Category: Miniseries

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On Our Watch - BONUS: “The Prison Beat” | S2: New Folsom

Reporting on prisons from the outside is often difficult; it’s a closed and secretive world. But there is also important reporting being done by people who are inside prison, which comes with dangers of its own. Sukey and Julie sit down with two formerly incarcerated journalists, Rahsaan Thomas and Jesse Vasquez, to talk about the challenges and opportunities of prison reporting.


Rahsaan Thomas is the Executive Director of Empowerment Avenue and a producer at Ear Hustle.

Jesse Vasquez is the Executive Director of the Pollen Initiative and former Editor-in-Chief of the San Quentin News.


Mental health resources

If you are currently in crisis, you can dial 988 [U.S.] to reach the National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.

SAMHSA National Help Line

988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline

NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) Helpline

US Health and Human Services

Warmline Directory


Episode Transcript

Find more information at our website.

If you have tips or feedback about this series please reach out to us at onourwatch@kqed.org.  

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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In God We Lust - Listen Now: Lemme Say This

What’s the greatest celebrity notes app apology of all time? Who is Hollywood’s most divorced man? And which society is torturing the poets? Wanna know the answers, but have no time to scour the internet all day? Well, Peyton Dix and Hunter Harris have your back. These two beacons of truth and connoisseurs of mess have been bonded for over a decade, sharing the traumas of a crappy Boston dorm room and a pitiful Brooklyn dating scene. Now, these certified haters and internet carnivores are ready to cut your faves straight to the white meat.

On Wondery’s newest show, Lemme Say This, you’re getting added to Hunter and Peyton’s group chat - a weekly conversation, going all-in on the pop culture news you didn’t realize you cared so much about. These best friends are chronically online so you don’t have to be. There’s nothing too niche or nosey. 

Listen to Lemme Say This ad-free: Wondery.fm/LemmeSayThis

You can also enjoy exclusive bonus content available only on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App or on Apple Podcasts.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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On Our Watch - BONUS: The Whistleblower Playbook | S2: New Folsom

Sukey sits down with Mary Inman and Poppy Alexander, two whistleblower attorneys who talk about the cost of speaking up, and unpack the playbook that employers use to keep people quiet. They also discuss a shift in thinking that can protect both whistleblowers and their organizations.


Mental health resources

If you are currently in crisis, you can dial 988 [U.S.] to reach the National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.

SAMHSA National Help Line

988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline

NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) Helpline

US Health and Human Services

Warmline Directory


Whistleblower resources

Whistleblower Partners, LLP (where Mary and Poppy are partners)

The Lamplighter Project

The Signals Network

EMPOWR

Whistleblowers of America

Government Accountability Project

National Whistleblower Center

Whistleblower Aid


Mary Inman was profiled in the New Yorker piece, "The Personal Toll of Whistleblowing."

Episode Transcript

Find more information at our website.

If you have tips or feedback about this series please reach out to us at onourwatch@kqed.org.  

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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In God We Lust - Listen Now: Blame it on the Fame: Milli Vanilli

When Frank Farian first laid eyes on Rob Pilatus and Fab Morvan, he saw everything he wasn’t. They were handsome, young, and Black. But Frank had something they didn’t. He had power.


So, Frank offered them a devil’s bargain. Almost overnight, Milli Vanilli’s debut album went five times platinum and scored a Grammy nomination. But when the lie at the center of their success started to unravel, Rob and Fab would discover the hard way the difference between star power and real power.


From Wondery, Blame It on the Fame is a story about the lie that shot to #1 and what it cost to tell the truth. Hosted by Amanda Seales.


Listen early and ad-free exclusively on Wondery+: Wondery.fm/BIOTF_MV

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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Influenced - Left the Chat: No 6. The Telegram War

The encrypted messaging app Telegram is haunted by a single question - if it really is as secure as it claims to be, why does Vladimir Putin allow it to be used in Russia?

And should Russian dissidents, independent journalists and Ukrainian soldiers use this Wild West of an app, where you can find everything from porn to drugs to faked propaganda videos?

Answering those questions takes Helen on a journey that begins with a young Russian entrepreneur throwing 5,000 rouble notes off a balcony, folded like paper aeroplanes, and finishes with him in exile in Dubai, rich beyond his wildest dreams. But what does Pavel Durov, the founder of Telegram, really believe?

Producer: Tom Pooley Assistant Producer: Orla O'Brien Sound Design: Louis Blatherwick Editor: Craig Templeton Smith Original Music: Coach Conrad

A Tempo & Talker production for BBC Radio 4

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Influenced - Left the Chat: No 5. Thug Shaker Central

When investigative journalist Aric Toler saw a handful of supposedly fake classified documents online, he had a hunch - what if they were real? The only way to find out was to hunt for the original source.

It was a journey that took him through the deep internet, beyond the reach of search engines. He scoured through chat forums about SpongeBob SquarePants, infiltrated servers named after edgy memes, and found a vital clue in screenshots of a video game about zombies. Eventually, Toler got his man - and his identity was not at all what you might expect.

At the heart of this story is the chat service Discord - a casual, conversational space without which, Toler thinks, his unlikely leaker would never have posted classified documents online.

A Tempo & Talker production for BBC Radio 4

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Influenced - Left The Chat: No 4. I Married a ChatBot

After years of bad dates and toxic relationships, Chris finally found love - with a chatbot called Emma. Is this the future of digital love, or is Chris caught in an illusion?

In this episode focusing on how instant messages have changed our love lives, Helen also uncovers the heart warming story of the first couple to marry after reconnecting on Friends Reunited, and the strange tale of a woman who was literally ghosted.

A Tempo & Talker production for BBC Radio 4

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On Our Watch - 8. Last Stand | S2: New Folsom

After his son’s death, Valentino Rodriguez Sr. waited for the warden of New Folsom prison to call him. That call never came. In our season finale, we walk through the gates of New Folsom to ask the warden for answers. We also get a rare glimpse inside the world of correctional officer discipline and hear from Sgt. Kevin Steele in his own words. 


Mental health resources

If you are currently in crisis, you can dial 988 [U.S.] to reach the National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.

SAMHSA National Help Line

988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline

NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) Helpline

US Health and Human Services

Warmline Directory


Whistleblower resources

The Lamplighter Project

The Signals Network

EMPOWR

Whistleblowers of America

Government Accountability Project

National Whistleblower Center

Whistleblower Aid


Episode Transcript

Find more information at our website.

If you have tips or feedback about this series please reach out to us at onourwatch@kqed.org.  

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Influenced - Left the Chat: No 3. Several People Are Typing

During the pandemic, a combination of fears over Covid, anger over police racism and sheer cabin fever saw company Slack channels boil with discontent. One day in February 2021, Mike Pesca, a contrarian podcaster, made the mistake of getting stuck in, voicing controversial opinions to his colleagues - in between shovelling snow from his parents’ driveway.

And then he saw the dreaded words, "several people are typing …".

A Tempo & Talker production for BBC Radio 4

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Influenced - Left the Chat: No 2. Fax Machines and Foxy Natashas

In 2016, amid the post-EU referendum chaos, one man had an idea. His name was Steve Baker, and he was a low-profile Tory MP. But his WhatsApp group - the home of the hard Brexiteers - soon became the most powerful force in British politics. Sam Coates of Sky News thinks that political WhatsApp groups like Baker’s helped bring down three Conservative prime ministers in a row.

The second of these, Boris Johnson, was a “WhatsApp addict”, according to his former chief of staff Dominic Cummings. And so, during Covid when Number 10 was still using fax machines to get NHS data, everyone turned to instant messaging instead. Forget “sofa government”, this was even more informal - as well as faster, more fluid and full of swearing.

But, Helen Lewis asks Cummings, is this really the best way to govern a country? What about the possibility of leaks, hacks - and conveniently lost messages when an inquiry rolls around?

Producer: Tom Pooley Assistant Producer: Orla O'Brien Sound Design: Louis Blatherwick Editor: Craig Templeton Smith Original music: Coach Conrad

A Tempo & Talker production for BBC Radio 4