Laura Flanders Show
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Laura Flanders (born 5 December 1961) is an English broadcast journalist living in the United States who presents the weekly, long-form interview show ''The Laura Flanders Show''. Flanders has described herself as a "lefty person". The brothers Alexander, Andrew and Patrick Cockburn, all journalists, are her half-uncles. Author Lydia Davis is her half-aunt. Her sister is Stephanie Flanders, a former BBC journalist. Actress Olivia Wilde is her cousin.


Early life

Flanders is the daughter of the British comic songwriter and broadcaster Michael Flanders and the American-born Claudia Cockburn, first daughter of radical journalist Claud Cockburn and American author
Hope Hale Davis Hope Hale Davis (née Frances Hope Hale; November 2, 1903 – October 2, 2004) was a 20th-century American feminist (or "proto-feminist") and communist, later a writer and writing teacher. Background Davis was born Frances Hope Hale on November 2, ...
. She was raised in the
Kensington Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in the West End of London, West of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up b ...
district of London and moved to the U.S. in 1980 at age 19. She graduated from
Barnard College of Columbia University Barnard College of Columbia University is a private women's liberal arts college in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1889 by a group of women led by young student activist Annie Nathan Meyer, who petitioned Columbia U ...
in 1985 with a degree in history and women's studies.


Career

Flanders was founding director of the women's desk at the media watch group Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR), and for a decade produced and hosted ''
CounterSpin Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting (FAIR) is a progressive left-leaning media critique organization based in New York City. The organization was founded in 1986 by Jeff Cohen and Martin A. Lee. FAIR monitors American news media for bias, inaccura ...
'', FAIR's syndicated radio program. In January 1993, she appeared on the
ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...
''
Good Morning America ''Good Morning America'' (often abbreviated as ''GMA'') is an American morning television program that is broadcast on ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends with the debut of a Sunday edition on January 3, 1993. Th ...
'' program as a spokesperson for FAIR to discuss how domestic violence increases during the annual
Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual final playoff game of the National Football League (NFL) to determine the league champion. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966, replacing the NFL Championship Game. Since 2022, the game ...
. Flanders hosted the weekday radio show ''Your Call'' on KALW, before starting the Saturday/Sunday evening ''Laura Flanders Show'' on Air America Radio in 2004. It became the weekly one-hour '' Radio Nation'' in 2007, and a daily TV show on Free Speech TV, "GRITtv with Laura Flanders" in 2008. That show aired for three years on Free Speech TV before moving to
KCET KCET (channel 28) is a secondary PBS member television station in Los Angeles, California, United States. It is owned by the Public Media Group of Southern California alongside the market's primary PBS member, Huntington Beach–licensed KOCE-TV ...
/ Linktv and teleSUR, as a weekly program. Flanders is a contributing writer for '' The Nation'', and '' Yes Magazine'' and has also contributed to '' In These Times'', '' The Progressive'' and '' Ms.'', magazine. She has authored six books, including ''Blue Grit: True Democrats Take Back Politics from the Politicians'' (Penguin Press 2007); ''Bushwomen: Tales of a Cynical Species'' (Verso, 2004), a study of the women in
George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
's cabinet; and a collection of essays, ''Real Majority, Media Minority: The Cost of Sidelining Women in Reporting'' (1997). She edited "''At the Tea Party....''" (O/R Books 2010) and ''The W Effect: Sexual Politics in the Age of Bush'' (2004) and contributed to ''The Contenders'', (Seven Stories, 2008) among others.


''The Laura Flanders Show''

In 2008, Flanders began hosting and executive producing ''The Laura Flanders Show''. ''The Laura Flanders Show'' is a 30-minute news and public affairs show that explores actionable models for creating a better world by reporting on the people and movements driving systemic change. Its tagline is, "Where the people who say it can't be done take a back seat to the people who are doing it." The show originally aired weekly on Free Speech TV and teleSUR. In 2018, it became a coproduction of CUNY TV. In 2019, ''The Laura Flanders Show'' was picked up for distribution by American Public Television and in 2020 began airing on PBS stations across the United States, including in 20 of the country's top 25 television markets.


Personal life

Flanders is a lesbian. In 2019, she married her partner of 30 years, choreographer
Elizabeth Streb Elizabeth Streb (born February 23, 1950) is an American choreographer, performer, and teacher of contemporary dance. Background Streb was born and raised in Rochester, New York and, after graduating from the dance program of State University o ...
. Flanders currently resides in
Smallwood, New York Smallwood is a hamlet (and census-designated place) in Sullivan County, New York, United States. The population was 839 at the 2020 census. Smallwood is in the southeastern section of the Town of Bethel and is a hamlet within the town of Bet ...
.


Awards


References


External links

*
The Laura Flanders Show
' * {{DEFAULTSORT:Flanders, Laura 1961 births Living people American alternative journalists American broadcast news analysts American political commentators American political writers American radio journalists American talk radio hosts American women radio presenters Barnard College alumni Cockburn family English emigrants to the United States English people of American descent English people of Scottish descent American lesbian writers People from Kensington People from Manhattan Radio personalities from New York City Radio personalities from San Francisco The Nation (U.S. magazine) people