On this West Virginia Week, there were several protests across the state including one aimed at federal cuts and another at federal immigration efforts. A new law aims to cut back on dangerous drugs on the streets of West Virginia. We’ll take a look at how one plant can help combat the poisonous effects of another – and where to find it in the wild. And, a rising Black poet finds his voice in Appalachia.
Maria Young is our host this week. Our theme music is by Matt Jackfert.
West Virginia Week is a web-only podcast that explores the week’s biggest news in the Mountain State. It’s produced with help from Bill Lynch, Chris Schulz, Curtis Tate, Emily Rice, Eric Douglas, Jack Walker, Maria Young and Randy Yohe.
“Us & Them” is returning to Marshall University with award-winning podcaster and host Trey Kay to discuss with Marshall students and young voters their thoughts on the upcoming election. This live taping of “What Is (or Isn’t) Motivating Young Voters in 2024?” will feature a discussion with Dr. Marybeth Beller and Dr. Shawn Schulenburg, Marshall University political science faculty members, followed by a Q&A with the audience. The discussion and Q&A will be recorded for use in a future episode of the podcast.
Huntington, WV: “Us & Them” is returning to Marshall University with award-winning podcaster and host Trey Kay to discuss with Marshall students and young voters their thoughts on the upcoming election. This live taping of “What Is (or Isn’t) Motivating Young Voters in 2024?” will feature a discussion with Dr. Marybeth Beller and Dr. Shawn Schulenburg, Marshall University political science faculty members, followed by a Q&A with the audience. The discussion and Q&A will be recorded for use in a future episode of the podcast.
The episode taping will take place on September 4 from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m in Marshall University’s Drinko Library Atrium.
The event is co-sponsored by Marshall University’s W. Page Pitt School of Journalism and Mass Communications, the West Virginia Humanities Council, and West Virginia Public Broadcasting, the broadcasting home of “Us & Them.”
This event is free and open to the public but registration is recommended for planning purposes.
About West Virginia Public Broadcasting:
The mission of West Virginia Public Broadcasting (WVPB) is to educate, inform and inspire people by telling West Virginia’s story. WVPB is an indispensable resource for education, news and public affairs, emergency services and economic development. Learn more at wvpublic.org or find us on Facebook and Instagram.
On this West Virginia Morning, there’s a deadline looming for business owners across the state. Tens of thousands of them still haven’t filed their annual reports as required by state law. Assistant News Director Maria Young sat down with Secretary of State Mac Warner – who’s hoping all of them get the job done by midnight Sunday night – just, not all at once.
On this West Virginia Morning, there’s a deadline looming for business owners across the state. Tens of thousands of them still haven’t filed their annual reports as required by state law. Assistant News Director Maria Young sat down with Secretary of State Mac Warner – who’s hoping all of them get the job done by midnight Sunday night – just, not all at once.
Also, in this show, 50 years ago, June 27, 2024, the Kanawha County Board of Education set off a chapter of the nation’s culture wars as it debated whether to purchase a controversial series of new textbooks. The meeting room was packed, and emotions were hot. Us & Them Host Trey Kay produced an award-winning documentary about the textbook controversy and provides this reflection.
West Virginia Morning is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting which is solely responsible for its content.
Support for our news bureaus comes from Shepherd University.
Chris Schulz produced this episode.
Listen to West Virginia Morning weekdays at 7:43 a.m. on WVPB Radio or subscribe to the podcast and never miss an episode. #WVMorning
On this West Virginia Morning, a nonprofit provider of pop-up clinics will deliver free dental, vision and medical care to those in need in Charleston. Emily Rice has more.
On this West Virginia Morning, a nonprofit provider of pop-up clinics will deliver free dental, vision and medical care to those in need in Charleston. Emily Rice has more.
Also, in this show, trust is in short supply in America as divides continue to erode our faith in a collective community. People distrust each other as well as our government and institutions. This week, Us & Them host Trey Kay hosts a discussion focused on our trust in science. One of his guests is Dr. Jonathan Zimmerman, an education historian from the University of Pennsylvania. He’s the author of “Whose America? Culture Wars in the Public Schools.”
West Virginia Morning is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting which is solely responsible for its content.
Support for our news bureaus comes from Shepherd University.
Caroline MacGregor produced this episode.
Listen to West Virginia Morning weekdays at 7:43 a.m. on WVPB Radio or subscribe to the podcast and never miss an episode. #WVMorning
The public is invited to join Us & Them podcast host Trey Kay for a deep discussion on journalism and trust in the news media.
Updated on Oct. 17, 2023 at 12:30 p.m.
Join us Thursday, Oct. 19 at 4 p.m. in the Atrium of Marshall University’s Drinko Library
HUNTINGTON, WEST VIRGINIA — The public is invited to join Us & Them podcast host Trey Kay for a deep discussion on trust in science.
“Diminished Trust: How Do We Restore Faith in Science?” Thursday, Oct. 19, at 4 p.m. in the Atrium of Marshall University’s Drinko Library. Kay will talk with Dr. Jonathan Zimmerman, University of Pennsylvania’s education historian and author of “Whose America? Culture Wars in the Public Schools”; Dr. Habiba Chichir, Marshall University’s biological anthropologist; and Dr. Adam Franks, MD, Associate Residency Director for Marshall University Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine.
The event is free and open to the public and includes an audience Q&A segment with preference given to students. The live event will be taped for use in a future episode of Us & Them. The event is co-sponsored by Marshall University’s John Deaver Drinko Academy, the West Virginia Humanities Council and West Virginia Public Broadcasting, the broadcasting home of Us & Them.
Last month, Kay and his team hosted a “Diminished Trust” event at West Virginia University that focused on waning public trust in journalism and the news media. Kay says, “Trust is in short supply in America these days. Across the board and across the political spectrum people seem to lack trust in our government… in many of our agencies and organizations – even in each other. That’s why our Us & Them team is staging these conversations to encourage citizens to consider how long our society can sustain this erosion of trust.”
“The current diminishment of trust in science is one expression of anti-intellectualism, a longer trend in our culture, and one which waxes and wanes,” says Dr. Monserrat Miller, Executive Director of Marshall’s John Deaver Drinko Academy. “Diminishing trust in science, though, is something that we need to explore and discuss because it poses a range of dangers from public health to cynicism about the idea of truth itself.”
Us & Them’s guests for this event include:
Dr. Jonathan Zimmerman is Professor of History of Education and the Berkowitz Professor in Education at the University of Pennsylvania. A former Peace Corps volunteer and high school teacher, Zimmerman is the author of “Whose America? Culture Wars in the Public Schools” (University of Chicago Press, 2nd ed.) and eight other books. Zimmerman is also a columnist at the Philadelphia Inquirer and a frequent contributor to the Washington Post, the New York Review of Books, and other popular publications. Zimmerman taught for 20 years at New York University, where he received its Distinguished Teaching Award in 2008.
Dr. Habiba Chirchir is a biological anthropologist and anatomist. Her research focuses on understanding the relationship between changes in skeletal anatomy and behavior by investigating trabecular and cortical bone. She conducts comparative analyses of anatomical features in fossil human ancestors, modern humans, other primates and non-primate animals including dogs and big cats using CT imaging. Chirchir earned a BA from the University of Nairobi, an MA from New York University, and a PhD from George Washington University. Chirchir is a research associate at the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution.
Dr. Adam M. Franks is a family medicine physician at Marshall Health, and a professor and vice chair of the department of family and community health at Marshall University Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine. Franks’ practice provides full-spectrum care for children and adults, including obstetric and gynecologic care. His research areas include COVID-19 protocols, opioid monitoring protocols, and blood borne pathogen exposure monitoring protocol adherence.
Trey Kay is the creator and host of Us & Them, a podcast/radio program distributed by PRX that airs on West Virginia Public Broadcasting. Kay’s passion for reporting on culture wars began in his hometown of Charleston, W.Va., with “The Great Textbook War” (2009), a radio documentary. He followed that award winning work with “The Long Game: Texas’ Ongoing Battle for the Direction of the Classroom” (2013), which he researched as a Spencer Fellow for Education Reporting at the Columbia Journalism School. He’s produced for This American Life, The New Yorker Radio Hour, Marketplace, American RadioWorks, Morning Edition, Inside Appalachia and PBS Frontline. Kay also taught at the Columbia Journalism School, Marist College and at the State University of New York at New Paltz. He splits his time between New York’s Hudson Valley and West Virginia’s Kanawha Valley.
***Editor’s note: A previous version of this news release incorrectly stated the Marshall event would be a discussion on journalism and trust in the news media. The Marshall event will be a deep discussion on trust in science.
The public is invited to join Us & Them podcast host Trey Kay for a deep discussion on journalism and trust in the news media. The event will be held on Sept. 20 at Reynolds Hall on West Virginia University’s campus in Morgantown.
Join us Wednesday, Sept. 20 at 7 p.m. in Reynolds Hall on the WVU Campus
MORGANTOWN, WV — The public is invited to join Us & Them podcast host Trey Kay for a deep discussion on journalism and trust in the news media.
“Diminished Trust: How Do We Restore Faith In The News Media?” will take place Wednesday, Sept. 20 at 7 p.m. in Reynolds Hall on the West Virginia University (WVU) campus. Kay will talk with special guests Raney Aronson-Rath, editor-in-chief and executive producer of PBS Frontline, and June Cross, director of the documentary journalism program at the Columbia Journalism School.
The event is free and open to the public and includes a Q&A section for attendees with precedence given to students. The live event will be taped for use in a future episode of Us & Them.
The event is co-sponsored by WVU’s Reed College of Media, the WVU Division of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, the West Virginia Humanities Council and West Virginia Public Broadcasting, the broadcasting home of Us & Them.
Kay says the premise of the episode is right in the title. “Do you trust what you hear reported on the radio, read online or in print, or see on television?” Kay asks. “What does a lack of trust in our “Fourth Estate” mean for democracy in America? In the Mountain State? In Morgantown? At a land-grant university like West Virginia University? Is this lack of faith in the watchdogs of news an existential threat to who we are? How do we regain this trust? These are critical questions today.”
Us & Them guests and host are respected in their fields:
Raney Aronson-Rath is the editor-in-chief and executive producer of Frontline, PBS’ flagship investigative journalism series, and is a leading voice on the future of journalism. She oversees the program’s acclaimed investigative reporting on air and online, and directs the series’ editorial vision — executive producing more than 20 in-depth documentaries each year on critical issues facing the country and the world. At a time when broad skepticism of the news media has reached new highs, Aronson-Rath has cemented her program’s reputation as a source of trustworthy and consistent investigative journalism. Under her leadership, Frontline has won every major award in broadcast journalism including Peabody Awards, Emmy Awards, and, in 2019, the first Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Gold Baton to be awarded in a decade. Frontline has been honored with myriad other journalism awards including Overseas Press Club Awards, Scripps Howard Awards, and in 2020, for the first time in the series’ history, the Nieman Foundation’s Bingham Prize for Investigative Journalism and the Peabody Institutional Award. She led an ongoing charge for transparency in journalism – through the Frontline Transparency Project, an effort to open up the source material behind the program’s reporting. She served as the sole public media representative on the Knight Commission on Trust, Media, and Democracy, a blue-ribbon panel that published a landmark report on the causes and consequences of growing distrust in democratic institutions, including the press.
June Cross is Columbia University’s Fred W. Friendly Professor of Media and Society and director of the Documentary Journalism Program. She is a winner of the duPont-Columbia Journalism Award, a National Emmy and a 2021 Peabody Award. Her career has highlighted stories of the dispossessed and the intersection of race, politics and public health. She is best known for “Secret Daughter,” an autobiographical documentary made in 1996 which was later developed into a memoir by the same name. She began her career as an intern at The Boston Globe and PBS’ flagship station, WGBH. She went on to what is now PBS NewsHour, and then to CBS News, before obtaining a job as staff producer at PBS Frontline, where she worked for nine years. She joined the Columbia Journalism School in 2001 and received tenure in 2006.
Us & Them host Trey Kay speaks with a class of podcasting students at WVU‘s Reed College for Media Studies. These students will help Kay‘s team with the presentation of the live event that will focus on “restoring faith in the news media.” This event will feature Raney Aronson-Rath, editor in chief and executive producer for PBS Frontline, and award-winning documentarian June Cross. This event will be recorded and used in a future episode of WVPB‘s Us & Them.
Courtesy WVU
Trey Kay is the creator and host of Us & Them, a podcast/radio program produced by PRX for play on West Virginia Public Broadcasting. Kay’s passion for reporting on culture wars began in his hometown of Charleston, W.Va., with “The Great Textbook War” (2009), a radio documentary he produced with Deborah George. It was honored with Peabody, Murrow, and duPont-Columbia journalism awards. He later produced “The Long Game: Texas’ Ongoing Battle for the Direction of the Classroom” (2013), which he researched as a Spencer Fellow for Education Reporting at the Columbia Journalism School. In 2005, he shared in another Peabody for his contribution to Studio 360’s “American Icons: Moby Dick.” He’s produced for This American Life, The New Yorker Radio Hour, Marketplace, American RadioWorks, Morning Edition, Inside Appalachia and PBS Frontline. Kay also taught at the Columbia Journalism School, Marist College and at the State University of New York at New Paltz. He splits his time between New York’s Hudson Valley and West Virginia’s Kanawha Valley.
The taping at WVU is the first in a series of public Us & Them events focused on diminished trust in America. In October 2023, the show will travel south to Marshall University in Huntington for a discussion on trust in science.
