Question Everything

Brian Reed

Question Everything is a weekly investigation into how the truth gets buried, distorted, and denied -- and the ways people are fighting to make it matter again.

Hosted by Brian Reed, of S-Town and This American Life.

Winner of the Webby Award, Ambie Award, and a Signal Special Achievement Award for pushing "the boundaries of the medium."

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76 episodes
Updated Thursday

Episodes76

Newest first

Oct 16, 2025 · 47 min
‘I Believed Sandy Hook Was a Hoax’
The law that let Big Tech rake in cash from a lie about parents whose children had been murdered.
Oct 9, 2025 · 55 min
Betraying a Friendship to Get a Viral Story
He was a reporter breaking an NFL sexting story. She was the unwilling source.
Oct 2, 2025 · 45 min
The Film the BBC Wouldn’t Air
How two journalists fought to get their urgent reporting about Gaza onto one of the largest news organizations in the world. And lost.
Sep 25, 2025 · 29 min
Brian Takes on Big Tech
Media Freedom & the 26 Words that Created the Internet
Sep 25, 2025 · 55 min
The Epstein Files
The top journalists covering Jeffrey Epstein join us for drinks, and get into the challenges of covering one of the toughest stories of their careers.
Sep 18, 2025 · 2 min
Question Everything Returns, Raring for a Fight
We're back. September 25th.
Aug 28, 2025 · 18 min
A Listener on What Journalists Should do Better
A listener weighed in with some criticism on Substack. Brian (our host) got involved. Some advice for journalists ensued. It ended up inspiring an entire segment on KCRW’s show Left, Right & Center, which we’re sharing with you here. This is the kind of action that’s happening over on our new Substack – which you should subscribe to! If you do, we’ll enter you in a lottery to join us at the next taping we do at Bibber & Bell Wine Shop in Brooklyn. We’re getting together reporters who are all covering the Jeffrey Epstein story as it has burst back into the news and is threatening Donald Trump. A couple of you can eavesdrop on the conversation from the storage area in the back with our sound guy – sign up at questioneverything.substack.com.
Jul 24, 2025 · 52 min
Brian Can't Stop Fact-checking His Mother-In-Law (from “Proxy with Yowei Shaw”)
After her NPR show was canceled some years back, producer and host Yowei Shaw gave herself a new title: “Emotional Investigative Journalist.” She started a podcast called Proxy, where she helps people who are facing unique emotional or personal obstacles by connecting them with a proxy who’s uniquely positioned to help them. Our host, Brian, recently went on Proxy, and got help with a problem of his own: something he’s been struggling with involving a member of his family. Here are the caregiving resources from Claudia Drossel. Listen to Proxy with Yowei Shaw. Follow them on Instagram: @proxypodcast @yoweishaw
Jun 26, 2025 · 54 min
Badass Local Journalists on How to Fight Corruption
Including the longest pause ever heard in an interview.
Jun 12, 2025 · 40 min
Who’s Behind the Raids? A Mystery in Marion (Part Two)
A sleuth strolls into town.
Jun 5, 2025 · 28 min
A Mystery in Marion (Part One)
Who’s behind the raid of a small-town newspaper?
May 29, 2025 · 1 hr 13 min
The Fight for Your Attention with MSNBC’s Chris Hayes
How large companies are demanding your attention
May 22, 2025 · 36 min
The Hunt for a Journalist’s Killer
How a team of dogged reporters discover who killed Shireen Abu Akleh
May 8, 2025 · 27 min
From the Fringe Web to Real Life: How Seriously Should We Be Taking Conspiracy Theories?
How AI is tracking the far corners of the internet and why it matters
May 1, 2025 · 1 hr 18 min
Rümeysa Öztürk is Locked Up for an Op-ed: An Urgent Summit with the Student Newspaper that Published It
A co-hosted event at Tufts University, where Rümeysa attended, by Brian and 2 of the Tufts Daily journalists.
Apr 25, 2025 · 26 min
Pounding Beers in a Shed, and Other Dispatches from the War on Free Speech
And…QE’s first pirate metaphor?!
Apr 24, 2025 · 39 min
Freedom of the press is great, until you're the target
The people trying to gut the first amendment.
Apr 17, 2025 · 48 min
The masterpiece Prince documentary Netflix won’t let the public see.
Director Ezra Edelman finally speaks.
Apr 3, 2025 · 23 min
He quit journalism to fight authoritarianism. How’s that going?
Barton Gellman’s war games become reality.
Mar 27, 2025 · 39 min
A Rant or a Slant: When Should Reporters Speak From the Heart?
A reporter questions whether to drop the veneer of neutrality.

Question Everything

‘I Believed Sandy Hook Was a Hoax’

Betraying a Friendship to Get a Viral Story

The Film the BBC Wouldn’t Air

Brian Takes on Big Tech

The Epstein Files

Question Everything Returns, Raring for a Fight

A Listener on What Journalists Should do Better

Brian Can't Stop Fact-checking His Mother-In-Law (from “Proxy with Yowei Shaw”)

Badass Local Journalists on How to Fight Corruption

Who’s Behind the Raids? A Mystery in Marion (Part Two)

A Mystery in Marion (Part One)

The Fight for Your Attention with MSNBC’s Chris Hayes

The Hunt for a Journalist’s Killer

From the Fringe Web to Real Life: How Seriously Should We Be Taking Conspiracy Theories?

Rümeysa Öztürk is Locked Up for an Op-ed: An Urgent Summit with the Student Newspaper that Published It

Pounding Beers in a Shed, and Other Dispatches from the War on Free Speech

Freedom of the press is great, until you're the target

The masterpiece Prince documentary Netflix won’t let the public see.

He quit journalism to fight authoritarianism. How’s that going?

A Rant or a Slant: When Should Reporters Speak From the Heart?