Don’t cry for the fallen: Madhulika Sikka on downfall of once-mighty media men
Matt Lauer of NBC, Charlie Rose, of PBS and CBS, Bill O’Reilly of Fox News, John Hockenberry of NPR – all of these powerful men of the media have one thing in common: they no longer have a microphone due to sexual harassment allegations. Are these men getting their just due, or being denied due process and unfairly punished? For answers, we turned to Madhulika Sikka, the public editor of PBS, where serves as an independent internal critic of the network. Prior to joining PBS, she was the award-winning executive producer of NPR’s Morning Edition, executive editor of NPR News, and worked at ABC News Nightline with Ted Koppel for 13 years. Sikka recently argued in an article in The Daily Beast: “Stop lamenting the ‘loss of talent’ of the men who have been removed. If we examine the lost opportunities of so many women as a result of the structural obstacles to their growth, advancement, and power, that work could fill up all our time.” Sikka discusses the fall of the media’s mighty men, her book about dealing with breast cancer, and her latest project, 52 weeks 52 books 52 women, a website and podcast.
Madhulika Sikka, Public Editor, PBS
