Question Everything

At a bar that survived the destruction, a group of reporters get together a year later to talk about the personal impact the LA wildfires had on them. And some of the harrowing – and surprising – requests they got from people to check if their homes were still standing.

Thanks to Good Neighbor Bar and West Altadena Wine & Spirits for hosting us.

Question Everything is a production of KCRW and Placement Theory. Sign up for our newsletter please!

Guests: 

• Tony Briscoe, environmental reporter, Los Angeles Times

• Jacob Soboroff, senior political and national correspondent, MSNOW and author of “Firestorm: The Great Los Angeles Fires and America’s New Age of Disaster”

• Leanne Suter, reporter, ABC7/KABC-TV Los Angeles 

• Michelle Zacarias, reporter, CALÓ News

• Randy Clement, co-owner, Good Neighbor Bar in Altadena, California

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We’re taking a quick break for the holidays, but in the spirit of New Year reflection, we’re sharing our very first episode of Question Everything. 

Brian talks to fellow journalist, Gay Alcorn, who called his most well-known work – the hit podcast S-Town – “morally indefensible.”

You can read Gay’s column here. Subscribe to our newsletter to read Gay’s full reaction to this episode. 

You can listen to S-Town here. 

If you’re having thoughts of suicide, please reach out for help by dialing 988 or clicking here. 

“Question Everything” is a production of KCRW and Placement Theory. 

This episode originally aired on September 11th, 2024.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We’re taking a short break over the holidays and will be plopping in front of the TV to watch some movies and shows. Maybe you’re doing the same? Check out one of our favorite episodes of Question Everything, where Hollywood directors gather after hours at a wine shop to drink and commiserate. They talk about the perils – and power – that come when you’re straddling fact and fiction. 

Featuring Tom McCarthy, who won an Oscar for Spotlight; Antonio Campos, creator of The Staircase for HBO; Tina Satter, who directed and co-wrote Reality starring Sydney Sweeney; and Tobias Lindholm, director and writer of HBO’s The Investigation.

As we know alcohol is not always conducive to factual precision, so here are some corrections and clarifications from our fact-checker, Maggie. Though honestly the crew this time did impressively well! All we have is that the name of the New York Magazine story that inspired Tina Satter to dramatize Reality Winner is called “The World’s Biggest Terrorist Has a Pikachu Bedspread" (not “America’s Biggest Terrorist Has a Pikachu Bedspread”). And it was a National Security Agency contractor, not a former FBI agent, who alerted the FBI about Reality’s leak.

Here’s the NY Mag story. And here’s a Vanity Fair interview with Sophie, the editor of The Staircase documentary.

“Question Everything” is a production of KCRW and Placement Theory. And don’t forget to sign up for our newsletter.

This episode originally aired on December 18th, 2024.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Over the past few months, our host Brian Reed has been reporting on Section 230 – the law that shields online platforms and websites from lawsuits and has shaped the way we get information today.

Now, a bipartisan attack on Section 230 is taking hold in Congress. During a Senate hearing last week, Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island called Section 230 “a real vessel for evil that needs to come to an end.” He and a group of senators are hoping to move forward a Section 230 repeal bill in time for its 30th anniversary early next year.

In previous episodes, we’ve looked at how the law allows misinformation, scams, and deepfakes on today’s internet. Now, Brian goes back to the beginning: the mid-1990s when lawmakers created this law. And we see how a peculiar case in one New York courtroom ended up having massive consequences for the internet we know today.

Also: an expert on Section 230 has some beef with Brian’s reporting. 

Question Everything is a production of KCRW and Placement Theory. And don’t forget to sign up for our newsletter.

Guest: 

• Jeff Kosseff, law professor and author of “The Twenty-Six Words That Created the Internet”

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

By December 19th, the Department of Justice is supposed to release all DOJ and FBI files related to Jeffrey Epstein. But through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, Bloomberg investigative reporter Jason Leopold has uncovered evidence of a secretive operation on the Epstein files that the FBI called the “Special Redaction Project.” That doesn’t necessarily inspire confidence about how much information will become public, does it? 

Jason found that nearly 1,000 FBI agents were trained to review and redact the files, which included thousands of pages of documents, interview summaries, surveillance footage, search warrant photos, and more than 8 terabytes of digital evidence. The Department of Justice can withhold anything it claims is tied to an ongoing investigation – a huge loophole that could keep many of these records from the public.  

But all hope is not lost. Jason also reported on a nearly decade-old FOIA lawsuit from a defunct magazine that could ultimately force the government to release more of the Epstein records. 

This week, we’re airing an episode of Disclosure, where investigative reporter Jason Leopold and First Amendment attorney Matt Topic walk us through what we can expect when the deadline to release the Epstein files hits next week.

Check out more episodes from the premiere season of Disclosure.

Question Everything is a production of KCRW and Placement Theory. And don’t forget to sign up for our newsletter.

Guests:

• Jason Leopold, Disclosure co-host and Bloomberg News investigative reporter
• Matt Topic, Disclosure co-host and First Amendment attorney

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When the recent slate of Jeffrey Epstein emails dropped, one line immediately jumped out: “I think you should let him hang himself.”

It was part of a 2015 email exchange between journalist Michael Wolff and his source, Jeffrey Epstein, discussing whether they should give Donald Trump a heads-up that Wolff had heard CNN was planning to question Trump about his relationship with Epstein.

We dissect this startling exchange by talking with three journalists, who each had a different take on it – and what this sentence means for journalism, access, and the boundaries reporters might cross to get information.

Question Everything is a production of KCRW and Placement Theory. And don’t forget to sign up for our newsletter.

Guests: 

• Isaac Saul, Founder and executive editor of Tangle, a nonpartisan politics newsletter
• Susan Zakin, veteran journalist and Substack writer
• Tara Palmeri, The Red Letter Substack and host of the Tara Palmeri Show

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A nice treat for the holiday – an interview with the guy who runs the country’s funniest fake newspaper. 

Ben Collins became CEO of The Onion after a long career working in traditional news, so he's got major thoughts about speaking truth to power. On this episode of fellow KCRW podcast The Sam Sanders Show, Ben lays out the role of satire in our current politics and what journalism is getting wrong about free speech. 

Ben also talks about relaunching The Onion’s print newspaper (to great success), his attempts to buy Alex Jones’s extreme right-wing outlet InfoWars out of bankruptcy after the Sandy Hook lawsuits, and why AI will never write a good joke. 

This episode originally aired on October 3, 2025. Check out more conversations and takes on The Culture with journalists, critics, and tastemakers on The Sam Sanders Show from KCRW and Sam Sanders Productions. 

Guest: 

• Ben Collins, CEO of The Onion.

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Next week, the House is expected to hold a hearing on kids’ online safety. They plan to release several bills to protect kids from harmful content. But one issue is not on the agenda: Section 230, the law that helps shield tech platforms from liability for content posted on their sites. 

In an interview with our host, Brian Reed, Congressman Jake Auchincloss (MA-D) says one man has the power to add 230 to the hearing: Committee Chair Brett Guthrie. Auchincloss urges our listeners to call Guthrie at 202-225-3501, and request that Section 230 be added to the agenda – so that the biggest tech companies in our country can be “humbled.” Or you can email Rep. Guthrie at [email protected].

There's more contact info at his website.

You can read Rep. Auchincloss’s proposed Section 230 reform bill here. This emergency Section 230 alert is part of an ongoing journalistic experiment where Brian is shedding the traditional cloak of “objectivity” to actually try and change our information ecosystem for the better.

Question Everything is a production of KCRW and Placement Theory. Don’t forget to sign up for our newsletter, where we’ll send out Brian’s full video interview with Rep. Auchincloss about how hard it is to hold tech companies accountable.

Guests: 

• Congressman Jake Auchincloss (MA-D)

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It seems like Meta just can’t lose. The Facebook parent company won a huge victory in court this week. The federal government was claiming Meta was too massive after acquiring Instagram and WhatsApp, and wanted to force the company to spin off those platforms. But a federal judge disagreed.

And that means, Meta will continue to make a ton of money from scam ads on those platforms. 

Reuters reporter Jeff Horwitz received leaked documents from inside Meta where employees estimated that last year its platforms served up 15 billion scam ad impressions every day, totalling about $16 billion. That’s ten percent of the company’s total 2024 revenue. It’s a major part of their business.

And if you want to sue Meta for serving you ads that lead to your credit card or identity getting stolen, it’s going to be really tough – because of Section 230, the law that prevents companies from getting sued for the content posted on their sites. 

Brian talks to Jeff about what he discovered in this latest leak: how these scam ads make Meta billions, one “queasy-making” fix Meta has come up with, and how Section 230 provides not just a shield, but a lack of incentive for the company to change its ways.

“Question Everything” is a production of KCRW and Placement Theory. Don’t forget to sign up for our newsletter. And please help support our show by visiting our sponsor, the notetaking and personal assistant device Plaud.ai, and using the offer code QUESTION.

Guests:

Jeff Horwitz, Reuters reporter and the author of “Broken Code: Inside Facebook and the Fight to Expose Its Harmful Secrets.”

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When journalist Julia Mengolini criticized her country’s president, Javier Milei, she didn’t expect to be targeted with one of the more disturbing uses of AI: a pornographic deepfake video designed to humiliate her. What began as trolling by online extremists spiraled into a government-amplified smear campaign, spurred on by senior officials and the president himself.

Juila tells reporter/producer Zach St. Louis what happened to her and what she’s doing to fight back against President Milei – an ally of Donald Trump’s and Elon Musk’s.  

“Question Everything” is a production of KCRW and Placement Theory. And don’t forget to sign up for our newsletter.

Please help support our show by visiting our sponsor, the notetaking and personal assistant device Plaud.ai, and use offer code QUESTION.

Guests:

Julia Mengolini — Journalist, radio host, and co-founder of Futurock

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.