Freedom Desk with Jason Rezaian

Dan Balz, The Washington Post’s former chief political correspondent, has covered every midterm election since 1978. This cycle, the country may again be facing a sea change in Washington.

Jason and Dan discuss President Donald Trump’s historically low polling numbers, the issues driving voter turnout, and what the balance of power in Washington could look like if Democrats retake control of Congress.

Today’s show was produced by Josh Carroll and Layli Nazarova. Video by Daniel Mich. Editing by Ted Muldoon.

Subscribe to The Washington Post here. And watch us on YouTube here.

Regular listeners have heard Jason talk about his imprisonment in Iran. He chronicled his entire ordeal in the podcast “544 Days.” Today, we’re presenting the first episode of that series.

For 544 days, Jason Rezaian was held hostage in Iran’s notorious Evin prison. Interrogated. Sealed off from the outside world. He was accused of being an American spy, though his formal title was Washington Post Tehran correspondent. This is a story about government and family and journalism, and what it took to free an innocent man … all while navigating the high-stakes world of nuclear diplomacy.

Subscribe to The Washington Post here. And watch us on YouTube here.

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Ressa has spent decades defending press freedom, work that made her a target of then-Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and left her facing years of legal jeopardy. She is out with a new book, “The Fight Back: A Citizen’s Guide to Standing Up to Dictators.” 

Maria joins Jason to discuss the biggest threats facing democracy around the world: the ascendance of authoritarian governments, the impunity of technology companies and the ways artificial intelligence could erode our collective humanity.

Today’s show was produced by Josh Carroll and Layli Nazarova. Video by Daniel Mich. Editing by Ted Muldoon.

Subscribe to The Washington Post here. And watch us on YouTube here.

Brett McGurk has held senior national security roles under four presidents and helped shape some of the most consequential American foreign policy in the Middle East, including the Biden administration’s response to the war in Gaza. He also negotiated Jason’s release from an Iranian prison. 

McGurk is out with a new book, “Brink: Inside the Race to Free the October 7th Hostages.” In this episode, he takes Jason behind the scenes of the high-stakes negotiations to secure the release of the hostages taken by Hamas on October 7, 2023. McGurk reflects on the moral tradeoffs involved in hostage negotiations, the Biden administration’s clashes with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the missed off-ramps for ending the war in Gaza as the death toll mounted.

Today’s show was produced by Josh Carroll and Layli Nazarova. It was edited by Ted Muldoon.

Subscribe to The Washington Post here. And watch us on YouTube here.

Evan Gershkovich spent 491 days in a Russian prison after being arrested on baseless espionage charges while reporting for The Wall Street Journal. He’s now out with a new tell-all book called This Cursed Beautiful Land: A Russian-American Story. 

In this episode, Jason and Evan explore the commonalities and differences between their experiences of being taken hostage by foreign governments. They discuss the guilt and confusion that permeate captivity, the ways they learned to survive, and what life is like after being released. It’s an unusually candid conversation between two journalists who have lived through similar harrowing ordeals and emerged determined to keep reporting.

Today’s show was produced by Josh Carroll and Layli Nazarova. It was edited by Ted Muldoon.

Subscribe to The Washington Post here. And watch us on YouTube here.

Press freedom faces new threats here in the United States and abroad in Iran.

Host Jason Rezaian leads with the latest news on the White House ban of media outlets CNN, Politico and MS NOW. Then, Jason and Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-Arizona) discuss the fight for freedom of expression that Iranians face abroad. Ansari, the first Iranian American Democrat elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, explains what motivated her political career, why she deeply opposes the Trump administration’s immigration policies, and her hopes and dreams for Iran even as war ravages the country.    

Today’s show was produced by Josh Carroll and Layli Nazarova. It was edited by Ted Muldoon.

Subscribe to The Washington Post here. And watch us on YouTube here.

Roger Carstens spent nearly five years leading hostage negotiations for the United States. He joins Jason to discuss the high-stakes work of bringing wrongfully detained Americans home—negotiating, at times, with people he fought against during his prior service in U.S. special operations.

Carstens explains the role humor, humility and empathy play in negotiations and why authoritarian governments increasingly use detained journalists as political leverage. The conversation turns personal as Jason reflects on his own experiences after being released from captivity in Iran and how they have affected his understanding of freedom.

Today’s show was produced by Josh Carroll and Layli Nazarova. It was edited by Ted Muldoon and Reena Flores.

Subscribe to The Washington Post here. And watch us on YouTube here.

CNN chief international correspondent Clarissa Ward has spent more than two decades reporting from war zones. She joins Jason Rezaian to explain why firsthand reporting matters—and what the public loses when journalists cannot reach the people living through a conflict.

They discuss the threats facing local journalists in Gaza, why Ward has remained committed to journalism despite many harrowing close calls in the field, and the fractured nature of truth in the age of social media.

Today’s show was produced by Josh Carroll and Layli Nazarova. It was edited by Ted Muldoon and Reena Flores.

Subscribe to The Washington Post here. And watch us on YouTube here.

Jason Rezaian knows the cost of free speech. He spent 544 days in an Iranian prison for simply being a journalist.

The world is witnessing the erosion of democratic values. The Freedom Desk video podcast is about what comes next in the global fight for free expression.

Every week, Jason talks to one leading voice about freedoms gained, freedoms lost, who's trying to take it from us, and how we take it back.

First episode drops September 9th.