Is This a Psyop?

Mixed in with the beauty and Love Island videos on producer Tracie Hunte’s TikTok feed, she started seeing clips that seemed to pit Black people against one another. People fighting over who’s really Black American and about dating between Black men and women. Tracie doesn’t hear these debates in real life, but online, they kept popping up. And so did a question people kept asking in the comments: “Is this a psyop?”  Howard University professor Christine McWhorter walks Tracie through real disinformation campaigns, from a Russian troll farm to a dark money group reportedly funded by Elon Musk, and explains the specific tactics used to manipulate Black voters.  Question Everything is a production of KCRW and Placement Theory. Follow us on Instagram: @questionverything.podcast. And don’t forget to sign up for our newsletter. Guests:  Christine McWhorter, Assistant Professor of Broadcast Journalism at Howard University and author of Building Critical Race Media Literacy: Countering the Narrative See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When a promising young freelancer pitched a good story to his magazine, editor Nicholas Hune-Brown was ready to assign it. But as he looked more closely at the pitch and the writer’s bylines across the internet, Nicholas began to realize maybe this writer wasn’t who she seemed. This episode recently won Gold and the Listener's Choice Winner in the 2026 Signal Awards for Best Writing. A version of Nick’s story first appeared in The Local – you can read it here. The UK-based magazine Press Gazette is keeping a running list of AI scandals in journalism, including Victoria Goldiee. You can see that here. Question Everything is a production of KCRW and Placement Theory. Follow us on Instagram: @questionverything.podcast. And don’t forget to sign up for our newsletter. Guests:  Nicholas Hune-Brown, Executive Editor at The Local  Victoria Goldiee See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Lying is the force that is most diametrically opposed to journalism. So why has it been so hard for journalists to combat it?  Earlier this month, Brian was asked to deliver a treatise on this question to an audience of journalists, and writing it took him in a bunch of directions he didn’t expect: from a school playground to ancient religious texts to Alex Jones. Afterwards, people kept saying that we had to run it on Question Everything. Here it is.  Question Everything is a production of KCRW and Placement Theory. Follow us on Instagram: @questionverything.podcast. And don’t forget to sign up for our newsletter.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Voting in this year’s midterms is already underway. And for the past year leading up to this election, the Trump administration has been pushing to get its hands on every state’s unredacted voter rolls, saying it wants to check for noncitizens who are illegally registered.  Those rolls include personal information like driver’s license numbers, full birth dates, and partial Social Security numbers. Some state election officials agreed to hand their lists over to the federal government, but Utah’s Republican Lieutenant Governor Deidre Henderson refused.  Then the Justice Department sued her and threatened her with criminal charges.  She told Question Everything producer Zach St. Louis the story.  Also this week, The Signal Awards honored Question Everything with eight awards, including two listener choice awards. Thanks to all who voted for us! Here are two of the winning episodes you can check out: The Talented Ms. Goldiee and I Was 11 When Instagram Took Over My Life. Question Everything is a production of KCRW and Placement Theory. Follow us on Instagram: @questionverything.podcast. And don’t forget to sign up for our newsletter. Guests: Deidre Henderson, Lieutenant Governor of Utah See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Midterm elections are around the corner, and AI is obviously an issue that’s getting a ton of attention from candidates. There are so many thorny questions around this technology, but what do politicians intend to do about it?  Today, we are sharing an interview with Texas Congressman Greg Casar from Slate's podcast, "What Next," where Casar talks about his concerns with AI and why he sees the anger that people feel about it as an opportunity to build a political movement that brings people together. You can hear Slate’s What Next wherever you get your podcasts. Question Everything is a production of KCRW and Placement Theory. Follow us on Instagram: @questionverything.podcast. And don’t forget to sign up for our newsletter. Guests: Lizzie O’Leary, from Slate’s What Next Greg Casar, US Representative for Texas’s 35th Congressional District. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Just a few weeks ago, David Ellison and Paramount were staring down the barrel of a $7 million dollar per day fine for every day their merger with Warner Bros was not finalized, with a 12 state class-action antitrust lawsuit standing in the way. The states, led by California attorney general Rob Bonta, seemed to have Ellison backed into a corner.  But then, at what seemed like the 11th hour, Bonta announced a settlement with Paramount that would allow the merger to go through. The deal closed this week, officially giving Trump allies David and his father Larry Ellison control over vast swaths of the entertainment industry, as well CBS News and CNN.   Connecticut Attorney General William Tong is mad they didn’t fight harder. In an unusually frank interview, he reflects with Brian on what went wrong with their case, and what the new mega-company Skydance will mean for independent news in America. Also, check out our previous stories on media capture and the Ellison bromance with Trump. Guests: William Tong, Attorney General of Connecticut See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Flock Safety’s license plate cameras are in about 6,000 towns across the U.S. But lately, towns have been pulling out of their contracts after all sorts of creepy stories about cops using the cameras to spy on people in their personal lives.  But in Tewksbury, Mass., residents have a different concern: they can’t get Flock to tell them what their town originally agreed to. For months, residents and town officials have been asking the company a simple question, which the company will not answer. That sends two residents down a Kafkaesque rabbit hole to figure out what Flock might be hiding.  Question Everything has been nominated for six Signal Awards. To take home the win, we need you to vote for us by going to vote.signalaward.com. Enter Question Everything in the search bar, and start voting. Thanks!  Question Everything is a production of KCRW and Placement Theory. Follow us on Instagram: @questionverything.podcast. And don’t forget to sign up for our newsletter. Guests: Dustin Weir, Tewksbury resident James Mackey, Tewksbury Select Board member See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A few weeks ago, Meta was in trouble. 47 states plus several U.S. territories were suing the company in federal court for knowingly harming kids with its apps, Instagram and Facebook. Several of the states were in the middle of a trial in California; damaging information was coming out about Meta; execs were being grilled on the stand; there was talk of CEO Mark Zuckerberg having to testify, and damages as high as $1.4 trillion. The company had already lost two major trials over child safety this year. The wind seemed to be at the states’ backs.  And then they settled. Without even finishing their case in court. Meta didn’t have to admit any wrongdoing.  Why? Why did the states give in? The evidence against Meta was damning. Why didn’t the states take the company to task and force a verdict? Brian calls up the man who led the negotiations with Meta for the states, Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti, to ask him why he and his colleagues gave in. Question Everything is a production of KCRW and Placement Theory. Follow us on Instagram: @questionverything.podcast. And subscribe to our newsletter please! Guests: Jonathan Skrmetti, Attorney General of Tennessee Please support the companies that support this show: OneSkin Quince Zbiotics See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today we’re excited to share a special episode of Reaching Out, a new podcast from Futuro and KCRW. Hailed by Ira Glass as the “best new show I’ve heard in years,” Reaching Out is a story about fathers, sons, and the distance between. The story begins on the eve of twin brothers’ Sayre and Connor’s 30th birthday, when they set out to find the biological father who abandoned them before they were born. Their search pulls them through desert raves, drunken nightclubs, and across borders of time and language, forcing the brothers to confront the truths they’ve hidden from each other and themselves. And it’s not long before the twins discover that their birth father is closer than they ever could have imagined. Follow Reaching Out on your favorite podcast app. New episodes drop every week.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When Florida reporter Kate Payne stumbled across a local news site called The South Florida Standard, something about it felt off. She’d never heard of the outlet before and didn’t know any of the journalists who were listed on its staff, even though their bios touted long careers in Florida journalism. The articles the site was publishing seemed like very normal local news stories, but they were often plagiarizing the reporting of other Florida news outlets. The coverage didn’t have any obvious political agenda or bias. And Kate couldn’t see a way the site was making any money; there were no ads or ways to subscribe.  What was going on here? After Kate told Question Everything producer Zach St. Louis about this, he got sucked into the mystery  – and ended up solving it. A bizarre whodunnit for our AI age.  Question Everything is a production of KCRW and Placement Theory. Follow us on Instagram: @questionverything.podcast. And subscribe to our newsletter please! Kate Payne reported a version of this story for The Florida Trib, which you can read here. Jeremy Carrasco is director of Riddance and the creator of JeremyFindsAI. Guests: Kate Payne, State Government Reporter at The Florida Trib Jeremy Carrasco, Director of Riddance and Creator of JeremyFindsAI Joe Alouf, Turnaround Executive Please support the companies that support this show: Quince OneSkin See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.