EDITORIAL STAFF

Karen M. Sughrue

Karen M. Sughrue is a Senior Producer at Retro Report. Karen has worked as a producer at 60 Minutes, where her stories included the growing knowledge gap with American boys falling behind girls in school, an exposé of the U.S. military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" policy and the impact of the one-child policy on Chinese society today. Karen also served as Executive Producer of CBS News Face the Nation and Berlin Bureau Chief covering the fall of the Berlin Wall and the Soviet Union.

Image from Labor Union Activism Is on the Rise, Recalling the Great Depression | Retro Report

Labor Union Activism Is on the Rise, Recalling the Great Depression | Retro Report

Spurred by the pandemic, new groups of workers are pushing to form unions in activism not seen since the 1930s.

Image from Holocaust Survivors Fleeing Ukraine Find New Home in Germany

Holocaust Survivors Fleeing Ukraine Find New Home in Germany

In Ukraine, elderly Jewish citizens threatened by the war with Russia are being evacuated. As children, they escaped the Nazi invasion. Now some are finding refuge in a most unlikely place: Germany.

Image from Special Education: The 50-Year Fight for the Right to Learn

Special Education: The 50-Year Fight for the Right to Learn

Today’s special education system was shaped five decades ago, when parents fought for disabled children’s right to learn.

Image from Racial Health Disparities Didn’t Start With Covid: The Overlooked History of Polio

Racial Health Disparities Didn’t Start With Covid: The Overlooked History of Polio

The coronavirus pandemic has highlighted racial disparities with roots in the past.

Image from Trump and Biden Both Want to Repeal Section 230. Would That Wreck the Internet?

Trump and Biden Both Want to Repeal Section 230. Would That Wreck the Internet?

Today’s heated political arguments over censorship and misinformation online are rooted in a 26-word snippet of a law that created the Internet as we know it.

Image from Enemies of the People: Trump and the Political Press (Media Mistakes Excerpt)

Enemies of the People: Trump and the Political Press (Media Mistakes Excerpt)

In this Emmy Award-nominated film, top national political reporters admit mistakes in their reporting on the 2016 election campaign.

Image from Enemies of the People: Trump and the Political Press (CNN's Missteps Excerpt)

Enemies of the People: Trump and the Political Press (CNN's Missteps Excerpt)

In this Emmy Award-nominated film, CEO Jeff Zucker acknowledges missteps in CNN’s 2016 campaign coverage, when many media outlets covered Donald Trump’s campaign as a spectacle.

Image from Enemies of the People: Trump and the Political Press (False Equivalency Excerpt)

Enemies of the People: Trump and the Political Press (False Equivalency Excerpt)

This Emmy Award-nominated film looks at how the journalistic instinct for “balanced” reporting on Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump in 2016 played out.

Image from Enemies of the People: Trump and the Political Press (Historical Excerpt)

Enemies of the People: Trump and the Political Press (Historical Excerpt)

This Emmy Award-nominated film explores tensions between the press and presidents, charges of liberal media bias and the decline in public trust in journalism. Watch the documentary.

Image from Enemies of the People: Trump and the Political Press (Trailer)

Enemies of the People: Trump and the Political Press (Trailer)

In this Emmy Award-nominated film, journalists who covered the 2016 presidential campaign now offer a candid analysis of their role in President Trump’s rise to power.

Image from Coronavirus Has a Playlist. Songs About Disease Go Way Back.

Coronavirus Has a Playlist. Songs About Disease Go Way Back.

Coronavirus songwriting has gone as global as the pandemic itself, creating a new genre called pandemic pop. It’s a tradition with a long history.

Image from Coronavirus: Lessons From Past Epidemics

Coronavirus: Lessons From Past Epidemics

Dr. Larry Brilliant, who helped eradicate smallpox, says past epidemics can teach us to fight coronavirus.

Image from How Biden vs. Sanders Echoes a 1964 Republican Party Split

How Biden vs. Sanders Echoes a 1964 Republican Party Split

Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden are the icons of an ideological split among today’s Democrats, echoing a similar split in the Republican party of 1964.

Image from Coronavirus Quarantine: Are There Lessons From A Nurse Who Challenged One For Ebola?

Coronavirus Quarantine: Are There Lessons From A Nurse Who Challenged One For Ebola?

Coronavirus has public health officials scrambling to put
quarantines into effect. The 2014 Ebola outbreak may have some lessons.

Image from How Oscar Speeches Became So Political

How Oscar Speeches Became So Political

Oscar night, long a showcase for Hollywood glamour, has also become a platform for film stars to pitch a rainbow of political causes.

Image from Impeached: How Presidents Handled it -- Trump vs. Clinton.

Impeached: How Presidents Handled it -- Trump vs. Clinton.

How can a president continue to govern with an impeachment trial looming? President Clinton and President Trump adopted very different strategies.

Image from "No" on Impeachment Unites Today's GOP. In the 1950s, a Renegade Dared to Break Ranks

"No" on Impeachment Unites Today's GOP. In the 1950s, a Renegade Dared to Break Ranks

Breaking with party unity can be costly. In the 1950’s, Senator Margaret Chase Smith of Maine faced backlash after she condemned Joseph McCarthy, a fellow Republican.

Image from She Rocked the Pentagon

She Rocked the Pentagon

After a sexual assault scandal at the Tailhook convention rocked the Navy in 1991, one female officer, Paula Coughlin, launched a campaign to change military culture.

Image from The Modern Bystander Effect

The Modern Bystander Effect

Why don’t people intervene when they encounter violence streaming live online?

Image from This Snake Is Eating the Everglades

This Snake Is Eating the Everglades

Burmese pythons released into the wild by well-meaning pet owners have created a reptilian nightmare in the Everglades.

Image from Trump Administration Sued for Torpedoing Enforcement of Landmark Housing Law

Trump Administration Sued for Torpedoing Enforcement of Landmark Housing Law

Ben Carson, Secretary of HUD, is being sued for not enforcing the Fair Housing Act – landmark legislation that was passed 50 years ago during the Civil Rights era.

Image from What History Can Teach Us About Mass Killings

What History Can Teach Us About Mass Killings

A century ago, a culture rid itself of the problem of mass murder. How did that happen and what can the modern-day world learn from it?

Image from Trump's Medicaid Positioning Echoes the Controversial Welfare Reform of the 90s

Trump's Medicaid Positioning Echoes the Controversial Welfare Reform of the 90s

During his campaign, Donald Trump vowed not to cut to entitlements, but then reversed himself saying he would, and additionally would turn more control over to the states. We take a look at what happened to another entitlement, welfare, when the states took over.

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Fair Housing

Has the government done enough to stop housing discrimination?

Image from Welfare and the Politics of Poverty

Welfare and the Politics of Poverty

Bill Clinton’s 1996 welfare reform was supposed to move needy families off government handouts and onto a path out of poverty. Twenty years later, how has it turned out?

Image from Crime and Punishment: Three Strikes and You’re Out

Crime and Punishment: Three Strikes and You’re Out

After the 1993 murder of a California child, many states passed laws to lock up repeat offenders for life, but today those laws are raising new questions about how crime is handled in America.

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