In a new Sunday Long Read podcast episode, Alana Newhouse, the editor-in-chief of Tablet Magazine, unpacks one of the magazine’s latest cover stories: a piece about the horrors of factory farming in the U.S., specifically as it relates to pig farms. Newhouse unflinchingly argues in a corresponding letter from the editor that Americans should stop eating industrially produced meat. “We are consuming slop, and producing slop,” she argues. “The two are related.”

In this in-depth Q&A, Newhouse chats about the origin and purpose of Tablet Magazine, an online outlet she founded in 2009 to serve as “a Jewish magazine about the world.” Since then, the world has changed, and Tablet has changed with it, Newhouse says. The writer and editor-in-chief also digs into the role of opinion writing in the traditional media landscape, how she seeks to “challenge” public discourse, and Tablet’s recent move to print after an unexpected push from younger readers.

Show notes :

0:00 : American Treif (Tablet Magazine)

0:00 : Ugly In, Ugly Out (Tablet Magazine)

0:00 : Alana Newhouse author page (Tablet Magazine)

37:35 : The Peace Hotel (Tablet Magazine)

Subscribe to The Sunday Long Read here to get our free weekly newsletter or become a paid member for only $5/month to receive our weekly edition a day early, as well as special editions of the newsletter. 

This episode was hosted by Amanda Ulrich and produced by Matthew Whitehurst. The Sunday Long Read Podcast is executive produced by Étienne Lajoie.

In a new Q&A with the Sunday Long Read, journalist Bradley Hope chats about his recent story for WIRED: a deep dive into the deadly sinking of the superyacht Bayesian, which sank off the coast of Italy during a storm last year, killing seven people—including the vessel’s billionaire owner, Michael Lynch.  

The yacht’s tragic, and initially unexplained, sinking immediately became fodder for conspiracy theorists. This year, Hope painstakingly unraveled the full story for WIRED.

In a wide-ranging interview with SLR, Hope gives behind-the-scenes details about the reporting of that story, and also weighs in on the value of writing across different mediums, the pros and cons of AI, and his hope for the future of narrative writing.  

Hope is a journalist, a bestselling author and a Pulitzer Prize finalist. He is also the co-founder of the production company Brazen.

This episode was hosted by Amanda Ulrich and produced by Matthew Whitehurst. The Sunday Long Read Podcast is executive produced by Étienne Lajoie.

This episode was hosted by Jacob Feldman and produced by Matthew Whitehurst. The Sunday Long Read Podcast is executive produced by Étienne Lajoie. This episode would not have been possible without the help and support of Monimala Basu, the director of the MFA program at the University of Georgia. 

Show notes : 

2:18 : ProPublica author page

2:20 : “I Don’t Want to Die”: Needing Mental Health Care, He Got Trapped in His Insurer’s Ghost Network (ProPublica)

3:08 : Creative Loafing author page; Atlanta Magazine author page; CNN author page

3:15 : Max Blau’s personal website

3:38 : About the Local Reporting Network (ProPublica)

4:10 : Sunken Costs (ProPublica)

6:25 : An Unbelievable Story of Rape (ProPublica & The Marshall Project)

6:48 : T. Christian Miller’s ProPublica author page

6:50 : Ken Armstrong’s Marshall Project author page

6:50 : Lizzie Presser’s ProPublica author page

6:51 : Ava Kofman’s ProPublica author page

18:45 : Jason Molina’s long dark blues (Chicago Reader)

59:00 : How Jim White Helped His Bluebird Spread Her Wings (Sunday Long Read)

Read Patrick's story : American Mid: Hampton Inn’s Good-Enough Formula for World Domination

As Americans take some of their last summer vacations this Labor Day weekend, Clark digs into everything from Hampton Inn’s “good-enough” business formula, to the perceived value of a free hotel breakfast, to the reporting process when writing about the country’s largest hotel chain. 

Clark covers housing, hotels and real estate for Bloomberg.

This episode of The Sunday Long Read Podcast was hosted by Amanda Ulrich and produced by Justin Greenawald. The Sunday Long Read Podcast is executive produced by Étienne Lajoie.

As summer officially kicks off, Behind the Story host Amanda Ulrich chats with fellow journalist Rowan Jacobsen about his in-depth reporting on sunlight and sun exposure—and its many benefits you may not know about. Rowan gives his take on when you should wear sunscreen, how to write a narrative-driven science story, and whether or not moving to a sunny place may just be the key to longevity. 

Rowan is a journalist and author who writes about science and nature for many publications, including most recently for Scientific American. He is a current media fellow with Nova Institute for Health. 

8:24 Is Sunscreen the New Margarine? (Outside)

8:40 Against Sunscreen Absolutism (The Atlantic)

9:00 Australia’s sun safety guidelines updated to take account of diverse skin types (The Guardian)

35:44 An Ocean Plastics Field Trip for Corporate Executives (Outside)

35:47 Truffle Hound (Bloomsbury Publishing)

Behind the Story host and journalist Amanda Ulrich chats with The Washington Post’s Geoff Edgers about everything music and pop culture — from Edgers’ recent story about a group of diehard Kinks fans, to his approach to interviewing celebrities like Tiffany Haddish and the late Norm Macdonald.

His biggest reporting tips? Don’t be afraid to reach out to big names for an interview (repeatedly) and then spend as much time with them as possible. Show notes :

• 18:30 There Is No Safe Word (Vulture)
• 20:15 My road trip with Sinéad O’Connor (The Washington Post) 
• 20:20 Roseanne Barr just can’t shut up (The Washington Post)
• 21:00 Q&A with Pamela Adlon: ‘Better Things,’ using material from her family for the show and Warren Zevon’s ‘Steady Rain’ (The Washington Post)
• 22:30 Tiffany Haddish wants it all (The Washington Post)
• 24:35 Rock forgot one of its wildest front men. He’s got a story to tell. (The Washington Post)
• 26:20 He spent his life building a $1 million stereo. The real cost was unfathomable. (The Washington Post)
• 30:47 Edge of Fame (WBUR) 
• 32:40 Dennis Quaid and the never-ending comeback (The Washington Post)
• 36:15 Hanging out with Norm Macdonald is the best way to watch a boring Super Bowl (The Washington Post)
• 41:45 I went on a 15-hour road trip with Fabio. Here's what we talked about.  (The Washington Post)
• 42:00 Fifteen hours with Fabio (The Washington Post)

This episode of The Sunday Long Read Podcast was hosted by Amanda Ulrich and produced by Matthew Whitehurst. The Sunday Long Read Podcast is executive produced by Étienne Lajoie.

Read Rhana's story : Coming to America

This episode of The Sunday Long Read Podcast was hosted by Amanda Ulrich and produced by Matthew Whitehurst. The Sunday Long Read Podcast is executive produced by Étienne Lajoie.

Read Natalia’s Deseret Magazine story : What’s the future of solitary confinement?

This episode of The Sunday Long Read Podcast was hosted by Amanda Ulrich and produced by Matthew Whitehurst. The Sunday Long Read Podcast is executive produced by Étienne Lajoie.

The SLR’s Amanda Ulrich talks to Robenalt about the story, his interest for the former president, and political assassination attempts. 

Read James’ piece : Why JFK Staged His Own Murder in a James Bond–Inspired Spy Film—2 Months Before His Assassination

This episode of The Sunday Long Read Podcast was hosted by Amanda Ulrich and produced by Matthew Whitehurst. The Sunday Long Read Podcast is executive produced by Étienne Lajoie.

Read Caity’s piece : One City’s Secret to Happiness: The Annual Burning of a 50-Foot Effigy

This episode of The Sunday Long Read Podcast was hosted by Amanda Ulrich and produced by Matthew Whitehurst. The Sunday Long Read Podcast is executive produced by Étienne Lajoie.

• Awakening The Giant (ESPN The Magazine, 2014)
• The trouble with Johnny (ESPN The Magazine, 2013)
• Michael Jordan Has Not Left The Building (ESPN The Magazine, 2013)
• Spygate to Deflategate: Inside what split the NFL and Patriots apart (ESPN, 2015)

This episode of The Sunday Long Read Podcast was produced by Matthew Whitehurst. The Sunday Long Read Podcast is executive produced by Étienne Lajoie.

• To Obama: With Love, Joy, Anger, and Hope
• Have You Heard the One About President Joe Biden?
• Bennet Omalu, Concussions, and the NFL: How One Doctor Changed Football Forever
• Inside the Federal Bureau Of Way Too Many Guns
• Oops, You Just Hired the Wrong Hitman

This episode of The Sunday Long Read Podcast was produced by Matthew Whitehurst. The Sunday Long Read Podcast is executive produced by Étienne Lajoie.

Naomi Despres is the producer of the movies “Little Wing,” starring Brooklynn Prince and Brian Cox, “Kill the Messenger,” and others. John Gatins wrote “Little Wing,” as well as “Flight,” featuring Denzel Washington, and “Coach Carter.”

Show notes : 

Little Wing (Trailer)

Little Wing (The New Yorker, 2006)

Adaptation (Trailer)

Kill the Messenger (Trailer)

Kill the Messenger: How the CIA's Crack-Cocaine Controversy Destroyed Journalist Gary Webb

Peter Landesman’s New York Times archives

The Girls Next Door (The New York Times Magazine, 2004)

Sex Slaves, Revisited (Slate, 2005)

Coach Carter (Trailer)

Team Is Benched Because of Grades (The Associated Press, 1999)

Ken Carter interview with Katie Couric (1999)

The Year of Living Dangerously (Trailer)

Show notes :

Lawrence Wright’s Texas Monthly archives

Bill Broyles’s Texas Monthly archives

Katy Vine’s Texas Monthly archives

Love and Death in Silicon Prairie, Part I: Candy Montgomery’s Affair (Texas Monthly, 1984)

Hit Man (Texas Monthly, 2001)

Marc Bernardin is a writer, director, and producer on shows such as Picard, Carnival Row and The Continental. He has also won a Writers Guild Award for his work on the show Castle Rock. Bernardin has also written multiple comic books and is the co-host, with Kevin Smith, of the podcast Fat Man Beyond. 

Show notes :

Starlog Magazine

Marc Bernardin’s Entertainment Weekly archive

Marc Bernardin’s Hollywood Reporter archive

Elon Musk: Good Samaritan or Great Supervillain? (The Hollywood Reporter, 2013)

Jessica Pressler is a contributor to New York Magazine. Her 2015 piece “The Hustlers at Scores,” which became the movie “Hustlers,” starring Jennifer Lopez, was nominated for a National Magazine Award. Pressler is a native of Marblehead, Massachusetts.

Show notes : 

The Hustlers at Scores (New York Magazine, 2015)

How Anna Delvey Tricked New York's Party People (New York Magazine, 2018)

Leo, Prince of the City (New York Magazine, 1998)
Jessica Pressler’s Philadelphia Magazine archives

The Boston Phoenix

Jessica Pressler’s Gossip Girl recaps (Vulture, 2012)

Take a Joke is sponsored by Funny Girls, a program from The Harnisch Foundation that uses improv exercises to help third through eighth graders to develop their leadership skills.

In the second episode of “Take a Joke,” an SLR series on the mixing of humor and reporting, Jacob Feldman talked to Gusovsky about that decision and the adjustments she had to make in her new role. Gusovsky also discussed how her personal back story—her family fled Soviet Russia when she was a child—has influenced the perspective she brings to the show, to comedy, and to her stories.

➢ Death & Dishonor: Crisis at the VA (2013)

➢ Why Everyone Should Be Raised By Immigrants (2019)

➢ Dina Gusovsky on Putin’s Invasion of Ukraine (2022)

➢ Dina Gusovsky on Cockroach Sex (2022)

Take a Joke is sponsored by Funny Girls, a program from The Harnisch Foundation that helps third through eighth graders to develop their leadership skills.

He's also written a book, Yours Truly, on the value of telling your own story. He and Don discuss the value of humor in the face of grief and how thinking about what your own obituary will say could change your life.

• McElroy's study, "You Must Remember This: Obituaries and the Civil Rights Movement"
• 2005: Rosa Parks, 92, Founding Symbol of Civil Rights Movement, Dies
• 2020: John Lewis, Towering Figure of Civil Rights Era, Dies at 80

The Art of Remembering is sponsored by our friends at Air Mail, the sophisticated digital weekly dispatch from Graydon Carter and Alessandra Stanley. SLR readers can get 40% off their first year subscription.

The SLR pod will return in 2023! We encourage you to stay tuned for more conversations about writing, reporting, and storytelling. If there are guests you'd like us to talk to, you can reach out to editors@sundaylongread.com and if you're a writer who'd like to work with us, you can reach out to originals@sundaylongread.com. 

Charles Duhigg is a 2013 Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter, the author of The Power of Habit, and a magazine writer who most recently published an in-depth look at Amazon's world-eating growth for The New Yorker.

“The first question I might ask is, ‘I’m really sorry, I don’t know enough to know what question to ask you. What do you think is the most interesting thing I could ask you about x?’ It catches them off guard ... and they always come up with some suggested question that never would have occurred to me — because they know their own brain better than I could ever know it by asking them questions to get at it.”

Jacob and Charles discuss how every corporate job at Amazon is really the same, how longform and books allow a conversation around a subject to linger, and reporting style and tips for podcasts, print and books — including using LinkedIn to find sources and stories.

Charles can be found on Twitter @cduhigg and emailed at charles@charlesduhigg.com (he promises to get back to anyone who reaches out).

[0:57] Is Amazon Unstoppable? (New Yorker, 10.10.19)
[1:09] Did Uber Steal Google’s Intellectual Property? (New Yorker, 10.15.18)
[9:52] The iEconomy (New York Times, 2012)
[10:41] Covering the Cops (New Yorker, 2.9.86)
[14:31] Amazon’s Next-Day Delivery Has Brought Chaos And Carnage To America’s Streets — But The World’s Biggest Retailer Has A System To Escape The Blame (BuzzFeed News, 8.31.19)
[14:32] His Mother Was Killed by a Van Making Amazon Deliveries. Here’s the Letter He Wrote to Jeff Bezos. (ProPublica, 9.5.19)
[14:40] Amazon Has Ceded Control of Its Site. The Result: Thousands of Banned, Unsafe or Mislabeled Products (Wall Street Journal, 8.23.19)
[14:50] Jeff Bezos’s Master Plan (The Atlantic, 10.10.19)
[16:39] “On the Clock: What Low-Wage Work Did to Me and How It Drives America Insane” (Little, Brown and Company, 2019)
[18:23] Emily Guendelsberger’s Twitter thread (10.18.19)
[23:01] “The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business” (Random House, 2012
[23:01] “Smarter Faster Better: The Secrets of Being Productive in Life and Business” (Random House, 2016)
[28:58] “How To!” Podcast (Slate, 2019)
[51:30] Zuckerberg: Standing For Voice and Free Expression (Washington Post, 10.17.19)

Episode Links:

Dog Park: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/no-excessive-barking-a-chevy-chase-dog-park-divides-the-rich-and-powerful/2019/08/27/0b9fd242-c4e5-11e9-9986-1fb3e4397be4_story.html

Sexting: https://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/style/2016/09/06/the-sext-was-meant-to-impress-him-instead-it-nearly-destroyed-her/?utm_term=.375aacad9435

Parkland students: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/i-would-rather-not-be-alone-behind-their-anger-florida-students-are-still-teens-struggling-with-trauma/2018/02/20/5e21bb40-1661-11e8-8b08-027a6ccb38eb_story.html

Zach Cruz: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/local/wp/2019/01/25/feature/his-brother-confessed-to-gunning-down-17-people-in-parkland-but-hes-the-only-family-zach-cruz-has-left/

Trauma Stewardship: https://www.amazon.com/Trauma-Stewardship-Everyday-Caring-Others/dp/157675944X

Jessica's biography: https://www.washingtonpost.com/people/jessica-contrera/ 

The Waffle House: https://www.jessicacontrera.com/the-waffle-house.html

“…During the years I actively ran [Deadspin] — now more than a decade in the past — I was ostensibly in charge of figuring out what was coming next on the sports internet; I was the supposed leader of the blog-barbarians at the gate, all those bulls (and we were all bulls) running roughshod over the Traditional Sports Media…”

Don and Will discuss how Blacktable.com led to Deadspin.com, the Deadspin of today, Will's writing of today, and revisit the infamous and “rather festive” 2008 Costas NOW (HBO) discussion where Buzz Bissinger, the author of “Friday Night Lights,” berated Will as being “…sort of like Jimmy Olsen on Percocet," and the sports blogosphere of the early aughts being “dedicated to cruelty … journalistic dishonesty, and … speed.” They’ve both come around since then.

Will lives in Athens, GA, has written four books (with a fifth on the way), and can be found on Twitter @williamfleitch.

• [0:28] Will Leitch newsletter
• [5:28] How to Raise a Boy: I’m not sure what to think about what my dad tried to teach me. So what should I teach my sons? (New York Magazine, 2018)
• [10:30] Sports on Earth: A Closing Tribute (Sports on Earth, 2018)
• [18:15] Blacktable.com
• [26:37] Laura Wagner
• [28:44] Megan Greenwell
• [29:17] Who Is We? (Deadspin, 2019)
• [29:26] What Fresh Hell Is Barstool Sports? (New York Magazine, 2018)
• [30:56] Licensing Company Authentic Brands in Talks to Buy Sports Illustrated for About $110 Million (WSJ, 2019)
• [30:56] New York Magazine Owner Explores Sale (WSJ, 2018)
• [31:42] Grierson & Leitch (Apple Podcasts)
• [46:46] The Secret Life of Pitchers (The Atlantic, 2017)
• [47:10] A Mound Of Troubles (New York Times Magazine, 2001)
• [48:59] "Internet Media” segment, “Costas NOW” (HBO, April 29, 2008)
• [48:59] Our Conversation With Buzz Bissinger (Deadspin, 2008)
• [48:59] Buzz, Bob, Projectile Spittle and Me (New York Magazine, 2009)
• [49:50] Buzz Bissinger (New York Magazine)
• [53:28] Play Magazine (New York Times)
• [54:30] "God Save the Fan" (HarperCollins)
• [59:13] Twitter Is Driving Everybody Insane (Especially Darren Rovell) (Deadspin, 2011)
• [1:00:40] David Wallace-Wells' “The Uninhabitable Earth” (Tim Duggan Books)
• [1:01:55] Vicki Michaelis
• [1:02:05] Historic Kentucky barns are being stripped by thieves to fuel farmhouse-chic trend (Louisville Courier Journal)

Stories mentioned in the conversation:

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/23/magazine/selling-airborne-opulence-to-the-upper-upper-upper-class.html

https://www.wired.com/story/tezos-blockchain-love-story-horror-story/

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/17/magazine/ancient-dna-paleogenomics.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/14/magazine/the-great-ai-awakening.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/13/magazine/how-the-resistance-helped-democrats-dominate-virginia.html

http://gawker.com/

Theluckiest.com

Elaina Plott landed not one but two stories in the Sunday Long Read newsletter last week. The first was a cover story for Pacific Standard magazine about the residents of Tangier Island, Virginia, and their unique relationship with God, Trump, and climate change, which scientists say is likely to wipe their island from the map within the next 25 years. Her second story was a personal reflection on gun violence for The Atlantic, where she is a staff writer. Elaina and Jacob discuss the details of both stories, the intersections of personal and political discourse, the way Elaina (an Alabaman who went to Yale and works in D.C.) approaches her work, and more.

-[1:35] Country's First Climate Change Casualties -- Pacific Standard

-[18:00] Bullet in My Arm -- The Atlantic

-[28:20] A Love Letter to the Upper West Side essay/I Was A Teenage Ann Coulter Fangirl essay

-[43:20] Elaina breaks news on Scott Pruitt -- The Atlantic

• [3:00] PNL's World Or Nothing

• [11:00] The Cosmopolites

• [19:00] The Bizarre Scheme to Transform a Remote Island into the New Dubai

• [25:00] Enjoy the Silence

• [29:00] When the Price of Reporting Is a Car Bomb

• [31:00] How a Tax Haven Is Leading the Race to Privatise Space

• [32:00] How Tax Havens Make Us Poor

• [35:00] Fear of a Starbucks Planet

• [44:00] I Finally Passed My Driving Test on Try #4—And Haven't Driven Since