
Question Everything
73 episodes — Page 2 of 2

From the Fringe Web to Real Life: How Seriously Should We Be Taking Conspiracy Theories?
<p dir="ltr">Back in December, we did an episode about Pyrra, an AI-powered software that tracks sifts through the far corners of the internet &ndash; in some places you probably haven&rsquo;t even heard of &ndash; to see what narratives are emerging from the people who post there. A lot of these are conspiracy theories, and also violent threats.</p> <p><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p> <p dir="ltr">This week, we check back in with the creator of that software, Dr. Welton Chang, about what narratives he&rsquo;s seeing, right now, that might soon make the jump from fringe internet posts to actually having an impact in the real world.&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p> <p dir="ltr">Welton&rsquo;s especially concerned about the violent rhetoric aimed at one particular group of people which has been topping the charts in recent weeks.</p> <p><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p> <p dir="ltr">Welton is the creator of <a href="https://www.pyrratech.com/">Pyrra Technologies</a>, and Vice President for Digital Intelligence Solutions at AlertMedia.&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p> <p dir="ltr">Sign up for our newsletter:<a href="http://www.kcrw.com/questioneverything"> www.kcrw.com/questioneverything</a></p> <p><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p> <p dir="ltr">&ldquo;Question Everything&rdquo; is a production of<a href="http://www.kcrw.org/"> KCRW</a> and<a href="http://www.placementtheory.com/"> Placement Theory</a>.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p>

Rümeysa Öztürk is Locked Up for an Op-ed: An Urgent Summit with the Student Newspaper that Published It
<p dir="ltr">Where better to huddle up and discuss what to do about R&uuml;meysa &Ouml;zt&uuml;rk and the chilling effect that is happening in journalism than on campus at Tufts University with the student journalists at The Tufts Daily?<br><br>This week Brian and Question Everything co-host a live event with the editor-in-chief and associate editor from The Tufts Daily&ndash; Arghya Thallapragada and Ellora Onion-De. Together they interview journalists and attorneys, including Carol Rose, one of R&uuml;meysa&rsquo;s lawyers and executive director of the ACLU to learn what all happened to R&uuml;meysa, and why. What did her abduction by federal agents a month ago have to do with her immigration status as a Turkish graduate student studying child development, here on a student visa? Why did Secretary of State Marco Rubio say her Op-ed was cause for incarceration? Why is she still in ICE&rsquo;s custody? And what happened to the constitutional protections around free speech and a free press that we depend on in a free society?&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p> <p dir="ltr">Joined by former editor-in-chief of the Washington Post and Boston Globe Marty Baron, First Amendment lawyer Robert Bertsche and senior politics reporter at The Intercept, Akela Lacey, the group wrestles in real time with the gravity of this moment, not just for R&uuml;meysa &Ouml;zt&uuml;rk, but for all of us.<br><br><a href="https://www.tuftsdaily.com/article/2024/03/4ftk27sm6jkj">Read the Op-ed</a> R&uuml;meysa and others wrote that ran in The Tufts Daily a year ago in March.<br><br>Watch the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCXbhuNr634">video of federal agents in plainclothes, forcing R&uuml;meysa &Ouml;zt&uuml;rk into an SUV</a> on March 25, 2025.<br><br>Quick thing: In our discussion Carol Rose says the ACLU has filed 100 legal actions in President Trump&rsquo;s first 100 days. The specific count on those is actually higher: the <a href="https://www.aclu.org/the-first-100-days">ACLU filed 110 legal actions</a> in the Trump administration&rsquo;s first 100 days.</p> <p><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p> <p dir="ltr">Sign up for our newsletter:<a href="http://www.kcrw.com/questioneverything"> www.kcrw.com/questioneverything</a></p> <p><strong id="docs-internal-guid-477984d3-7fff-40ef-ad51-91748d906c85"><br>&ldquo;Question Everything&rdquo; is a production of<a href="http://www.kcrw.org/"> KCRW</a> and<a href="http://www.placementtheory.com/"> Placement Theory</a>.</strong></p>

Pounding Beers in a Shed, and Other Dispatches from the War on Free Speech
<p dir="ltr">Last episode we discussed the campaign to overturn the Supreme Court decision that protects reporters&rsquo; ability to criticize and investigate people in power.</p> <p><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p> <p dir="ltr">But even with that decision still in place, reporter David Enrich has discovered a shocking wave of legal attacks that is being waged on journalists in towns and cities across the country. These are often reporters at tiny, local outlets, trying to hold people accountable in their communities.&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p> <p dir="ltr">And these legal claims don&rsquo;t even have to succeed - and they frequently don&rsquo;t - to shut down reporters.</p> <p><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p> <p dir="ltr">Plus, Brian waxes poetic about the first amendment, under the night sky.&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p> <p dir="ltr">This is part two of our series about David Enrich&rsquo;s reporting from his book &ldquo;<a href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/murder-the-truth-threats-intimidation-and-a-secret-campaign-to-protect-the-powerful-david-enrich/21543213?ean=9780063372900&amp;next=t">Murder the Truth</a>&rdquo;. Listen to part one first &ndash; it&rsquo;s called &ldquo;Freedom of the press is great, until you&rsquo;re the target.&rdquo;&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p> <p dir="ltr">In our newsletter this week &ndash; Brian tells a personal story about how his lawyers helped him fend off a legal threat. Check that out at:&nbsp; <a href="http://www.kcrw.com/questioneverything">www.kcrw.com/questioneverything</a></p> <p><strong id="docs-internal-guid-8282f337-7fff-45ce-a38e-1f35c8fe60c1"><br>&ldquo;Question Everything&rdquo; is a production of<a href="http://www.kcrw.org/"> KCRW</a> and<a href="http://www.placementtheory.com/"> Placement Theory</a>.</strong></p>

Freedom of the press is great, until you're the target
<p dir="ltr">For decades, a Supreme Court decision called New York Times vs Sullivan was widely beloved by people across the political spectrum. Hailed as a decision that gave the first amendment teeth and made our country great.</p> <p><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p> <p dir="ltr">But recently, under our noses, some of the same people who once sang its praises have turned against it.&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p> <p dir="ltr">The story of the growing movement that is trying to get the Supreme Court to overturn one of the strongest protections for speech and the press in America.</p> <p><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p> <p dir="ltr">This is part one of a two part series about the book <a href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/murder-the-truth-threats-intimidation-and-a-secret-campaign-to-protect-the-powerful-david-enrich/21543213?ean=9780063372900&amp;next=t">Murder the Truth: Fear, the First Amendment, and a Secret Campaign to Protect the Powerful</a>, by Times investigative editor David Enrich.</p> <p><strong><br><br></strong></p> <p dir="ltr">Sign up for our newsletter here to hear about one of Brian&rsquo;s own legal battles:<a href="http://www.kcrw.com/questioneverything"> www.kcrw.com/questioneverything</a></p> <p><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p> <p dir="ltr">&ldquo;Question Everything&rdquo; is a production of<a href="http://www.kcrw.org/"> KCRW</a> and<a href="http://www.placementtheory.com/"> Placement Theory</a>.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p>

The masterpiece Prince documentary Netflix won’t let the public see.
<p dir="ltr">The best documentary filmmaker in America spent nearly five years of his life making a nine-hour masterpiece for Netflix.&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p> <p dir="ltr">It will never see the light of day.&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p> <p dir="ltr">After a nasty estate battle, the series will not be released. No one will ever see it.</p> <p><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p> <p dir="ltr">In his first sit-down interview about this catastrophe, the filmmaker, Ezra Edelman seeks catharsis &ndash; if not closure &ndash; in the fight for truth and control over the life story of one of the biggest control freaks ever.&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p> <p dir="ltr">Thanks to &ldquo;<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/pablo-torre-finds-out/id1685093486">Pablo Torre Finds Out</a>&rdquo; for sharing this interview with us.&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p> <p dir="ltr">&ldquo;Question Everything&rdquo; is a production of<a href="http://www.kcrw.org/"> KCRW</a> and<a href="http://www.placementtheory.com/"> Placement Theory</a>.</p>

He quit journalism to fight authoritarianism. How’s that going?
<p dir="ltr">Last year, we did an episode with Barton Gellman, who talked about the war games he was running with high-level military leaders and government officials to prepare for a second Trump term.&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p> <p dir="ltr">A bunch of you have been asking us to have Barton back, to find out what he&rsquo;s doing, now that the second Trump term is here. So we called him up.</p> <p><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p> <p dir="ltr">Barton works at the <a href="https://www.brennancenter.org/">Brennan Center for Justice</a>.</p> <p><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p> <p dir="ltr">&ldquo;Question Everything&rdquo; is a production of<a href="http://www.kcrw.org/"> KCRW</a> and<a href="http://www.placementtheory.com/"> Placement Theory</a>.</p>

A Rant or a Slant: When Should Reporters Speak From the Heart?
<p dir="ltr">It&rsquo;s easy to get frustrated with the charade reporters are supposed to keep up, where they pretend they don&rsquo;t have opinions or feelings or any kind of human thoughts about a story they&rsquo;re telling. Plenty of journalists have been trying to break out of that charade. But the decision to do that: it can be a fraught one, with real implications.&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p> <p dir="ltr">Dana Ballout struggled with this on a story she was investigating about Hassan Diab &ndash; a sociology professor who&rsquo;s living as a free man in Canada, yet is convicted of a terrible crime in France. Dana and her co-host Alex Atack open up about their reporting on the series The Copernic Affair, and why Dana ultimately cut her own opinions out of the show, even though her co-host and editors wanted to include them.&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p> <p dir="ltr">And this prompts Brian to revisit his own experience dropping the charade in a previous podcast he made with Hamza Syed, for The New York Times and Serial: The Trojan Horse Affair.&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p> <p dir="ltr">You can check out The Copernic Affair wherever you get your podcasts or at <a href="https://www.canadaland.com/shows/the-copernic-affair/">https://www.canadaland.com/shows/the-copernic-affair/</a>.</p> <p><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p> <p dir="ltr">Same with The Trojan Horse Affair: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/podcasts/trojan-horse-affair.html">https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/podcasts/trojan-horse-affair.html</a></p> <p><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p> <p dir="ltr">To get the soundbyte from Hamza&rsquo;s interview that we&rsquo;re asking people to remix into something danceable, sign up for Brian&rsquo;s newsletter here:<a href="http://www.kcrw.com/questioneverything"> www.kcrw.com/questioneverything</a></p> <p><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p> <p dir="ltr">&ldquo;Question Everything&rdquo; is a production of<a href="http://www.kcrw.org/"> KCRW</a> and<a href="http://www.placementtheory.com/"> Placement Theory</a>.</p>

A Teen, a Reporter, and a Grand Jury Leak (Over BBQ)
<p dir="ltr">Brian tells the story of a reporting trip he took to Alabama, where two small-town journalists had been locked up in jail, that led to one of the most honest - and surprising - conversations about journalism he&rsquo;s had in a long time.&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p> <p dir="ltr">Sign up for our newsletter to see some stories and pictures from a recent event Brian held in Alabama about his podcast S-Town. Including a photo of an S-Town inspired tattoo somebody was eager to show him. <a href="http://www.kcrw.com/questioneverything">www.kcrw.com/questioneverything</a></p> <p><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p> <p dir="ltr">&ldquo;Question Everything&rdquo; is a production of<a href="http://www.kcrw.org/"> KCRW</a> and<a href="http://www.placementtheory.com/"> Placement Theory</a>.</p>

The News is Coming from Under the Desk… on TikTok (live from On Air Fest)
<p dir="ltr">As trust in traditional journalism plummets, social media content creator V Spehar of Under the Desk News is ascendant, with over 3.4 million TikTok followers. But recently, V found themself in a public dustup with NPR over, in part, how the outlet had classified V in an interview. In this special episode of Question Everything&ndash;&ndash;largely recorded live at On Air Fest&ndash;&ndash;Brian and V take the stage to explore the tensions between traditional and non-traditional journalism, and what the two can learn from each other.</p> <p><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p> <p dir="ltr">Since talking off the cuff live on stage doesn&rsquo;t always result in the most precise utterances, here are a few additional corrections and clarifications we didn&rsquo;t address directly in the episode:</p> <p><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p> <p dir="ltr">While live on stage, V said that TikTok is owned &ldquo;mostly by the richest man in Philadelphia, Mr. Jeffrey Yass.&rdquo; In fact, Yass&rsquo; personal share in TikTok&rsquo;s China-based parent company, ByteDance, is 7%, worth roughly $21 billion.&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p> <p dir="ltr">Regarding the stat in the Under the Desk News video stating &ldquo;every school in America gets about 20 percent of their total school budget from the federal government,&rdquo; in reality, public schools may get as little as 0% or as much as 75% of their funding from federal sources, depending on the district.&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p> <p dir="ltr">The Pew Research referenced in the conversation shows that 1 in 5 Americans get their news from online news influencers, and 54% of Americans get their news at least sometimes from social media.</p> <p><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p> <p dir="ltr">And lastly: Senator Tammy Duckworth has fought for about a dozen federal employees fired from the Veteran&rsquo;s Crisis Line to get their jobs back, and not employees solely from her state, Illinois.&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p> <p dir="ltr">We reached out to V&rsquo;s father to confirm their conversation about the possible effects of cuts to the Department of Education, but he didn&rsquo;t want to comment.</p> <p><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p> <p dir="ltr">Sign up for our newsletter:<a href="http://www.kcrw.com/questioneverything"> www.kcrw.com/questioneverything</a></p> <p><strong id="docs-internal-guid-263d1eca-7fff-e753-df65-c10dd743f3a8"><br>&ldquo;Question Everything&rdquo; is a production of<a href="http://www.kcrw.org/"> KCRW</a> and<a href="http://www.placementtheory.com/"> Placement Theory</a>.</strong></p>

Not Like Us: How Billionaires Think
<p dir="ltr">As billionaires hoard more control over our politics, it seems more important than ever to ask: What makes them tick? Four reporters gather after hours at a wine shop to discuss &ndash; over drinks &ndash; what they&rsquo;ve learned from covering billionaires for years, and how it can help us hoi polloi make sense of what the ultra-rich are doing right now.</p> <p><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p> <p dir="ltr">Featuring Vicky Ward, who has covered the Kushner family and Trump, and who, in 2002, was the first journalist to investigate Jeffrey Epstein&rsquo;s finances in a profile for Vanity Fair; John Hyatt, who covers billionaires, with a focus on Elon Musk, for Forbes; Douglas Rushkoff, who has written about tech billionaires preparing for the end of the world; and Edward Ongweso, Jr., who covers the impact of the exponential growth of large tech companies for outlets like Vice and The Nation.&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p> <p dir="ltr">A small correction: Douglas Rushkoff said that his trip to a hedge fund conference in the desert happened in 2018, but the trip was actually in 2017.</p> <p><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p> <p dir="ltr">Sign up for our newsletter:<a href="http://www.kcrw.com/questioneverything"> www.kcrw.com/questioneverything</a></p> <p><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p> <p dir="ltr">&ldquo;Question Everything&rdquo; is a production of<a href="http://www.kcrw.org/"> KCRW</a> and<a href="http://www.placementtheory.com/"> Placement Theory</a>.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p>

And The Award Goes To...The Circuit Court Of The Nineteenth Judicial Circuit In and For Okeechobee County, Florida
<p dir="ltr">Ben Smith tells the story of the strange controversy over a journalism award that&rsquo;s been going down in a Florida courthouse.</p> <p><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p> <p dir="ltr">Ben is Editor-in-Chief of Semafor and co-host of the Mixed Signals podcast. He used to be tThe New York Times media columnist and was founding editor-in-chief of Buzzfeed News.</p> <p><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p> <p dir="ltr">Sign up for our newsletter to read the lengthy listener criticism that helped inspire Brian to do this episode: <a href="http://www.kcrw.com/questioneverything">www.kcrw.com/questioneverthing</a></p> <p><strong id="docs-internal-guid-e7951b07-7fff-0dc7-a746-6df282040fbe"><br>&ldquo;Question Everything&rdquo; is a production of<a href="http://www.kcrw.org/"> KCRW</a> and<a href="http://www.placementtheory.com/"> Placement Theory</a>.</strong></p>

A reporter? A spy? Or something else? Israel arrests its first American journalist.
<p dir="ltr">Locked up, alone, accused of being a spy, reporter Jeremy Loffredo has to defend the fact that he&rsquo;s a journalist. To the Israeli courts. And then&hellip;to our reporter.&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p> <p dir="ltr">Part two of our two-part series about Jeremy Loffredo, who in October became the first American journalist arrested by Israel.</p> <p><strong id="docs-internal-guid-862f5b57-7fff-443e-e1d8-303bb768dda3"><br>&ldquo;Question Everything&rdquo; is a production of<a href="http://www.kcrw.org/"> KCRW</a> and<a href="http://www.placementtheory.com/"> Placement Theory</a>.</strong></p>

Blindfolded and Arrested on Assignment in Israel
<p dir="ltr">Just a few months ago, Israel did something it has never done before. It arrested an American journalist. His name is Jeremy Loffredo.</p> <p><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p> <p dir="ltr">This is his story.&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p> <p dir="ltr">Part one of a special, two-part series.&nbsp;</p> <p><strong id="docs-internal-guid-730223f8-7fff-6aa8-1f7b-bcf280990c18"><br>&ldquo;Question Everything&rdquo; is a production of<a href="http://www.kcrw.org/"> KCRW</a> and<a href="http://www.placementtheory.com/"> Placement Theory</a>.</strong></p>

When Hollywood Tells The Truth: with Tom McCarthy, Antonio Campos, Tina Satter, and Tobias Lindholm.
<p dir="ltr">Four Hollywood directors gather after hours at a wine shop to drink and commiserate about the perils &ndash; and power &ndash; that come when you&rsquo;re straddling fact and fiction. With behind the scenes stories about documentary romance, regret, and pirates.</p> <p><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p> <p dir="ltr">Featuring Tom McCarthy, who won an Oscar for Spotlight; Antonio Campos, creator of The Staircase for HBO; Tina Satter, who directed and co-wrote Reality starring Sydney Sweeney; and Tobias Lindholm, director and writer of HBO&rsquo;s The Investigation.</p> <p><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p> <p dir="ltr">As we know alcohol is not always conducive to factual precision, so here are some corrections and clarifications from our fact-checker, Maggie. Though honestly the crew this time did impressively well! All we have is that the name of the New York Magazine story that inspired Tina Satter to dramatize Reality Winner is called &ldquo;The World&rsquo;s Biggest Terrorist Has a Pikachu Bedspread" (not &ldquo;America&rsquo;s Biggest Terrorist Has a Pikachu Bedspread&rdquo;). And it was a National Security Agency contractor, not a former FBI agent, who alerted the FBI about Reality&rsquo;s leak.</p> <p><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p> <p dir="ltr"><a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2017/12/who-is-reality-winner.html">Here&rsquo;s the NY Mag story</a>. And <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2022/05/the-staircase-editor-sophie-brunet-michael-peterson-true-story?srsltid=AfmBOoq-gCPZ-YmCOPoE-MvhP-LVgrS79k02H_sYyXskTP1Q7hZDycLx">here&rsquo;s a Vanity Fair interview with Sophie</a>, the editor of The Staircase documentary.</p> <p><strong id="docs-internal-guid-e760caf3-7fff-96b7-0520-c72856c4276e"><br>&ldquo;Question Everything&rdquo; is a production of <a href="http://www.kcrw.org">KCRW</a> and <a href="http://www.placementtheory.com">Placement Theory</a>.</strong></p>

Can AI tell us what stories to look out for? A live experiment.
<p dir="ltr">Our team at Question Everything has been playing around with a new technology that sucks up tons of social media posts, and then uses AI to figure out what ideas are forming in the shadows of the internet before they hit the mainstream.</p> <p dir="ltr">Brian interviews a journalist who uses this tech, to see what conversations are brewing right now that we might want to keep an eye out for in the coming weeks.</p> <p dir="ltr">&ldquo;Question Everything&rdquo; is a production of<a href="http://www.kcrw.org/"> KCRW</a> and<a href="http://www.placementtheory.com/"> Placement Theory</a>.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p>

Getting Ready to Interview Trump: An Exercise
<p dir="ltr">A journalist tries to get his wrestling buddy to trust in journalism.&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p> <p dir="ltr">You can find more work by Sam Eagan <a href="https://www.concretecowboy.media/">here</a>.</p> <p><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p> <p dir="ltr">&ldquo;Question Everything&rdquo; is a production of <a href="http://www.kcrw.org">KCRW</a> and <a href="http://www.placementtheory.com">Placement Theory</a>.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p>

Special Election-Eve Episode: The Story of a Story Untold
<p>A special election-eve episode from Brian: Ruminations on a story that never was, and a late night conversation with the source he was supposed to make it about.&nbsp;</p> <p>&ldquo;Question Everything&rdquo; is a production of&nbsp;<a href="http://www.kcrw.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">KCRW</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="http://www.placementtheory.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Placement Theory</a>.</p>

When To Call A Thing What It Is
<p>Brian stops doomscrolling and starts doom-living. He brings two journalists he saw duking it out on Twitter into a studio, where they debate how to report on lies and racism in the Trump era. Then he finds a journalist who&rsquo;s putting their big theoretical questions into practice &ndash; at a personal cost &ndash; as she covers one of the most messed up stories of the election cycle.</p> <p><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p> <p dir="ltr"><a href="https://youtu.be/gjD3D8mvLwI">Watch the unedited conversation between Jeff Jarvis and David Folkenflik</a>.</p> <p><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p> <p dir="ltr">Subscribe to the Question Everything newsletter: <a href="https://www.kcrw.com/culture/shows/question-everything">https://www.kcrw.com/culture/shows/question-everything</a></p> <p><strong id="docs-internal-guid-69c4042a-7fff-f673-a829-44e9834a7c17"><br>&ldquo;Question Everything&rdquo; is a production of <a href="http://www.kcrw.org">KCRW</a> and <a href="http://www.placementtheory.com">Placement Theory</a>.</strong></p>

Can Journalism Save a Marriage?
<p dir="ltr">A married couple finds themselves fighting miserably over the news. So they set out on a quest for the seemingly impossible: to find a news source that both a self-admitted &ldquo;bleeding heart liberal&rdquo; and a Trump supporter can trust.</p> <p><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p> <p dir="ltr">Check out <a href="https://www.readtangle.com/">Tangle News</a> here.&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p> <p dir="ltr">&ldquo;Question Everything&rdquo; is a production of <a href="http://www.kcrw.org">KCRW</a> and <a href="http://www.placementtheory.com">Placement Theory</a>.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p>

The Journalist and the Firefighter
<p dir="ltr">How one of the most accomplished reporters of our time, Barton Gellman, lost his confidence in journalism.</p> <p><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p> <p dir="ltr">Sign up for our <a href="https://www.kcrw.com/culture/shows/question-everything">newsletter</a> to hear the one outtake from the interview that Brian wished he could get into the episode, but couldn&rsquo;t.&nbsp;</p> <p><strong id="docs-internal-guid-9407386c-7fff-79d9-410e-c665b6d0e273"><br>&ldquo;Question Everything&rdquo; is a production of <a href="http://www.kcrw.org">KCRW</a> and <a href="http://www.placementtheory.com">Placement Theory</a>.</strong></p>

Drinks for Five: Ira Glass, Zoe Chace, Jonathan Eig, Astead Herndon
<p dir="ltr">Brian puts four journalists together in a room, gives them drinks, and starts rolling tape. Their only instructions: show up with questions for each other and be ready to talk candidly about the challenges in their jobs. Foremost on their minds: Why do people even share their stories with journalists in the first place?</p> <p><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p> <p dir="ltr">You can watch this whole episode on YouTube [INSERT LINK]! And <a href="https://www.kcrw.com/culture/shows/question-everything">subscribe</a> to the Question Everything newsletter too.&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p> <p dir="ltr">You can hear Ira Glass and Zoe Chace on &ldquo;<a href="http://www.thislife.org">This American Life</a>&rdquo;.&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p> <p dir="ltr">Astead Herndon hosts &ldquo;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/column/election-run-up-podcast">The Run Up</a>&rdquo; for the New York Times.&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p> <p dir="ltr">Jonathan Eig&rsquo;s book about Martin Luther King, Jr. is called &ldquo;<a href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/king-a-life-a-life-jonathan-eig/18775295?gad_source=1&amp;gclid=CjwKCAjw_4S3BhAAEiwA_64YhqDTSjJK1FS2nrZ19epZ-0XTJoSfSxg99QTzERPDESr6wy7Py7LwxxoCcNsQAvD_BwE">King: A Life</a>&rdquo;.&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p> <p dir="ltr">Since drinking and talking off the cuff doesn&rsquo;t always result in the most precise utterances, here are a few corrections and clarifications from our fact-checker: In Astead&rsquo;s story about the anti-immigrant group in St. Cloud, Minnesota, the quote was &ldquo;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/20/us/politics/minnesota-refugees-trump.html">These people aren&rsquo;t coming from Norway</a>,&rdquo; not &ldquo;Sweden.&rdquo; The book Jonathan mentioned about adolescent cellphone addiction, by Jonathan Haidt, is called <a href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-anxious-generation-how-the-great-rewiring-of-childhood-is-causing-an-epidemic-of-mental-illness-jonathan-haidt/20144236?ean=9780593655030">The Anxious Generation</a>. There were a few people we were unable to track down to confirm the details of the stories told about them: the two police officers Jonathan mentioned, and the source&rsquo;s family member who Astead said complained to him about his reporting.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p><strong id="docs-internal-guid-eb2af44d-7fff-a2d7-ec69-f6484cae6e7d"><br>&ldquo;Question Everything&rdquo; is a production of <a href="http://www.kcrw.org">KCRW</a> and <a href="http://www.placementtheory.com">Placement Theory</a>.</strong></p>

The Critic
<p dir="ltr">Brian talks to a fellow journalist who called his most well-known work &ldquo;morally indefensible.&rdquo;</p> <p><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p> <p dir="ltr">You can read Gay Alcorn&rsquo;s column <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/apr/22/s-town-never-justifies-its-voyeurism-and-that-makes-it-morally-indefensible">here</a>. <a href="https://www.kcrw.com/culture/shows/question-everything">Subscribe to our newsletter</a> to read Gay&rsquo;s full reaction to this episode.&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p> <p dir="ltr">You can listen to S-Town <a href="https://stownpodcast.org/">here</a>.&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p> <p dir="ltr">If you&rsquo;re having thoughts of suicide, please reach out for help by dialing 988 or <a href="https://988lifeline.org/">clicking here</a>.&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p> <p dir="ltr">&ldquo;Question Everything&rdquo; is a production of <a href="http://www.kcrw.org">KCRW</a> and <a href="http://www.placementtheory.com">Placement Theory</a>.</p>

Question Everything is out now!
<p><span data-slate-fragment="JTVCJTdCJTIydHlwZSUyMiUzQSUyMnBhcmFncmFwaCUyMiUyQyUyMmNoaWxkcmVuJTIyJTNBJTVCJTdCJTIydGV4dCUyMiUzQSUyMkpvdXJuYWxpc3QlMjBCcmlhbiUyMFJlZWQlMjBvZiUyMFMtVG93biUyMGlzJTIwcXVlc3Rpb25pbmclMjBldmVyeXRoaW5nJTJDJTIwZXZlbiUyMGhpcyUyMG93biUyMHdvcmsuJTIwU2Vhc29uJTIwcHJlbWllcmUlMjBTZXB0JTIwMTIuJTIyJTdEJTVEJTdEJTVE">Journalist Brian Reed of S-Town is questioning everything, even his own work. Season premiere Sept 12.</span></p>