What Next | Daily News and Analysis

Private equity firms have been buying up doctors’ offices and hospitals around the country. But if profits are the primary goal, what happens to the cost and quality of healthcare for patients? Guest: Gretchen Morgenson , senior financial reporter for the NBC News Investigative Unit and co-author of “These Are the Plunderers: How Private Equity Runs—and Wrecks—America”  Want more What Next TBD? Su...

TikTok’s connection to the Chinese government has been a Washington talking point since the Trump administration, but earlier this month lawmakers in the House introduced a bill requiring the app’s parent company to either divest the company into American hands—or be banned. Guest: Emily Baker-White, technology reporter and senior writer at Forbes. Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus...

How Mexico’s $10 billion lawsuit against American gun manufacturers and distributors could pave the way for new gun control tactics in the U.S. and abroad.   Guest: Champe Barton , reporter for The Trace .  If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Amicus—and you’...

Kate Middleton’s on-going absence has the internet tied in knots, and the heavily edited photo that the royal family released—and then rescinded—only made things worse. What do we know about the Princess of Wales’s whereabouts?  Guest: Imogen West-Knights , contributing writer for Slate based in London. Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next...

Extra charges and fees for everything from booking a hotel to buying concert tickets have become an insidious part of daily life. President Biden is hoping that by outlawing so-called “junk fees,” he can win some goodwill with voters before the election. Will it work? Guest: David Dayen, Executive Editor of The American Prospect, author of Monopolized: Life in the Age of Corporate Power . If you e...

On Super Tuesday, Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson secured the Republican nomination for governor in North Carolina. His history of anti-semitic, misogynistic, and outright absurd comments wasn’t a problem for MAGA supporters in the state—and it certainly wasn’t a problem for the national Grand Old Party either. Guest: Jeffrey Billman , politics and law reporter at The Assembly . Want more What N...

As the debate around child safety online rages on, an investigation by The New York Times found a seedy world of pedophiles interacting with child influencer accounts, often run by their parents, on Instagram.  Guest: Jennifer Valentino-DeVries, investigative reporter at the New York Times.  Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family...

Thousands of songs have disappeared from TikTok in recent months as music giant Universal Music Group, or UMG, has pulled its catalog from the app. UMG claims that TikTok is a music platform, and that TikTok needs to pay more to license its music. TikTok claims they're a marketing platform that helps labels promote their artists. But while the two sides argue over contract negotiations for licensi...

With Biden trailing Trump in the polls and thousands of Democrats casting votes for “uncommitted” in the primaries, can the president make his case for a second term to frustrated progressives at the State of the Union?  Guest: Pramila Jayapal , U.S. representative from Washington's 7th congressional district and the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. Want more What Next? Subscribe to...

Airdropping aid, food, and supplies is expensive, inexact, and inefficient and usually only a last resort when your enemies have left you no other options. So why is the United States airdropping aid into Gaza, when the borders are controlled by America’s ally, Israel? Guest: Jane Arraf , reporter for NPR based in the Middle East. Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free list...

Nancy Pelosi is no longer in charge of the House Democrats, and Dianne Feinstein’s Senate seat is now up for grabs. Will a new generation of progressives step up in deep blue California? It’s not so simple… Guest: Alexander Sammon , Slate politics writer.  Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and across all your favorite Slate podca...

Measles happens, but this outbreak in Florida is unfolding in a post-pandemic world where mistrust in public health officials and vaccinations is practically the party line.  Guest: Lauren Weber , Washington Post accountability reporter focused on scientific and medical disinformation.  Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and acros...

Why scam obituaries are edging out earnest ones, with the help of artificial intelligence and an adept Google game. Guest: Mia Sato , reporter for The Verge. Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign...

Is it censorship for social media platforms to moderate their content, or is censorship when the state tells social media platforms how to moderate their content?  Guest: Mark Joseph Stern, Slate writer on courts and the law.  Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Pod...

With Biden losing thousands of votes to “uncommitted” and Trump unable to pull incumbent numbers, the Michigan primaries seemed to show that the electorate isn’t exactly enthusiastic about either candidate. What options remain for two known quantities to win votes? Guest: David Faris , political science professor and Slate politics writer. Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-...

Sixteen-year-old Nex Benedict died one day after being beaten in an Oklahoma high school bathroom. His death has drawn attention to the more-than 50 bills that have been introduced in the state legislature targeting queer and trans people.  Guest: Jo Yurcaba , reporter for NBC Out . Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and across al...

The situation for Ukraine is slipping from a stalemate to again losing territory to the Russian invasion. After two years of combat, will American and EU allies support the Ukrainian cause for as long as it takes?   Guest: Fred Kaplan , Slate’s war stories correspondent. Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and across all your favor...

Is RNC chairperson Ronna McDaniel to blame for Republicans’ poor fundraising and recent underperformance in elections?  Guest: Shelby Talcott , reporter covering Trump and national Republicans for Semafor. Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking...

Fertility doctors and their patients trying to conceive via in vitro fertilization (IVF) were stopped in their tracks this week, as the Alabama Supreme Court declared that embryos have the same rights as people. The decision has left doctors wondering if they can be sued for carrying out standard IVF procedures, and experts worry the ruling could have ramifications for IVF around the country.  Gue...

Studies have found that, in tiny increments, America’s East Coast is sinking into the ground thanks to climate change. Can a new approach to urban planning mitigate the effect? Guest: Matt Simon, senior staff writer at Wired. You can read Matt’s reporting here . If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bo...

Iowa’s Caitlin Clark has scored more points than any other NCAA women’s basketball player in history, but her impact extends even further than her substantial range on the court. Guest: Hayley McGoldrick , associate editor at Sportsnet. Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today...

Shotspotter lost a huge contract and some face when Chicago opted out of its partnership with the gunfire-identification tech company.  Why can’t new policing tech seem to break the old patterns and problems? Guest: Jim Daley , investigations editor at South Side Weekly Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and across all your favori...

The migrant crisis has come to Denver. With no federal help on the way and temperatures dropping well below freezing, a local church tries to pick up the slack.  Guest: Keith Reeser, pastor at Denver Friends Church in Colorado. If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Bur...

Alexei Navalny died last week at age 47 in the prison where he was serving a 19-year sentence for extremism. With just one month left before a presidential election in which Putin is nearly guaranteed to win, the pro-democracy opposition movement in Russia is more beleaguered than ever.  Guest: Joshua Yaffa , contributing writer at The New Yorker and the author of Between Two Fires: Truth, Ambitio...

Apple Vision Pro goggles might be a crime against fashion but with the amount of data they can collect—both on the world around the user and on the users themselves—they have the potential to invade privacy right down to where you’re looking and for how long.  Guest: Geoffrey Fowler, Washington Post tech columnist If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus member...