Looking Back at the Year in Media

Coming up on today’s show:

• 2017 saw repeated attacks on the media, some groundbreaking work, the shuttering of local news outlets, reporting failures and a new level of insecurity for many journalists operating around the world. Bill Adair, Knight Professor of Journalism and Public Policy at Duke University and founder of Politifact and Joanne Lipman, Chief Content Officer and Editor-in-Chief of USA Today, join The Takeaway to look back on the year in media and journalism. 

• Two Reuters journalists covering the Rohingya crisis have been charged with illegally obtaining information. They were detained on December 12 and this week a court ruled that they will remain in custody for two more weeks. Phil Robertson, deputy director of Human Rights Watch’s Asia division and Reg Chua, executive editor for editorial operations at Thomson Reuters, discuss the ongoing detention. 

• Liberia is getting a new president in what is expected to be the country’s first peaceful transfer of power in more than 70 years. Officials are still counting votes after Tuesday’s election, but George Weah, a former international soccer star and Liberian senator, is favored to win the presidency. Weah would replace Africa’s first elected female head of state, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. Ibrahim Al-bakri Nyei, Liberian researcher, activist and political commentator, weighs in on the election.  

• Eight class-action lawsuits filed across federal courts this week allege that Apple defrauded iPhone users by slowing devices without warning to compensate for poor battery performance. While the lawsuits blame the tech giant, some technology experts say this issue gets into a gray area of consumer protection laws when it comes to aging technology. Rory Van Loo, Boston University Law professor, joins The Takeaway to break down the story. 

• Cristo Rey New York is a Catholic high school in Harlem that sends its students out to work in the corporate world for a full day each week. As part of The Takeaway’s ongoing series, “America’s New Credentials: The Future of American Higher Education,” Takeaway producer Rob Gunther visited the school to see how the system works and what it means for students, teachers, and job site supervisors.

• Pensions became popularized in the mid-20th century. Now, excluding government employees, pensions have become far less common and many workers who expected to receive pensions at retirement age are finding that their benefits have changed. Olivia Mitchell, executive director of the Pension Research Council at the Wharton School of Business, joins The Takeaway to explain the state of private pensions in America. 

This episode is hosted by Todd Zwillich.