Local Programs

Poetry Moment presents 'How to Sell Your Mother’s House' by Robert Walicki

Poetry Moment presents 'At the Cathedral of Hope' by Janette Schafer

Do you feel discouraged or even defeated about the state of the world? So much so that you find yourself disengaging? What if we told you that there was another path? That there’s a form of reporting that doesn’t just tell you what's wrong in your community but actively works to empower you to help set it right? On this episode ofNews Over Noise, host Matt Jordan and Leah Dajches talk with James Causey, a projects reporter and columnist at theMilwaukee Journal Sentinel, about solutions journalism and the potential it holds for strengthening democracy.

The question of who owns the news has serious implications for the quality of journalism we have access to. Media buyouts and mergers have become so commonplace you might not even realize that your local paper or news station is owned by a massive corporation in some far-off place. You might think, “I’m still getting access to information, so why does diversity in media ownership matter?” To find out, Leah Dajches and Matt Jordan talk with Michael Copps, a former commissioner for the Federal Communications Commission.

“My experience is that audiences want us to be truthful and fair, but they don’t want us to be robots.” That’s a quote from a blog post by journalist Lewis Raven Wallace—a post that led to him being fired from Marketplace. Wallace has become an outspoken critique of the notion that “objectivity” is a catchall for accurate journalism. In this episode of News Over Noise, hosts Leah Dajches and Matt Jordan talk with Wallace about the concept of journalistic neutrality and about what can be done to restore some lost public trust in journalism.

How do you respond when someone disagrees with you? If you’re like many Americans, you probably end the conversation and write them off. And who can blame you when debates are frequently framed as moralistic disputes between the righteous and the enemy? But what's the cost of walking away instead of making an effort to engage? On this episode of News Over Noise, Matt Jordan and Leah Dajches find out by talking with Anand Giridharadas, author of theNew York Times bestseller, The Persuaders. 

Terms like trolls and butterfly attacks sound like something out of a childhood fable. Unfortunately, in the digital information landscape, these terms represent very real tactics that can have devastating effects on democracy. What are these bad-actors are trying to accomplish? And, how can you protect yourself from becoming prey to their malicious schemes? To find out, Matt Jordan and Leah Dajches talk with Dr. Joan Donovan, one of the leading experts on media manipulation, and disinformation campaigns, and online extremism.

Social media often gets a bad rap, but it plays an undeniably critical role in today’s media landscape. With younger people increasingly opting to get their information from platforms like TikTok instead of traditional news sources, its significance is only likely to increase. On this episode of News Over Noise, hosts Matt Jordan and Leah Dajches talk with journalist, activist, and social media strategist Annie Wu about the power of social media to drive the agenda when it comes to news, politics, and public opinion.

Most of us get our information fed to us through our smartphones. Constant bombardment and easy access to headlines, video clips, and sound bites help create the illusion that we are well-informed about the goings-on of our world. But...are we? On this episode of News Over Noise, host Matt Jordan and Leah Dajches talk with media scholar Homero Gil de Zúñiga about what the News Finds Me mentality is, how it impacts civic engagement, and why it might be leaving us less informed than we realize.

Whether your eyelids get heavy at the mere mention of an economic story or you're a seasoned economic news consumer and want to know how you can find reliable, quality reporting, this is a discussion for you. On this episode of News Over Noise, Hosts Matt Jordan and Leah Dajches talk with Bob Frick, Navy Federal’s Corporate Economist, about what makes for quality—and not so quality—economic reporting and how you can tell the difference. They also discuss how you cut through the buzzwords and vague characterizations to get to the bottom of what’s actually going on.