The Daily

“Barbie” is premiering this weekend and is trying to pull off a seemingly impossible task: taking a doll best known for reinforcing conventional stereotypes of women and rebranding it as a symbol of feminism, all without coming off as a shameless ad for the doll’s maker, Mattel. Willa Paskin, a journalist and host of Slate’s Decoder Ring podcast, recounts her conversation with the film’s director, Greta Gerwig, about how she approached the challenge.

Guest: Willa Paskin, Slate’s television critic and the host of Slate’s Decoder Ring podcast.

Background reading: 

• Mattel wanted a summer blockbuster to kick off its new wave of brand-extension movies. Greta Gerwig wanted the film to be a work of art.
• The reviews are in: Some critics viewed “Barbie” as satirically capitalistic, while others saw it as capitalistically satirical.

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For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

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As a historic heat wave grips much of the world and the United States, no city has become more emblematic of the crisis than Phoenix, where temperatures have exceeded 110 degrees for the past three weeks.

Today, the city’s chief heat officer, David Hondula, discusses how the city is adjusting to the new reality of chronic extreme heat — and whether we are adapting to it fast enough.

Guest: David Hondula, the director of heat response and mitigation for the city of Phoenix.

Background reading: 

• Arizona is used to scorching summers, but a long stretch of days with 110-degree temperatures is straining patience and resources.
• Weeks of 110-degree days have left the Phoenix fire department scrambling to rescue people overcome by heat — a test for a force already accustomed to tough summers.

For more information on today’s episode, visit 

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. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

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Last week, for the first time in U.S. history, federal regulators approved the sale of a birth control pill without a prescription.

Pam Belluck, a health and science correspondent for The Times, explains why, after decades of brutal battles over contraception, this decision played out so differently.

Guest: Pam Belluck, a health and science correspondent for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• The F.D.A. approved a birth control pill to be sold without a prescription for the first time in the United States, a milestone that could significantly expand access to contraception.
• Here’s how women reacted to the news.

For more information on today’s episode, visit 

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. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

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To refine their popular technology, new artificial intelligence platforms like Chat-GPT are gobbling up the work of authors, poets, comedians and actors — without their consent.

Sheera Frenkel, a technology correspondent for The Times, explains why a rebellion is brewing.

Guest: Sheera Frenkel, a technology correspondent for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Fed up with A.I. companies consuming online content without consent, fan fiction writers, actors, social media companies and news organizations are among those rebelling.
• The comedian and actress Sarah Silverman has joined two lawsuits accusing the companies of training A.I. models using her writing without permission.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

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When China suddenly dismantled its lockdowns and other Covid precautions last December, officials in Beijing and many investors expected the economy to spring back to life. It hasn’t worked out that way.

Daisuke Wakabayashi, an Asia business correspondent for The Times, explains why China’s economic rebound hit a wall, and what it says about the country’s next chapter.

Guest: Daisuke Wakabayashi, an Asia business correspondent for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Policymakers and investors expected China’s economy to rev up again after Beijing abruptly dropped Covid precautions, but recent data shows alarming signs of a slowdown.
• Nanchang’s skyscrapers represented urban transformation, but the city added apartments faster than its population grew. The result: vacant homes and offices.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

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Some years ago, a psychiatrist named Wendy Dean read an article about a physician who died by suicide. Such deaths were distressingly common, she discovered. The suicide rate among doctors appeared to be even higher than the rate among active military members, a notion that startled Dean, who was then working as an administrator at a U.S. Army medical research center in Maryland. Dean started asking the physicians she knew how they felt about their jobs, and many of them confided that they were struggling. Some complained that they didn’t have enough time to talk to their patients because they were too busy filling out electronic medical records. Others bemoaned having to fight with insurers about whether a person with a serious illness would be preapproved for medication.

The doctors Dean surveyed were deeply committed to the medical profession. But many of them were frustrated and unhappy, she sensed, not because they were burned out from working too hard but because the health care system made it so difficult to care for their patients.

By the time the journalist Eyal Press met Dean, the distress among medical professionals had reached alarming levels. Professional organizations like National Nurses United, the largest group of registered nurses in the country, had begun referring to “moral injury” and “moral distress” in pamphlets and news releases. Mona Masood, a psychiatrist who established a support line for doctors shortly after the coronavirus pandemic began, recalls being struck by how clinicians reacted when she mentioned the term. “I remember all these physicians were like, Wow, that is what I was looking for,” she says. “This is it.”

This story was recorded by Audm. To hear more audio stories from publications like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

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Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, the second Black justice to sit on the court after Thurgood Marshall, has spent years opposing affirmative action. When the high court struck down the policy last month, Justice Thomas was one of the most influential figures behind the ruling.

Abbie VanSickle, who covers the Supreme Court for The Times, explains the impact affirmative action has had on Justice Thomas’s life and how he helped to bring about its demise.

Guest: Abbie VanSickle, a Supreme Court correspondent for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• A look at Justice Thomas’s path to the Supreme Court.
• Here’s what the justices have said in the past about affirmative action.

For more information on today’s episode, visit 

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. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

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Two weeks ago, the United States Supreme Court struck down affirmative action, declaring that the race-conscious admissions programs at Harvard and the University of North Carolina were unlawful.

Today, three people whose lives were changed by affirmative action discuss the complicated feelings they have about the policy.

Guest: Sabrina Tavernise, a co-host of The Daily.

Background reading: 

• For many of the Black, Hispanic and Native Americans whose lives were shaped by affirmative action, the moment has prompted a personal reckoning with its legacy.
• In earlier decisions, the court had endorsed taking account of race as one factor among many to promote educational diversity.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

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 Tens of millions of Americans changed jobs over the past two years, a rare moment of worker power as employees demanded higher pay, and as employers, short on staff, often gave it to them.

The tidal wave of quitting became known as the “great resignation.” Now, as the phenomenon seems to have fizzled out, the Times economic writer Ben Casselman discusses whether there have been any lasting benefits for American workers.

Guest: Ben Casselman, an economy correspondent for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• The furious pace of job-switching in recent years has led to big gains for low-wage workers. But the pendulum could be swinging back toward employers.
• Last year, the Times opinion writer Paul Krugman questioned the great resignation narrative.

For more information on today’s episode, visit 

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. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

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For months, President Biden has been wrestling with one of the most vexing questions in the war in Ukraine: whether to risk letting Ukrainian forces run out of the artillery rounds they desperately need to fight Russia, or agree to ship them cluster munitions — widely banned weapons known to cause grievous injury to civilians, especially children. On Friday, the Biden administration announced that it would send the weapons, which have been outlawed by many of Washington's closest allies.

David E. Sanger, a White House and national security correspondent for The New York Times, tells the story behind the president’s contentious decision.

Guest: David E. Sanger, a White House and national security correspondent for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• With Ukraine burning through stockpiles of conventional artillery, Mr. Biden concluded that he had little choice but to provide the weapons.
• Read The New York Times Editorial Board’s piece on “the flawed moral logic of sending cluster munitions to Ukraine.”

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

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