View in browser ([link removed]) | Support our newsroom ([link removed])
[link removed]
Support fearless independent journalism. Donate today.
DONATE NOW ([link removed][…]m_content=evergreen&utm_term=&campaign=701QP0000074yzHYAQ)


** THE WEEKLY REVEAL
------------------------------------------------------------
Saturday, November 22, 2025


** In Rural America, Public Radio Saves Lives
------------------------------------------------------------
[link removed]


** Courtesy of Katie Basile
------------------------------------------------------------
Listen to the episode ([link removed])

If you, like me, grew up without cable, then you know the value of public broadcasting. While other kids were enjoying the slapstick humor of SpongeBob SquarePants and the Fairly OddParents, my television hallmarks were shows like Between the Lions, Sesame Street, and Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood. They were sweet, quiet shows with an emphasis on education and kindness.

Don’t get me wrong: It sucked not understanding the references my classmates would make on the playground. But as an adult, I can now fully understand the importance this accessible programming had not only in my life, but in the lives of millions of children.

Public media networks like PBS and NPR fill such an important gap, providing kids with lessons on important hard skills like phonics and math, as well as introducing them to more complex emotional truths, such as the importance of tolerance and coping with grief.

However, public broadcasting offers more than just formative information for young people. For many in rural America, the information shared by these networks is lifesaving. That is the case in remote Alaska.

When a typhoon hit the state, public radio station KYUK provided critical information about weather conditions, evacuations, and search and rescue operations. However, after Congress pulled over $1 billion in federal funding for public media over the summer, which slashed 70 percent of KYUK’s operating budget, the scrappy radio station is not sure how it’ll survive.

This week on Reveal, we take listeners inside KYUK as it grapples with this new reality and take a trip down memory lane to observe how the aforementioned Fred Rogers defended public television throughout its decadeslong struggle to survive Washington politics.

It’s an episode you won’t want to miss. Listen here ([link removed]) .

-Arianna Coghill
[link removed]
🎧 Other places to listen: Spotify ([link removed]) , Overcast ([link removed]) , iHeartRadio ([link removed]) , or wherever you get your podcasts.


** Why America Is Obsessed With True Crime
------------------------------------------------------------

[link removed]

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Luke Piotrowski

In 2001, John J. Lennon killed a man on a street in New York City. He was convicted of murder several years later and given the maximum sentence—25 years to life in prison—on top of three additional years for two other convictions. From behind bars, Lennon began reckoning with his crime through in-prison writing workshops and soon fell in love with journalism. He’s since made a name for himself as an incarcerated journalist and has been published in The Atlantic, Esquire, and the New York Times Magazine, often writing about the criminal justice system and conditions in correctional facilities, all from the inside.

In the decades Lennon’s been behind bars, America has become increasingly fixated on stories like his —true crime—through endless podcasts, documentary series, and streaming shows. But Lennon argues that tragedy is too often being turned into entertainment. “I think with true crime, it creates this thirst for punishment,” he says.

On this week’s More To The Story, Lennon joins host Al Letson to discuss how his first book, The Tragedy of True Crime: Four Guilty Men and the Stories That Define Us, inverts the basic structure of the true crime genre. They also discuss how his portrayal on a cable news show hosted by Chris Cuomo inspired him to write the book and how Lennon now views the murder he committed almost a quarter-century ago.

Listen here ([link removed]) .

Find this episode wherever you listen to Reveal, and don’t forget to subscribe:
Apple Podcasts ([link removed]) | Spotify ([link removed]) | iHeartRadio ([link removed]) | Overcast ([link removed])
Advertisement
[link removed]


** In Case You Missed It
------------------------------------------------------------

[link removed]


** 🎧 I Study Fascism. I’ve Already Fled America. ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------
Former Yale professor Jason Stanley has been taking a lot of heat for moving to Canada. Why? Because he studies fascism—and he believes it’s already arrived in the US.

Photo Credit: ANP/Zuma

[link removed]


** 🎧 In a Mississippi Jail, Inmates Became Weapons ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------

After a violent scandal involving his deputies, a popular sheriff survived calls to resign. But another scandal was already brewing in his county jail.

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Christopher Mack

[link removed]


** 🎧 Executions Are Rising in the US. This Reverend Witnesses Them. ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------

Death row spiritual adviser Jeff Hood talks about how his longtime activism for racial justice led him inside America’s execution chambers for the final moments of inmates’ lives.

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Jeff Hood

[link removed]


** 🎧 The Race to Stop AI’s Threats to Democracy ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------
Tech journalist Karen Hao sounds the alarm about the rising risks to the country—and planet—from the growth of artificial intelligence.

Photo Credit: Blondet Eliot/Abaca/Zuma

Advertisement
[link removed]
This issue of The Weekly Reveal was written by Arianna Coghill and edited by Nikki Frick. If you enjoyed this issue, forward it to a friend ([link removed]) . Have some thoughts? Drop us a line (mailto:[email protected]) with feedback or ideas!

============================================================
** Twitter ([link removed])
** Facebook ([link removed])
** Instagram ([link removed])
** Donate ([link removed][…]m_content=evergreen&utm_term=&campaign=701QP0000074yzHYAQ)
Copyright © 2025 The Center for Investigative Reporting. All rights reserved.
You are receiving this email because you signed up for The Weekly Reveal newsletter.

Our mailing address is:
The Center for Investigative Reporting
PO Box 584
San Francisco, CA 94104
USA
Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can ** update your preferences ([link removed])
or ** unsubscribe from all Reveal emails ([link removed])
.