Author
Audio Astra: A sparkling grab-bag of eclectic audio stories
Audio Astra reviews recent audio reporting on Kansas news, including podcasts and radio stories. Eric Thomas directs the Kansas Scholastic Press Association and teaches visual journalism and photojournalism at the University of Kansas. School is back in session at KU, so my life is a bit frantic with prepping for the semester. Yet this week presented so […]
Audio Astra: The never-ending, slithering specter of opioids
Audio Astra reviews recent audio reporting on Kansas news, including podcasts and radio stories. Eric Thomas directs the Kansas Scholastic Press Association and teaches visual journalism and photojournalism at the University of Kansas. “Empire of Pain” Patrick Radden Keefe, April 13, 2021 Purdue’s $4.5 Billion Opioid Settlement Got Thrown Out. Now What? The Journal, Dec. 22, 2021 […]
Audio Astra: How we ignored the most popular COVID prevention — testing
Audio Astra reviews recent audio reporting on Kansas news, including podcasts and radio stories. Eric Thomas directs the Kansas Scholastic Press Association and teaches visual journalism and photojournalism at the University of Kansas. “A COVID Testing Crisis, Again” The Daily, Dec. 22, 2021 Have you read the news accounts of Americans protesting COVID-19 testing sites? The scores […]
Audio Astra: An audio time capsule of Kansas news for 2021
Audio Astra reviews recent audio reporting on Kansas news, including podcasts and radio stories. Eric Thomas directs the Kansas Scholastic Press Association and teaches visual journalism and photojournalism at the University of Kansas. People often ask me for my podcast recommendations, because I am insufferable about quoting podcasts in conversations. The number of podcasts that I hear […]
Audio Astra: Podcasts provide recipe for post-pandemic conversations
Audio Astra reviews recent audio reporting on Kansas news, including podcasts and radio stories. Eric Thomas directs the Kansas Scholastic Press Association and teaches visual journalism and photojournalism at the University of Kansas. Lee Norman on managing the pandemic and being fired Kansas Reflector Podcast, Dec. 13, 2021 Painting a brighter day for Quindaro Real Humans by […]
Audio Astra: We often say ‘political’ divide when we mean ‘cultural’ divide
Audio Astra reviews recent audio reporting on Kansas news, including podcasts and radio stories. Eric Thomas directs the Kansas Scholastic Press Association and teaches visual journalism and photojournalism at the University of Kansas. The Ghislaine Edition The Slate Political Gabfest, Dec. 9 Where do we go from here on COVID-19? Chillin’ in the Statehouse, Dec. 6 A […]
Audio Astra: A Kansas native and his messy road map for compromise on guns
Audio Astra reviews recent audio reporting on Kansas news, including podcasts and radio stories. Eric Thomas directs the Kansas Scholastic Press Association and teaches visual journalism and photojournalism at the University of Kansas. Former Gun Industry Insider On His Battle Against the NRA Fresh Air, Nov. 22, 2021 Gunfight: My Battle against the Industry that Radicalized America […]
Audio Astra: A morbid playlist of otherwise unrelated audio stories
Audio Astra reviews recent audio reporting on Kansas news, including podcasts and radio stories. Eric Thomas directs the Kansas Scholastic Press Association and teaches visual journalism and photojournalism at the University of Kansas. This week, three podcasts tackle a single topic in very different ways. The theme? How to investigate the cause of death. Some of these […]
Audio Astra: Expertise has been escorted from the building
Audio Astra reviews recent audio reporting on Kansas news, including podcasts and radio stories. Eric Thomas directs the Kansas Scholastic Press Association and teaches visual journalism and photojournalism at the University of Kansas. The Public Health Officials Under Siege The Daily, Nov. 11, 2021 TPiH 001 – JoAnn Rivera That Podcast in Hutch, Nov. 11, 2021 In […]
Audio Astra: Thoughtful thanks to our pandemic-era educators in Kansas
Audio Astra reviews recent audio reporting on Kansas news, including podcasts and radio stories. Eric Thomas directs the Kansas Scholastic Press Association and teaches visual journalism and photojournalism at the University of Kansas. Dear Kansas public teachers and school staff: This is a thank you note. It was not assigned. Or described in your syllabus. You don’t […]
Audio Astra: Candid stories of recovery call us to action
Audio Astra reviews recent audio reporting on Kansas news, including podcasts and radio stories. Eric Thomas directs the Kansas Scholastic Press Association and teaches visual journalism and photojournalism at the University of Kansas. Jacci Espinoza That Podcast in Hutch, Oct. 28, 2021 During the past few years I have recorded dozens of lectures for my students at […]
Audio Astra: A national political lie prevents rational local decisions in Kansas
Audio Astra reviews recent audio reporting on Kansas news, including podcasts and radio stories. Eric Thomas directs the Kansas Scholastic Press Association and teaches visual journalism and photojournalism at the University of Kansas. Seaman High School name controversy Kansas Reflector, Oct. 25, 2021 During a backyard conversation the other night with two friends, one of them asked […]