Americana - 20/09/2009

Matt Frei presents an insider guide to the people and the stories shaping America today. Combining location reports with lively discussion and exclusive interviews, the show provides new and surprising insights into contemporary America. Matt Frei talks to Tom Friedman about President Obama's busy media schedule and Washington's policy promises. Thomas L Friedman, author and journalist, joined The New York Times in 1981 as a financial reporter specializing in OPEC- and oil-related news and later served as the chief diplomatic, chief White House, and international economics correspondents. A three-time Pulitzer Prize winner, his foreign affairs column, which appears twice a week in the Times, is syndicated to 100 other newspapers worldwide. Americana takes a look at why so many people in the US move so often. From Michigan to Arkansas, moving companies, storage centres and truck rental services help Americans to help themselves move. Demographer and sociologist William H Frey breaks down the truths about migration across the United States - the hotspots and burnt-out locations that motivate relocation. William H Frey specialises in US demographics. He is currently a Senior Fellow with the Metropolitan Policy Program at the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC, and Research Professor at the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research. Dr Frey received his PhD from Brown University in 1974. From coast to coast, Americans think about the so-called American Dream, but for some, the goal of owning their own home and the obsession with success can distrupt their actual slumber. Producer Krissy Clarke probes the American dreamworld. Matt Frei asks pollster John Zogby if the pulse of America is picking up or slowing down these days. Zogby has been keeping tabs for 25 years. John Zogby is head of Zogby International, an interactive polling group that focuses on public opinion. His company examines the nuances of language and has successfully predicted election results with its unique research methods.