Note: Justice Talking ceased production on June 30 of 2008. Commenting on blog posts has been suspended. Listeners who still want to communicate with us may address emails to: "jtinfo@justicetalking.org."
Thank you from the JT Crew
Today is the final day for the Justice
Talking staff. I want to thank all of the talented people who have been
part of our production team! I also want to thank everyone who has
posted their thoughts and comments to this blog. Your appreciation for
our work is so important to each of us.
A few folks have also made comments
about NPR on this blog. I want to be clear that this decision was not
NPR’s. We have never received funding from NPR and they have been
completely supportive over the lifetime of this program. They, too,
were saddened to hear that Justice Talking would be ending.
As for the many suggestions of how we
could raise money to keep the show going, we appreciate your activist
spirit! At this point though, it is, in fact, too late. There are no
remaining staff to produce the show and stations have already found
other programs to fill the space left by Justice Talking.
But as Margot Adler said in her closing
remarks of our final show. “Justice Talking may end, but show or no
show, this conversation and these debates will continue in the courts,
in demonstrations and in the continuing battles that courageous men and
women wage.”
With gratitude,
Ingrid Lakey
Acting Executive Producer
Justice Talking
Original Farewell Message
After nine years on the air, Justice Talking is ceasing production.
We've heard from many people wondering why, so here's the deal: Our
grant has ended. In many ways, it is quite amazing that Justice Talking
has been around as long as it has. We appreciate the support we’ve
received over that time from the Annenberg Foundation, the Annenberg
Foundation Trust at Sunnylands and the Annenberg Public Policy Center.
We are proud of the hundreds of hours of programs we produced which, we
believe, helped people to understand the ways that our lives, the U.S.
Constitution and the justice system intersect.
It has been an honor to be part of the NPR family and to have been
heard by the listeners of over 100 large and small, urban and rural
public radio stations.
We are going to continue producing the show through June 30 and you’ll be able to hear those programs here on our website www.justicetalking.org <http://www.justicetalking.org/> . We expect that our archive will remain online for the foreseeable future as well.
On behalf of the entire staff, thank you for listening to Justice Talking!
Questions about Funding
First, I want to thank everyone who has written to us with such
thoughful words about Justice Talking! The funny thing about radio is
that usually we have to take it on faith that what we produce is
actually being heard and, we hope, making a difference.
Second,
I'd like to address some of your questions about our funding situation.
The show and website cost almost a million dollars to produce. We tried
over a three year period to locate the needed funding but had to sunset
the program when we failed. If someone found a funder willing to
provide a multi-year commitment to the funding needed to produce
Justice Talking and our sister website, Justice Learning, we would
certainly revisit the decision.
Again, thanks to everyone who
has shared their appreciation for Justice Talking. It has been
enormously gratifying to the whole staff to hear that our efforts have
mattered to you.
Ingrid Lakey
Acting Executive Producer
Justice Talking