AMERICAN RADIOWORKS® is the national documentary unit of American Public Media. It is public radio's largest documentary production unit; it creates documentaries, series projects, and investigative reports for the public radio system and the Internet. I use American Radioworks documentary for discussion questions and assignments in my sociology courses.
Extensive online documentaries accompany all ARW radio projects, providing background, original photography, interactive elements and streaming audio of the radio documentaries.
ARW represents a sustained effort at explanatory and investigative journalism. Principal themes include:
•· Public affairs documentaries on major social and economic issues
•· Investigative reporting
•· Documentaries that explore significant social and cultural subjects through stories with strong narrative threads
•· "Living History," an ongoing effort to document the 20th century American experience through the lives of those who witnessed it.
Sample assignment:
Read one of the documentary projects series and write a comprehensive analysis on the story using sociological perspectives. These are very interesting and captivating series.
Key Questions to Consider:
•· Identify the story and source.
•· How would sociologists interpret the story?
•· Identify the sociological issues discussed in the story?
•· Identify the theoretical perspectives used in the story?
•· What are your strategies for action: Creative solution to the problem?
•· What did you learn from listening or reading the story?
•· Feel free to add additional remarks.
