Public television audiences and radio listeners across southeastern New England and beyond will encounter a lineup exploring everything from 19th-century publishing to modern intelligence and politics as the programming for Story in the Public Square rolls out.
From Local Presses to the Cold War
The month kicks off with a look back at the roots of American print culture. Popular culture often treats the history of the American newspaper as a tale dominated by big, urban dailies. Author Alex Wright disputes that viewpoint, maintaining during broadcasts scheduled from November 2 through November 8 that 19th-century newspapers blossomed because of the drive and creativity of numerous small-town publishers spread across the expanding young nation.
Shifting from domestic media history to international espionage, the calendar moves to the mid-twentieth century. Strategists back then developed the idea of cold war
as an alternative to hot war
between nuclear armed Super Powers. Professor of international relations Rory Cormac unearths a trove of previously classified documents for the November 9 through November 15 block, revealing the role of forgeries, front-organizations, and fabrications at the height of the conflict.
Computer Chips and Artificial Intelligence Transform Modern Warfare
The intersection of technology and state power takes center stage mid-month. While the centrality of technology to international power and conflict is not a new or even modern phenomenon, foreign policy expert Steve Feldstein argues in the November 16 through November 22 segment that computer chips and artificial intelligence are transforming modern warfare and even the bases of international power.
As November winds down, the focus turns inward toward domestic social structures and economic power dynamics. Researcher Daniel Cox takes on the divergence of men and women on issue after issue, from life goals to politics. While acknowledging that women and men are different and have different hopes, dreams, and viewpoints is not news, Cox argues that this divergence threatens societal collapse. Closing out the month from November 30 through December 5, author Casey Michel examines the rise of a new, American oligarchy, detailing how private individuals now wield power once reserved for nation states.
For viewers in Rhode Island and southeastern New England, Story in the Public Square
broadcasts on Rhode Island PBS on Sundays at 11:00 a.m. with a rebroadcast on Thursdays at 7:30 p.m. Audio versions air on SiriusXM’s P.O.T.U.S. channel 124 on Saturdays at 8:30 a.m. and 8:30 p.m., at 3:30 a.m. and 10:30 p.m. on Sundays, and at 5:30 a.m. on Mondays ET.
