Patt Morrison for Wednesday, May 16, 2012

PATT MORRISON SCHEDULE

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

1-3 p.m.

 

CALL-IN @ 866-893-5722, 866-893-KPCC; OR JOIN THE CONVERSATION ONLINE ON THE PATT MORRISON BLOG AT KPCC-DOT-ORG

 

1:06 – 1:19: OPEN

 

1:20 – 1:39

On happiness and being human, with Archbishop Desmond Tutu and author Robert V. Taylor

“How to be happy, change the world and embrace a new way to be human” – it’s a tall order, especially when your list of worries could include lack of employment, loved ones overseas in the military, environmental calamities, or the political turmoil in a number of countries (just for starters). On today’s program Patt will speak with two men whose histories involve not just surviving, but transforming turmoil: the Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, and the Very Reverend Robert V. Taylor, an Episcopal priest and activist for social justice, as well as the first openly gay Episcopal dean in the United States. Archbishop Tutu and the Very Rev. Taylor met in South Africa during the fight against apartheid, and both have remained committed to the idea of promoting social justice and conflict resolution around the globe. Both men will speak tonight at LACMA, but you can get a head start on the conversation here.

·         LACMA presents “How to be happy, change the world, and embrace a new way to be human,” with Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Robert V. Taylor, Wednesday, May 16, 2012, at 7:30 pm.

Guests:

Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Robert V. Taylor, an Episcopal priest and activist for social justice

IN STUDIO

 

1:41:30 – 1:58:30

Could algorithms replace writers with robots?

In 15 years, ninety-percent of news stories will be written by computers. At least, that’s according to Kristian Hammond, the founder of the Chicago-based company Narrative Science, which is creating algorithms that can write news stories. They’re starting small and simple, with Little League games. Using play-by-play data submitted by parents through the iPhone app GameChanger, Narrative Science’s algorithms wrote nearly 400,000 accounts of Little League games last year. Those stories won’t edge out the top journalists of our day, but rather, the media universe will expand, as computers sift through vast amounts of data to produce cheap, readable accounts of stuff no journalist is currently covering. There isn’t any analysis, no personal voice and algorithms still aren’t sentient, but when asked about a prediction that a computer could win the Pulitzer Prize in 20 years, Hammond disagreed; he thinks it will happen in 5. Patt surveys the new frontier of algorithm journalism.

 

Guests:

Steven Levy, senior writer, Wired magazine

TBD, journalism professor

 

2:06 – 2:40

Big Man on Campus

As the 2011-2012 school year comes to an end, the Los Angeles Unified School District is once again following requirements to go through the maddening, disruptive and costly process of notifying over ten thousand employees that they may be laid off despite the fact that nowhere near that many will actually lose their jobs. As another class of high school seniors prepare to graduate and hopefully move onto higher education, the LAUSD board has reached a compromise over college-prep graduation requirements by mandating completion of new state university entrance requirements, raising grade point average requirements, but reducing the overall number of required courses. While the school board is requiring more from students, United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) says the district is failing to provide students with enough supportive services and has filed more than 600 complaints claiming that over 175 schools are lacking school nurses, librarians, and counselors. Also, nearly five months after the Miramonte Elementary School controversy occurred, the LAUSD is still dealing with the aftermath of the incident, including a new negligence lawsuit brought against the district on May 4. LAUSD superintendent John Deasy is here to answer your questions about the latest district tribulations.

 

Guest:

John Deasy, superintendent, Los Angeles United School District

IN STUDIO

2:41:30 – 2:58:30

Dan Rather pulls no punches

Dan Rather served as the anchor and managing editor of the CBS Evening News for 24 years, and the divorce wasn’t pretty. As a correspondent, he reported on some of the biggest news stories of the 1960s like the Civil Rights movement and President Kennedy’s assassination. But his career at CBS came to a screeching halt in September 2004 when he did a 60 Minutes II report about President George W. Bush’s service in the Texas Air National Guard. The  story led to his dismissal from CBS; he later sued for breach of contract, but the case was dismissed before it could go to trial. Once the face of CBS, what does Rather think of his old network? How has the internet and the 24 hour news cycle changed the way that networks look at news? And what does he really think about Katie Couric? Dan Rather joins Patt to talk about his new memoir Rather Outspoken: My Life In The News.

 

Guests:

Dan Rather, managing editor & host of Dan Rather Reports on HD Net; former veteran anchor of the CBS Evening News

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lauren Osen

Southern California Public Radio - 89.3 KPCC

626-583-5173 / 626-483-5278

losen@scpr.org @Patt_Morrison