Consider This from NPR - Podcast Rankings and reviews

I’ve been listening to Consider This, formerly Coronavirus Daily, since the beginning of the pandemic and I find myself looking forward to getting updates from this podcast. The top updates are delivered in a neutral, thorough and non-inflammatory way. This is so important as my mental health amidst all this relies on seeking out more knowledge, but in many news sources the delivery of it can be overwhelming. Great coverage Consider This, team! I have recommended this podcast to several friends.

I think this is a great idea and overall a very useful tool. However, today’s episode saying that social distancing can still include get-togethers? This is dangerous suggestion. As an American in Spain where the situation is a few weeks ahead of the US, no you should not be having friends over! Even if you can manage to stand 6 feet apart (impossible in a home, come on), the virus can live on surfaces for days and in the air for half an hour. Your asymptomatic friend may be in the incubation stage and can spread it without knowing it. Please don’t encourage this. My best friend in Berlin now has the virus and can track it to a coffee she has with a friend 2 weeks ago. Her friend started showing symptoms a few days after he came over. She followed a few days after that. I live alone and am on complete lockdown mandated by the government here. It takes a toll on one’s mental health, it’s true. But I’d rather be alone than dead.

I like that this is a quick hit of news and info. It helps to not be overwhelmed (as watching too much cable news can do) and instead get a broader level view of what’s going on. I don’t find it sensationalist or biased. I’ve recommended it to friends and family.

This is the perfect podcast for our times. It offers very useful information in a very clear, calm and, frankly, uplifting way. It’s short enough that there’s no excuse not to listen every day. And it even offers food for the soul. The 6 hour “Isle of Calm” playlist they created plays in my house on a loop. Very soothing.

I listen to a lot of other NPR podcasts that recommended this one. I thought this would be unbiased, daily reporting on COVID-19. I’m a statistician, so I want to know facts, figures, and the latest on treatments and vaccines, etc. That’s not what this is. It’s an op-ed with a strong bias that feels dishonest at times. They’re just looking for someone to blame. And they’re giving out bad advice, e.g.: they recommended getting together in small groups in people’s homes while practicing social distancing, which is not in line with CDC or WHO recommendations. Better coverage has come from podcasts like Short Wave, or even the Indicator from Planet Money, and Science Vs had a good first episode on COVID-19. Since it’s new, I’ll check back in a week or so and see if they’re actually covering the pandemic now. But if it’s still just about politics, I’m out.

I don’t know if it’s the host’s natural approach—quavering voice, vocal fry and long pauses—but there’s something that reads as funereal and fearful in her reporting. So much so, that I dropped out of the two episodes I sampled very quickly. I’d imagine a great many of us feel uncertain about what lies ahead in this time, and we need information, but when our correspondent seems either to be more interested in either calming her own fears, or assuring us that she’s one of us and she’s scared too—that’s a disservice to her purpose and institution.