The first episode of a special series from On The Media ’s Micah Loewinger about how a seemingly benign and important agency, FEMA, has become the subject of some of the wildest conspiracy theories. FEMA (the Federal Emergency Management Agency) is supposed to keep Americans safe from wildfires, hurricanes, and nuclear disasters. So why has it become so profoundly distrusted and maligned, to the point that President Trump has now threatened to totally dismantle the agency? It turns out the agenc...
May 07, 2026•52 min
In recent days, we learned that Rümeysa Öztürk, the Tufts University grad student who was snatched off the street by masked ICE agents last year and locked up for more than a month, has had enough of America, and moved home to Turkey. The U.S. government had continued to threaten her with legal proceedings and deportation, even after releasing her from detention. Dr. Öztürk’s “crime?” Co-authoring an op-ed in the student newspaper advocating for Palestinian rights. A year ago this week, while Rü...
Apr 30, 2026•1 hr 23 min
Gambling is infiltrating American life. Ads for online sportsbooks are everywhere. Prediction markets – which are not legally considered gambling – now allow betting on everything from the unemployment numbers, to the war in Iran, to how many times Elon Musk will tweet this week. Lots of news outlets are getting in on the action: CNN, CNBC, the AP, and others are partnering with prediction markets to use their stats in coverage. What could go wrong? On today’s show, we’re joined by three journal...
Apr 23, 2026•48 min
It’s easy to get frustrated with the charade reporters are supposed to keep up, where they pretend they don’t have opinions or feelings or any kind of human thoughts about a story they’re reporting. Plenty of journalists have been trying to break out of that charade. But the decision to do that: it can be a fraught one, with real implications. This week, we’re re-upping a story we first ran last year about journalist Dana Ballout. Dana struggled with this personal-professional dilemma while inve...
Apr 16, 2026•40 min
Taylor Little was 11 years old when they lied about their age to sign up for Instagram. Now, 13 years later, they’re one of thousands of people suing the company, accusing Instagram of purposely addicting them as a child and driving them to years of mental health struggles. Taylor takes Brian inside their dark and twisted experience with the app. They say it all started with a suggestion Instagram sent them to visit an account they didn’t follow, which they developed a morbid fascination with. W...
Apr 09, 2026•43 min
In the span of two days, juries handed down landmark verdicts against Meta and Google. In New Mexico, a jury ordered Meta to pay the state $375 million for failing to protect young people from predators on Instagram. And in Los Angeles, a jury found that Meta and Google knowingly designed social media platforms that addicted a young girl, causing depression, body dysmorphia, and self-harm. But as listeners to this show might wonder – isn't suing social media companies supposed to be impossible, ...
Apr 02, 2026•33 min
Brian sits down with expert fact-checker Sofia Rubinson who spends hours every day tracking lies online, and together they dissect a single lie that’s been rocketing around the world to millions of people, affecting the way people think about the war in Iran — including the world’s biggest podcaster. Sofia says the AI deepfakes she’s seen consume the internet in just the last few weeks make her worried that we’ve entered a dangerous new phase of disinformation. Watch the video of Benjamin Netany...
Mar 26, 2026•28 min
Locked up, alone, accused of being a spy, reporter Jeremy Loffredo has to defend the fact that he’s a journalist. To the Israeli courts. And then…to our reporter. This is part two of our two-part series about Jeremy Loffredo, who in October 2024 became the first American journalist arrested by Israel. This story won Best Reporting at the 2026 Ambie Awards, which is why we’re sharing it again now. “Question Everything” is a production of KCRW and Placement Theory . And don’t forget to sign up for...
Mar 19, 2026•58 min
Part one of a special, two-part series, about Jeremy Loffredo, the first American journalist ever arrested by Israel, and the questions that were raised about not only Israel, but the outlet Jeremy worked for, once our team started looking into his story. We’re re-airing these episodes because they won Best Reporting from the Podcast Academy, at the 2026 Ambie Awards. “Question Everything” is a production of KCRW and Placement Theory . And don’t forget to sign up for our newsletter . This episod...
Mar 12, 2026•58 min
News recently broke that Paramount, which is newly controlled by David Ellison and his billionaire dad Larry Ellison, won the bid to buy Warner-Brothers Discovery, after aggressively squeezing out Netflix. As Trump himself has said, the Ellisons are “friends of mine…big supporters of mine, and they’ll do the right thing.” Is the “right thing” squashing critical coverage of the president? Doing stories he’s more inclined to like? The Ellisons already own CBS News, through Paramount; now they’re a...
Mar 10, 2026•40 min
When a promising young freelancer pitched a good story to his magazine, editor Nicholas Hune-Brown was ready to assign it. But as he looked more closely at the pitch and the writer’s bylines across the internet, Nicholas began to realize maybe this writer wasn’t who she seemed. A version of Nick’s story first appeared in The Local – you can read it here . Please take 5 minutes to fill out this survey about Question Everything – it’ll help us know what you’re getting from our show; what you want ...
Mar 05, 2026•28 min
After journalist Mario Guevara was arrested while covering an anti-ICE protest, ICE moved him into their detention. As his lawyers and the ACLU tried to get Mario free, ICE argued again and again that he shouldn’t be let out, because his journalism made him too dangerous. Mario was behind bars for 111 days. Then deported to El Salvador. If you’re wondering where the hell the first amendment is in all this, so are we! In the second episode in our special two-part series about Mario Guevara, we lo...
Feb 26, 2026•53 min
In June, journalist Mario Guevara was arrested while covering an anti-ICE protest in Georgia, transferred to ICE detention, and locked up by the federal government for more than 100 days. And that wasn’t even the worst of it. But Mario is not the kind of ICE-criticizing reporter you might be picturing. He was a Trump-supporting, Republican-identifying, law-and-order-sympathizing immigration hawk, who knew ICE well and had covered them favorably for years. Why did the Trump administration still g...
Feb 19, 2026•44 min
A little message from host Brian Reed about a scary incident he’s dealing with. And much scarier incidents other journalists are dealing with. Question Everything is a production of KCRW and Placement Theory . Sign up for our newsletter to see Brian’s interview with Senator Dick Durbin about his effort to repeal Section 230. We want to know who is listening to our show and how to make it a better experience! Please take 5 minutes to fill out this survey about Question Everything . Thank you!...
Feb 12, 2026•6 min
Our managing editor, Kevin Sullivan, had a conversation this week with an old colleague in Minnesota that we wanted to share with you as quickly as we could. He’s a former data journalist, Michael Corey, who lives with his family in St. Paul. As ICE agents have flooded Mike’s state as part of a massive federal immigration enforcement operation, he started getting involved in grassroots efforts to track and document ICE’s conduct. He’s been following and filming agents during tense encounters, in...
Jan 31, 2026•24 min
As ICE agents have continued to threaten and kill people in Minneapolis and Minnesota’s governor and other state officials plead with the agency to leave, we share an interview with the governor of another state that was recently targeted by ICE: JB Pritzker of Illinois. In October, as ICE agents were descending on Chicago in “Operation Midway Blitz”, Ben Smith and Max Tani of the Mixed Signals podcast from Semafor spoke to Governor Pritzker about the novel communications tactics he was using to...
Jan 29, 2026•46 min
Many people were surprised that ICE officer Jonathan Ross was filming with his phone when he shot and killed Renee Good in Minneapolis. But Washington Post reporter Drew Harwell was leaked thousands of internal ICE messages that show the agency is obsessed with creating viral videos, and is using arrests of immigrants slapped with “hooky” captions and pop music to feed their content machine. Question Everything is a production of KCRW and Placement Theory . Please rate and review our show – on t...
Jan 22, 2026•27 min
The story of an adult performer, Davin Strong, whose life was upended by a seemingly small change to Section 230. Question Everything is a production of KCRW and Placement Theory . For more of our coverage of how the internet and press shape our reality, sign up for our newsletter . Guests: Davin Addison (aka Davin Strong), adult performer whose livelihood was upended after FOSTA-SESTA. Sam Eagan, Producer, Question Everything...
Jan 15, 2026•38 min
At a bar that survived the destruction, a group of reporters get together a year later to talk about the personal impact the LA wildfires had on them. And some of the harrowing – and surprising – requests they got from people to check if their homes were still standing. Thanks to Good Neighbor Bar and West Altadena Wine & Spirits for hosting us. Question Everything is a production of KCRW and Placement Theory . Sign up for our newsletter please! Guests: Tony Briscoe , environmental reporter,...
Jan 08, 2026•40 min
We’re taking a quick break for the holidays, but in the spirit of New Year reflection, we’re sharing our very first episode of Question Everything. Brian talks to fellow journalist, Gay Alcorn, who called his most well-known work – the hit podcast S-Town – “morally indefensible.” You can read Gay’s column here . Subscribe to our newsletter to read Gay’s full reaction to this episode. You can listen to S-Town here . If you’re having thoughts of suicide, please reach out for help by dialing 988 or...
Jan 01, 2026•48 min
We’re taking a short break over the holidays and will be plopping in front of the TV to watch some movies and shows. Maybe you’re doing the same? Check out one of our favorite episodes of Question Everything, where Hollywood directors gather after hours at a wine shop to drink and commiserate. They talk about the perils – and power – that come when you’re straddling fact and fiction. Featuring Tom McCarthy, who won an Oscar for Spotlight; Antonio Campos, creator of The Staircase for HBO; Tina Sa...
Dec 25, 2025•47 min
Over the past few months, our host Brian Reed has been reporting on Section 230 – the law that shields online platforms and websites from lawsuits and has shaped the way we get information today. Now, a bipartisan attack on Section 230 is taking hold in Congress. During a Senate hearing last week , Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island called Section 230 “a real vessel for evil that needs to come to an end.” He and a group of senators are hoping to move forward a Section 230 repe...
Dec 18, 2025•39 min
By December 19th, the Department of Justice is supposed to release all DOJ and FBI files related to Jeffrey Epstein. But through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, Bloomberg investigative reporter Jason Leopold has uncovered evidence of a secretive operation on the Epstein files that the FBI called the “Special Redaction Project.” That doesn’t necessarily inspire confidence about how much information will become public, does it? Jason found that nearly 1,000 FBI agents were trained to r...
Dec 11, 2025•44 min
When the recent slate of Jeffrey Epstein emails dropped, one line immediately jumped out: “I think you should let him hang himself.” It was part of a 2015 email exchange between journalist Michael Wolff and his source, Jeffrey Epstein, discussing whether they should give Donald Trump a heads-up that Wolff had heard CNN was planning to question Trump about his relationship with Epstein. We dissect this startling exchange by talking with three journalists, who each had a different take on it – and...
Dec 04, 2025•22 min
A nice treat for the holiday – an interview with the guy who runs the country’s funniest fake newspaper. Ben Collins became CEO of The Onion after a long career working in traditional news, so he's got major thoughts about speaking truth to power. On this episode of fellow KCRW podcast The Sam Sanders Show, Ben lays out the role of satire in our current politics and what journalism is getting wrong about free speech. Ben also talks about relaunching The Onion’s print newspaper (to great success)...
Nov 27, 2025•55 min
Next week, the House is expected to hold a hearing on kids’ online safety. They plan to release several bills to protect kids from harmful content. But one issue is not on the agenda: Section 230, the law that helps shield tech platforms from liability for content posted on their sites. In an interview with our host, Brian Reed, Congressman Jake Auchincloss (MA-D) says one man has the power to add 230 to the hearing: Committee Chair Brett Guthrie. Auchincloss urges our listeners to call Guthrie ...
Nov 25, 2025•11 min
It seems like Meta just can’t lose. The Facebook parent company won a huge victory in court this week. The federal government was claiming Meta was too massive after acquiring Instagram and WhatsApp, and wanted to force the company to spin off those platforms. But a federal judge disagreed. And that means, Meta will continue to make a ton of money from scam ads on those platforms. Reuters reporter Jeff Horwitz received leaked documents from inside Meta where employees estimated that last year it...
Nov 20, 2025•37 min
When journalist Julia Mengolini criticized her country’s president, Javier Milei, she didn’t expect to be targeted with one of the more disturbing uses of AI: a pornographic deepfake video designed to humiliate her. What began as trolling by online extremists spiraled into a government-amplified smear campaign, spurred on by senior officials and the president himself. Juila tells reporter/producer Zach St. Louis what happened to her and what she’s doing to fight back against President Milei – an...
Nov 13, 2025•46 min
When NSA contractor Reality Winner leaked proof that Russia had tried to break into the U.S. election system, she thought she was helping her country. Instead, she got the longest federal prison sentence ever for giving information to the press. While prepping for her trial, she found out that the journalist she had trusted with the leaked document, accidentally exposed her. The Intercept, once known for protecting sources like Edward Snowden, bungled their vetting process in a way that led inve...
Nov 06, 2025•40 min
Veteran foreign correspondent Natalia Antelava has spent 15 years reporting from places where authoritarian regimes have “captured” the media. In other words, they control the dominant messages coming from the press. From Russia to Syria, Natalia has seen what it looks like when a government takes over the media, not overnight, but piece by piece. Now, she’s moved to the U.S., and is watching that same system work on the American media. The Pentagon has dissolved its independent press pool. Dona...
Oct 30, 2025•41 min
