jenattiyeh

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http://www.thoughtcast.org

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MA

Bio

My name is Jenny Attiyeh, and I began my career in 1987 in London as a freelance reporter on the arts for the BBC World Service Radio. I remember my first interview for “Meridian”, as the program I worked for was called. It was with Placido Domingo, and I’ve never been so nervous since.

After my work permit ran out, I returned to Los Angeles, my home city, and continued as an arts reporter for KCRW, an NPR station in Santa Monica. While there, I reported and produced an award-winning documentary on Japanese-American internment during World War II. Shortly after, I was accepted to a National Public Radio residency, which brought me to Washington, D.C. and to WBUR, an NPR station in Boston to report stories for NPR’s Performance Today.

I later attended the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University. After that, I remained in New York City for 9 years, during which time I worked primarily as a reporter on television and radio. I hosted and produced a weekly arts and culture segment for WNYC TV, a PBS station, until it went out of business (thanks to then Mayor Giuliani, who sold the station). Before the lights went out, I managed to produce a mini-documentary on the making of a Philip Glass opera, “Les Enfants Terribles.”

I worked next as a correspondent for a nationally televised PBS program called “Freedom Speaks,” which focused on the media, until it too was taken off the air. (I detect a pattern here…) In between gigs, I also worked as a reporter for WBAI radio, a Pacifica station, and WNYC radio, an NPR station, covering local politics and the arts.

I then moved to Maine, where I lived by the harbor in Kittery, and worked as a reporter for New Hampshire Public Television. There, I covered the ‘99/2000 New Hampshire presidential primary season, and interviewed the major presidential candidates. I also participated as a panelist in nationally televised presidential debates, hosted by Peter Jennings and Tim Russert.

Following the conclusion of the New Hampshire primary season, I moved to Boston, where I did freelance writing on academics, the 2004 presidential campaign and the single life, among other subjects. From this base, in early 2005, I launched ThoughtCast.

What's your favorite public radio show?

"The Interview" on the BBC WS. And it's all because of the co-host Carrie Gracie. She’s supremely intelligent. Specifically, she’s sharp. I admire this quality, particularly her ability to think faster than her own subjects. Her follow-ups amaze me, for she just doesn’t let up. I’ve heard her grill an Iraqi official mercilessly. I’ve also heard her grill Robert Putnam, the author of “Bowling Alone.”
She was equally tough on them both, which surprised me. But when I thought about it, I actually was pleased she’d challenged Robert. His views have been more or less swallowed whole like a delicious raw oyster, but not very well digested. Carrie took the time to digest his work, and spit it back at him.
Now the BBC generally is more forthright and blunt than public radio here in the U.S. Less polite. It’s more than a difference in style, I think, but reflects its larger, older mission. Its audience is the world, so there’s no home turf to protect.
We here in America are a bit more loathe to say the Emperor has no clothes, and I think we pay a high price for that. I wonder what Carrie would say to that! It’s good to be Carrie when it counts. Like when press releases from the White House don’t quite add up. I am not like Carrie Gracie, but I’d like to be more like her on the firing line.

What's your secret talent?

who says i have one?

Which station do you listen to most?

that's a very personal question!

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