Zócalo Public Square

For years, Rupert Murdoch has been “the most influential and important media figure in the English-speaking world,” according to National Public Radio media correspondent David Folkenflik, author of Murdoch’s World: The Last of the Old Media Empires. Folkenflik spoke with L.A. Observed publisher Kevin Roderick about how Murdoch has changed journalism not just at his own holdings but around the world at a program co-presented by ASU's Cronkite School of Journalism.

A new law in Arizona requires the state to fail— and hold back—third graders who haven’t learned to read. An estimated 1,500 students will be held back this year. Why are so many 9-year-olds struggling with literacy, how can schools and teachers best help them? Arizona Republic education reporter Cathryn Creno talks with ASU literacy education scholar Frank Serafini, City of Phoenix youth and education program manager Tim Valencia, and Phoenix elementary school instructional coach Daniela Robles about the state of Arizona elementary education and whether this policy can work at a panel co-presented by the ASU Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College.

U.S. President Barack Obama and Iran’s new president, Hassan Rouhani, have spoken by phone. It appears that Rouhani, a moderate, wants to negotiate and change the two countries’ relationship. Does Iran actually want a rapprochement, and will this be possible? How do Iranians feel about the United States? How do Americans--our leaders and the public alike--feel about Iran? Occidental College political scientist Hussein Banai, Asia Society vice president of global policy programs Suzanne DiMaggio, and Occidental College historian Thaddeus Russell talked with former NBC correspondent George Lewis about the future of U.S.-Iran relations at a panel co-presented by Occidental College.

Wildly famous. Frequently scandalous. Speakers of truth to power. Action heroes. Acclaimed by the people. Romantic, rebellious, charismatic, inspirational. These were just a few of the ways saints were described at a Zócalo/Getty panel that asked a group of scholars of art, history, and religion, “Why Do We Need Saints?” Documentary filmmaker Jody Hassett Sanchez speaks with Cabrini College folklorist Leonard Primiano, UC Riverside medieval art historian Conrad Rudolph, and University of Notre Dame theologian Candida Moss about how the cult of saints came to be, and what saints offer those who love and pray to them.

The debate over gun rights is so contentious in America that it often seems the two sides are speaking different languages. The fight continues, bitterly—and yet nothing seems to change. At an event co-presented by the California Wellness Foundation, Long Beach Police Chief Jim McDonnell, USC legal scholar Jody David Armour, and Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence Executive Director Robyn Thomas offered their thoughts to a standing-room-only crowd at the RAND Corporation on what, if anything, might end this deadlock.

Los Angeles Times water and environmental reporter Bettina Boxall talks with Southern California Water Committee executive director Richard W. Atwater, Maven's Notebook publisher Chris Austin, and Reason science correspondent Ronald Bailey about how Californians are learning to live with less water. They explained what Californians, and the institutions that govern us, can do to decrease our consumption and usage of water.

Joe Mathews, California editor of Zócalo Public Square, talks with Westlands Water District Chief Deputy Manager Jason Peltier, Chance of Rain publisher Emily Green, environmental attorney Peter Culp, and Steven Solomon, author of Water: The Epic Struggle for Wealth, Power, and Civilization, about how much water should cost. In a time of scarcity, this is the most important question, and it's one that's being wrestled with all over the world today.

Occidental College biologist Gretchen North, RAND Corporation senior scientist Robert Lempert, and UC Irvine hydrologist James S. Famiglietti talk with Occidental College historian Thaddeus Russell about the different ways water is threatening humanity today. Drought and finding clean water have always been issues in different parts of the world, but climate change is making the wet parts of the world wetter and the dry parts drier, which is complicating the search for solutions.

Just one woman in Los Angeles is currently an elected city official; we're one of the most progressive places in the country, and in 2001 we had a total of five women on the council. What's happened, and is there a way to change this trend? Los Angeles News Group opinion editor Mariel Garza spoke with Robin Kramer, former chief of staff to Mayors Antonio Villaraigosa and Richard Riordan, KPCC politics reporter Alice Walton, and former deputy mayor and mayoral candidate Linda Griego about gender and politics in L.A. today.

Washington Post columnist Harold Meyerson talks with New York Times reporter Jennifer Medina about the past, present, and future of American unions, and their relationship with the American left. Labor is struggling to stay relevant, but by bringing in people who aren't in unions and by forming alliances with other organizations, the movement can again have power in American politics.

We know them when we feel them, or when we hear them blowing through the trees--and we can quote L.A. writers Raymond Chandler and Joan Didion on their power to inspire murderous thoughts and unease. But what exactly are the Santa Ana winds? How do they wreak destruction on Southern California? And why have their legends persisted? UCLA meteorologist Robert Fovell, L.A. County Fire Captain Drew Smith, and novelist Janet Fitch talked with Libros Schmibros founder David Kipen about the myths, history, and science of the Santa Ana Winds

Zoobiquity coauthor Kathryn Bowers talked with Natural History Museum environmental educator Lila Higgins, City of L.A. wildlife specialist Greg Randall, and Beth Pratt, the California director of the National Wildlife Federation about the biodiversity hot spot that is Los Angeles. We share our city with mountain lions and bears, as well as amphibians, snails, and songbirds--and it's time we learn to appreciate these wild neighbors.

Los Angeles Times transportation reporter Laura J. Nelson talks with LADOT bicycle coordinator Nate Baird, director of advanced mobility research at Art Center College of Design Geoff Wardle, and Move LA executive director Denny Zane about whether the bicycle will ever become Angelenos' primary method of transportation. Even if that doesn't happen, though, the panelists agreed that it's time for a truce among bicyclists and drivers in Southern California. It's time, too, they said, to secure funding, build new infrastructure, and remake our city's culture to include more modes of transit.

The 2013 decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court settled some questions: Federal discrimination against same-sex marriages is now unconstitutional. California must now reopen marriage to same-sex couples. But the decisions have also raised broad new legal and political questions—not to mention literally thousands of technical questions about how to apply existing statutes and regulations to same-sex marriages. L.A. Times federal courts reporter Maura Dolan talks with UCLA Williams Institute research director M.V. Lee Badgett, San Francisco chief deputy city attorney Therese Stewart, and UCLA Williams Institute legal director David Codell about the future of marriage rights in America.

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