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 holiday season. Listen to the full interview on Apple Podcasts ....
Nov 28, 2024•20 min
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 relationships and what steps you can take to bridge divides....
Nov 21, 2024•30 min
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 its second season this week on Apple TV+. Horgan sits down with Apple News In Conversation host Shumita Basu to t...
Nov 14, 2024•19 min
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.
Nov 07, 2024•33 min
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 White House, 2017–2021 . They reflected on this moment in the campaign, the two contrasting visions for...
Oct 31, 2024•43 min
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 voting process. Votebeat ’s Jessica Huseman is one of the leading reporters on voting in the U.S. She talks...
Oct 24, 2024•30 min
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 Conversation host Shumita Basu about how human-induced climate change is fueling increasingly larger and more ...
Oct 17, 2024•19 min
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 Shumita Basu about what all of this could signal for the 2024 election....
Oct 10, 2024•27 min
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 where things stand now, the devastating human toll of the war, and how the conflict could evolve....
Oct 03, 2024•32 min
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 people’s lives and the role this issue is playing in the 2024 election....
Sep 26, 2024•35 min
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. military justice system often fails to hold its members to account. Host Madeleine Baran spoke with Apple News...
Sep 19, 2024•30 min
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 political spectrum and the tools that can work to pull family and friends back out of the rabbit hole....
Sep 12, 2024•28 min
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.
Sep 05, 2024•28 min
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 with intellectual disabilities. Senior wrote about her aunt’s story in The Atlantic and spoke with ...
Aug 29, 2024•28 min
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 Democratic National Convention in Chicago and talked to Apple News In Conversation host Shumita Basu about...
Aug 23, 2024•26 min
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 it is on the ground. Apple News In Conversation host Shumita Basu spoke with Dickerson about what she...
Aug 15, 2024•35 min
Nancy Pelosi is one of the most powerful people in U.S. history. She was first elected to Congress in 1987 at the age of 47 and went on to become the first woman speaker of the House in 2007. She is known as a shrewd politician with an outsize influence over the Democratic Party and the country. Her new book, The Art of Power , details some of the biggest moments in her career. Pelosi sat down with Apple News In Conversation host Shumita Basu to talk about the 2024 race for the White House, Amer...
Aug 08, 2024•22 min
The United States’ food system is fundamentally broken. We produce food that is optimized for profits, not quality. A lot of it is also detrimental to our health. And the way we produce it does huge harm to the planet. Best-selling author Mark Bittman has been a leading voice in food and policy for decades. He talks to Apple News In Conversation host Shumita Basu about the serious problems with how our food is made and sold — and offers solutions to improve the system....
Aug 01, 2024•26 min
The 2024 Paris Olympics are finally here, with two weeks of jaw-dropping, mind-blowing athleticism by some of the world’s GOATs. NBC’s Rebecca Lowe is covering the Olympics — and talks with Apple News In Conversation host Shumita Basu about the athletes on Team USA, what they’re up against, and the most exciting storylines of this summer’s Games.
Jul 25, 2024•28 min
Following the Republican National Convention, the GOP has never been more confident about the chances of Donald Trump winning in November. Atlantic staff writer Tim Alberta, who has spent months talking to Trump insiders, breaks down his campaign’s strategy and why so much could change between now and the election.
Jul 19, 2024•30 min
The U.S. surgeon general recently recommended that all social-media platforms come with a warning label alerting parents and young people of their risks. Meanwhile, some schools are moving to ban phones altogether. Apple News In Conversation host Shumita Basu talks to psychologist Mitch Prinstein, an expert in adolescent development, about what we actually know about the effects of social media on kids’ brains — and his compassionate advice for navigating smartphone use in your family....
Jul 11, 2024•33 min
This is an episode from our archives that was originally published in July 2023. Millions of people in the U.S. are living in areas with dangerous levels of heat — and a growing death toll. In a new book, The Heat Will Kill You First , reporter Jeff Goodell warns that heat is pushing us into a new climate era, with dire implications for individuals, society, and our planet. Goodell spoke with Apple News In Conversation host Shumita Basu about the changes we need to make today and the reasons he ...
Jul 03, 2024•33 min
Guest-hosted by Sam Sanders: Reality shows — like Survivor , The Bachelor , and Love Is Blind — are some of the most-watched TV series in the U.S. But how much “reality” is actually being shown? In her new book, Cue the Sun!: The Invention of Reality TV , New Yorker staff writer Emily Nussbaum reveals how this industry came to be and takes people behind the scenes of some of the top reality series. Nussbaum speaks with guest host Sam Sanders about the most surprising aspects of this divisive gen...
Jun 27, 2024•36 min
Guest-hosted by Sam Sanders: Social media, constantly seeing ourselves on Zoom, and other modern technologies are inspiring people to change their faces and bodies at a rapid pace. Meanwhile, we have more access than ever before to medical procedures to modify our appearances. That combination is resulting in a plastic-surgery frenzy. To understand the science behind how our brains process beauty, guest host Sam Sanders talks to Neelam Vashi, an associate professor of dermatology at Boston Unive...
Jun 20, 2024•31 min
A year after two historic Hollywood strikes, America’s entertainment industry is in crisis. Box-office numbers are way down, there are roughly 20% fewer jobs than before the pandemic, and just a handful of companies now control virtually everything we watch. Franklin Leonard, the founder of the Black List , is a Hollywood insider and an industry disrupter. He talks to guest host Sam Sanders about how TV and filmmaking need to change.
Jun 14, 2024•36 min
An explosive lawsuit against hip-hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs, filed by his former girlfriend Cassie Ventura, has prompted an avalanche of accusations and eyewitness accounts of his violent behavior. A new, deeply reported feature from Rolling Stone is one of the most extensive accounts yet of allegations against Combs — detailing decades of alleged physical and sexual abuse from his days in college to the heyday of his label, Bad Boy Records, and beyond. Guest host Sam Sanders talks with report...
Jun 06, 2024•22 min
Guest-hosted by Sam Sanders: The new Apple TV+ series Dark Matter tells the story of Jason Dessen, a man who is abducted into an alternative version of his own life. The show is based on a book by best-selling science-fiction writer Blake Crouch. Apple News In Conversation guest host Sam Sanders spoke to Crouch and two stars of the show, Joel Edgerton and Jennifer Connelly, about regret, the existence of the multiverse, and how the internet has all of us leading multiple lives....
May 30, 2024•23 min
This is an episode from our archives. Anderson Cooper is now the only living member of the family he grew up with. When he was 10 years old, his father died of a heart attack. His brother died by suicide about a decade later. And in 2019, his mother died at the age of 95. It’s only recently that Cooper has been able to talk about and process these deaths. For Apple News In Conversation ’s Think Again series, he spoke with host Shumita Basu about what he’s learned by talking to people about death...
May 23, 2024•33 min
Guest-hosted by Julia Carpenter: Whether you’re 30 or 50 years old, it can be difficult to know what your life in retirement is going to look like and how to best prepare for it. Wall Street Journal reporters Anne Tergesen and Veronica Dagher spoke to people with a wide variety of retirement experiences — from those retiring on almost nothing but Social Security to those with $5 million — about how they are each making it work regardless of the number in their bank accounts....
May 16, 2024•31 min
Guest-hosted by Julia Carpenter: More and more people are becoming self-employed in the U.S. And when it comes to being your own boss, everything from your finances to your attitude can shape whether your business is a success. Paco de Leon is a personal-finance expert and host of the podcast Weird Finance . She sits down with Apple News In Conversation guest host Julia Carpenter to share some of the best advice she’s learned from her own experience, and from guiding clients to create their own ...
May 09, 2024•23 min
