Crossing the Divide is a collaboration with WGBH that brought together a team of five reporters from red states and blue states to travel across the country in a van, exploring issues that divide us and stories that unite us. In this episode, Unheard in Appalachia , we take you through beautiful, mountainous Eastern Kentucky, where local economies are struggling, coal jobs continue to disappear, and people are frustrated by decades of failed government programs that have done little to help with...
Aug 15, 2019•31 min•Ep 3•Transcript available on Metacast Somalia is often called a land of poets, a place where everything from teenage romance to legal disputes has been recorded and passed down through poems. As conflict and drought have driven hundreds of thousands of Somalis from that homeland, the poetry has travelled with them. But here in the U.S., Somali-American poets must find new words and metaphors to describe their new environment. Amal Hussein and Hamdi Mohamed have a lot in common. Both were born in Kenya, where their parents had fled a...
Jul 03, 2019•28 min•Ep 2•Transcript available on Metacast In honor of Memorial Day, we’re looking back at World War 1, the Great War. It’s been a century since the world powers gathered in Paris to hammer out terms for peace. No Germans were present. In fact, they were not invited to participate in the deliberations. But their worst fears were realized in the punishing terms of the treaty: Germany would pay dearly for its role in the war. There was great expectation that this would be the War to End all Wars. But the Treaty of Versailles came to be kno...
May 23, 2019•40 min•Ep 1•Transcript available on Metacast The Dead Sea lies at the lowest elevation on earth. And in the arid valley that stretches to the salt lake's western shore sits Ein Gedi, a nature preserve and oasis that ranges from lush, spring fed gardens, to parched craggy rock, dotted with palm trees. Here, among this barren but beautiful landscape, a massive stage is perched amid the dusty rocks, complete with giant video screens and dazzling light displays. It looks more like a docked spaceship than a concert venue. What is normally a pea...
May 03, 2019•24 min•Ep 3•Transcript available on Metacast In the second chapter of this series, we go inside the Christian Zionist community in Jerusalem and the settlements in the West Bank. Micah Danney, our GroundTruth Fellow and guide for this episode, was a unique choice for this reporting assignment. He grew up steeped in Christianity. His father was a mainline Protestant preacher in Nyack, New York. As a teenager, he had gotten into some trouble. But he also really knew his scripture. Both of these parts of his past, his struggle with the law, a...
Apr 26, 2019•25 min•Ep 2•Transcript available on Metacast Twenty years ago, a movement known as Christian Zionism was on the furthest fringes in the land of Israel. Back then, mainstream theologians — Christian and Jewish alike — dismissed Christian Zionism as a dangerous interpretation of biblical prophecies; the ideology was flawed at best, at its worst, inherently anti-Semitic. Today, Christian Zionism has gone mainstream, with explosive growth in both fundraising and political power. Its journey is evident in today’s headlines in Israel-Palestine. ...
Apr 17, 2019•30 min•Ep 1•Transcript available on Metacast After four years of fighting, 20 million soldiers and civilians dead, and three collapsed empires, World War One ended and a new world order emerged. But the armistice held only temporarily and the promise to end all wars was repeatedly broken over the last 100 years. Charlie Sennott has been tracing how this war is the source of so many modern conflicts, many of them he’s covered as a correspondent over the last three decades. We look at the circumstances that led to that war, and how those cir...
Dec 07, 2018•40 min•Ep 7•Transcript available on Metacast A year after the city of Mosul was liberated from ISIS rule, kids across Iraq are not alright. The most vulnerable are often overlooked: orphans, the wounded, the kidnapped and returned, and those who fought for ISIS — whether by force or by choice. Boys are most at risk for future violence and recruitment to extremist groups.
Nov 22, 2018•26 min•Ep 6•Transcript available on Metacast Before Hurricane Maria, the Zika crisis was already pushing Puerto Rico’s health care system to the limit. Then the storm came and crippled it completely — no more testing pregnant mothers for Zika, and no more tracking babies born to Zika-infected mothers. A year later, things are still not back to normal. And it’s becoming clear that many babies that seem fine may not be.
Nov 08, 2018•32 min•Ep 5•Transcript available on Metacast When Bill and Frank Watson were kids, their grandfather told them a ghost story. Decades later, the brothers discovered the source of that story in their grandfather’s old railroad company documents. It raised questions about what happened to 57 Irish migrant workers in Pennsylvania in 1832, and it sent the Watson brothers on a search for a mass grave.
Oct 25, 2018•27 min•Ep 4•Transcript available on Metacast On a South Korean island just eight miles from the shores of North Korea, Jung Gwang-il is trying to save lives with rice and USBs. He’s a North Korean defector who survived torture and concentration camps, and is now smuggling food and information, to try to help his starving people and weaken the dictatorship — even if it puts his own life in danger.
Oct 11, 2018•30 min•Ep 3•Transcript available on Metacast * Refugees Lost in Translation * Three refugees — from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq — are working as interpreters for other refugees coming into Europe. With a foot in both worlds, they see things that refugees and Western media don’t: what’s being lost in translation, the profound consequences, and how the biggest barrier for refugees often isn’t a physical border, but language itself.
Sep 27, 2018•33 min•Ep 2•Transcript available on Metacast In beautiful, mountainous Eastern Kentucky, local economies are struggling, coal jobs continue to disappear, and people are frustrated by decades of failed government programs that have done little to help with problems connected to poverty, hazardous work conditions and poor nutrition. On a reporting road trip across America, we hear from those who feel unheard.
Sep 20, 2018•28 min•Ep 1•Transcript available on Metacast From Puerto Rico to Pennsylvania, a new generation of journalists is reporting on the ground, documenting the most important stories of their time. Hosted by Charles Sennott, founder of The GroundTruth Project, in partnership with WGBH News.
Sep 14, 2018•3 min•Transcript available on Metacast For Omar Naré, mariachi is in his blood. His grandfather, a Mexican farm laborer, brought the music with him to California’s Central Valley, where he settled his family. Omar grew up hearing mariachi at family get-togethers and had a childhood career as a mariachi singer. After a hiatus and period of disillusionment with the music of his childhood, Omar returned to mariachi. He realized, to make mariachi that felt honest to his experience, he had to break the rules. But if you break the rules of...
Nov 16, 2017•23 min•Ep 5•Transcript available on Metacast At age 20, percussionist George Lernis sought to travel halfway around the world from Cyprus, to follow in the footsteps of the American jazz masters. He navigated a series of obstacles, and once his student visa expired, he faced an even more difficult challenge: qualifying for an O-1 visa — a special designation for “extraordinary artists.” It’s no easy feat to prove that you can make an extraordinary contribution to music in America. Explore photos and more...
Nov 09, 2017•24 min•Ep 4•Transcript available on Metacast HMI stands for Haitian Music Industry, but its artists and fans are spread around the globe. Vladimir Mead immigrated to Boston 10 years ago at age 16. Since then, he’s built up a music career under the name Masterbrain — largely through YouTube and Facebook. His Creole freestyles and music videos have accumulated tens of thousands of hits, but he’s never returned to Haiti. We follow him as he prepares for his first trip back to Haiti, where he dreams of being a star. Explore photos and more...
Oct 19, 2017•28 min•Ep 3•Transcript available on Metacast Somalia is the “land of poets,” a place where love, law, war and peace have been carried out in verse for centuries. This is a story of what happens when that tradition is driven far from the dry soil and open skies that inspire the poets’ metaphors. Two young Somali-American women in Boston are drawn together by poetry, and use it to connect with their grandmothers or ‘ayeeyo’ in Somalia. Explore photos and more...
Oct 05, 2017•27 min•Ep 2•Transcript available on Metacast During the Cambodian genocide in the 1970s, nearly all of the country’s musicians were killed. But in a strange twist of fate, music saved the life of a Cambodian boy named Sovann. Now a U.S. citizen in Lowell, Mass., he’s trying to make sure Cambodia’s music traditions live on. Across town, a 9-year-old boy seems uniquely gifted to do just that. Explore photos and more
Sep 21, 2017•29 min•Ep 1•Transcript available on Metacast Ahmad Naffory fell in love with the guitar in a Syrian grocery store, but he didn't know that his music would cause him to flee his home for another continent. Strangers in a strange land, Ahmad and his bandmates — the bandit poets of Assa'aleek — use their music to remember the homes they left behind as they make their lives in a new world. Explore the reporting
Jul 27, 2017•27 min•Transcript available on Metacast On Long Island, the rate of death from opioid overdose is rising the fastest in all of New York. Here, providers are being trained in basic communication and learning to treat substance abuse like any other chronic disease. It starts with a conversation that many doctors still don't know how to have. Explore the reporting
Jun 01, 2017•13 min•Ep 5•Transcript available on Metacast In the South Bronx, healthcare providers here are pioneering an approach that is way ahead of the rest of the country. This system, where all of the patients' needs are met in once place, allows them to live high-quality lives, despite a world of stigma outside of the clinic walls. Explore the reporting
May 25, 2017•13 min•Ep 4•Transcript available on Metacast To deal with the crisis on Staten Island, health officials and law enforcement are pioneering new kinds of treatment options. But residents are largely in denial about the problem, and those wanting to get clean are more likely to go far away for rehab – making them more vulnerable to relapse when they return. Explore the reporting
May 18, 2017•11 min•Ep 3•Transcript available on Metacast Rampant prescriptions for painkillers laid the foundation for a deadly heroin epidemic in the mostly white, blue-collar community of Staten Island. Now, the old and new epidemics exist just a few miles apart. But the stigma of addiction has stopped these suburban neighborhoods from confronting the crisis. Explore the reporting
May 11, 2017•15 min•Ep 2•Transcript available on Metacast The South Bronx, New York's poorest neighborhood, has been dealing with a deadly heroin epidemic for generations. We look at the origins of the epidemic, residents' efforts to handle the crisis and the birth of a stigma that continues to kill, as opioid abuse spreads to the suburbs and beyond. Explore the reporting
May 04, 2017•18 min•Ep 1•Transcript available on Metacast Donald Trump's victory in the U.S. presidential election sent shockwaves around the world, but particularly at U.N. climate conference in Marrakech. GroundTruth's Justine Calma and Chris Bentley share voices from the global gathering.
Dec 16, 2016•12 min•Ep 6•Transcript available on Metacast A mental health crisis is taking root in Arctic Scandinavia among the indigenous Sami, as a changing climate threatens wildlife and ways of life. GroundTruth's Melody Schreiber reports from Sweden and Norway. Explore the reporting
Dec 09, 2016•27 min•Ep 5•Transcript available on Metacast After covering the devastation of Typhoon Haiyan in 2013, GroundTruth's Aurora Almendral investigates how typhoons are driving waves of human trafficking in the Philippines. This is a coproduction with KCRW's UnFictional. Explore the reporting
Dec 02, 2016•28 min•Ep 4•Transcript available on Metacast Zika virus is now in dozens of countries, including the United States. GroundTruth's Beth Murphy documents the epidemic in Puerto Rico, exploring how climate change is affecting mosquito-borne diseases, here and around the world. Explore the reporting
Nov 25, 2016•24 min•Ep 3•Transcript available on Metacast The rising seas and increased storms that come with climate change pose a threat to many coastal cities. GroundTruth's Chris Bentley goes to Indonesia’s capital to investigate how even projects done in the name of defending the city’s most vulnerable residents could actually leave them worse off. Explore the reporting
Nov 18, 2016•18 min•Ep 2•Transcript available on Metacast 
