What’s In This Issue?
This Week’s Main Stories
Story 01Why Bill Gates Is Quietly Buying So Much Farm Land
Story 02How Magazines Made Asian America
Story 03Has the NFL Killed Television?Even More Stories
Why Bill Gates Is Quietly Buying So Much Farm Land
Bill Gates is America's largest owner of farm land and he's done it mostly under the radar. Last week, he was asked about it during a live chat and offered some clues about his thinking and what impact he feels owning that land might have in the fight against climate change. People are speculating about what he may be aiming to do with the land, but it seems clear from his latest comments and an investigative article that came out in January, that it may be a strategy to help promote more sustainable agriculture over the long term.
How Magazines Made Asian America
The birth of a subculture is a fascinating topic to unravel, and a timely article I read this week unpacks how Asian American culture was largely shaped in the nineties by a handful of magazines that defined an emerging genre. As the protests and conversation exploded this week around the #stopasianhate movement, this look back at the history of how magazines brought the Asian identity in America to life for first generation kids growing up in a new place hit a personal chord for me. Though most of these magazines didn't seem to include Indians as "Asian" -- I remember this desire to find my own identity and how that journey continues to be relevant today through programming like the newly announced Asian Enough podcast with John Cho and others.
Has the NFL Killed Television?
The way local television affiliates work and their relationship to their parent networks is a logic-defying maze, but this week on the heels of the 11 year NFL mega-deal announcement - it's worth breaking down. Tech expert Shelly Palmer offers a useful overview of what this NFL deal really means for all the players involved and why it might put the already struggling local TV station affiliate model out of business for good.
