PRI: Podcasts

Get a global perspective on the economy with podcasts and resources for understanding the impact of the recession.

Jason Margolis, from PRI’s “The World,” talks about show’s contribution to the Economy Collaboration.

A bailout for African American media?

By Laura Hertzfeld | Published: August 11, 2009

The arrest of Henry Louis Gates, Jr. sparked a media storm a few weeks ago, but one prominent Boston African American paper couldn’t cover the story — they were shut down that week due to a lack in funding, PRI reports.

With larger African American magazines like Jet and Ebony struggling to survive in the current economic climate, how will a diversity of opinions on news topics that affect minorities continue if minority-oriented publications go under?

PRI’s Here and Now discusses a group of minority broadcasters who are seeking a temporary bailout, and the risk of missing big stories that affect the community if they aren’t funded.

Are minority-oriented publications necessary for the larger conversation, or are they to face the same fate as so many other newspapers and magazines until they figure out a way to stay relevant in the new economy?

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Has the weak economy created opportunities for women?

By Laura Hertzfeld | Published: August 17, 2009

From increased sales of steamy romance novels to booming health and fitness sectors, lines of work where women tend to dominate are taking the lead in the current economic climate.

The Weekly Standard’s Christopher Caldwell in Time Magazine this week goes so far to say that of the economic climate faster than men, in The Pink Recovery: Why Women are Doing Better. He notes that fewer women have been laid off than men overall, and that when the nation does recover, the workforce could look different as a result:

“What constitutes “women’s work” today? Well, health care, for one; 81% of the workers are female. According to the report Obama cited, 20,000 health-care jobs were gained in July, while 76,000 construction jobs and 52,000 manufacturing positions were lost.”

But are women seeing more opportunity in other areas as well? BusinessWeek recently reported that women may be nearing a majority in the workforce for the first time in history.

Success stories like this piece on a woman boss at a trucking company in the UK from PRI’s The World seem to indicate that despite job losses and a tough economic climate, women are seeing a chance to take the lead. This story uses Hillary Clinton’s recent tour through Africa as a jumping off point to discuss how the role of women has changed in recent years:

“Are women managers different than male ones, with a different approach to problems? It is said that women are more outcome-orientated while men confront. If that’s true, how should a woman leader behave in a traditionally male environment — like a trucking company?”

Forward-thinking companies are helping women get ahead by using technology to create a better work-life balance. Back in June, BBC Washington correspondent Katty Kay, co-author of Womenomics, spoke with Tavis Smiley about how these ‘soft’ types of changes will help companies be more successful in the long run.

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Water, water everywhere

By Laura Hertzfeld | Published: August 24, 2009

Roman Polanski’s classic film Chinatown centers on a key issue in Los Angeles politics – water. And more than 30 years since the movie’s release, water is still one of the biggest issues in California. Given the economic climate, it might seem like saving water pales in comparison to dealing with the ongoing mortgage crisis or reducing the state’s debts. But water and how it gets to farms, homes, and cities in California is tied to economics and politics in a number of ways.

Non-profit journalism project Spot.us asks the community to support journalists to report specific stories. Recently, the site uncovered a story about a San Francisco Bay Area group that got the local government to allow the reuse of graywater to conserve water and help survive California’s drought. Learn more about graywater use in California from this KOSU report about Catalina Island.

And California’s water issues are just , uh…a drop in the bucket compared with the global demand for the stuff:

The 2004 film “Thirst” featured on PBS’ POV examined water politics and the idea that clean water could soon be a commodity as valuable as oil, both in the U.S. and abroad.

In “The New Economy of Water” the filmmakers discuss water privatization:

“In the best cases, more efficient operation has allowed people without access to be hooked up to centralized water systems. But the problem remains that those cities, states, and nations with the biggest water problems and the strongest incentives to privatize are often the least prepared to deal with the many potential problems of water privatization.”

PRI’s The World reported this month that just one less toilet flush per day can save over a thousand gallons of water per year.

What’s happening in your community to conserve water? The following TED talk shows one way a new type of portable filter can take dirty water and make it usable again:

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Mapping the global economy

By Laura Hertzfeld | Published: September 11, 2009

Times are hard in the U.S. But how do they compare to the downturn worldwide?

A World of Trouble is an interactive map showing unemployment and other hardship indexes by country and connecting them with real-life examples.

For instance, the entry for China talks about how many fewer migrant workers are seen in Beijing now that construction has slowed. The map is from Global Post, an online-only publication that distributes through partnerships with traditional media, including PRI’s The World and PBS’ WorldFocus.

Another way of visualizing economic change is through trade routes. PRI’s The World reported on the benefits and downsides of a new trade route that would drastically change how goods travel from the Pacific side to the Atlantic side of South America. Instead of using the Panama Canal, the port city of Manta in Ecuador would be an alternative.

Mint.com puts wealth distribution in perspective with a map showing the richest and poorest areas of the world. It’s interesting to look at where the differences are vast – between different countries in Africa, for example; and where they are relatively even, like between the U.S. and Russia.

In developing nations, gender also can influence political and economic instability, as
WNYC’s The Takeaway reported this week on New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn’s new book on women in the global economy.

“In our travels, it seemed to us that those countries that were more effective in fighting poverty and creating stability were those that actually educated and empowered women; and that those that didn’t, were those that were most prone to instability,” said Kristof.

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Where would Michael Moore invest?

By Laura Hertzfeld | Published: September 28, 2009

PRI’s The Takeaway talks to controversial filmmaker Michael Moore about his new documentary, Capitalism: A Love Story. John Hockenberry asks if Moore’s high profile has affected his ability to capture the ‘gotcha’ moment.

For more economy-related videos from public media outlets around the country, check out our new video portal, videos.economystory.org.

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