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UnConventional Coverage 2000:
Daily, live one-hour programs from the Republican and Democratic conventions.
July 31 -August 4
Republican Convention in Philadelphia
August 14 - 18
Democratic Convention in Los Angeles
Fresh, innovative coverage of the upcoming Republican and Democratic conventions, "UnConventional Coverage 2000" brings you live in-depth explorations, beyond the "political horserace."
Jobs, housing, access to health care, education, prisons, campaign finance reform, and democracy are among the topics covered from an independent non-partisan perspective.
Nationally syndicated columnist Norman Solomon, and veteran radio journalist Elizabeth Robinson are co-hosts. UnConventional Coverage includes a wide range of thinkers and doers, and use local stories to illuminate core national issues.
UnConventional Highlights:
A special package of two 59-minute programs of the most compelling voices and analysis from the conventions and the grassroots mobilizations.
UnConventional Coverage team:
Producer - Phillip Babich, Executive Director - Peggy Law, field director - Laura Livoti, Field Support - John Law, Coordinator - Lisa Rudman, Co-host - Elizabeth Robinson, Co-host - Norman Solomon, Correspondent - Monica Lopez, Web Editor - Stephanie Welch.
August 14-18:
Democratic Convention in Los Angeles
Day Five: August 18, 2000 (part one) RealAudio
Day Five: August 18, 2000 (part two) RealAudio
- Tape segment with reactions to Al Gore's speech
- Mark Pocan, a Wisconsin State Assembly member, speaking about lesbian/gay/bi/trans/queer issues within the Democratic party, and about how he attended a press conference with U'Wa leaders when they came to visit Wisconsin in July. He was asked in advance by local dems not to go (because he was going be a delegate here in LA) - he told them he was going to go anyway
- Lila Garrett, president of the Southern California chapter of Americans for Democratic Action and delegate, describes how the party threatened to take away her credentials after she donated $2,000 to Ralph Nader's campaign
- Taped segment on environmental racism, and Title-6 cases. Critics charge that the Clinton Administration claims to care about both civil rights and the environment, but has done little in the area of environmental racism, where both issues intersect
- Fernando Gapasin, president of AFSME 1108 with Edna Bonacich, a long-time UNITE activist and professor of Sociology and Ethnic Studies at the University of California Riverside. Gapasin and Bonacich will discuss labor issues, including the coalitions built after the 1999 WTO protests, and tensions between the AFL leadership and rank and file members
- Mark Stout, energy policy analyst, discussing electric utility regulation
- Tape segment: Wrap-up piece about the past week and what the future may hold
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Day Four: August 17, 2000 (part one) RealAudio
Day Four: August 17, 2000 (part two) RealAudio
- Jeff Cohen, founder of FAIR, a national media watch group based in New York, speaks on presidental debate issues, and reviews the media coverage of the conventions.
- Dan Hamburg, executive director of Voice of the Environment and former U.S. congressman (D-CA) who subsequently ran as the Green Party candidate for Governor of California, and Caleb Kleppner from the Center for Voting and Democracy discuss third parties and the concept of "throw away" and "spoiler votes."
- Taped segment of William McNary, president of Citizen Action, Illinois, and Joann Bowman, state representative from Oregon, speaking about campaign finance reform.
- Taped segment on civil liberties and police brutality.
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Day Three: August 16, 2000 (part one) RealAudio
Day Three: August 16, 2000 (part two) RealAudio
- Jessica Goodheart, research director for the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy, and one of the authors of a new report entitled "The Other LA," which examines poverty and the working poor.
- Stephanie Monroe, director of Santa Monica Living Wage Campaign discusses the Democrats, wages and workers.
- Taped segment on immigration.
- Taped segment about Iraq and the continuing U.S. bombing of that nation.
- Crystal Plati, field director of Voters for Choice, and Gilliam Russom, a UCLA student discuss what's happened to reproductive rights, women's access to abortion, and the full range of women's health care during eight years of a Democratic presidency.
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Day Two: August 15, 2000 (part one) RealAudio
Day Two: August 15, 2000 (part two) RealAudio
- Kathleen Sweeney, a resident of Dome Village transitional housing facility for homeless people located three blocks from the convention center, and Johnnie Harris, who calls himself a "recovering homeless person," and author of forthcoming book "I See Dead People."
- Audio footage from police shut down of a Rage Against the Machine concert.
- Taped segment about Al Gore and his major interest in Occidental Petroleum Corporation, a company that has had a vast impact on the U'wa indigenous people in Columbia. The U'wa have threatened mass suicide if Occidental continues drilling on their lands.
- Ministers Against Global Injustice (MAGI) a new organization of African American Ministers discussing globalization and AIDS, with Rev. William M.Campbell - Los Angeles, Rev. Dr. Terrie E. Griffin - Richmond, Virginia and Rev. Alexander D. Hurt - Boston, Massachusetts.
- Taped collage of events of the UnConvention in the streets of Los Angeles.
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Day One: August 14, 2000 (part one) RealAudio
Day One: August 14, 2000 (part two) RealAudio
- Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-CA) and Ken Casarez, International Representative of the Laborers International Union of North America, discuss tensions in the Democratic Party and how Progressives and Liberals are concerned by the Democratic Party's pull to the right.
- Taped segment on police response at the conventions
- Medea Benjamin, Green Party Candidate for U.S. Senate for the state of California, discusses why third parties are important and how she represents working Americans.
- Congressman Tom Campbell (R-CA) is also running for U.S. Senate against Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA). Campbell, a maverick republican, discusses his positions, both progressive and conservative.
- Taped segment from the anarchist conference. Anarchists have been called responsible for the property damage done by protesters at the conventions. In this piece they discuss their beliefs and strategies.