Professor of Journalism at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Professor of Journalism at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and author of The Vanishing Newspaper: Saving Journalism in the Information Age; former Director of News and Circulation Research for Knight-Ridder
The Future of the News The reports coming in from American newsrooms are ominous: budget cuts, staff layoffs, rollbacks in reporting and falling circulation, with a slump that's hitting newspapers and newsmagazines alike. Meanwhile, more and more former readers are migrating to the web, clicking their news online, downloading podcasts and videos onto their iPods and personal cell phones. Anyway you look at it, there's a seismic shake-up in the world of print journalism. Is Google replacing Time magazine? Does the New York Times really have to compete with the Drudge Report ? Are American newspapers doomed? Will they be replaced by online publications? Or is this much to do about nothing? (An extended version of this discussion was originally broadcast earlier today on To the Point.) Marc Cooper guest hosts.
The Future of the News The reports coming in from American newsrooms are ominous: budget cuts, staff layoffs, rollbacks in reporting and falling circulation, with a slump that's hitting newspapers and newsmagazines alike. Meanwhile, more and more former readers are migrating to the web, clicking their news online, downloading podcasts and videos onto their iPods and personal cell phones. Anyway you look at it, there's a seismic shake-up in the world of print journalism. Is Google replacing Time magazine? Does the New York Times really have to compete with the Drudge Report ? Are American newspapers doomed? Will they be replaced by online publications? Or is this much to do about nothing? Marc Cooper guest hosts.
Is the threat from Russia missing from the Russia meddling probe? There's much being made about the Trump administration's possible ties with Russia. But the bottom line is Russia's effort to influence American democracy. Do the President and his aides care enough to take action before voters go back to the polls?
Who's to blame for the opioid crisis? Some of the lawyers who took on Big Tobacco are now going after Big Pharma. It’s all about the deadly epidemic of opioid use. Are the drug companies to blame? What about the users? Later, on today’s Talking Point: making sense of Britain’s upset election.
Human Rights in the era of Donald Trump President Trump’s UN Ambassador, Nikki Haley, said today the US might pull out of the United Nations’ Human Rights Council. Serious violators of human rights are members of the Council itself–and a US resignation could make things worse. Later on today’s show, now that he’s into his second term, comedian turned US Senator Al Franken is telling jokes again.
Janesville and the American Dream Janesville, Wisconsin is the hometown of Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan. But he couldn’t prevent the closing of the General Motors factory after 100 years. On this Memorial Day rebroadcast of To the Point, we hear what’s happened to what once was a model of American middle-class unity.