Ketzel Levine, NPR Reporter, Laid Off While Reporting Layoffs

New York Times :

In September, Ketzel Levine, a senior correspondent for National Public Radio, came up with an idea for a series about how Americans were handling economic pressure. Called "American Moxie: How We Get By," it began in early December. The subjects were people like an Illinois farmer who loved tending to his cows, but was having to sell them. "My idea was to look at how we adjust, how we change, what we have to dig deep and find in order to do what it takes to get by, and that's where moxie came in," Ms. Levine said.

Ms. Levine and her editor didn't want a series of unconnected stories. "We came up with the idea that each person should be connected with the next somehow, and that was the best part for me," she said. "I'd go on a story and have absolutely no idea what the next story would be -- I'd have to find it while I was there."

But there was an unexpected ending. Midway through her reporting, Ms. Levine found out that she had been laid off as part of a 64-employee cut at NPR.

Ms. Levine, who has worked at NPR since 1977, said she decided the final episode, and her final piece for NPR, should be about her own situation.

Read the whole story: New York Times

Comments

[JazzPuff]

Reading the story, I was thinking YEAH, we are all connected to -job loss, companies downsizing, and wallet decreasing status of the economy and our changing lives. It seemed almost forshadowing in a prophetic and of course sad way, best of luck Ketzel in future endeavors.

[OhComeOnNow]

Holy Irony, Batman!

Seriously, I am sorry to hear about this - I enjoyed her work.

[ECB]

That is Cold !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Actually it is FUC*ED UP !

[blimie]

Sad for her, but I hope this downsizing forces NPR to make some changes in their format. Everything is so scripted and boring. The men all sound like they wear bowties and the women wear navy blue skirts and sensible shoes. And on top of that they play very bad music.

[daedelus]

Fashion dos and don'ts notwithstanding, for a lot of us NPR is a valuable news source and an outlet for music that we will never hear on mainstream playlist radio.

[daedelus]

Pity we can't get rid of one of the MSM gasbags and give their spot to her.

[AtheistUS]

This IS our infrastructure, and this IS part of new New Deal - to expand public radio and public TV. Not shrink, not keep same, but expand, put more money into it, hire more people.
That is why I hope that when Obama administration starts implementing its policies, Ketzel Levine will be back.

[BannedInBoston]

Is that supposed to be, um, like...IRO­NIC?

[ladyrefined2000]

laughing my ahrss off.......­.....

[shockmagog]

I've been listening to your stories from about 1983 to 2002. I've always enjoyed your reporting.

Good luck to you, Ketzel.

[KLevine]

OK, so how exactly can I keep on doing what I've been doing? This I'd like to know!

For those of you I've connected with, thank you for the kind words and good wishes. For the time being, I'm easily reachable at www.ketzel.com and hope to do some podcasting, etc., until I can find paid work.

For those of you speculating why I was laid off, the best I can come up with is the 23 million dollar deficit. That's what I'm told.

And for the guy who doesn't want my pumpkin soup recipe, good news. I don't cook. Never have.

Finally - Wagdog, and your "little post" - my union couldn't do a thing for me even after 30 yrs of paying my dues. Thanks for your concern.

[Clare53]

Good luck to you.

[pjburke]

Greetings, Ms. Levine (Ketzel, if I may)...

Sorry that the 'neo-con steamroller' got you, too... and in such despicable way as it did. But as I'd said earlier, your real story won't end there, where the NPR piece did... so the work-for-p­ublication needn't end there either. How to get paid, of course, is the tricky issue... but one which freelancers and other authors and content producers face every day. You have much to work with and capitalize on, so it seems to me a safe prediction that you'll fare well. Jimmy Stuart did much better, both financially and artistically, after he'd left the "mother ship" of the big studio.

NOTE:

for those wishing to check out Ms. Levine's website, the link above has some superflous characters prepended to the site URL (meaning that you'll get an error).

Until the above link is edited, the following: www.ketzel.comel.com should work... or you can type it directly into the address bar of your browser.

Its worth taking a look at, IMHO.

[pjburke]

of course I made a typo in my own link correction (missing the colon after http...

once again: http://www.ketzel.com

some good news that I saw over there: there're still spots available -- only a handful left, though -- for the trip to the Aegean in April. I gotta see what I can hock now...

[fed up in kansas]

Perhaps you could use this mess to begin an honest, professional response to a dishonest unprofessional world. I'm seeing a kind of retro news outlet for all of us boomers who like their news and feature stories to be an uncovering of truth. All of this yammering is making me wish for a place where I could go to get information I can trust where the reporters report not make the news. Since NPR has lost its shine must we form a news coop?

[XME]

Well, sometimes irony s*cks!

[Manx]

First of all, Rachel Maddow's show is not a news program per se but a magazine format.

Anderson Cooper may not resort to sarcasm but AC 360 uses something more lethal, like the video clips of Rev. Wright CNN ran over and over during the presidential campaign to portray Obama as guilty by association. Cooper did everything possible to trash Obama during the primaries and later in the general election. He doesn't have to resort to sarcasm when he can use video clips to attack someone's character. AC 360 resorts to tabloid, sensational, yellow journalism and Cooper has no right to criticize Rachel Maddow. Maddow might be snarky but she does it with a smile.

Cooper is the closest thing to a robot I've seen on TV news. He seems soulless, more interested in just keeping his job than in improving journalistic standards or becoming a real reporter. I am put off by his air of superiority and righteousness.

[LINY516]

Well, he's a trust fund baby (Gloria Vanderbilt's son). He doesn't have to worry about earning a living to put food on the table and a roof over his head. His salary from CNN is probably just toss around money.

[swo68]

Wright was more relevant to Obama than Ayers. Atleast there was a real connection there. McCain's campaign was crazy to focus on Ayers. Wright wasn't driven home enough by the media if you ask me.

If I were Cooper, I wouldn't let Maddow kiss my elitist pinky ring. I can't stand her.

[BuzzingAlong]

How many time did AC and CNN or any of the other so-called journalistic talking heads play the video of the witch doctor driving the demons out of Sarah Palin?

[ProfessorPeg]

I feel the need to inform Quantumspin, who has some mistaken ideas about college professors and the meaning of tenure. I am a tenured college professor, making $42,000/year. My salary was frozen last spring and retirement benefits eliminated in August. I foresee two possible scenarios for my future: 1) My small department will be cut, which will means that my job will be eliminated even though I am tenured. 2) The College will close its doors after the 2009-2010 academic term.
Institutions of higher education are in severe economic difficulty right now. My job is in no way guaranteed. At age 55, the hopes of finding another position are slim to none. I certainly can relate to Levine's series and to her situation.

[Earlymusician]

Hear, hear. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed for you.

[Clare53]

Good luck Professor Peg. I'm keeping a good thought for you. I'm 55, just got a masters 6 months ago and haven't even had an interview. Very scary.

[Clare53]

Professor Peg, responses to your comment are disappearing from this thread. Sorry if this posts twice. I'm so sorry. I hope things work out. I will keep a good thought for you.

[SwingingFromCenter]

I hate to differ with you, but colleges for the most part are NOT in any kind of trouble. On the contrary, they are thriving.

it's well documented that in times of economic strife, college enrollment skyrockets as adults "re-train" themselves for new work sectors. I take courses out of personal interest at the university nearest me, and they've had such a surge in new students this year they've actually had to work out deals with local businesses to use their parking lots due to the overflow. The wait lists on classes are enormously longer than usual. Everybody is going back to school, it seems.

[Clare53]

Swinging - I don't know where you live, but elsewhere hikes in tuition and fees and enormous budget cuts have people dropping out of school. Financial aid is getting cut, programs are getting cut, classes are getting cut and staff and faculty jobs are getting cut. Colleges are in big trouble. I think Professor Peg and I should move to your town.

[bikerdude]

You would probably feel a lot more secure if you had a union backing you, right? These businesses, and colleges surely are businesses, are profit first and will do all they can to screw the very people who made them successful. They think its all about the investment portfolio and the fund raisers...­.

[wagadog]

A strong union, you mean. Heck, during the recession of the late 70's, my dad (a union steamfitter) was out of work for nearly 2 years, but we still went to the doctor, the dentist, kept our house (which we own still) and ate regularly. Wore second-hand clothes, and my mom worked far more hours, and the alcoholism! Don't get me started! His union stood by him for 50 years and more, including full medical care throughout his retirement, including a stint in rehab they paid for. In fact, when Blue Cross tried to get us to pay for the union-paid rehab, I called them up to complain, and the guy on the other end of the phone, a rather rough-sounding Mr. Noriega said in an almost-mob-sounding voice, "You have them talk to ME." and gave me his number. Never heard another peep about those bills. This is what I mean by a STRONG union.

The fact that the unions were weakened and battered throughout the "free market" 80's and 90's -- starting with Reagan's absolutely illegal busting of the air traffic controller's union (my girlfriend Barrie Brown's dad who WAS an air traffic controller did not make out nearly as well as my dad--who never even made it through the eighth grade!) and rolling on through our NAFTAstic blue dog "democrat" Clinton's "ship them jobs overseas" years -- THIS is why Ketzel's union "couldn't" (or wouldn't) do anything for her. Now I'm mad.

[AmberGaze]

NPR is really falling off! That was such a slap in the face to lay-off Levine. I stopped listening to NPR after they canceled Farai Chideya.

[AmberGaze]

*Cancelled

[Soundofthunder]

Write what you know, goes the old saying. Works for broadcasting, too.

SOT

[nogimmicks]

NPR is a feel-good station. They tend to avoid any real reporting, serious analysis. The donor influence is too heavy, I guess, or something else. However for those who can successfully suppress their urge to know the truth and protect the weak and the innocent, NPR offers some good/funny programs. Nothing is perfect.

[wagadog]

www.democracynow.org

much better reporting. And so much more astute use of technology. Also: broadcast in Spanish as well as English.

[brooklyncitizen]

They are generally benign but I agree they simply entertain and keep it safe. Nothing to rock the boat unlike Amy Goodman.