Later this month, TheNation.com will get a new look. It’s part of an overall effort to improve our digital and online offerings, and to provide you with a better user experience. What’s most exciting to many readers is that we’ll be introducing two new blogs in April. Jeremy Scahill, our longtime contributor, award winning investigative reporter and author of Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army will be blogging regularly at TheNation.com, covering issues ranging from defense contracting and war profiteering to the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East. News breaks so fast on Jeremy’s beat that we wanted to bring it to you faster–he’ll offer reporting and commentary throughout the week.
You should also be following Greg Mitchell on Twitter (@MediaFixBlog) where he’s warming up for his new blog, Media Fix. Greg comes to us from Editor and Publisher and from years of brave and razor sharp reporting and media watch-dogging. Media Fix will be a guide to the best and the worst from across the media landscape – a fast-paced cheat sheet to all things media. For now you should follow him on Twitter, and look out for both new blogs – and a revamped website – in the weeks to come.
Also this week:
The Breakdown with Chris Hayes …
No breakdown this week! Chris will be back with a new one next Friday. For now you’ll have to make do with his latest segment from MSNBC, where he talked with Keith Olbermann about the prospects for a real financial reform bill. Can we end the era of $1b/year hedge fund managers? Find out here.
Two New Videos …
Longtime Nation contributor Laura Flanders has tweaked the format of her program, GRIT TV with Laura Flanders, to a faster-paced, more conversational 30-minute a day program. GRIT is doing some of the best coverage around of issues like healthcare reform and right-wing extremism. Here’s Laura’s interview with The Nation’s Richard Kim about Glenn Beck and the "Cloward-Piven Strategy," an idea that started with a 1966 Nation article that Beck now believes is the blueprint for the end of Democracy. Really! We’re flattered. Watch here.
Also, here is my interview with Laura on Wednesday, about the political aftermath of the tragic Russian subway bombings:
I also highly recommend Russia Today’s (English-language) coverage of the bombings. It’s smart, moving and insightful.
An Evening With Jonathan Schell …
Finally this week, our cover story is an essay by Jonathan Schell assessing President Obama’s vision for a nuclear-free world. Reaching Zero challenges the viability of Obama’s strategy through the eyes of Jonathan Schell, The Nation’s Peace and Disarmament Correspondent and one of the world’s foremost experts on nuclear disarmament.
Next Thursday in New York Jonathan is a featured speaker for "A World Without Nuclear Weapons: Obama’s Vision, Our Mission," a conversation between Schell, Daniel Ellsberg and nuclear scholar Kennette Benedict. (Moderated by Phil Donahue.) Peace Action New York and The Nation Institute are the sponsors – all of the information (date, time, place, etc.) is listed here.
For those of you who aren’t in New York or can’t make it, there’s another piece of good news about TheNation.com redesign – it will be easier than ever for us to feature multimedia from Nation events. We’ll have video and audio of the Schell event posted later this month.
