The Take

When it comes to the media, Nobel Peace Prize-winning journalist Maria Ressa has dealt with it all: attacks on the freedom of the press in the Philippines, audiences turning to social media, and misinformation. We spoke with her in Manila on January 17th, ahead of an acquittal in some of the legal cases against her. But these problems aren’t only in the Philippines. For our 500th episode, we’re looking at how we get our news and why. Spoiler alert: the state of the media isn’t great. So at a time when many say journalism is more important than ever, what can be done to turn around that distrust and disinterest?

In this episode: 

• Maria Ressa (@mariaressa), founder of Rappler and Nobel Peace Prize winner

• Nic Newman (@nicnewman), founding member of the BBC’s internet services and Senior Research Associate at Reuters Institute

Episode credits:

This episode was produced by Amy Walters with Chloe K. Li and our host, Halla Mohieddeen. Miranda Lin fact-checked this episode.

Our production team includes Chloe K. Li, Miranda Lin, Ashish Malhotra, Negin Owliaei, and Amy Walters. 

Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Aya Elmileik and Adam Abou-Gad are our engagement producers. Alexandra Locke is The Take’s executive producer, and Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera's head of audio.

Connect with us:

@AJEPodcasts on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook

The World Economic Forum is known for glitzy parties, exclusivity, and dealmaking – in addition to panels on topics ranging from climate change to ‘stakeholder capitalism’. The theme of this year’s annual meeting in Davos is “cooperation in a fragmented world,” and Davos mainstays are the world’s most powerful networkers. They wield an enormous amount of economic and political power. So who are they? What actually happens at Davos, and what do the people left off the invite list need to know about it?

In this episode: 

• Peter S. Goodman (@petersgoodman), global economics reporter at The New York Times and author of Davos Man: How the Billionaires Devoured the World
• Max Lawson (@maxlawsontin), Head of Inequality Policy, Oxfam

Episode credits:

This episode was produced by Negin Owliaei with Ashish Malhotra and our host, Halla Mohieddeen. Miranda Lin fact-checked this episode.

Our production team includes Chloe K. Li, Miranda Lin, Ashish Malhotra, Negin Owliaei, and Amy Walters. 

Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Aya Elmileik and Adam Abou-Gad are our engagement producers. Alexandra Locke is The Take’s executive producer, and Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera's head of audio.

Connect with us:

@AJEPodcasts on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook

Texas is the largest US state with a near-total ban on abortion. Legislators and activists want to make 2023 the year of closing the loopholes that remain, whether that’s travel to nearby states for the procedure or targeting abortion medication by mail. The state is also where the Roe v Wade legal case was first filed. It had made abortion legal across the United States after the US Supreme Court ruled on the case 50 years ago this week. We hear from one former abortion provider about life in a post-Roe world.

In this episode: 

• Dr Jessica Rubino, abortion provider
• Amina Waheed (@atwaheed), producer for Al Jazeera’s Fault Lines
• Mary Tuma (@TumaTime), journalist

Episode credits:

This episode was produced by Khaled Soltan and Alexandra Locke with our host, Halla Mohieddeen. Amy Walters and Chloe K. Li fact-checked this episode.

Our production team also includes Chloe K. Li, Miranda Lin, Ashish Malhotra, Negin Owliaei, and Amy Walters. Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Aya Elmileik and Adam Abou-Gad are our engagement producers. Alexandra Locke is The Take’s executive producer, and Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera's head of audio.

For more:

Watch the Fault Lines documentary, ‘The End of Roe: Living without abortion rights’

Connect with us:

@AJEPodcasts on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook

What happens when you fall victim to a cyber scam? And who's really at fault? In Cambodia, an entire economy of these scams is operating, and the scammers Al Jazeera found in a city called Sihanoukville are often held against their will. Tens of thousands of people are being trafficked, and authorities are alleged to be complicit.

In this episode: 

• Mary Ann Jolley (@jolleyma), senior reporter at Al Jazeera’s 101 East

Episode credits:

This episode was produced by Amy Walters with our host Halla Mohieddeen. Ruby Zaman fact-checked this episode. 

Our production team includes Chloe K. Li, Miranda Lin, Ashish Malhotra, and Negin Owliaei. 

Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Tim St. Clair mixed this episode. Aya Elmileik and Adam Abou-Gad are our engagement producers. Alexandra Locke is The Take’s executive producer, and Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera's head of audio.

Connect with us:

@AJEPodcasts on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook

In Russia's war in Ukraine, the use of drones – for surveillance, correcting artillery fire and dropping weapons on the enemy – has become increasingly important, especially for the Ukrainian army.

The drones used so far are believed to have all been controlled by humans but experts say the technology for fully autonomous weapons exists. Are so-called ‘killer robots’ that take to the battlefield inevitable?

In this episode: 

• Alex Gatopoulos (@AlexGatopoulos), Al Jazeera's defence editor
• Toby Walsh (@TobyWalsh), professor of artificial intelligence, University of New South Wales

Episode credits:

This episode was produced by Ashish Malhotra with Chloe K. Li and our host, Halla Mohieddeen. Amy Walters, Alexandra Locke and Chloe K. Li fact-checked this episode. Our production team includes Chloe K. Li, Miranda Lin, Ashish Malhotra, Negin Owliaei, and Amy Walters. 

Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Aya Elmileik and Adam Abou-Gad are our engagement producers. Alexandra Locke is The Take’s executive producer, and Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera's head of audio.

Connect with us:

@AJEPodcasts on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook

Tigray was cut off from the rest of Ethiopia and the outside world for nearly two years. As a civil war raged on, the region was under a de facto blockade that impacted everything from food to phone lines. The war resulted in one of the world’s worst humanitarian disasters, and widespread human rights abuses, including sexual violence. But a peace agreement signed between the Ethiopian government and Tigrayan forces in November means the region is beginning to open up again. So what does that mean for the people in Tigray? 

In this episode: 

• Lucy Kassa (@berhe_lucy), investigative journalist
• Jude Fuhnwi (@FuhnwiJ), ICRC spokesperson in Ethiopia

Episode credits:

This episode was produced by Negin Owliaei with Chloe K. Li, Miranda Lin, and our host, Halla Mohieddeen. 

Miranda Lin, Alexandra Locke, and Amy Walters fact-checked this episode.

Our production team includes Chloe K. Li, Miranda Lin, Ashish Malhotra, Negin Owliaei, and Amy Walters. 

Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Aya Elmileik and Adam Abou-Gad are our engagement producers. Alexandra Locke is The Take’s executive producer, and Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera's head of audio.

Connect with us:

@AJEPodcasts on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook

There are more strikes in the United Kingdom today than in more than a decade. Inflation is at a 41-year high, and economists are predicting that UK households are looking forward to a miserable 2023. But rather than offering concessions, the government is trying to make it harder to strike.

In this episode: 

• Rachel Ambrose, NHS mental health nurse and lecturer
• Lord John Hendy (@JohnHendyQC), Trade union barrister and House of Lords peer

Episode credits:

This episode was produced by Amy Walters with Miranda Lin and our host, Halla Mohieddeen. Miranda Lin, Chloe K. Li and Alexandra Locke fact-checked this episode.

Our production team includes Chloe K. Li, Miranda Lin, Alexandra Locke, Ashish Malhotra, Negin Owliaei, and Amy Walters. 

Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Aya Elmileik and Adam Abou-Gad are our engagement producers. Alexandra Locke is The Take’s executive producer, and Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera's head of audio.

Connect with us:

@AJEPodcasts on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook

What makes a community special? Al Jazeera’s series, A Sense of Community, has travelled to four unique parts of the globe to explore the concept. We visited islanders in remote Scotland facing depopulation, explored the fight against crime and search for safety in the most dangerous neighbourhood in Mexico City, spoke with female runners in Kenya pushing back against gender-based violence, and delved into why Tibetans in Toronto are battling gentrification. All four communities face challenges in holding onto their culture and identity. While communities worldwide reckon with changes due to the pandemic, they also offer lessons about what makes a community worth preserving.

In this episode: 

• Drew Ambrose (@drewambrose), Al Jazeera correspondent 

Episode credits:

This episode was produced by Ashish Malhotra and our host, Halla Mohieddeen. It was fact-checked by Ruby Zaman. Our production team includes Chloe K. Li, Alexandra Locke, Ashish Malhotra, Negin Owliaei, Amy Walters, and Ruby Zaman. 

Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Aya Elmileik and Adam Abou-Gad are our engagement producers. Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera's head of audio.

Connect with us:

@AJEPodcasts on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook

Mo Gawdat, author and former chief business officer at Google X, predicts that AI will become a billion times smarter than humans. The time is now, he says, to influence it with the right ethics to have humanity's best interests in mind. Artificial intelligence is becoming unavoidable with smart devices in every aspect of our lives, and AI image and text generation reaching new heights. So, is it time to make friends with AI?

In this episode: 

• Mo Gawdat (@MGawdat), author and former chief business officer of Google X

Episode credits:

This episode was produced by Ruby Zaman with our host, Halla Mohieddeen. Alexandra Locke fact-checked this episode.

Our production team includes Chloe K. Li, Ashish Malhotra, Negin Owliaei, Amy Walters, and Ruby Zaman. Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Aya Elmileik and Adam Abou-Gad are our engagement producers. Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera's head of audio.

Connect with us:

@AJEPodcasts on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook

The United States space agency NASA launched the James Webb Space Telescope, the largest telescope ever put into space, just over a year ago. Since then, we have been given a whole new picture of the universe – image after image of stars, planets and galaxies, farther into the universe than humans have ever seen. We talk to those who helped put together the telescope about what they have learned and find out how close it really is to detecting signs of life on other planets.

In this episode: 

• Stuart Clark (@DrStuClark), astronomer and consultant at New Scientist
• Knicole Colón (@super_knova), deputy project scientist for exoplanet science at NASA James Webb Space Telescope
• Chris Gunn (@ChrisGunnPhoto), photographer at NASA

Episode credits:

This episode was produced by Chloe K. Li with Negin Owliaei, Ruby Zaman, Alexandra Locke, Amy Walters, Ashish Malhotra and Halla Mohieddeen. Aya Elmileik and Adam Abou-Gad are our engagement producers. Alex Roldan is our sound designer. Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera's head of audio.

Connect with us:

@AJEPodcasts on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook