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Need plans for tomorrow night? How about some Kojo?
WAMU’s Kojo Nnamdi will be hosting a “Kojo in Your Community” event tomorrow, at The Arc in Southeast D.C. Come hang out with the man whom the Washington Post calls “Maybe the best interviewer in town”. The Arc will be open at 5:30 and the event goes until 8pm. I’ve been told that plenty of parking is available.
Address: 1901 Mississippi Avenue Southeast
Metro: Green Line- Southern Avenue Station.
Check out this animated video on “Waiting for Superman” and American’s educational system from Hong Kong’s Next Media, the company which became famous after animating Tiger Woods troubles. Adrian Fenty and Michelle Rhee both star in it:
At some point between Sunday evening and Monday morning, the body of American University Professor Sue Marcum was discovered by a friend who had been concerned about her. Professor Marcum had taught at the business school since 1999. This morning, police got a major break in her case when Marcum’s stolen jeep was noticed by a “a license plate recognition sensor” (more on those, here):
Police went to Benning Road and attempted to stop the Jeep, Bonilla said, then gave chase when Hamlin allegedly tried to drive away. The Jeep crashed into a crosswalk signpost at the intersection of New York Avenue and M Street NW. Hamlin, who police said lives in Northwest Washington, was taken into custody and charged with unauthorized use of a vehicle and felony fleeing.
I learned everything I know about Professor Marcum’s death through the Washington Post; after feeling shock and sadness over this violent, awful crime, what struck me about this story yesterday was how quickly readers turned to race, when discussing the murder. Seven of the first eight comments are solely about race, class and the Post’s coverage of homicide. Here are the first two:
Today, erstwhile-NPR Analyst Juan Williams was on the second hour of the Diane Rehm Show, here at WAMU. I listened in…
Interesting: Juan and Diane are good friends, have been for many years; he has been on DR show several times. He thanks her for speaking to him during this “turmoil”. It’s a nice reminder that he’s an actual person, with a long history beyond this and not just a political football or insensitive panderer.
The NPR ombudsman has received 22,000 messages about this? Wow.
“Diane I’m the same person in both venues (NPR and Fox), but I’m aware of the differences in both venues.
“When I was fired, last Wednesday, the woman who called me said, “would you have said the same thing on NPR?” and I said, “of course”…(she tried to say I had violated journalistic ethics)…it would violate my journalistic ethics if I didn’t tell the truth!”
Diane is playing the actual exchange between Williams and O’Reilly for us.
DR: Do you have any regrets…
JW: None!
Williams says that his comment about Muslims is not analogous to the comparisons his critics are making to negative speech about African Americans (i.e. “How would he feel if people said something similar about Black people?”): “There’s no history of black people getting in airplanes and…”. He goes on to describe how fear can be appropriate, even in “small town America”, because “it’s a matter of being aware of your environment”. He clarifies that he wasn’t advocating profiling or extra scrutiny, saying “I simply admitted to my feelings.”
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Fairfax County Public Library
Juan Williams
A few of you have emailed and asked if I’m going to comment on Juan Williams– how about hearing from a far more distinguished employee of WAMU, instead? I’m referring to Diane Rehm; Williams will be on the second hour of The Diane Rehm Show, tomorrow.
Juan Williams is a political commentator for Fox News and until last week he was also a news analyst for NPR. He joined NPR in 1999 as the daily host of Talk of The Nation, and in recent years he’s served as an NPR senior national correspondent. His comments on Fox’s The O’Reilly Factor last week prompted a seemingly abrupt dismissal from NPR. Juan Williams talks about his career, his roles as news analyst and commentator, and his reaction to the recent controversy over his dismissal from NPR. [link]
Tune in to 88.5 FM at 11am to hear everything.
Next month, WAMU will go to Haiti to discuss Washington, D.C.’s response to the earthquake which struck that nation in January of this year. Reporter Sabri Ben Achour will follow up on the stories he covered when he was last there; The Kojo Nnamdi Show will be broadcast from Port-au-Prince. Here’s a preview from the latter:
Racialicious
The Intersection of Race and Pop Culture
What am I reading, right now? A post on Racialicious, “The Tragic Mulatto Myth Debunked: Holding Tight to All of Our Roots“:
Throughout my twenty one years, as various people have approached me with questions —“Why are your eyes so chinky?” or “Why does your father look White? Are you adopted?” or the all-time favorite “What are you?”— I have been forced to contemplate my multi-racial heritage and, from that, build my ethnic and racial identity. I, Aisha, identify as a Black-Mixed woman. In that order. If people want to know more I will tell them that I am of Black, Japanese, and White descent.
Again, a self-identifying statement from a multi-racial person with Black heritage—which includes his or her various racial and ethnic heritages—is not automatically evidence of his or her desire to remove Blackness. It is completely acceptable for me to make the true statement that I love my Blackness. It is less acceptable to claim the same for my White or Japanese ancestries, which not only helped to shape the curl of my hair and the slant of my eyes, but also were essential in my cultural upbringing.
Mark Sardella
Juan Williams
My favorite comment under Ta-Nehisi Coates’ post about Juan Williams and NPR is by “Cynic”:
No one is burning journalists at the stake. What’s happening is that as reporters cross over to the world of punditry and talk shows, and offer the unfiltered opinions and personal reflections that are hallmarks of the format, the two cultures collide. Williams, Sanchez, and Thomas were all sacked by organizations whose business revolves around their news operations, and were concerned for their reputations. (They were also, a Cynic might note, less than stellar performers by the time they were summarily dismissed.) But Fox, which has built its business model around punditry, thrives on controversy. So NPR fires its Senior News Analyst while Fox retains its Panelist – and they’re both Juan Williams.
Traditional journalists and their bosses alike are struggling to navigate this strange new world. The old rules on journalistic conduct are clearly antiquated. Perhaps we’ll decide to allow journalists to air their personal views, even if they say idiotic or offensive things, without that reflecting on their reportage. More likely, the two media ecosystems will increasingly separate themselves, with news-driven organizations on one side, and controversy-peddlers on the other. But until that happens, we’ll continue to see a succession of similar controversies. And news organizations will be entirely justified in deciding that when their employees opt for controversy, it’s time to sever ties.
Ta-Nehisi Coates posts about the “culture of poverty” and jeopardizing his big break at The Atlantic by getting in someone’s face in Denver two years ago, in “the most embarrassing thing” he has ever written:
I had thought as far as the dude stepping outside–but I hadn’t thought any further. I hadn’t thought about getting arrested. I hadn’t thought about the implications of a 6’4 260 pound black dude assaulting a 5’11 (maybe?) white dude. I hadn’t thought about all of this playing out against the backdrop of Obama’s nomination. I hadn’t thought about losing my job. And, most criminally, I hadn’t thought about my family , who were depending on that job…
“I ain’t no punk” may shield you from neighborhood violence. But it can not shield you from algebra, when your teacher tries to correct you. It can not shield you from losing hours, when your supervisor corrects your work. And it would not have shielded me from unemployment, after I cold-cocked a guy over a blog post…
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Humanosphere reports on global health and the fight against poverty from KPLU in Seattle
The Empire Reports on city and state politics from WNYC in New York
The Informant reports on cops, courts and communities from KALW in Oakland
Multi-American reports on immigration and cultural fusion from KPCC in Southern California
On Campus reports on higher education from MPR in Minnesota
Ecotrope reports on nature and community from OPB in Oregon
The Key reports on local music from WXPN in Philadelphia
CommonHealth reports on health, medicine and healthcare reform from WBUR in Boston
Argo MindShift reports on technology and education from KQED in San Francisco
Home Post reports on the military from KPBS in San Diego
