If you pick up a copy of The Age or The Sydney Morning Herald, you’ll see the tagline ‘Independent. Always.’ under the masthead.

Now, as journalists at those papers reel from an announcement that Nine Entertainment is slashing 200 jobs across the company, some are wondering if they’re being targeted for the papers’ recent coverage of Nine’s troubled culture. 

Are the cuts payback for certain papers being too independent? 

Today, National Correspondent for The Saturday Paper Mike Seccombe on why Australian media is struggling and what the future of independent news looks like.

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Guest: National Correspondent for The Saturday Paper, Mike Seccombe

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Donald Trump’s lead in the polls for the 2024 presidential race has widened following a fumbling debate performance from Joe Biden, and concerns about the President’s age.

With the increasing likelihood of a second Trump presidency, attention is now turning to his potential governing agenda.

The blueprint, called Project 2025, is more than 900 pages long and includes calls to sack thousands of civil servants, expand presidential power, and dismantle federal agencies.

Today, senior researcher at The Australia Institute, Dr Emma Shortis, on Project 2025, and the threat of ‘a second American Revolution’.

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Guest: Senior researcher in International and Security Affairs at The Australia Institute, Dr Emma Shortis

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George Saunders is one of literary fiction's most acclaimed living writers. Along with his many collections of short stories, he also published the Booker Prize-winning novel Lincoln in the Bardo. To celebrate Read This' first birthday, we're bringing you Michael Williams' interview with George Saunders. They talk about his life and career and the three words that made him a writer.

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Smut Clyde spends several hours every day, scouring online science journals for suspicious-looking research.

He’s part of a growing team of online ‘science sleuths’, combating the rising number of fake research papers being published.

These papers are typically generated, with the help of AI, by ‘paper mills’: a cottage industry relying on overworked and desperate researchers to fuel their profit. 

Today, 7am producer and journalist Cheyne Anderson on how this epidemic of fraudulent research is infecting the scientific record and the self-appointed ‘sleuths’ who are fighting it.

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Guest: Producer for 7am, Cheyne Anderson.

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When people think of the CFMEU, Australia’s powerful and fearsome construction union, they picture its top dog, John Setka.

But as he prepares to step down from the union’s Victorian branch, Setka’s legacy is overshadowed by his brutality. Many current and former colleagues think his leadership was poisonous to the union, and that he may have even destroyed it.

Today, associate editor of The Saturday Paper Martin Mckenzie-Murray on the power and legacy of CFMEU boss, John Setka, and what comes next for the union.

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Guest: Associate editor of The Saturday Paper, Martin Mckenzie-Murray.

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Sebastien Lai woke up one morning in 2020 to find dozens of missed phone calls – his father, the Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai, had just been arrested.

Sebastien is in Australia now, trying to convince our political leaders to advocate for his dad’s release from a Hong Kong prison.

Today on the show, Sebastien Lai tells the story of how his father Jimmy went from media mogul to political prisoner and what this means for journalistic freedom in Hong Kong.

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Guest: Sebastien Lai

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In high-security labs, from Silicon Valley to mainland China, researchers are racing to be the first to achieve what has been dubbed ‘Q-day’.

On that day, all encryption and security could be laid bare – the deepest plans of militaries around the world, our medical records and private encrypted conversations could all be exposed. The internet could essentially break.

Q-day, after all, is the day the most powerful machine yet comes online: the first fault-free quantum computer.

Today, special correspondent for The Saturday Paper, Jason Koutsoukis on why Australia wants to join the race, and why one American company got the billion-dollar deal to do it.

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Guest: Special correspondent for The Saturday Paper, Jason Koutsoukis

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By the end of this week, the United Kingdom will almost certainly have a new prime minister and closure on 14 years of Tory leadership.

One man in particular is working very hard to prevent that, and it’s not the current Tory leader. Since it kicked off with a bizarre, rain-soaked announcement, Rishi Sunak’s election campaign has been marked by ineptitude, misstep and ignorance.

Today, veteran UK correspondent and contributor to The Saturday Paper Paola Totaro on the stratospheric rise of the young strategist from regional New South Wales, whose dark arts of electioneering have pulled off a series of “miracle” victories. 

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Guest: Veteran UK correspondent and contributor to The Saturday Paper, Paola Totaro

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Over the past few months, there’s been a lot of focus on universities’ relationships with weapons manufacturers.

Students set up encampments and occupied buildings, arguing that their unis are complicit in the assault on Gaza and demanding more transparency from their universities’ administrators.

But, as writer and contributor to The Saturday Paper, Anna Krien started investigating the defence money flowing into education, she was shocked to find weapons companies are also tied to schools, shaping key parts of the curriculum.

So where did this link between defence and education begin? And is this a price we’re willing to pay for a skilled defence industry?

Today, Anna Krien on how the student protests revealed deep divisions and even deeper ties in our education sector.

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Guest: Writer and contributor to The Saturday Paper, Anna Krien

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Julian Assange has finally landed in Australia, a free man.

Today, his brother Gabriel Shipton on how the deal to release the long-incarcerated WikiLeaks founder came together. National correspondent for The Saturday Paper Mike Seccombe explains what comes next.

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Guest: Julian Assange’s brother, Gabriel Shipton; national correspondent for The Saturday Paper Mike Seccombe.

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