News Items Podcast with John Ellis
by The Recount
Ninety percent of the news out there tells you nothing about where the world is going — ten percent of it tells you everything. Every afternoon on the News Items Podcast with John Ellis, John and Rebecca Darst focus on that ten percent — news that’s interesting, important or both. The podcast is based on John Ellis’ News Items, an email newsletter that goes out to organizations including the Council on Foreign Relations, Samsung Next, and the Wall Street Journal. Tune in every Monday through Thursday afternoon to hear decades of journalistic experience packed into 20 or so minutes of insight, plus guest interviews on finance, U.S. politics, foreign affairs, science and technology.
Episodes
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‘So Close to the Edge’: Adam Tooze on the Pandemic Economy
John interviews Adam Tooze, a historian, the author of five books on economic history, and a professor at Columbia University, where he is the director of the interdisciplinary European Institute. Adam also writes a newsletter, “Chartbook,” which in its own words, reports on "economic data…
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Steve Coll on the Taliban’s Return to Power
John interviews Steve Coll, a staff writer at The New Yorker, the dean of the Columbia Journalism School, the author of eight books, and a two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize. Between 1989 and 1992, he worked as The Washington Post's South Asia bureau chief. That experience ultimately led him…
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From Kabul to Oregon: Jeffrey Stern on Reporting the World
John interviews Jeffrey Stern. An award-winning journalist and the author of three books, Jeffrey originally started his career as a foreign correspondent in Afghanistan. In 2018, his book “The 15:17 to Paris” was adapted into a film by Clint Eastwood, and in 2019, he won the Overseas Press Club...
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Why Spy Novels Matter, with Joseph Kanon
John interviews Joseph Kanon, a former publishing executive who became a bestselling author in his 50s. Joseph’s spy novels take place in the aftermath of World War II and the Cold War that followed. He published his debut novel, “Los Alamos,” in 1997, and the story of a murder set against the...
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How A.I. Can Help Us Fight Climate Change
John interviews Priya Donti, a Ph.D. student in computer science at Carnegie Mellon University. She is also the co-founder and chair of Climate Change A.I., an organization working at the intersection of climate science and machine learning. Priya’s goal is to use machine learning to analyze…
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Why Big Tech Won’t Get Into the News Business, with Josh Tyrangiel
John interviews journalist Josh Tyrangiel. After quickly rising through the ranks at Time Magazine, Josh became the editor of Bloomberg Businessweek and then the executive vice president of news at Vice Media. There, he launched the Peabody Award and Emmy Award-winning “Vice News Tonight.” Last...
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‘Like Cellophane on Fire’: Joe Klein on the Fall of Afghanistan
John interviews Joe Klein, an award-winning journalist who wrote for Time, Newsweek, The New Yorker, and New York Magazine, among others, and the author of seven books, including the bestselling “Primary Colors.” John and Joe discuss Afghanistan’s fate; radical centrism; how the news media has...
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How Neural Networks Changed the Face of A.I.
John interviews Cade Metz, a technology correspondent at The New York Times and the author of “Genius Makers,” a book on artificial intelligence. The book focuses on neural networks, an approach whereby, given enough data, A.I. can get better at specific tasks — like recognizing speech or images…
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M.L.B. Chief Rob Manfred on What’s Next for Baseball
John interviews Major League Baseball’s commissioner, Rob Manfred. Before joining the MLB in 1998, in part to oversee labor relations, Rob worked for the league as a lawyer at the firm Morgan Lewis. “I was lucky enough literally to get assigned to Major League Baseball work,” Rob says. “I caught…
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‘Brain on Fire’: How Susannah Cahalan Reported On Her Own Illness
John interviews Susannah Cahalan, author of the bestselling memoir “Brain on Fire.” In 2009, Susannah’s reporting career at the New York Post was derailed by a frightening set of symptoms. She grew paranoid, lost touch with reality, and alienated those around her with aggressive, seemingly...
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How Tesla (Almost) Failed to Start, with Tim Higgins
John interviews Tim Higgins. Tim is a tech reporter at The Wall Street Journal, a regular CNBC contributor, and the author of “Power Play: Tesla, Elon Musk, and the Bet of the Century.” The book chronicles Tesla’s multiple near-death experiences and shows how it came to symbolize the electric car...
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When A.I. Recognizes Emotion, with Rosalind Picard
John interviews A.I. scientist Rosalind Picard. Rosalind is a pioneer in the field of affective computing, the co-founder of two companies at the forefront of A.I., Affectica and Empatica, and the founder and director of the affective computing research group at the MIT Media Lab. Affective...
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The Case Against Ghislaine Maxwell, with Lisa Bryant
John interviews Lisa Bryant, the director and executive producer of the Netflix docuseries “Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich.” In the second episode of this two-part conversation, John and Lisa discuss Epstein’s suspicious death in a jail cell in 2019, as he awaited trial — and the curious story of…
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How Jeffrey Epstein Got ‘Filthy Rich,’ with Lisa Bryant
John interviews Lisa Bryant, the director and executive producer of the Netflix docuseries “Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich.” In the first episode of this two-part conversation, John and Lisa discuss the making of the series; Epstein’s background and wealth; and how he rubbed elbows with (and...
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‘Inevitable’: Gayle Tzemach Lemmon on the US' Afghan Exit
John interviews Gayle Tzemach Lemmon, a bestselling author and an adjunct senior fellow for women and foreign policy at the Council on Foreign Relations. John and Gayle discuss her newest book, “The Daughters of Kobani,” which tells the story of the all-female Kurdish militia that helped defeat...
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On the Origins of the Coronavirus, with Donald McNeil
John interviews award-winning journalist Donald G. McNeil Jr. In this, the second half of a two-part interview, John and Donald talk about the early days of the pandemic and the evidence, regarding the origins of the virus, behind the animal-to-human transmission theory versus the lab leak…
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Time for a Vaccine Mandate, with Donald McNeil
John interviews award-winning journalist Donald G. McNeil Jr. about a recent essay, published in Medium, where he excoriates the Biden administration's handling of the pandemic. In part one of this two-part interview, John and Donald discuss the administration’s aforementioned stumbles; the...
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How Substack Breaks Through the Attention Economy
John interviews Hamish McKenzie, one of the co-founders of Substack. Since its start in 2017, the company has managed to upend the relationship between journalists and news outlets. A good number of prominent writers, including Anne Helen Peterson, Glenn Greenwald, Andrew Sullivan, Matt Yglesias…
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How Voice Profiling Will Revolutionize Health Care, with Rita Singh
John interviews Rita Singh: a pioneer in the emerging field of voice profiling, the author of “Profiling Humans from Their Voice,” and an associate research professor at Carnegie Mellon University. Rita and her team are developing technology that can analyze a human voice signal and unlock a…
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We're on the Verge of Guiding Our Own Evolution, with Jane Metcalfe
John interviews Jane Metcalfe, the former president and co-founder of Wired magazine, about her fascinating career: from starting the “Rolling Stone of technology,” to co-founding a chocolate factory, and most recently, founding Neo.life. Metcalfe describes it as a digital media company that...
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Jim Cramer of Mad Money on Life, China, and Jerome Powell
John interviews the legendary Jim Cramer, host of CNBC’s “Mad Money with Jim Cramer” for the past 16 years, co-host of “Squawk on the Street,” and co-founder of the financial news site TheStreet. John and Jim have a fun and freewheeling conversation about everything from Cramer’s early days as...
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Andrew Sullivan on the Rise of the Woke
John interviews Andrew Sullivan, the noted British-American writer and podcaster, as well as the author of the forthcoming collection “Out on a Limb: Selected Writing, 1989–2021.” Named acting editor of The New Republic, at only 26, he quickly established himself as one of America’s leading…
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Running America’s Busiest Port During COVID, with Gene Seroka
John interviews Gene Seroka, the executive director of the Port of Los Angeles, in the midst of a pandemic import boom and global supply chain woes. The two discuss how Seroka’s experience working in Shanghai during the 2002-2004 SARS outbreak informed his early handling of COVID-19 at what is…
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‘Tinkering with the Building Blocks of Life,’ with Jane Metcalfe
John interviews Jane Metcalfe, the former president and cofounder of Wired magazine, about her fascinating career: from cofounding Wired, to cofounding a chocolate factory, and most recently, founding Neo.life. As Jane tells John, Neo.life is an online magazine about “engineering life,” or, “what...
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Why Xi Jinping Is Hammering One Industry After Another
John interviews Diana Choyleva, the founder of Enodo Economics – a macroeconomic and political forecasting company focused on China. Choyleva grew up in communist Bulgaria, and her personal experience living under a command economy, combined with her Western education in market economics, give…
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Four Illusions about Biden, Trump and 2024
Science and tech headlines: A South Korean study has found that one shot of the AstraZeneca vaccine plus another of the Pfizer vaccine produces more antibodies than getting the AstraZeneca vaccine alone. Quantum computing startup PsiQuantum has raised $450 million in a series D round. It plans to...
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How Big Business Can Help Beat Climate Change with Mark Tercek
John interviews Mark Tercek, a former partner at Goldman Sachs who left the world of finance to become the CEO of The Nature Conservancy (TNC) – the world’s largest environmental nonprofit organization. During his 11 years at TNC, the organization raised over $7 billion dollars to fight climate...
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Will the Delta Variant Send Us Back Into Lockdown?
Science and tech headlines: A consortium of 99 scientists has completed the map of the human genome, discovering more than 2,000 new genes in the process. Autonomous truck startups brought in more than $5 billion in funding in the first five months of 2021. John and Rebecca talk about the promise...
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How to Rebuild After Losing a $6 Billion Business
In the first of a series of interviews with entrepreneurs, John speaks to Jonathan Bush. He is the CEO of Zus Health, a health-tech startup that aims to become the “Build-A-Bear” of digital health platforms for health care providers; the former CEO of Athenahealth; and John Ellis’ first cousin....
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We're Still Not Talking About Climate Change Enough
John interviews Alice Hill, senior fellow for energy and the environment at the Council on Foreign Relations; a former special assistant to President Obama; and author of the upcoming book, The Fight for Climate After COVID-19. Hill talks about how adapting communities to extreme and changing...
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$16 Trillion and Counting: The Index Fund Turns 50 Years Old
Science and tech headlines: England ended all pandemic-related safety restrictions today. The British tabloids are calling it “Freedom Day,” but Rebecca and John don't see it quite the same way. China was the only country to see continued growth in robotics in 2020. News items: Floods in Germany...
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What to Make of ‘the War on Terror’
John interviews General (Retired) Russell Howard, former US Army Commander and founding director of the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point. John asks Howard about whether “the War on Terror” is won and Afghanistan’s fate as US soldiers leave the country. He and John also discuss the...
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France Takes on Google & the FTC Takes on Amazon
Science and tech headlines:The CEO of BioNTech, Ugur Sahin, says vaccine booster shots are critical to beating the pandemic. Apple anticipates a jump in demand for its next line of iPhones, as evidenced by its order to manufacture 90 million of them. News items: REvil, the Russian hacking group...
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What’s Next for Haiti?
John interviews Amy Wilentz, a journalist; author; professor at the University of California, Irvine; and an expert on Haiti. Wilentz describes the situation after last week’s assassination of President Jovenel Moïse. The two also discuss the role of gangs in Haiti; Taiwanese interest in the...
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Why J.D. Vance Terrifies Democrats
Science and tech headlines: Chinese scientists have drawn up plans for a fleet of rockets that could push a potentially Earth-bound asteroid off course. Waters near areas with high levels of amphetamine use can be polluted by trace methamphetamines, and Czech researchers have found that fish can...
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Introducing: The Recount Daily Pod
Every morning on The Recount Daily Pod, host journalist Reena Ninan will break down the most important news of the day, both domestically and abroad. In 5 minutes or less, you’ll walk away feeling smarter and more in sync with the world. Then, tune in for an interview with journalists who are on...
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SPECIAL: ‘A Full-Fledged Economic Cold War’ with David Barboza
John interviews David Barboza, the Pulitzer Prize-winning co-founder of the digital newsmagazine The Wire China. They discuss how the country has changed in the last few decades; why predictions of China’s economic collapse never pan out; the potential for war over Taiwan; and how the Chinese...
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Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman on the Red-Hot Housing Market
Rebecca interviews Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman on the housing market frenzy. They discuss the pandemic’s impact on buyers and sellers; how remote work could revitalize middle America; and the labor and lumber shortages contributing to a lack of inventory. Plus, Glenn offers his top home buying tip.
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Japan’s Toughest Olympic Event? Public Health
John interviews Sheila Smith, a senior fellow on Japan studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. They discuss the successes and failures of Abenomics, the arc of the pandemic in Japan, and the tricky political and public health considerations behind hosting an Olympics during a global crisis.
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Resisting the Resistance with The WSJ’s Gerard Baker
John interviews Gerard Baker, editor-at-large of The Wall Street Journal (and its former editor-in-chief) on his rise to the top of the paper. They discuss what it was like to run the newsroom during the Trump presidency and the era of #Resistance journalism.
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Why China Is Just as Polarized As the US
John interviews Elizabeth Economy, a senior fellow for China studies at the Council on Foreign Relations and a senior fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution. They talk about China’s political history, Xi Jinping’s rise to power and the country’s not-so-unified front.
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How the GOP Became the Trump Party, with The WSJ’s Gerald Seib
John interviews Gerald Seib, executive Washington editor of The Wall Street Journal, and the author of "We Should Have Seen It Coming: From Reagan to Trump—A Front-Row Seat to a Political Revolution." They talk about the evolution of populism within the GOP, how party leadership misread its base…
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Oh, Canada: Always Whining about American Cultural Imperialism
Science and tech headlines: Researchers have mapped in detail how a compound modeled on a natural microorganism produces hydrogen. One distant but possible application: clean energy. mRNA vaccines are one thing, but the next medical revolution could rely on proteins (like parts of the coronavirus...
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Where Is El Chapo’s Money? With Phoebe Eaton
John interviews investigative journalist Phoebe Eaton about her book, “In the Thrall of the Mountain King: The Secret History of El Chapo, the World's Most Notorious Narco.” Phoebe tells John about meeting the drug kingpin’s mother in Culiacán – and how she got her to open up by asking about the...
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How Biden Became a China Hawk
Science and tech headlines: Google’s internet browser, Chrome, will block cookies starting in early 2022. John and Rebecca discuss the implications. Cuba’s three-jab Soberana 2 vaccine has qualified for approval from the WHO, giving the world one more tool in the fight against COVID-19. News…
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Sen. Tom Cotton Part II
In the second half of John’s interview with Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), they talk about what it was like to live through the riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021; Biden’s goals in office; and the Senator’s recent talks with former President Donald Trump. This is a follow up episode to part I of John’s...
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Is Xi Jinping President for Life? with David Barboza
John interviews David Barboza, former Shanghai bureau chief at the New York Times and co-founder of The Wire China. The two discuss China’s leverage on the global economy; the geopolitics of Taiwan; and what’s changed since Barboza first arrived in China in 2004.
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Perpetually Unregulated Crypto Is a Pipe Dream
Science and tech headlines: There are roughly a million animal and plant species at risk of extinction. A special section in The Economist argues biodiversity loss is a threat on par with climate change. A leading Arctic researcher warns that irreversible global warming may already be upon us.…
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Sen. Tom Cotton on the Coronavirus Lab-Leak Theory
John interviews Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) on the Senator’s efforts to sound the alarm about COVID-19 early in 2020; why he thinks the lab-leak theory is the most plausible explanation for the novel coronavirus’s origins; and the CDC’s failure to meet the moment. Part two of the interview, which...
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Elizabeth Holmes: Folk Hero of (Alleged) Fraud
Science and tech headlines: Writing poetry, creating pictures, modeling proteins — the Beijing Academy of Artificial Intelligence’s latest artificial intelligence model appears to be a massive step forward for China’s AI efforts. Could machine learning help us understand (and speak to) whales?…
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About this show
Ninety percent of the news out there tells you nothing about where the world is going — ten percent of it tells you everything. Every afternoon on the News Items Podcast with John Ellis, John and Rebecca Darst focus on that ten percent — news that’s interesting, important or both. The podcast is based on John Ellis’ News Items, an email newsletter that goes out to organizations including the Council on Foreign Relations, Samsung Next, and the Wall Street Journal. Tune in every Monday through Thursday afternoon to hear decades of journalistic experience packed into 20 or so minutes of insight, plus guest interviews on finance, U.S. politics, foreign affairs, science and technology.
Hosted by
The Recount