Question Everything

A  group of reporters recently uncovered a closely held secret: the identity of the Israeli soldier who shot and killed renowned veteran journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in 2022. This is the story of how they figured it out. Sign up for our newsletter: www.kcrw.com/questioneverything   “Question Everything” is a production of KCRW and Placement Theory .  

Back in December, we did an episode about Pyrra, an AI-powered software that tracks sifts through the far corners of the internet – in some places you probably haven’t even heard of – to see what narratives are emerging from the people who post there. A lot of these are conspiracy theories, and also violent threats.   This week, we check back in with the creator of that soft...

Where better to huddle up and discuss what to do about Rümeysa Öztürk and the chilling effect that is happening in journalism than on campus at Tufts University with the student journalists at The Tufts Daily? This week Brian and Question Everything co-host a live event with the editor-in-chief and associate editor from The Tufts Daily– Arghya Thallapragada and Ellora Onion-De...

Last episode we discussed the campaign to overturn the Supreme Court decision that protects reporters’ ability to criticize and investigate people in power.   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...

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.   But recently, under our noses, some of the same people who once sang its praises have turned against it.    The story of the growing movement that is trying to get th...

The best documentary filmmaker in America spent nearly five years of his life making a nine-hour masterpiece for Netflix.    It will never see the light of day.    After a nasty estate battle, the series will not be released. No one will ever see it.   In his first sit-down interview about this catastrophe, the filmmaker, Ezra Edelman seeks catharsis – if not closure...

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.    A bunch of you have been asking us to have Barton back, to find out what he’s doing, now that the second Trump term is here. So we called him up.   Barton works at the Brennan Center for...

It’s easy to get frustrated with the charade reporters are supposed to keep up, where they pretend they don’t have opinions or feelings or any kind of human thoughts about a story they’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.    Dana Ballout struggled wi...

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’s had in a long time.    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...

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––largely recorded live at On Air Fest––Brian a...

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 – over drinks – what they’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.   Featuring Vicky Ward, who has cov...

Ben Smith tells the story of the strange controversy over a journalism award that’s been going down in a Florida courthouse.   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.   Sign up for our newsletter to read the lengthy listener criticism that helped...

Locked up, alone, accused of being a spy, reporter Jeremy Loffredo has to defend the fact that he’s a journalist. To the Israeli courts. And then…to our reporter.    Part two of our two-part series about Jeremy Loffredo, who in October became the first American journalist arrested by Israel. “Question Everything” is a production of KCRW and Placement Theory .

Just a few months ago, Israel did something it has never done before. It arrested an American journalist. His name is Jeremy Loffredo.   This is his story.    Part one of a special, two-part series.  “Question Everything” is a production of KCRW and Placement Theory .

Four Hollywood directors gather after hours at a wine shop to drink and commiserate about the perils – and power – that come when you’re straddling fact and fiction. With behind the scenes stories about documentary romance, regret, and pirates.   Featuring Tom McCarthy, who won an Oscar for Spotlight; Antonio Campos, creator of The Staircase for HBO; Tina Satter, who directe...

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. 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. &l...

A journalist tries to get his wrestling buddy to trust in journalism.    You can find more work by Sam Eagan here .   “Question Everything” is a production of KCRW and Placement Theory .  

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.  “Question Everything” is a production of  KCRW  and  Placement Theory .

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’s putting their big theoretical questions into practice – at a personal cost – as she covers one of the most messed up stories of the election cycle.   Wa...

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 “bleeding heart liberal” and a Trump supporter can trust.   Check out Tangle News here.    “Question Everything” is a production of KCRW and Placement Theory .  

How one of the most accomplished reporters of our time, Barton Gellman, lost his confidence in journalism.   Sign up for our newsletter to hear the one outtake from the interview that Brian wished he could get into the episode, but couldn’t.  “Question Everything” is a production of KCRW and Placement Theory .

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?   You can watch this whole episode on YouTube [INSERT LINK]! And subscrib...

Brian talks to a fellow journalist who called his most well-known work “morally indefensible.”   You can read Gay Alcorn’s column here . Subscribe to our newsletter to read Gay’s full reaction to this episode.    You can listen to S-Town here .    If you’re having thoughts of suicide, please reach out for help by dialing 988 or clicking here ....

Journalist Brian Reed of S-Town is questioning everything, even his own work. Season premiere Sept 12.