Reflector
Reflector is a documentary-style podcast that tells stories about how beliefs shape our world, the context behind the messy debates in our society, and on how deeply listening to one another can reveal a sense of shared humanity.
Episodes
March 17, 2025 • 6 mins
We are living through one of the most unpredictable periods in recent history. A time of profound, destabilizing social upheaval. A time of barely-imaginable technological advancements. A time of emerging new philosophies that will reshape the world around us (for better or for worse).
And, it’s a very exciting time to be a curiosity-driven, non-ideological journalist.
But there's a problem: trust in journalism—especially in journ...
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February 15, 2025 • 51 mins
Should the U.S. stop giving foreign aid?
This is a question many have been asking long before Elon Musk and Donald Trump launched DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) and began dismantling USAID and its work around the globe.
Critics of foreign aid, like Bill Easterly, author of The White Man’s Burden, and Dambisa Moyo, author of Dead Aid, argue that foreign aid often does more harm than good. They contend that the U.S. and o...
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January 7, 2025 • 75 mins
Despite its reputation among many on the political left, the United States has welcomed more immigrants than any other nation in history. Today, the U.S. is home to more immigrants than any other country in the world. Even amid a heated political battle over the future of immigration, it’s undeniable that a core part of America’s national identity is its image as “a nation of immigrants.”
Many Americans proudly trace their ancestry...
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November 21, 2024 • 58 mins
In the wake of the election results, many Democrats are doing some serious soul-searching (and a fair amount of blame-gaming) to understand why they lost. But it’s not just Democrats reckoning with their loss of trust from the American people. New polling from places like Gallup shows historically high levels of distrust in journalists. Meaning that a profession built on the delivery of trusted information is now in the midst of a ...
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October 30, 2024 • 67 mins
Here comes the much-anticipated (maybe dreaded? Obnoxiously over-covered?) 2024 US presidential election, and no one knows who will emerge as the next President of the United States.
Today’s episode was inspired by a conversation I had last week with a former colleague from The New York Times. She shared her concern that we in the media might have done it again. That just like in 2016, we may have failed to capture why Donald Trump...
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October 10, 2024 • 50 mins
Wars—like the one between Israel and Hamas—are not only fought on the battlefield, but they are also fought through stories. In today’s episode, I interview Eman Abdelhadi, an American academic, activist, and organizer in the Free Palestine movement. Abdelhadi shares a perspective on Israel that, while controversial, is gaining influence across the United States, particularly on college campuses.
A recent Pew survey revealed that 3...
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October 3, 2024 • 48 mins
Today: Fears of another world war, a high stakes presidential election and the very divisive subject of American support for Israel. We speak with progressive voters who are considering staying home in November, even if it could lead to another Trump presidency. We unpack our reporting from the 2024 March on the DNC, examining the ways it compares—and doesn’t—to the 1968 March on the DNC.
We also mention that a short video I took a...
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September 16, 2024 • 49 mins
We are hard at work on several stories that we hope to share with you soon, but today we’re trying something a bit different. We're bringing you a roundtable discussion with Sarah Isgur and Mike Pesca on why politicians and world leaders lie—and what those lies reveal about the state of our society.
Sarah Isgur is a lawyer, senior editor at The Dispatch, host of the legal podcast Advisory Opinions, and co-host of Left, Right & Cent...
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August 29, 2024 • 29 mins
In today’s Hindsight we are looking back on our coverage of stolen election claims (No, You Stole the Election!) with journalist, lawyer, and podcast royalty, Emily Bazelon. We discuss gerrymandering, voter ID laws, growing distrust in institutions, and we debate the power of elites and whether we should be worried about Election Day 2024.
We have a lot of new listeners here, and we’re very excited to have you with us! If you want ...
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August 15, 2024 • 44 mins
Today in our third and final installment of this series, we delve into what may be the most contested election in American history. We also take stock of the already historic and unprecedented 2024 presidential campaign season. What happens when both sides of our political divide increasingly view the other as an anti-democratic threat?
Our aim with these episodes is to listen carefully to those who feel cheated, move beyond the da...
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August 8, 2024 • 47 mins
Here in our second installment into the recent history of stolen election claims, we’ve got angry voters, disappointed politicians, and a few tech-savvy democrats who see signs of hacking, fraud, and illegitimacy in three different elections.
We’ll discuss the allegations about hacked voting machines in Ohio in 2004, claims that the 2016 election was stolen from Hillary Clinton, and how stolen election claims in the 2018 gubernator...
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August 1, 2024 • 47 mins
Claims that a US election was rigged, fraudulent, illegitimate, or stolen are not new. But in recent years—despite the fact that our elections have grown increasingly secure—these claims have grown louder and more impassioned. Today, we begin our look back on past claims of stolen elections in American history, in the hopes that understanding them in their context will help shed light on our current political moment—and where we mi...
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July 18, 2024 • 52 mins
Today we’ve got a very special Hindsight episode that revisits the themes explored in our "Filthy Slime" episodes (Parts 1 & 2). We’re delighted to be joined by living legend and recent Grammy winner Killer Mike. He discusses his view of "rap on trial" and the complex relationship between art, crime, and life for young people in some of America’s toughest neighborhoods.
We also explore the legend of Stack Lee – AKA Stagger Lee – an...
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July 9, 2024 • 65 mins
Today, we continue our examination of difficult public debates, one year after concluding our series, The Witch Trials of J.K. Rowling. In Part 1, we provided updates on women's sports, women-only spaces, and transition medicine for minors. This week, we hear from three different trans individuals who share their perspectives on the state of the debate, J.K. Rowling in particular, and the larger idea that good-faith debates are nec...
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July 2, 2024 • 64 mins
About a year ago, the team that makes this show (Matt Boll and me, Andy Mills) along with our dear friend Megan Phelps-Roper (who also helps with each episode of Reflector), put out the final installment of The Witch Trials of J.K. Rowling.
The show was a big hit with millions of listeners, even as it split — and in some cases enraged — media critics. Our aim was to tell the story of Rowling’s two major public controversies — both...
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June 13, 2024 • 21 mins
Today we're excited to share the first Hindsight episode of Reflector. This is the free version of this episode. To listen to the full version you can become a subscriber today by visiting us at reflector.show
The idea behind these particular episodes is to embody our commitment to transparency in journalism by following up on each of our stories with a less formal deep dive into our reporting and the larger social themes we explo...
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June 4, 2024 • 46 mins
While all of hip hop prizes authenticity, as Van Lathan put it in Filthy Slime Pt 1: “In street rap authenticity is more important than skill”. Today we dive into the ways that this genre’s prizing of authenticity has evolved to a point where some rappers aren’t just merely making artful commentary or provocations about gang life, but are using their lyrics to document and at times admit their involvement in serious crimes, includi...
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May 28, 2024 • 59 mins
Music has been a feature of American culture wars since at least the time of Elvis Presley’s gyrating dance moves on The Ed Sullivan show in 1956. But amidst all the moral panics about hip-shaking and backmasking, there is a legitimate and fascinating question about the role and influence that popular music plays on human behavior and on society more broadly.
Today, we are publishing the first episode in our breakdown of the debat...
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April 30, 2024 • 59 mins
Why aren’t Americans embracing the most promising medications for treating over-drinking?
Become a subscriber today: reflector.show/subscribe
Alcohol consumption increased more during the COVID-19 pandemic than it had at any time in the past 50 years. Even though bars were closed for weeks on end and fewer people were out on the road doing their daily commuting, Americans were drinking so much that from 2020 through 2021 there were...
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