NPR News of the Day 1-19-05

I listened to Morning Edition. I am sure I also listened to the Connection, but can't remember a thing about it.

Lots of interest to report today:

Teen depression and how to treat it was the first story I listened to. There is a group out to find depressed teens through schools and pediatricians’ offices. The idea is to put a trained mental health professional (either a doctor or a nurse practitioner) who can detect depression, define options for treatment and make referrals. Based on early feedback, the program seems effective, and more teens are opting for talk therapy over medication.

Then Robert Reich, a commentator for Marketplace (I love that show!), did a great satirical piece on Bush’s “ownership society.” The piece was satirical, but also suggested some practical ways we can make the tax code more fair, etc.

A story on Palestine/Israel relations came next, reporting on Abbas’s struggle with militant groups. It pointed out how much work he has done trying to prevent additional attacks. Arikat, one of his aids, was interviewed pointing out both the difficulty of overcoming public opinion about Israel and its practices in Gaza and the West Bank, and the need for his own people to respect the rule of law and trust that the rule of law will prevail in the formation of an independent Palestine. Remarkably balanced for NPR, actually. Usually they are quite pro-Palestinian and give short shrift to the Israeli side of the story.

Loved the story that went over the verbal tussle between Condi Rice and Barbara Boxer. Did loyalty to Dubya crowd out the truth for Condi? Boxer suggests this outcome and looks for Rice to admit to her mistakes. Mistakes? Rice makes no mistakes. Ever. Sigh.

<>Very interesting news from California’s San Quentin Prison. An interview with Jeanne Woodford, former warden talked about instituting rehabilitation programs using volunteer teachers, as opposed to going with punishment only. The volunteers are employed to change the prisoners’ minds about who they are and what they can achieve. Ahh-nold actually really likes what has been done at San Quentin and wants to implement it system wide. The question is, can he? This report included not only accolades for the rehabilitation program, but criticism by groups that attempt to serve inmates who are released into poor communities with little or no hope for employment. Criticism was mainly about the lack of support for ex-cons on the outside. Essentially, no matter how much education and therapy they receive on the inside, if they are rejected by society on the outside, they cannot become productive, valuable citizens. An excellent report.

Of course, more about the inaugural. NPR interviewed a group of conservative college-age males from Iowa road tripping to DC for the events. Mostly it was about their crushes on the Bush twins.

Brought in an editorial from the NYT re: evolution. Wondering about how to turn around evolution’s bad press. Question: How might PR be employed to further the cause of evolution and keep creationism out of the science curriculum?