Author Lisa Napoli Event Focuses on Pivotal Figures in News Media History

Posted on July 14, 2021 at 6:00 am

BY GWENDOLYN HALEY

Media Partner Spokane Public Radio

I’m thrilled to share that journalist and author Lisa Napoli will be with us in a virtual visit on Thursday, August 5, at 6:30pm, presented with media partner Spokane Public Radio.

The 24-Hour News Cycle & How It Created a World of News Junkies

In this online program with Lisa Napoli, you can discover the stories of some of the key figures who were instrumental in forever changing daily news for Americans.

Napoli discusses two of her nonfiction titles, her newest, Susan, Linda, Nina, and Cokie: The Extraordinary Story of the Founding Mothers of NPR, and her third book Up All Night: Ted Turner, CNN, and the Birth of the 24-Hour News Cycle.

Susan, Linda, Nina, and Cokie focuses on news media history in the years after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 when women in the workplace still found themselves stuck in jobs considered “women’s work” or blocked entirely from jobs in specific fields. This was especially true in the news business, until pioneering nonprofit National Public Radio came along in the 1970s and four remarkable women changed the news media landscape forever.


Up All Night mixes media history, a business adventure story, and great characters into an entertaining nonfiction read. It “tells the story of a network that succeeded beyond even the wildest imaginings of its charismatic and uncontrollable founder and paved the way for the world we live in today” (from the publisher).

This is sure to be a fascinating discussion that you won’t want to miss. You can register for this event on our online calendar.

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MORE ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Lisa Napoli has worked as both a print and broadcast journalist for many years, covering news events that include presidential campaigns, the Waco standoff, and the changes brought about by digital technology and the internet for news outlets, such as MSNBC, The New York Times’ CyberTimes, and the public radio show Marketplace.

Napoli is the author of four books of nonfiction. Her first, Radio Shangri-La: What I Discovered on my Accidental Journey to the Happiest Kingdom on Earth, reveals the impact of media culture on the ancient Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan. From the book’s synopsis: “As [Napoli] helps to start Bhutan’s first youth-oriented radio station, Kuzoo FM, she must come to terms with her conflicting feelings about the impact of the medium on a country that had been shielded from its effects.”

In 2016, Napoli visited Spokane to talk about her second book, Ray & Joan: The Man Who Made the McDonald’s Fortune and the Woman Who Gave It All Away. This remarkable story of the late philanthropist Joan Kroc and her husband Ray Kroc of McDonald’s fame weaves the more well-known story of big business giant Ray Kroc with the lesser known story of the lavish philanthropist Joan. From Marie Claire magazine: “…This wonderfully moving and entertaining biography will have you thinking differently about what it means to give generously and spend lavishly.” An example of Joan Kroc’s charitable giving in our region is The Salvation Army Ray & Joan Kroc Corps Community Center in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.

SELECTED READING FOR BOOK CLUB

You can read Napoli’s book Susan, Linda, Nina, and Cokie and discuss its themes with others in the SCLD Online Book Club, starting August 5.

Everyone is welcome to join the SCLD Online Book Club. If you have an SCLD in-district library card in good standing, you can check out the eBook version through Freading with no holds and no waiting, also starting on August 5.

JOIN THE BOOK CLUB
Gwendolyn Haley

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