Best Jonathan Eig Podcasts (2025)

1
Brian Takes on Big Tech 28:32

Play Pause

1h ago28:32

28:32

When late-night host Jimmy Kimmel was forced off the air, it raised huge questions about who really controls what we’re allowed to say. From billionaires and politicians to social media platforms and regulators, the boundaries of free speech in America are being redrawn in real time. To get a sense of the country’s mood, host Brian Reed goes to the…

1
The Epstein Files 55:08

1h ago55:08

55:08

Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes have been picked apart in headlines, documentaries, and endless conspiracy theories. And yet there have continued to be shocking new revelations in the story this year, as President Trump’s base has pressured him to release the government’s files about Epstein. In this episode of Question Everything, host Brian Reed brings …

1
Question Everything Returns, Raring for a Fight 2:46

7d ago2:46

2:46

We're back. September 25th.

1
A Listener on What Journalists Should do Better 17:30

1M ago17:30

17:30

A listener weighed in with some criticism on Substack. Brian (our host) got involved. Some advice for journalists ensued. It ended up inspiring an entire segment on KCRW’s show Left, Right & Center, which we’re sharing with you here. This is the kind of action that’s happening over on our new Substack – which you should subscribe to! If you do, we’…

1
Brian Can't Stop Fact-checking His Mother-In-Law (from “Proxy with Yowei Shaw”) 51:55

2M ago51:55

51:55

After her NPR show was canceled some years back, producer and host Yowei Shaw gave herself a new title: “Emotional Investigative Journalist.” She started a podcast called Proxy, where she helps people who are facing unique emotional or personal obstacles by connecting them with a proxy who’s uniquely positioned to help them. Our host, Brian, recent…

1
Margaret Atwood 34:10

3M ago34:10

34:10

Margaret Atwood—author of more than 60 books in almost every conceivable genre, recipient of more than 100 literary prizes—is a global icon. Like Kafka and Orwell before her, she and her writing have become part of the public discourse, wherever we live and whatever our age. Her intelligence is that vital and exacting, her wit that mischievous, her…

1
Badass Local Journalists on How to Fight Corruption 54:10

3M ago54:10

54:10

Local reporters from around the country tell stories of using the experiences of their neighbors to confront people in power. Featuring: Anna Wolfe with Mississippi Today Lisa Halverstadt with Voice of San Diego Alissa Zhu with The Baltimore Banner Tony Plohetski with The Austin American-Statesman and KVUE Austin Lisa is a part of the Homelessness …

1
Niall Ferguson and Evan Osnos on Kissinger 35:55

3M ago35:55

35:55

No U.S. secretary of state ever achieved such celebrity while in office as Henry Kissinger; immersed in the philosophy of Kant and the diplomacy of Metternich, he was hailed as one of the most important strategic thinkers America has ever produced. Yet no former secretary of state has been more vehemently criticized, most notably for sins of omissi…

1
Who’s Behind the Raids? A Mystery in Marion (Part Two) 40:19

4M ago40:19

40:19

A TV reporter from Kansas City hears about the newspaper raids over in Marion. Her interest is piqued by the fact that the police chief who oversaw the raids had recently left Kansas City PD. So she heads to Marion to see what she can find out. And what she finds…is basically a Bravo reality series, small-town midwestern style. Part One of this sto…

1
A Mystery in Marion (Part One) 28:29

4M ago28:29

28:29

On a Friday morning in rural Kansas, the publisher of a tiny local newspaper hears a knock at the door. It’s the police—with a search warrant. Within minutes, they’re inside his home, seizing his electronics. At the same time, officers are raiding his newsroom, confiscating computers and phones. No subpoena. No warning. And, according to legal expe…

1
Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso and Percival Everett 50:29

4M ago50:29

50:29

Today, we’re sharing a special conversation from the podcast Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso. The episode you’re about to hear aired just this month. It’s an entertaining and insightful talk with Percival Everett, who was named the winner of the 2025 Pulitzer Prize in Fiction. Together, they cover a range of topics, from his immersive process writing Ja…

1
The Fight for Your Attention with MSNBC’s Chris Hayes 1:13:08

4M ago1:13:08

1:13:08

MSNBC host Chris Hayes discusses his book The Sirens' Call: How Attention Became the World's Most Endangered Resource, and reckons with his own culpability in the corruption and commercialization of our attention. Thanks to “Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso” for sharing this interview with us. “Question Everything” is a production of KCRW and Placement T…

1
The Hunt for a Journalist’s Killer 35:37

4M ago35:37

35:37

A group of reporters recently uncovered a closely held secret: the identity of the Israeli soldier who shot and killed renowned veteran journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in 2022. This is the story of how they figured it out. Sign up for our newsletter: www.kcrw.com/questioneverything “Question Everything” is a production of KCRW and Placement Theory.…

1
From the Fringe Web to Real Life: How Seriously Should We Be Taking Conspiracy Theories? 26:52

5M ago26:52

26:52

Back in December, we did an episode about Pyrra, an AI-powered software that tracks sifts through the far corners of the internet – in some places you probably haven’t even heard of – to see what narratives are emerging from the people who post there. A lot of these are conspiracy theories, and also violent threats. This week, we check back in with…

1
Jonathan Eig on Martin Luther King, Jr. 30:47

5M ago30:47

30:47

In this episode, recorded live at the 2024 conference, biographer Jonathan Eig talks about his book on Martin Luther King, Jr., the first major biography of the civil rights leader in decades. Eig resurrects King from myth and history and brings him to vivid life, with all of his emotional complexity and unwavering courage, drawing a fresh and inde…

1
Rümeysa Öztürk is Locked Up for an Op-ed: An Urgent Summit with the Student Newspaper that Published It 1:17:50

5M ago1:17:50

1:17:50

Where better to huddle up and discuss what to do about Rümeysa Öztürk and the chilling effect that is happening in journalism than on campus at Tufts University with the student journalists at The Tufts Daily? This week Brian and Question Everything co-host a live event with the editor-in-chief and associate editor from The Tufts Daily– Arghya Thal…

1
Jayne Anne Phillips and Viet Thanh Nguyen on Writing and War 41:01

5M ago41:01

41:01

Jayne Anne Phillips won the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for her novel, Night Watch, a vividly rendered account set in Phillips’ native West Virginia in the aftermath of the Civil War, that follows a severely wounded Union veteran, a 12-year-old girl and her traumatized mother as they struggle to heal. In this final episode of season two, she is…

1
Pounding Beers in a Shed, and Other Dispatches from the War on Free Speech 26:04

5M ago26:04

26:04

Last episode we discussed the campaign to overturn the Supreme Court decision that protects reporters’ ability to criticize and investigate people in power. But even with that decision still in place, reporter David Enrich has discovered a shocking wave of legal attacks that is being waged on journalists in towns and cities across the country. Thes…

1
Freedom of the press is great, until you're the target 39:11

5M ago39:11

39:11

For decades, a Supreme Court decision called New York Times vs Sullivan was widely beloved by people across the political spectrum. Hailed as a decision that gave the first amendment teeth and made our country great. But recently, under our noses, some of the same people who once sang its praises have turned against it. The story of the growing mov…

1
Jonathan Eig and Yohance Lacour: New Perspectives on Stories from the Past 45:38

5M ago45:38

45:38

Jonathan Eig won the 2024 Pulitzer in Biography for King: A Life, a revelatory book on Martin Luther King Jr. that draws on new sources to enrich our understanding of the civil rights leader’s life. When Eig heard the 2024 Pulitzer-win for Audio Reporting, You Didn’t See Nothin, he knew he had to talk with the podcast host, Yohance Lacour of the In…

1
The masterpiece Prince documentary Netflix won’t let the public see. 48:27

5M ago48:27

48:27

The best documentary filmmaker in America spent nearly five years of his life making a nine-hour masterpiece for Netflix. It will never see the light of day. After a nasty estate battle, the series will not be released. No one will ever see it. In his first sit-down interview about this catastrophe, the filmmaker, Ezra Edelman seeks catharsis – if …

1
Hannah Dreier, Iván Valencia, and Gregory Bull: To the Border and Beyond 48:50

6M ago48:50

48:50

In 2023, a record breaking number of migrants braved the harrowing journey to the U.S./Mexico border in hopes of being granted asylum in America. In this episode, we hear from three Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists who covered different stages of this experience. First, we hear from two photojournalist staff contributors to Associated Press’ 2024…

1
The Radical Honesty of Judy Blume 30:47

6M ago30:47

30:47

In this episode of Beyond the Page, lucky listener, you get to hear the great Judy Blume, the author of twenty-five books for young readers and four novels for adults that all-told have sold more than 90 million copies in forty languages. Blume’s cherished, ground-breaking 1970 young adult novel, Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret, has captivated…

1
Trina Reynolds-Tyler and Sarah Conway on Going Beyond the Data 42:15

6M ago42:15

42:15

Journalists Sarah Conway, formerly of City Bureau, and Trina Reynolds-Tyler of the Invisible Institute won the 2024 Pulitzer Prize in Local Reporting for Missing in Chicago, an investigation into how the Chicago Police Department has been handling missing person cases for Black girls and women. They’re joined by Salamishah Tillet, a Pulitzer-prize …

1
He quit journalism to fight authoritarianism. How’s that going? 22:58

6M ago22:58

22:58

Last year, we did an episode with Barton Gellman, who talked about the war games he was running with high-level military leaders and government officials to prepare for a second Trump term. A bunch of you have been asking us to have Barton back, to find out what he’s doing, now that the second Trump term is here. So we called him up. Barton works a…

1
Sanaz Toossi and Lynn Nottage: The Politics of Playwriting 46:30

6M ago46:30

46:30

Sanaz Toossi won the 2023 Pulitzer in Drama for her play, English, a powerful play about four Iranian adults preparing for an English language exam and grappling with how learning a new language may alter their identities and represent a new life. Sanaz takes us behind the scenes as she and her cast and crew prepare to open English on Broadway. The…

1
A Rant or a Slant: When Should Reporters Speak From the Heart? 38:30

6M ago38:30

38:30

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 telling. 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. Dana B…

1
Justin Chang and Joe Morgenstern on Cinevangalism 47:13

6M ago47:13

47:13

Now a film critic for The New Yorker, Justin Chang won the 2024 Pulitzer Prize in Criticism for film reviews he wrote for the Los Angeles Times. Joe Morgenstern has been reviewing films since 1959 and won 2005 Pulitzer in Criticism for weekly reviews he published at The Wall Street Journal. On this episode, Justin and Joe meet in LA’s historic Egyp…

1
A Teen, a Reporter, and a Grand Jury Leak (Over BBQ) 32:49

6M ago32:49

32:49

Brian tells the story of a reporting trip he took to Alabama, where two small-town journalists had been locked up in jail, that led to one of the most honest - and surprising - conversations about journalism he’s had in a long time. Sign up for our newsletter to see some stories and pictures from a recent event Brian held in Alabama about his podca…

1
The Staff of Lookout Santa Cruz: The People vs. the Storms 30:41

6M ago30:41

30:41

In 2023, California’s Santa Cruz County was hit with nine atmospheric rivers that caused widespread displacement and devastation. During this period, the six reporters on staff at Lookout Santa Cruz – a roughly two-year old digital news outlet – stretched themselves thin providing in-depth coverage of the region’s most vulnerable communities. Their…

1
Vladimir Kara-Murza: Russian Imprisonment and Fighting for Democracy 53:59

7M ago53:59

53:59

Vladimir Kara-Murza won the 2024 Pulitzer in Commentary for opinion columns he wrote from solitary confinement in a Siberian prison. He and 2004 winner and Pulitzer Board member Anne Applebaum discuss how he published columns while imprisoned, what it was like being released in the largest US-Russia prisoner exchange since the Cold War, and why he …

1
Dennis Lehane: Confessions of a Novelist Turned TV Showrunner 30:53

7M ago30:53

30:53

In this episode, recorded live at the 2024 Writers Conference, I sit down with bestselling crime novelist and TV writer/producer DENNIS LEHANE for a lively, wide-ranging conversation about how he approaches writing books vs. television scripts, his advice for writing true crime stories, as well as his journey developing his two latest AppleTV limit…

1
The News is Coming from Under the Desk… on TikTok (live from On Air Fest) 50:34

7M ago50:34

50:34

As trust in traditional journalism plummets, social media content creator V Spehar of Under the Desk News is ascendant, with over 3.4 million TikTok followers. But recently, V found themself in a public dustup with NPR over, in part, how the outlet had classified V in an interview. In this special episode of Question Everything––largely recorded li…

1
Pulitzer on the Road Season 2 Trailer 2:12

7M ago2:12

2:12

The Pulitzer on the Road podcast is back for season two! What does it take to win a Pulitzer Prize? In each episode, we’ll hear winners in conversation with one another, sharing stories behind their prize-winning work. This packed season features conversations between journalists and historians Vladimir Kara-Murza and Anne Applebaum, novelists Jayn…

1
Not Like Us: How Billionaires Think 38:19

7M ago38:19

38:19

As billionaires hoard more control over our politics, it seems more important than ever to ask: What makes them tick? Four reporters gather after hours at a wine shop to discuss – over drinks – what they’ve learned from covering billionaires for years, and how it can help us hoi polloi make sense of what the ultra-rich are doing right now. Featurin…

1
And The Award Goes To...The Circuit Court Of The Nineteenth Judicial Circuit In and For Okeechobee County, Florida 36:01

8M ago36:01

36:01

Ben Smith tells the story of the strange controversy over a journalism award that’s been going down in a Florida courthouse. Ben is Editor-in-Chief of Semafor and co-host of the Mixed Signals podcast. He used to be tThe New York Times media columnist and was founding editor-in-chief of Buzzfeed News. Sign up for our newsletter to read the lengthy l…

1
A reporter? A spy? Or something else? Israel arrests its first American journalist. 56:38

8M ago56:38

56:38

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. Part two of our two-part series about Jeremy Loffredo, who in October became the first American journalist arrested by Israel. “Question Everything” is a production of KCRW and Placement …

1
John Vaillant: Fire Weather 33:36

8M ago33:36

33:36

We were already editing this episode when the L.A. fires broke out on January 7, 2025. In fact, our editor Dean Grinsfelder had to evacuate as the flames moved in. So did my 91-year-old dad, and so did my co-producer James Tooley’s parents and brothers and their families; one of those brothers saw his house burn to the ground. All of which is to sa…

1
Blindfolded and Arrested on Assignment in Israel 56:21

8M ago56:21

56:21

Just a few months ago, Israel did something it has never done before. It arrested an American journalist. His name is Jeremy Loffredo. This is his story. Part one of a special, two-part series. “Question Everything” is a production of KCRW and Placement Theory.

1
When Hollywood Tells The Truth: with Tom McCarthy, Antonio Campos, Tina Satter, and Tobias Lindholm. 48:04

9M ago48:04

48:04

Four Hollywood directors gather after hours at a wine shop to drink and commiserate about the perils – and power – that come when you’re straddling fact and fiction. With behind the scenes stories about documentary romance, regret, and pirates. Featuring Tom McCarthy, who won an Oscar for Spotlight; Antonio Campos, creator of The Staircase for HBO;…

1
Kristin Hannah in conversation with Jenny Emery Davidson 29:10

10M ago29:10

29:10

In this episode, recorded live at the 2024 Sun Valley Writers' Conference, novelist Kristin Hannah talks to Jenny Emery Davidson, the executive director of The Community Library in Ketchum, Idaho, about her #1 New York Times bestselling novel The Women. In The Women, Hannah (known for previous bestselling historical novels such as The Nightingale, …

1
Can AI tell us what stories to look out for? A live experiment. 29:24

10M ago29:24

29:24

Our team at Question Everything has been playing around with a new technology that sucks up tons of social media posts, and then uses AI to figure out what ideas are forming in the shadows of the internet before they hit the mainstream. Brian interviews a journalist who uses this tech, to see what conversations are brewing right now that we might w…

1
Ancient Wisdom and the Enduring Power of Community 42:03

10M ago42:03

42:03

In a time of loneliness and isolation, social rupture and alienation, what will it take to mend our broken hearts and rebuild our society? In this episode, one of Ameriica’s leading rabbis, and the author of the book The Amen Effect, Sharon Brous makes the case that it is through honoring our most basic human instinct – the yearning for real connec…

1
Getting Ready to Interview Trump: An Exercise 38:57

10M ago38:57

38:57

A journalist tries to get his wrestling buddy to trust in journalism. You can find more work by Sam Eagan here. “Question Everything” is a production of KCRW and Placement Theory.

1
Special Election-Eve Episode: The Story of a Story Untold 18:17

11M ago18:17

18:17

A special election-eve episode from Brian: Ruminations on a story that never was, and a late night conversation with the source he was supposed to make it about. “Question Everything” is a production of KCRW and Placement Theory.

1
When To Call A Thing What It Is 37:03

11M ago37:03

37:03

Brian stops doomscrolling and starts doom-living. He brings two journalists he saw duking it out on Twitter into a studio, where they debate how to report on lies and racism in the Trump era. Then he finds a journalist who’s putting their big theoretical questions into practice – at a personal cost – as she covers one of the most messed up stories …

1
Can Journalism Save a Marriage? 30:57

12M ago30:57

30:57

A married couple finds themselves fighting miserably over the news. So they set out on a quest for the seemingly impossible: to find a news source that both a self-admitted “bleeding heart liberal” and a Trump supporter can trust. Check out Tangle News here. “Question Everything” is a production of KCRW and Placement Theory.…

1
Putin, Ukraine, and the Future of Russia 33:30

12M ago33:30

33:30

The author of a seminal book on Putin, All The Kremlin’s Men, and the founding editor-in-chief of what was Russia’s most truth-telling opposition news channel TV Rain, Mikhail Zygar is a journalistic hero to many in Russia. Now living and writing in the U.S. after fleeing persecution by Putin, Zygar continues to cover the most troubling stories of …

1
The Journalist and the Firefighter 39:49

1y ago39:49

39:49

How one of the most accomplished reporters of our time, Barton Gellman, lost his confidence in journalism. Sign up for our newsletter to hear the one outtake from the interview that Brian wished he could get into the episode, but couldn’t. “Question Everything” is a production of KCRW and Placement Theory.…

1
Drinks for Five: Ira Glass, Zoe Chace, Jonathan Eig, Astead Herndon 49:54

1y ago49:54

49:54

Brian puts four journalists together in a room, gives them drinks, and starts rolling tape. Their only instructions: show up with questions for each other and be ready to talk candidly about the challenges in their jobs. Foremost on their minds: Why do people even share their stories with journalists in the first place? You can watch this whole epi…