Shows / The Kicker
The Kicker
The Kicker is a podcast on the media and the world today. It comes out twice a month, hosted by Megan Greenwell and produced by Amanda Darrach for the Columbia Journalism Review. It is available wherever you get your podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube.
Episodes
The KickerA break from the pandemic: the bizarre invasion of Venezuela
Investigative journalist Giancarlo Fiorella was watching when the Associated Press reported a plot to overthrow Nicolás Maduro, the president of Venezuela…
The KickerHow did medical masks become a signal?
As tens of thousands of Americans die of COVID-19, fear and uncertainty devolve into paranoid tribalism. At our most extreme, one side believes science is…
The KickerThe hunger for COVID-19 and climate crisis coverage
The intersection of conflict, climate, and disease has never been more apparent, and neither has public need for “journalistic rigor and urgency.”On this…
The KickerLiz Bruenig on covering spirituality and death in a plague year
Religion is difficult for journalists to cover, in part because it lies beyond observation and resists narrative. On this week’s Kicker, Elizabeth Bruenig, an…
The KickerPrisoners trapped in the path of COVID-19
Punished for wearing masks, or for asking to have their temperatures taken, our aging prison population is denied basic social distancing, hygiene, and…
The KickerA visit to an ER COVID-19 unit gives new perspective on pandemic data
Governor Andrew Cuomo’s COVID-19 press conferences rely heavily on data, as does press coverage of the pandemic. But when CJR’s Amanda Darrach got sick, she…
The KickerCOVID-19, communities in need
Since the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Kim Bui, director of audience innovation at the Arizona Republic, has looked to her readers to help guide the paper’s…
The KickerLocal media and COVID-19: the canary in the coalmine
When an outbreak like the Covid-19 pandemic hits, local journalists serve as first responders for global surveillance efforts. Elisabeth Rosenthal was a young…
The KickerWhen the circus comes to town: The Storm Lake Times in Iowa
Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump didn’t visit towns like Storm Lake, Iowa in 2016. This election cycle, things are much different. Art Cullen, editor and…
The KickerA war correspondent covers the climate crisis
Kadir van Lohuizen reports on the climate crisis with the same techniques he brought to his work as a war correspondent. His photography, video, and written…
The KickerFamily leave and the diversity edge
Jess Brammar is the new editor in chief of HuffPost UK. She is also 7 months pregnant. When it comes to family leave policy, American news outlets lag behind…
The KickerCoronavirus, China’s press, and the disappearance of Chen Quishi
In China, journalists are conditioned to keep their online activity apolitical. But the coronavirus outbreak took censors by surprise. In the panic, editors…
The KickerGuns, Puerto Rico, & American labor
What do we miss when we obsess about Trump? The answer, it turns out, includes some of the most important stories of our time. On this week’s Kicker, Kyle…
The KickerDexter Filkins and how to cover the Soleimani assasination
In 2013, Dexter Filkins wrote the definitive profile of Major General Qassem Soleimani, the architect of Iran’s “Axis of Resistance,” whom the US assassinated…
The KickerCarole Cadwalladr and disinformation at the ballot box
Facebook, Google, and Twitter are going to be used to facilitate disinformation and racism in the 2020 US presidential election, and Carole Cadwalladr says we…
The KickerWhen facts can’t help
Democracy is reliant on facts, but fact-checking no longer seem to dispel misleading information. As a prelude to next week’s Disinfo 2020: Prepping the Press…
The KickerBrazil’s gold boom and the war for the rainforest, with Jon Lee Anderson
The Kayopo, an indiginous tribe in the Brazilian rainforest, have lost over 200,000 acres of their preserve to the illegal gold mining encouraged by Jair…
The KickerThe death penalty—myth, propaganda, and truth
Rodney Reed is scheduled for execution on November 20, and the first federal executions in 16 years begin December 9. On this week’s Kicker, Robert Dunham…
The KickerCJR public editors: One year out from 2020
CJR public editors: One year out from 2020 by Columbia Journalism Review
The KickerCan Condé Nast’s empire rise again?
Anna Wintour says Vogue magazine is the world’s greatest influencer, though the numbers don’t agree. A job at Condé Nast used to mean a magazine journalist had…
The KickerJon Allsop on Ukraine, Brexit, and the danger of dumbing down
Jon Allsop, who writes CJR’s daily newsletter “The Media Today” from his flat in London, talks to Kyle Pope, editor and publisher of CJR, about Boris Johnson’s…
The KickerRule of fear—Carlotta Gall reports on the war behind the wall
Carlotta Gall, Istanbul bureau chief for the New York Times, spent her summer reporting on whether Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Turkey’s president, would invade…
The Kicker‘The more American your life is, the more vulnerable you become’
When longtime residents of Washington State’s Long Beach Peninsula began to disappear, journalist McKenzie Funk set out to reverse-engineer ICE officers’ use…
The KickerImpeachment and how Trump exposed the flaws in journalism
Joe Lockhart was named White House press secretary in 1998, three days before the House voted to impeach President Clinton. This week, Lockhart speaks with…
The KickerThe Financial Times follows the money on the climate crisis
Among readers, the demand for climate crisis coverage is high. Until recently, however, financial reporters have stayed largely silent on the subject. On this…
The KickerClimate collaboration—three hundred outlets, one billion viewers
There is a climate angle to every beat, no matter how small the newsroom; collaboration pays; and climate coverage is no more political than failure to cover…
The KickerOne hyperlocal reporter and 400,000 NYCHA residents
Public housing is one of the most undercovered stories in New York. But every day, Monica Morales of PIX11 News answers calls from residents of city-owned…
The KickerBahamian media and the fight for Hurricane relief
Two days before Hurricane Dorian hit, Eugene Duffy, the managing editor of The Tribune in Nassau, sent a reporter and a photographer to Marsh Harbour in the…
The KickerAfter Reuters—Myanmar’s other reporters
Swe Win, the editor of Myanmar Now, a bilingual investigative-news website, was sued for defamation in Mandalay two years ago. His crime? Posting on Facebook…
The KickerJeffrey Epstein on background
“Slippery,” but “charming.” “Magnetic,” but “useless.” And “utterly unapologetic.” Convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein invited New York Times columnist…
The KickerAmerica does not know what a mass shooting looks like
John Temple was the editor of the Rocky Mountain News when the Columbine massacre changed America’s perception of safety forever. CJR Editor and Publisher Kyle…
The KickerBlackouts, politics, and the call for a new beat
On this week’s episode, CJR Editor and Publisher Kyle Pope speaks with Marie J. French and Danielle Muoio, the authors of POLITICO’S “New York Energy”…
The KickerBob Garfield’s plan to save America
On this week’s episode, CJR Editor and Publisher Kyle Pope speaks with Bob Garfield, the co-host of WNYC’s “On the Media” and co-founder of the Purple Project…
The KickerFear at the border
On this week’s episode, CJR Editor and Publisher Kyle Pope speaks with Lauren Villagran and Aaron Montes, both reporters at the El Paso Times, about their…
The KickerMSNBC Public Editor: It will take more than one salvo for Kamala Harris to take down Joe Biden
On this week’s episode, CJR Editor and Publisher Kyle Pope speaks with Maria Bustillo, CJR’s public editor for MSNBC, on the first round of Democratic debates…
The KickerFour months in, BuzzFeed’s union waits for recognition
On this week’s episode, CJR Editor and Publisher Kyle Pope speaks with Azeen Ghorayshi and Rachel Sanders, members of the Buzzfeed News union organizing…
The KickerPublic Editor Emily Tamkin on CNN’s underqualified pundits
On this week’s episode, CJR Editor and Publisher Kyle Pope speaks with Emily Tamkin, our CNN public editor, about CJR’s new public editor initiative. Tamkin…
The KickerWhen Newsweek flew the Watergate transcripts to New York by “pigeon”
On this week’s episode, CJR Editor and Publisher Kyle Pope and Delacorte fellow Amanda Darrach speak with with Ed Kosner, the former editor of Newsweek, New…
The KickerPodcast: As 2020 approaches, ‘orphan counties’ struggle for local, relevant news
On this week’s episode, CJR Editor and Publisher Kyle Pope speaks with Corey Hutchins, CJR’s correspondent based in Colorado, where he is also a journalist for…
The KickerJournalist Nick Pinto on the impossibility of covering the NYPD
On this week’s episode, CJR Editor and Publisher Kyle Pope speaks with Nick Pinto, a journalist who covers the New York City Police Department, about the…
The KickerJournalist Anat Kamm on life after being sentenced for leaking
On this week’s episode, CJR Editor and Publisher Kyle Pope speaks with Israeli journalist Anat Kamm. She supplied the newspaper Haaretz with secret documents…
The KickerInternational press access in Venezuela
On this week’s episode, CJR Editor and Publisher Kyle Pope speaks with Nick Paton Walsh, senior international correspondent for CNN. Paton Walsh has reported…
The KickerCovering the Green New Deal
THIS WEEK, CJR and The Nation gathered some of the world’s top journalists, scientists, and climate experts for a conference to explore how the press can do a…
The KickerPulitzer winner Darrin Bell—‘In a tyrannical kingdom, only the jester can tell the truth’
On this week’s episode, CJR Editor and Publisher Kyle Pope speaks with freelance cartoonist Darrin Bell, who won the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for Editorial…
The KickerPodcast: In conversation with 2019 Pulitzer Prize winner Susanne Craig
ON THIS WEEK’S EPISODE, CJR Editor and Publisher Kyle Pope speaks with Susanne Craig, an investigative reporter for The New York Times, about her work in the…
The KickerAn editor murdered in Kashmir signals the erosion of press freedom
On this week’s episode, CJR Editor and Publisher Kyle Pope speaks with Aliya Iftikhar, Asia research associate for the Committee to Protect Journalists. As…
The KickerPodcast: In conversation with Susan Smith Richardson from the Center for Public Integrity
ON THIS WEEK’S EPISODE, CJR Editor and Publisher Kyle Pope speaks with Susan Smith Richardson who has been appointed as the new chief executive of Center for…
The KickerMueller, Barr, and what journalism can do when the judicial system fails us
ON THIS WEEK’S EPISODE, Managing Editor Betsy Morais and Digital Editor Nausicaa Renner discuss the backlash against journalism in the wake of the Mueller…
The KickerPodcast: Clerk who took over for racist Ala. editor speaks
Podcast: Clerk who took over for racist Ala. editor speaks by Columbia Journalism Review
The KickerPodcast: Adam Moss and David Haskell on the transfer of power at New York
ON THIS WEEK’S EPISODE, outgoing Editor in Chief of New York Adam Moss and his successor David Haskell interview one another. They talk pitches, the art of the…
The KickerPodcast: What counts as journalism?
ON THIS WEEK’S EPISODE, CJR Editor and Publisher Kyle Pope and Seamus Hughes of George Washington University's Program on Extremism talk about who gets to be a…
The KickerHeather Heyer’s mother: ‘I knew the press was coming’
ON THIS WEEK’S EPISODE, CJR Editor and Publisher Kyle Pope speaks with Susan Bro, whose daughter Heather Heyer died in the 2017 Charlottesville attack, and…
The KickerPodcast: Who is going to pay for journalism?
ON THIS WEEK’S EPISODE, CJR Editor and Publisher Kyle Pope and Mathew Ingram, CJR’s chief digital writer discuss The Cairncross Review, a report published in…
The KickerGetting to the truth in the Trump interview
This week our Editor and Publisher Kyle Pope speaks with CJR’s Lyz Lenz about the work we put in in to legitimizing this presidency and whether we are right to…
The KickerPodcast: Should governments pay ransom for journalists?
ON THIS WEEK’S EPISODE, CJR Editor and Publisher Kyle Pope speaks with Joel Simon, executive director of Committee to Protect Journalists about his latest book…
The KickerLayoffs and the argument for civic media
ON THIS WEEK’S EPISODE, CJR Editor and Publisher Kyle Pope speaks with Emily Bell, director of the Tow Center for Digital Journalism, to assess recent digital…
The KickerPodcast: In conversation with Jill Abramson on her new book, Merchants of Truth
Podcast: In conversation with Jill Abramson on her new book, Merchants of Truth by Columbia Journalism Review
The KickerPodcast: Slate charts its survival through the digital winter
ON THIS WEEK’S EPISODE, CJR Editor and Publisher Kyle Pope speaks with David Uberti, on Slate’s survival strategy—in part as an audio production company.
The KickerPodcast: How did the media handle Trump’s Oval office address?
ON THIS WEEK’S EPISODE, CJR Editor and Publisher Kyle Pope speaks with staff writer Jon Allsop about how the media handled Trump’s address from the Oval…