Apple News In Conversation

The social-media grounds are shifting. In recent weeks, there have been major developments at platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. Meanwhile, more and more experts are raising alarm bells about the harms of social media on society and our mental health. To understand how we got here and what might come next, Apple News In Conversation host Shumita Basu spoke with Nicholas Carr, author o...

The militia movement in America has a long, embattled history — and President Trump ushered in a new chapter with his sweeping grant of clemency to the more than 1,500 people charged for their involvement in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. ProPublica reporter Joshua Kaplan sat down with Apple News In Conversation host Shumita Basu to talk about the message these pardons send an...

The Apple Original series Severance takes place in a world where people can split their memories in two — and create completely separate selves for inside and outside the workplace. It was a hit when it debuted in 2022, and in the season finale the characters’ “innies” and “outies” collide in a shocking cliff-hanger. In the three years since, fans have been wait...

Forty-five million people in the U.S. — about one in six adults — owe a total of $1.7 trillion in student-loan debt. Canceling some of these federal loans has become a flash point in modern American politics. In a new book, Burdened: Student Debt and the Making of an American Crisis , Ryann Liebenthal traces the origins of the student-loan system and breaks down how it works today. Lie...

This is an episode from our archives. Esther Perel is the relationship expert many couples dream of scheduling a session with. Her podcast, Where Should We Begin? With Esther Perel , offers the next best thing. In it, she helps couples work through their issues, often providing insights that are relevant to other relationships. Apple News In Conversation host Shumita Basu spoke with Perel about ho...

This is an episode from our archives. Elizabeth Keating didn’t realize how little she knew about her mother’s life until after she had died. A trained anthropologist, Keating decided to develop a guide for interviewing and recording loved ones’ histories before it’s too late. Her book The Essential Questions: Interview Your Family to Uncover Stories and Bridge Generations o...

After the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, the Taliban came to power and quickly began stripping women and girls of their rights. With the support of Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai and actor Jennifer Lawrence, Afghan filmmaker Sahra Mani gathered footage from women activists fighting against this oppressive regime. The resulting documentary, Bread & Roses , is now available...

The separation of migrant families by the Trump administration is one of the most controversial policies in modern American history. It began in mid-2017 but was only acknowledged publicly about a year later. In 2020, NBC correspondent Jacob Soboroff came out with a book on the subject called Separated: Inside an American Tragedy . Most recently, Soboroff teamed up with Academy Award–winning...

Taylor Swift requires no introduction. She recently became the first artist to win the Grammy for Album of the Year four times. Her Eras Tour, the highest-grossing music tour ever, ends this month. Rolling Stone ’s Rob Sheffield, who has been covering Swift since the beginning of her career, is out with a new book on the star, Heartbreak Is the National Anthem: How Taylor Swift Reinvented Po...

This is an episode from our archives. Holiday spending is expected to reach record levels this year. That makes for a lot of packages — and a lot of returns, donations, and junk. On Apple News In Conversation , host Shumita Basu speaks with The Atlantic ’s Amanda Mull, who reveals the strategies retailers use to get you to buy more stuff and what you can do to have a more sustainable h...

Even before the divisive presidential election, family estrangement was on the rise. Now, as holiday gatherings approach, many people are grappling with difficult family dynamics. Psychologist Joshua Coleman, the author of Rules of Estrangement: Why Adult Children Cut Ties & How to Heal the Conflict , talks to Apple News In Conversation host Shumita Basu about how to navigate strained relation...

Sharon Horgan has spent decades creating hilarious TV and compelling women characters at every stage of life. In the BBC comedy Pulling , she captured the confusion of early adulthood. Young parenthood was the subject of Amazon Prime’s Catastrophe . And HBO’s Divorce , starring Sarah Jessica Parker, focused on the dissolution of a marriage. Her latest project, Bad Sisters , premieres i...

Along with Donald Trump’s win this week, Republicans took control of the Senate and are favored to secure the House. To break down the forces behind this rightward shift, Apple News In Conversation host Shumita Basu spoke with Atlantic staff writer George Packer. They discuss what the election results reveal about the country and the change many Americans want to see.

Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are making their closing pitches to voters ahead of Election Day. In this final week, Apple News In Conversation host Shumita Basu sat down with New York Times chief White House correspondent Peter Baker and New Yorker staff writer Susan Glasser. The married political reporters are also authors of the book The Divider: Trump in the Whi...

Since former President Trump lost the 2020 presidential race, he and his supporters have been spreading the false claim that the election was stolen and that the U.S. is rife with voter fraud. This has been disproven in court many times, but the rhetoric has had a real effect on the country — from the January 6 attack on the Capitol, to election-rule changes, to general distrust around the v...

In the past month, two major hurricanes hit the southeastern United States, causing hundreds of deaths and billions of dollars in damage. Journalist Porter Fox warns that this is only the beginning. Fox, who has been reporting on climate change for more than a decade, has published a new book, Category Five: Superstorms and the Warming Oceans That Feed Them . He spoke with Apple News In Conversati...

Democratic candidates for office have historically relied on support from Latino voters. But recent elections and polling show that this crucial voting bloc is starting to move further to the right. In her new book, Defectors: The Rise of the Latino Far Right and What It Means for America , journalist Paola Ramos explores the forces behind this shift. She spoke to Apple News In Conversation host S...

One year ago, Hamas militants killed nearly 1,200 people in Israel and took 251 people hostage. Since then, Israeli attacks on Gaza have killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, including more than 16,000 children. Most recently, the conflict expanded into Lebanon, and Iran fired missiles into Israel. Vox senior correspondent Zack Beauchamp talks to Apple News In Conversation host Shumita Basu about...

Since the overturning of Roe v. Wade , nearly half of states in the U.S. have banned or heavily restricted abortion, leaving millions of people without access to this procedure. Caroline Kitchener covers abortion for the Washington Post and was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for her reporting in 2023. Kitchener talks to Apple News In Conversation host Shumita Basu about the impact of abortion bans on pe...

On November 19, 2005, a group of U.S. Marines killed 24 men, women, and children in Haditha, Iraq. It would become known as the Haditha massacre and set off one of the largest war-crimes investigations in American history. But, ultimately, no one was convicted of these killings. The latest season of the New Yorker ’s podcast In the Dark explores what happened in Haditha and how the U.S. mili...

When it comes to QAnon and other conspiracy theories, there’s no one type of person who is most vulnerable. And those who get sucked in can quickly become unrecognizable to their loved ones. Jesselyn Cook, the author of The Quiet Damage: QAnon and the Destruction of the American Family , talks to Apple News In Conversation host Shumita Basu about how QAnon has shattered lives across the poli...

Every day, 10,000 people turn 65 in America. With unpaid family members bearing the brunt of the work and an already-stressed care workforce, the U.S. faces huge challenges to support the elderly. Labor organizer and author Ai-jen Poo talks to Apple News In Conversation host Shumita Basu about how America can give everyone a chance to have the aging experience they deserve.

This is an episode from our archives. Growing up, Jennifer Senior thought her mom was an only child. But when she was 12 years old, she learned her mom had a sister, named Adele, who was institutionalized as a baby. Adele had spent almost her entire life separated from her family. Decades later, in 2021, Senior reconnected with her aunt and uncovered the dark history of institutionalizing children...

This week, Democrats rallied around their new ticket, Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. It was a remarkable sign of unity for a party that settled on their new nominee just four weeks ago and has been riding a wave of voter enthusiasm. But can this energy last? And what will it take to win the White House in November? Apple News editor Gideon Resnick attended the Democr...

The Darién Gap is one of the most dangerous migrant routes in the world and the only way to get to the U.S. from South America by land. But despite the risks, more and more people — including children — are braving the 70-mile stretch of harsh terrain. Atlantic staff writer Caitlin Dickerson and photographer Lynsey Addario recently made the trek with several families to show just how treacherous i...