Why We Wrote This

This month’s Trump-Xi summit in Beijing was an important plot point in the long and complex arc of U.S.-China relations. In this episode, Ann Scott Tyson, the Monitor’s Beijing bureau chief, joins host Matt Bell to probe the deeper meaning of the summit, discuss the work of gathering Chinese (and Taiwanese) perspectives, and explore how Ann covers the newly shifting dynamic at the world’s preemine...

Movies about aliens have fascinated audiences for decades. But two new movies about alien life – “Project Hail Mary” and “Disclosure Day” – led Monitor culture writer Stephen Humphries to wonder, What does our fascination with aliens tell us about our views of humanity? In this writer’s-notebook variation on our “Why We Wrote This” podcast, Stephen shares excerpts of his conversations with three o...

Amid recent ICE operations in Portland, Maine, Monitor staff writer Cameron Pugh and Director of Photography Alfredo Sosa traveled to see how Mainers were responding in the face of the immigration enforcement surge. But the story of one activist, documentary filmmaker, and self-described “African Mainer” offered an exploration of an age-old question: What does it really mean to be an American?

In our last episode, we spoke with a veteran of Olympics coverage, in Milan for his eighth Games. This week, we sit down with an Olympics rookie, also in Milan, who has brought to bear the reporting skills she honed covering hardball national politics. Olympics editor Kendra Nordin Beato guest hosts this conversation with Story Hinckley. They discuss how Story attacked her assignment like a slalom...

With the 2026 Milan Cortina Games, Mark Sappenfield has now covered eight Olympics. Those include four previous Winter Games – in Salt Lake City, Turin, Vancouver, and Sochi. In this episode, Mark, the Monitor’s global correspondent, joins Kendra Nordin Beato, our Olympics editor. They talk about why the Winter Games are Mark’s favorite, how he finds distinctly Monitor angles on important stories...

For a few generations of newsmakers and newsgatherers, the Monitor Breakfast has been a place to come together over a meal and parse the big issues of the day. In this episode, the host of this storied event joins her predecessor for a conversation about the Breakfast’s winning formula: Invite a newsmaker and a group of reporters to sit down for an hour and have a conversation, on the record. And...

In this episode, Howard LaFranchi, a U.S.-based diplomacy writer for the Monitor who’s also an old Latin America hand, talks about waking to the news of Operation Absolute Resolve in Venezuela and working through how he could best pitch in on coverage with context. He talks with host Clay Collins about the complementary interplay of high-altitude analysis and on-the-ground coverage. About the Trum...

The Golden State is politically blue, and it’s a leader in green energy. It also has a foothold in crude. Reporter Simon Montlake went to a SoCal town built by oil – and to a festival called “Oildorado,” which celebrates that fact – to take the measure of a place that illustrates the trade-offs and halting transitions that characterize the global energy story. He joined our podcast to talk about t...

The cranberry, with its short seasonal star turn, has a compelling history as a North American fruit. Growing the crop is a tricky business – climate-sensitive, naturally collaborative – with some old practices but also a growing cast of innovators. In this episode, food writer Kendra Nordin Beato goes deep on the tart, red orb. Also included: An encore excerpt from last year’s show with Kendra on...

Sarah Matusek didn’t wake up one recent morning expecting that her day would include driving a getaway car. Reporting can be like that. In this episode, Monitor immigration writer Sarah Matusek talks with host Clay Collins about the logistics of getting access to – and egress from – places including a Portland ICE facility, about the nuance of the legal language around her beat, and about how she...

Taylor Luck, an Amman, Jordan-based writer for The Christian Science Monitor, recently joined Christa Case Bryant, the Monitor’s editor, on our Daily podcast to talk about his dynamic beat. This episode of “Why We Wrote This” begins with a reprise of that conversation, followed by a curation of excerpts from Taylor’s previous appearances on this show. Those include Taylor’s account of his career’s...

You can’t go home again. Except maybe you can, for an open-hearted second look that applies lessons in listening gained during years of immersion abroad. Scott Baldauf, a Monitor staff reporter who’s been operating at a distance for decades, talks about the early days of his new U.S.-based gig as America correspondent, about his philosophy and process, and about what makes Monitor journalism diffe...

We’re back from our hiatus! In this episode, we talk with Mark Sappenfield, the Monitor’s former top editor turned roaming Europe reporter and watcher of global trends. Find out what that shift has been like, and what went into the framing of his highly readable recent story on Finland’s grassroots defense strategy – a talker in the newsroom and beyond. Plus, Mark gets going on his favorite word (...

Nairobi is like many cities. It’s vibrant but chaotic. Well-functioning here, showing cracks in its infrastructure there. In this episode we go behind writer Erika Page’s reporting of a tale of two (satellite) cities outside of Kenya’s capital, part of a growing constellation of such centers of life and commerce. And we talk about how a reporter keeps finding stories about people trying, at least,...

A lot of technology, including some that ultimately makes us “greener,” calls for extractive practices and carries upfront costs. Its use slurps resources. But it also makes us productive and provides essential support for modern lives. Climate writer Stephanie Hanes joins host Clay Collins for a conversation about data centers and rare earths – and about being intentional and aware of the tradeof...

How does a Saskatchewan farmer dreaming of a better life end up in rural Russia? In this episode, the Monitor’s Fred Weir, a Canadian journalist with 40 years in Russia, talks about how he found and profiled a new kind of invited Western expat: one who has warmed to some aspects of Vladimir Putin’s Russia, seems somewhat oblivious to others, and appears to be quite happy, so far, with the trade-of...

What does the hit Apple TV+ show that could be thought of as “Black Mirror” meets “Office Space” tell us about perceptions of workplace culture and Generation Z trends like “boreout”? About work with purpose and meaning? On the eve of the Season 2 finale of “Severance,” culture writer Stephen Humphries takes us inside the making of his report on a dark series that explores a kind of community resi...

How does a justice reporter stay focused when nearly every politics story seems to have intricate – and sometimes massive – legal ramifications? Avoid loaded phrasing. Keep it clinical. And remember to breathe. Henry Gass joins guest host Gail Russell Chaddock to talk about his work at the intersection of law and American politics, the busiest corner of his much broader beat.

What does good policing looks like when it comes to managing sometimes bristly human interactions at street protests or in rowdy sports stadiums? Writer Simon Montlake and photographer Alfredo Sosa learned in Columbus, Ohio, how police dialogue units can play a role. But is it sustainable, and transferable? How far might it extend in an era when violence and fear seem sometimes seem more prevalent...

Who’s in the pews these days? What about those in – or adjacent to – American political leadership who proclaim religiosity even while exhibiting behaviors that don’t necessarily comport with it? Beginning to decode some of those questions represented a politics writer’s early swings on the religion beat. Many more remain. Sophie Hills, the Monitor’s new faith and religion writer, joins guest host...

When it comes to humanity’s relationship to Earth’s other creatures, does “dominion” really mean “stewardship”? Monitor writer Stephanie Hanes joins host Clay Collins for a look behind the reporting of her recent deep dive into what new research suggests about the richness of animals’ inner lives – and what that might mean for humans’ relationship to them.

A new writer’s local assignment on a gun violence memorial brought him face to face with a mother whose trying experience, and her telling of it, seemed to underscore an organization’s healing mission. It also showcased his source’s strength, resilience, and agency. In this episode, we break from the conversation format to make room for a writer’s annotation of a interview – used with permission o...

Covering an incoming administration is about more than tracking the words and deeds of the new chief executive. Plates are shifting from the Cabinet to Congress. That warrants careful reporting, too. It means staying grounded in facts, not engaging in speculation, as a government emerges that is in some ways quite different from Trump 1.0. Washington writer Cameron Joseph, a frequent recent guest,...

In this stretch between Election Day and the inauguration, the United States waits on a president-elect who has a long list of actions to take “on Day 1,” many without precedent, even given his earlier term. What will Monitor coverage of this transition and this presidency look like? How do journalists stay curious and focused on truth? How do they avoid appearing to be condescending? Two Washingt...

Fresh cranberries or canned? Northern pumpkin pie or Southern sweet potato pie? An assembling of intergenerational family members, a handful of friends, or a group of strangers? Almost everything about Thanksgiving, from travel to table talk about politics, has the potential to become fraught. Calm can prevail when a simple sense of gratitude gets its place at the table. The Monitor’s Kendra Nordi...