The Civic Genius Podcast

Hugh Kaughman was one of the people who started the Environmental Protection Agency over 50 years ago. Jillian Youngblood talks to him about how the EPA works, what it does, what it doesn't do, and how it's organized. And just to keep it interesting and accessible, he explains it in terms of the classic 1984 film Ghostbusters.

What makes a news source reputable? Our guest knows more than a little about the answer to that question.

Kakie Urch is an Associate Professor, in the school of Journalism and Media in the College of Communication and Information at the University of Kentucky. In addition to her academic experience, Kakie brings a wealth of real-world experience to our discussion, having worked as an editor and in news management roles for major media outlets.

In this episode, Shannon Oltmann shares her perspective on the trickiness of content moderation and the value of speech – even crazy speech.

She is an associate professor in the School of Information Science at the University of Kentucky and the author of the book Practicing Intellectual Freedom in Libraries. Her research interests include information, ethics, censorship, intellectual freedom, information policy, public libraries and privacy.

We’re always negotiating, but is there a way to negotiate without things getting toxic? Naseem Khuri says yes – and believes that understanding the principles of civil negotiations can advance your goals better than going in hot.

Khuri is communications director for Urban Rural Action, as well as a trainer, consultant, mediator, and facilitator specializing in negotiation, influence and conflict management. He’s also a professor of international relations at Tufts University Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.

Shannon Oltmann, an associate professor in the School of Information Science at the University of Kentucky, shares her perspective on the trickiness of content moderation and the value of speech – even crazy speech.

Sam Daley-Harris is one of the great social entrepreneurs of the past few decades. He founded the anti-poverty group Results in the 1980s before going on to co-found the Microcredit Summit campaign in 1995 alongside Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus. In 2012, he co-founded Civic Courage, which trains citizens how to advocate for the causes they believe in.

Listen in as he talks about why you should work with elected officials no matter what party they belong to, how to find a good organization worth your time, and a prayer that can get you out of a partisan jam.

Shannon Oltmann, an associate professor in the School of Information Science at the University of Kentucky, shares her perspective on the trickiness of content moderation and the value of speech – even crazy speech.

Social media takes a lot of heat for spreading disinformation, but Francesca Tripodi thinks we should look more closely at another fixture of our browsers: search engines. Learn more about how the same forces that shape our social media diets also drive the information we find when we search online, and how we can boost our own media literacy.

Do we need fewer arguments, or just fewer stupid arguments? That’s a question Seth Henderson of the Aspen Institute invokes when talking about how to work through differences of opinion without things getting, well, stupid.

David Bornstein is co-founder and CEO of the Solutions Journalism Network. He’s also a journalist and author who focuses on social innovation. Listen to our thought-provoking conversation on how journalism can spread good ideas and why more public funding for local news could strengthen our information ecosystem.