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If one journalist interviews another journo instead of an expert, is that really journalism?

In Both Sides Now, author and ethicist Leslie Cannold presents two sides of an argument. Then it’s over to you: what do you think is true, and what do you think Cannold really believes?

Today: Journalists interviewing journalists. In recent years, journalists have begun interviewing other journalists instead of experts for news stories on radio and television. But is that really journalism, and what's the cost to Australian democracy?

No: Journalists are generalists, not experts, and their replacement of experts is bad for democracy. Yes: It doesn’t matter who analyses events for audiences as long as they do it well. Journalists are just adapting to the lack of a sustainable funding model for public-interest journalism in Australia, which is the real threat to democracy.

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How Chegg built a multibillion-dollar education tech platform

Meet one of the hottest names in education: Chegg, a platform where students tap experts for “24/7 homework help.”

Chegg’s textbook answering service is a student staple — but just one of many tools Chegg offers to help students cheat succeed.

Chegg said it’s expecting $790m-$800m in net revenue this year.

But it started small as a ‘Craigslist for students’

In October 2000, a group of Iowa State students launched Cheggpost, an internet version of a campus bulletin board.

The site struggled, but 2 Iowa MBAs took over after seeing that most traffic was from searches for used textbooks. In 2005, they rebranded as Chegg and shifted focus toward becoming a “Netflix” for textbooks.

In 2010, former Yahoo COO and Guitar Hero CEO Dan Rosensweig joined. After taking the company public in 2013, the new CEO led a broader shift away from textbooks.

 

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Aaron Sorkin Canceled Filming at the Chateau Marmont in Solidarity with Workers

Aaron Sorkin (SHS 1979) put the kibosh on plans to film at the Chateau Marmont rather than cross a picket line manned by some of the 248 former employees who were laid off from the property last March, and violate a boycott enacted by those who allege that owner Andre Balazs and Chateau Marmont management allowed a toxic culture of sexual harassment and racism.

“We commend Aaron Sorkin for putting into practice the ideals of free speech and social justice that he depicted so brilliantly in his Oscar-nominated film The Trial of the Chicago 7,”  UNITE HERE Local 11 co-president Kurt Petersen told The Hollywood Reporter, “This is the kind of leadership we need in Hollywood, and we urge everyone else in the industry to follow his lead and honor the boycott of the Chateau Marmont. We also thank members of SAG-AFTRA, Teamsters, Directors Guild, and IATSE for their solidarity.”

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LI's Tovah Feldshuh's memoir is a love letter to her mom

Tovah Feldshuh (SHS 1966) never intended to write her memoir. When the veteran actress was approached by a literary agent, she knew she didn't just want to just travel down the well-trodden road of celebrity sagas of touting career triumphs and detailing past romances.

"Why would you read my celebrity autobiography if you have Matthew McConaughey’s celebrity autobiography right next to me at Barnes & Noble?," she said.

Then it hit her: The only way to truly capture her story was to center it around the often complicated relationship she had with her mother, Lily, who died at 103 in 2014. And since so much of Feldshuh's life has been on a stage, her agent suggested framing it like a theater piece breaking down her life into three acts with scenes instead of chapters.

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LI Exec. of the Month: Michael Mark, AIA, principal and owner of MDSA and partner/chief architect of NursePod

Michael Mark ( SHS 1968) is partner/chief architect for NursePod as well as the principal of Mark Design Studios Architecture (MDSA).

MDSA is a leading architectural design firm with an extensive portfolio of successful projects of educational, municipal and multi-family housing projects throughout the greater New York area, including new structures, building additions and renovations, capital improvements, bond referendum projects, parks and recreational facilities.

Most recently he and his team created NursePod, a modular structure that serves as a remote school nurse’s office to protect students and school staff against COVID-19 spread. The units are constructed offsite and installed on a foundation, streamlining the process for building permits and reducing onsite labor as well as the time needed for a traditionally constructed building. Three of the NursePods were installed at schools in the Glen Cove School District in March, allowing for the resumption of full-time instruction there.

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Women playing vital roles as NBA assistant coaches, and changing the course of basketball

The WNBA tipped off its inaugural season with a three-game schedule nearly 24 years ago.

On that day, about 90 minutes before the Cleveland Rockers hosted the Houston Comets in a matchup featuring three future hall of famer players, reserve guard Jenny Boucek, who overcame daunting odds and made the team during an open tryout, summarized her emotions about what was about to transpire.

“I can’t imagine that there will be a more exciting day, maybe my wedding day,” said Boucek on June 21, 1997, from just outside her Gund Arena locker room. “I’m just going to try to soak it all in.”

Fast forward nearly a quarter of a century and Boucek is thriving in the NBA as one of the league’s eight female assistant coaches.  It's fitting that during Women's History Month, we look at the future of women in the NBA, and that future is bright.

Their duties are varied and fluid, but women assistants are playing integral roles with San Antonio (Becky Hammon), Cleveland (Lindsay Gottlieb SHS 1995), Memphis (Sonia Raman), New Orleans (Teresa Weatherspoon), Dallas (Boucek), Sacramento (Lindsey Harding), Toronto (Brittni Donaldson), and the L.A. Clippers (Natalie Nakase).

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Off-Broadway Reunion of BAD JEWS, THE GETT Featuring Tovah Feldshuh (SHS 1966), and More to Stream Through April & May

Play-PerView has raised almost $350,000 to date in support of arts organizations and other charities across the country impacted by the COVID-19 virus through 45 major live-streamed events and additional auxiliary programming. Today, on the occasion of the company's first anniversary, Play-PerView announces programming and casting for upcoming events through May 15th.

The next installment of "The Debrief," Play-PerView's ongoing InstagramLive programming, will take place on Friday, April 2nd. Featuring Vella Lovell ("Mr. Mayor," "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend"), the live-stream will take place at 6:00pm EST at www.instagram.com/playper_view.

On Saturday, April 10th at 7:00pm EST, Play-PerView will live stream Babette in Retreat by Justin Sayre ("2 Broke Girls"). Directed by Ellie Heyman (The Great Work Begins: Scenes from Angels in America), this production will feature Becca Blackwell (Is This a Room, Hurricane Diane), Nathan Lee Graham (Zoolander, Priscilla Queen of the Desert), Randy Harrison ("Queer as Folk," Cabaret), Drama Desk Award winner Bradford Louryk (Christine Jorgensen Reveals, The Erotic Diary of Anne Frank), author Justin Sayre ("The Comeback," The Meeting*), Tony Award nominee Mary Testa (OKLAHOMA!, Xanadu), Auden Thornton ("This Is Us"), and Jack Weatherall ("Queer as Folk," The Elephant Man). In Babette in Retreat, a farce about love and responsibility, she was one of the most famous courtesans of her day, but now at 50, Babette has decided to retire to her country house, wanting to live in isolation, with only her beloved maid Charlotte for company. After a lifetime of pleasing others, she's ready to please herself. Unfortunately, her plans are destroyed even before her own arrival, as one by one those closest to her all come to the cottage wanting for something. Following its initial presentation, Babette in Retreat will be available on-demand through April 14th. This reading will benefit the Ali Forney Center.

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Biden backs corporate tax hike to fund infrastructure

President Biden is defending a plan to raise the top corporate tax rate from 21% to 28% to fund his $2 trillion "American Jobs Plan," noting the rate was much higher for decades until President Trump cut it in 2017. CBS News senior White House and political correspondent Ed O'Keefe, Washington Post national political reporter Jacqueline Alemany (SHS 2007) , and Axios Justice and Race reporter Russell Contreras spoke to "Red and Blue" host Elaine Quijano about what comes next.

CBSN is CBS News 24/7 digital streaming news service featuring live, anchored coverage available for free across all platforms. Launched in November 2014, the service is a premier destination for breaking news and original storytelling from the deep bench of CBS News correspondents and reporters. CBSN features the top stories of the day as well as deep dives into key issues facing the nation and the world. CBSN has also expanded to launch local news streaming services in major markets across the country. CBSN is currently available on CBSNews.com and the CBS News app across more than 20 platforms, as well as the Paramount+ subscription service.

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The Dallas-Fort Worth Gallery Openings You Must Visit This April

Like all of us, the Nasher Sculpture Center has a lot of plans that are on hold. Some of them indefinitely and, I imagine, some forever.

In place of those plans, most of us instead have a year (and counting) that we can’t get back. March 11, 2020–???? is a still-growing pothole in our collective memory waiting to swallow nostalgia or at least run it off the road—that is, whenever we get enough distance to start remembering this cursed period of time, or the strength to actually do it. I hope and believe I will acquire the former at some point. I doubt I’ll get the latter. I’ve put most of the past year through a paper shredder in my mind already.

In the Nasher’s case, where those plans should be, exhibitions meant to be open now, there is “Nasher Mixtape,” curated by Catherine Craft. On view through September 26, the show is drawn from the Nasher’s permanent collection, though almost a third of the works are making their debut at the museum, and many others haven’t been seen in a while. There are familiar names (David Smith, Joan Miró, Nancy Grossman, Martin Puryear) and newer ones (Nicole Eisenman (SHS 1983) Melvin Edwards, Maren Hassinger).

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BWW Book Review: A STORY THAT HAPPENS By Dan O'Brien

Playwright Dan O'Brien made a splash in LA theatre back in 2017 when The House In Scarsdale: A Memoir For The Stage received multiple Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Nominations, including best writing for O'Brien, for its lauded production at Boston Court. Based on his own traumatic childhood, O'Brien's play was, according to this critic in my review for TheaterMania, "a Rube-Goldberg contraption of a back history, whether fact or fiction, [that] leaves audiences fascinated once the play concludes."

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