Kenneth Weiss: STILL TRENDING: A DIVIDED AMERICA FROM NEWSPAPER TO NEWSFEED (with Mike Ahlers)
Former editor of the Baltimore Sun Kenneth N. Weiss, visits the Ivy Bookshop to speak about his new book on the earliest form of “social media”– letters to the editor from the 1800s to the 20th century. The letters address topics from pandemics to abortion. It’s remarkable to see how Americans navigate these issues over time, and what lessons, if any, we can learn from them.
Longtime journalist Mike Ahlers will join Weiss in conversation. We hope you can join us!
Kenneth N. Weiss most recently served as a content editor for the Baltimore Sun Media Group. Previously, he held editorial oversight for the Opinion pages in three distinct publications, including The Washington Post Company’s Gazette of Politics and Business. In addition, he worked as a part-time copy editor for the African Institute for Development Policy, contributing to a project that evaluates democracy indicators in African countries. Weiss was a researcher for the film “The War atHome” which was nominated for theAcademy Award for Best Feature-LengthDocumentary in 1979. He instructed an introductory news writing course at Towson University and the University ofMaryland, Baltimore
Mike Ahlers — a native of Baltimore — has spent more than 40 years in journalism, including newspapers, television and the internet. He spent 12 years in local newspapers, becoming managing editor of The Montgomery Journal. He also served as editorial page editor for one year. After a stint at WUSA-TV in Washington, he spent 19 years with CNN, being named senior producer of homeland security in the days following the September 11th attacks. At CNN, he was dispatched to cover the 2000 Florida vote recount, school shootings at Columbine, Virginia Tech and Sandy Hook, plane crashes, hurricanes, tornados, wildfires and floods. In 2002, he stayed home to cover the Washington snipers, who terrorized his neighborhood. A writer and avid photographer, he counts among his greatest influences Baltimore’s own H.L. Mencken and photographer A. Aubrey Bodine. He currently is a free-lance assignment editor with CBS News in Washington.
