A new investigation by Insider reveals flaws and failures of Facebook’s "Trusted Partner" program, which it heavily relies on in "Rest of World" regions which account for just 10% of Facebook's revenue. Trusted Partners are local NGOs contracted to provide local expertise and context to inform Facebook’s content moderation policies and practices. But Trusted Partners in Ethiopia told Insider that Facebook routinely ignored their recommendations and allowed hate speech that inflamed real life vio...
May 09, 2023•17 min•Ep 44•Transcript available on Metacast During the past month, the new Republican majority controlling North Carolina’s state Supreme Court issued reversals of previous rulings on voting rights and overturned a trial court decision . These moves will have meaningful effects on the ability to cast a vote in the state and will have critical implications for local, state, and national election outcomes. We speak with Ari Berman , National Voting Rights Correspondent for Mother Jones....
May 08, 2023•13 min•Ep 43•Transcript available on Metacast The new investigative podcast series “Head Down'' explores labor trafficking happening within the U.S. government sponsored H2A visa program. It is sold as a “ mutually beneficial ” immigration program that allows migrant workers to come to the U.S. as temporary agricultural workers, but a close look into the program reveals a great disparity between how the program is described and what actually happens. A recent investigation by Prism, LatinoUSA, and Futuro Investigates found that this program...
May 08, 2023•25 min•Ep 42•Transcript available on Metacast Original Air Date: March 3, 2023 As Americans faced soaring food prices, a proposed $24.6 billion dollar megamerger between Kroger and Albertsons was announced on October 14, 2022. These are two of the largest grocery chains in the country, accounting for more than 5,000 locations and employing over 700,000 people across its banner. The United Food and Commercial Workers and Rocky Mountain Farm Workers Union - two of the nation's largest and oldest unions- are opposed to the merger citing its po...
May 05, 2023•17 min•Ep 41•Transcript available on Metacast Original Air Date: May 02, 2023 On Monday, another multi-billion dollar banking institution collapsed — First Republic Bank . Wealthy investors had been pulling out billions of dollars in deposits over the past few weeks, in a 21st-century digital run on the bank. Federal regulators seized its assets, covered $13 billion in losses, and sold it off to JPMorgan Chase . This is now the second-largest bank failure in American history, and the third significant bank failure of the past two months aft...
May 05, 2023•16 min•Ep 40•Transcript available on Metacast A new study from the Brookings Institution reveals that Americans in four major cities — Chicago, New York, Philadelphia and Seattle — believe that crime is out of control in downtowns. But the data shows that that’s not the whole story. While cities post-pandemic have seen an increase in particularly violent and property crimes, those increases haven’t happened in the downtowns, but in the areas that have been historically disadvantaged and disinvested in. So what accounts for this mismatch bet...
May 04, 2023•14 min•Ep 39•Transcript available on Metacast Jim Kenney was elected to the Philadelphia City Council in 1992 at just 32 years old. After decades of service, he was elected mayor in 2016 then reelected in 2020. As a term limited city leader, Mayor Kenney is in his final months of leading Philadelphia. We hear him reflect on his time as mayor, his efforts to address crime, and hear about some of the reasons why he is a proud Philadelphian.
May 04, 2023•15 min•Ep 38•Transcript available on Metacast In March , the actions of a local church in Winston-Salem, North Carolina received national attention for all the right reasons. The congregation at Trinity Moravian Church partnered with an organization called R-I-P Medical Debt to cancel 3,000 local residents’ medical debt, to the tune of $3.3 million dollars. They bought that debt for just a little over $15,000 dollars. Rev. John Jackman, the pastor of Trinity Moravian Church held a symbolic “debt burning” ceremony to mark the occasion, with ...
May 03, 2023•14 min•Ep 37•Transcript available on Metacast Last month violence took over Sudan's capital, Khartoum… it has now spread through the entire country and thousands of civilians have fled from the chaos seeking refuge in Chad, Egypt , and other neighboring countries. Despite a second 72-hour ceasefire, violence has continued. Nations, including the US, have evacuated diplomats and citizens from the country. The violence stems from a long rivalry between two generals. The fighting between the two rivals has resulted in attacks on healthcare fac...
May 03, 2023•14 min•Ep 36•Transcript available on Metacast As if winning the 2021 Scripps National Spelling Bee and holding three Guinness World Records weren’t already huge accomplishments, now Zaila Avant-Garde is adding the title of author to her name. She stops by and chats with Melissa about “It’s Not Bragging If It’s True: How to Be Awesome At Life” which is out now, and the upcoming Children’s Book, “Words of Wonder: From Z to A,” which is out June 27th.
May 03, 2023•17 min•Ep 35•Transcript available on Metacast Millions of American high school students take Advanced Placement Courses and Exams every year. AP Courses are standardized, college-level classes that students can take in high school, ideally exposing them to the depth, breadth and intellectual rigor of content they’d encounter in the university. But the author of a new book argues that these courses and exams are instead shortchanging students out of the liberal arts education that the AP was initially founded to foster. We speak with Annie A...
May 01, 2023•13 min•Ep 34•Transcript available on Metacast The recent death of Carolyn Bryant Donham, the woman whose words prompted the kidnapping, torture and brutal murder of 14-year-old Emmett Till in 1955, now means that the last person known to be involved in his kidnapping and murder…will never face accountability. We speak with Timothy B. Tyson , author of The Blood of Emmett Till and senior research scholar at Duke University, and Keith Beauchamp , an award-winning filmmaker behind the documentary “The Untold Story of Emmett Till” and producer ...
May 01, 2023•21 min•Ep 33•Transcript available on Metacast Original Air Date: April 25, 2023 Only days after passing a measure that could dismantle Diversity Equity and Inclusion programs at public universities and colleges, the Texas State Senate passed a bill that would ban tenure offers to new professors at public colleges and universities in Texas. The measure has been opposed by professors across the state who say that this is an attack on academic freedom. Senate Bill 18 now moves to the Texas State House. We speak with Dr. Karma R. Chávez, Bobby ...
Apr 28, 2023•13 min•Ep 32•Transcript available on Metacast Original Air Date: April 26, 2023 The sitcom Abbott Elementary has become a weekly favorite among all ages in the world of streaming and binge-watching TV. The network series created by Quinta Brunson is a comedy at heart set at a predominantly Black elementary school in Philadelphia, but under the brilliant writing and jokes, is a political commentary about the challenges faced by under-funded public schools. In season 2 (spoiler alert!), the series introduces a new nemesis which is a charter s...
Apr 28, 2023•18 min•Ep 31•Transcript available on Metacast Original Air Date: December 16, 2021 The Takeaway community is full of book worms and literary lovers, so we spoke with some incredible authors about their work and some titles to look out for. Feminist AF: A Guide to Crushing Girlhood Co-authored by Brittney Cooper , Chanel Craft Tanner , and Susana Morris , this book walks us through their tips for surviving girlhood with a feminist flair. These Precious Days: Essays New York Times bestselling author Ann Patchett reflects on home, family, frie...
Apr 28, 2023•50 min•Ep 30•Transcript available on Metacast Thousands of New York Times contributors signed an open letter this February that raised concerns about alleged imbalance and bias in the paper’s coverage of trans people and issues. This month, the co-authors released another letter — this time addressed directly to Times’ publisher A.G. Sulzberger. Contributors continue to criticize both the Times’ coverage of trans people and issues, which they say is biased and harmful, as well as the Times’ response to the letter. Staffers who signed the le...
Apr 27, 2023•16 min•Ep 29•Transcript available on Metacast In recent months, franchisees of companies from the Hilton Inn to Subway have been pushing back against their corporate franchisors, claiming they are being squeezed out of profits. And a new study from the Government Accountability office found that franchisees tend to lack basic control over the operational side of their local storefronts, which can make turning a profit difficult. Yet despite these problems, many franchisees forgo reporting the deceptive and unfair practices of their franchis...
Apr 27, 2023•17 min•Ep 28•Transcript available on Metacast Democratic Senator from California Diane Feinstein has spent more than three decades in the U-S senate. Her tenure has won her praise from allied politicians like former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi . The lawmakers have defended Senator Feinstein as questions arise surrounding her ability to serve. Despite the backing of some defenders, Senator Feinstein is facing calls to step down from within her own party. Minnesota Representative Dean Phillips and Ca...
Apr 26, 2023•15 min•Ep 27•Transcript available on Metacast An autopsy conducted by an independent examiner in March found Tortuguita's hands were in a raised position . A second autopsy report -conducted by the DeKalb County Medical Examiner-found no gun residue on Queer, Indigenous-Venezuelan activist Manuel Teran AKA Tortuguita's hands but only upon visual inspection. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation ran a gun residue kit , confirming gun residue was found on Tortuguita's body. The report noted that "it is possible for victims of gunshot wounds, bo...
Apr 26, 2023•16 min•Ep 26•Transcript available on Metacast When the dot-com bubble burst back in 2000, Allison Hemming was one of the many laid-off employees. At the time, she planned a get together and networking event with fellow-laid off employees to swap career advice, commiserate, and meet with recruiters, and this meetings turned into what she dubbed “ pink slip parties .” Now, as more than 100,000 employees in the tech and media industries have faced layoffs over the past year , we talk to Allison Hemming , CEO of The Hired Guns , a tech-recruiti...
Apr 25, 2023•29 min•Ep 24•Transcript available on Metacast Our nation constantly struggles to understand the lives and lived experiences of enslaved Black Americans. Discussing the lives of enslaved Black people can be complicated. That complexity can push us towards easy understandings and answers of who they were while inadvertently seeking rebellion in their every word and deed. This search for near constant rebellion through a 21st century lens flattens their lives and experiences. In Reading Pleasures: Everyday Black Living in Early America , Profe...
Apr 25, 2023•18 min•Ep 25•Transcript available on Metacast On Friday , the Supreme Court issued a stay on a lower court ruling. The stay ensures, that for now, the abortion pill, mifepristone, will remain widely available. Mifepristone was first approved as safe and effective for ending pregnancies more than 20 years ago. But earlier this month , U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, a federal judge in Texas appointed by former President Donald Trump , suspended the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of mifepristone. The U.S. Court of Appeals for ...
Apr 24, 2023•14 min•Ep 23•Transcript available on Metacast Noted Businesswoman and marketing maven, Bozoma Saint John , joins us to talk about her new book “The Urgent Life: My Story of Love, Loss and Survival,” which chronicles the difficult moments she’s survived and her choice to live life urgently.
Apr 24, 2023•22 min•Ep 22•Transcript available on Metacast The Takeaway is celebrating a very intersectional Earth Day Weekend with some of our favorite segments on environmental justice: How Indigenous Water Protectors Paved Way for Future Activism The Work of Black Girl Environmentalist What Queer Ecology Can Teach Us About Environmentalism The Intersection of Climate Justice and Racial Justice Young Voices Speak Out About Earth Day For full transcripts, see our website....
Apr 22, 2023•47 min•Ep 21•Transcript available on Metacast Original Air Date: April 19, 2023 It’s an act that’s familiar to countless older siblings around the nation: pick up your younger siblings from afterschool, the bus stop, maybe even another friend’s house and then walk them home. It’s an act that took a decidedly dangerous and near deadly turn for the 16 year-old “gentle soul”, clarinet player and member of his high school marching band – Ralph Yarl . Hundreds marched and called for justice after Ralph Yarl was shot twice – once in the head – by...
Apr 21, 2023•16 min•Ep 20•Transcript available on Metacast Original Air Date: April 20, 2023 As weekend one of Coachella wrapped up last week and we head into weekend two of the three-day music festival, we check in with Pitchfork staff writer Allison Hussey about the highs, lows, and the lesser-known artists of Coachella. You can catch her Coachella coverage at pitchfork.com ....
Apr 20, 2023•14 min•Ep 19•Transcript available on Metacast The stoner classics Scary Movie and Friday envisioned a future where “puff, puff, pass” is the norm. And the majority of states across the nation have acquiesced. Recent years have seen a spate of laws in state legislatures that make weed legal for medical and recreational purposes. Federally, the issue of marijuana legalization appears to have stalled, but recent bills introduced in congress point towards a future of possible bipartisan support for the drug’s legalization. Senior editor of Mari...
Apr 20, 2023•14 min•Ep 18•Transcript available on Metacast Larissa Fasthorse is one of the first Indigenous women to have her play produced on Broadway. THE THANKSGIVING PLAY is one of six plays coming out written by Larissa Fasthorse in 2023. THE THANKSGIVING PLAY centers indigenous issues through the lens of a small community’s attempt at staging a “socially-conscious thanksgiving play.” Fasthorse joins The Takeaway to talk about THE THANKSGIVING PLAY , the pressures of being one of the first Indigenous women to have a play produced on Broadway and wh...
Apr 20, 2023•27 min•Ep 17•Transcript available on Metacast Little Richard was a larger-than-life entertainer and personality which is captured by the new documentary, “Little Richard: I Am Everything.” We speak with the film’s director, Lisa Cortes .
Apr 19, 2023•18 min•Ep 16•Transcript available on Metacast As part of our " 23 Mayors in 2023 " series, we head to Boston, Massachusetts. At the age of 36, Michelle Wu was elected as the first woman and the first person of color to become mayor of Boston 2021. Boston is the 23rd largest city in America, with a population of almost 700,000. A diverse, and very young city, Boston has the highest percentage of 20-34 year olds of the top 25 largest cities in America . But challenges with racial inequality in Boston persist. We speak with Mayor Michelle Wu ,...
Apr 19, 2023•15 min•Ep 15•Transcript available on Metacast 
