It took her seven years, but Kalpana (name changed) felt she was finally close to her dream of getting an undergraduate degree and working for the Indian government. She had given up college in the past due to family problems, but a few years ago re-enrolled in an undergraduate program. Her studies were going well… more
8/31/2020, Underreported: Hosted by Nicholas Lemann
In 2008, the U.S. Treasury put Fannie and Freddie into a life-support state known as “conservatorship” to prevent their failure—and worldwide economic chaos. The two companies, which were always controversial, have become a battleground. Today, Fannie and Freddie are profitable again but still in conservatorship. Their profits are being redirected toward reducing the federal deficit,… more
The coronavirus has profoundly affected protest movements by simultaneously empowering governments and activists. In doing so, it has set up a race between protestors and governments to win the social media war—a drama that is playing out in different ways across the world. Although messy and nonuniform, social movements under COVID-19 fall into two broad… more
8/24/2020, Underreported Hosted by Nicholas Lemann
From the Underreported dispatch archives: Atossa Araxia Abrahamian travels the globe to meet these willing and unwitting "cosmopolites," or citizens of the world, who inhabit a new, borderless realm where things can go very well, or very badly. The story of twenty-first-century citizenship is bigger than millionaires seeking their next passport. This episode was recorded on October… more
8/17/2020, UNDERREPORTED With Nicholas Lemann Podcast
Journalism is in crisis. The heart of the crisis isn't what most people think it is—the bitter struggle between Donald Trump and news organizations. The heart of the crisis is economic. Quite rapidly in the twenty-first century, newspapers, traditionally the major generators of original journalism, have gone into a downward spiral that has resulted in… more
When Singapore became the country with the highest number of COVID-19 infections outside China in February, the small city-state quickly earned praise from Harvard epidemiologists and the WHO as the “gold standard” for its “near-perfection detection” of the virus, and it seemed that all was achieved without going into extreme lockdown. By late March, as… more
7/27/2020, UNDERREPORTED With Nicholas Lemann Podcast
There was a time, and it wasn't that long ago when newspapers could easily have a 30% profit margin. Places like car dealers and grocery stores were able to get their message out. But then, the internet happened and kicked the legs out from under the entire business model. Washington Post media critic Margaret Sullivan… more
On April 11, Geumsun Oh put on a face mask and plastic gloves, and left her home for the first time in two months. The 92-year-old Seoul resident had reason to be cautious. She was diabetic, suffered from high blood pressure, and, at that point, the coronavirus had already claimed 211 lives in South Korea.… more
4/20/2020, UNDERREPORTED With Nicholas Lemann Podcast
The second part of our interview with Krithika Varagur. In her new book, "The Call: Inside the Global Saudi Religious Project," Varagur traverses three continents to tell the story of the Saudi religious campaign from Indonesia, Nigeria, and Kosovo. She finds Saudi money in all kinds of places, from universities to political parties to extremist… more
4/13/2020, UNDERREPORTED With Nicholas Lemann Podcast
Krithika Varagur's new book, "The Call: Inside the Global Saudi Religious Project," chronicles the House of Saud’s vast project to systematically transform the Muslim world in its own image by spreading abroad Wahhabism, its brand of ultraconservative Islam. Using billions of dollars, thousands of personnel, and institutions both governmental and unofficial, "Saudi money" is both… more
