NPR Fan Girl News Roundup | Sunday, November 21
A good, old-fashioned roundup of some of the week's best journalism from NPR and other outlets.
Welcome to the first news roundup from NPR Fan Girl. Every week I’m going to share my favorite pieces of reporting that I’ve come across. If there’s a piece of journalism you read or listened to over the last week that you loved and is not included in the roundup, feel free to comment below so we can circulate all of the journalism that deserves elevating.
Audio Roundup
“Celebrating Petra Mayer’s legacy and the joy she brought to NPR” (26 minutes) from NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour. On Saturday, November 13, the world suffered an unexpected and tragic loss when NPR Books editor Petra Mayer died of what is believed to have been a pulmonary embolism at 46. As an NPR fan girl and lover of books, I was crushed by this news, so I can only imagine how those closest to her feel. I have so much admiration for the hosts and editors of PCHH and how they came together amidst their grief to deliver a beautiful remembrance of their dear colleague and friend. NPR’s Life Kit reaired her episode on writing a novel in her memory, and The Washington Post and The New York Times also eulogized her.
“‘1619 Project’ journalist says Black people shouldn’t be an asterisk in U.S. history” (36 minutes) from WHYY’s Fresh Air. Guest hosted by WNYC’s Arun Venugopal, the November 17 episode features Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones. Hannah-Jones won the prize and rose to fame through her founding, reporting, and editing on The New York Times Magazine “1619 Project,” which explores United States history beginning with the arrival of the first enslaved people and through the lens of slavery. A massive multimedia project, a book by the same name was released on the day the podcast episode aired, along with an accompanying children’s book, Born on the Water. Jones is also working on a 1619 Project documentary, just launched a fellowship with The 19th for HBCU recent graduates and alumni, and will soon begin teaching at Howard University, where she is also creating a research institute called The Center for Journalism and Democracy.
Written Roundup
“He Got a Life Sentence When He Was 22 — For Robbery” from The Marshall Project in partnership with Tampa Bay Times. The Marshall Project is a nonprofit publication covering criminal justice. This article dives into how Florida’s two-strike law disproportionately impacts black men and hones in on the story of 46-year-old Dorian Mackeroy, who is serving a life sentence without parole for an armed robbery he committed 24 years ago in which no one was killed.
“From Alabama to California, a trip along the broken supply chain” from The Los Angeles Times. I shared this article in the last post I wrote on journalistic coverage of the supply chain but wanted to re-elevate because I love the narrative approach to the reporting, as opposed to the essential but more ubiquitous straight news coverage on global supply chain issues.