his ability to master expression with the written (and sung) word is showcased on the lean, 10-song release. Earlier this year Nash announced that he would be going on tour in support of the album this summer, giving fans across the U.S. a chance to take part in his spirited and career-spanning live shows.
Spectrum’s Emily Votaw spoke with Nash about his feelings on the 2016 Presidential election, what he feels all artists should be doing as a result of it, and what it means to be a hippie in 2017.
What Russia may lack in modern traditional military assets, it more than compensates through its ability to wage tactical cyberattacks and ultimately the potential for cyberwarfare.
That’s the opinion of Dr. Steven Miner, professor and Director of the Contemporary History Institute at Ohio University.
Russia’s military hardware is deteriorating and the Russian economy is not strong under its leader Vladimir Putin. So, Russia is opting for committing cyber terrorism to advance its positions in the world.
These attacks, which can be done cheaply, have become pervasive by Russia throughout Europe, the countries bordering Russia and even in the 2016 U.S. Presidential election, Dr. Miner says. They are not new.
One of the Russian objectives is to “make trouble” and to discredit the authenticity of democratic electoral systems…leading people to think that elections, for example, are “rigged.”
He feels that the cyber interference in the American election was sparked more by a hatred of Sec. of State Hillary Clinton by Putin than any love for Donald Trump.
Dr. Miner gives a brief explanation of the rise to power of Putin and Putin’s “cynical” philosophy relating to governments and power. Putin’s world view was formed during his early days with Russian Intelligence, the KGB.
Dr. Miner also explains how the current hostile feelings between American and Russia are different than those that existed in the Cold War.
“We are not in Cold War – Part 2,” Dr. Miner says. The relationships between the countries are now far more complex than in earlier Cold War days.
Dr. Miner is one of the world’s foremost authorities on Russian/Soviet and East European history. He just completed writing a book that is awaiting publication by Simon and Schuster, titled – The Furies Unleashed: The Soviet People at War, 1941-1945.
President Donald Trump states that his actions through Executive Orders will bring coal mining jobs back to America. Jonathan Norris, researcher and engineer, says that is not likely to happen.
Mining jobs have been on a steady decline since the 1980’s, according to Norris. The main reason is that natural gas has become a much cheaper way to run power plants to produce electricity.
So, even if the President eases carbon emission standards, it will not bring back mining. Coal is a more expensive way to produce electricity. So mines will not come back unless the economy allows them too, Norris says.
Norris’ research interests include energy policy, innovation systems, and the transition of small Appalachian communities from being coal bases to being economically diverse.
A native of the coal fields of Ohio, Norris describes the boom or bust history of extractive industries in his home region.
He says that when coal jobs disappeared that many small communities had no other economic base. The poverty that follows hones a type of fatalistic thinking among residents. Crime increases and drug and alcohol addiction skyrockets.
Southern Ohio, Eastern Kentucky and West Virginia have the highest rates of opioid addiction in the country, Norris says.
Some efforts are being made to retrain former miners for other jobs but many of those programs rely on federal money from the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC). However, the ARC has been “zeroed out” in the Trump proposed budget to Congress.
If retraining programs and economic diversity programs cannot be funded then hope dims further for the mining communities out of work.
Passions can run high with immigration issues. Some Americans embrace immigration and immigrants as being the backbone of the United States. While with others, immigration is seen as problematic and even frightening and a threat to America.
Although often we, as Americans, see immigration issues as simplistic black and white issues, but instead, according to Dr. Andrew Selee, we need to take a broader view to immigration and its complexities. We, as a country, need to work on how we can improve our immigration instead of concentrating on how to limit our immigration policies, he says.
Dr. Selee is the Executive Vice President of the Wilson Center for International Scholars in Washington. On August 1 he will become the President of the Migration Policy Institute, a global policy and research think tank-- also in Washington DC.
Dr. Selee’s expertise is in immigration with a special emphasis on Mexico and the inter-relationships between Mexico and the United States.
Under the Trump Administration enforcement against undocumented residents already is up 37 percent. Selee says this emphasis on enforcement and building a wall appeals only to about 20 to 25 percent of the American public
During this period of hyper enforcement, Dr. Selee notes some positive aspects of immigration. About one-third of all new businesses in America are started by immigrants. He also notes that legal immigrants bring to America a higher degree of academic attainment than the average American has.
Dr. Selee also says that since 2007, immigration from Mexico to the United States is in decline because the Mexican population is getting older and the country’s economy is getting better. Instead, Mexico is facing immigration issues with the influx of people to Mexico from Central America.
Dr. Selee notes that the Asia immigration population in America is the most rapidly expanding group with an influx of people from India and China.
He discusses the fact that Congress has not been able to adequately address immigration because any proposed plan gets snagged in the details.
He also notes that drugs do not come into this country from Mexico through illegal border crossings. Instead, they come in hidden in vehicles through legitimate points of entry. New technology is needed to detect and stop this and not a wall, according to Selee.
American foreign policy under the Trump Administration currently is “chaotic, amorphous, and …unprofessional,” according to Ambassador Reuben Brigety, dean of the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University.
Ambassador Brigety expresses to Spectrum podcast that he is concerned about the huge number of important positions in the State Department that are not yet filled after four months in office. The Trump Administration has not nominated a sufficient number of people for the U.S. Senate to confirm. This leaves foreign policy work undone and sends the wrong message to our allies, according to Brigety.
He believes that there are multiple reasons for these vacancies. He said that the Trump Transition Team was the most “slow and chaotic that we’ve seen in decades.” Therefore, nominations were not ready early in the Administration.
He also says that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has decided to “take his time” making these appointments since the Trump administration has called for a 30% budget cut in the State Department which leads to a lay-off of 2,300 State Department workers. The Ambassador calls this 30% cut “outrageous.”
Finally, Brigety says the positions are not filled because several potential employees have said “no” to joining this administration.
Brigety asserts that his observations are not partisan in nature and is quick to point out major foreign policy attributes of the Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and George W. Bush administrations.
The Ambassador also notes that the Trump administration, to date, has failed to articulate an overall foreign policy. “America First is not a world view,” says Brigety. He claims that it is a slogan that is rather meaningless when confronting major problems or catastrophes on the world’s stage.
Brigety also raised some concerns about the Defense Department and the role of the military in making foreign policy decisions. He cites that we come from a long tradition of “civilian control of the military” through the President. He, however, says it is a reasonable question to ask whether currently any civilians in the Trump Administration have an adequate understanding or comprehension of the military in order to make informed decisions.
Speaking specifically of Africa, Ambassador Brigety says that too often America has not taken advantage of the richness of Africa’s resources of land, people, and development possibilities. Instead, China has taken over as the major economic player on the African continent and has eclipsed America’s meager efforts. Brigety says that the Trump Administration, to date, has been “quiet on Africa.”
He provides Spectrum listeners with a guide of what to follow in the future in the areas of foreign policy. He thinks it is important to view how America is relating to its allies, how it handles North Korea, and how the Trump Administration responds to the next big disaster that will require humanitarian efforts.
Ambassador Brigety previously served as Representative of the United States to the African Union and was named Permanent Representative of the US to the UN Economic Commission for Africa. He also has served as a Deputy Assist Sec. of State in the Bureau of African Affairs and in the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration. He also is a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
During the scramble to be the first and provide the best possible coverage of the ongoing Trump/Russia investigations, credible news organizations have published numerous stories based upon “leaks” from sources who are listed as “anonymous” or described without using their names or titles.
Some Administration officials decry “leakers” and infer that they are not credible and chastise news entities for using the information from these unnamed sources. Some officials call stories based on anonymous sources “fake news.”
Journalists, however, often must rely on these anonymous tips to get the facts and after the stories and sources are completely vetted – the resulting story is anything but “fake news.” Often these stories are, in fact, the most reliable types of stories. They must, however, be what Andrew Alexander calls – subject to “prosecutorial editing” – severe editing for fairness, credibility and accuracy.
Alexander is a former Washington Post ombudsman, a former Washington Bureau chief for Cox Newspapers and an award winning journalist – in his own right. His media career has spanned more than four decades.
He has reported from more than 50 countries and he has directed news coverage both domestically and internationally. He is a member of the board of the American Society of News Editors and has led its Freedom of Information Committee.
Alexander also serves on the New York based Committee to Protect Journalists – This group assists journalists worldwide who have been subjected to attacks, arrests and harassment.
Today, he helps us understand the use of anonymous sources by journalists, governmental leaks and the ethics and legalities surrounding this controversial method of reporting.
Specifically, the use by media of unnamed anonymous sources in ongoing news coverage of the Trump/Russia investigation has been a point of contention and is rampant in it repetitiveness.
Alexander helps define for us “off the record” and “not for attribution” and tells us why a reporter or editor might support anonymity of a source. He also thinks it is humorous when Congress and the White House get upset and agitated about “leakers” since many of the leakers work for those complaining entities.
He also notes that, to date, the Trump Administration has been waging a “war of words” against reporters but if those words turn into punitive actions with legal consequences, then we will be in a new state of animosity that we have never seen set loose against the media in this country.
Alexander equated this possible hostility against the media to be similar to what happens to reporters in Russia, Syria or Turkey.
We have investigations ongoing of the Trump campaign/Russia connection in the Senate, the House and with the Special Counsel appointed by the Interim Attorney General.
It seems we don’t have any one place to follow the events and with each entity conducting its own investigation, we as average citizens can feel like we’re drowning in a sea of terminology and confusion.
We can’t keep up or keep the news straight in our minds.
Philip Ewing, national security editor for National Public Radio (NPR), helps us traverse this confusing investigatory landscape.
Ewing breaks down the recent Senate hearings with Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coats, National Security Agency Director Michael Rogers and former FBI Director James Comey.
Phil gives us an insiders-update on all of the Trump/Russia investigations. He points out and explains many of the nuances that we might otherwise miss.
We discuss “executive privilege,” “classified information,” “the Fifth Amendment,” “immunity,” and “contempt of Congress” among other procedural aspects of the testimony we have heard so far.
He also gives us insight on the workings of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s office, his recent attorney appointments to his staff, and how Mueller is coordinating his activities with the Senate.
We compare how the current investigations are similar to and different from the past Watergate scandal and impeachment proceedings.
We also look at how the White House and the Trump Administration are responding. And, we talk about the role of the news media in covering this process and uncovering stories that actually help propel the investigations.
Throughout the ongoing investigations, Ewing will periodically visit with us to help the average American gain understanding of the processes and events. He will act as our translator and our guide.
Authenticity and great storytelling combine to form the backbone of good advertising, according to advertising expert Chuck Borghese.
Borghese is an award-winning veteran of the creative side of advertising having spent nearly four decades in the business and charting its changes over time.
He notes that in the days of Mad Men advertising executives, up through the early 1960’s, that most advertising was based on “authority.” The advertisers, according to Borghese, told consumers what they wanted and even down to dictating the colors that would be most popular.
Beginning in the mid 1960’s until now, he claims that most effective advertising is being based on “authenticity.” He says that this is especially true in the era of heightened social media. If a product is not authentic or the message is not accurate, people on social media will be talking about it immediately. Social media can destroy an advertising campaign in a heartbeat, Borghese says.
No matter how advertising messages are delivered in the “Digital Age”, Borghese says that the need for relatable storytelling will never change. He notes the heart of effective advertising is to tell a great story that connects with the potential consumer.
Advertising is really becoming more like public relations, according to Borghese, meaning that stories need to be tailored specifically to the needs of the consumers.
He notes that when information about a certain product that the user looked at online follows that user to almost every site the user visits, it can be considered badgering by the potential consumer. However, if the product is connected to a story that resonates with the Internet user, then the messages, no matter how many, have greater value and will become more effective.
Although the delivery systems for advertising are changing at breakneck speed, the core for advertising agencies success is how they mesh the product with the needs or desires of the consumer in an authentic and not a fabricated way.
If advertisers can do that then they will be successful whether its 2017 or 2025, Borghese predicts.
Borghese started his advertising career in Detroit where he managed the campaigns of large consumer brands. He then became creative director at Ogilvy and Mather in Atlanta. His next move was to go to New York City where he worked for two agencies, topping his career at DDB agency working for one of the pioneers of authentic creative advertising Bill Bernbach.
Borghese currently is a guest lecturer in Strategic Communication in the E. W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University and also is continuing his career with a new worldwide advertising agency.
Linda Tirado, author and activist, has written and spoken around the globe about what it's like to be poor in America. She now has a new project. She is seeking truth about our democracy by traveling the country and interviewing voters in the last Presidential election to find their current reaction to the Trump Administration and to the apparently stalled Congress.
Tirado is finding that we have groups of disparate people living in the same geographical country but most people no longer having common goals or purposes. She contends “factionalism” has never been this bad. She challenges whether we even have a “country” beyond geography.
This great divide is breeding danger: increased violence and a rise of the American style of fascism, according to Tirado.
She notes that reporters, just doing their job, are not safe and that far right-wing political people blame the news media for spreading lies and “fake news” as is trumpeted by President Trump. She cites the recent assault on a reporter covering the Montana congressional race.
She notes that many of the poor people who were depending on Trump to give them jobs and protect their interests are disappointed and their negative feelings are rapidly growing. As a result, Tirado contends they will probably not vote in future elections. Neither, Republicans nor Democrats should count on them voting – period.
She also contends that this administration is under attack at so many levels – Congressionally, foreign-policy wise, and the investigations of Russian interference and collusion that the average person cannot follow everything happening. She calls it a “fever dream of lunacy.”
It is Tirado’s contention that when people of overwhelmed that they turn off and pull inward back to their own lives and their local and family environments.
In October 2014, Tirado’s book,” Hand to Mouth: Living in Bootstrap America” was published and has emerged as an extremely meritorious book about living in poverty in America. About 43.1 million Americans live in poverty and some experts challenge that number as being too low.
Yet, poor people are routinely ignored by society and even chastised for not being able to work themselves out of poverty. Many, however, became a major factor in Trump’s victory in this past election.
Tirado challenges traditional political thinking, fly-over reporting by news organizations, and our misunderstandings of what it is truly like to be poor in this country. She is now on assignment from major publications to determine how and what Americans are truly thinking and believing.
This White House is run differently than the West Wings of past Presidents. Those were based on fairly rigid protocols, roles, traditions and procedures. This White House is not the norm. It sometimes appears to be chaotic but it actually reflects the temperament, the personality and the style of its primary occupant – President Donald Trump.
“It’s not better or worse…it’s just what the President wants,” says TIME Washington Correspondent Philip Elliott.
Some traditional roles are quite different than with past Presidents. For example, the Chief of Staff position usually is a strong position and the Chief often has acted, in the past, as almost a surrogate President. Long-time Washington veteran Reince Priebus holds that position but most assuredly does not have the power of past Chiefs.
Instead, under President Trump, that power role is most often played by Vice President Mike Pence, according to Elliott. He says that Trump relies on Pence for traditional Washington power and procedure. The President feels some comfort with Pence around him. Pence allows Trump to be Trump – unpredictable and transparent.
Despite his ongoing battles with the news media, President Trump is one of the most transparent Presidents in modern times. He often says what he feels or uses Twitter to transmit it directly to millions of people, says Elliott.
He has a rotating group of people that he brings close to him, depending on his mood and the issue. He will be close to one person one day and another on the next day. It sometimes seems totally random, according to Elliott.
President Trump also is learning the relationship between branches of government especially between the executive and the legislative branches.
The Trump administration, for example, has sent a proposed budget to Congress that according to most observers is “dead on arrival.” According to most pundits, it has no chance of passing in anything close to its present form.
One senior Senate staffers called it nothing but “pixie dust”, according to Elliott.
Yet, Trump submitted this budget with its slashing provisions -- because he said he would, says Elliott. If it doesn’t get passed, then Trump can shift all blame to Congress – regardless the fact that the Congress is predominantly Republican.
Unless there is a major legal problem with the Presidency, Elliott truly doesn’t see it changing much throughout the remainder of Trump’s term. In short, the Presidency is the way Trump wants it to be – unpredictable, volatile and powerful.
This is a special edition of SPECTRUM featuring intelligence expert, David Crane.
The way President Trump is dismissive of “intelligence briefings” and makes disclosure decisions without prior consultation with intelligence experts causes grave concern to a long time security veteran.
Recently, the news has focused on security gaffes in the White House. Some reports have said that President Trump gave the Russians intelligence information that was classified at the highest level of secrecy.
It is reported, by Trump’s National Security Advisor, that he made the decision to do so “on-the-spot” without any prior consultation with his security team.
His National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster said at a press briefing that before making the disclosures, the President did not know the source of the information or from where the information came.
Although McMaster claims the President’s disclosures to the Russians were “wholly appropriate,” many experts question the wisdom of such spur-of-the moment Presidential decisions to share highly secretive information without consulting with the security team first.
To understand exactly what happened and what the “intelligence terminology” we hear means…We’ve called in an expert -- David Crane.
Crane spent over 3 decades in top-level Intelligence work for the government. He helped create and was the founding director of the Office of Intelligence Review in the Department of Defense. He is an international law specialist and has acted as a prosecutor of war crimes for the United Nations.
Crane is very concerned about how this Administration is handling intelligence and what the dire ramifications could be. He is troubled by the President’s seemingly casual attitude about “intelligence” and his dismissive policies toward “briefings” by veteran intelligence officers.
He also describes how the President’s mishandling of critical information can put other countries and individuals in jeopardy as well as the United States.
World-renowned international lawyer and national security expert David Crane is heading the Syria Accountability Project to hold Syrian governmental and faction leaders accountable for thousands of verified war crimes.
He and his group are building war crime cases and trial packages against Syrian government and faction leaders. To date, Crane’s group has verified over 8,000 pages of individual war crimes.
Crane is building conflict maps and criminal law matrix to help international, national and local prosecutors in Syria try and convict war criminals. He also has compiled a massive data base and incident index. He even has prepared model indictments against named Syrian leaders.
Crane brings a wealth of experience to this effort. He was the lead prosecutor in war crimes trials for the United Nations against Sierra Leone and other leadership in the 1.2 million massacre of its citizens in that 11 year civil war. His work resulted in the conviction and imprisonment of Charles Taylor, the former president of Liberia. This was only the second time in history that a former head of state was convicted of war crimes.
He also helped create and was the founding director of the Office of Intelligence Review in the Department of Defense.
Throughout his illustrious career, Crane has been able to apply the rule of law to chaotic situations whether they are foreign or domestic.
Domestically, he is a firm believer that the U.S. Constitution guides everything. He cites that statutes, regulations and policies may come and go but the Constitution is always present with strong guiding principles to follow.
Crane is currently a Professor of Practice at the Syracuse University College of Law. He also is a member of the faculty of the Institute for National Security and Counterterrorism at Syracuse University.
The job of the editorial teams at National Geographic is to make a “round world” come to life on a “flat plane” of a magazine, a web-screen, a phone or other mobile device. That, often, is a big challenge.
Kaitlin Yarnall is Deputy Director for the Centers of Excellence in Journalism, Mapping and Photography at the National Geographic Society.
She also has been the lead editorial manager for National Geographic’s 2014 multi-year, multimedia food initiative – to examine all aspect of food in our lives. It has been the most commercially successful editorial initiative in the history of National Geographic.
Yarnall’s designs for Geographic have won numerous awards.
She claims that even in the 21st century that maps have relevance. In fact, she claims that maps are making resurgence in our lives. Despite electronic GPS and other tracking methods, ordinary maps give individuals context and perspective that other electronic tracking devices do not, says Yarnall.
Along with graphics, photos, and other interactive features, maps and graphic depictions also make stories come to life. They broaden a reader’s perspective beyond the mere print and text of a story.
Editorial teams at National Geographic spend a great amount of time on the marriage between text, photos, graphics and maps. All are powerful storytelling elements when combined.
Yarnall also says that background data and data presentation can be critical to a story. Data must be presented a multiple levels, according to Yarnall.
Some basic data should be presented for someone who wants just some cursory background but other times, big data must be presented for those who want to dig deep on a particular subject.
Yarnall also notes that graphic designers for news and features must examine video gaming presentations and theories on how to engage people with the topic at a high interest level.
She claims that storytellers can take a great deal of information and tips on making stories more engaging from game developers.
National Public Radio’s Bob Boilen has shaped the way an entire generation consumes music. During his 20 plus year career at NPR, Boilen has served as creator and host of the online series “All Songs Considered” and created the increasingly celebrated “Tiny Desk Series.”
Earlier, he was producer and director for the afternoon news show “All Things Considered.”
Sound is important to Boilen. He grew up in a noisy Brooklyn neighborhood and he recalls falling in love with the sound of a baseball card tucked in the spokes of his bicycle as a child. Throughout his young adulthood, he worked at record stores, which acquainted him with a diversity of musical knowledge that would carry him throughout his professional career.
After growing disillusioned with the nature of the recording business, Boilen sold his car and bought a synthesizer, subsequently becoming one of the first musicians to extensively utilize sound sampling in the late 1970’s. His band, “Tiny Desk Unit”, continues to release at least one record per year.
Last year, Boilen released a book, “Your Song Changed My Life,” It examines the intimate power of pop songs through the perspectives of musicians such as Pokey LaFarge, Jeff Tweedy, Colin Meloy and many others.
Spectrum’s Arts and Culture reporter Emily Votaw spoke with Boilen about his lifelong fascination with the nature of sound; the many ways he enjoys live musical performances, and his deep-set belief that there isn’t such a thing as a “bad song.”
Nicole J. Phillips once had a personal life in turmoil until she discovered the gift of giving kindness to others and to herself.
Outwardly, she appeared to have it all: a prominent and loving husband, three beautiful children, and a job as a television news anchor. It was a life that most people would only dream about and fight to get. Yet, Nicole was “miserable.”
She was depressed and engaged in self-destructive behaviors that drew her away from her marriage and her family. In addition, she carried resentments from her tortured childhood and “venom” towards her mom who Nicole thought abandoned her as a child.
However, one day about seven years ago, Nicole committed a random act of kindness towards another young woman and felt an exhilaration that she had never experienced before. She wanted to replicate that feeling and knew that if she could, it would change her life.
Nicole started performing other acts of kindness and began writing a weekly syndicated newspaper column about “kindness.” She began using the concept of kindness to repair relationships in her life. It helped her harness her depression, reconcile with her mother, lose weight and eliminate other unhealthy choices.
The concept of “kindness” was so powerful that she decided to write a book – telling stories of kindness called “Kindness is Contagious: 100 Stories to Remind You God is Good and So are Most People.”
Then in 2015, Nicole was diagnosed with breast cancer. Undeterred through her surgeries and many treatments, Nicole says she used “kindness as chemotherapy.” She practiced giving kindness to others and as she did, she felt that she removed herself from the dark clouds of cancer hanging over her.
Now, she is an unflinching “advocate for kindness.” She is trying to spread its joy and its healing powers to others through her columns, her blogs, her speeches and her book.
Nicole is truly a woman on a mission.
It is Will Cooper’s firm belief that the American judicial system doesn’t value the lives of poor black women and therefore, their stories of abuse, deprivation and courage are seldom told by mainstream media. Their conditions are ignored by politicians, he argues.
If their stories are told, Cooper contends that mainstream media “sanitizes” the stories so as to not offend the sensitivities and stereotypes of audiences.
Today is the last of a three-part weekly Spectrum Podcast series examining issues surrounding race, media and politics and the interrelationships between the three.
Cooper, a Senior Editor for VICE Media Inc. in New York City covers race and law enforcement for VICE among other topics.
He has a unique perspective of institutional racism and the criminal justice system. Being the son of two Cleveland police officers, he has seen the judicial system from all sides.
He has produced both long-form and shorter stories and he also has produced critically acclaimed full-length documentaries.
Additionally, he has written a series of essays and investigative reports about race among other topics.
Cooper says that VICE is different from mainstream media. It tells stories from a “unique perspective” – from the reporter’s perspective.
VICE allows its reporters to get involved in stories and not to sit on the sidelines. He claims that a VICE story is often told through a reporter’s personal involvement the reporter’s eyes.
Cooper sites as an example a series that he did on serial murders of poor black women in Cleveland. He started the series by taping a conversation he was having with his law enforcement parents about the short-comings of the investigations.
Cooper continued to tell the story from the perspective of being an African-American man in his hometown of Cleveland. Cooper argues that this type of “personal” reporting is better than the standard objective format used by other media.
More people can relate to a story if it is told from the perspective of someone who totally understands the issues or the people involved from first-hand experience, according to Cooper.
He cites his love for the “new journalism” movement promoted by writers such as Truman Capote and Hunter S. Thompson. Personal involvement was the cornerstone of that era of journalism.
This is part two of our three part series on race, media and politics.
Washington Post’s Pulitzer-prize winning reporter Wesley Lowery covers law enforcement, justice and he served as the lead reporter for The Post in Ferguson, Missouri.
He has covered the Black Lives Matter Movement for a number of years. And, in November, he had a book published called “They Can’t Kill Us All: Ferguson, Baltimore, and a New Era In America’s Racial Justice Movement.”
Lowery has traveled the country studying cases where African Americans have been shot by police and talking with community organizers and residents. He has chronicled the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement.
He notes that the inflammatory political rhetoric during the 2016 Presidential Campaign took the spotlight away from the movement which had been gaining momentum. Politicians often denigrated Blacks and other urban dwellers. The media covered this desecration as part of “normal” campaign coverage
Urban citizens were characterized by politicians as being violent, angry, desperate, and out-of-control. Neighborhoods are often characterized as being “war-zones.”
Lowery also says that politicians often “dehumanize” urban dwellers similar to the way soldiers dehumanize the enemy. If someone is less than human, then one doesn’t care what happens to that person. They get what they deserve according to the rhetoric.
Dehumanizing equals desensitizing. Both are negative to urban dwelling blacks and other people of color, according to Lowery.
Lowery also is critical of media – especially broadcast – for filing our homes with negative and misleading images of Blacks.
For example, Lowery has often gone to neighborhoods just outside areas of major demonstrations and found that most people were living their lives in a normal fashion while the demonstration was going on just blocks away. But, he says, those images are never shown.
Instead, we just see the glaring images of angry black men and women who appear out-of-control and dangerous. They are not the whole neighborhood or the majority of urban citizens. Yet, they are what the media characterizes as the typical inner city dweller.
In this special edition, Spectrum breaks down the Trump Administration’s recent actions against climate change into plain English that everyone can understand.
To help us with that, we are assisted by Dr. Geoffrey Dabelko, Professor and Director of the Environmental Studies Program at the George V. Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs at Ohio University.
For 15 years prior to that, Dr. Dabelko served as director of the Environmental Change and Security Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C. He continues to work as a senior advisor to the Wilson Center.
Dr. Dabelko knows climate change but also knows how to assess the strengths and weaknesses of governmental policies.
Although President Trump, when he signed new Executive orders last week nullifying most of President Obama’s climate change efforts, told coal miners that they would be getting their jobs back, Dr. Dabelko doubts that is true. He argues that economics are preventing coal jobs and not climate regulations. The whole energy field, according to Dabelko, has moved beyond coal and into cheaper and cleaner fuels.
He also explains how the new Trump policies could interfere with economic growth in the clean energy sector giving advantages to China and other European countries like France and Germany over the United States in developing new products and processes.
Dr. Dabelko states that it will be a long, complicated and difficult process for the Trump Administration and its EPA to rewrite the Clean Power Plan and its regulations that closed hundreds of coal-fueled power plants and halted construction on others.
He also believes it will be difficult, if not impossible, for the United States to extricate itself from the 2015 multi-country Paris Agreement on climate change actions. Instead, he believes that the Trump Administration just will not have the USA comply with the provisions of the accord.
Dr. Dabelko also notes that 13 to 15 states have adopted President Obama’s approach to climate change actions and those states will challenge, in court, the dismantling of the similar federal statutes and regulations. In short, lawsuits over President Trump’s actions will abound slowing his dismantling efforts.
Researcher and former photojournalist Danielle Kilgo asserts that African Americans are negatively stereotyped by the mainstream media – especially in photos and video.
Danielle Kilgo is receiving her doctorate from the University of Texas-Austin and next fall will start teaching in The Media School at Indiana University. She has been part of a research team at the University of Texas.
Her research analyzes the visual images of African Americans in the media. She contends that both Black men and women are often portrayed in a derogatory light. She also has some interesting observations about photographing political candidates and how images can alter campaigns.
Prior to starting her academic life, Kilgo worked as a photographer, designer and writer – so she fully understands the job of collecting and publishing images of people in a fair and unbiased manner.
In the podcast, Kilgo talks specifically about unfair depictions of black men and women and how these images frame political discourse and public impressions.
She contrasts how whites participating in a protest or demonstration are portrayed in a more positive context than blacks who protest an injustice. Whites are characterized as having justifiable outrage where blacks, most often, are portrayed as being angry and out-of-control.
Kilgo was a participant in the 2017 Schuneman Symposium for Photojournalism & New Media sponsored by the E. W. Scripps School of Journalism and the School of Visual Communication at Ohio University. This year’s Symposium focused, in part, on media and racial issues.
Ian Mullins, 40, is a professional mountain biker based in Seattle. He started taking a drug in 2008 to ease pain after a bicycle accident. The drug, Tramadol, not only stopped his pain but improved his performance by allowing him to race through any physical discomfort. Soon, he was addicted.
For seven years, he struggled with addiction to the painkiller. Eventually, it took over his life. He then needed the drug just to keep from being sick from withdrawal.
When he couldn’t get Tramadol, he took other medications trying to get the same feeling and to keep the sickness at bay: hydromorphone, Percocet, Codeine syrup, fentanyl, and some forms of Benadryl. Most of the time, however, he found a street supply of prescription grade Tramadol to use.
In 2015, Mullins bottomed out. His life was falling apart due to his addiction. At that point, he started his road to recovery which has not always been smooth. He has battled depression and other emotional and psychological issues entwined with drug addiction and sobriety. But, he continues his quest.
As part of his recovery, Mullins is warning cyclists and other athletes about the dangers of Tramadol. A study by the World Anti-doping Agency (WADA) shows that 80 percent of Tramadol abuse occurs in the sport of cycling. It is routinely given to some racers, toward the end of a race, combined with caffeine to give them a finishing kick.
For four years the drug has been on WADA’s “watch list” but to date, it has not been banned by the agency.
Although the drug is still legal worldwide, Mullins has made significant headway with the US Anti-doping Agency. It is now pushing to have Tramadol added to the list of banned substances as a performance enhancing drug.
Mullins hopes that by sharing his story of addiction he will help other cyclists and athletes avoid the difficulties that he has encountered.
How safe are the special drug compounds you take or put in or on your body? Most people, today, think that they are pretty safe but that has not always been the case.
Back in 2012, the New England Compounding Center in Framingham, Massachusetts produced 18,000 vials of a contaminated steroid that was distributed across about 20 states.
The tainted compound, to date, has sickened 751 people with fungal meningitis and related illnesses. At last total, there were 64 deaths.
In 2015, the company reached a $200 million civil settlement to victims and various creditors but, as of today, nothing has been paid.
The federal government also has charged company head Barry J. Cadden, 50, with 96 criminal counts including 25 counts for racketeering acts of second-degree murder. A trial began in Boston on January 9 and the jury just started its deliberations on March 17.
No verdicts have been reached at the time of this recording. If convicted of the murder counts, Cadden could be facing life in prison.
Today, we talk with Ed Zatta, owner of RXQ Compounding LLC about new federal regulations to guarantee the safety of small batch drug compounding.
Before the New England Compounding Center disaster, each state regulated its own drug compounding firms. There are a patchwork of different laws and different safety inspection procedures.
After the tragedy, 18 states enacted new regulatory laws and the Federal Drug Administration created a new category of compounding called 503 (b) where each drug compound must be tested for sterility, potency, and whether any of its elements exceeded the “Beyond Use Date.” The new federal law began in January 2017
Zatta took advantage of the federal regulations and created a new “outsourcing facility” under the stricter federal guidelines before they were required.
It takes extra care and extra procedures to make drug compounds safe, according to Zatta. But, he thinks that the federal regulations ensure quality and safety for unsuspecting consumers. He asserts that the federal guidelines can prevent future tragedies such as the New England Compounding Center disaster.
Philip Elliott has “seen it all” in Washington D.C. and today’s White House is nothing like he has ever seen before. It is “chaos” despite protestations to the contrary by Administration members and President Trump himself, according to Elliott.
Elliott has experienced the West Wing under three different administrations. He covered President George W. Bush and President Barack Obama for the Associated Press for over a decade and then switched to Time in 2015 to finish out the Obama Administration and cover the 2016 campaigns.
Now, he is watching mass confusion at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.: ad hoc meetings with seemingly random people by the President and a Chief of Staff (Reince Priebus) actually running from meeting to sometimes impromptu meeting trying to keep a handle on what’s going on minute by minute. Elliott calls President Trump the “Adlib President.”
It is quite a spectacle to observe compared to the meticulous organization of President Bush and the intense pre-meeting preparation by President Obama.
Although the chaotic atmosphere is grist for a reporter’s mill, Elliott thinks it is disruptive for the country and the Washington political establishment.
Elliott also doesn’t relish being a target for Presidential abuse. He says it is uncomfortable, to a degree, to be characterized by the President as an “enemy of the American people” by being a working journalist. However, Elliott says that the barbed criticism and hyperbole has made him check and re-check his stories. In short, it has made him a more accurate and thorough journalist. The criticism has backfired.
Targeting the media also has caused reporters to be placed in dangerous situations on the campaign trail making reporters and news organization enlist special security protections, according to Elliott.
Despite his concerns about being a target, Elliott concedes that we are witnessing “a first” in American politics. We have a President who has mastered social media concepts and knows exactly how to change the conversation from uncomfortable topics by Tweeting something new and outrageous.
Trump also has a direct link to his constituents without going through reporters to deliver his messages. We have never had such direct communication, according to Elliott, and he feels, the rules of politics have changed forever.
Elliott is a graduate of the E. W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University.
Philip Ewing, National Security Editor for National Public Radio (NPR), gives us his insights into the National Security Council, President Donald Trump’s proposed military budget, the ongoing investigation of Russian ties to the Trump campaign and ISIS.
Ewing has been the National Security Editor since November 2015 but he also has had almost a decade of prior experience covering military and defense issues in Washington.
He echoes the general consensus that Lt. General H.R. McMaster is a wise choice for National Security Advisor. However, Ewing outlines some areas for potential conflict between McMaster and President Trump’s Senior Advisor and political strategist Stephen Bannon.
Ewing suggests that Bannon won the first conflict with McMaster. The National Security Advisor suggested to President Trump that he no long use the term “radical Islamic terrorism” in public discourse. Trump, however, heeded Bannon’s contrary advice and used the term with emphasis in his speech before a joint session of Congress last week.
Ewing states that potential battles between McMaster and Bannon will be interesting to watch as they evolve. They will encompass the internal battle between national security/military interests and political interests and rhetoric.
President Trump’s proposed increase in his military budget amounts to a $54 billion or about a 10 percent jump in defense spending. Ewing, however, notes that there were no details given about how that money is to be spent or in reality, how the money will be raised without a tax increase. The feasibility of the proposal is, therefore, unclear.
Ewing also said that for the next several months or more, Washington will be fixated with the various investigations of potential Russian ties to the Trump campaign. He asserted that the leak about Attorney General Session’s questionable testimony to the Senate about his Russian involvement was timed to take any gloss off of Pres. Trump’s speech to Congress the night before. He does not foresee any quick resolution of these issues.
Finally, Ewing suggests that the national security story to watch in the future is what the Trump Administration will do in its war against ISIS. How will it play out and will it involve a commitment of US ground troops to Syria or other spots in the Middle East?
Dr. Richard Vedder, Director of the Center for College Affordability and Productivity in Washington, DC, notes that the costs of higher education have increased markedly in recent years while the value of a college degree may be diminishing.
To counteract these trends, he says that colleges and universities must implement reforms and modernize. But, the Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Economics at Ohio University notes that reform is an alien concept to many administrators and faculty in high education. In short, universities are reluctant to change and when change occurs it is at the slowest of glacial paces.
Dr. Vedder notes that the costs of higher education have doubled since the mid- 1990’s yet family incomes have not kept pace. He also cites that the cost of college has increased 16.5% between 2006 and 2014..
He also claims that nearly 40 million Americans have college debt which collectively equals about $1.3 trillion dollars.
Yet, the gap between the earning power of a college graduate and a non-graduate is narrowing. In 2014, the earning differential between a college graduate and a high school graduate fell 11 percent for men and 19.7 percent for women ages 25-34, according to the College Board.
To stay relevant, Dr. Vedder says colleges and universities must reform and modernize but many are reluctant to do so. New and cheaper educational delivery systems must be employed and efforts to curtail costs must become a priority. Technology must be more widely used.
He cites Ohio’s proposed cap on textbook costs at $300 per year per student as an example of curtailing fees. Any costs over that amount would be borne by the institutions – thereby, giving administrative financial incentives to rethink the use of traditional text books.
He thinks greater use of online courses and non-traditional teaching methods would cut costs and perhaps even make the educational experience more relevant to the real professional world.
Finally, Dr. Vedder criticizes the “countryclubization” of the college living experience for students as a factor inordinately driving up higher education costs. He cites that many institutions are more concerned with the social amenities offered students in their living environments than the quality of their educational experience.
Minnesota trial judge Kevin Burke is concerned about negative public perceptions of our courts – especially among people of color.
People too often believe they are treated unfairly and that judges are biased and make their decisions based upon “political views” and not the law. They also think judges are not understandable and that court processes are mysteries.
Judge Burke is on a mission to stem this negative tide. He has studied this issue, done surveys, written about it and is lecturing extensively to judicial groups across the country.
Judge Burke says to counteract the problem, judges need to do a better job with basic “procedural fairness” – making sure everyone feels they are being treated fairly and that people understand what a judge does in court…and why.
He says judges, not only need to explain what they do in understandable terms, but they need to listen better to people who want to tell their story.
Judge Burke believes that people don’t trust what they don’t understand and that it is a duty of every judge to make sure each party understands what the court is doing. If this happens, according to the judge, compliance with court orders increases, recidivism decreases, and public perception improves.
He is a proponent of giving parties before the court “voice and respectful treatment.” In that way, judges can foster a sense of neutrality and fairness.
If judges follow guidelines for procedural fairness, Judge Burke argues that perceptions of the judicial system will improve and become positive instead of negative.
Award-winning journalist and former Washington Post ombudsman Andrew Alexander just finished co-authoring an in-depth report for National Public Radio about the death of two of its journalists in Afghanistan in June.
He is a strong proponent of increased security measures for reporters in a world ravaged with wars and terrorism. He also promotes improved security for reporters being threatened at home in the USA.
Alexander asserts that it is more dangerous today for reporters in conflict areas than ever before. Although technology is a great asset that allows reporters to generate stories instantaneously from around the world, it also creates a major security risk through GPS tracking and hacking opportunities.
Not only can reporters’ locations be pinpointed by terrorists but news sources can often be identified through electronics and then punished by opposing groups.
To counteract the dangers, Alexander proposes several security measures including hiring outside security firms to assist with security and major security training and protocols for both reporters and editors who are working in high risk parts of the globe.
Alexander notes that threats to domestic reporters also are on the rise. He cites several violent incidents during the presidential campaign, especially with supporters of President Donald Trump.
As reporters and the news media are further demonized by government officials, Alexander is fearful that these incidents and threats will escalate. He suggests the use of some of the same security measures domestically that are applied to war zones.
In addition to prevention measures, Alexander notes that often reporters who cover human tragedy and wars suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) after their respective assignments. He feels the news organizations should be aware of that possibility and offer “peer to peer” awareness programs to help reporters who may be suffering.
A new documentary “Paul Laurence Dunbar: Beyond the Mask” is being distributed to public television stations across the nation through the National Educational Telecommunications Association. The film highlights the life and legacy of the first African American to achieve national acclaim as a writer.
The documentary is the result of a collaboration of three Ohio University faculty members: Dr. Judith Yaross Lee – Distinguished Professor in Communication Studies, Dr. Joseph Slade, Professor Emeritus in Media Arts and Studies and Emeritus Director of the Central Region Humanities Center and director, writer, producer and filmmaker Frederick Lewis.
Dunbar was born in Dayton, Ohio to former slaves in 1872 and died at age 34 in 1906. He is often remembered for his poem “We Wear the Mask.” He also is honored because one of his lines from “Sympathy” became the title of Maya Angelou’s autobiography, “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.”
He also wrote essays against Jim Crow laws and lynching and he became friends with many African-American leaders of his time. Although he was considered an intellectual, he wrote many of his poems and stories in “Plantation Dialect.”
During his short life, in addition to his poetry and essays, he also composed songs for Broadway.
As a youth, he was a neighbor and friends with Orville and Wilbur Wright in Dayton. They, in fact, printed Dunbar’s African American newspaper on their printing press.
This documentary, eight years in the making, is a production of the Central Region Humanities Center and received support from Ohio Humanities and the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Recently the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) released the results of a post-election national survey of 50,000 teenagers between 13 and 18 years old. Some 70 percent reported witnessing bullying, hate messaging, or harassment since the election with racial bias being the “most common motive cited.”
These incidents are far more frequent than before, according to the survey, and they seemed to escalate markedly after the beginning of the presidential campaigns.
The participating young people said 70 percent of the incidents were based on race or ethnicity, 63 based upon sexual orientation and 59 percent “motivated by immigration status.”
Gayle Williams-Byers, an African American mother and trial judge in Northeast Ohio, is increasingly concerned about these alarming trends. She fears that the national rhetoric surrounding the presidential campaigns has given license to some people to act-out their racial hatred and prejudices.
“Words have power and too often hate-words can be translated into harmful actions,” Judge Gayle says. “That harm often is irreparable.”
“I have never seen a time with the potential for such deep divisions between the races and different ethnic and religious groups,” Judge Gayle added. She fears if this trend continues unabated that we could, in this country, have “our own civil war over race.”
She is concerned that we have an “unsettled American conscience” and that actions at the federal level of government have left room for hate to jump into our national psyche and overt behaviors.
From a judicial viewpoint, she is concerned that hate crimes, vandalism, and targeted offenses against minorities and certain religious groups will escalate leading to greater divides between races and religions.
Megan Westervelt left graduate school with some experience under her belt and some uniquely creative ideas in her head about how she could capture environmental photos.
She labels herself a Conservation Photojournalist which means she tells stories with her still and video cameras about human impact on the environment.
While still in school, she did an in-depth story on exotic animal ownership in Ohio and photo story about human interaction with the coastal environment of oil rich eastern Scotland.
Upon graduation she packed her bags and headed to Ecuador. Her first project was to document the lives of local artisan women in Loja Province and their battle with a parasitic disease called Chagas disease. The women sell their unique artwork to pay for a battle against the disease decimating their population. Westervelt captured that battle on film.
Her second project was working in the Yasuni National Park in the Amazonian portion of Ecuador to create a museum exhibition about biodiversity and some of the traditional cultures of the region.
Specifically, Westervelt concentrated on one group of people who have their own indigenous language and who, most assuredly, are not part of modern life. These people have their own traditions and their own unique way of life that spurns modern conveniences.
Not only did Westervelt capture their culture herself but she put cameras in the hands of 50 of the local residents. She taught them how to take pictures and the group, itself, added to the photo array depicting an almost extinct culture. They created their own photo history.
Their photos were displayed at a major showing in their home country of Ecuador. And, most recently, this photo exhibition was displayed at the Scripps College of Communication at Ohio University – where Westervelt got her graduate degree in Visual Communication.
The American system of amateur athletics is mostly school based: elementary, middle schools, high schools, colleges and universities. Yet, that system is failing both the student-athlete and the general public, according to Dr. David Ridpath, the Kahandas Nandola Professor of Sports Administration at Ohio University.
With a school based system, too many students are “cut” from competitive athletics at an early age and therefore, do not receive the benefits of physical activity throughout their school life, according to Dr. Ridpath.
He also complains that stellar student athletes too often get special benefits to keep them eligible to play – especially at the college and university levels. This, according to Dr. Ridpath, deprives the student-athlete of a broad and useful education. He claims to have known student athletes that have been illiterate when they left their university athletic programs prior to graduation.
Dr. Ridpath also challenges that notion that major athletic success at a college or university brings long term benefits to the institution. It might bring a short-term blip in applications and donations but Ridpath says there is no proof of long-term benefits.
Instead of concentrating on a school based system of athletics, Ridpath suggests in his new and upcoming book that American should embrace the European model of club sports based in communities.
He says that club sports would be more inclusive of a wider swath of the population and include both young and older participants – thereby allowing our country to become more athletic and more physically fit.
Although community-club sports would cost some taxpayer dollars to support, Dr. Ridpath feels that it would be money well spent and would lower health-care costs in the nation.
Dr. Ridpath is a frequent media commentator about college and university athletics. He has appeared on ESPN and other television networks. He also writes an ongoing blog for Forbes magazine. It can be read at http://www.forbes.com/sites/bdavidridpath/#7d7f2c9c1bef.
He also wrote the 2012 book Tainted Glory: Marshall University, the NCAA, and One Man’s Fight for Justice.
To the vast majority of scientists, climate change exists and it has been exacerbated over the years by human factors.
However, not all politicians agree and most assuredly, most of the dissenters from this proposition reside in the Republican Party – the party now in power.
The GOP now controls both houses of Congress plus the White House and regulatory agencies.
The fact that climate change deniers now hold power, gives some scientists pause and reason for concern. The future of America’s reaction to world climate change issues and previous agreements and accords hang in the balance, according to climate change expert Dr. Geoffrey Dabelko of Ohio University.
Dr. Dabelko is a professor and director of Environmental Studies at Ohio University in the Voinovich School for Leadership and Public Affairs. He also has served as the director of the Environmental Change and Security Program – a non-partisan forum on environment, population, and security issues at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C.
Dr. Dabelko talks about how climate change issues might fare in the new Trump administration. He outlines specific worries and concerns from a scientist’s perspective.
To many scientists, time is of the essence, in addressing climate change issues on a global basis. They fear that during the upcoming administration that the United States might become more isolated on this issue and out of touch with other powerful members of the global community, Dr. Dabelko claims.
This, he says, could lead to other countries, like China, taking the lead on renewable resource development and alternatives to fossil based fuels.
Dabelko stresses that there are multiple global problems caused by climate change from the loss of the polar icecaps to issues surrounding the production of food and health concerns. It is difficult, if not impossible, he says, to unravel one problem from another because so many global issues are entwined with climate change.
He is concerned that the United States might chose to ignore the existence of many of these problems, thereby, abdicating its role in solving them.
Be prepared in the next couple of years for “virtual reality” (VR) and “augmented reality” (AR) to be more and more parts of your daily lives – from health and medicine to education, journalism and assistance in completing your daily chores.
Although many still see VR and AR as primarily for gaming, that image is no longer accurate. Total immersive experiences are being developed for training and for rehabilitation among other complicated and useful applications.
Researchers are exploring implementation of virtual reality to train physicians and allow them to experience trauma and virtual emergency situations, according to Josh Antonuccio, creator, educator, and researcher in the Immersive Media Initiative at Ohio University’s Scripps College of Communication.
VR also is being explored in the treatment of PTSD and other forms of psychological disorders. Experiments are being done with it to help Alzheimer patients and people with limited mobility.
It also is being pursued as a journalistic/storytelling technique. It is a way to put the audience in the exact place of the reporter to see, observe, hear and sense exactly what is happening. People will be able to sense a story in addition to just hearing it, Antonuccio adds.
AG is not a fully immersive experience but it also can assist people in training and even doing daily and routine chores. For example, some medical schools are turning to AG cadavers for students to work with instead of real dead bodies. Disease diagnoses and treatment options also can be shared with multiple physicians simultaneously through AG imaging of body parts and systems.
Other AG applications can be used for data collection such as weather, traffic, and daily reminders of things to be done. AG will soon become a staple in any form of design work and architectural planning.
In short, the horizons for uses for VR and AR are expanding broadly and programs such as the Immersive Media Initiative at Ohio University are in the forefront of research and development for these new and exciting technologies.
Karen M. Chan, an actor, director and producer is merging old-time radio dramatic techniques with modern podcasting to bring a new, fresh approach to storytelling for public media.
Chan, a veteran of theater, television and film, has lately been concentrating her efforts on dramatizing works of literature for digital distribution by WOUB Public Media.
She uses unabridged works of literature and brings them to life using actors from Ohio University and the surrounding communities. She marries their dramatic dialogue with original music produced and played by regional musicians and original artwork to accompany the audio stories.
Her youngest actor has been 8 years old and the oldest in her mid-eighties. Over 150 different actors have been used to produce eight different works, to date.
Partnerships also have been established within Ohio University such as an ongoing alliance with the School of Media Arts and Studies in the Scripps College of Communication at Ohio University.
The stories are not only being shared publically but they have been used in classrooms and as vehicles for people to learn English as a second language. Chan recently was contacted by a Brazilian man who asked her to produce more stories so he can learn to speak English better.
Chan has had a lifelong love affair with radio dramas and the art of telling stories with one’s voice. She says her passion started as a young child as she would listen to radio dramas with her mother.
So far, Chan and WOUB Public Media have digitally produced: The Sleeping Beauty, Through the Looking Glass, Peter and Wendy, Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery, and O Henry’s The Ransom of Red Chief.
The Holiday favorites A Christmas Carol, The Gift of the Magi, and Twas the Night Before Christmas have also been created and are available to wide audiences.
New works are in progress including an original work about the Underground Railroad featuring an African-American cast. Additional stories are in various stages of development and production.
The existing stories can be heard at http://woub.org/ecousticalchemy/
Ron Luce, a board member of the National Alliance for Recovery Residences and President of Ohio Recovery Housing, says “the Holidays” can be a troubling time for those addicted to drugs or alcohol –even those already in recovery.
Addiction is often linked with depression, according to Luce, and “the Holidays” can exacerbate emotions in the addict of isolation, shame and feelings associated with causing nothing but problems for family and friends.
Those negative feelings can even happen when someone is in “recovery.”
Therefore, relapses often occur for those in treatment during this time of year. These relapses occur most often in the first five years of recovery, says Luce.
Giving the recovering addict a sense of “community and connection” during this time is especially important.
Groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) have been historically instrumental in providing that sense of community and support. However, according to Luce, there are now multiple options for a recovering addict beyond AA.
No longer does the treatment community believe that only one type of program is advantageous for recovery. Instead, a buffet table of different types of programs is available and a recovering addict can pick the program(s) best suited for his or her successful rehabilitation.
One type of program available for the recovering alcoholic or addict is a “Recovery House.” People live together in a safe, sober, “home-like” environment to support each other as they attempt re-entry into sober life and activities.
These types of residences are now available in over 20 states and enhance a recovering addict’s chances for success, according to Luce. For the protection of the recovering addict, regulations are being put in place in many states to guarantee the legitimacy of houses offering these services.
Lara Stemple and her colleagues are leading the charge to change perceptions of sexual victimization and more accurately account for the gender of sexual perpetrators.
Stemple is the director of Graduate Studies at the UCLA School of Law and is the director of the Health and Human Rights Law Project.
Two recent studies have blazed the way. The first was published in April of 2014. It was co-written by Stemple and Ilan Meyer. “The Sexual Victimization of Men in American: New Data Challenge Old Assumptions” was published in the American Journal of Public Health.
When assessing five different federal surveys from 2010 to 2012, the research team concluded that sexual victimization of men in America was about equal to the prevalence found with women.
This first research work also showed women are perpetrators at much higher rates than commonly believed. That finding was the foundation for a second research work for the peer reviewed journal Aggression and Violent Behavior.
“Sexual Victimization Perpetrated by Women: Federal Data Reveal a Surprising Prevalence” by Stemple, Meyer and Andrew Flores was just released.
It records a high degree of sexual abuse and sexual victimization perpetuated by women on both boys and men. This cuts against the stereotypes of women as being “nurturing, submissive helpmate to men.”
The researchers say: “The idea that women can be sexually manipulative, dominant, and even violent runs counter to these stereotypes. Yet, studies have documented female-perpetrated acts that span a wide spectrum of sexual abuse.”
Historically, female perpetration has been minimized even among mental health and social work professionals. However, evidence shows that young boys abused by women are more reluctant to disclose their victimization by women than by men.
Often sexual abuse by women is mischaracterized as a “rite of passage” for the male and benign when, to the contrary, it is actually sexual abuse and produces long-term damage in the male.
This is especially true if the female perpetrator is the mother of her victim.
Andrew Alexander, former ombudsman for the Washington Post and former Washington bureau chief for Cox Newspapers, states that the media have epic struggles ahead in covering our new President Donald Trump.
However, he believes media should attack their jobs “fearlessly” and traverse this uncharted media landscape with impartiality and gusto.
Alexander notes that there has always been an adversarial relationship between the President and the media covering him. But, this time there are notable differences and the gulf appears wider.
Given President-elect Trump’s social media prowess, he can bypass traditional media and go directly to his 15 million followers with messages and comments. Past Presidents have not utilized social media in such a pervasive way. As a result, some people rely less on mainstream media and more on tweets and posts from the President himself.
Also, there are more media outlets today that ever in our history and fake news is threatening people’s ability to discern truth from fiction.
Alexander also notes that we seem to be in a “post-truth” period where fact-checking and noting the President-elect’s falsehoods has little impact on the general population’s perceptions.
He feels that despite set-backs during campaign coverage and general mistrust by many people of the press, that the media must play a vigilant watch-dog role during the Trump Administration and be even more vigilant than in the past.
Alexander also expressed grave concern that “press-baiting” by President Trump and the possible weakening our laws protecting a free and robust media will embolden repressive regimes around the world to take even more repressive actions against the international press corps.
Linda Tirado, author and activist, has for the past three years written and spoken around the globe about what it’s like to be poor in America. She now talks truth to power and explains why many poor people voted for Donald Trump to tear down the Washington “Establishments” of both parties.
Linda started her journey from the depths of poverty three years ago in October 2013. It began with an angry response to a poster on Gawker.com. The posting turned into an online essay “Why I Make Terrible Decisions or Poverty Thoughts” and it has now been read by over 20 million people.
Tirado became a viral sensation and encountered the slings and arrows that go with instant fame. Many supported her and applauded her for her honest examination of poverty from the inside out and others criticized her both personally and for her views.
She emerged from the conflagration with a book contract. In October 2014, her book, Hand to Mouth: Living in Bootstrap America was published and has emerged as an extremely meritorious book about living in poverty in America.
According to a study done by the Center for Poverty Research at the University of California-Davis, the official poverty rate in the USA is 13.5 percent – based upon the Census Bureau’s 2015 estimates. That means that an estimated 43.1 million Americans live in poverty and some experts challenge that number as being too low.
Yet, poor people are routinely ignored by society and even chastised for not being able to work themselves out of poverty.
Tirado challenges current political thinking about the poor, fly-over reporting by news organizations, and our misunderstandings of what it is truly like to be poor in this country.
She is outspoken and, some might say, brash. But, she is unapologetic about her views and her reputation of speaking truth to power as an activist, author, and journalist.
Tirado talks to Spectrum this week about the current state of politics and how poor people strangely identify with President-elect Donald Trump and want to tear down the current system in Washington, D.C.
Valerie Lefler is a young entrepreneur and innovator. Nationally, she is launching an “Uber-like” service for rural American that works together with existing transportation services and supplements options for rural residents.
Lefler is the Chief Executive Officer of Liberty Mobility Now, Inc. – currently headquartered in Nebraska. The demand for her services has exploded over the past year.
She currently is crisscrossing the country. She recently visited Ohio to assess the viability of bringing her services to this region. She met with groups, non-profits and governmental units who are planning the future of public transportation in this area.
Lefler offers a service that can provide 24 hour vehicle service using independent contractor drivers who have passed rigorous security checks. Their vehicles also meet critical standards for safety.
While visiting, Lefler took time to talk with SPECTRUM’s Tom Hodson about her company and her service.
There is considerable interest in transportation in rural regions as it relates to health, work opportunities, child care and quality of life for seniors, according to Lefler. Her service does not replace existing public transportation but it supplements it, thereby giving people additional options.
Currently, about 30 percent of the U.S. population lives in rural area and small towns. And, 40 percent of that population currently has no access to public transportation.
Lefler’s company was recently featured in a major article in The Atlantic. It was noted for its innovation. https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/07/rural-ridesharing-nebraska/491360/
The rhetoric being espoused by candidate Donald Trump and some of his surrogates during the campaign caused fear and trepidation within several groups of people in America: such as immigrants, Muslims, the LGBTQ community and African-Americans.
Now that Trump has won the election and has become President-Elect Trump how do some of these groups feel about his ability to lead? Will their group be targeted for Presidential scrutiny or for negative actions to be taken by Presidential appointees?
SPECTRUM endeavored to find some answers from members of two of these communities. We spoke with delfin bautista* -- the director of the LGBTQ Center at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio and an African-American mother and judge – Judge Gayle Williams Byers from South Euclid, Ohio in the southeast corner of Cuyahoga County near Cleveland.
delfin claims the LGBTQ community is currently confused, dazed and in a state of frustration. Many, according to delfin, have a defeatist attitude and are girding themselves for regression and for fights to come.
delfin states that progress has been made in civil rights over the last 10 years for the LGBTQ community but there are fears that all of the progress will disappear under a Trump Administration. There are special concerns since Vice President-Elect Mike Pence has taken over Trump’s transition efforts.
delfin notes that Pence was a strong proponent of a religious freedom act in Indiana that was perceived as being discriminatory against gays, lesbians, and transgendered individuals. Pence also is a believer in “conversion therapies” to revert gay people “back” to being heterosexual even though such efforts have been debunked by the psychological and medical professions.
Amidst the depression and despondency from the election, delfin has seen a new spark of spirit in many LGBTQ people and a sense of urgency to fight harder and stronger against prejudice and to avidly promote greater civil rights.
Judge Gayle Byers Williams said she will give people at the top of the Trump Administration a chance and she touts the benefits of having three equal branches of government -- each exercising checks and balances on the other.
She, however, expresses doubts that race relations will improve over the next four years. She said that she feels the real conversations about race and equality that had started in this country will cease and be replaced by heightened tensions, fear, and distrust.
She also noted, however, that her teenage son reacted even more strongly to the election results and started talking about fleeing to Canada because he fears African-Americans will be targeted for persecution and hatred.
He is a combination of angry, vocal and pensive all at once, according to Judge Gayle.
Judge Gayle is more optimistic. She feels that change will not come from Washington and cannot be mandated from the top down despite what the Trump Administration might do.
She feels that the new administration may breed a groundswell of grassroots/local counteractions that will build across the country. People will fight the perceived misuse or abuses of federal power at the local level with grassroots actions that will eventually negate any potential wrongdoing at upper levels.
Both delfin and Judge Gayle said there is a time for some people to mourn the election results but that there is a sense of urgency to regroup and refocus on the issues that need to be resolved in both the LGBTQ and the African-American communities.
*delfin bautista uses they/them pronouns and does not capitalize their name
Many more men than women are likely to become innovators or entrepreneurs.
Why is that?
Some experts say that there are fewer women in Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics programs in colleges – commonly called STEM programs. And, there are fewer women in STEM professions overall. Therefore, there are fewer innovators in high tech industries.
Other experts argue that venture capital groups and other investors looking for startup companies are dominated by men and therefore, women innovators are often overlooked or passed over.
Some experts claim that there is a paucity of women entrepreneurial role-models and that discourages other women from pushing a new idea or concept.
Other women report that the entrepreneurial workspace is often a hostile work environment for women.
Spectrum talked with four women to get their perspectives. Three work directly with female innovators and entrepreneurs and one has lived a life of an entrepreneur by running her own corporation.
Jennifer Simon is the Executive Director of Regional Innovation at Ohio University and has spent the bulk of her professional career leading entrepreneurial efforts.
Carol Clark is one of the founders of X Squared Angels, a venture capital group that focuses on supporting diversity leadership in businesses across the Midwest.
Beverly E. Jones is an executive coach in Washington, D. C. and author of a new book Think Like and Entrepreneur Act Like a CEO.
Finally, we talked with Jane Grote Abell, the chairwoman of the Board of Directors of Donatos Pizza, Inc. She tells about her personal experience rising through the corporate ranks to now be the leader of and innovator within a major corporation with over 4,500 employees and over 165 locations in seven states. It had gross sales of $162 million last year.
The Presidential campaigns of 2016 have been dominated by the use of social media to convey messages and to lambast opponents.
Social media usage has not only increased but in this campaign, more and different audiences are being targeted.
In 2012, social media primarily was aimed at Millennials. However, in 2016, social media, generated by candidates, is being directed to all supporters, opponents, and the media alike.
Three noted experts on campaigns and social media gathered this week to talk with Spectrum about this phenomenon and the explosion of political social media in 2016.
Dr. Jerry Miller, a professor the School of Communication Studies at Ohio University, is an expert in candidate image creation. Dr. Karen Riggs is a professor in Media Arts and Studies at Ohio University and is the director of the Social Media Certificate Program. Dr. Laeeq Kahn teaches in the Media Arts and Studies Department but also heads The Social Media Analytics Research Team (SMART) Lab as part of the Scripps College of Communication at Ohio University.
All agree that the use of social media in 2016 has been integrated into the campaign strategies of both major party presidential candidates.
Its use has been more limited and controlled by the Hillary Clinton campaign. Fewer tweets have actually been generated by the candidate.
Donald Trump’s use of social media has been more personalized and more spontaneous by the candidate, according to our panel of experts. It also has been more targeted with attacks on opponents, critics and the news media.
The use of social media, especially by the Trump campaign, also has substituted for traditional television and print advertising. It has been a cheaper and more targeted way for him to communicate with supporters, according to our group of professors.
Although “best practices” on the use of social media in campaigning have not yet emerged, both candidates are openly experimenting with different approaches and with different targeted audiences.
Some are calling the 2016 World Series between the Chicago Cubs and the Cleveland Indians the “Apocalypse World Series.”
Both teams are not used to being the post season spotlight and most assuredly they are unfamiliar with winning the World Series…WHY? – Well, both teams supposedly have been under curses for over 50 years.
Brian Corbin, the real-time correspondent at Wrigley Field for mlb.com, explains Chicago’s malady.
The Chicago Cubs have not won a World Series since 1908 and they have been under the “Curse of the Goat” since 1945.
In 1945, Chicago’s Billy Goat Tavern owner Bill Sianis brought his pet goat Murphy to Wrigley Field for good luck. Because of Murphy’s stench, fans complained and Sianis and Murphy were banned from the ballpark. Sianis, in a fit of rage, proclaimed that the Cubs would win “no-more,” according to Corbin.
And, they haven’t. The Cubs have come close but something unforeseen always seems to happen to jinx Chicago quest. Corbin describes, in the podcast, some of the unusual circumstances thwarting the Cubs repeated efforts to win over the years.
Corbin also details some of the current player superstitions that are in play during this series to dispel the curse.
Matt LaWell is a native of Cleveland and a lifelong Indian fan. He has spent the bulk of his professional career writing about baseball and experiencing the game from multiple levels. His most memorable project was called “A Minor League Season” – which consisted of a five-month road trip with his wife Carolyn through 45 states and visiting 120 minor league baseball teams. Along the way, he wrote about the minor leagues and American. (He has a Facebook page – A Minor League Season https://www.facebook.com/AMinorLeagueSeason/ )
Cleveland has not won a world series since 1948 and in 1994, a Cleveland sports writer Terry Pluto traced the difficulty back to the untimely trading of Indian legend Rocky Colavito in 1960 to the Detroit Tigers for Harvey Kuenn, according to LaWell. It was a hugely unpopular trade and turned fan wrath on the then General Manager.
Since that date, the Indians have suffered misfortune after misfortune.
But, according to LaWell, since the Cleveland Cavaliers had such a remarkable come-from-behind championship win in this year’s NBA Finals – Clevelanders think that luck is shining on the City on the Lake. This just might be the year to bury the Colavito curse for the Tribe.
It is clear that one of these two unlikely adversaries, during this Halloween season, will shed its curse forever and the other will stumble forward still under the burden of the prevailing spell put upon it decades ago.
Veteran political observer and world renowned economist Dr. Richard Vedder analyzes Donald J. Trump’s unprecedented attacks on Republican high-ranking officials during a campaign and the intraparty fights led by the GOP’s presidential candidate.
Vedder, a long-time Republican and fiscal conservative, said this type of intraparty chaos is unprecedented. “It is unique,” Vedder says.
The only election close to this was when former President Theodore Roosevelt bolted from the GOP in 1912 to form the Bull Moose Party and challenge incumbent GOP President William Howard Taft, from Ohio. Both lost to the Democrat Woodrow Wilson.
Vedder claims that Trump sees himself more as a “populist” than a Republican. He is going after blue collar white voters regardless of party. His base crosses party lines. He, therefore, doesn’t care about the GOP “elite.”
Trump hopes to add to that base with GOP loyalists who also are angry with the Republican power elite, Vedder says.
Vedder says that this election is unique, not only because of Trump’s unprecedented campaign style but because both candidates (Republican and Democrat) are “morally despicable” to the average voter.
Despite the intraparty wrangling in the GOP, Vedder thinks pundits may have written Trump off too soon. Vedder is less trusting of polls in this election than in others and he feels there is a hidden Trump vote. He thinks people are afraid to admit that they will vote for Trump but they still may do so in the privacy of the voting booth.
He does feel, however, that the intraparty fighting could hurt down-ballot U. S. Senate and House of Representative races for the Republicans.
Kyle Kondik, a professional campaign and election expert with no political bias, believes, that Trump’s recent slide in the polls puts him too far behind in Electoral College votes to catch up by Election Day.
Kondik notes that Trump is falling further behind in most swing states, with the exception of Ohio. Kondik believes, however, that Ohio is still a toss-up state. He reminds us that no Republican has ever won the Presidency without carrying Ohio but Democrats have. He believes Trump must win Ohio to have a chance but Hillary Clinton need not take Ohio to win the Presidency.
A new book claims that nearly 84,000 black and brown lives are lost each year in the United States due to health care disparities and unconscious racial and ethnic bias in the health care professions.
Dayna Bowen Matthew just released a new book Just Medicine – A Cure for Racial Inequality in American Health Care published by the New York University Press.
She claims that African Americans and Latinos suffer from unconscious racial and ethnic biases by physicians, institutional providers and even the patients themselves. This implicit bias often leads to unintentional stereotyping and disparate care from Caucasians.
Matthew is a lawyer, law professor and health-care analyst. She is a professor of law at the University of Colorado Law School and the Colorado School of Public Health. This year she also is in Washington, D. C. as the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Policy Fellow. She also has co-founded the Colorado Health Equity Project.
Matthew claims that unconscious and unintentional racism is the single most important determinant in health care disparities. She says that unjust and avoidable discrimination based upon race and ethnicity alone is a fundamental cause of destructive and even deadly health disparities between races.
Matthew proves her thesis with a study of our history of health care and an analysis of current health care procedures and patient interactions.
She also notes that even in 2016 that infant mortality is twice the rate among African American women than white women – even at the upper ends of the socio-economic scales.
Matthew suggests that legal action needs to be taken to rectify these disparities. Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 could be an effective legal tool for eradicating racial and ethnic bias in health care, she claims.
She also says that the Affordable Care Act contains the first civil rights provision that specifically prohibits discrimination in health care. It also should be used to erase the disparities and eradicate the implicit racism, according to Matthew.
In an era when young men often feel “entitled” in sexual matters and sexual assaults on college campuses are rising, Dr. Andrew Smiler tries in his new book, Dating and Sex: A Guide for the 21st Century Boy, to aim straight talk to young teenage boys. He tries to establish personal responsibility early in a boy’s development.
He felt that no one was talking directly to teen boys about relationships, sex in a technological age and what puberty and adolescence means in the 21st century.
“There was no other book that I found that was written specifically for teenage boys,” Dr. Smiler says. Therefore, I targeted a specific audience.”
Dr. Smiler is a licensed therapist and an expert on boys, men and masculinity. He has been featured in the New York Times and has written for the Huffington Post, Shriver Report, Everyday Feminism and the Good Men Project (featuring issues of sexually abused men.)
He is the associate editor for the Journal of Psychology of Men and Masculinity and served as President of the Society for the Psychological Study of Men and Masculinity.
He has targeted this new book for 13 to 16 year old boys and has sprinkled the book with humor cartoon-like illustrations. The book does not read like a textbook. Instead, it is designed for readers to skip around in the book and read sections they have particular interests in or questions about.
The first 13 pages of the book are “Frequently Asked Question” and their answers. Then the book is divided into three sections: Relationships, Pleasure and Sexual Behavior, and Puberty and Adolescence.
The book is contemporary and talks, in depth, about sexting and sexual roles and orientation. It also talks about sexual realities, the fluidity of sexuality and discusses sexual stereotyping.
The text specifically addresses issues of “consent” and what constitutes consent. It also discusses “withdrawal of consent.”
Dr. Smiler’s text also highlights the problem of sexual abuse of boys. He notes that some studies say as many as 1 in 4 males are sexually assaulted at some point in life and other studies say 1 in 6 are abused prior to age 18. He talks frankly to boys who might be potential victims or who already have been victimized.
A review of the book states: “Written for teen boys, Dating and Sex provides them with the knowledge they need to understand dating, relationships, and sex. If goes beyond basic descriptions of biological processes with a progressive, practical approach they relies on secular ethics and emphasizes sexual health and personal responsibility. The book addresses common questions about what’s typical, provides a framework for dating and sex that fits their values and identity, and helps boys identify what feels right for them in a variety of common situations.”
As the presidential polls tighten and September nears an end, SPECTRUM gets a political update from a non-partisan expert on American politics and elections. Kyle Kondik, author of a new book – The Bellwether: Why Ohio Picks the President (published by the Ohio University Press) -- speaks about what each candidate needs to do to win in the last month of the campaign.
Kondik noted the unique nature of this race.
Donald Trump needs to win traditionally Republican states but also needs to win some states that were previously won by President Barrack Obama. He needs to not only win regular Republican votes but also must grab Democrats or Independents who feel disenfranchised, according to Kondik. He is spending a great deal of time in traditionally Democratic areas.
Hillary Clinton needs to hold the states won by President Obama but also draw to her campaign educated Republicans and especially college educated Republican women, Kondik adds.
Kondik places states into four groups to watch as predictors of the outcome of the race.
The first group is states that Republicans normally win – like Arizona and Georgia. The question is can Trump hold these states and what will be the roles of African-American and Latino voters in those states. At this point, he says Clinton’s campaign has a shot in these states but it is remote. If she wins either state, Kondik says it is significant.
Kondik also thinks Trump will win Iowa – a state with a large white population without college degrees and he believes Trump also will take the 2nd Congressional District in Maine for the same reason. Iowa had gone for President Obama in the past.
The third state grouping is what is traditionally called the “battleground states” of Ohio, Florida, Nevada, and North Carolina. Both candidates target these as “must-win” states.
Finally, to win, Kondik believes that Trump must maintain his Republican base and get Democratic crossover votes in Colorado, Michigan, Wisconsin, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. Clinton’s selection of Sen. Tim Kaine from Virginia has helped her chances in that important state, says Kondik.
Kondik also notes that up to one-third of the electorate will take part in early voting this year which means the status of the campaign in early October will take on greater significance than in the past. Therefore, public reaction to the first two debates (Sept. 26 and Oct. 9) could be vital to each candidate’s chances.
Dr. Amina Hassan, an independent historian and award-winning public radio documentarian, recently authored a new book Loren Miller—Civil Rights Attorney and Journalist, published by the University of Oklahoma Press.
Loren Miller was an attorney who also practiced journalism and owned his own newspaper, the California Eagle, one of the longest running African American newspapers in the west. He also was deeply involved with the L.A. Sentinel.
As a journalist, Miller was an outspoken advocate for civil rights issues and as an attorney, he worked with noted attorney Thurgood Marshall on key civil rights cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and he also represented minority groups in California.
Miller worked against internment of Japanese American citizens in World War II. He helped integrate parts of the U. S. Military and the Los Angeles Fire Department. He also defended Black Muslims and took on issues facing the Latino population in Southern California.
The son of a slave, Miller was originally raised in a bi-racial home in the Midwest before spending the bulk of his professional career in the Los Angeles area. He was appointed judge of the Los Angeles Municipal Court in 1964.
Hassan became interested in writing about Miller because, at one time, Miller represented Hassan’s father in a civil rights matter when Hassan’s dad was denied service at a Los Angeles dinner.
Hassan, as a radio documentarian, has had productions for National Public Radio – including a series on how race, class and gender shape American sport. She also covered the United States’ invasion of Grenada and did an NPR series on the Bill of Rights.
Throughout her career, Hassan has been committed to social, cultural, gender and foreign policy issues. She has travelled and lived in the Caribbean, the Near Middle East, North African, Central American and Europe.
She has been a consultant to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and handled radio projects for the National Museum of American History of the Smithsonian Institution and the Washington D.C. based research center the Institute for Policy Studies.
Hassan received her undergraduate degree from the University of California in Berkley, her master’s degree in telecommunication and her doctorate in rhetorical criticism from Ohio University.
There are only two black women in the nation who hold statewide elective executive offices, according to the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University. Spectrum wants to know why.
Although there are numerous women of color elected to state and federal legislative offices, the numbers don’t translate to statewide executive offices, according to Dr. Kira Sanbonmatsu, senior scholar at the Center for American for American Women in Politics.
She points to several reasons for this paucity of statewide public officeholders of color. First, she says legislative districts are usually more minority based than statewide populations – therefore, making it easier to win in a select district.
Secondly, she notes that black women may have fewer campaign resources available than white women and men, thereby limiting spending amounts in campaigns.
Also, the majority of black women candidates are Democrats, according to Sanbonmatsu, and Republicans recently have been making greater strides in controlling statehouses.
Finally, she said there are often racial and gender stereotypes working against black female candidates among the electorate.
Spectrum also talked with two African-American women politicians in the swing-state of Ohio to get their perspectives: former State Senator Nina Turner who ran unsuccessfully for Sec. of State in 2014 and Judge Gayle Williams-Byers, an elected judge in Ohio from a diverse district.
Both found it unacceptable that in 2016 there have been no black women governors and such a small number of statewide officeholders across the nation. This is especially true, they say, since African-American women and other women of color constitute the largest voting constituency in the country.
“We get everyone else elected but ourselves,” said Sen. Tuner.
Both Judge Williams-Byers and Sen. Turner confirmed that it has been difficult for black women candidates to raise the kind of money that is needed to be successful in winning a statewide office. They don’t get the same amount of money as white candidates.
They also agreed that they face a “double whammy” of being black and being women when running statewide. However, they spoke of more difficulty confronting racial issues than gender bias.
Often, negative stereotypes are used against African American women as being ineffective and just plain angry. Passion for equality and fairness is often mischaracterized as being just an “angry black woman,” says Sen. Turner.
When asked what it will take to change the current status of so few black women in statewide offices, both agreed: 1) Consciousness of the problem of under-representation, 2) commitments from individuals and party leaders to getting black women elected, and 3) consequences for failing to grabble with this overarching problem.
Why do powerful and famous men sexually act-out, often repeatedly, in ways that most people find inappropriate and that are risky to their careers and families? Why do they risk it all? We see headlines and inevitably ask those questions.
SPECTRUM spoke with two experts to try to find the reasons. Dr. Steven Gold is a psychology professor at Nova Southern University and is the founder of the highly regarded Trauma Resolution and Integration Program. Christopher Anderson is the Executive Director of the national advocacy organization MaleSurvivor, a group benefitting men who have been victimized by sexual abuse.
There is definitely a linkage between power and the sexual escapades we have seen repeatedly in the headlines involving numerous men such as Pres. John F. Kennedy, Pres. Lyndon Johnson, Sen. Gary Hart, Pres. Bill Clinton, Sen. John Edwards, Tiger Woods and Congressman Anthony Weiner – to name a few.
Our experts say that high-achieving men often have a form of narcissism and certainly a feeling of entitlement to act-out sexually as they please without consideration of risks or consequences. There is often a direct link between power and authority and the inner feeling of sexual entitlement.
The fact that some powerful men seem not to be able to stop these objectionable behaviors – regardless of the severe consequences--leads to a discussion of sexual addiction or compulsive sexual behavior. Our experts say that this form of addiction is the necessity of “continuing to do something regardless of the consequences.” In short, they are not able to stop the aberrant behavior regardless of the risks.
Both Dr. Gold and Anderson quickly stress that this form of addiction or compulsion is NOT an excuse for the activities but instead is an explanation for the repeated nature of bad behavior. The acting-out may be a form of self-medication for the perpetrator similar to alcohol or drug abuse.
“Trauma” also is a critical element in finding the reasons for this sexual acting-out and its results.
In addition to a sense of entitlement and addictive behaviors, both Dr. Gold and Anderson say past “trauma” may be an underlying reason for the perpetrator’s behavior. Past trauma may be the underpinning for a feeling of present entitlement.
Trauma also alters the behavior and life of the victims. Dr. Gold studies both aspects of trauma: trauma as the “bad” event and trauma as the result of the bad event. Academic research has been slow to study the sexual impacts of trauma but, according to Dr. Gold, research is becoming more active in this critical area of study.
Paul Chimera, a 1971 Ohio University journalism graduate, is a writer, teacher, journalist and one of the world’s foremost experts on the Spanish artist Salvador Dali.
In March, Chimera’s latest book about Dali was published – Dali and His Doctor: The Surreal Friendship Between Salvador Dali and Dr. Edmund Klein.
Chimera became interested in this friendship after the widow of Dr. Klein contacted Chimera and told him of a special relationship between Dali and Dr. Klein.
Dr. Klein was a skin cancer researcher and expert. He was contacted by Dali to treat some type of skin condition. Over the next eight years (1972-1980), the pioneer in surrealism and the pioneer in medicine met and worked together, according to Chimera.
Each time they met Dali would make a drawing or a sketch for Dr. Klein. Klein did not charge Dali a fee and Dali repaid him with original drawings. The drawings were signed and dedicated to Dr. Klein, whom Dali called his Guardian Angel.
The drawings were all kept in a safety deposit box at a bank. Dr. Klein’s widow asked Chimera to inspect the art, catalogue the art, get it appraised and sell it.
As a result of this unique relationship, Chimera wrote his new book which is for sale through online book distributors.
Chimera currently teaches Writing and Public Relations at Daeman College. He also has his own editing and freelance business called Chimera Communications.
He has written two previous books about writing: "Nuts, Bolts and Anecdotes: Journalists Discuss Interviewing and Note-Taking in Their Own Words" and "Winning With the News Media: Simple Steps to Better Press Relations".
Chimera has been a writer/columnist with the Salvador Dali Society of Redondo Beach, California and was the former publicity director of the Original Dali Museum of Beachwood, Ohio. The museum permanently relocated to St. Petersburg, Florida in 1982.
Pauline Frederick was a broadcasting pioneer. She was the first woman to be heard as a reporter for network radio in the late 1940’s as she covered the Nuremburg trials of Nazi war criminals.
She was the first woman reporter to appear on network television covering the 1952 political conventions and her career in broadcasting spanned over three decades. She covered the founding of the United Nations, Fidel Castro’s first trip to the United States, the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis among other major events.
In addition to being a network radio and television reporter from the 1940’s through the 1970’s, Frederick ended her career by joining a fledgling radio network in the late 1970’s called NPR.
Ms. Frederick’s career has been brought to life in a new biography, Pauline Frederick Reporting: A Pioneering Broadcaster Covers the Cold War, written by Professor Marilyn Greenwald of the E. W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University.
The book, published by Potomac Books, was released just last month in January 2015.
This is Greenwald’s fourth biography of journalistic giants.
Greenwald talked about her latest book and the personal life and career of Frederick with Spectrum's Tom Hodson.
Christopher Anderson is the executive director of a national organization called MaleSurvior – an organization dedicated to assisting and advocating for men who have suffered some form of sexual abuse.
Sexual abuse of males is a major issue and it often is under-reported, according to Anderson
He notes that, at least, one out of every six American males are sexually abused before they reach the age of 18. Some statistics have the number even higher.
Often males do not come forward and disclose their abuse for fear of the ramifications of disclosure. This often results in lifelong battles with self-esteem, problems with intimacy and relationships, addiction issues, PTSD and other forms of self-loathing and sometimes self-destruction.
Anderson, himself a survivor of sexual abuse, heads MaleSurvivor which is dedicated to helping men with issues originating with abuse.
MaleSurvivor has a new website – www.malesurvivor.org which features discussion boards and chat rooms where survivors can talk with one another about issues they confront. It also provides access to resources where abused males can receive help and counseling.
MaleSurvivor also sponsors Weekends of Recovery, across the country, where survivors gather with other survivors to begin healing – under the watchful eyes of therapists and counselors.
Anderson and MaleSurvivor also advocate against sexual abuse of males and they attempt to enlighten the public about the terrible ramifications of this type of abuse. Both Anderson and MaleSurvivor were quite vocal in the Penn State sexual abuse controversy involving former football coach Jerry Sandusky.
Anderson also tours the country speaking to various groups and the news media to raise awareness of the life-long ramifications of male sexual abuse.
Sonja Williams has always loved music and that led her to award-winning public radio shows. She now is a professor in the Department of Media, Journalism, and Film at Howard University and just penned her first book.
She has amassed an amazing body of work in broadcast and print since receiving her master’s degree in Communication from at Ohio University.
During her career Williams has received three prestigious George Foster Peabody Awards for Significant and Meritorious Achievement for groundbreaking music programming and audio documentaries for National Public Radio, Public Radio International and the Smithsonian Institution.
She created a 26 part audio documentary called Wade in the Water: African American Sacred Music Traditions, Black Radio: Telling It Like it Was and NPR’s Making the Music with Wynton Marsalis.
Williams talks with Spectrum's Tom Hodson about her early days in radio and how she was able to marry her love for music with her passion for audio storytelling.
Williams has now turned her career to print.
She discusses her new book, Word Warrior: Richard Durham, Radio and Freedom, just published in 2015 by the University of Illinois Press. It is a biography about a “gifted broadcast dramatist, journalist and activist” – who lived from 1917 to 1984.
He wrote radio dramas in the 1940’s and had a radio series called Destination Freedom.
In addition to his radio work, he was an investigative reporter for the Chicago Defender, wrote television shows and ghost-wrote Muhammad Ali’s book The Greatest.
Durham was posthumously induced into the National Radio Hall of Fame in his hometown of Chicago.
Williams discusses, in depth, the book and her legendary career in public broadcasting.
Dr. Haleh Esfandiari, founding Director of the Middle East Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and Dr. Rober S. Litwak, Vice President for Scholars and Director of International Security Studies at the Wilson Center give their assessments of the multi-national nuclear agreement with Iran -- on its one-year anniversary.
The agreement, according to Litwak, is meeting its intended purpose of keeping Iran from developing nuclear weapons. But, the agreement has not addressed the internal human rights violations escalating in Iran. It was not intended to do so, according to Litwak. However, there is general misunderstanding of the general public about the extent and terms of the agreement.
The nuclear accord is a 15 year agreement that was limited to releasing embargoed Iranian funds in exchange for Iran not developing nuclear weapons and appropriate safeguards. The agreement did not address human rights concern.
While the U.S. and other countries are focusing on the limitations on nuclear weaponry, battling factions in Iran keep escalating human rights abuses, according to Esfandiari. She notes many people with dual citizenship are being targeted for detainment and arrests for “causing confusion in the public mind” and “spreading lies”.
Esfandiari, herself, was arrested by Iranian authorities in 2007 and kept in solitary confinement for 105 days.
In Iran, the Revolutionary Guards, who are responsible for most arrests, are not accountable to the President. Instead, they have allegiance to the Supreme Leader. The two factions have opposite purposes. Currently, there is about one execution per day in Iran, according to Esfandiari.
Litwak says America’s relationship with Iran is complex. Despite the human rights violations, the United States is not only trying to limit Iran’s weaponry but also is aligning with the Iranian government to fight ISIS in Iraq.
Litwak formerly served on the National Security Council staff in the first Clinton Administration as Director of Non-proliferation.
The winning presidential candidate has won Ohio in 28 of the past 30 elections – stretching back to 1896, according to Kyle Kondik, the author of a new book The Bellwether: Why Ohio Picks the President.
Ohio is not only a “swing state” but better than all other states in predicting the final outcome of presidential elections. In short, how Ohio votes overwhelmingly tells you how the nation has voted. Ohio has a better record than any other state, according to Kondik.
His new book, published by the Ohio University Press, examines why Ohio is such a predictor of winning presidential elections. Kondik cites three predominant reasons: 1) Ohio bests any other state in voting for the winner; 2) Ohio’s results most often reflect national voting averages and 3) Ohio has given the decisive electoral votes to winning candidate more than any other state.
For a long time, Ohio has been touted as being a microcosm of America and therefore, seen as the predictor state. Kondik thinks that is still true for 2016 but does note that Ohio has less than the national average of Hispanic and Asian voters. He wonders if that will impact the final vote in this state this year.
Kondik notes that Ohio garners a huge percentage of candidates’ time in the general election. In 2012, he cites that all four presidential and vice-presidential candidates made 250 campaign stops during the election and 70 were in Ohio. Ohio would account for nearly 28 percent of all campaign appearances by candidates.
Finally, Kondik says that being the target of candidates and a bellwether state has produced and economic boom for some local television stations. One station in the Columbus market reportedly received nearly $50 million in political advertising in 2012.
Kondik, an Ohio native and graduate of the E. W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University, is currently the managing editor of Sabato’s Crystal Ball, a nonpartisan political tipsheet produced by the University of Virginia Center for Politics. He is considered a national expert on elections and election analysis.
A black woman who is a mother of a teenage son, a former prosecutor and a current judge, a Muslim immigrant, and a gay man of Nepalese heritage each have their own daily struggles confronting escalating fear, hate and racism in American.
All three tell their extremely personal stories to Spectrum. All three people have different perspectives but all have similar and sometimes shocking stories of being targeted.
Judge Gayle Williams-Byers of S. Euclid, Ohio speaks from three different perspectives: as a mother, as a former prosecutor (who worked daily with law enforcement) and now as a judge.
She has a 16 year-old son who is just learning to drive. “Judge Gayle” (as she likes to be called) tells how she instructs her son upon going out with his friends to “just come home alive.” She also says that with escalating violence and racism, that Americans are holding a “stick of dynamite in our hands – and it is lit and burning.”
Judge Gayle describes her fears as a mother of a black male teenager and makes some suggestions about how some of today’s racial tensions might be alleviated through less combative forms of policing.
The Muslim immigrant speaks of almost constant harassment and public abuse of his family just because of their identification with the Muslim religion.
After the Orlando mass shootings, he and his family were forced to stay in their home because of fear of some form of public retribution.
One of his children was chased by other children at school as they screamed “Isis” at the young child.
However, even with all of this, he and his family love America and they are hopeful that the situation for Muslims in the United States will improve.
Finally, a gay man of color, Atish Baidya, talks about what it is like constantly to feel “different.” He describes how increasingly as a society we treat certain people and minority groups as “less than human.”
In many of his comments, he sounds pessimistic whether racial tensions and class divides will get much better in America.
On this episode of "Spectrum", Tom Hodson talks with Ira Flatow, the host and executive editor of Science Friday on NPR.
Flatow’s career dates back to 1969 and he has spent over four decades as an award winning television and radio host of science oriented programming. He also is an author of several books.
Recently, he talked with us about science and making it understandable to the average citizen. He said that people love science but concepts need to be made real for people to integrate them in their daily lives.
In addition to “Science Friday,” Flatow heads a non-profit organization called Science Friday Initiative that provides numerous educational materials to help people understand difficult scientific concepts. Much of the information is digital and Flatow says they have even developed a phone app to add to the myriad of other learning opportunities.
Wesley Lowery covers Black Lives Matter, law enforcement and justice for the Washington Post. He has become a national expert on police shootings.
The Washington Post, for the first time in history, is keeping statistics on police shootings in the U.S. As of today, 522 citizens have been shot and killed by police in 2016. Of that group, 128 people were blacks, according to Lowery.
That is about one shooting death per day of a black person by police, Lowery says.
“Blacks make up between 12 and 13 percent of the population yet they account for nearly 25 percent of the deaths by police shootings,” Lowery says.
“American citizens are killed by police about three times a week,” Lowery notes. In 2015, the Washington Post found 990 police shootings resulting in deaths. This year, reporters expect over 1,000 deaths, according to Lowery. By comparison, police are killed by gunshots at a rate of about one per week.
Mental illness and traffic stops are two common threads to the shootings of blacks by police. About 1 in 4 people killed by police have some form of mental illness and are not hospitalized. This means that often police officers are forced to become “social workers with guns,” Lowery says. Also, repeated traffic stops often have created situations that have triggered shootings.
Lowery was part of the 2014 Pulitzer Prize team at the Washington Post for “Breaking News.” He was also given the 2014 “Emerging Journalist of the Year” award by the National Association of Black Journalists. In 2015, he was given the “Best Journalist” Shorty Award for his use of social media.
He has written reports for the Boston Globe, The Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, and the Columbus Dispatch. His political analysis has been published in the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, the Boston Globe and several online publications.
This November, his new book, They Can’t Kill Us All: The Story of #blacklivesmatter, is expected to be published by Little, Brown and Company.
Lowery is spending this week covering “outside” demonstrations at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland.
Lowery is an alumnus of the Scripps College of Communication and the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University.
Sean Peoples is an award-winning international film producer who documents strong and compelling personal stories and weaves them with major global issues and policy questions. It is a unique form of storytelling.
Until recently, Peoples was a multimedia producer/program associate at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars where he spent 9.5 years. He is now a producer at Think Out Loud Productions.
Peoples has been heralded by The New York Times as one of a “new generation of visual communicators who are breaking down conventional definitions of media.”
People’s latest film, Broken Landscape: Confronting India’s Water-Energy Choke Point, premiered at the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival in 2015. Since then, it has been selected for a number of film festivals including the Athens International Film + Video Festival.
The film focuses on the battle between coal mining and water quality in a remote area of India. It features the human stories behind a battle between clean and safe resources and jobs and economic survival.
It has won numerous awards including a Silver Telly Award where it was selected for recognition from over 12,000 entries.
Recently it was shown on CNN India to over 54 million viewers.
On this episode of Spectrum, we’re talking with Gwen Ifill, Moderator and Managing Editor of Washington Week on PBS and co-anchor and co-managing editor for PBS NewsHour. She also is an author. She talks about her career, race and politics.
Before coming to PBS, Ifill worked at a number of stellar news outlets, including the Boston Herald American, The Washington Post, The New York Times, and NBC News.
Ifill also became a best-selling author in 2009 with the publication of her book, The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama.
“A journalist’s role, a true journalist – not just someone who’s there to stir the pot – is to try to find out more, to have people walk away thinking ‘I didn’t know that, I know more now’. And everybody doesn’t rise to that level”, says Ifill.
Martin Walker, a noted journalist and author, says that nothing is going to move quickly in the United Kingdom after the recent Brexit vote to leave the European Union. He does not think that any official action will take place until at least September when a new Prime Minister is sworn into office.
Walker also reminded Americans that the British popular vote is “not necessarily binding.” Parliament will actually have to vote to withdraw from the EU following the referendum. He says many are hoping that “cooler heads will prevail” and that Parliament will not take action to leave.
He also noted that, to date, 4 million signatures have been submitted to Parliament asking for a new referendum on the issue. Parliament is required to debate the issue of a second vote.
Walker says he agrees with President Barack Obama’s recent comments that we should just hit the “pause key” on the current hysteria surrounding the withdrawal vote.
Walker is a veteran journalist who spent some 28 years with The GUARDIAN, a British newspaper, in various reporting and editing capacities – including being US Bureau Chief.
He also appeared for many years on the Diane Rehm weekly News Round-Up on NPR.
In addition, Walker authors murder mystery novels set in his current home region of France.
While on a book tour of the United States, Martin talked with WOUB’s Tom Hodson about Brexit and its domestic and global ramifications.
A Jewish Bible scholar and an African American pastor joined in an intellectual and spiritual journey of faith and scholarly inquiry. The result is they say they uncovered the truth about one of the most coveted prayers in the Christian world – the “Lord’s Prayer” and its Hebrew origins.
On this episode of Spectrum, Tom Hodson talks with world renowned Jewish scholar, Nehemiah Gordon, about his discovery of a Hebrew version of the Lord's Prayer.
On a journey to Israel in 2002, Methodist Pastor Keith Johnson, of the Park Avenue Church in Minneapolis, met with world renowned scholar Nehemia Gordon. This started a long-term relationship and research partnership that resulted in a book A Prayer To Our Father: Hebrew Origins of the Lord’s Prayer.
They discovered a Hebrew version of the Lord's Prayer, preserved by Jewish rabbis for over a thousand years, according to Gordon. Working from the original languages of early texts, the two men translated the texts and found much commonality in most of the traditional forms of the prayer.
In its early forms, the prayer could have been as easily used in the Jewish faith as in the Christian faith, according to Gordon. They found that the prayer has a universal adherence to tenets in both faiths.
On this episode of Spectrum, Gordon describes the partnership with Johnson, their work together, and the outcomes of their research.
Gordon holds a master’s degree in Biblical Studies and a bachelor’s degree in Archaeology from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He has worked as a translator on the Dead Sea Scrolls and as a researcher of ancient Hebrew manuscripts.
Gordon's website, NehemiasWall.com, is dedicated to uncovering ancient Hebrew sources of faith and is full of informative videos, podcasts and blog posts.
Johnson, besides being an elder, also served as chaplain to the Minnesota Vikings and has ministered to top athletes in the NFL and NBA.
Comic Paula Poundstone, a regular panelist on NPR’s “Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me,” spent 30 minutes with Tom Hodson stating her opinions on multiple topics from computers, to writing, to her style of comedy, to unusual dog breeds.
Besides being a Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me regular, Poundstone had a role in last year’s Pixar movie “Inside Out.” She also is currently writing her second book to be published by Algonquin next January.
While doing all that, she still travels the country doing her unique form of stand-up. She said in every show about one-third of it is improvised with interactions between her and her audience.
“I never do the same show twice,” Poundstone said. “Every performance is different and unique. It is very interactive.”
Poundstone joked that she has the worst record on Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me quizzes because her competitors “cheat” and are on “steroids.” She says her preparation for the show is in direct relationship to the upheavals at her home in a given week. If things are in turmoil then she doesn’t prepare as much as when things are going smoothly, she added.
On a serious note, she decries the use of computers in elementary schools and says that we have become “addicted” to electronics. She says that this reliance has a negative impact on children and their brains.
Poundstone also described her writing technique and how writing a book is different and much more difficult than writing comedy routines.
Poundstone has had an illustrious career. She was the first woman to win the cable ACE Award for Best Stand-up back in 1992 and in 1993, she was the first woman to perform standup at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
She has been recognized as one of Comedy Central’s 100 greatest stand-ups of all time and in 2010, she was selected for the Comedy Hall of Fame.
Ira Glass, the award-winning creator and host of This American Life, will be in Athens at 7:30 p.m. March 12th at Templeton Blackburn Memorial Auditorium to present “An Evening with Ira Glass: Reinventing Radio.”
Recently, he chatted with WOUB’s Tom Hodson about creating radio content, audio storytelling and the mechanics of putting together a weekly national radio program.
He talked about the early days of This American Life, being highly selective about stories they choose to air, and the explosive popularity of podcasting.
This American Life is celebrating its 20th year on public radio. It is a mixture of entertainment and news, according to Glass. It is designed to present riveting stories based upon weekly themes.
Selecting great stories to broadcast is a key factor to success, Glass says. He notes that they kill up to 50 percent of the stories they begin and instead concentrate on those that have the most potential to highly engage the audience.
Glass says that he is thrilled about the popularity of podcasting and added that Serial, a podcast series created and produced by This American Life staffers, has the record of being the most listened to podcast in history.
Currently, This American Life is heard by 2.2 million radio listeners per week on more than 500 radio stations. When podcasts are added to the total, more than 5 million people listen to each show. Glass points out that these are higher numbers than most television programs or cable networks.
This American Life, distributed through PRX (Public Radio Exchange) has won the highest awards in broadcasting – including five Peabody Awards.
In 2009, Glass received the coveted Edward R. Murrow Award for Outstanding Contributions. He earned a George Polk Award in Radio Reporting in 2011 and was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame in November 2014.
Glass began his radio career in 1978 at age 19 as an intern at National Public Radio. He then got a full-time job at NPR where he worked as a reporter, producer, and guest host for Morning Edition, All Things Considered, Talk of the Nation and Weekend All Things Considered.
Glass was reared in Baltimore Co. Maryland. He received his undergraduate degree from Brown University where he studied semiotics – what causes stories to create certain emotions in readers and listeners.
Ken Ehrlich is a master of music media and his brilliant 50 year career was honored recently by the Scripps College of Communication with this year’s Hall of Fame Award.
He graduated in 1964 with a degree in Journalism. He met his wife while a student at Ohio University while he was playing cocktail piano at a local tavern on Court Street called the Lantern.
After working in Chicago during his early career, he started producing the national Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) music series SOUNDSTAGE.
Ehrlich then moved to Los Angeles and for 38 years he has produced over 1,000 hours of award winning television events including 36 straight Grammy Awards shows and 7 Emmy Broadcasts.
During the Emmy’s, Ehrlich is known for combining musical stars and acts who have never performed together before. He prides himself in creating these unique musical combinations and he tells WOUB’s Tom Hodson about how he goes about doing that.
In addition to awards programs, he spent two years as the Supervising Producer of the television dramatic series FAME. Ehrlich also has produced single artist television specials for Paul McCartney, Elton John, Garth Brook, The Eagles, Michael Jackson, Shania Twain, Stevie Wonder, the Rolling Stones and Celine Dion.
In 2011, he directed Celine Dion’s long running Las Vegas Show.
He created the Blockbuster Video Awards and the MTV Movie Awards and the VH1 Divas shows. He also produced several Alma and Latin Grammy Awards Shows.
His company, AEG Ehrlich Ventures LLC has produced the popular PBS In Performance At the White House.
In 2014, he produced the Grammys on one day and then 24 hours later did a 2.5 hour special for CBS celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Beetles’ first performance on the Ed Sullivan Show.
This past December, he produced a 2 hour special celebrating the 100th birthday of Frank Sinatra.
Throughout his career he also has had a social conscience. He created an HBO special in 1988 paying tribute to Vietnam Vets; he created an epic celebration when Nelson Mandela was released from prison and he helped raise money for Hurricane Katrina victims.
He also has donated his time and his immense skills to charitable and political causes that are “dear to his heart.”
Susan Reimer, a 1973 alumna of the Ohio University School of Journalism, had a career full of variety and a career that paved new paths until her retirement in June 2015 after 36 years with the Baltimore Sun.
She spent her career writing local news, sports, a twice-a-week column about being a mother and family life, a nationally syndicated column about politics and national affairs, a book, and feature articles about food and gardening.
Reimer is back on the Ohio University campus to receive the L. J. Hortin Distinguished Alumni Award issued by the E. W. Scripps School of Journalism.
Her notorious career started in Pittsburgh after her graduation from Ohio University. She worked for the Associated Press, the Pittsburgh Press and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Then, after spending a few months touring the country “in the back of a van,” she convinced the Baltimore Sun that she could write sports. That launched a 14 year career covering the Baltimore Orioles and the Baltimore Colts, among other major sporting events.
Reimer was one of the first female sports reporters in the nation to cover professional sports. She tells WOUB’s Tom Hodson about some of her run-ins with the crusty manager of the Orioles Earl Weaver and the satisfaction she received from her profession.
After writing and editing sports, Reimer turned to column writing – reporting about motherhood and family matters. She published a collection of her work in 1998 called Motherhood is a Contact Sport.
Reimer claims that her column was so popular because she had the ability to write about situations and emotions that other women endured and felt but never had the words to talk about.
When her column switched to one about politics and national affairs, she said she never ran out of ideas and was comfortable “writing with the big-boys.”
She attributes her writing skill and her confidence to lessons she learned while at Ohio University and working at The Post while on campus.