What it’s like to be doxxed, systemic problems with American courts and why journalism is like an immune system. This is BigIfTrue.org’s last episode of Hard Reset. Thank you for listening, and keep up with our reporting by subscribing to our newsletter at BigIfTrue.org/hardreset.
On this week’s show, we spoke with Will Bedwell, housing attorney for the Mississippi Center for Justice. Since last year, the nonprofit law firm has seen a surge of evictions in Mississippi, which has some of the least tenant-friendly laws in the country. Also: What steps should you take if you get an eviction notice?
During the pandemic, many criminal courts moved at a glacial pace. Now some courts are facing backlogs that public defenders worry will further delay trials for their clients. We spoke with Jana Hayes, who wrote about this issue recently for Big If True. Also: Deepfakes and how Trump could return to social media
During the covid vaccine rollout, Americans have relied on state and federal websites to get vital information and sign up for the vaccine. But Kaiser Health News reported recently that millions of people with visual impairments have had trouble accessing the sites and getting vaccine appointments. We spoke with Lauren Weber, a Midwest correspondent for Kaiser Health News and one of the reporters behind the story. Also on the show: Millions of families are behind on their rent, placing a high de...
On this week's episode, Justin talks about what it was like on the ground in Houston during a brutal winter storm that left many Texans without electricity and water. Also: What makes Texas' grid different from those in other states and the optics of Sen. Ted Cruz leaving the state during the emergency.
Billions of dollars in federal aid were reserved to help hospitals financially survive the pandemic, but in some cases, funds went to the wrong owner or were never spent. We spoke with reporter Brianna Bailey of The Frontier, who recently reported on some of the issues that came up when this aid was rolled out in Oklahoma. Also: How Congress has responded to Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s previous support for extremist views and conspiracy theories....
On this week’s show, we discuss some of President Joe Biden’s first executive orders and his administration’s plan for distributing the covid vaccine. Also: We spoke with reporter Emma Castleberry about how the pandemic has worsened workforce shortages in the health care industry.
On this week’s show, we talked about last week’s assault on the US Capitol, the police response to the riot and Twitter banning President Donald Trump. Also, we spoke with Jeremy Martin, who recently wrote about how certain evictions will be blocked through the end of January.
This semester, schools have relied on virtual learning as the pandemic disrupted traditional classes. We spoke with freelance reporter and former teacher Ben Luschen about why distance learning is here to stay and how students and teachers have adapted. Also on the show: In October, when 21-year-old Kevin Peterson Jr. was killed by Clark County deputies in Vancouver, Washington, he was carrying a gun. We discuss recent reports that the firearm was originally owned by the Multnomah County Sheriff...
Mollie and Justin talk about podcasts, why our listening habits have changed this year and how what’s in the news plays out in our lives. Donate here to help us reach our goal to raise $1,500 to cover Big If True's reporting costs.
During the pandemic, women have been more likely than men to lose work, cut their hours, and take on more parenting and household responsibilities. On today’s show, we spoke with reporter Emma Castleberry about how women have juggled financial challenges, parenting and getting covid. Also: The coronavirus vaccine and Trump’s sustained false narrative on the election results....
For writer and comedian Jennie Egerdie, 2020 has been a year of personal and global upheaval. We talked about how the pandemic has impacted her work, her creative process and how humor can be rooted in kindness. (You can read one of her pieces that imagines the lives of the characters Frog and Toad during the pandemic here.) Also on the show, JC and Mollie talked about how they’ll celebrate Thanksgiving during a time when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have advised Americans not ...
False claims surrounded the election, but it seems immune to efforts to delegitimize the results. We recap some of those efforts and offer predictions for what a Biden presidency could mean for how the government works, climate change policy and local media.
About 20 states have released inmates early from prisons that have been hot spots for covid-19. But a post-pandemic world has made it harder for formerly incarcerated people to get essential things like identification, homes and jobs. We spoke with Emma Castleberry, who recently wrote about the new challenges to reentry after prison. Plus: How tech companies responded to an “October surprise” story based on potentially hacked materials.
A month after it went into effect, many tenants still don’t know about a federal eviction ban that covers 96% of renters. We spoke with reporters Sarah Fowler and Ben Luschen about why advocates worry that a moratorium without rental assistance could leave tenants with thousands of dollars in debt and a remaining specter of eviction when the ban expires at the end of the year. Editor Mollie Bryant also shared how Big If True identified three top evictors in Oklahoma that received at least $1.5 m...
The American west is facing a more severe wildfire season, which comes with stress, loss and a sense of mourning for our planet called climate grief. We spoke with Wired science journalist Matt Simon about this grief many of us are experiencing and the delicate balance of covering “the apocalypse beat” while keeping readers engaged with an often bleak topic. Later on the show: Antigen tests for covid-19 are being used more and more, especially in places like nursing homes and colleges. But a rep...
For decades, Utah has dominated the for-profit industry to help troubled kids, with facilities there receiving millions in government funds. We spoke with Salt Lake Tribune reporter Jessica Miller about her investigation into these youth treatment centers, where some former residents said they were abused. Also: The politicization of a covid-19 vaccine and how violence in Portland and Kenosha, Wisconsin is playing out online....
The pandemic has highlighted and worsened inequality in the United States, where two neighborhoods in the same community can have vastly different infection rates. Also: How prison overcrowding can lead to covid outbreaks.
Today on the show: For years, far-right personalities have claimed that tech companies are biased against conservatives. Recent reports from NBC News and BuzzFeed show that at Facebook, fears of that perception led the company to turn a blind eye to misinformation from certain conservative pages. Also: Why this year’s election results may be delayed and a look at the president’s recent executive order on evictions.
The federal government’s plan to fight the coronavirus has some holes. For some cities and states, that means filling those holes to protect the public. This week’s show looks at this issue in two areas that deeply affect our lives – work and school. The Occupational Health and Safety Administration has released guidelines, but no concrete, enforceable rules that force businesses to take actions to protect their workers against covid-19. So last week, Virginia became the first state to create it...
Far-right extremists called the Boogaloo Bois have gained national attention after multiple arrests and their presence at some racial justice protests. We spoke with Cassie Miller, a senior research analyst for the Southern Poverty Law Center, about why the pandemic was a breaking point for the group and whether or not it’s an actual movement. We also spoke with tech journalist Jacob Silverman about what journalists go through while covering Facebook, which does everything it can to throw report...
On Saturday in Tulsa, Oklahoma, President Donald Trump held his first rally in months, an event that was controversial from the beginning. We spoke with Dylan Goforth, editor in chief of the Tulsa-based investigative news site The Frontier, to get some context about what the rally meant to Tulsans and how the city and state responded to criticism that the event would put the public’s health at risk. Plus: The use of surveillance on protesters and the companies that have cut coronavirus hazard pa...
Since last week, editors at multiple publications have resigned over racism allegations or in response to criticism of their protest coverage. On this week’s show, we spoke with Jason Johnson, a Morgan State University associate professor focused on politics and journalism. He says that the journalism industry, which is more white and male than the population at large, keeps failing to recruit and empower black journalists. Also: Ongoing discussions about racism have prompted some communities to...
In the journalism industry, coverage choices that have been the standard for decades are being called into question amid sustained protests against police brutality. Newsrooms are reconsidering the merits of everything from photographing activists to the words and headlines used to frame protests. Meanwhile, dozens of videos have shown police attacking protesters and journalists. What do these incidents say about Americans’ right to protest?
Courthouses across the country are expecting a flood of new civil cases as they begin to reopen their doors. Legal aid programs, which provide legal help to low-income people, are already seeing an increased demand for their services. At the same time, some legal aid programs stand to lose millions of dollars because of the financial impact of covid-19.
Journalists are in new terrain. They’re learning as much as they can as quickly as they can about how their communities are being impacted by the coronavirus. But how do you report the story of the century from home? Mississippi Today editor-in-chief Ryan L. Nave talks about how his newsroom is approaching the story and the role stereotypes about the South play in national covid-19 coverage. Also: A fact check on a small business relief program that got off to a rocky start.
A constant flood of information about covid-19 is taking its toll on some of us as we struggle to balance staying informed with managing our mental health. Even before covid-19, Americans were increasingly dealing with news fatigue – the feeling of being exhausting by the news. We’ll talk with researchers about what causes news fatigue, why people avoid the news during stressful times and how to find ways to balance your news consumption. Plus: Why we should get away from the conventional wisdom...
Last week, President Donald Trump pardoned and gave clemency to eight people who were convicted of white-collar crimes. One of those who were pardoned is Michael Milken, a former investment banker who was accused of insider trading and stock manipulation. Milken played a crucial role in making junk bonds popular, ushering in an era of hostile takeovers and high corporate debt. Also on the show: In a recently resurfaced clip, billionaire and presidential hopeful Michael Bloomberg suggested farmin...
The Equal Rights Amendment is getting a second life, but a lot is up in the air, including whether or not it could go into effect after missing a ratification deadline decades ago. Meanwhile, some opponents argue that it could increase access to abortion. Also on the show: Roger Stone’s attorneys requested a new trial, alleging the head juror was biased. His defense team knew she had run for office as a Democrat, but did not attempt to remove her from the case. Plus, an update on white nationali...
The results from last week’s Democratic caucuses in Iowa were delayed for days after the app responsible for reporting the results malfunctioned. Co-host Justin Sanders, who works in software and app development, explains how the app failed and some ways these issues could have been avoided. Also: One last impeachment fact check and a look into a Trump administration plan that could lead to Medicaid cuts.
