Hello, and welcome to another edition of the Inside The Newsroom podcast newsletter. Today’s guest is Christine Brennan, author, columnist and commentator for USA Today, CNN, ABC, NPR and PBS. Christine’s approaching 40 years covering sports, and has thus seen the rise of women’s sports from the front row, and had some strong comments on the recent World Cup win for the U.S. soccer team. We also got into the “clash” between Megan Rapinoe and Mr. Trump. An hour wasn’t enough to discuss the entire history of women’s sports, so below is essential reading for further context and understanding of the history of women’s sports in America. Enjoy!

He Dunnit Again

The U.S. women’s national soccer team won its second straight World Cup earlier this month, making them one of the most dominant sports teams ever. Since 1991, the team has won four World Cups and four Olympics gold medals. As usual, Trump made it about himself by telling Rapinoe to “WIN” before she “TALKS”. It’s as if he never learns…

Unfortunately for Donald, Megan and the U.S. did win — Rapinoe led the way as co-captain and won the Golden Boot with six goals — which gave her the permission to talk that she was looking for. She took her talents to CNN instead of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue to deliver her new bestie a stark, yet optimistic message…

Nike Nets New Record

The USWNT weren’t the only winners of the World Cup as Nike announced that “the USA Women’s Home jersey is now the No. 1 soccer jersey, men’s or women’s, ever sold on Nike.com in one season”. Nike’s president and CEO, Mark Parker, made the statement during an earnings call before the semi-final win against England (booo!), so at $90 a piece, God only knows how much Nike will end up making.

Amy Tennery, Reuters

Equal Pay. Now.

Speaking of money, the success at the World Cup once again brought the national discussion back to paying men and women equally. As if we’re still having to have the debate. Here’s Christine on what’s next in the fight for equal pay.

So How Did We Get Here?

Rarely do I speak anecdotally, but in my experience, far more women play and follow sports in the U.S. than in the UK. Why is that? Because of Title IX, a federal law signed in 1972 that states:

"No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance."

Simply put, without Title IX, today’s newsletter wouldn’t be a thing.

NCAA

And Who Shaped Title IX?

Patsy T. Mink. Edith Louise Starrett Green. Birch Bayh. Bernice R. Sandler. Donna Lopiano. David and Myra Sadker. Benita Miller. Billie Jean King.

ACLU

Battle of the Sexes

The most well-known of those names is Billie Jean King, 12-time tennis Grand Slam winner. In 1973, a year after Title IX was signed into law and just getting off the ground, King silenced the growing number of critics by defeating Bobby Riggs in front of a sold-out Astrodome in Houston. King beat Riggs in straight sets in front of a TV audience estimated at 90 million, in what was another mammoth milestone for women.

Jerry Barca for Forbes

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Title IX Isn’t About Just Sports

While sports gets the most attention, Title IX essentially bans discrimination of any kind based on gender. Another important area where the law has helped has been sexual abuse and harassment on college campuses, a pervasive problem that has ravaged many schools. Sadly, not all states feel the same. Earlier this year, Republican lawmakers in Missouri stripped certain aspects of Title IX to give more power to those accused of sexual abuse case. There’s still a long way to go. Sigh.

Haley Samsel, USA Today

The Sports Bra Seen Around the World

Let’s finish on a positive. It’s been 20 years since the U.S. soccer team won its first World Cup, meaning it’s been two decades since one of the most iconic images in the history of sports. After a heart-wrenching penalty shoot out, Brandi Chastain scored the winning kick and did what any of us would do in that situation and took her top off. The significance of that moment is very much still being felt today.

Jeré Longman, New York Times

Related Podcasts

#39 — Henry Abbott (TrueHoop)

#35 — Richard Deitsch (The Athletic)

Next Up…

… is Ryan Grim, Washington D.C. Bureau Chief for The Intercept, and a contributor to the Young Turks Network. I’m also off to Israel for two weeks, so expect a juicy newsletter detailing my trip.

Last Time

#45 – James Ball (Wikileaks, TBIJ)

Thanks so much for making it all the way to the bottom. If you haven’t already, please consider subscribing to get a newsletter about a cool news topic in your inbox every time I release a new podcast (1-2 times a week). You can find me on Twitter at DanielLevitt32 and email me corrections/feedback or even a guest you’d like me to get on the podcast at [email protected]. Or just give us a like immediately below, whatever works.

This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at insidethenewsroom.substack.com/subscribe

Hello, and welcome to another edition of the Inside The Newsroom podcast! Today’s guest is James Ball, journalist at the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, and author of the book WikiLeaks. James shot to fame in 2010 when he was hired by Julian Assange to work for WikiLeaks, where he helped publish thousands of classified documents on the U.S. military’s activity in Iraq and Afghanistan. He then joined the Guardian to work on the Edward Snowden leaks and has since written five books about varying aspects of truth-telling and b******t-spotting. Below is a post-game analysis of everything we talked about, so make sure you listen to the podcast for more!

Please Like Me, Thanks

Before you read on, please like this edition of Inside The Newsroom by clicking the ❤️ below the title. That way I’ll appear in clever algorithms and more people will be able to read. Cheers.

Julian Assange: A Timeline

Before we get started, it’s worth taking a look at how Assange became a top target for the U.S. government. Since Wikileaks released the Afghan war logs in 2010, Assange has become the most prominent free-speech activist/shoddy journalist in the world, depending on how you view him. Regardless of your opinion, his impact on world privacy is undeniable.

Liam Stack, Nick Cumming-Bruce and Madeleine Kruhly, New York Times

What Kind of Man is Julian Assange?

In our podcast, James described the times he private messaged Assange about his progress on the Afghan war logs into the early hours of the morning, and how he could never really trust the man at the centre of everything. They eventually fell out and James went onto write an entire book about his time at Wikileaks, and is thus one of only a few journalists that knows the inner workings of Assange’s mind.

James Ball for The Atlantic

A Spanish Security Firm Spied on Assange

It’s sad that I’m not shocked one bit to learn that Assange was himself spied on 24 hours a day during his seven-year stay at the Ecuadorian embassy in London. Per Spanish newspaper El País “a Spanish private defense and security firm named Undercover Global S. L., which was tasked with protecting the diplomatic building between 2012 and 2018, instructed its men to collect all possible information about the cyberactivist, particularly regarding his lawyers and collaborators.”

The surveillance recorded plans by Assange’s team to whisk him out of the embassy in disguise and flee to Russia or Cuba, but the escape was never carried out due to Assange’s refusal to admit “defeat”.

José María Irujo, EL PAÍS

Did Assange Meddle in the U.S. Election?

Rafael Correa, the former President of Ecuador, said yesterday that Assange did in fact interfere with the 2016 election that saw Donald Trump win in minority fashion. Per CNN, “We did notice that he was interfering in the elections and we do not allow that because we have principles, very clear values, as we would not like anyone to interfere in our elections," he said. "We are not going to allow that to happen with a foreign country and friend like the US.”

Marshall Cohen and Kay Guerrero, CNN

Delay, Delay, Delay

While all eyes will be on the U.S. extradition case next year, Assange and his team will be working to delay any sentence or extradition as long as possible. That’s because the opposition in the U.S. and the UK have publicly been a lot more forgiving of Assange’s past actions and freedom of the press in general.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who demanded a general election once Theresa May steps down as British Prime Minister in the coming days, said Assange should not be extradited “for exposing evidence of atrocities in Iraq and Afghanistan”. Democratic 2020 frontrunners Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren also came out against any indictment against the Wikileaks founder. If Assange can somehow find a way to outlast Trump, he might well walk away with a helluva reduced punishment.

So What’s Next For Julian Assange?

Mr. Assange will face a five-day U.S. extradition hearing in the UK next February. The Wikileaks founder faces an 18-count indictment by the U.S. Department of Justice, that includes charges under the Espionage Act for “soliciting and publishing classified information and conspiring to hack into a government computer.” He’s not done there. Swedish prosecutors have also reopened an investigation into rape allegations dating back to 2010.

Haroon Siddique, The Guardian

Related Podcasts

#44 — Sebastian Junger (Tribe, The Perfect Storm)

#43 — Kashmir Hill (New York Times)

#11 — Ewan MacAskill (The Guardian)

Next Up…

… is Christine Brennan, award-winning national sports columnist for USA Today, a commentator for CNN, ABC News, PBS NewsHour and NPR's Morning Edition and a best-selling author.

Last Time

#44 — Sebastian Junger (Tribe, The Perfect Storm)

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This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at insidethenewsroom.substack.com/subscribe

Hello, and welcome to another edition of the Inside The Newsroom podcast newsletter! This week’s guest is Sebastian Junger, author of five books including The Perfect Storm (remember that movie?). Sebastian and I talked about his latest book, Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging, which is a detailed history of how and why tribes are formed, and why today’s society isn’t set up for humans to function properly. It’s one of those books that you know is going to change your life and way of thinking within the first 20 pages. Below is a post-game analysis of everything we talked about.

The Premise For a Book

Tribe is only 138 pages long, but that’s what I like about Sebastian’s work the most. Authors often try to fill out a 300-page book and, as readers, we’ll suffer with a ton of waffle. With Tribe, I was in and out within a couple of days. The book is actually an extension of the below longform piece Sebastian wrote on how PTSD became a problem for soldiers beyond the battlefield. Even if you skip the book and just read the original article, I promise you your mind will be blown.

Sebastian Junger for Vanity Fair

Why Do They Keeping Taking Us To War?

At school I was always told that wars were fought over for economic and religious reasons. Take the U.S. and UK’s war against various terrorist groups in Iraq and Afghanistan. It’s very much a war of different ideas with big economic interests. But what I haven’t ever been told, until now, is the positive psychological effects that war brings — unity, cohesion and meaning. Now, this doesn’t mean I condone war. I do not. But to unpick things you disagree with, you have to dig deeper under the shell to understand the human traits that lead people to do certain things.

Steve Taylor, The Guardian

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Why Do Disasters Bring Us Together?

Turns out it’s not just war that unites us. The first thing we’ll hear whenever a hurricane or other natural disaster hits is about how tough the people affected are, and how they’re already rebuilding the community. Disasters, as well as wars, trigger our need for social-connection, and more specifically an increased willingness to help others in times of stress. Wars are one of the greatest stresses anyone could bear, so maybe we just need to get the world’s leaders to legalize weed and everything will be alright.

Emma Seppala, Scientific American

The Cult of Extreme Sports

Back in May I completed my first ever walking marathon. Six hours and 51 minutes of complete hell. Seriously, don’t knock until you’ve tried it. As I crossed the finishing line with my new 70-year-old walking buddy, Gill, I felt a sense of direct connection with her. We’d just walked for seven freaking hours together, and I knew many far-too-personal things about her. I’ve already signed up for my next one in September with hopes that Gill will be there too (I forgot to take her number). Anyway, this is a roundabout way of saying that I now understand the obsession of extreme sports. It’s about social connection and having an identity, especially in this modern world of comfort and routine. Take Badwater, for instance. Covering 135 miles through Death Valley is no joke. But the ability to be one of only a few to complete it each year is enough to drive people to do crazy things.

Heather Hatfield, WebMD

The Value of Suffering

Without becoming a depression newsletter, it is fascinating to learn about why we feel the way we do. For me, a big turning point was realizing I could turn rejection and unfavorable events into positives. Below, David Goggins neatly sums up why suffering is actually a good thing that we need in order to succeed.

The Need To Be Needed

This will be a test for my dad to see if he actually reads these things. Stephen Levitt recently retired after a 40-year career in the finance industry. He had a tight-knit group of about five or six colleagues he’d see or talk to every day, all conversing for the good of one shared goal. Now that he’s out of the business he, like millions of other retirees, has found it hard to know how to spend all of his free time. This is one of the most common misconceptions about retirement, the notion that no more work will be heaven. But no. Work and feeling needed is essential for the soul.

Michael Mamas for Huff Post

Related Podcasts

#39 — Henry Abbott (TrueHoop)

#30 — Art Markman (Psychology Professor University of Texas)

#24 — Ben Hammersley (Technologist)

Next Up…

… is James Ball

Last Time

#43 — Kashimir Hill (New York Times)

Thanks so much for making it all the way to the bottom. If you haven’t already, please consider subscribing to get a newsletter about a cool news topic in your inbox every time I release a new podcast (1-2 times a week). You can find me on Twitter at DanielLevitt32 and email me corrections/feedback or even a guest you’d like me to get on the podcast at [email protected]. Or just give us a like immediately below, whatever works.

This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at insidethenewsroom.substack.com/subscribe

Heyo, and welcome to the second Inside The Newsroom podcast newsletter of the week! On Monday the amazing Kait Parker of weather.com came on to talk about how hurricane recoveries can last up to a decade, and how climate change attitudes among Republicans might actually be swinging the right way. Today’s guest is Kashmir Hill, an awesome tech journalist most recently at Gizmodo Media. Kash is about to announce her new gig, but one of her final projects at Gizmodo was to cut out the Big Five technology giants — Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google and Microsoft — from her life for one week at a time, before cutting them all. Kash described it as “hell.”

Hello! And welcome to another edition of the Inside The Newsroom podcast newsletter. Today’s guest is Kait Parker, meteorologist at weather.com and host of the Warming Signs podcast. We talked about hurricane recoveries and what the past couple of years mean for climate change attitudes. Below are links and post-game analyses of everything we talked about. Hope you enjoy and pick up something!

Warming Signs

Clever title aside, Kait has her own podcast where she speaks to people from different areas of the meteorology and climatology worlds. Last week’s episode was topical to our own conversation, when Kait spoke to Lisa LaDue, Hurricane Harvey Mental Health and Psychosocial Program Manager for Americares. Definitely worth listening to about how when a hurricane comes ashore, it’s just the beginning of a recovery that can last decades.

Destruction Is Just the Start

Hurricane Michael’s 160mph winds left parts of Florida and Georgia unrecognizable. For many, the news was quickly shoved aside by politics or some dumb s**t Rick Scott said. But for the thousands of farmers in south west Georgia, the rebuilding has only just begun and may take up to a decade to return to normalcy.

Max Blau, Atlanta Magazine

Bob Inglis At Your Service

There are portions of the GOP that have their heads screwed on as it pertains to climate change, and one of those is former six-term South Carolina Republican congressman Bob Inglis, who lost his seat way back in 2010 in large part due to his support for climate change. Inglis didn’t even make it out of the GOP primary, but has since set up his own nonprofit, RepublicEn, devoted to getting conservatives to come to grips with climate change.

James Rainey, NBC News

Why Even Have a Hurricane Season?

Tropical storms have occurred before the “official” start of the Atlantic hurricane season (June 1st) for the past five years, which begs the question why we put a label on when a season starts and ends (November 30th). There is logic behind it: 97 percent of tropical activity in the Atlantic happens between these dates, according to the National Hurricane Center. And fun fact: The season initially stretched from June 15 through November 15, until officials decided in 1965 to expand it.

Nicole Chavez, CNN

Hurricane Imelda Sounds Terrifying

Hello! And welcome to another edition of the Inside The Newsroom podcast newsletter. Today’s guest is Jessica Lessin, founder and editor-in-chief of The Information. Jessica was a technology reporter at the Wall Street Journal for almost a decade before she launched her new platform in 2013, which focuses on covering solely technology companies. Below are links and post-game analyses of everything we talked about. Enjoy!

The News Is About to Get Real Expensive

How much are you spending per month for your news? Add Spotify and Netflix on top of that and times it by 12. That takes me to around $400 a year, and I’m probably on the low end. If you’re the New York Times and Washington Post you’ll be fine, but the fact that only 16 percent of Americans are willing to pay for any online news spells disaster for local outlets.

Joshua Benton, Nieman Lab

The UK Isn’t Safe Either

It’s not just stateside where local journalism has been ravaged. An independent report on the future of British media concluded that local news coverage could “disappear entirely” unless the government didn’t provide direct financial support.

Jim Waterson, the Guardian

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U.S. vs The World

As some British dude who studied in America, I’ve wondered why it’s so hard to curtail hate speech on social media platforms. It essentially comes down to the First Amendment, but that’s where the simplicity stops and the U.S. becomes isolated. American law and judges are united in protecting freedom of speech, but all the cultural and social pressures around the world are in the opposite direction.

Cecilia Kang, New York Times

Breaking Facebook Up Won’t Be Easy

The prospect of breaking up Facebook has never felt so real. Elizabeth Warren’s groundbreaking proposal to break up any tech company with annual global revenue of $25 billion or more has been adopted at least in part by Bernie Sanders, as well as Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes. BUT, and it’s a big but, several hurdles stand in the way that might limit or even prevent any breakup of a tech giant.

Margaret Hardin McGill and Steven Overly, Politico

Yeah, But There is A Way Right?

Like I said, breaking up any large tech company won’t be easy, but it’s possible and imo, even likely. The Ringer do a nice job of breaking down why each company — Facebook, Apple, Amazon and Google — has a target on their backs in the first place, and suggests possible solutions to their monopolistic dominance.

Victor Luckerson, The Ringer

For Your Viewing Pleasure…

How Did Netflix Change Everything?

I’m just about old enough to have experienced a Friday night carefully perusing every aisle in Blockbusters looking for the exact movie to match my mood. Now I painfully scroll through dozens (sometimes hundreds) of titles on Netflix to pick something out. So much damn choice! Anyway, Netflix is 21 years old, and has changed the movie and TV industry forever.

Ashley Rodriguez, Quartz

Disney Could Spend Billions To Fight Netflix

Disney was often behind many of the titles I used to scan back on my lonely Friday nights, and it’s now come full circle to start a war with its nemesis Netflix. Disney + will launch in November, adding another $7 a month to our growing subscription bills. But that’s not all. Netflix’s competition is also growing and includes Amazon Prime, Apple TV+ and YouTube Red. This could get interesting… (and even more expensive).

Peter Kafka, Vox.com

Tech Organizational Charts

I’m enamoured with a cool feature on The Information’s website that visualizes the organizational structures of the biggest tech companies in the world. Headlines often only mention the likes of Mark Zuckerberg or Jeff Bezos, but it’s below them where a ton of decision making is made. It’s cool to see who else is responsible for the negatives (and positives) of these powerful companies. Only problem is you may have to subscribe and pay to see them all.

Various staff, The Information

Related Podcasts

#39 — Henry Abbott (TrueHoop)

#36 — Sam Biddle (The Intercept)

#35 — Richard Deitsch (The Athletic)

#31 — Max Read (New York Magazine)

Next up…

Later this week we’ll have Kait Parker from weather.com. Kait is a meteorologist who focuses on the links between weather and climate change, and has her own podcast ‘Warming Signs’.

Last time…

#40 — Ben Casselman (New York Times)

Thanks so much for making it all the way to the bottom. If you haven’t already, please consider subscribing to get a newsletter about a cool news topic in your inbox every time I release a new podcast (1-2 times a week). You can find me on Twitter at DanielLevitt32 and email me corrections/feedback or even a guest you’d like me to get on the podcast at [email protected]. Or just give us a like immediately below, whatever works.

This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at insidethenewsroom.substack.com/subscribe

Hello! And welcome to another edition of the Inside The Newsroom podcast and newsletter. Today’s guest is… Ben Casselman of the New York Times. Ben covers the U.S. economy and, because of his previous role as chief economics writer at FiveThirtyEight, he’s a fantastic resource for what it all for Donald Trump’s re-election in 2020. Below are links and post-game analyses of everything we talked about. Enjoy and please subscribe at the top!

The economy has finally recovered from 2008 right?

The latest jobs report showed that total U.S. unemployment is 3.6 per cent, a 50-year low. That’s fantastic news, but economic recoveries are subjective and where one region might be booming, another could still be struggling. As the chart below shows, the unemployment rate is part of the business cycle and is only part of the picture with regards to the true health of an economy.

Nelson D. Schwartz, the New York Times

By Nelson D. Schwartz

The Truth Behind the Jobs Report

Fortunately for us, my former FiveThirtyEight colleague and the incredibly smart Julia Wolfe shows us that the number of jobs added or lost may not be as accurate as we think. For example, it was estimated that 263,000 jobs were added to the U.S. economy in April, but the exact figure could in fact be 120,000 more or less than reported. That’s a bloody big range of uncertainty, meaning we should view unemployment figures with extreme caution.

Julia Wolfe, FiveThirtyEight

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Repeat After Me: The Stock Market Is Not the Economy

Another FiveThirtyEight article, god they’re smart… I’ve always been curious as to why people only point to one metric when assessing the health of the economy. I tried hard not to mention him in the podcast, but Mr. Trump tweets all too often about how the stock market is the sole indicator of why the economy is booming under his leadership. Well, Mr. Casselman is far smarter and does a good job of ripping that theory to shreds. Thank god for smart people.

Ben Casselman, (formerly of) FiveThirtyEight

And here’s a nice video explainer just in case…

Longest expansion ever?

The U.S. economy has grown for 106 consecutive months (8 years and 10 months), which according to CNN, is tied for the second-longest US expansion since records began. We’re still more than a year away from breaking the record, and there are signs suggesting we may or may not get there. Still, credit where credit’s due, the economy hasn’t completely tanked under Trump like some predicted.

Zachary B. Wolf and Will Houp, CNN

So Is This Trump’s Economy Now?

Ben and I discussed the importance of the economy in elections, going as far as saying the number one reason Trump won in 2016 was because of the economy, which never really recovered in certain areas under Obama. As we sit here in May 2019, the economy is now firmly Trump’s for better or worse, and he could win or lose re-election in 2020 depending on how the economy performs from now until then.

Jim Tankersley, the New York Times

Fastest growing US cities

Part of the reason for the continued economic growth is down to immigration. In rural counties where much of the population migrate to larger cities, international migration has helped local businesses and services from failing. As Bloomberg also reports, immigrants aren’t just flocking to the glitz and glamour of New York, Los Angeles or Miami. The likes of San Antonio, Columbus and Phoenix are among the fastest growing cities in the US.

Jed Kolko, the New York Times

Related Podcasts

#34 — Dave Weigel (Washington Post)

#20 — Daniel Dale (Toronto Star)

Next up…

Next week we’ll have Domonique Foxworth of ESPN on the podcast. Domonique covers the intersection between sports, race and culture for ESPN’s The Undefeated, and I think he’ll make for a gripping podcast so keep an eye out for the newsletter in your inbox next week. Subscribe here.

Last time…

#39 — Henry Abbot (TrueHoop)

Thanks so much for making it all the way to the bottom. If you haven’t already, please consider subscribing to get a newsletter about a cool news topic in your inbox every time I release a new podcast (1-2 times a week). You can find me on Twitter at DanielLevitt32 and email me corrections/feedback or even a guest you’d like me to get on the podcast at [email protected]. Or just give us a like immediately below, whatever works.

This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at insidethenewsroom.substack.com/subscribe

Hello! And welcome to another edition of the Inside The Newsroom podcast newsletter! Today’s guest is... Henry Abbott, founder of the TrueHoop basketball blog and newsletter! I’ve followed Henry’s work for a few years now, so I’m honoured to have him on. Henry and his team changed the way I and many others look at basketball, and TrueHoop is one of the few investigative outlets out there daring to tell the truth about sports.

TrueHoop is Back

After a two-year layoff, Henry and TrueHoop are back. In our discussion, Henry talked about what he learned and how he kept sane during his time away. The lesson: watch a buzzard circle outside the window and take stock of life. TrueHoop is one of the few sports investigative outlets out there and ESPN made a huge mistake by letting it go as part of its 2017 purge. But that’s the past. Henry and co. are back with more motivation to tell the truth about sports than ever before.

The Truth About Mikhail Prokhorov

In the first investigative series of the relaunch, Henry dug deep into the affairs of Brooklyn Nets owner and Russian oligarch Mikhail Prokhorov. There is so so so much money involved in the major leagues right now and too few people investigating where this money came from. Henry went as far as to attend Putin Con (an actual thing), and also found himself in the office of Prokhorov’s lawyer, who just so happens to be Donald Trump’s lawyer as well.

Henry Abbott, TrueHoop

What the F is Putin Con?

A conference where thousands of people attend to hear about the dangers of the Vladimir Putin administration. Who wants to go next year?

What’s Lurking in Your Stadium Food?

One of those few news outlets investigating sports is ESPN’s Outside The Lines, who have done countless power-altering pieces in the past. In their stadium food series, they investigated 111 professional football, baseball, basketball and hockey facilities across North America and found that at 28 percent of the venues, at least half had food outlets that incurred a high-level violation, including bugs and pests. They also include a neat tool that allows you to find out the violations at your nearest stadiums.

Paula Lavigne, ESPN

Moneyland

Talking of rich and powerful people, Henry referenced one of the books he read in his time off. Moneyland by Oliver Bullough details the pervasive use of tax havens and shell companies to hide money and ultimately evade paying tax. Again, completely anecdotal, but there seems to be an invisible shield around the owners of our teams and leagues that goes unchecked. Anyway, Moneyland has been added to the reading list.

Andy Beckett, The Guardian

The NFL is Bipartisan?

The NBA has ascended in recent years as the most progressive and open league in North America, and is part of the reason why I’m such a huge fan. But wearing my journalist hat makes me skeptical. A big reason why the NBA has grown in popularity is because of the NFL’s self-destruction when it comes to domestic violence, CTE and comparing black players to inmates. Like most things, it largely comes down to money, and as my former colleagues at FiveThirtyEight point out, the NFL is unique in that its fans transverse the political spectrum.

Neil Paine, Harry Enten and Andrea Jones-Rooy, FiveThirtyEight

What is ‘Amygdala Hijack’?

In the podcast, Henry and I talk about why sports fans make dumb decisions that they wouldn’t otherwise make in real life. According to Henry, it comes down to ‘amygdala hijack’, which I’ll save myself from explaining and include the below video instead.

The ‘Donald Trump Effect’ on Journalism

The vicious attacks on journalism’s legitimacy and importance by Donald Trump and his administration have not gone unnoticed. The Washington Post reported that journalism school admissions have spiked since 2016, particularly for investigative and data tracks. This is good and I hope the folks entering the field keep their eyes open to injustices and corruption in sport as well.

Nick Anderson, Washington Post

Related Podcasts

#35 — Richard Deitsch (The Athletic)

#28 — Jonah Keri (The Athletic)

#26 — Jacob Bogage (Washington Post Sports)

#4 — Chris Herring (FiveThirtyEight)

Next up…

To be confirmed…

Last time…

#38 — Shane Morris (Lil Nas X)

Thanks so much for making it all the way to the bottom. If you haven’t already, please consider subscribing to get a newsletter about a cool news topic in your inbox every time I release a new podcast (1-2 times a week). You can find me on Twitter at DanielLevitt32 and email me corrections/feedback or even a guest you’d like me to get on the podcast at [email protected]. Or just give us a like immediately below, whatever works.

This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at insidethenewsroom.substack.com/subscribe

Hello! And welcome to another edition of the Inside The Newsroom podcast newsletter, where I’ll dish further context and info about everything discussed in the podcast. If you enjoy what you read and listen to, please subscribe to get it straight to your inbox next time.

Today’s guests are…

… storm chaser Josh Morgerman and filmmaker Caroline Menzies of the new TV show Hurricane Man, currently airing in the UK and South Africa (random) and set to hit the US in the coming months. I loved this episode and Josh’s obsession with chasing storms was absolutely addictive and makes me (don’t worry I won’t) really want to tag along with him next time.

Does climate change make hurricanes worse?

Although it’s not central to the show, it’s impossible not to talk about hurricanes without talking about climate change. What you have to consider is the difference between meteorology and climatology — they’re different but closely related. Meteorology is the study of weather, most often on a day-to-day or event-by-event basis, so it’s hard to decipher if climate change is involved. Climatology is the study of weather trends over an extended period of time. In order to explore if climate change is making hurricanes worse, you have to look at long-term trends, which is (*shameful plug time*) what my colleague and I looked at for the Guardian last year.

Niko Kommenda and Moi, The Guardian

The Category is Just a Number

We most often hear about the ‘category’ of a hurricane, and the barometer of panic ascends or descends according to this number. But what causes significant damage is the rain these storms bring. Take Hurricane Harvey in 2017, which stalled and sat on top of Houston and its surrounding areas for multiple days. In total, Harvey dumped 33 trillion gallons of water, and the folks at the Washington Post visualized what that looked like at the link below.

Angela Fritz and Jason Samenow, Washington Post

Why Don’t People Evacuate?

Hurricanes bring out the best and worst of people. On one hand, so many incredible people offer to help those whose lives have been destroyed. Then there’s those who sit on the sidelines and lambast anyone who “chooses” not to evacuate. The fact is, not everyone can just get up and leave town for safety. Some are physically unable. Some are physically unable to move loved ones. And as you’ll see from the next blurb, some people just flat out cannot afford to leave their possessions that they rely on to make a living.

Nicole Stephens, for the New York Times

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This Is Why People Don’t Leave

A couple from Florida refuse to leave their fishing boat — worth $250,000 and uninsured against hurricanes — during Hurricane Michael. I watched the below clip with anguish and a clenched butt.

Long Road to Recovery

If you watch the series or have ever seen the destruction of a hurricane, you'll know town's and cities don't recover overnight. My former colleagues at FiveThirtyEight visualized how long it took the victims in New York and New Jersey to recover from Hurricane Sandy (which actually made landfall as a tropical cyclone) and there are still people calling the authorities about the damage. I imagine it will take at least the next decade for the Florida Panhandle to fully recover from the impact of Hurricane Michael, which made landfall as a top-end Category 4 hurricane.

Julia Wolfe and Oliver Order, FiveThirtyEight

Inside the Eye

Time for another video. If you’re reading this and you’ve ever survived the strongest part of a hurricane — the ferocious ‘eye wall’ — you’ll know that on the other side is a mystical land where the sun shines and the birds tweet. That majestic place is called the ‘eye’, and in the below clip, we get to see Josh experience something he described as indescribable. I likened it to being on drugs.

2019 Hurricane Season Forecast

The past two Atlantic hurricane seasons have been devastating with a total of 32 named storms, including eight major hurricanes (Category 3 or stronger). The good news is that the 2019 season is expected to be nearer the average of 12 named storms. The Department of Atmospheric Science at Colorado State releases its predictions each year and, while these are subject to change, the early signs are that 2019 will be calmer than the past couple of years.

Jonathan Erdman, The Weather Channel

Related Podcasts

#23 — Michael E. Mann (Penn State University)

#17 — James Spann (ABC 33/40)

#15 — Marshall Shepherd (The Weather Channel)

#14 — Rick Luettich (University of North Carolina)

#13 — Jonathan Petramala (Accuweather)

#2 — Damon Lane (KOCO)

Next up…

Next week we’ll have music label man Shane Morris to talk about the controversy of Lil Nas X and his ‘Old Town Road’ being removed from the Billboard Country chart. And also there’s a good chance I’ll release a pod with Jeff Zeleny of CNN.

Last time…

#36 — Sam Biddle, technology reporter at The Intercept

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This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at insidethenewsroom.substack.com/subscribe

Hello! And welcome to another edition of the Inside The Newsroom podcast newsletter. For many of you it'll be the first time receiving one, so I hope you get something out of it and please do message me with any suggestions (contact details at the bottom).

Today’s Guest Is…

… Sam Biddle, technology reporter at The Intercept. Sam’s worked at a host of outlets including DCist, Newser and Gawker in the past, and reports from the intersection of technological malfeasance. Above is the podcast. And below is more context of everything we talked about with links and a little analysis from yours truly.

The Intercept is Born

Sam joined The Intercept back in 2016, shortly after it was launched in 2014 by Glenn Greenwald, Laura Poitras and Jeremy Scahill. It’s funded by eBay billionaire Pierre Omidyar. You may have heard of Greenwald and Poitras from their time in a hotel room in Hong Kong with Edward Snowden, as part of Poitras’ movie Citizenfour, which documented Snowden’s first contact with journalists about leaked NSA files. The Intercept is one of the most important news outlets in the world, imo, if not only for Greenwald calling out b******t in public as he sees it.

Ben Cosman, The Atlantic

Are Facebook’s Algorithm Sexist and Racist? Hmm…