Question Everything with Brian Reed

3: The Journalist and the Firefighter: How Predicting January 6 Led a Top Reporter to Quit Journalism

How one of the most accomplished reporters of our time, Barton Gellman, lost his confidence in journalism.

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“Question Everything” is a production of KCRW and Placement Theory.

With gripping stories every other Thursday, Question Everything is a show for anyone who's ever felt confused, frustrated, or misled by the news they rely on. At a time when distrust in the media is at an all time high, when so many believe that journalism is failing, Question Everything is a real-time quest to try and make journalism better.  

In the middle of making his second hit podcast, reporter Brian Reed got sued. Accused. Told the biggest story of his career – the Peabody Award-winning series S-Town – wasn’t journalism. Which meant he had to spend years proving that it was. Obsessing over the question, “What is journalism, anyway?” Join Brian as he turns the tools he’s acquired over his years as a journalist on journalism itself. 

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﻿Produced by Placement Theory and KCRW.