This American Life

I’ve been listening to this podcast for about fifteen years. In the last five, especially, the reporting standards have only increased. This American Life frequently covers complex stories that I don’t see reported elsewhere with such high quality and attention— there are several times I’ve heard events covered here that I’d only heard about through my community (Otay Mesa bottle notes, ongoing ICE raids in LA), or hadn’t seen anywhere else (firsthand accounts of a family navigating the trans military ban, voicemails from Iran during a blackout). I don’t know of another podcast or radio show with this level of consistent quality and relevance.

I have been listening to this show off and on via my local NPR station for many years, but recently, I started playing the podcast when I walk my dog daily so that I wouldn’t miss a show. The show makes me pause whatever I am doing, turn up the sound, and give it my attention. This past weekend, for the 250th celebration of our nation, they played yet another entertaining show. It was about our American mentality. I enjoyed it so much that I downloaded and played the episode again on my phone. As soon as I could, I also shared the episode with friends because I knew they would get a kick out of it, too. Thank you for doing what you do. Keep it up.

I never know what each week will hold, but this show is always thoughtfully woven together. I continue to think back to shows from even a few years back. Well done TAL team.

I started listening to TAL when I was a preadolescent in the 90’s. My dad and I would sometimes happen to catch it on Saturday, but if not always on Sunday for the rerun on our way home from church. So often we’d sit in the driveway listening, car turned off, unable to tear ourselves away. We were obsessed. When I was a teenager, we went to see Ira live in Concord, NH and I got to meet him. I was star struck, and so in love with the medium he and his team were evolving before our ears. Now I’m in my 40’s - been consuming these stories for 30+ years! So many stay with me, so many memories. When life partners came out, I knew I had to sign up even though I don’t normally for this sort of thing, but TAL feels like a narrative soundtrack to my entire life. So grateful for it and happy to hear its evolution to explore politics and the experiences of people other than native born white Americans. I agree with some of the other comments that you could try harder to set a place at the table for folks from conservative backgrounds. But mostly I’m just grateful you’re still around producing content. Thank you Ira and the rest of the team from the bottom of this American heart, and keep it up!! ❤️💙🤍

TAL’s fall from grace irks me. I have fond memories of listening on my own and discussing the week’s episodes with my family. Naturally, a shift towards monetizing the show was coming but for months before the move to NYT, the show started to lose its shine and luster. A predictable swing left was certain to turn off audiences that didn’t align, but what was even more disappointing was the apparent laziness in creation. TAL is known for its unique and profound storytelling, and the show pounded the rock of political and war coverage when I’m sure most listeners would welcome a break. Even more discouraging is the recycled episodes. While it’s very hard to produce new content, each week, it seems like the show is slowly drifting away from its compelling and irreplaceable storytelling that draws you in each Sunday night unless you submit to the paywall they so desperately encourage you climb. Whatever the future holds, This American Life certainly has seen its best days yet is a few more low-frills shows away from a return to glory.

The recent episode, 51 Days, was a poorly produced example of deceptive and biased journalism. The episode covers Israeli hostages’ experiences inside Gaza. From a daily series of interviews with the hostages by a local journalist, “This American Life” selectively chose what they knew to be the most controversial interview(s) to highlight in an effort to fit their narrative. The main issue is that they specifically cherry picked a couple experiences from a larger pool and alluded to that being the experience of the whole. If they had highlighted more hostage stories from the larger interview group one could say this was simply media bias, however, by deliberately leaving those views out this crosses over into deceptive, irresponsible and misleading.