Leonard Lopate - Underreported
-
Undereported: Troubles in Northern Ireland
Roughly 14 years have passed since the signing of the Good Friday peace accord, which ended decades of bloody conflict in Northern Ireland. But that doesn’t mean the area is free of conflict, tensions and even violence. Jamie Smyth of the Financial Times talks about the situation. His recent article is called "A Peace to Protect."
-
Underreported: The Syrian Refugee Crisis
As violence escalates in Syria, thousands of refugees are pouring across the border into neighboring countries. International Rescue Committee’s Melanie Megevand and Sanjayan Srikanthan talk about what’s happening on the ground there.
-
Underreported: Inside Syria
Donatella Rivera, senior adviser on crisis response for Amnesty International, spent several weeks this spring in 23 of Syria’s towns and villages. On this week’s Underreported, she describes the damage she saw as traveled around the country and the stories she heard from Syrians about the tactics of the national army as fighting continues there, 16 months after the protests first began.
-
Underreported: The Accelerated Drone War in Yemen
A report from the New America Foundation has found that the Obama Administration has dramatically escalated its drone war in Yemen. Peter Bergen talks about the report’s findings and their regional implications.
-
Underreported: Massive Algae Bloom Found Under Arctic Ice
Scientists recently made an unlikely discovery under thinning arctic ice: a massive algae bloom. Kevin Arrigo, a biological oceanographer at Stanford University who led the NASA-sponsored mission that discovered the algae, explains how it changes our thinking about arctic ecosystems and how they’re responding to climate change.
-
Underreported: Did Slaves Catch Your Seafood Dinner?
Thailand is one of the largest exporters of seafood to the United States. On today’s Underreported segment, Global Post’s senior southeast Asian correspondent Patrick Winn investigates claims that forced labor is used on Thai fishing boats.
-
Underreported: The Martin Act & Investor Lawsuits
University of Pennsylvania law professor David Skeelexplains the recent judicial expansion of the Martin Act of 1921, which now makes it easier for private investors to file lawsuits against investment firms.
-
Underreported: Human Guinea Pigs for Pharmaceuticals
On today’s Underreported, directorsMichael Palmieri and Donal Mosher talk about the people who serve as human test subjects for medications being developed by pharmaceutical companies as well as those medications are being marketed, sold, and used throughout the United States after they’ve been approved. It’s the subject of their documentary, “Off Label,” which is being shown at the Tribeca Film Festival.
-
Underreported: Bear Bile Farming in China
In China, Asiatic black bears are kept in cages for their bile, which is valued in Asian medicine. Jill Robinson, the founder and CEO of Animals Asia, who appears in the documentary "Cages of Shame," talks about bear bile farming and bear rescue efforts. "Cages of Shame" premiers at the Rubin Museum of Art April 14.
-
Underreported: Controversial Livestock Hormone
Helena Bottemiller, a reporter for The Food Environment Reporting Network, looks at the controversial animal feed additive, ractopamine hydrochloride, which is widely used in the united states but the EU and China have banned it’s use, citing health concerns.
-
Underreported: The Stories You Missed in 2011
On this week’s Underreported, Foreign Policy’s Joshua Keating discusses “The Stories You Missed in 2011,” including India’s military buildup and the shrinking supply of camel meat in Saudi Arabia.
-
Underreported: The Lives of Migrant Farm Workers
When we’re in the supermarket, trying to figure out what to cook for dinner, the issues of immigration and migrant laborers usually aren’t on our minds. Yet migrant workers pick much of the produce that ends up on our tables. On today’s Underreported segment, GQ correspondent Jeanne Marie Laskas describes the season she spent with the migrant workers who pick the fruits and vegetables we find in our supermarkets, and why our food system depends on them. Her article "Hecho en Amrica"...
-
Underreported: Clashes in South Africa
This week major clashes erupted in South Africa over the future of the African National Congress, the country’s ruling party since the end of apartheid. New York Times reporter Alan Cowell and Franz Krger, Director of the Wits Radio Academy in Johannesburg, join us to explain South Africa's political scene.
-
Underreported: Eritrea
Journalist Michela Wrong looks at Eritrea and its president Isaias Afewerki. She has spent 13 years reporting in Africa and is the author of In the Footsteps of Mr. Kurtz, about the Congolese dictator Mobutu, and I Didn't Do It for You, about Eritrea.
-
Underreported: A Secret History of the Bay of Pigs
More than 50 years have passed since the United States sponsored a covert invasion of Cuba that came to be known as the Bay of Pigs. Now, one of the most coveted documents surrounding the disaster been released to the public: the top secret multi-volume CIA history of the operation. Peter Kornbluh of George Washington University’s National Security Archive led the effort to obtain the documents.
-
Underreported, Part I: Drought in the Horn of Africa
The Horn of Africa is facing its worst drought in 60 years. Already, 10 million people are in urgent need of food in Ethiopia, Somalia and Kenya and yesterday the United Nations declared its first famine in 27 years for parts of Somalia. On today’s first Underreported, Nora Love, the International Rescue Committee’s deputy director of programs, discusses the situation across the region.
-
Underreported, Part II: Concerns about Terrorism Delay...
More than 2.5 million Somalis are now in desperate need of food, but it wasn’t until late Wednesday that the State Department announced that it would send food aid to the country. The reason? Concerns that sending food aid would be aiding al-Shabab, which controls parts of southern Somalia and which the United States views as a terrorist organization. On today’s Underreported, Eliza Griswold, Senior Fellow at the New America Foundation and author of The Tenth Parallel, describes why the...
-
Underreported: Deep Sea Mining
This week, a team of Japanese scientists announced that vast deposits of rare earth minerals—considered essential for the production of certain electronics—have been found under the Pacific Ocean. Cindy Lee Van Dover, Director of Duke University Marine Laboratory and Peter B. Kelemen,an Earth Environmental Studies Professor at Columbia University, tell us about the deposits and how deep sea mining works.
-
Underreported: Ongoing Questions on Fukushima
A number of scientists believe that the nuclear disaster at the Fukushima reactors in Japan is much worse than what governments are revealing. Al Jazeera reporter Dahr Jamail discusses what some in the scientific community are saying about the effects of the meltdown.
-
Underreported: What the WikiLeaks Cables Reveal about...
On this week’s Underreported, Dan Coughlin, reporter for The Nation magazine, Kim Ives, editor for Haiti Libert, discuss what the WikiLeaks cables reveal about American diplomatic attitudes toward Haiti – both before and after the devasting earthquake there in 2010. A new series of reports about the 1,918 cables that relate to Haiti is being published in a partnership between The Nation and the Haiti Libert newspaper.
-
Underreported: Boat of Migrant Africans Left to Drift...
In late March and early April, a boat filled with dozens of African migrants drifted in the Mediterranean for 16 days with almost no food, fuel or water. Although the boat made contact with various European authorities, no rescue was attempted and 61 people died. On this week’s Underreported, Fred Abrahams, Special Advisor at Human Rights Watch, describes what happened aboard the ship and why an investigation has been launched into how NATO and its member states responded to the ship’s...
-
Underreported: The Influence of Medical Device Makers
Charlie Ornstein and Tracy Weber, ProPublica senior reporters, discuss medical societies and their financial ties to drug and medical device makers. Ornstein and Weber are the authors of the article "Financial Ties Bind Medical Societies to Drug and Device Makers," part of ProPublica's series Dollars for Doctors.
-
Underreported: Crackdown on Protests in Puerto Rico
Since last summer, there has been a sometimes violent standoff between students at the University of Puerto Rico and the government over an announced budget cut and an increase in tuition fees, but that may just be part of a wider pattern of First Amendment violations. Jennifer Turner, a Human Rights Researcher at the ACLU and Rosie Perez, who just returned from a fact-finding mission in Puerto Rico, describe how authorities have dealt with students, striking workers, journalists, and...
-
Underreported: The Evangelical Adoption Movement
On today’s Underreported segment, The Nation’s Kathryn Joyce explains how evangelical Christians are trying to increase the number of international adoptions.
-
Underreported: The Antarctic King Crab Invasion
Climate change is having dramatic effects on the world’s oceans as ice sheets collapse and the sea becomes more acidic. Warmer temperatures allow some deep sea predators, like King Crab, to expand their range into new areas—to the detriment of many other sea creatures. According to James McClintock, a Professor of Physiology Ecology of Aquatic Marine Invertebrates at the University of Alabama, an army of deep sea King Crabs are slowly working their way up the Antarctic slope, a habitat they...
-
Underreported: The Chiquita Papers
It has long been known that Chiquita Brands International made controversial payments to violent guerilla and paramilitary groups in Columbia in the 1990s and 2000s. The company was fined $25 million dollars in a 2007 plea-agreement for making payments to AUC, which was designated as a terrorist group by the US State Department in 2001. Michael Evans, chief researcher on Colombia at the National Security Archive, explains that a newly released trove of internal Chiquita memos obtained by the...
-
Underreported: The Acquittal of Luis Posada Carriles
Eighty-three-year-old Luis Posada Carriles is a former CIA operative. He has been connected to the Bay of Pigs fiasco, the funneling of U.S. money to the Contras in Nicaragua in the 1980s, a series of attacks on Havana hotels in 1997, and the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner that killed 73 people. Posada was acquitted this month of charges that he lied to U.S. immigration officials when he entered the country in 2005. Jefferson Morley, a former editor at The Washington Post and the author of...
-
Underreported: Indian Point and Water
Concerns about seismic activity at the Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant are grabbing the headlines this week, but other issues have been raised in the debate over whether the Nuclear Regulatory Commission should renew the plant's license. WNYC’s Bob Hennelly looks at environmental concerns about 90-100 degree waste water coming out of the plant into the Hudson River.
-
Underreported: Crisis in Cte d'Ivoire
Cte d'Ivoire has been rocked by a political and humanitarian crisis following the disputed presidential election in November. Adam Nossiter, New York Times West Africa Bureau Chief, and Renzo Fricke, an Emergency Coordinator for Doctors Without Borders, talk about the turmoil there.
-
Underreported: Who Was Behind the Stuxnet Worm?
The Stuxnet virus made headlines when it damaged computers at Iran’s nuclear program. On this week’s Underreported segment, Vanity Fair writer Michael Joseph Gross looks at who could have built Stuxnet and why Israel may not have been behind the computer worm as many initially assumed. Plus, we’ll look at what Stuxnet means for the future of cyber warfare.
-
Underreported: Rising Food Prices and Global Uprising
Lester Brown, president of the Earth Policy Institute and author of World on the Edge: How to Prevent Environmental and Economic Collapse, describes what’s driving the rise in food prices around the world – from the changing environment to population growth. Plus, find out how commodities prices are connected to the rising dissatisfaction in many developing countries.
-
Underreported: The Plight of the American Dairy Farmer
In 1970, there were nearly 650,000 dairy farms in the United States. Today, there are only 54,000 farms—many of them run by large operators who dominate the industry. As milk prices have fallen—fetching half as much in 2009 per gallon as they did in 2008—small dairy farmers have taken a huge hit. Barry Estabrook explains the crisis facing small dairy farmers in the United States and efforts to pass a price-fixing agreement in Congress.Barry Estabrook’s article, "A Tale of Two Dairies,"...
-
Underreported: Mefloquine use at Guantanamo
Detainees held by the United States government at the Guantanamo Bay prison have been administered very high doses of the drug Mefloquine, according to a new report from Seton Hall Law School. While the drug is a powerful anti-malarial, it also has a number of adverse side effects, which include hallucinations, paranoia and depression. On today’s Underreported segment Mark Denbeaux, one of the reports authors and director of the Seton Hall Law Center for Policy Research, discusses why...
-
Underreported: The Hidden Dangers and High Costs of...
In 1972, Congress launched the nation’s most ambitious experiment in universal health care: virtually anyone diagnosed with kidney failure, regardless of age or income, was granted comprehensive coverage under Medicare for dialysis. Almost 40 years later, the costs of dialysis are the highest in the Western world--$77,000 per patient--as is the mortality rate. ProPublica's Robin Fields joins us to discuss her two-year investigation into the treatment options that dialysis patients face.
-
Underreported: The 2010 Census of Marine Life
Dr. Ron O'Dor, Senior Scientist, Census of Marine Life, Consortium for Ocean Leadership, tells us about the first Census of Marine Life—a 10-year exploration carried out by scientists from 80 nations. It reveals what, where, and how much lives and hides in the world’s oceans. He’ll explain how the census was carried out and what it shows about life under water.
-
Underreported: DNA Databases, Crime & Civil Liberties
The use of forensic DNA databanks by law enforcement has exploded since the mid 1990s. We’ll examine the implications widespread stockpiling of genetic information has for criminal investigations and civil liberties. We’ll speak with Tufts University professor Sheldon Krimsky and former ACLU science advisor Tania Simoncelli, co-authors of the book Genetic Justice: DNA Data Banks, Criminal Investigations, and Civil Liberties.
-
Underreported: Cancun Climate Change Talks
Global talks on climate change have been underway in Cancun, Mexico for days now. New York Times columnist Andy Revkin tells the latest on what’s happening and why expectations have been so low this year. Andy Revkin NY Times columnistAndy
-
Underreported: Agribusiness and India
Mira Kamdar, senior fellow at the World Policy Institute and associate fellow at the Asia Society, examines why U.S. agribusinesses are extremely interested in India, especially when it comes to the development of new GMO crops.
-
Underreported: Prospects for Indian-Pakistani Peace
President Obama travels to India this weekend, and while his trip may come at time of heightened tensions between in the region, but India and Pakistan have been feuding for decades. Ending that conflict has become a centerpiece of the President’s foreign policy. On today’s second Underreported segment Mira Kamdar, senior fellow at the World Policy Institute and an associate fellow at the Asia Society looks at prospects for a comprehensive (and elusive) peace deal between India and Pakistan,...
-
Underreported: Protecting Human Rights in Egypt
Hossam Bahgat, founder and director of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, discusses his work to protect civil and religious rights in Egypt, and the threat of violence and discrimination aimed at the country’s religious minorities. And, with Egypt’s parliamentary elections less than a month away, he describes the government’s crackdowns leading up to the vote. He received the Human Rights Watch’s Alison Des Forges Award for Extraordinary Activism earlier this week.
-
Underreported: Transparency at the Treasury
Daniel Indiviglio, staff editor at TheAtlantic.com, discusses whether the U.S. Treasury Department has been as transparent as it can (or should) be.
-
Underreported: Gays & Lesbians in Iraq
There are no exact figures on the number of gays and lesbians who have been killed in Iraq since the 2003 invasion, though a 2009 Human Rights Watch report puts the number “in the hundreds.” On today’s Underreported segment, freelance journalist Michael Luongo discusses what life is like for gays and lesbians there, from underground clubs in Baghdad and hiding in safe houses, to the constant threat of violent attacks from militia members. His four-part series on gay life in Iraq appears in...
-
Underreported: Update on Pakistan's Flood-Stricken...
It’s been more than two months since flood waters started rising in Pakistan. On today’s Underreported, as the waters from the worst flooding in 80 years continue to recede, we get an update on how relief efforts are going and the challenges that workers there face. Michelle Fanzo, Project Leader for the World Policy Institute, and Dorothy Blane, Country Director for Concern Worldwide, join us to discuss how the flooding continues to affect Pakistan and its government.
-
Underreported Update: Newtown Creek Gets Superfund Status
On Monday, the Environmental Protection Agency named Newtown Creek, the polluted industrial waterway that runs between Brooklyn and Queens, a Superfund site. On today’s Underreported Update, Katie Schmid,director of the Newtown Creek Alliance, explains what the designation will mean for the creek and the people who live nearby, and why it’s taken so long for any cleanup effort to begin.
-
Underreported: U.S. Extradites Colombian Paramilitaries...
Since 2006, the United States has extradited more than a dozen Colombian paramilitaries, only to seal the records of their court cases. On this week’s Underreported, Jennifer Janisch and Oriana Zill de Granados of PBS’s Wide Angle series, explain how they discovered that the cases, and what the use of judicial secrecy here in the U.S. means for their Colombian victims seeking justice.
-
Underreported: Roma in Europe
In recent weeks, France has been locked in a war of words with the European Union over its effort to expel the Roma living there. But the Roma in Italy have also been facing discriminatory policies and prejudice. On today's Underreported, Bernard Rorke, director of Roma Initiatives at the Open Society, discusses what’s behind these restrictive policies towards Roma.
-
Underreported: Uighur Update
New York Times reporter Andrew Jacobs discusses the ongoing tensions between the Han Chinese and the Uighur population in Western China. He’ll recount the violence that erupted and killed nearly 200 people last July, and look at what’s happened since.
-
Underreported: Teaching the Afghan Army to Read
The American-led strategy in Afghanistan relies on training local Afghan forces so they’re able to take over their own security. Only 18 percent of those 243,000 Afghans in the army and police have more than a Kindergarten-level ability to read. Noah Shachtman, contributing writer for Wired magazine, discusses the US military’s efforts to teach Afghan security forces to read as well as to fight.
-
Underreported: Human Egg Trafficking
On today's first Underreported segment, Scott Carney, contributing editor at WIRED Magazine, tells us about the rise in human egg trafficking in Cyprus and Spain, and how loose regulations for egg donation and IVF in certain countries are resulting in a global egg trade. His article “Unpacking the Global Human Egg Trade” appears in the September issue of Fast Company.
-
Underreported: Guinea-Bissau's Cocaine Coast
In 2005, the small coastal West African nation of Guinea-Bissau was a poor, sleepy backwater whose main export was cashews. Now, in 2010, it is the hub of West Africa's burgeoning cocaine trade, and many observers believe that it is in danger of becoming a narco-state--completely at the whim of drug traffickers in Latin America and Hezbollah leaders who depend on a cut of a profits to fund their terrorist efforts. For today's second Underreported segment, James Traub, a contributing writer...
-
Underreported: Katrina's Effects on Hurricane Research
Hurricane Katrina fundamentally changed the landscape of New Orleans and radically altered the way the federal government responds to natural disasters. It also changed the way scientists study hurricanes—what factors they consider and where research funds are directed. Atmospheric scientists James Kossin of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and Judith Curry of the Georgia Institute of Technology, explain and look ahead to how we're preparing for Hurricane Earl.
-
Underreported: Space Junk
Orbital debris is quickly becoming a serious problem for satellites and manned spacecraft. Collisions and other incidents have increased the amount of potentially harmful space junk floating around in low earth orbit by a third in the past year-and-a-half alone. Mark Matney, of NASA’s Orbital Debris Program Office, and Derrick Pitts, chief astronomer at the Franklin Institute, tell us about the problem and what (if anything) can be done about it.
-
Underreported: The North Atlantic Garbage Patch
On today's second Underreported segment, Kara Lavender Law and Giora Proskurowski, both oceanographers at the Sea Education Association (SEA), discusses the North Atlantic garbage patch, where plastic bags and bottles form a floating, swirling mass in the ocean. They’ll talk about the 22 years of research on the garbage patch, and new research that shows it hasn’t been growing.
-
Underreported: Counterfeit Drugs
Journalist Paula Park discusses the proliferation of counterfeit drugs around the world, and how these fake medications have led to the development of drug-resistant strains of malaria. We’ll find out who’s making and distributing these counterfeit drugs, and more about the efforts being made in Cambodia and other countries to close down illegal outlets. Her article “Lethal Counterfeits” appeared in World Policy Journal’s summer issue.
-
Underreported: Libel Tourism
Rachel Ehrenfeld, writer and director of the American Center for Democracy, discusses the "libel tourism" bill passed last week by the U.S. Senate designed to shield U.S. journalists and writers from libel suits by repressive governments or wealthy business tycoons in foreign jurisdictions. Ms. Ehrenfield, the author of Funding Evil: How Terrorism is Financed and How to Stop It, talks about being sued for libel in England. Unlike the United States, the law is skewed in favor of the plaintiff...
-
Underreported: Whistleblower Claims Denied
Eight years ago, in the wake of the collapse of Enron, Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, intended to expand protections for corporate whistleblowers. But the Agency charged with carrying out the law—the United States department of Labor—has dismissed 98 percent of claims seeking whistleblower protection status. We’ll talk with Michael Hudson, a staff writer with the Center for Public Integrity.
-
Underreported: Guatemala's Drug Problem
It’s estimated that between 275 and 385 tons of cocaine passes through Guatemala each year. On today’s Underreported: Tim Johnson, Mexico City bureau chief for McClatchy News Service, explains how Mexico’s drug war to the north and Colombia’s drug growers to the south have destabilized Guatemala.
-
Underreported: Turkey and the Kurds
Turkey’s Kurdish region in the country’s southeast has exploded into violence once again. We’ll get the latest from Aliza Marcus, author of the book Blood and Belief: The PKK and the Kurdish Fight for Independence.
-
Underreported: The Exploitation of Migrant Tobacco...
According to a new report from Human Rights Watch, migrant tobacco workers in Kazakhstan have been exploited and even trapped on farms that supply Philip Morris’s Kazakhstan operation, and children as young as 10 were working on the farms. Rachel Denber, head of the European Division of Human Rights Watch, explains what conditions on these farms are like and the steps that Philip Morris has agreed to take to protect these workers.
-
Underreported: BP's Response to 2005 Refinery Blast
In 2005, a blast at a British Petroleum refinery in Texas City, Texas, killed 15 people. On today’s Underreported, reporter Ryan Knutson describes the safety violations that led up to the blast, how the oil company responded to the disaster, and the parallels with the Deepwater Horizon explosion in April.
-
Underreported: New Blackwater Contracts
Despite its long list of troubles, including federal investigations and indictments, the company formerly known as Blackwater has been awarded millions of dollars in contracts by the Obama Administration. The Nation’s Jeremy Scahill, author of Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army, explains why.
-
The Last Stand
Bestselling author Nathaniel Philbrick tells the tale of two larger-than-life figures: Sitting Bull and George Armstrong Custer. In The Last Stand: Custer, Sitting Bull, and the Battle of the Little Big Horn , he gives an account of the Battle of the Little Bighorn, which was, even in victory, the last stand for the Sioux and Cheyenne Indian nations. Within a few years, all the major tribal leaders would be confined to Indian reservations. Its the archetypal story of the American West, one...
-
Essentially Ellington
Wynton Marsalis, artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center and director of the JLC Orchestra, talks about Lincoln Center's Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Competition and Festival. He’s joined by Carlos Henriquez, who performed in the competition as a student at LaGuardia High School and is now a member of the JLCO and mentor to the LaGuardia band, and Clarence Acox, director of Seattle's Garfield High School Jazz Band, which won the competition last year and performs this...
-
America, Whaling & the World
Filmmaker Ric Burns tells the story of three centuries of American whaling. His documentary "Into the Deep: America, Whaling & the World" reveals how whaling helped fuel the expansion of the American economy, pushed tiny backwater ports like Nantucket and New Bedford to the center of the whaling world, and was the first truly global enterprise America ever knew. "Into the Deep: America, Whaling & the World" Premieres on PBS Monday, May 10, at 9:00 pm.
-
"Metropolis" Reconstructed
Paula Felix-Didier, director of the Museo del Cine Pablo Ducros Hicken in Buenos Aires, Argentina, discusses a new reconstruction of Fritz Lang’s legendary 1927 film “Metropolis.” It includes nearly thirty minutes of long-lost footage discovered recently in Argentina. The new version of “Metropolis” will be playing at Film Forum from May 7 through the 20. Events: Paula Felix-Didier will introduce "Metropolis" Friday, May 7, 7:30 & 8:30 pm screenings Saturday, May 8, 5:30 & 7:30 pm screenings...
-
Please Explain: Fat
We’ll find out the difference between brown body fat and white, how fat forms and functions, where its stored, how its burned, and how much is too much. Maudene Nelson, registered dietitian, New York State Certified Dietitian-Nutritionist, and a Certified Diabetes Educator at the Institute of Human Nutrition, joins us.
-
The Pill and America
Historian Elaine Tyler May talks about how the pill changed America. In America and the Pill: A History of Promise, Peril, and Liberation she describes how women saw that the pill was about much more than family planning—it offered women control over their bodies and their lives, and it created a great cultural shift. She uses personal accounts of the early years and testimonies from young women today to illuminate what the pill has—and has not—achieved during its half-century on the market.
-
"The Oath"
Filmmaker Laura Poitras discusses her documentary “The Oath,” about the divergent paths of Osama bin Laden’s bodyguard, Abu Jandal, and driver, Salim Hamdan. Their intertwined personal stories shed light on a world that has confounded the West, and the film offers an unsettling glimpses of the international impact of the U.S. War on Terror and a rare window into the world of Al-Qaeda. “The Oath” opens Friday, May 7, at IFC Center. Events: Laura Poitras will be in appearing person Friday, May...
-
Underreported: Food Fraud (The Leonard Lopate Show:...
As much as 7 percent of the nation’s food is mislabeled to fool consumers into paying more. On today’s Underreported, Lyndsey Layton, National Political Reporter for the Washington Post, explains why food fraud is on the rise and why both large corporations and small-scale producers are looking to the FDA to crack down on these ersatz products. Read her latest article here.
-
Underreported: Oyster Poaching in Chesapeake Bay (The...
On today’s Underreported segment, Jeffrey Levinton, distinguished professor of Ecology and Evolution at Stony Brook University, and Ken Paynter, associate professor and director of Marine Estuarine Environmental Sciences Program at University of Maryland, discusses the damage oyster poachers are wreaking in Chesapeake Bay and efforts to restore the bivalves to the bay and New York Harbor.
-
Burma’s Never-Ending War (The Leonard Lopate Show:...
For today’s Underreported, Mac McClelland talks about the Burmese government’s secret ethnic cleansing campaign, and her experience living with associates of a US-designated terrorist organization battling Burma's. She’s the author of For Us Surrender Is Out of the Question: A Story of Burma’s Never-Ending War.
-
Underreported: Linking Cancer to the Permian Extinction...
For decades women in Xuan Wei, a county in southern China, have suffered from an astronomically high rate of lung cancer and the reason why has remained largely a mystery. Now, researchers think they have solved the case: the coal that is burned in Chinese kitchens is to blame, but this is not just any coal. Over 200 million years ago a particularly toxic kind of coal formed right around the time of the great Permian Extinction and it seems that the toxic chemicals from that event are...
-
Underreported: The Death of Sergei Magnitsky (The...
In November, a 37-year-old tax lawyer named Sergei Magnitsky died in a Russian jail cell. Before he passed away, Magnitsky drafted a series of letters and petitions describing the squalid conditions in Russia’s prisons. Now, those documents have leaked and have created an unusual firestorm of criticism in a country where millions once perished in the Soviet Gulag. We’ll speak with Washington Post foreign correspondent Philip P. Pan, who just returned from Russia and has written about the...
-
Underreported: Alaska's Melting Permafrost (The Leonard...
It’s estimated that the world’s permafrost contains 1,600 billion tons of carbon. As global temperatures rise, there are growing concerns about that all that permafrost could melt, releasing those gasses into the atmosphere. On today’s second Underreported Vladimir Romanovsky, a geophysics professor at the University of Alaska at Fairbanks explains what happens when permafrost melts and what’s happened to villages in Alaska that have already been affected by the effects of melting permafrost.
-
Underreported: The Prosecution of a Right Wing Radio...
For years Hal Turner hosted a right-wing internet radio show from northern New Jersey that catered to white supremacists and neo-Nazis. For most of that time Turner also received thousands of dollars from the FBI for acting as an informant who spied on the same groups he was broadcasting to. Now he’s on trial in Brooklyn for posting death threats against three federal appeals court judges on his blog. On today’s second Underreported, we’ll speak with Mike Kelly, a columnist for The Record...
-
Underreported: Swine Flu and Ukraine's Presidential...
Ukraine will hold its presidential election in January, but in recent weeks swine flu has threatened to delay the vote. On this week’s first Underreported: Julia Ioffe of Foreign Policy explains how fears about swine flu have been politicized and why next year’s election is so important to the future of Ukraine. You can read Julia Ioffe’s article here.
-
Underreported: Yemen's Civil War (The Leonard Lopate...
On today’s second Underreported we’ll look at the civil war in Yemen and accusations that Iran is waging a proxy against Saudi Arabia by supporting the rebels. We’ll be joined by freelance journalist Ginny Hill.
-
Underreported: China's Gulag Prison System (The Leonard...
President Obama was in China this week and he did speak out on the country’s human rights record. On today’s first Underreported segment, we’re taking a look at China’s expansive prison system, formerly called Laogai. We’ll examine how it was modeled after the Soviet gulag system and the accusations that forced labor is used in the camps. We’ll speak with Harry Wu, founder of the Laogai Research Foundation and Nicole Kempton, who edited the foundation’s book Laogai: The Machinery of...
-
Underreported: India's Maoist Insurgency (The Leonard...
A group of Maoist rebels—also known as the Naxalite insurgency—has taken a violent foothold in 20 of India’s provinces. The group has burned schools, killed more than 900 security officers, and, in at least one province, detonated more than 1,000 improvised explosive devices over the past five years. The Indian government is preparing to send thousands of soldiers into the Maoists strongholds, which also happen to be some of the most impoverished and economically underdeveloped parts of...
-
Underreported: Algae as a Weapon of Mass Extinction (The...
Over the past decade many species of algae have expanded their range toward the poles and into areas where they previously have not been found and many speculate that global warming is to blame. New research into the fossil record is linking the toxins produced by algal blooms to numerous mass extinctions in our planet’s history. On today’s first Underreported we’ll speak to Professor Jim Castle and Professor John Rodgers, both of Clemson University, authors of a paper on mass extinctions...
-
Underreported: Algae's Biofuel Potential (The Leonard...
Many scientists are hoping that algae could provide the basis of a biofuel. On today’s second Underreported, Dr. Anastasios Melis, Professor of Biology at University of California, Berkeley, explains why algae have so much potential for becoming a source of biofuel and the hurdles that remain for making it a viable alternative.
-
Underreported: Censored 2010 (The Leonard Lopate Show:...
On this week’s Underreported, we look at 25 important stories you’ve never heard of – including articles about nuclear waste pools in North Carolina and Ecuador becoming the first country to grant human rights to nature. Mickey Huff, the co-editor of Censored 2010, tells us about this year’s best underreported stories. Find out more about Project Censored here.
-
Underreported: Politicians and their PAC Money (The...
Political Action Committees were established to enable politicians to raise money for their colleagues and support their campaigns. On this week’s Underreported, ProPublica reporter Marcus Stern explains how several law makers are now using their PAC money – from golf outings to casinos to commissioning portraits – and why the rules for PAC money aren’t tighter. You can read his article that appeared in the Washington Post here. Read the ProPublica article here. You can look up information...
-
Underreported: The Golden Bubble? (The Leonard Lopate...
The price of gold has been reaching record highs this week. On today’s second Underreported, Fortune’s Scott Cendrowski explains why investors are turning to gold and what that says about the global financial markets. You can read his article on gold here.
-
Underreported: The Placebo Effect (The Leonard Lopate...
"The placebo effect" has been known to scientists for a very long time. But for some reason, the placebo effect is getting stronger and researchers don’t know why. In fact, an increasing number of medications are unable to beat sugar pills in clinical trials. Steve Silberman, is a senior writer for Wired magazine and wrote about this subject in the August issue. You can read his article here.
-
Underreported: Coal Ash Sites (The Leonard Lopate Show:...
There are almost 600 coal ash sites throughout the United States. On today’s first Underreported, Lisa Evans, Senior Administrative Counsel for Earthjustice, explains why these toxic leftovers are so dangerous, how they’re disposed of, and what the Environmental Protection Agency proposes to do about coal ash sites. You can read Earthjustice's report on Coal Ash sites here.
-
Underreported: Pirates vs. Private Security Firms (The...
Private security firms are increasingly being used in the fight against pirates who operate off the coast of Africa. One company, Eos Risk Management, says it has fended off at least 15 attacks from Somali pirates since January. The practice of using security contractors to provide maritime defense "in appropriate circumstances" has even been endorsed by the US State Department. We’ll be joined by Jonathan Ledgard, the East Africa correspondent for the Economist magazine. His article "Piracy...
-
Underreported: The Fight for the Independence Party (The...
We talk to City Hall magazine reporter Sal Gentile about how the New York Independence Party is in turmoil at the state and local level as various interest groups vie for control of it and its important ballot line. We spoke to Mr. Gentile about State Senator Pedro Espada’s early political career on Backstory on July 23, 2009. You can listen to that interview here.
-
Underreported: Elections in Gabon (The Leonard Lopate...
President Omar Bongo of Gabon died this past June after four decades in office. Elections in the tiny African nation are slated for August 30th, but the vote is already mired in controversy. For our second Underreported, we’ll talk to Professor Douglas Yates, assistant professor of political science at the American University of Paris and a Gabon expert.
-
Underreported: Turks & Caicos (The Leonard Lopate Show:...
Earlier this month, Britain imposed direct rule on the Caribbean islands of Turks & Caicos. On this week’s first Underreported, Mark Wilson, a correspondent for The Economist, explains what led to the unusual decision and why Britain decided that removing the prime minister, dissolving the parliament, and suspending the constitution was necessary to address the problems on the island. You can read Mike Wilson’s article about Turks & Caicos here.
-
Underreported: The Recession's Impact on Human Rights...
The economic crisis has radically changed many of the ways in which the world functions, but one of the great recessions most disastrous side effects is an increase in global repression. Widespread economic problems are creating extensive social problems as people and governments cope with limited access to food, jobs, clean water, land, and housing. What’s more, growing unrest about the economy is leading to violence and political repression in many countries. We’ll speak with executive...
-
Underreported: Child Soldiers in Burma (The Leonard...
It’s been a year since a massive cyclone devastated Burma. Though much of the country is still in ruins the Burmese Armed Forces and associated armed groups have continued a decades long low-level conflict with opposing groups. According to a new report put out by Watchlist the Burmese government is coercing children as young as nine into the armed forces. On our second Underreported we’ll be joined by Julia Freedson, executive director of Watchlist and by Jennifer Haigh from the Karen Human...
-
Underreported: The Melting Polar Ice Cap Resource...
As the polar ice caps melt, scientists are mapping the floor of the Arctic Ocean – including the natural resources like natural gas and oil. On today's first Underreported, McKenzie Funk describes the Healy Mapping Mission and how countries around the world are trying to lay claim to what’s underneath the ice caps. His article appears in the May issue of the National Geographic Magazine.
-
Underreported: Worries about Spanish Deflation (The...
Economists are always worried inflation, but now some economists are worried about the possibility of price deflation in Spain. On today’s first Underreported, Nelson Schwartz, European economic correspondent for the New York Times, explains what’s driving down prices in Spain and what that tells us about the country’s economy. You can read Nelson Schwartz's story about Spanish deflation here.
-
Underreported: The Psychology of Disease Panic (The...
The emergence of Swine Flu has set off a pandemic panic, but why? Dr. Robert Klitzman is Director of the Ethics and Policy at the HIV Center at Columbia University and researches why our culture overreacts to some diseases like Swine Flu but under-reacts to other threats. His latest book is When Doctors Become Patients.
-
Underreported: War Zone Contractors (The Leonard Lopate...
Civilian contractors like KBR have been used extensively in both Iraq and Afghanistan to support the American war efforts there, and up to 31,000 of them have been injured. Find out why these injured contractors have to fight insurance companies, including AIG, to get the medical care their injuries require. T. Christian Miller, a senior reporter for ProPublica, has co-written a story about the problems in the Los Angeles Times. We’ll also be joined by Tim Newman, who was injured while...
-
Underreported: The Persecution of Iraqi Gays (The...
Iraq's LGBT community is facing a wave of violence and persecution. Iraqi Police sources say that in the past month alone, the bodies of six young men have been found in Sadr City, some with placards labeling them "perverts" or "puppies", the derogatory Iraqi term for gays. We’ll speak with Ali Hili, founder of the Iraqi-gays-in-exile group Iraq LGBT from England. We’ll also be joined by US Representative Jared Polis, who recently returned from Iraq and has spearheaded efforts to investigate...
-
Underreported: Energy Hearings (The Leonard Lopate Show:...
The Obama Administration is hoping to take the county in a new direction on energy. We’ll get the latest news on the Department of the Interior’s hearings on US energy policy from Wall Street Journal energy reporter Brian Baskin.
-
Underreported: Jersey City Hexavalent Chromium (The...
In the 1982 the State of New Jersey began investigating the presence of the dangerous chemical hexavalent chromium on a 16-acre site in Jersey City. Today, the site remains contaminated. We’ll talk to Nancy S. Marks, senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council, about why it’s taken so long to clean up the site and why the NRDC filed a new lawsuit in February to enforce the clean-up effort.
-
Underreported: The Nuclear Scientist Shortage (The...
Nuclear energy is slated to become a bigger part of America's energy mix, but who will work at the plants once they've been built? Dr. Ivan Oelrich joins us to talk about the shortage of nuclear technicians and operators in the United States today. Dr. Oelrich is Vice President for Strategic Security programs at the Federation of American Scientists. We'll also be joined by Michael Scott Moore, a staff writer at Der Spiegel Online in Berlin.
-
Underreported: German Car Banks (The Leonard Lopate...
In Germany, savers are pulling their money out of traditional banks and depositing the money into German Car Banks. BMW’s Bank has seen deposits jump almost 70% over the past five months and the cash infusion is helping the company cope with the frozen credit markets. Jonathan Rosenthal is European Business and Finance Correspondent for the Economist magazine. He joins us from Berlin.
-
Underreported: Mexican Remittances in a Bad Economy (The...
Remittances (money sent home from immigrants) are Mexico's second-largest source of foreign income after oil and they dropped significantly in 2008 for the first time on record. The decline could signal trouble for the Mexican economy, but it also has real impacts on Mexican’s living in the United States. Sam Quinones is a reporter for the Los Angeles Times and the author of Antonio's Gun and Delfino's Dream: True Tales of Mexican Migration. Dr. Robert Smith is associate professor of...
-
Underreported: Peak Water (The Leonard Lopate Show:...
A large portion of China and India’s fresh water supply comes from glaciers found on the Tibetan Plateau and the Himalayas. According to a new report by the World Economic Forum, those glaciers will be gone by 2100. That means the water sources for 2 billion people will simply dry up. Dr. Peter Gleick is the President and Co-founder of the Pacific Institute, a nonpartisan research institute that works for sustainable management of resources.
-
Underreported: Bush's Legacy in the Oceans (The Leonard...
In his final days before leaving office, President Bush created the largest marine sanctuary in the world off the coast of Hawaii. But, he also opened up large parts of the American coastline to oil drilling. Michael Sutton is Vice President of the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California and directs the aquarium's Center for the Future of the Oceans. He'll take us into the murky depths of Bush Administration's marine policies.
-
Underreported: AQ Khan on the Loose (The Leonard Lopate...
AQ Khan, the father of Pakistan's nuclear program, has admitted to selling nuclear secrets to Libya, Iran, and North Korea. Late last week a Pakistani ordered Khan's release after five years of house arrest. David Albright, President of the Institute for Science and International Security in Washington, D.C., joins us to discuss the impact of Khan's release as US Special Representative Richard Holbrooke prepared to tour the region.
-
Underreported: Ocean Garbage Patch (The Leonard Lopate...
In the Central North Pacific, plastic outweighs surface zooplankton 6 to 1. Find out why the problem of garbage and plastic floating around in our oceans could be one of the most pressing environmental disasters we face now. Dr. Marcus Eriksen of the Algalita Marine Research Foundation sailed from California to Hawaii this past summer on a raft, JUNK, made out of 15,000 plastic bottles.
-
Underreported: Islamic Finance (The Leonard Lopate Show:...
Find out about the growing trend of Islamic finance – banking and investing based on the Koran – and how it’s faring in the current global economic crisis. Journalist Carla Power is and author of the Jan./Feb. Foreign Policy magazine article "Faith in the Market."
-
Underreported: Amtrak Under the Obama Administration...
Barack Obama will arrive in DC for the inauguration by train, and Joe Biden is also known as “Amtrak Joe” thanks to his years of daily commutes to Washington via Amtrak. Is this a sign that the next four years will be more rail-friendly than in previous administrations? We look into what Amtrak can expect from the Obama White House, and the role trains can play in improving America’s transportation system. Thomas Downs is a transportation expert and former president of Amtrak (1993-1998).
-
Underreported: Disappearing Fireflies (The Leonard...
Fireflies seem to be disappearing throughout the world. We look into where they’re going, why they might be disappearing, and how their absence could affect our ecosystem. Dr. Christopher Cratsley is a biology professor and firefly expert at Fitchburg State College.
-
Underreported: Mia Farrow on the DRC (The Leonard Lopate...
Actress and UNICEF ambassador Mia Farrow just returned from a humanitarian trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo. She tells us what she saw, what’s being done to stop the spread of cholera there, why fighting has resumed, and whether children are again being recruited to serve as soldiers in the DRC.
-
Underreported: NF3s and Global Warming (The Leonard...
Switching to solar energy may not be as green as it seems. Many of the newest solar panels are made with a gas, NF3, that is 17,000 times more potent than carbon dioxide in contributing to global warming. NF3 is also used in the manufacture of flat-screen TVs, iPhones, computer chips, and lots more. Michael Prather is professor at UC Irvine.
-
Underreported: Forensics of Torture (The Leonard Lopate...
Dr. Rajeev Bais and Dr. Lars Beattie describe the physical scars torture leaves, and how they use those scars to corroborate asylum seekers’ stories of torture. They're co-founders of Elmhurst Hospital’s Libertas Human Rights Clinic in Queens.
-
Underreported: What Happens to Released Guantanamo...
President-Elect Obama plans to close the Guantanamo prison camp. What will happen to the detainees there? Find out what's happened to former Guantanamo prisoners after being released following years of detention. Eric Stover of UC Berkeley’s Human Rights Center is co-author of a recent study profiling former captives.
-
Underreported: Opening Public Land for Drilling in Utah...
On Election Day, the US Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announced a Dec. 19 auction of over 50,000 acres of oil and gas parcels right next to national parks in Utah. Steve Bloch, attorney for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, explains why Utah’s Park Service and national conservation groups are concerned.
-
Underreported: Reform in Russia (The Leonard Lopate...
We discuss the pace of reform in Russia, Moscow’s current attitudes towards the West, and why Pres. Dmitry Medvedev is now pushing to extend the presidential term. Nina Khrushcheva teaches international affairs at the New School; she’s also the author of Imagining Nabokov: Russia Between Art and Politics and is the granddaughter of Nikita Khrushchev. Her article in the Fall 2008 World Policy Journal is "Russia's Rotting Empire."
-
Underreported: US-Iran Relations in an Obama...
We look at how an Obama presidency could affect the U.S.’s relations with Iran, and what we should look for in Iran’s own elections happening next year. Robert Powell is Middle East Analyst for the Economist Intelligence Unit.
-
Underreported: Bats and White Nose Syndrome (The Leonard...
Bats are not only an iconic symbol of Halloween...they’re also a key part of our ecosystem. We get an update on the white nose syndrome that has been threatening bat populations. Ecologist Merlin Tuttle is founder of Bat Conservation International.
-
Underreported: Censored Stories of 2007-08 (The Leonard...
There are plenty of major news stories you probably didn’t hear or read about in the last year – like the fact that the Iraqi death count reached 1 million, and US-backed militarism is resurgent in Latin America. Hear about the top censored stories of the past year. Peter Phillips is Director of Project Censored, and has co-edited the new book Censored 2009. Jessica Lee is an editor and reporter with The Indypendent newspaper. She’s written about another censored story, the Homegrown...
-
Underreported: Survival in Darfur (The Leonard Lopate...
Halima Bashir, a physician in her native Sudan, was tortured and repeatedly raped for informing on atrocities in Darfur. She then had to flee, and now lives as a refugee in London. She tells us about her new life, and what she thinks needs to happen to bring about peace in Darfur. Her new memoir is Tears of the Desert.
-
Underreported: Panic of 1873 (The Leonard Lopate Show:...
Many are measuring the current financial crisis against the Great Depression – but what’s happening now may be more like the Panic of 1873, a little-known economic crash that started in Europe with a building boom and led to a banking collapse. Scott Reynolds Nelson is professor of history at the College of William & Mary.
-
Underreported: Canada’s Elections (The Leonard Lopate...
In the midst of the frenzy over next month’s elections here in the U.S. – did you know that Canada is holding its big elections next week on October 14th? Find out what’s at stake for our neighbors to the north, and whether the governing Conservative Party could be unseated by the Liberal opposition. Adam Radwanski is a member of the Globe and Mail’s editorial board, and writes a political blog for that paper.
-
Underreported: Renditions in the Horn of Africa (The...
A 2007 rendition program in the Horn of Africa led to nearly 100 men, women, and children being rounded up in Kenya and eventually rendered to Ethiopia. At least 10 victims of this program still languish in Ethiopian prisons, with little recourse; still others are missing. We find out why these people are being held and what should happen next. Jennifer Daskal is Senior Counterterrorism Counsel at Human Rights Watch.
-
Underreported: Thailand (The Leonard Lopate Show:...
We explain the ongoing political chaos in Thailand. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej was forced from office after the Constitutional Court found him guilty of violating the constitution for receiving payment while hosting a popular TV cooking show. Meanwhile, anti-government groups have been staging massive protests since Dec. 2007. Sunai Phasuk of Human Rights Watch joins us to talk about what’s happened, and what’s next for Thailand.
-
Underreported: Is NYC Ready for a Major Hurricane? (The...
70 years ago, in September 1938, a major hurricane struck the northeast and killed almost 700 people…and caused the modern equivalent of nearly 5 billion dollars in damage! Find out whether the New York City metro area is prepared for another major hurricane, and the disasters that could follow. Sarah Newkirk is Coastal Program Director of The Nature Conservancy on Long Island; Dr. Nicholas Coch is Professor in the Queens College School of Earth and Environmental Sciences.
-
Underreported: Offshore LNG Terminals in NY and NJ (The...
Environmentalists in New Jersey and New York are fighting proposals to build offshore terminals to store liquefied natural gas (LNG). Hear why ExxonMobil and private investment firms want the terminals to be built, and why many are concerned about the terminals’ potential impact. David Byer is Water Policy Attorney for Clean Ocean Action.
-
Underreported: Termite Guts (The Leonard Lopate Show:...
Could termite guts hold a solution to global warming? Some scientists think that a better understanding of how termites devour wood so efficiently could eventually allow us to create valuable biofuel. Phil Hugenholtz is head of the Joint Genome Institute’s Microbial Ecology Program and is involved in mapping the contents of the termite gut.
-
Underreported: Is Pollution Poisoning China’s Children?...
With the Beijing Olympics underway, everyone’s talking about how air pollution there is affecting athletes’ performances. But how is it affecting Chinese children’s physical and intellectual development? Dr. Frederica Perera, director of Columbia University’s Center for Children’s Environmental Health, joins us to explain how China’s pollution problem may be poisoning its children.
-
Underreported: Eating Mud Cakes in Haiti (The Leonard...
As Haiti’s food prices skyrocket, many poor Haitians are resorting to eating mud cakes - the cheapest way to quell hunger in a country whose food import bill will leap 80% this year, the fastest price jump in the world. Rory Carroll is a correspondent for the Guardian.
Recommended Shows
PROGRAM INFORMATION
- New York, NY
- Current Affairs, Investigative News
- WNYC
- English
-
WNYC Radio
PO Box 1550
New York, NY 10116-1550646-829-3985 -
Visit the station website
Email the show
Update show info
More information
The Leonard Lopate Show lets you in on the best conversations with writers, actors, ex-presidents, dancers, scientists, comedians, historians, grammarians, curators, filmmakers, and do-it-yourself experts.Underreported, a weekly feature on The Leonard Lopate Show, tackles these issues and gives an in-depth look into stories that are often relegated to the back pages.
