Mara Shalhoup was until recently editor-in-chief of LA Weekly. She is the author of BMF: The Rise and Fall of Big Meech and the Black Mafia Family.

“I’m so fearful about what it will look like for cities without an outlet for [alt-weekly] stories. And for young writers, who need and deserve the hands-on editing these kind of editors can give them and help really launch careers … it’s a tragedy for journalism. It’s a tragedy for young people, people of color. It’s a tragedy for the subjects of stories that won’t get written now. That’s just the reality.”

Thanks to Mail Chimp, Mubi, and Skillshare for sponsoring this week's episode.

Direct download: Mara_Shalhoup_Full_Episode_EDIT_2.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 2:27pm EDT

Zoe Chace is a reporter and producer at This American Life.

“Radio is a movie in your head. It’s a very visual thing. It’s a transporting thing—when it’s done well. And it’s louder than your thoughts. It is both of those things. It would just take me out of the place that I was, where I was lost and couldn’t figure things out. ... They had a very personal way of telling the story to you, so that you kind of felt like you’re there with them. Like it’s less lonely, it’s literally less lonely to have them there. And that felt really good.”

Thanks to MailChimp, Mubi, Squarespace, and Casper for sponsoring this week's episode.

Direct download: Zoe_Chace_Final.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 10:42am EDT

Jason Leopold is a senior investigative reporter for Buzzfeed and the author of News Junkie.

“I made the worst mistake that cost me my credibility and I could have done two things. I could have walked away, and said I’m done with this, no one wants me anymore. Or I could have—which I did—say, I’m going to learn how to do this differently, and be better. And that’s ultimately is what paved the way to this FOIA work. Because no one trusted me anymore.”

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Direct download: Jason_Leopold_Full_Episode_EDIT_1.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:09pm EDT

Kara Swisher is the executive editor and co-founder of Recode.

“I do the work. I just work harder than other people. I really do. I work harder, I interview more people, I call more people, I text more people. And so I find out, and they can not talk to me — fine. I know anyway. I’d like to talk to you, I’d like to give you a chance. I’d like to be fair. I’d like to hear your side of the story. And the most important thing is, I think smart people – and these are very smart people — like smart questions. They don’t like the fawning questions. They don’t like being licked up and down all day. Some of the day they like it. They want someone who knew them before they were billionaires. Because when you’re a billionaire, every day you’re so smart. Everyone wants something from you.”

Thanks to Mubi, Findaway Voices, and Mail Chimp for sponsoring this week's episode. And thanks to Pop-Up Magazine for making our live show possible!

  1. @karaswisher
  2. [02:35] Longform Podcast #239: Brian Reed
  3. [02:50] Recode
  4. [02:55] Recode Decode
  5. [03:00] Code Conference
  6. [04:40] "Kara Swisher’s First Tech Article Was About Pay Phones in 1980" (Jesse Rifkin • A Step in the Write Direction • Nov 2017)
  7. [08:10] "McLaughlin Suit Settled" (Jim Naughton, Phil McCombs • Washington Post • Dec 1999)
  8. [10:00] "Pundit Power" (Eric Alterman • Washington Post • March 1989)
  9. [11:30] Longform Podcast #128: Jack Shafer
  10. [22:51] AOL.com: How Steve Case Beat Bill Gates, Nailed the Netheads, and Made Millions in the War for the Web (Crown Business • 1998)
  11. [35:25] Swisher’s Archive at Vanity Fair
  12. [41:20] "Uber CEO Kalanick Advised Employees on Sex Rules for a Company Celebration in 2013 ‘Miami Letter’" (Kara Swisher, Johana Bhuiyan • Recode • June 2017)
  13. [41:40] "A Top Uber Executive, Who Obtained the Medical Records of a Customer Who Was a Rape Victim, Has Been Fired’" (Kara Swisher, Johana Bhuiyan • Recode • June 2017)
  14. [41:40] "The Men and (No) Women Facebook of Facebook Management" (Wall Street Journal • Aug 2007)
  15. [41:50] "The Men and No Women of Web 2.0 Boards" (Wall Street Journal • Dec 2010)
  16. [43:40] "Will Twitter Add a Woman Director Before the IPO?" (Wall Street Journal • Sept 2013)
  17. [48:40] " Missing Milly Dowler's Voicemail Was Hacked by News of the World" (Nick Davies, Amelia Hill • The Guardian • July 2011)
  18. [58:35] There Must Be a Pony in Here Somewhere (Crown Business • 2003)
  19. [61:35] Pop-Up Magazine
  20. [61:40] California Sunday
Direct download: Swisher_Full_Episode_Cut_1.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 1:10pm EDT

Tyler Cowen is an economist, the co-founder of Marginal Revolution, and the host of Conversations with Tyler. His latest book is The Complacent Class: The Self-Defeating Quest for the American Dream.

“I think of my central contribution, or what I’m trying to have it be, is teaching people to think of counter arguments. I’m trying to teach a method: always push things one step further. What if, under what conditions, what would make this wrong? If I write something and people respond to it that way, then I feel very happy and successful. If people just agree with me, I’m a little disappointed.”

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Direct download: Tyler_Cowen_Full_Episode_Edit_1.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:13pm EDT

Jodi Kantor is a New York Times investigative reporter and the author of The Obamas.

“Being a reporter really robs you of self-consciousness and shyness. You realize that it’s this great gift of being able to ask crazy questions, either really personal or very probing or especially with a powerful — to walk up to Harvey Weinstein, essentially and say, ‘What have you been doing to women all these years, and for how long? All of these other people may be afraid to confront you about it, but we are not.’ That is our job.”

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Direct download: Kantor_Full_Episode_Cut_2.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:18pm EDT

Jim Nelson is the editor-in-chief of GQ.

“One of the things that was initially a challenge was we would all think of ‘the print side’ and ‘the digital side.’ Now what we all think about is, ‘Okay, stop saying GQ.com and GQ the print edition. It’s just GQ!’ And once you cross that line, you don’t ever want to go back to it. I can’t imagine. The job has changed so much, even in the last three years, that when I look back, I think, ‘God, I was just such a quaint little fucker.’”

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Direct download: Jim_Nelson_Full_Episode_Edit_2.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 11:15am EDT

Sarah Ellison is a special correspondent at Vanity Fair and the author of War at the Wall Street Journal.

“There’s no lack of stories. ... There’s always an element where you’re going to be parachuting into something that someone has likely written about, to some degree. You can’t shy away from going into something that’s a crowded field.”

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Direct download: Ep267_SarahEllison.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:39am EDT

Patricia Bosworth is a journalist and biographer. Her latest book is The Men in My Life.

“The [acting] rejections are hellish and ghastly. At least they were to me. And I got tired of being rejected so much and also tired of not being able to control my life. And as soon as I became a writer, I had this control, I felt more active, more energized. But it was a decision that took a long time coming.”

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Direct download: Patricia_Bosworth_Full_Episode_Edit_1.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:44pm EDT

Michael Barbaro is the host of The Daily.

“I don’t think The Daily should ever be my therapy session. That’s not what it’s meant to be, but I’m a human being. I arrive at work on a random Tuesday, and I do an interview with a guy like that, and it just punched me right in the stomach.”

Thanks to MailChimp, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and Blinkist for sponsoring this week's episode.

Direct download: Barbaro_Full_Episode_Cut_1.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:43pm EDT