Bk960204
TO THE BEST OF OUR KNOWLEDGE
from Wisconsin Public Radio
February 4, 1996 Programs
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1100 - 1159 Hour #1 Latin America
1200 - 1259 Hour #2 Computer Culture
1300 - 1359 Hour #3 Role of Journalism
PROGRAM RUNDOWN Hour 1:Latin America
SEGMENT 1:
Sociologist Jorge Bustamante tells Judith Strasser that it's
too soon to gauge the effects on Mexico of NAFTA; that there
are really three different Mexicos; and that Americans are
being unrealistic if they dismiss conditions in Mexico as
irrelevant to their lives. Bustamante teaches at Notre Dame and
is President of El Colegio de la Frontera Norte in Tijuana.
SEGMENT 2:
Janice Steinberg was promotions director at KPBS in San Diego.
Now she writes mysteries featuring a public radio reporter.
The latest, "Death Crosses the Border," is set in Mexico and
concerns the maquilodoras industry - American owned factories
operating in Mexico to take advantage of cheap labor, lax
environmental enforcement and favorable taxation. Steinberg
tells Jim Fleming some of the horror stories she heard while
doing her research.
SEGMENT 3:
Historian Steve Stern talks with Steve Paulson about the
history of patriarchy and sexual stereotypes in Mexico and
Latin America and explains how men and women both had stategies
to circumvent the cultural codes. And he tells a couple of
very funny war stories from the battle of the sexes! Stern is
the author of "The Secret History of Gender: Women, Men and
Power in Late Colonial Mexico." Also, Rigoberto Menchu, winner
of the 1992 Nobel Peace Prize, talks with Judith Strasser about
her life and her work as a leader of the Guatemalan Indians'
political struggle. Menchu is heard with the assistance of
translator Laura Fuentes.
For cassette copies of this hour, call 1-800-747-7444, and ask for program number
02-04-A.
PROGRAM RUNDOWN Hour 2:Computer Culture
SEGMENT 1:
Kevin Mitnick was the world's most wanted computer outlaw.
This hour, two views of his career and arrest. First,
journalist Jonathan Littman, who held over fifty hours of
telephone conversations with the notorious hacker, tells Steve
Paulson what he learned about Mitnick. Littman's book about
Kevin Mittnick is "The Fugitive Game." Then, Tsutomu
Shimomura, the computer security expert who actually caught
Mitnick, tells his side of the story to Judith Strasser and
(with co-author John Markoff) in a book called "Takedown."
SEGMENT 2:
Douglas Coupland became an overnight celebrity with his first
novel, "Generation X." Now he's written "Microserfs" - a
barely fictional account of the lives of some of the hyper-
intelligent geeks who work for Microsoft. Coupland tells Jim
Fleming that the computer industry prolongs the adolescence of
its employees to keep them fixated on their work, and that
their feelings about that work are ultimately religious.
SEGMENT 3:
Sherry Turkle, a sociologist and clinical psychologist at MIT,
tells Steve Paulson that computers are transforming our very
identities. Turkle is the author of "Life on the Screen:
Identity in the Age of the Internet."
For cassette copies of this hour, call 1-800-747-7444, and ask for program number
02-04-B.
PROGRAM RUNDOWN: HOUR 3: Role of Journalism
SEGMENT 1
Media critic and journalist James Fallows tells Steve Paulson
what's wrong with the news business and why we should care.
Fallows is particularly upset by the media's focus on strategy,
not substance; and the apparent impropriety of journalists
(such as NPR's Cokie Roberts) accepting huge fees for
appearances before corporate interest groups. Fallows' latest
book is "Breaking the News: How the Media Undermine American
Democracy."
SEGMENT 2:
Retired Executive Editor of The Washington Post Ben Bradlee
tells Judith Strasser why he went to work for the Post; why he
fought to publish the Pentagon Papers and why his paper is
still important. Bradlee's memoir of his career is called "A
Good Life." Also, former Post Assistant Managing Editor Ben
Bagdikian recalls for Jim Fleming how his friendship with
Daniel Ellsberg brought the Pentagon Papers to the Post.
Bagdikian's new book is a memoir called "Double Vision:
Reflections on My Heritage, Life and Profession."
SEGMENT 3:
Juan Gonzalez prides himself on being the most hated columnist
in New York. He tells Steve Paulson why: he doesn't take the
police's word for things but seeks out his own answers in
ghetto communities. Some of Gonzalez' columns for the New York
Daily News have been collected in a book called "Roll Down Your
Window: Stories from a Forgotten America."
For cassette copies of this hour, call 1-800-747-7444, and ask for program number
02-04-C.
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Last modified: Thursday February 1, 1996