In the run-up to this year’s election, President Joe Biden has warned that American democracy is at stake. But when it comes to the democratic process of an entire nation, might the solution be local? In an age of declining print media, losses of local newspapers and journalists are creating ‘news deserts’: areas bereft of a local paper. But does this matter ... Show More
Aug 31
Trump’s trade war with Canada gets nasty
In the past couple of weeks, the Trump administration has reignited its trade war with Canada, threatened an ‘economic D-day’ against Iran and watched the US national debt surpass $40tn. Meanwhile, Donald Trump has personally made billions of dollars since returning to office. Jo ... Show More
27m 15s
Aug 21
Jill Lepore on why the artificial state is ‘doomed’
With less than three months to go until the midterms, voters are thinking about grocery prices, the Iran war – and datacentres. This week, Jonathan Freedland speaks to the historian Jill Lepore about how this latest AI backlash could influence those all-important elections in Nov ... Show More
27m 58s
Feb 2024
A news desert in the desert
They say all politics is local. But what are voters to do to get reliable, fact-checked information about local issues and politics when they have few news coverage options? As part of this week’s “Democracy in the Desert” series, we travel to Val Verde County, Texas, to hear how ... Show More
8m 22s
Feb 2024
A news desert in the desert
They say all politics is local. But what are voters to do to get reliable, fact-checked information about local issues and politics when they have few news coverage options? As part of this week’s “Democracy in the Desert” series, we travel to Val Verde County, Texas, to hear how ... Show More
8m 22s
Feb 2021
Steven Waldman on Facebook’s fight in Australia, Alden’s takeover of Tribune, and how philanthropy could help fix the local news crisis
Steven Waldman, the president and co-founder of Report for America, connects the dots between the local news crisis, the "financialization" of newspaper ownership, and the spread of disinformation on social media. Brian Stelter also asks Waldman about the rash of recent news abou ... Show More
28m 36s
Oct 2021
October 17, 2021: Robert Costa says political reporters are on the democracy beat; 'Brainwashing' author argues Fox tears families apart; is Netflix resisting 'cancel culture' by backing Dave Chappelle?
Plus: Why threats to American democracy should be front-page news; Pelosi and Sanders blame press for budget confusion; Brian Stelter shares a personal story about threats against journalists. Marc Elias, Robert Costa, Bari Weiss, Jen Senko, Oliver Darcy, and Matt Belloni join Br ... Show More
42m 37s