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The dodgy world of health news...from scary studies to celebrity-endorsed miracle cures. (episode)
A bogus study about chocolate and weight loss fooled several news outlets. Here, we present a thorough debunking of health news misreporting.
Toxins, gluten, fad diets, cleanses...and how to separate fact from fiction.
"Food Babe" Vani Hari has petitioned to get the "yoga mat" out of Subway sandwiches and the synthetic coloring out of Kraft's macaroni & cheese. But her logic might be flawed.
Taryn Harper Wright spends her spare time unraveling the efforts of people who fake illnesses online.
The country’s health observances calendar is slated with more than 200 awareness days and weeks and months to satisfy even the choosiest of hypochondriacs.
What you hear about the Paris climate agreement depends on whom you ask. Plus, how to spot an accurate election poll as the primaries edge closer. (episode)
GOP candidates squared off against the real enemy during Tuesday's foreign policy-themed debate: political correctness.
How can you tell important polling headlines from bad ones? Our partnership with FiveThirtyEight continues with this look at how to interpret polling data as the primaries get closer.
What if the problem with polling isn't bad polls but polls in general? The New Yorker's Jill Lepore on the history of polling and why skepticism is, and has always been, necessary.
The Paris climate change deal has been called both “landmark” and “a fraud". We search for clarity amid all the conflicting commentary.
Eight months after The Guardian launched its "Keep It In The Ground" climate change campaign, it has shifted its focus from divestment to a less tangible but more optimistic goal: hope.
Bob sits down with Bob Mankoff, cartoon editor of the New Yorker, to talk about life, cartoons, and much more. (article)
Diagnosing a demagogue; breaking down a media feeding frenzy in San Bernardino; and the life and death of New York Times reporter and AIDS victim Jeffrey Schmalz. (episode)
Donald Trump may be breaking the current political mold, but history has always anticipated characters like him. Here's what we can learn from the rise and fall of demagogues past.
Bob reports from Redlands, CA on the media maelstrom that invaded the alleged San Bernardino shooters' condo.
New York Times reporter Jeffrey Schmalz was diagnosed with AIDS 25 years ago. The disease changed the way he and others reported on the lives of gay men and women.
Plaintiffs who come to symbolize major supreme court cases are often carefully cast by advocates and public-interest lawyers. (article)
A brief history of political lies; a psychological look at why and how we lie; and whether we're really as divided as we think. (episode)
Kicking off our deep dive into deception with a taxonomy of the political lie.
Our relationship with lying in our own lives has a lot to do with how we judge the lies of politicians.
Though this election season feels particularly falsity-filled, we've been on this road for a long time. Here's a brief history of political lies and how Trump has broken the mold.
If fact-checking is meant to chasten politicians who lie, why isn't it more chaste out there? We speak to Politifact about educating the public and the definition of a "half-truth."
Why people believe what they want to believe, despite the facts.
Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight explains why Donald Trump's position in the polls isn't everything he makes it out to be, and how polls can also obscure the truth.
For many on the Left, Trump's popularity merely confirms their assumptions about those other people in America. And this may be the most dangerous lie of all.
In the wake of the mass shooting in San Bernardino, a look at the ban on CDC research into gun violence and how the families of victims manage the media. (article)
A special hour on the past, present and uncertain future of the USA Patriot Act. (episode)
A mere six weeks after 9/11, the USA PATRIOT Act was passed. Brooke and Bob relive the act's conception amid a climate of fear, confusion, and deceit.
For almost fourteen years we've been hearing about the Patriot Act. What's in it, again?
Debate about mass surveillance for counter-terrorism purposes has resurged post-Paris attacks. But evidence shows that bulk data collection isn't the solution to fighting terrorism.
After the Charlie Hebdo attacks, France passed a bill vastly expanding surveillance power, drawing comparisons to the USA Patriot Act. After the latest Paris attacks, more of the same.
We all know the Patriot Act, but lesser-known programs like Executive Order 12333 account for the bulk of government surveillance--and receive even less oversight.
Ultimately, our assumption that the Patriot Act is at the center of our nation's struggle between privacy and security...may not be true.
Examining the words, memes, and misdirection that muddy the media -- and our perspective -- on Islam and the Arab world. (episode)
Drawing on reporters, terrorism experts, and the media's best and worst impulses, a Breaking News Consumer's Handbook for the coverage after an act of terror.
Politicians and pundits have been using the phrase "boots on the ground" to declare limits in U.S. involvement in the Middle East. But what does that phrase mean, anyway?
More than 40 people died in two ISIS bombings in Beirut just a day before the Paris attacks. A Lebanese journalist describes the different language used to describe the Beirut victims.
While we're watching continuous coverage of ISIS, they're also watching, and even publish politicians and pundits in their propaganda magazine, Dabiq.
The Paris attacks have been deemed "France's 9/11." But do the politics and rhetoric of this week reflect what we've learned in the 14 years since 9/11?
Student protests in Missouri, new and old attempts to inspire empathy, embracing the "hate read", moving on from the click, and more. (episode)
Student protesters at the University of Missouri blocked media access in a confrontation caught on video. A reporter reflects on why the movement is keeping the press at arm's length.
Last week, the New York Times sent 1.2 million subscribers a set of virtual reality cardboard headsets. How much does the technology really move the needle on empathy?
A close study of European newspapers found that the moving image of a dead Syrian boy, Aylan Kurdi, only made a small impact on the overall coverage of the migrant crisis in Europe.
Upworthy is built on curating and creating content that moves its audiences enough to share it on social media. But its also reviled for its sensationalist brand of headline.
The current metric for online articles shows how much we click. NPR is creating a metric that shows how much we care.
Twitter replaced its icon for favorites, the star, with a heart. Emily Bell, director of the Tow Centre for Digital Journalism, explains why she really doesn’t heart... the heart.
In the desperate pursuit of clicks - and the advertising dollars that come with clicks - online publishers have realized the best way to grab our attention is to make us furious.
Many seek out articles not because they inspire them but because they infuriate. Hence the venerable tradition of "hate-reading" the New York Times' Style and Real Estate sections.