Spectrum

Philip Elliott, Washington Correspondent for TIME, says the mid-term elections have become a toss-up as to whether the Democrats will lose power in both the House and the Senate.

He explains that across the nation surprise Democratic wins in special elections, the rise in President Joseph Biden’s popularity, and the abortion issue have turned the tides from a sure Republican victory in November to races that have become much closer.

Elliott, the author of TIME’s newsletter “The D.C. Brief”, spent August traveling the country to feel the pulse of real voters in the heartland. Two issues stood out above all others, he says.

The reversal of Roe v. Wade has put abortion front and center as the primary issue followed closely by people fearing for democracy and the stability of our country.

Elliott notes that the abortion issue is expected to bring Republican, Independent, and Democratic voters to the polls to express anger over women’s reproductive rights being eroded.

He also noted that other groups fear future curtailment of rights such as interracial marriage, same-sex marriage, minority rights and voting rights for minority groups. He says these fears are expected to bring people out to vote.

Elliott also notes that there are some fringe Republican candidates in important races especially for the Senate. These candidates have been hand-picked by former President Donald Trump. Elliott notes that it may give Democrats an advantage in swing states like Ohio, Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Arizona.

However, he expects all races to tighten between now and election day in November and that any of the hotly contested Senate races could flip Republican at the last minute.

You may subscribe to “The D.C. Brief” for free and it will be delivered to you via email. https://time.com/tag/the-dc-brief/

A new limited podcast series has been released by WOUB Public Media. “Who Lies Beneath: The Asylum” tells the true-life stories of people who were buried in numbered graves at an abandoned mental health facility.

Host and creator Cheri Russo describes to Spectrum host Tom Hodson how she and a team of experts identified those buried in certain graves and fleshed out their lives through the help of voice actors.

It is her hope to bring dignity and respect to those who were abandoned by their families and reduced to numbers upon their deaths at what was once called a “Lunatic Asylum.”

She talks about how women were often institutionalized and abandoned for problems like postpartum depression and other childbearing issues.

Men, who were veterans, were often put in the asylum for what we now call post-traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD).

Through the help of a library archivist, a medical historian, a counsellor and others, the lives and situations of these individuals have been reconstructed.

It is the desire of Russo to expand this series to help people across the nation bring recognition to forgotten loved ones. If you would like to share your story with the Who Lies Beneath team, please email: [email protected].

A recent Washington Post-Ipsos poll conducted after the killing of 10 blacks in Buffalo in a racially motivated shooting spree indicates that 75 percent of Black Americans “are worried that they or someone they love will be attacked because of their race.”

In addition, after the attack, “only 10 percent think the problem of racism will improve in their lifetime, while a 53 majority think it will get worse.”

The Poll also found that a “70 percent majority of Black Americans think at least half of White Americans hold white supremacist beliefs” and 75 percent say, “white supremacists are a major threat to Black Americans.”

Such is the state of race relations in America.

Considering this rise in racism, racial violence, and escalating fear, WOUB’s Spectrum Podcast reached out to two Black women professionals to get their unique perspectives.

We talked with Dr. Janice Collins, an author, scholar, teacher, and journalist. Dr. Collins is the author of “250 Years and Still A Slave.” She also is a multicultural humanitarian.

Also joining the conversation is Judge Gayle Williams Byers of the South Euclid Ohio Municipal Court. Judge Byers also is a Judicial Fellow at the National Judicial College and is president-elect of the American Judges Association.

They outline the rise of racism in America, the dangers of those espousing “replacement theory” and the growing fear of Black Americans. They also discuss the role of media in promoting dangerous conspiracy theories.

The terms “comic storytelling” and “journalism” may sound a bit discordant to the average news consumer.

Yet, “comic storytelling in journalism” is rapidly becoming a growing trend to get younger eyes on the news products of mainstream media. It is the marriage of drawn images and text to tell serious stories in a series of drawn panels similar to a comic strip.

Hannah Good and Rachel Orr of the “Washington Post” are strong proponents and practitioners of this form of journalistic storytelling.

Good is a journalist and a comic artist and Orr is art director and comics editor. Good curates Gender and Identity coverage and Orr leads the visual identity and social strategy for Gender and Identity.

Currently, they help contributors tell their personal stories through graphic images and text in 10 panels.

Good and Orr also are working with other groups at the “Washington Post” to expand this graphic form of storytelling to other topics.

This form of storytelling brings younger eyes to news products. It attracts people who are drawn to visual images more than linear narrative reporting.

Good is a graduate of Western Kentucky University and formerly was the social media producer at the “Washingtonian Magazine” before joining the Post. She also has worked for HaperCollins Publishers, Apple TV+ and Barnes and Noble as an illustrator.

Orr is a graduate of the Ohio University School of Visual Communication majoring in graphics and publication design with a specialization in magazine journalism. She worked at the “Arizona Republic” before joining the Post in 2013.

Veteran comedian Lewis Black is on the road with his “Off the Rails” tour.

While traveling, he took some time to have a conversation with Spectrum’s guest host Emily Votaw of WOUB.

They talked about his philosophy of comedy, the importance of education in our society and his work with the Kurt Vonnegut Library and Museum.

Even though he is known for his outrageous ranting humor on stage, he also professed some cautious optimism that the human condition can improve.

He will perform in Cincinnati at the Taft Theater on April 21 and in Akron at the Goodyear Theater on April 22.

Given the current controversy over the incident between Will Smith and Chris Rock at the Oscars, WOUB’s Spectrum Podcast wanted to get the perspectives on the issue from two notable black women.

Recently, we met with journalist, scholar, and author Dr. Janice Collins and path-setting jurist Judge Gayle Williams Byers for their perspectives

They examine the issue from multiple aspects including race.

The two women have a wide-ranging conversation on topics from role modeling to the impact on the public perception of black men and violence.

They share opinions that have been given to them from both black men and women about the incident including the impact this incident may have on black children.

Dr. Collins and Judge Byers also note the disparaging treatment given to Smith by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and note how different it was from past white men like director Roman Polanski and movie mogul Harvey Weinstein.

Ken Burns has been a documentary filmmaker for 45 years and his latest series is a four-hour PBS special about Benjamin Franklin airing on PBS Stations April 4 and 5.

He discusses, with guest host Emily Votaw, the complexities and brilliance of Franklin and the many different venues in which he excelled. Some call Franklin a genius of his age.

Burns describes how he traverses the complexities and nuances of history for his films and how he ferrets out stories and facts previously untold.

Burns also explains how he has given voices, in his films, to marginalized groups of people and tells historic stories often through the eyes and emotions of “ordinary people” and not just major historical figures.

Policymakers, leaders, and corporate heads need to look at the world through a “population lens,” according to Dr. Jennifer Sciubba, an international expert on political demography and demographic security.

Sciubba is an author, associate professor at Rhodes College and a Global Fellow at the Wilson Center in Washington, D.C.

Her latest book, is “8 Billion and Counting: How Sex, Death, and Migration Shape the World.” In it, she differentiates between the 20th Century which was a century of population growth and the 21st Century which is a century of differential growth.

She claims in the first two decades of this century we have a rising differential in populations with undeveloped countries with poorer populations growing much faster than aging developed countries.

Sciubba states that 98 percent of the world’s population growth is now centered in underdeveloped countries causing an even greater disparity between the economic haves and have-nots of the world.

She thinks leaders should view these growth differentials not only as potential problems but as potential opportunities.

Sciubba also talks about the impact of mass migrations of populations. She cites the current example of millions of refugees fleeing Ukraine. This, she forecasts, will have a major impact on Ukraine and neighboring nations for generations to come.

She also thinks that some demographers misread the true threat of Russia by previously characterizing it as an aging country with high male death rates and therefore a weakened former power.

This translated, according to Sciubba, in the United States and other world powers underestimating the war capabilities and the aggression of Russia.

Since the Supreme Court of the United States eliminated much of the 1960’s Voting Rights Act in 2013, many states have added restrictions to voting and some are considered draconian.

This is especially true after the 2020 Presidential Election and former President Donald Trump and his followers spreading theories that he really won the election, according to Dr. Katherine Jellison, an award-winning history professor and author at Ohio University.

Most changes impact women more than men, says Dr. Jellison.

Although states like Georgia, Texas, and Florida have led the way in massive changes restricting a person’s opportunities to vote, other states have been eroding those rights as well.

Dr. Jellison says “Voter ID” requirements may seem, at first blush, innocuous. However, they discriminate against women who have changed their names because of marriage and discriminate against the elderly and certain minority groups who might not have drivers’ licenses.

Also, she asserts that limiting hours of voting and cutting back on the ability to vote by mail also impact women who are generally working long hours at a job and then working equally long hours being a mother, wife, and caretaker of most homes.

Cutting the number of polling places also leads to extremely long lines for people to vote, according to Dr. Jellison. This impacts women, primarily, who are trying to manage childcare while trying to exercise their constitutional right to vote.

The only way to counteract these new restrictions is massive public awareness and a refusal of being denied a chance to vote. She cites the public awareness campaign in Georgia as a good example.

Dr. Jellison, besides being a history professor, also is the Director of the Central Region Humanities Center.

While other news media are fading in popularity, local television news programming is gaining popularity across the country.

Newspaper staffs have been gutted and cable and network news have been staggering but local news is hiring more people and is becoming more popular than ever, according to Lesley Van Ness, Director of Talent Acquisition at Gray Television.

Gray television currently owns 113 local television stations across the country including WOIO Television in Cleveland, OH.

Ian Rubin, TV and Digital News Director at WOIO, says audiences are demanding more out of local television news than in the past. They want faster news that is multi-platformed and available on mobile devices in an instant.

The assertions of Van Ness and Rubin are supported by the latest findings by the Pew Research Center. Local television stations in 2020 dedicated 6.2 hours of local news coverage in a day, according to Pew. This was an increase from 2019.

Staffing for local television news operations also have increased while we’ve seen the numbers for newspapers plummet, says Pew.

However, reporters for local stations now must have a greater mix of skills than in the past, says Van Ness. They must be technologically sound as well as journalistically savvy.

New hires need to know how to tell stories in multiple ways on a variety of different delivery platforms, says Rubin.

He also adds that if a young journalist also is fluent in Spanish that it is a real plus in the marketplace.