[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 91 (Wednesday, June 4, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Page S5036]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page S5036]]
                         HONORING JOEL SOUTHERN

 Ms. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, today I bid farewell to a 
broadcast journalist who has done more to keep Alaskans informed of the 
happenings in Washington, DC, over the past 21 years than any other 
single journalist in the State. I rise to honor Joel Southern, the 
Washington, DC, correspondent for the Alaska Public Radio Network, and 
to wish him well in his future endeavors.
  I entered politics in Alaska only in 1998, but by that time I had 
been listening to Joel's radio reports on Washington developments for 
nearly a decade. Most of my early knowledge of the political battle 
over the opening of the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife 
Refuge to potential oil and gas development came from Joel's reports, 
starting in 1987--the year when the environmental impact statement on 
ANWR first was released by the Department of the Interior.
  My understanding of the efforts in Washington to change oil spill 
regulations in the wake of the Exxon Valdez oil spill of 1989 came from 
Joel's reporting. Growing up in Wrangell, I knew a good deal about 
Alaska's southeast timber industry, still Joel's reporting over efforts 
to pass the Tongass Timber Reform Act in 1991 gave me a breadth of 
understanding that has been invaluable during my 6 years in the U.S. 
Senate. I could go on and on and on with other examples.
  Joel Southern has been the eyes in the Nation's Capital for tens of 
thousands of Alaskans who live across the far-flung reaches of our 
State; where local newspaper coverage is sparse, where TV coverage 
consists of cable coverage sometimes lacking in statewide or local 
news, and where only public radio is the source of information and 
public affairs.
  Joel, a native of Winston-Salem, NC, moved to Washington in 1986, 
earning his master's degree in journalism and public affairs from 
American University. While an undergrad student he worked as a student 
announcer starting in 1981 at WFDD-FM, the Wake Forest University radio 
station, where he learned to pronounce the names of classical composers 
for his DJ stints, a skill that served him well when pronouncing 
Inupiat and Native names, such as Tuntutaliak or Atqasuk or Atmautluak.
  Formerly an employee of the famed Berns--News--Bureau, a starting 
point for a number of great journalists, he moved onto the full-time 
staff of the Alaska Public Radio Network in 1991 and since has provided 
more radio reports for the network's main news program, Alaska News 
Nightly, than any other single individual. Over time Joel has learned 
more about the arcane areas of Alaska public land law, more about oil 
and gas production, more about commercial fishing and mining and more 
about the complex arena of politics in the 49th State than most anyone 
else.
  Rather than show off his expertise simply to promote his own ego, 
Joel uses his knowledge to constantly explain complex stories in 
simple, understandable terms. While he always asks tough, probing 
questions of politicians and newsmakers, Joel asks them in a fair, 
balanced and nonopinionated way. He does better at separating his 
personal opinions from his reporting than most anyone. He has been 
fair, unbiased and totally objective for the entirety of his two 
decades of Washington reporting--and that is a record he can be proud 
of.
  Over the past 21 years Joel has covered everything from the 
impeachment of a President to the contamination of Senate buildings by 
anthrax spores. He has covered the swearing in of three different 
Presidents, and reported on more changes in political leadership in 
Congress than veteran journalists twice his age. His range has been 
shown by both covering more congressional hearings than most any 
congressional correspondent and by working in subzero degree 
temperatures while covering the 1996 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in 
Alaska.
  Along the way he has covered the Supreme Court and specialized in 
agricultural news, producing the European Community Farm Line in 
conjunction with the European Union, produced stories for CBC Radio 
affiliates and the Australian Broadcasting Corp., provided pieces to 
National Public Radio on a variety of topics, and done some stringing 
for the AP. He has done interviews for C-SPAN and Canadian Broadcasting 
Corporation radio stations. And he has written columns on Alaska oil 
and natural gas/energy policy for a Canadian publication, Far North Oil 
and Gas Journal.
  In between working seemingly constantly, he has found time to marry 
his charming wife Helene, to be a devoted dad to two beautiful 
children, and still do more to inform Alaskans about the events in 
Washington that affect their future and the future of their children 
and grandchildren than most any other single journalist. And he has 
done it while displaying a keen curiosity, an impressive intellect, an 
insightful mind, a balanced sense of fairness and decency and a never-
failing sense of good humor that is far too lacking both inside the 
U.S. Capitol and outside its walls.
  I will miss his presence in Washington, but I know Alaskans from 
Kaktovik to Adak and from Ketchikan to Point Hope will miss him even 
more. I can only wish Joel and his family the very best on their coming 
European adventure and thank him for having done the best possible 
service to his adopted State; that of informing the citizens of Alaska 
with wisdom and wit for over two decades.
  Thank you, Joel, and God's speed. I suspect I will be hearing your 
voice from Copenhagen during next year's climate change COP 15 
negotiations. Just remember while Alaska is cold, the wind in Denmark's 
Jutland Peninsula blowing in from the North Sea can be almost as biting 
as Alaska's North Slope. Again, best wishes and good luck in the 
future.

                          ____________________