Why We Wrote This

The late-game ouster of an incumbent as candidate, state rules in flux, and back-to-back hurricanes in battleground states? Yes, the 2024 U.S. presidential election sits in a category of its own. Beneath those big factors: a set of wedge issues and a pair of candidates with stark differences of approach and appeal. Monitor politics writer Cameron Joseph joins guest host Gail Russell Chaddock to talk about the work of covering the wild run-up – and bracing for what’s next.

Amid intensifying strife and humanitarian disaster, how do you report a story like the war in Gaza accurately and compassionately? How do you recognize the complexities of a war in which intense suffering exists alongside a powerful humanity and an effort to cling to hope? Monitor correspondents Ghada Abdulfattah in Gaza and Taylor Luck in Jordan join Managing Editor Amelia Newcomb, our guest host, to talk about the challenges they face – and, in Ghada’s case, how she navigates the danger and chaos that confront her every moment of the day.

Americans’ loss of social connection has long been an issue, and it worsened during the pandemic era to the point where loneliness hit epidemic levels. Today, some 6 Americans in 10 are reluctant to talk politics with those whose views oppose their own, even though it’s well known that such exchanges can be a balm. In this episode – an encore of one recorded in May 2023 – writer Sophie Hills talks about how she crafted a kind of antidote story, one about front-porch culture and the power of people to collectively make their lives a bit richer. Hosted by Clay Collins.

Western news reports about Taiwan tend to focus on the island’s relationships with global superpowers, notably China and the United States. The people of Taiwan and their history can sometimes get lost in those narratives. Writer Ann Scott Tyson made a return trip to Taiwan to gather more of those important perspectives. Her cover story is a sort of coming of age story for Taiwan, exploring issues of national identity, civic responsibility, and peace. She joins guest host Lindsey McGinnis, the Monitor’s Asia editor, to discuss it.

You wouldn’t want your kid toting a television to class. So why allow a smartphone? That’s one take on a big back-to-school issue this year. Another take: Phones can be lifelines in emergencies. Two Monitor writers reported on the perspectives of parents, students, and educators and found a conversation growing that might finally yield some compromise solutions.

How does the Monitor’s film critic decide what to review – especially in festival settings? For Peter Rainer, it’s about staying moored by his own long experience and curating with a Monitor audience in mind. After the Toronto festival in 2023, Peter spoke on our podcast about how he does that. The films have changed; the work has not. We’ve reprised some of that episode this week.

Hopes, fears, and hard decisions: The stories of would-be immigrants are stories that matter. So, too, are the stories and views of the many other stakeholders in the immigration debate, including U.S. ranchers whose land becomes the first zones of contention. Monitor writer Sarah Matusek is based in Denver, a city that has received thousands of people from South and Central American countries over the past two years. She joined host Clay Collins to talk about reporting a sprawling story with completeness and compassion.

What’s it like being in a president’s presence at big moments? What about at small ones, as when the commander-in-chief offers to buy you a burger? It’s all part of working in the press pool, where a hand-picked gaggle of reporters chronicles the president’s moves in real time and faithfully feeds detailed missives to the wider media. Linda Feldmann, who has cycled through the work for two decades, and Sophie Hills, who’s just getting her feet wet, joined veteran D.C. writer and our podcast’s guest host to describe the work and tell some tales.

An Americana-infused folk music revival has been a surging in the United States for years now. Georgia’s Jake Xerxes Fussell has emerged as one of the most singular interpreters of that music and all of its tributaries. Writer (and fan) Simon Montlake, a hard-news reporter most of the time, joins host Clay Collins to talk about why the modest Mr. Fussell is worth discovering – and about what folk music means to the transmission, down through generations, of the cultures it preserves.

Drug decriminalization is another story that often sets up as a binary debate: It's either a path to societal meltdown or a way to regulate behaviors that appear inevitable, and to stop filling jails. Test cases in three places – Portland, Oregon; British Columbia, Canada; and Portugal – show that solutions require very nuanced thinking. And compassion. Yvonne Zipp, our features editor, introduces this episode, which includes full story reads by three Monitor writers.