What Next | Daily News and Analysis

After five long months, the WGA and major Hollywood studios have reached a tentative agreement to end the strike—well, that one anyway. Who won what and where do the actors stand? Guest: Michael Schulman , staff writer at The New Yorker. 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 lik...

At 92, Rupert Murdoch is retiring and handing the reins over to his son. Will Lachlan Murdoch watch over a period of managed decline—or will he chase the audience Fox News has been losing to the even-more extreme right? Guest: Nicole Hemmer , Director of the Roger Center for the American Presidency at Vanderbilt University. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As other tech companies that rode the pandemic to success started sinking, Instacart managed to stay above water—they turned a profit and even made it to an IPO. But a stubbornly static stock price has some asking if Instacart—and the whole gig economy—hasn’t already peaked.   Guest: Erin Griffith , who reports on tech startups and venture capital for the New York Times If you enjoy this show, ple...

The sword of regulation, which has been swinging over New York AirBnBs for over a decade, is falling at last. But will new laws for short-term rentals have the effect housing advocates are hoping for? And after many failed efforts, can these laws actually be enforced?  Guest: Heather Tal Murphy , Slate writer covering tech and business. If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate...

Following “The Call,” our series on the opioid epidemic continues in Seattle.  Harm reduction focuses on meeting people where they are, including enabling them to use drugs safely when experiencing addiction. But some advocates are asking, what happens when you think bigger? Guest: Lisa Daugaard , criminal justice reform activist and Co-Executive Director of the nonprofit organization Purpose. Dig...

Wisconsin has been something of a model for Republicans looking to entrench themselves in the state legislature, and one key move has always been to draw the electoral map as favorably as possible. But now, the state Supreme Court has swung to the left – for the first time in 15 years. The GOP is scrambling to keep this battleground state deeply gerrymandered—and keep power in their own hands. Gue...

Thousands of members of the United Auto Workers walked off the line at Midwestern auto plants Friday, putting an exclamation mark on a summer where labor—from screenwriters to UPS drivers—flexed its muscles. But is this a true resurgence of the broader U.S. labor movement? Guest: Barry Eidlin , associate professor of sociology at McGill University If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up...

House speaker Kevin McCarthy announced the opening of an impeachment inquiry into President Biden, but members of the Freedom Caucus—a group of right-wing Republicans with a taste for dramatic, extreme actions—had already moved on to fighting the next spending bill, potentially steering the government to another shutdown.  Guest: Jim Newell , Slate’s senior politics writer. If you enjoy this show,...

The bipartisan Kids Online Safety Act has noble-sounding intentions, but has been called one of the most dangerous bills in years by the digital rights group, the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Guest: Richard Blumenthal , senior United States senator from Connecticut.  If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate pod...

A trial a decade in the making has started, as the U.S. Justice Department’s antitrust case against Google and its unrivaled position as the top search engine begins. Is this the beginning of the government “taking on Big Tech” and the end of Google as we know it? Guest: Leah Nylen , covering antitrust for Bloomberg. If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus mem...

Following “The Call,” our series on the opioid epidemic continues in Harlem. Inside a safe-consumption site, addiction is destigmatized—outside, however, the neighbors feel differently. Guest: Syderia Asberry-Chresfield, co-founder of the Greater Harlem Coalition and a former Vice President for JP Morgan Chase. If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members g...

It feels like we live in a world of near constant environmental disasters. Whether it’s living through an emergency, or consuming coverage in the media, collective trauma takes a mental toll. What steps can we take to be ready—for ourselves, our communities, and to help the recovery?  Guest: Dr. Tara Powell , associate professor, School of Social Work, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign If yo...

Back in January, Ron DeSantis appointed six new trustees to the board of Florida’s New College, who swiftly set about remaking the school according to a much more conservative vision of what college should be. Now, as the new school year begins, we’re starting to see what that vision actually looks like.  Guest: Sam Greenspan , freelance journalist who attended New College of Florida from 2004 to...

Proud Boys leader Henry “Enrique” Tarrio was just sentenced to 22 years in prison for his role in the January 6th insurrection. With much of their leadership, and that of the Oath Keepers, now behind bars, has their movement hit a dead end? Or is this just more grist for the anti-government outrage mill? Guest: Brandi Buchman, independent journalist covering the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys trials...

As the opioid overdose crisis continues, a group of volunteers started a hotline with one mission—not to encourage people to go to rehab, not even to discourage them from using—just to keep them alive for one more day.  A collaboration with This American Life. Guests:  Stephen Murray, paramedic and overdose researcher at Boston Medical Center. Jessie, a registered nurse who answers calls on the Ne...

COVID’s still here but the public’s appetite for masking, social distancing, or remote learning is long gone. One palatable way to stop the spread: improving air circulation indoors.  Guest: Apoorva Mandavilli, science and global health reporter for the New York Times If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podca...

When Howard County signed a $27 million contract with the start-up Zum, the company promised to modernize the way schools provide transportation. But when the school year started, that’s not what happened. Guest: Daniel Zawodny , covering transportation for the Baltimore Banner and corps member of Report For America. If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus mem...

Math and reading scores plummeted during the year of virtual learning. Kids are now back in the classroom—but they aren’t back on track. What will it take to catch up a generation —and do schools have the will and resources to make it happen? Guest: Alec MacGillis, reporter for ProPublica. If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero...

The problem with a Congress that is statistically so much older than the country it represents is systemic and—like almost everything in Washington—much of the issue can be traced back to money in politics. Guest: Walt Hickey , Deputy editor for data and analysis for Insider who worked on their “ Red, White, and Gray ” reporting project. If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate...

The impeachment trial of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is slated to begin in the state Senate today. Though Paxton’s history of scandals is long and storied, this could be the first time he’s faced accountability—and all it took was leaving taxpayers on the hook for a $3.3 million bill. Guest: Sergio Martinez-Beltran , political reporter with NPR’s The Texas Newsroom, a public radio collaborat...

In honor Labor Day, What Next proudly presents the opening salvo from our colleagues at One Year: 1955. We'll be back in your feed tomorrow. The Cannon Street All-Stars dreamed of playing in the 1955 Little League World Series. Their biggest obstacle didn’t come on the field. In the year that Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a public bus, these Black 12-year-olds became unlikely civil rig...

It wasn’t long ago when social media was a place to go for up-to-the-minute updates in an emergency. But even as internet access is more widespread than ever—and natural disasters more frequent—Twitter and Facebook are less useful than ever. As hubs for news, that era appears over.  Guest: Will Oremus , tech reporter for the Washington Post. If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for S...

As Twitt—sorry, X —continues to go through tumult, an unlikely, long-time player is emerging as the last acceptable place to post. Guest: Sarah Frier , tech editor at Bloomberg Businessweek. 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 Dear Prudence—and you’ll be sup...

As the What Next team catches its breath at the end of summer, we’re revisiting some of the biggest stories of the year. This story originally ran on April 27. What Next will resume regular programming next week. A self-described activist had late-stage, fallopian tube cancer. She didn’t live in one of the 11 jurisdictions that allows terminally-ill patients the choice to medically end their own l...

As the What Next team catches its breath at the end of summer, we’re revisiting some of the biggest stories of the year. This story originally ran on Nov. 9, 2022. What Next will resume regular programming next week. As Texas laws have become more discriminatory against trans individuals and their families, many wonder if they can even stay in the Lone Star State, especially when parents could be...