groundshop

As a knowledgeable and respected member of the news media, who/what determines the talkshows, newspapers, magazines you appear/communicate through? Not only that, but why do you do it?

I always wonder why such knowledgeable people go out of their way to be interviewed, questioned, and put on panels.

An example of this: I hear you on the Diane Rehm show frequently. While I'm glad you're a guest (and I love the show a lot), I'm just surprised the NYT allows you to spend your time there. I always picture ranked jobs like yours as having a super political aspect within the organization (as in, corporate politick) and being so time demanding as to inherently disallow this kind of time spent outside the organization.

I don't remember seeing this email last year, but I can speak from experience (and as an ASU employee) that public schools, generally, as a policy try to prevent people from using their resources and positions of power to influence politics. This often isn't the case at private uni's like Haaaaaavad or MIT.

I replied in some detail to The_Noodle_Minions, but the gist of the matter is that ASU doesn't allow people to use university resources to promote any specific political view. Any faculty can use their personal time, money, influence to express their views. The main reason behind this is that the school takes public money. Imagine if the AZ governor started rewarding ASU for supporting her by giving the school more funding, or vice-versa, by punishing the university for using funds to support an opposition candidate.

Granted, if a member of faculty suddenly started supporting NAMBLA there might be some repercussions for it. . .

I heard your interview on Fresh Air! a while back, really fantastic. How was being on that show? How did you actually get on (did they call you / you call them, etc.).

Thanks!