How Do You Get Your News?

Guess which DC museum is my favorite. 

A very smart but ill-informed friend told me earlier this week that he feels disconnected from the world since he doesn't have a regular news diet. 

He asked where I go to keep up, and what outlets he should check out on a daily basis. 

Because he works in finance, I recommended the Wall Street Journal (duh!). Even though I'm not particularly business savvy (yet), I'm especially interested in the health, media & tech industries. But I also like the WSJ for its multimedia website, stellar foreign reporting, and crazy A-heds.  


Also, look to the leaders of whatever industry you're in and read what they read. This is a great clip of Warren Buffett, Charlie Munger & Bill Gates discussing their news consumption habits. (Buffett reads five: his local newspaper, the Financial Times, WSJ, the New York Times, and USA Today; Munger likes The Economist.)   

Since I've been in grad school I haven't been able to keep up with the news much, so I rely on my ever-evolving Twitter newsfeed & lists to give me the headlines from 1,000 or so of my favorite journalists, like Tampa Bay Times environmental reporter Craig Pittman, Canadian public health reporter André Picard, and Sarah van Gelder of Yes! Magazine. 

I like NPR's app because I have several favorite member stations, like DC's WAMU, Seattle's KUOW, and the small but rad WPSU out of Penn State. 

Since it's summer break and I have more time to read, I use my school subscription to browse a gazillion newspapers via Library PressDisplay.

It's like my own private Newseum. 

But my favorite source by far is Washington Journal, C-SPAN's daily call-in show. Every morning its hosts go through the big stories in the major papers, and the guests always include a slew of journalists.

This morning one of the guests was Yahoo! News political reporter Chris Moody. He spoke about the business of web reporting (seriously, who needs j-school? Just watch a ton of C-SPAN). 

 

Another topic of today's show asked viewers how they get their news. A caller commented that C-SPAN is her main source because she doesn't have to worry about a bias or slant. She can watch and "hear it from the mouth of the individual” politician or public figure, and make up her own mind about what's happening. 

Same reason I like C-SPAN. I stream it online almost every day, several times a day, and listen to the app during my commute or workouts. 

My friend's inquiry made me curious about where my most informed friends get their news. I started with Creative Loafing's news & politics editor Mitch Perry, one of my first editors back when we were both with the WMNF Evening News. 

Mitch does the work of three people, never sleeps, and his weekly recycling bin could fill a small library. He sent me his reading list via email: 

I begin my day (actually in the middle of the night) by reading as much as possible. ALL of the New York Times; US, World, Arts, opinion, sports.  

Then at my front door in the morning are copies of the Tampa Tribune, Tampa Bay Times and USA Today. Occasionally I'll pick up a Wall Street Journal, and a couple of days a week, a New York Post (guilty pleasure).  

At work before I write I read the Sayfie Review (an aggregate of Florida political stories), the Drudge Report, Salon, RealClearPolitics. Later in the morning I'll go check out Slate and JimRomenesko, with occasional searches on The Daily Beast, Talking Points Memo, National Review, The Hill and Roll Call (depending on how busy I am). 

I don't subscribe to New York Magazine so I go online on Monday to download my favorite stories there. I also subscribe to the New Yorker, Time, Sports Illustrated, New York Observer, Columbia Journalism Review, The Atlantic, Entertainment Weekly...and I think that's it. 

Also following Twitter, which often sends me to places unknown.....Sometimes I don't reach all those places either, depending on if I'm at my desk all day or not.

Slacker! On Facebook I caught up with Caitlin Constantine, the senior web content editor at Bay News 9, (and a former CL intern) who can give Mitch a run for his money: 

Pretty much every morning I scan the front page of the NYT website and I listen to NPR's All Things Considered and/or Morning Edition. If I am running late to work, I will also listen to the BBC. 

As part of my job, I read the Tampa Bay Times and CNN.com. I also check out the Bradenton Herald and the Ledger. I rarely watch TV news even though TV news is my job, although sometimes I do watch more opinion-oriented shows by Rachel Maddow, Melissa Harris-Perry and Chris Hayes.  

While doing research for my blog, I check out the front page of the following sites: the Atlantic, Salon, Slate, Huffington Post, CNN, MSNBC, the American Prospect, the Nation. I also read major woman-oriented blogs like BlissTree, the Gloss, the Frisky, and sometimes Jezebel. (But not xoJane*, I hate that site.)   

Finally, I regularly check in on tumblr, where I follow a lot of people who might be considered social justice bloggers, and on Twitter, where I follow a bunch of other journalist/opinionator/media types.  

Plus I follow a ton of blogs, usually about feminism, gay rights, trans rights, fitness, health and wellness and skepticism.

In her spare time, Caitlin runs marathons, competes in triathlons, and chronicles it all on her blog Fit and Feminist. 

*However, we both continue to hold a candle for Sassy. 

Science Diet 2

This weekend I turned on C-SPAN for a little holiday viewing and found an awesome program of lady science writers. (Merry Christmas to me!)

Molly Caldwell Crosby (Asleep: The Forgotten Epidemic that Remains One of Medicine's Greatest Mysteries) and Rebecca Skloot (The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks) were on a panel at the Texas Book Festival discussing their books and writing habits. (Skloot's book is on Ars Hermeneutica's 2010 list of top-rated reads, as well as most of this year's bestsellers lists.)

Sadly, I don't think I read one science book all year, which not only prompted me to interview Jeff but to also deem 2011 my year of math & science.

If you'd like to suggest some titles, please do! I'm already building my list.

WMNF Evening News Special

The extended versions of the author interviews I've been working so diligently on all year are finally airing tonight on the WMNF Evening News between 6 - 7 p.m. (or in the archives at wmng.org/news).

The program includes Big Citizen Alan Khazei, Factory Girls' Leslie T. Chang, and young adult author Walter Dean Myers.

I also did a round up of Eckerd College's Plight & Promise of Africa, their 2010 initiative on the continent's struggles and successes, which includes the work of fellow WMNF reporters Joshua Holton, who covered a photo exhibit of the suffering in Congo, and Tom Baur, who spoke with humanitarians John Prendergast and Elie Wiesel. My bit on Dave Eggers and Gabriel Bol Deng is in the mix as well.

Late last week I realized that I failed (big) to interview any science writers. So I googled around trying to find someone science-y willing chat with during Christmas week, and I stumbled across Dr. Jeff Shaumeyer.

A former physicist, Jeff started Ars Hermeneutica to encourage science literacy. And part of his effort to increase Americans knowledge (and love) of science is the Science Reading Challenge, now in its fourth year.

The Science Book Challenge 2011 requires only three (or 3.14) books throughout the entire year. I figure that's the least I can do, so I'll keep you posted on my progress.

Big Citizenship

Today while waiting in line at my local non-governmental shipping store, I eavesdropped on customers inquiring on the price of sending numerous 150 lb. packages to Haiti.

I got a little misty-eyed (Who knew I had so much in common with John Boehner?!) when they said they were working with college kids to send toiletries to the cholera-ravaged country.
Now those are some big citizens.

("And the kicker," chimed in the lone employee behind the counter, "is that I'm from Haiti!")

I've always been at a loss as to how I can be of help in the world (specifically in my new hometown of Tampa), which was why I was drawn to Alan Khazei's book Big Citizenship: How Pragmatic Idealism Can Bring Out the Best in America.

Last week I had the pleasure of interviewing Alan for the WMNF News. The 3-minute segment will most likely air tonight, and an extended version will air next Monday evening as part of my author interview special.

Alan, a huge believer in national service, co-founded City Year in the late 80's, which became the model for AmeriCorps. He later helped save AmeriCorps when it was threatened by political shenanigans. Again, another teary-eyed moment for me since I served in AmeriCorps during the 2005-2006 school year as a second grade reading tutor as part of Hillsborough Reads.

But not to worry, I didn't cry over the air. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

It's Not a Small World After All

Less than 20 years ago just a few (relatively speaking) people thought about where the stuff they bought came from, mostly because of political reasons. I was introduced to the Boycott Made in China movement in the early '00's when I lived in protest-ready Seattle.

Still, I was on the fence with this issue. The Chinese people, like anyone, were happy to have jobs to bring them out of poverty. But I'd also heard about terrible working conditions and 12 year-olds making iPods.

However I was becoming more and more annoyed by American's belief that cheaper is better. Until recently it seemed that the majority of Americans didn't care about who made what, that is, until our own country started doing badly.

But the main reason I couldn't take a stance was because it was hard for me to see a real face on the issue. (Though my own personal solution was to shop less and almost exclusively at thrift stores.)

A few more details were filled in for me when I came across Leslie T. Chang's Factory Girls: From Village to City in a Changing China. The author chronicles the lives of two young Chinese women who traded in their rural youths for the excitement of the unknown in huge, anonymous factory cities on the southern coast of China. The book weaves the migrants' stories together with Chang's own Chinese family background.

I interviewed Leslie last week as part of my author interview special that will air on the WMNF Evening News on Monday, December 27th from 6-7 p.m. You can listen to an excerpt of the interview that played on last night's newscast.

My conclusion is that globalization is tricky, especially when it seems as if the success of one country is based on the downfall of another. But this is where education is key, and learning as much as possible makes the clean up of whatever mess we're in easier on us all.

Walter Dean Myers

I think I've noted here before that I've made it my mission this year to interview as many non-fiction authors as possible.

But this summer a co-worker turned me on to Walter Dean Myers, who writes mostly fiction. For kids. About wars, prison, drugs. All the good stuff I was naively (and thankfully) barely aware of in my Full House-watching youth.

I decided Myers's life-mirroring fiction would make a good addition to the non-fiction program I'm putting together for the WMNF News later this year.

Lots of us entered adulthood unprepared. Why would a kid know how to balance a checkbook if one's parent's lacked that skill? Still, many kids are even further behind in the game of life if they enter it illiterate, with a criminal record, or are dealing with heavy emotional or psychological issues.

Myers himself was raised by foster parents and dropped out of high school when he realized he was a financial burden on his impoverished family. In the first half of our interview, he spoke about his experience growing up in Harlem in the '50's and losing his kid brother on his very first day in the country of Viet Nam.

In the second half, Myers compares his slacker prep school characters from The Cruisers to those in Lockdown, about minors in the prison system.

Despite his heavy subject matter, Myers never gives us more than we can handle. In fact, he gives us, young and old, the tools to make it through.

What is the What? Indeed

Last night I got to see one of my favorite authors and do-gooders, Dave Eggers, up close.

He was giving a talk at Eckerd College as part of their Plight & Promise of Africa series.

Eggers' book What is the What tells the story of Valentino Achak Deng, one of Sudan's Lost Boys. Deng was not in attendance due to a family emergency, and his friend Gabriel was kind enough to share his story.

Next week I'll have the story on WMNF. Stay tuned.

Zinn Again

Whenever I complain about how hard it is to be artsy and curious in this world/country (which is often), Ronny reminds me I have good reason: when societies unravel it's the teachers, artists, and intellectuals that are disposed of first.

Yesterday WMNF's Sean Kinane began a two-part story on last week's release of a 423 page FBI file on the late historian and peace activist Howard Zinn.

Though it seems that the info is not much more than a collection of press clippings and lame or faulty info (you know, kinda like a Facebook page), the threat is on us all when the agency acts as if the First Amendment doesn't apply to them. That oft-argued over piece of paper is the only protection we citizens have on our side.

Stay tuned for the second part of the story on the WMNF Evening News tonight at 6 p.m.

photo of Howard Zinn by Sean Kinane