Question Everything

At a bar that survived the destruction, a group of reporters get together a year later to talk about the personal impact the LA wildfires had on them. And some of the harrowing – and surprising – requests they got from people to check if their homes were still standing.

Thanks to Good Neighbor Bar and West Altadena Wine & Spirits for hosting us.

We’re taking a quick break for the holidays, but in the spirit of New Year reflection, we’re sharing our very first episode of Question Everything. 

Brian talks to fellow journalist, Gay Alcorn, who called his most well-known work – the hit podcast S-Town – “morally indefensible.”

We’re taking a short break over the holidays and will be plopping in front of the TV to watch some movies and shows. Maybe you’re doing the same? Check out one of our favorite episodes of Question Everything, where Hollywood directors gather after hours at a wine shop to drink and commiserate. They talk about the perils – and power – that come when you’re straddling fact and fiction. 

Featuring Tom McCarthy, who won an Oscar for Spotlight; Antonio Campos, creator of The Staircase for HBO; Tina Satter, who directed and co-wrote Reality starring Sydney Sweeney; and Tobias Lindholm, director and writer of HBO’s The Investigation.

As we know alcohol is not always conducive to factual precision, so here are some corrections and clarifications from our fact-checker, Maggie. Though honestly the crew this time did impressively well! All we have is that the name of the New York Magazine story that inspired Tina Satter to dramatize Reality Winner is called “The World’s Biggest Terrorist Has a Pikachu Bedspread" (not “America’s Biggest Terrorist Has a Pikachu Bedspread”). And it was a National Security Agency contractor, not a former FBI agent, who alerted the FBI about Reality’s leak.

Over the past few months, our host Brian Reed has been reporting on Section 230 – the law that shields online platforms and websites from lawsuits and has shaped the way we get information today.

By December 19th, the Department of Justice is supposed to release all DOJ and FBI files related to Jeffrey Epstein. But through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, Bloomberg investigative reporter Jason Leopold has uncovered evidence of a secretive operation on the Epstein files that the FBI called the “Special Redaction Project.” That doesn’t necessarily inspire confidence about how much information will become public, does it? 

Jason found that nearly 1,000 FBI agents were trained to review and redact the files, which included thousands of pages of documents, interview summaries, surveillance footage, search warrant photos, and more than 8 terabytes of digital evidence. The Department of Justice can withhold anything it claims is tied to an ongoing investigation – a huge loophole that could keep many of these records from the public.  

But all hope is not lost. Jason also reported on a nearly decade-old FOIA lawsuit from a defunct magazine that could ultimately force the government to release more of the Epstein records. 

This week, we’re airing an episode of Disclosure, where investigative reporter Jason Leopold and First Amendment attorney Matt Topic walk us through what we can expect when the deadline to release the Epstein files hits next week.

When the recent slate of Jeffrey Epstein emails dropped, one line immediately jumped out: “I think you should let him hang himself.”

A nice treat for the holiday – an interview with the guy who runs the country’s funniest fake newspaper. 

Next week, the House is expected to hold a hearing on kids’ online safety. They plan to release several bills to protect kids from harmful content. But one issue is not on the agenda: Section 230, the law that helps shield tech platforms from liability for content posted on their sites. 

When journalist Julia Mengolini criticized her country’s president, Javier Milei, she didn’t expect to be targeted with one of the more disturbing uses of AI: a pornographic deepfake video designed to humiliate her. What began as trolling by online extremists spiraled into a government-amplified smear campaign, spurred on by senior officials and the president himself.

Juila tells reporter/producer Zach St. Louis what happened to her and what she’s doing to fight back against President Milei – an ally of Donald Trump’s and Elon Musk’s.  

When NSA contractor Reality Winner leaked proof that Russia had tried to break into the U.S. election system, she thought she was helping her country. Instead, she got the longest federal prison sentence ever for giving information to the press. While prepping for her trial, she found out that the journalist she had trusted with the leaked document, accidentally exposed her. The Intercept, once known for protecting sources like Edward Snowden, bungled their vetting process in a way that led investigators straight to Reality’s front door. 

Veteran foreign correspondent Natalia Antelava has spent 15 years reporting from places where authoritarian regimes have “captured” the media. In other words, they control the dominant messages coming from the press. From Russia to Syria, Natalia has seen what it looks like when a government takes over the media, not overnight, but piece by piece. 

Now, she’s moved to the U.S., and is watching that same system work on the American media.

The Pentagon has dissolved its independent press pool. Donald Trump’s billionaire buddies are buying up some of the country’s biggest newsrooms and social apps. Public media has been gutted. And the loudest voices online are the ones that serve power best.

Natalia sits down with Brian to explain how modern autocrats achieve capture without firing a shot – and how Silicon Valley has become their “perfect accomplice”.

What happens when TikTokers replace TV hosts and interviewers, and presidential candidates start begging to be on their shows?

Brian Reed sits down in a Brooklyn wine shop with four of the internet’s biggest creators: Caleb Simpson, who gets people on the street to take him up to their apartments; Julian Shapiro-Barnum who interviews kids on Recess Therapy; Anania Williams of the LGBTQ quiz show Gaydar; and Jack Coyne, host of the music game show Track Star. Their videos reach more people than many major news outlets. But who gets control over what they run? When is money changing hands? What do they do when politicians like Kamala Harris and RFK Jr. come calling?

A frank conversation about the blurry grey area between this new form of entertainment and journalism.

Kate grew up believing the Sandy Hook school shooting was an elaborate false flag operation. For years she thought the 20 elementary school children and six educators who were killed that day did not actually die, but were played by crisis actors. And then, one day – in a matter of minutes – suddenly Kate realized how wrong she was. 

Brian talks to Kate about what it’s like to realize you believed something so obviously wrong, so deeply damaging, for so long. And he argues that her story is a case study for reforming Section 230 – the 1996 law that gives tech companies massive immunity from getting sued over what people post. Without that law, platforms like YouTube, which amplified the lies about Sandy Hook that Kate once believed, could be taken to court by the Sandy Hook families. 

This episode of Death, Sex, and Money is a recommendation from our contributing editor Jen Kinney. 

When blogger AJ Daulerio broke the Brett Favre sexting scandal in 2010, it became one of the biggest stories of his career. But it came at a cost: he had betrayed Jenn Sterger, the woman at the center of the story, who had confided in him as a friend and explicitly asked him not to name her.

The fallout was immediate and lasting. Jenn became the target of relentless online harassment and scrutiny that has followed her for 15 years. AJ went on to face his own reckoning when his aggressive tabloid journalism eventually led to Gawker's bankruptcy, which upended his career.

In this episode of the podcast Death, Sex, and Money, both AJ and Jenn reflect on the toxic incentives of viral journalism, the lasting trauma of unwanted internet fame, and how a stray dog unexpectedly brought them back into contact after nearly a decade of silence.

Two veteran journalists set out to document Israel’s systematic destruction of Gaza’s healthcare system: hospitals attacked, medical workers killed, doctors detained without charge. The BBC commissioned the film. Then pulled it.

Sometimes killing a story is routine. Sometimes it’s a scandal, even immoral.

In this episode, producer Sophie Kazis pulls back the curtain, and goes inside the edits, the delays, and the mounting pressure that shaped the fate of this film. 

Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes have been picked apart in headlines, documentaries, and endless conspiracy theories. And yet there have continued to be shocking new revelations in the story this year, as President Trump’s base has pressured him to release the government’s files about Epstein. 

In this episode of Question Everything, host Brian Reed brings together the reporters who know the case best – along with one of their Trump-supporting producers – for drinks and a candid, no-holds-barred conversation. They compare notes, challenge each other’s assumptions, and reveal what it really takes to separate fact from rumor in a story that has tested the limits of journalism.

It’s one of the most provocative and confronting discussions Brian’s ever hosted about power, accountability and what’s at stake when the media goes up against billionaires and their networks.

When late-night host Jimmy Kimmel was forced off the air, it raised huge questions about who really controls what we’re allowed to say. From billionaires and politicians to social media platforms and regulators, the boundaries of free speech in America are being redrawn in real time.

To get a sense of the country’s mood, host Brian Reed goes to the Iowa State Fair – a carnival of fried food, political rallies, and raw opinions. What he finds – people are depressed. And they have reason to be. At the heart of the discontentment is the way social media and misinformation online is spreading hate and dividing the country. 

From the fairgrounds to the halls of Congress, Brian traces it all back to a little-known law from 1996 that gives Big Tech sweeping immunity. The law makes it so social media companies can’t be sued for what happens on their platforms. 

And Brian comes away with a renewed sense of purpose. Change. This. Law. 

After her NPR show was canceled some years back, producer and host Yowei Shaw gave herself a new title: “Emotional Investigative Journalist.” She started a podcast called Proxy, where she helps people who are facing unique emotional or personal obstacles by connecting them with a proxy who’s uniquely positioned to help them.

Our host, Brian, recently went on Proxy, and got help with a problem of his own: something he’s been struggling with involving a member of his family.

Local reporters from around the country tell stories of using the experiences of their neighbors to confront people in power. 

A TV reporter from Kansas City hears about the newspaper raids over in Marion. Her interest is piqued by the fact that the police chief who oversaw the raids had recently left Kansas City PD. So she heads to Marion to see what she can find out. And what she finds…is basically a Bravo reality series, small-town midwestern style. 

Part One of this story aired last week. Listen to it first if you haven’t already.

We’re now on Substack! You can weigh in on what we’re doing at Question Everything – make your pleasure or displeasure known – and really talk to us about our reporting, the stories we’re working on. This week, Brian will share an outtake from the Mystery in Marion series – a moment of police bodycam footage that makes his skin crawl. 

On a Friday morning in rural Kansas, the publisher of a tiny local newspaper hears a knock at the door. It’s the police—with a search warrant. Within minutes, they’re inside his home, seizing his electronics. At the same time, officers are raiding his newsroom, confiscating computers and phones. No subpoena. No warning. And, according to legal experts, no right to do it.

The publisher scrambles to understand: Why is this happening? Who’s behind it? He has made some enemies over the years, in this town of just 2,000 people. 

And then—just as he starts to piece it together—something even more devastating happens. A tragedy that would make national news, and change his life forever.

Part Two of this story drops next week.

MSNBC host Chris Hayes discusses his book The Sirens' Call: How Attention Became the World's Most Endangered Resource, and reckons with his own culpability in the corruption and commercialization of our attention.