Episode #12: The Gnat and the Elephant

The March broadcast of Reform Radio airs the first of two interviews with an award-winning former business reporter for Gannett newspapers (White Plains, N.Y.), Demetrius Patterson. Patterson, who is also a graduate of the Midwest Workshop for Minority Journalists, which was sponsored by the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism in the late 1980s and early 1990s, delves into the details of his demise as a reporter after breaking what should have been, perhaps, the biggest story of his journalism career. He was featured on ABC's Nightline after reporting on racism throughout General Motors management which precipitated systemic failures in its minority dealership program. After heated accusations and lengthy legal battles, Patterson learned that some stories, as documented by Into the Buzzsaw and Project Censored, are too hot for corporate America and mainstream news media. The show will be rebroadcast Thursday, March 19, at 9 a.m. (EST) on WOUB 1340 AM (www.woub.org).

Episode #11: Film as Alternative Media

The February broadcast of Reform Radio, "Film as Alternative Media," discusses the use of film to introduce a variety of ideas, information and perspectives into the pubic arena. Featuring in this segment are Ruth Bradley, director of the Athens International Film and Video Festival; Jack Wright, Ohio University film professor; and Jeff Wray, Michigan State University professor and Ohio University film school graduate. Film has long served as a means of shaping and/or enlarging public thinking and dialogue for a variety of reasons -- from "Birth of a Nation" to "Fahrenheit 911" -- in ways traditional news media have been behind the curve or shied from. The show will be rebroadcast Thursday, Feb. 19, at 9 a.m. (EST) on WOUB 1340 AM (www.woub.org).

Episode #10: Media and Democracy

The January broadcast of Reform Radio features one of three conversations with Ohio University Professor Emeritus of Philosophy Algis Mickunas. Mickunas is world renowned for his scholarship on contemporary European philosophy, Marxism, phenomenology and hermeneutics. In this segment Mickunas discusses the relationship of the media and a healthy, functioning American democracy. Mickunas says that democracy requires an active, involved citizenry that keeps an eye on not only its elected representatives but its media as well. "If we don't participate, democracy is gone. Democracy doesn't grow on trees, doesn't sit in some sort of a brain cell," says Mickunas. Mickunas explains how and why citizens must be involved with their governments in order to legitimate them and keep them focused on the people's business and how media is intimately involved in the political process. He also outlines how media have neglected their roles as the constitutionally privileged, so-called "fourth estate."

Episode #9: Karen Zolka

The December broadcast of Reform Radio features an interview with Karen Zolka, a graduating E.W. Scripps of Journalism senior. Zolka, who earned an foreign correspondent internship with the Associated Press, goes to Israel in January 2009. Her interest in the news and journalism, she says, began as a child in elementary school and continued through her high school education, during which she studied television journalism and had several internships. Zolka also was the president of the Society of Professional Journalists at Scripps for two years. She talks about her journalism education and her vision of how journalism should serve the public.

CounterPost (replay of Episode #7)

The November broadcast of Reform Radio is a rebroadcast of Episode #7, "CounterPost," (see below) featuring retired E.W. Scripps School of Journalism professor Thomas Hodges and Velma Lopez and Brittany Benton of the Latino Student Union. This episode of Reform Radio was originally broadcast Sept. 21, 2008.

Episode #8: mephisto radio (Leipzig University)

The October broadcast of Reform Radio features guests from mephisto radio, a student radio station at Leipzig University (Germany). Christoph Peters and Miriam Behrendt were part of a group of faculty and students who traveled to the United States in September to cover the 2008 election, as well as to visit student media operations and take part in classes at Ohio University. Peters and Behrendt also discuss the changes that have taken place in Germany since the Berlin Wall came down in 1989.

Episode 8 podcast

Episode #7: CounterPost

The September broadcast of Reform Radio features a lively conversation about a controversial column, “Broad Stripes and Bright Stars: America’s party being crashed since the first settlers left England,” published in Ohio University’s student newspaper, The Post, in 2007. The column, by Chris Yonker, generated vigorous, critical protests and responses from OU’s Latino Student Union, students and faculty, as well as defenses of Yonker’s column. To its credit, a considerable number of these were published in The Post. Reform Radio invited persons from both sides of the controversy to join in on a conversation about the column. Although Reform Radio invited Yonker, Post editors, and members of The Post’s editorial board, all declined. Joining the show were Velma Lopez and Brittany Benton of the Latino Student Union and retired E.W. Scripps School of Journalism professor Thomas Hodges.

The Post’s editorial position on the column can be read here.

Episode 7 podcast