Piece Comment

Review of Part 1: Making Ends Meet


When you think of local public radio reporters stationed around the country at their affiliate stations, you assume they're making local radio stories about what's going on in their listening areas. But VPR's Steve Zind didn't get the memo on that one. This enterprising reporter took on the very ambitious task of traveling from Vermont to Iran with the goal of producing a five-part radio series about Iran's internal political, social, and economic upheavals. The result is a series of reports that are as deep in substance as they are wide in scope. In a news culture where we receive such a narrow stream of information about Iran, reports like Zind's "Making Ends Meet" are all the more valuable for their window onto the struggles of everyday Iranians, citizens who are searching for stability and justice in a constantly mutating political climate.