the new yorker
GRITtv: Sex, Hope & Rock'n'roll: Ellen Willis and Pop Critique
"Rock is, among other things, a potent means of expressing the active emotions--anger, aggression, lust, the joy of physical exertion--that feed all freedom movements, and it is no accident that women musicians have been denied access to this powerful musical language." So wrote Ellen Willis in June of 1974, when the acclaimed feminist thinker and cultural critic was working as the Rock, Etc. columnist at the New Yorker. A new book of Willis's rock criticism is out now, titled Out Of The Vinyl Deeps and edited by her daughter, Nona Willis Aronowitz, and this weekend a conference at New York University will celebrate her work as a pop culture thinker and writer. Nona joins Laura in studio with Drexel University professor Devon Powers to discuss Willis's influence and ideas.
Email this pageGRITtv: Moneybombing the Election
"What we are seeing is a dagger directed at the heart of our democracy, with this money," says Katrina vanden Heuvel of The Nation, of the ongoing influx of corporate cash on election spending this cycle. She notes that this has been a $5 billion--with a B--election, with $1 billion spent just on the House, and no matter what Karl Rove tries to say, there is nowhere close to parity with spending from left-wing causes. Katrina and Hendrik Hertzberg of The New Yorker join Laura in studio for a discussion of the money flooding the election cycle, and to consider ways to counter the corrupting influence of cash on our political system. Is there a way to save the 2010 elections? Distributed by Tubemogul.
GRITtv: Lawrence Wright: Mismatched Narratives on the War
"We're pressed, but we're not going to be destroyed by Al-Qaeda. Only we can do that," says Lawrence Wright, author of The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11. The longtime journalist, screenwriter, playwright, and New Yorker staff writer has been combining his reporting with theater and film for some time now, and his most recent project, My Trip to Al-Qaeda, premieres on HBO September 11. This documentary, made with former GRITtv guest Alex Gibney, traces his journey in researching the terrorist group. Wright joins Laura in studio for a conversation about his process from journalism to theater and screenwriting (including The Siege, with Denzel Washington and Bruce Willis), objectivity in reporting, the U.S.'s rising Islamophobia and his newest project, a one-man show about his experiences reporting in Gaza.
"Democracy Now!": Wed. Aug. 25 2010: Money in Politics and Billionaires Give Millions to Right-Wing Causes
A judge rejects death row prisoner Troy Davis’s innocence claim; as five states hold primaries, we look at the role of money in politics; "The New Yorker" profiles billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch who have quietly given more than $100 million to right-wing causes; Shirley Sherrod, ousted from the Agriculture Department, rejects an offer to return. "Democracy Now!" is a daily independent newshour.
GRITtv: Who Asks the Real Questions?
The biggest media news this week came last night when it was announced that Lou Dobbs would be leaving his CNN program. Yet there were plenty of other questions to ask this week about news coverage, and Jon Stewart can't be the only one critiquing the major media outlets. Rose Aguilar, of Your Call Radio, John R. MacArthur, president and publisher of Harper's magazine, Dan Gross, columnist at Newsweek, and Hendrik Hertzberg of The New Yorker look at the media's biggest hits and misses of the past week.
