Topic: Human Rights

Maro Chermayeff, Executive Producer and Director

Edna Adan, Founder, Edna Adan Hospital of Somaliland

Host: Craig Cohen

Inspired by journalists Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn's book of the same name, Half the Sky - Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women is a four-hour television series for PBS that documents women and girls who are living under some of the most difficult circumstances imaginable — and fighting to change them. Their intimate, dramatic and immediate stories of struggle reflect viable and sustainable options for empowerment and offer a blueprint for transformation. We'll talk with two guests - Maro Chermayeff, Executive Producer and Director, as well as one of the activists featured in the film, Edna Adan, founder of the Edna Hospital in Somaliland. Half the Sky airs on WILL-TV in two parts, on October 1st and 2nd at 8 pm.

There are many reasons to purchase goods or services from one company over another: price, quality, and convenience. But sometimes, the decision is a moral one; we seek out businesses we believe support or represent our world view – or avoid those that defy it. (The debate earlier this summer over Chick-Fil-A was a demonstration of both).

At the heart of such decisions is whether we deem a company to be socially responsible. But how do you really know? How can you be sure that a reputation is accurate and deserved? And what if the truth is mixed – what if a company leads on one ethical precept, but falls short on another?

Journalist Fran Hawthorne has contemplated these questions, and set out to uncover whether some of the most beloved, trusted companies who have built up a socially responsible reputation really live up to the hype. In the book Ethical Chic: The Inside Story of the Companies We Think We Love, Hawthorne takes us behind the scenes of companies with powerful brand loyalty, companies like Tom’s of Maine, Starbucks, and Apple. Along the way, Hawthorne finds out why these companies have earned seemingly unflagging devotion from socially conscious consumers. And she calls out the companies and consumers alike with a provocative question: Is it really about being socially conscious, or just looking like you are?

Katherine Boo, Staff Writer, The New Yorker; Pulitzer Prize Winner

Host: David Inge

Pulitzer Prize-winner Katherine Boo has written about the dramatic and sometimes heartbreaking story of families striving toward a better life in one of the 21st century’s great, unequal cities. Her book "Behind the Beautiful Forevers" is based on three years of uncompromising reporting.

This is a repeat broadcast from Monday, February 20, 2012, 11 am

Burma is one of the poorest countries in Asia. A long period of military rule has kept the country from developing either politically or economically. But that may be starting to change. One sign of that change was the recent election to Parliament of the country’s leading opposition figure Aung San Suu Kyi. Next time on Focus our morning talk show we will review recent events in Burma as we talk with Christina Fink, from the Elliot School of International Affairs at the George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

This is a repeat broadcast from Tuesday, May 22, 2012, 10 am

With Asef Bayat, Ph.D. (Professor of Sociology and Middle East Studies, University of Illinois)

With Jonathan Hafetz, Ph.D. (Associate Professor of Law, Seton Hall University School of Law)

With Mark C. Weber, J.D. (St. Vincent dePaul Professor of Law, DePaul University College of Law, Chicago)

With Mary E. Gallagher, Ph.D. (Associate Professor of Political Science, and Director, Center for Chinese Studies, University of Michigan), and , and Manfred Elfstrom, MIA (formerly with the International Labor Rights Forum)