Reliable Sources

Brian Stelter, executive producer of "After Truth: Disinformation and the Cost of Fake News," shares a preview of the film and speaks with director Andrew Rossi about the real-world consequences of disinformation. Stelter and Rossi dissect "several case studies from 2015 to 2018" in the film, from the Jade Helm conspiracy theory to "Pizzagate." They discuss their decision to focus on the "victims" and "perpetrators" of false news. Rossi explains, "You have people who are pushing the false stories, and then you have people who are the subject of them and are actually victims, and they are suffering a cost."To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Plus... Brian Stelter's message about "social distancing;" Juliette Kayyem on covering an unprecedented "50-state disaster;" James Hamblin on what we're missing to fight the virus; Susan Glasser on misinformation coming from the most powerful; and former U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy on the pandemic's future. Oliver Darcy, Dr. James Hamblin, Juliette Kayyem, Michele Matassa Flores, Audrey Cooper, Susan Glasser, Dr. Vivek Murthy and Andrew Rossi join Brian Stelter.To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

New York Media EIC David Haskell joins Brian Stelter to discuss how media companies are reacting to the coronavirus pandemic, how reporters are working remotely, and more. Haskell also reflects on his one-year anniversary as editor, what it was like to succeed Adam Moss, and the state of publishing.To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Plus... How Bernie Sanders' critiques of the media differ from Trump's; one full year without a W.H. press secretary briefing; why the Trump campaign is suing CNN, the NYT, and WaPo. Elisabeth Rosenthal, Dr. Seema Yasmin, Kathleen Sebelius, TJ Ducklo, David Sirota, Errin Haines, Joe Lockhart and Sara Fischer join Brian Stelter.To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

BuzzFeed News reporter Katherine Miller and CNN senior writer and analyst Harry Enten debrief about the past week of Democratic politics and how the stunning developments have been framed by the news media. Joe Biden's victories were due "in part because people really wanted clarity in the field," Miller says: "People have found the news cycles very chaotic and the primary overall pretty chaotic." Miller, Enten and Brian Stelter discuss Biden's "earned media tsunami;" the limited power of fast-moving primary polling; and a sudden "sense of loss" over what had to this point been a historically diverse pool of candidates.To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Plus... The 'inside story' about Facebook's rise; interviews with officials from the Bernie Sanders and Michael Bloomberg campaigns; and the difference between fact-checking Democratic candidates and Trump. Catherine Rampell, Dannagal Young, Daniel Dale, Aleksandra Kuzmanovic, Dr. Seema Yasmin, Bernie 2020 senior advisor Chuck Rocha, Bloomberg 2020 senior national spokesperson Sabrina Singh, and Steven Levy join Brian Stelter.To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Oliver Darcy, Kerry Flynn, Frank Pallotta, and Chloe Melas join Brian Stelter for a wide-ranging discussion around the week's biggest media business and culture stories. Then they zoom out and assess the biggest stories on their beats in 2020 thus far and look ahead to the spring season.To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Plus... The Fox News pardon pipeline; how censorship stifles essential journalism during a crisis; as the 2020 election escalates, so do the "Meme Wars"; Southern rock strikes a new chord in the Trump era. Oliver Darcy, Julia Ioffe, Marko Suprun, Errol Lewis, Taylor Lorenz, David Frum, Tim O'Brien, Megha Rajagopalan, Kim Dozier and Drive-By Truckers' frontmen Mike Cooley and Patterson Hood join John Avlon.To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Time national correspondent Charlotte Alter is the author of "The Ones We've Been Waiting For: How a New Generation of Leaders Will Transform America." She shares insights about millennial politicians like Pete Buttigieg and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. She also identifies some media myths and stereotypes surrounding this often-misunderstood generation. "A lot of the coverage is determined by people who are baby boomers," she points out. She discusses social movements like Occupy Wall Street and Black Lives Matter, highlighting blind spots in coverage.To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Plus... journalism's role in sustaining democracy; an interview with two authors who offer a 'worm's-eye view' of Trumpworld; and Trump's former chief of staff critiques Fox News... Philip Bump, Joan Walsh, Anne Applebaum, Irin Carmon, Lachlan Markay, Asawin Suebsaeng, Julie K. Brown and Ken Doctor join Brian Stelter.To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Columbia Journalism School professor Emily Bell, the founding director of the Tow Center for Digital Journalism, talks with Brian Stelter about the effects of local newspaper losses and the highly partisan websites that are trying to exploit the void. Bell calls them "pink slime sites." Bell discusses Facebook and Google's power: "Control of the media has totally changed in the last 15 years, and we have not really come to terms with that." She also talks about potential regulations that could help local news.To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Plus: Senator Sherrod Brown says GOP senators fear Fox, talk radio and Trump; Bill Carter says journalists should stand in solidarity; Olivia Nuzzi says the Iowa caucus debacle has caused even more cynicism about politics. Sarah Isgur, Tara Dowdell, Bill Carter, McKay Coppins, Olivia Nuzzi, David Culver, and Sen. Sherrod Brown join Brian Stelter.To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After being on the road in New Hampshire, FiveThirtyEight senior political writer Clare Malone talks about why voters feel cynical about campaign coverage and what they want from members of the media. Malone also talks with Brian Stelter about the "unmitigated disaster in Iowa" after the caucuses and why the debacle has people worrying about "election administration in the modern age of information warfare." They also discuss "the new normal" of political disinformation, and the "sports fan mentality" voters have about the presidential race, plus Malone's recent profile on Buttigieg communications guru Lis Smith.To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Plus, why CNN nixed its plan for a final pre-Iowa poll; the State Department versus NPR; and David Zurawik on the 'mud wrestling pit' that is social media. Sam Donaldson, Julian Zelizer, Jill Filipovic, Alexi McCammond, Astead Herndon, Art Cullen and David Zurawik join Brian Stelter.To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

"I just don't think the media as an institution has done a great job keeping up with the pace of change, political and cultural and socioeconomic and otherwise," says Tim Alberta, the chief political correspondent for Politico. That's why he is writing columns "to Washington from the rest of America," aiming to break the campaign coverage mold. His first dispatch was from the Mid-Michigan Gun & Knife Show. Alberta talks with Brian Stelter about "diner" cliches, voters' motivations, and news media blind spots. Alberta also points to a different "defining group of swing voters in 2020," offers tips for breaking out of broad-brush reporting tendencies, and more...To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Plus... the impact of press restrictions during the Senate trial; viral hoaxes are spreading lies about Coronavirus; and free press groups are condemning Brazil's charges against Glenn Greenwald. Susan Glasser, Melanie Zanona, Oliver Darcy, John Avlon, Lyz Lenz, and Salena Zito join Brian Stelter.To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

News Literacy Project founder and CEO Alan Miller previews the first-ever National News Literacy Week and a new partnership with Scripps' local TV stations. He tells Brian Stelter about his efforts to make people part of the "information solution." While Miller's organization focuses on middle and high school, the public awareness campaign with Scripps will give the general public "some tools and resources to become more news literate," he says. Miller also discusses the difference between skepticism and cynicism; the impact of digital disinformation; why the term "fake news" is an "oxymoron," and more...To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Plus... What happens when a president can't handle the truth? Brian Stelter says the result is an impeachment trial. Also: Meet the man who tracks the Fox-Trump feedback loop. Jon Favreau, Dahlia Lithwick, Margaret Sullivan, Meridith McGraw, Sarah Wire, Joe Lockhart, Matt Gertz, and Peter Hamby join Brian Stelter.To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In her new memoir "Uncanny Valley," Anna Wiener reflects on the power of Big Tech through the years she spent at several startups in Silicon Valley. Wiener talks with Brian Stelter about how media coverage and "public sentiment" about Big Tech are changing, the resulting feeling "in tech that people are being unfairly picked upon," plus her favorite examples of industry jargon and much more...To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Plus, a thought experiment by James Fallows; Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn on their new book "Tightrope;" and the biggest change about campaign coverage in 2020. James Fallows, John Kirby, Hadas Gold, Bill Weld, Nicholas Kristof, Sheryl WuDunn and Sally Buzbee join Brian Stelter.To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Sally Buzbee, the top editor of the AP for the past three years, tells Brian Stelter about the news agency's top priorities and challenges, from covering the environment to combating misinformation. She tells how the news outlet is protecting journalists in Iran; fact-checking Donald Trump; and educating the public about polling ahead of the 2020 election. Buzbee also discusses the AP's future and the importance of collaborations.To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Plus, Sam Donaldson on "wag the dog" claims and David Frum on lessons learned from the Iraq war... Kim Ghattas, Jasmine El-Gamal, Jason Rezaian, Sam Donaldson, Katie Rogers, Bari Weiss, Paul Rieckhoff, Irin Carmon, Chloe Melas and David Frum join Brian Stelter.To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Should struggling print newspapers shift into nonprofit status? That's what the Salt Lake Tribune did. In late 2019 the Salt Lake Tribune became the first metropolitan daily in the country to go nonprofit, after receiving permission from the IRS to do so. Owner and publisher Paul Huntsman speaks with Brian Stelter about how Salt Lake's application might be used as a blueprint by other papers. They also discuss print versus digital and the paper's coverage of the Mormon Church.To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Media winners and losers from the past decade; how to combat "truth decay;" and what to expect in media and tech in the next 10 years. David Zurawik, Nicole Carroll, Marc Benioff, Paul Huntsman, Jennifer Kavanagh, Oliver Darcy, and Amy Webb join Brian Stelter.To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Catherine Rampell, S.E. Cupp and Garry Kasparov discuss news overload, and how to cover the rival realities swirling around impeachment. Plus, inside the Washington Post with editor Marty Baron, and New Year's resolutions for the press...To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Oliver Darcy, Kerry Flynn, Frank Pallotta and Chloe Melas join Brian Stelter to reflect on the year's biggest media news, from the dawn of Disney+ to the failures of several digital media upstarts. Do you remember all these stories from 2019? Plus, Stelter asks the team to preview big changes happening on their beats in 2020.To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Washington Post executive editor Marty Baron discusses impeachment coverage, political headwinds, the Post's investigations unit, and the role of journalism. Brian Stelter also asks Baron about the health of the Post's business, the importance of subscription revenue, and Baron's future at the paper.To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Plus, Mark Lukasiewicz on the 'deliberate deception' of conspiracy theories; Tara Dowdell on the 'powerful forces' supporting Trump; fact versus fiction in Clint Eastwood's new movie 'Richard Jewell;' and how the Afghanistan Papers reveal 'the truth about the war.' Masha Gessen, Mark Lukasiewicz, Tara Dowdell, Jim Lehrer, Gretchen Carlson, Kevin Riley, Brian Lowry, and Craig Whitlock join Brian Stelter.To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Craig Whitlock led the Washington Post's years-long effort to obtain hundreds of secret interviews about the Afghan war. The result: A week-long series and a database of the Afghanistan Papers. Whitlock speaks with Brian Stelter about the Post's legal battles, his main findings, and the information he is still seeking. Through this treasure trove of documents, "we've finally broken through with the truth about the war," he says. He also discusses comparisons to the Pentagon Papers.To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Plus, Trump's hypocrisy about anonymous sources; a British researcher shows how phones are changing news consumption; and a Harvard professor argues that America has "lost its mind." Irin Carmon, David Frum, Olivia Nuzzi, Carl Bernstein, Liz Mair, Damon De Ionno, and Thomas Patterson join Brian Stelter.To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The media bears partial responsibility for the assault on reason that is crippling American democracy, Thomas Patterson says. The Harvard professor's new book on the subject is titled "How America Lost Its Mind." He talks with Brian Stelter about how media divisions and party polarization have threatened "collective rationality." As for those media players "beyond the pale in terms of their willingness to fudge the facts," Patterson says "we have to shame them out of existence."To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Dahlia Lithwick, Caroline Polisi, David Zurawik, Rebecca Davis O'Brien, Andrea Bernstein, Kathy Kiely, Peter T. Coleman, and Angela Denker join Brian Stelter.To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Plus, Dr. Sanjay Gupta on the "mystery of President Trump's unannounced hospital visit," and Margaret Sullivan, Juliet Huddy, Oliver Darcy, Joel Simon, Kathleen Carroll, Steven Hassan join Brian Stelter.To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Steven Hassan, a leading cult expert with firsthand experience escaping the Unification Church, says Trump's cultivation of his base is cult-like. Brian Stelter questions Hassan's claims and asks why he has decided to branch into politics through the new book "The Cult of Trump." They discuss how social media has accelerated the spread of influential ideologies and "destructive cults," and the pivotal roles played by media and religion.To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Plus, ways to help rebuild local journalism... Dan Rather says McConnell is part of the Trump "cult..." The Atlantic wants to show "How to Stop a Civil War..." Dan Rather, Nicole Hemmer, Abigail Tracy, Craig Silverman, Jeffrey Goldberg and Jennifer Preston join Brian Stelter.To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Charles Whitaker, dean of Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism, discusses the student newspaper's ill-considered decision to apologize for covering a campus protest. The Daily Northwestern is independent, but Whitaker spoke out when the students were "pilloried," he said, by pro journalists. Whitaker says this episode, and a recent controversy at Harvard, show that "The public is quite unaware of what journalism is, what our processes are," and "what it means to be balanced."To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

How transcripts highlight Sean Hannity's political power... Why there's a right-wing fixation with the whistleblower's identity... Plus more from Bill Moyers and Anthony Scaramucci. Brian Stelter also talks with Melanie Zanona, Addy Baird, Manu Raju, Max Boot, Tara Dowdell, and Jess McIntosh.To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Since he launched the Washington Post's TikTok account in May, video producer Dave Jorgenson has created over 120 videos that show how the D.C. newsroom ticks with humor. Brian Stelter asks him about what the Post gains from TikTok; whether other news outlets should be using it; and how his videos have built trust and familiarity with the Post's reporters. They also discuss Jorgenson's daily production process, reactions from staffers, and attempts by presidential candidates to participate in meme-making.To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Will right-wing media protect Trump from conviction? What are the dangers of political ads on the web? Why do the president's mispellings matter? Brian Stelter talks with Joe Walsh, Daniel Dale, Colby Hall, Aisha Moodie-Mills, Irin Carmon, Sarah Barnett, Bill Frischling, Bruce David Martin, Vincent Novak and Michael Barasch.To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Brian Stelter sits down with CNN Worldwide president Jeff Zucker at the CITIZEN by CNN conference in New York City. They discuss the network's relationship with President Trump; decisions about whether to air Trump events; and a baseless lawsuit threat from one of Trump's lawyers. Zucker also defends the hiring of "Trump voices;" discusses the possibility of hiring Shep Smith; and addresses his interest in running for public office someday.To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

October 27, 2019: Catherine Rampell, Andrew Marantz, Sam Vinograd, Ezra Klein, Sarah Ellison, Joe Klein and Jeff Zucker join Brian Stelter.To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ezra Klein says people think about impeachment all wrong. It doesn't have to be a "traumatic" worst case scenario, he says: "We fire people for poor performance in most jobs. It seems that in the most important job, in arguably the entire world, we should be able to do the same thing." Klein, the editor-at-large of Vox Media, talks with Brian Stelter about his new podcast, "Impeachment, Explained," and the need to apply historical context to the daily drama. Klein also analyzes Trump's ability to "control coverage" based on his understanding that that "new plus outrageous equals newsworthy." He all calls out right-wing claims that the impeachment process is a coup, calling the claims "shameful."To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

October 20, 2019: Daniel Dale, Erik Wemple, Olivia Nuzzi, Elaina Plott, Matt Lewis, Katie Rogers, Krystal Ball, Ronan Farrow, Dipayan Ghosh and Mo Elleithee join Brian Stelter.To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After BuzzFeed's DC bureau chief John Stanton was laid off in January, he co-founded the Save Journalism Project to "stand up" for journalists and "educate the public" about "the dangers facing us." Stanton talks with Brian Stelter about Facebook and Google's impacts on the news industry; Mark Zuckerberg's recent talk about Facebook's values and free speech; and what Facebook is doing about "toxic" content and disinformation.To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

October 13, 2019: Sam Donaldson, Douglas Brinkley, Julie Roginsky, Carl Cameron, Conor Powell, Peter Wehner, Irin Carmon, Amanda Marcotte, and David Zurawik join Brian Stelter.To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

New Yorker staff writer Andrew Marantz embedded with extremist "gate-crashers" teeming on social media platforms and the lax "gate-keepers" in Silicon Valley for his new book titled "Antisocial: Online Extremists, Techno-Utopians, and the Hijacking of the American Conversation." In order to take the conversation back, Marantz tells Brian Stelter, "the only way forward is to really really look this stuff in the face." He also talks about the Overton Window, media manipulation, the "alt right," and the rise of white supremacist rhetoric on the internet.To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

October 6, 2019: Masha Gessen, Oliver Darcy, Juliet Huddy, Michael Shear, Barbara Res, Douglas Heye, Jess McIntosh and Robert Leonard join Brian Stelter.To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Matt Taibbi's new book "Hate Inc.: Why Today's Media Makes Us Despise One Another" makes the case that news outlets have become "a twisted wing of the entertainment business," chasing clicks and views to survive. In a blunt conversation with Brian Stelter, Taibbi says he wants to encourage more "consumer awareness about the news." Stelter challenges some of Taibbi's arguments, including his portrayals of Fox News and MSNBC, and they discuss how Noam Chomsky's "Manufacturing Consent" applies to the present day.To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

September 29, 2019: Robert De Niro, Suzanne Nossel, Amanda Carpenter, Susan Glasser, Susan Hennessey, Christine Pelosi, and Christopher Ruddy join Brian Stelter.To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Renowned political analyst Jeff Greenfield talks with Brian Stelter about the start of a formal impeachment inquiry against President Trump. He says "the kind of reflexive, circle the wagons, 'remember this is our guy'" strategy among Republicans and pro-Trump media outfits "may not fully survive this latest story." He describes the many differences between the Nixon and Clinton impeachments and the current proceedings, including a much more chaotic news environment. His advice for journalists covering the story: "Take a breath."To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices