Category: Series

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Undiscovered - Boss Hua and the Black Box

A team of social scientists stumbles onto a cache of censored Chinese social media posts—and decides to find out what the Chinese government wants wiped from the internet.

On China’s most influential microblogging platform, a wristwatch aficionado named Boss Hua accuses a government official of corruption. But, his posts aren’t censored. So what disappears into the black box of Chinese censorship...and what stays online? A team of social scientists cracked this question—by mistake—with big data.

(Original art by Claire Merchlinsky)

 

FOOTNOTES

    See the picture that got ‘Smiling Official’ Yang Dacai fired. Read Gary, Jen, and Margaret’s first study on Chinese government censorship (American Political Science Review). Read the results of Gary, Jen, and Margaret’s social media experiment (Science). Read Gary, Jen, and Margaret’s latest study, about what the Chinese government secretly posts to the internet. Hear Gary King on Science Friday.

 

CREDITS

This episode of Undiscovered was reported and produced by Annie Minoff and Elah Feder. Editing by Christopher Intagliata. Fact-checking help from Michelle Harris. Original music by Daniel Peterschmidt. Our theme music is by I am Robot and Proud. Art for this episode by Claire Merchlinsky. Story consulting by Ari Daniel. Translations and voicing by Isabelle. Thanks to Science Friday’s Danielle Dana, Christian Skotte, Brandon Echter, and Rachel Bouton.

 

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Crimetown - S1 E18: The Prince of Providence

Buddy Cianci was once a crusading prosecutor who took on the mob. Now, he’s behind bars. For the mayor of any other city, this would be the end of the road. But Buddy isn’t any other mayor. And Providence isn’t any other city.

For a full list of credits, and more information about this episode, visit crimetownshow.com.

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Crimetown - S1 E17: The Trial of Buddy Cianci

Buddy Cianci faces justice. His lawyers say he’s the Renaissance Mayor, too busy rebuilding Providence to notice a few bad apples in his administration. The prosecution says he’s just another crooked politician, running a massive corruption ring out of City Hall. Which story will the jury believe?

For a full list of credits, and more information about this episode, visit our website at crimetownshow.com.

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Crimetown - S1 E16: Operation Plunder Dome

Dennis Aiken is an FBI agent from Mississippi. Anthony Freitas is a businessman from Portugal. Together, they’re Providence’s best hope in the war on corruption—and they just might take down Buddy Cianci once and for all.

For a full list of credits, and for more information about this episode, visit our website at crimetownshow.com. 

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Curious City - Curious City: The Nazis’ Neighborhood

Was there ever a Nazi neighborhood in Chicago? In this special Curious City mini-documentary and online presentation (complete with archival photos and video), we tell the story of how an infamous neo-Nazi group settled in the Marquette Park neighborhood and used it as a home base to gain attention and promote its political agenda. The story of the group’s rise and fall on Chicago’s Southwest Side raises questions about the extent of free speech and how mainstream racism in any neighborhood can encourage hate groups.