The Permanent Record

For our third interview in Just City's continuing examination of the link between mass media and public policy, we spoke with Eric Barnes, Publisher and CEO of the Memphis Daily News and host of "Behind the Headlines" on WKNO-TV. A twenty-year veteran of Mid-south publishing, Eric describes the rapidly evolving business models that are driving the way daily print outlets report the news and the indelible effects it has on the way people think about the public safety of their local communities -- as well as the responses that local officials and lawmakers have to these perceptions. 

Tune in for our fourth and final media podcast, when we speak with Local Memphis' Anchor and Managing Editor Richard Ransom about a refreshing new perspective on crime coverage by local television news outlets.

For our second interview in a series of four episodes in which we’ll be interviewing the interviewers, and looking at the unique role that the media plays in covering the criminal justice system, we interviewed Jessica Pishko of the Fair Punishment Project. 

Jessica graduated from Harvard Law School and writes frequently about criminal justice issues, especially prosecutors and their influential role in the system. Her award-winning writing has appeared in The Nation, Esquire, Rolling Stone, Pacific Standard, and San Francisco Magazine.

We talked to Jessica about her recent article in The Nation about state district attorney associations and their resistance to almost all reform efforts and about the realities facing writers in this new era of journalism.

Make sure you listen to our third episode in the series; it's coming soon. In it, Kerry Hayes talks to Eric Barnes, editor of the Memphis Daily News about issues facing journalists in Memphis.

This interview with NPR's Carrie Johnson marks our first in a series of four episodes in which we’ll be interviewing the interviewers, and looking at the unique role that the media plays in covering the criminal justice system. 

Carrie joined NPR News in 2010. She covers the Justice Department closely and has reported extensively on its agreement with the Shelby County Juvenile Court.

Speaking from NPR headquarters in Washington, Carrie described a day in the life of a public radio correspondent, explained how things have changed for her since the 2016 election, and she even shared some of her sports allegiances. (Cubs fans beware!) We hope you enjoy the conversation.

Make sure you listen to our second episode in the series; it's coming soon. In it, we talk to Jessica Pishko of the Fair Punishment Project about the new realities in journalism and the balance between advocacy and news.

Allison Gibbs is a Florida native, who moved to Memphis to teach and organize communities around education. Seeing the damage that the criminal justice system was doing to the communities where she taught and organized, she shifted her focus and effort to criminal justice reform. She became Just City's first employee in the summer of 2015. 

Since then, Allison has essentially helped build a non-profit from the ground up. A bit unexpectedly, she became the resident expert in nonprofit tax filings, audits, and all manner of accounting principles, not to mention the author of a few of Just City's programs, she is looking to what's next. Sadly, for us, that is taking her back home to Florida and her family. We recorded this 'exit interview' with Allison a few days before she moved.

Marco Pavè is an activist, a musician, and a Memphis native. Earlier this year, he released the album "Welcome to Grc Lnd," which documents an exceptionally turbulent period in Memphis' recent history, including the 2016 Black Lives Matter protests at the Hernando-DeSoto Bridge and Elvis Presley's Graceland. Marco believes that artists have a unique responsibility to capture and share the stories of their communities in times of turmoil. Events in Memphis over the past several years have given him no shortage of material.

This fall, Marco and fellow rapper James Onyx Casher are launching the Universal Plug Society Tour, which they describe "as a collaborative platform for independent artists, created by independent artists, that combines music, fashion, and culinary arts to challenge the stigma around cannabis culture." As they visit cities from St. Louis to Portland, they will be working to raise awareness for common sense changes to cannabis laws and other important criminal justice reforms. Just before he left for the UPS Tour, we spoke to Marco about what he hoped to accomplish and how hip-hop can play a role in moving America forward on this issue.

State Representative Jeremy Faison lives in Cosby, Tennessee, in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains. He was elected in 2010 to represent the 11th District, where he is an outspoken advocate for the legalization of medicinal cannabis and (here's our favorite part) a smaller, fairer, and more humane criminal justice system.

As a member of the Republican super-majority in the state legislature, representing Appalachia, you might not expect Rep. Faison to have much in common with a criminal justice reform group from Memphis. You would be wrong. Listen as he makes a passionate case for halting the failed war on drugs, argues for smarter youth sentencing policies, and shares his inspiration for getting into politics. Most of it will surprise you.

Our guest for this episode is Rev. Jeannie Alexander. Jeannie is a lawyer and minister. Years ago, she gave up representing corporate clients in Texas and has devoted her life to advocacy for those on the insides of our prisons in Tennessee. For five years, she served as chaplain at Riverbend Maximum Security Prison in Nashville and now directs the No Exceptions Prison Collective in Nashville. [hyperlink: noexceptions.net]

In our conversation with Jeannie we learned of an unfortunate peacock attack at a Trappist monastery in Georgia, what it's like to call a condemned man a friend, and how she thinks we can turn the tide on Tennessee's unhealthy dependence on prisons. 

As a sixteen year old, Meaghan Ybos was raped in Memphis. After reporting the crime and submitting to a forensic exam immediately, it would be nine years before law enforcement investigated her case and tested the rape kit. She was not alone. The number of untested rape kits in Memphis reached 12,000.

Today, Meaghan runs PERL (People for the Enforcement of Rape Laws), and her work has resulted in the City of Memphis committing more than $3 million toward finally investigating some of the untested rape kits. She joined Allison Gibbs recently to discuss the ways in which a flawed justice system impacts both victims and the accused; the role class plays in these issues; and more of Meaghan's groundbreaking work.

Rev. Broderick Greer is a 2015 graduate of Virginia Theological Seminary, Broderick is currently Associate Rector at Grace St. Luke's Episcopal Church and School in Memphis. Broderick often lectures and facilitates conversations at the intersection of social media, American history, queer theory, black theology, human rights, and racial justice. His work has appeared in The Guardian, Teen Vogue, The Washington Post, and The Huffington Post. 

In light of the events in Charlottesville, we invited Broderick in to discuss race in America and its role in the criminal justice system. From 15th century Portuguese conquerors to the current battle with white supremacists, the story is the same - people of color always lose out. Despite that, Broderick offered us a message of encouragement, a healthy dose of clarity, and uncanny insight into faith and race in America. 

Noura Jackson was freed from prison in 2016 after her murder conviction was overturned because of prosecutorial misconduct. Charged with the murder of her own mother, the sensational nature of Jackson's case has gained attention from several national media outlets. However, in a new feature in the New York Times Magazine writer Emily Bazelon explores the human side of a reversed murder conviction, the history of prosecutorial misconduct in Shelby County, and its legal and social repercussions.

An acclaimed author, scholar, and accomplished podcaster (on a competing network), Emily was kind enough to join us to discuss her latest work. We talked to her about why she became interested in the Jackson case in the first place, why prosecutors are required to hand over evidence, and what she wants Memphians to understand about the Noura Jackson case and her reporting on it.