Robert Weissman on New Congress, Jamie Kalven on Police Abuse Records

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Standard Oil as octopus, by Udo Keppler (Puck, 9/7/1904)

This week on CounterSpin: We’re told the recent midterm elections were the “most expensive in US history,” but who was buying? And what do they expect in return? And what does it all mean for the relatively unmoneyed, namely most of us? We talked with Robert Weissman, president of Public Citizen, about the 114th Congress.

Chicago police officer arresting an African-American youth (cc photo: Matt Novak)

Also on the show: Media debate over police practices often centers on emotion and rhetoric, and sometimes that’s due to an actual lack of data on such incidents. We spoke with Chicago journalist and activist Jamie Kalven about adding information to the story of police policy. A re-airing of an interview from July 2014.

LINKS:

–“How an Activist Journalist’s Commitment to a Poor Chicago Community Led to a Big FOIA Win,” by Rui Kaneya (CJR, 7/22/14)