Podcast (attitude): Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: RSS
Part One:
We speak with Henry Grabar, reporter at Slate.com, about the continuing human suffering in communities like Morton, Mississippi, well after the invading ICE officers have arrested and deported 600 undocumented workers. The people arrested had been working in and contributing to their communities for decades. They’d had children and families; they’d developed friends and neighbors; they’d worked in jobs that were unhealthy though not well-paying; they’d paid into the Social Security Trust Fund even though they were not allowed to collect any SS benefits for disability or retirement.
Part Two:
We speak with John Nichols, reporter for The Nation, about how the corporate media stifles Americans’ ability to educate themselves so they can be informed participants in the political and electoral process. This is not a critique of journalists who are struggling for opportunities to investigate genuine/meaningful news stories, but rather a critique of the media moguls who choose which stories will be covered and in what depth. Thus, corporate for-profit media owners determine that the local weather and sensational accidents or crimes will take up the lion’s share of media coverage. At the same time, they systematically minimize or bury any news about corporate crimes or tax loopholes or politicians being financially beholden to rich donors.
