npr

Read fiction. Long, immersive novels. Read them as much as you read the news. Trust me on this.

Hey u/ttystikk, great question. A lot of the ones who were neutral about the death penalty or full fledged supporters told me they changed their minds because they saw how hard the jobs were on them or their coworkers. They saw the immense stress they and their colleagues went through every time there was an execution -- and the consequences many of them suffered afterwards, like alcoholism, depression, serious moral injury (learn more about that here), and they began to think differently about a policy that required someone to have to experience that.

I think a few things need to happen. NPR needs to be very, very aggressive about finding the NEXT generation of public radio listeners - they are going to be the ones giving us the financial support we need in the future. And that means NPR has to lean into mediums we haven't traditionally been in - like video of all types, or even newish platforms like Tik Tok (Check out the Planet Money TikTok - it's great!) Also, we have to look at the ways in which old bureaucratic systems in public radio are redundant and wasteful. Streamlining to focus on the journalism above all is necessary - and you are seeing more of that in increased partnership between NPR and member stations and member station networks. Thirdly, we have to be more aggressive, and blatant about showing people our worth and asking - VERY DIRECTLY - for their money. In my dream world - we finally figure out a way to have an NPR kickstarter. Or like, have NPR personalities make Cameo videos to raise funds. All the things!

I always recommend The Indicator and Planet Money from NPR. Those two shows do a wonderful job making sense of our current economic reality while also including personal heartfelt stories that share the human toll. So start there for sure. After that, I mean - where do I stop! CodeSwitch is so timely right now. Hidden Brain ALWAYS makes things make more sense for me. Embedded, Invisibilia and Rough Translation are really at the cutting edge of narrative, immersive storytelling. I could go on!

I was an occasional smoker in the past. I don't currently smoke!