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This is Our Body Politics. I'm Farai Chidea. Recently, there has been a lot of news about the news.

Between layoffs, show cancellations, and increasing polarization, who gets the platform to tell the news and how they tell it matters more than ever before.

To help us understand what's at stake, we talk first with someone at the center of it all.

Melissa Harris Perry is a bold voice in an often conventional media landscape.

On her former MSNBC weekend show, MelissaPerry, as well as on WNYC

studios, The Takeaway, Melissa tackles how gender, race, and identity impact our politics. Most

recently, she spoke truth to New York Public Radio in the face of their sudden cancellation

of the takeaway. If you love public radio, this will not be an easy episode to listen to.

It wasn't easy for us to produce, so we talk about the failures of public radio to equitably

resource or responsibly employ black and Bipoc talent, and how that has helped undermine

public radio's long-term audience growth and

stability. Our Body Politic also offered New York Public Radio the chance to respond, and we made

an offer to have the chief content officer of WNYC on our air any time that he's able to join us.

New York Public Radio did respond by email saying that Melissa Harris-Perry

was not fired temporarily, but rather, quote, was off air for a few days while we worked through a

contractual matter. The network also pointed out that the $1.9 million in compensation paid to former

CEO Laura Walker that we mentioned at the top of the segment includes, quote,

...