

Apple News In Conversation
Apple News
Apple News In Conversation with Shumita Basu brings you interviews with some of the world’s best journalists and experts about the stories that impact our lives. Join us every week as we go behind the headlines.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Sep 24, 2022 • 32min
How the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders transformed sports
The Dallas Cowboys may be “America’s Team,” but the hundreds of women behind the Cowboys Cheerleaders deserve a lot of credit for its success. Journalist Sarah Hepola tells their story in an article for Texas Monthly, “Sex, Scandal, and Sisterhood: Fifty Years of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders,” and in the podcast America’s Girls. Hepola spoke with Apple News In Conversation host Shumita Basu about how the squad’s choreography, costumes, and controversial codes of conduct have changed with American society.

Sep 17, 2022 • 24min
How America bungled COVID school closures — and failed to put children first
Schools across the U.S. closed their doors for 58 weeks during the pandemic. Journalist Anya Kamenetz writes about the ripple effects of school closures in her new book, The Stolen Year: How COVID Changed Children’s Lives, and Where We Go Now. Kamenetz spoke with Apple News In Conversation host Shumita Basu about the consequences of our failure to prioritize kids.

13 snips
Sep 10, 2022 • 19min
Think Again: How to master the art of doing nothing
This interview is part of a new series from Apple News In Conversation called Think Again — a guide to reimagining work, home, relationships, and more. In this episode, In Conversation host Shumita Basu talks with Jenny Odell, an artist and the author of the book How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy. Odell provides strategies for training our attention away from devices and toward the world.

Sep 3, 2022 • 25min
Think Again: Why Americans are so burned out — and how to fix your work-life balance
This is an episode from our archives. It’s re-airing as part of our new series, Think Again, a guide to reimagining work, home, relationships, and more.How’s your relationship to your job? For a lot of people, work-life balance has felt far from perfect for a while. Apple News In Conversation host Shumita Basu speaks with Anne Helen Petersen about her book Out of Office: The Big Problem and Bigger Promise of Working From Home, coauthored with Charlie Warzel. It’s all about how we can adjust the role our jobs play in our lives and focus more time and energy on the things we care about the most. Below are excerpts from the interview.

Aug 27, 2022 • 29min
Think Again: The health and wellness myths almost everyone falls for
This interview is part of a new series from Apple News In Conversation called Think Again — a guide to reimagining work, home, relationships, and more. In this episode, In Conversation host Shumita Basu talks with Aubrey Gordon and Michael Hobbes, hosts of the Maintenance Phase podcast, about how to outsmart the wellness industry, spot junk health science, and find information that will actually help you live healthier. Below are excerpts from the interview.

Aug 20, 2022 • 35min
Think Again: Why relationships fall apart over dirty dishes — and how to avoid the trap
This interview is part of a new series from Apple News In Conversation called Think Again — a guide to reimagining work, home, relationships, and more.
In this episode, In Conversation host Shumita Basu talks with Kate Mangino, a gender expert and the author of the book Equal Partners: Improving Gender Equality at Home. Mangino points to research that shows women still take on the majority of household responsibilities in different-sex relationships — and she argues there’s a better way for partners to balance the mental and physical labor of running a home. Mangino offers strategies to bring more equity and fairness into our partnerships. Below are excerpts from the interview.

Aug 13, 2022 • 26min
Think Again: Malcolm Gladwell’s tips for changing a stubborn mind
Think Again is a new series from Apple News In Conversation. It’s a guide to reimagining work, home, relationships, and more. In the first episode, In Conversation host Shumita Basu talks with Malcolm Gladwell about how to be more open-minded and rethink old ideas.

Aug 6, 2022 • 20min
What it took to bring down R. Kelly
For decades, R. Kelly’s career flourished despite disturbing rumors of sexual assault. Now the singer is finally being held accountable. He was sentenced in June to 30 years in prison for sex trafficking and racketeering, and a second federal trial starts August 15. Apple News In Conversation host Shumita Basu spoke with journalist Jim DeRogatis, who broke the allegations against R. Kelly in 2000.

Jul 30, 2022 • 25min
Inside the dark corners of the internet that breed mass shooters
There’s a common thread between the suspects behind the killing of 23 people at a Walmart in El Paso in 2019, the mass shooting in Buffalo in May, and the attack on a crowd in Highland Park on Independence Day: They were all radicalized online and left behind a trail of digital activity. NBC News reporter Ben Collins spoke with Apple News In Conversation host Shumita Basu about how online spaces are leading to extremism and producing a generation of mass shooters. Below are excerpts from the interview.

Jul 23, 2022 • 26min
Why air travel is such a mess — and what to know before your next flight
This was supposed to be the summer of revenge travel. Instead, air travelers have faced long lines, lost bags, and canceled flights. Scott McCartney has been covering the airline industry for more than two decades. He spoke with Apple News In Conversation host Shumita Basu about how things got so bad — and what can we do about it. Below are excerpts from the interview.


