Reveal
387 episodes - English - Latest episode: 19 days ago - ★★★★★ - 7.6K ratingsReveal’s investigations will inspire, infuriate and inform you. Host Al Letson and an award-winning team of reporters deliver gripping stories about caregivers, advocates for the unhoused, immigrant families, warehouse workers and formerly incarcerated people, fighting to hold the powerful accountable. The New Yorker described Reveal as “a knockout … a pleasure to listen to, even as we seethe.” A winner of multiple Peabody, duPont, Emmy and Murrow awards, Reveal is produced by the nation’s first investigative journalism nonprofit, The Center for Investigative Reporting, and PRX. From unearthing exploitative working conditions to exposing the nation’s racial disparities, there’s always more to the story. Learn more at revealnews.org/learn.
Homepage Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
Episodes
10 Years or Life
October 06, 2018 07:00 - 50 minutes - 45.9 MBAn accused man faces an impossible choice in New Orleans. Plus, a new district attorney in Philadelphia sets out to undo the work of those who came before him. From reporters Eve Abrams and Laura Starecheski, and editor Catherine Winter.
When They Took My Son
September 29, 2018 07:00 - 50 minutes - 46.5 MBA 6-year-old child sleeps in a vacant office building, surrounded by strangers. An infant is taken from his breastfeeding mother. We examine the stories of two families separated at the U.S.-Mexico border and how what happened to them matches up with what the government said was supposed to happen. From Reveal’s Aura Bogado, and Neena Satija (who also works with our partners at The Texas Tribune), Anayansi Diaz-Cortes, along with Casey Miner. Don’t miss out on the next big story....
Coming Soon: When They Took My Son
September 27, 2018 05:07 - 2 minutes - 2 MBAt 7 years old, Wilson was taken from his mother as part of the Trump administration’s policy of family separation this summer. Our next show tells you what happened to him.
Never Meet Your (Super) Heroes
September 22, 2018 07:00 - 50 minutes - 46.4 MBThere’s a new battlefield in the culture wars: comic books. The alt-right now has gotten in the business, led by a buxom, Confederate flag-waving superhero named Rebel and a white vigilante who turns immigrants over to ICE. Don’t miss out on the next big story. Get the Weekly Reveal newsletter today.
Misconceptions (rebroadcast)
September 15, 2018 07:00 - 49 minutes - 45.8 MBDesperate to have a child, a couple puts its trust in a fertility clinic that promises more than it can deliver. They enter a world where some clinics take unnecessary risks to make them look far more successful than they are in reality. From reporter Jonathan Jones and Reveal’s Bernice Yeung and Emily Harris. Don’t miss out on the next big story. Get the Weekly Reveal newsletter today.
The Messy Truth About Victim Compensation
September 08, 2018 07:00 - 50 minutes - 46.4 MBVictim compensation funds are supposed to help victims of crime cover lost wages or funeral expenses. But Reveal teamed up with The Marshall Project and discovered that in some states, African Americans are disproportionately hurt by rules on how that money is handed out. Then, Reveal reporters Amy Julia Harris and Shoshana Walter uncover a scheme at a drug rehabilitation facility in the mountains of North Carolina, where clients are being used as a source of free labor. Don’t mis...
Flood Thy Neighbor
September 01, 2018 07:00 - 50 minutes - 46.2 MBSome people who live along the Mississippi River are willing to do anything to keep their homes and farms safe from flooding – even if it means inundating their own neighbors. This week, we team up with ProPublica to investigate how rising waters have set off a race to build the highest levee. Don’t miss out on the next big story. Get the Weekly Reveal newsletter today.
How Bernie Made Off: Are we safe from the next Ponzi scheme? (rebroadcast)
August 25, 2018 07:00 - 50 minutes - 46.1 MB*This show was originally broadcast February 3, 2018. *It’s been ten years since former NASDAQ chairman Bernie Madoff was arrested for committing one of the largest financial crimes in U.S. history. For decades he ran a Ponzi scheme from a secret office in New York, duping thousands of investors out of billions of dollars. Many of them lost everything when the house of cards fell. How did Madoff pull it off? And what steps have regulators taken in the past decade to ensure that it...
Across the Desert and the Sea (rebroadcast)
August 18, 2018 07:00 - 51 minutes - 46.8 MBAfrican migrants fleeing persecution or seeking opportunity often end up in Libya, where they are tortured and trafficked. Many try to escape to Europe, only to be intercepted at sea and returned to Libya. On this episode of Reveal, we trace their journey and explore how Europe’s immigration policy is helping Libyan warlords and putting migrants at risk. This episode was originally broadcast on May 19, 2018. In the first segment, reporter Raphaël Krafft takes us to the open waters ...
No place to run (rebroadcast)
August 11, 2018 07:00 - 51 minutes - 46.8 MBIn Texas, the foster care system is failing the vulnerable children it’s meant to protect, leaving many without a safe place to live. Foster children often end up on the streets or in jail, which is one of the few places where they can receive treatment services. This week we look into the crisis in foster care, and efforts to fix it. Don’t miss out on the next big story. Get the Weekly Reveal newsletter today.
Trapped: Abuse and Neglect in Private Care
August 04, 2018 07:00 - 50 minutes - 46.3 MBDeep in the backroads of central Florida, hidden between trees dripping with Spanish moss, sits the campus of an infamous center for the developmentally disabled. Its story shows what can happen when families have nowhere else to find care for their loved ones. After years of complaints, Carlton Palms is finally being shut down. But its parent company, Bellwether Behavioral Health, is still running group homes across the country, where new allegations have arisen. WNYC reporter Au...
Take No Prisoners: Inside a WWII American War Crime
July 28, 2018 07:00 - 50 minutes - 46.5 MBIn December 1944, Adolf Hitler surprised the Allies with a secret counterattack through the Ardennes forest, known today as the Battle of the Bulge. In the carnage that followed, there was one incident that top military commanders hoped would be concealed. It’s the story of an American war crime nearly forgotten to history. After desperate house-to-house fighting between German and American forces, American soldiers wrested control of the Belgian town of Chenogne. Americans rounded...
Poisoned, Ignored and Evicted: The Perils of Living With Lead (rebroadcast)
July 21, 2018 07:00 - 50 minutes - 46.6 MBOld paint, old pipes and demolition dust often are sources of toxic lead. It’s a poison known to cause neurological damage in children. For adults, new science shows lead exposure increases the risk of heart disease. Reveal investigates the lurking threat from the dust of urban demolitions to the wilds of Wyoming. This episode was originally broadcast March 31, 2018. In Detroit, dust is a particular concern. Because of the population drop, the city is tearing down tens of thousands...
Behind Trump's Energy Dominance
July 14, 2018 07:00 - 50 minutes - 46.6 MBPresident Donald Trump has pledged allegiance to what he calls America’s “energy dominance.” This is good news for the oil and gas industry. We examine what this means for Alaskan villagers coping with climate change, Native American artifacts in Utah and birds flying over the U.S. * *To find out, we talk with a former Interior Department official who became a whistleblower after helping relocate Alaskan Native villages threatened by rising temperatures. We also examine the ener...
Families Splintered Apart, by Government and by Storms
July 07, 2018 07:00 - 50 minutes - 46.6 MBThis week, we continue our ongoing investigation into what happens to immigrant children after they’re detained by the U.S. government. Our latest story investigates a vacant office building being used by a defense contractor to house children. Then, we travel to the Gulf Coast to learn why last year was the costliest hurricane season on record. In Houston, we discover that homes flooded by Hurricane Harvey were actually built inside a reservoir. We end on the Louisiana coast, whe...
Hunting the Ghost Fleet
June 30, 2018 07:00 - 50 minutes - 46.3 MBThis week’s episode of Reveal investigates shark fishing in Central America and a U.S.-based seafood company that claims to be a model of sustainability. We start in the jungles of El Salvador, where reporter Sarah Blaskey and photojournalist Ben Feibleman investigate one of the largest shark-fishing operations in the region. The men who crew these boats are migrants from Vietnam who work under grueling conditions. Next, we follow reporters from The Associated Press as they contin...
Al Letson Reveals: Pussy Riot
June 28, 2018 07:00 - 12 minutes - 11.5 MBFar from the World Cup stadium cheers, a prisoner held in Russia is six weeks into a hunger strike. Reveal host Al Letson talks with Masha Alyokhina, a founding member of the Russian feminist punk rock collective Pussy Riot, about the efforts to free Oleg Sentsov, a Ukrainian filmmaker convicted of an armed plot during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He denies any involvement. His supporters fear U.S. President Donald Trump has undermined their cause. Alyokhina knows the topic well: ...
Ripped Apart: Families Separated at the Border
June 23, 2018 07:00 - 51 minutes - 46.7 MBPresident Donald Trump said he was ending family separation at the border this week. But we’ve stayed on the story, investigating the issues that remain: children being drugged at migrant shelters, asylum-seekers being denied at ports of entry and the problems with Trump’s new detention plan. Don’t miss out on the next big story. Get the Weekly Reveal newsletter today.
Reveal Answers Your Questions About Immigration
June 09, 2018 04:00 - 51 minutes - 46.7 MBLast fall, we threw out a simple question after a show about U.S. immigration policies: What do you wish you knew about immigration? Across the country, listeners responded with hundreds of text messages – from small towns in Iowa, Colorado and Massachusetts to big cities such as Los Angeles, Atlanta and Chicago. We chose four questions and took our team of reporters and producers to task to answer them. To figure out the answers, we go deep into immigration court, help one list...
Cops on a Crime Spree
June 02, 2018 04:00 - 53 minutes - 48.7 MBBaltimore’s police department was already notorious. But this year, eight former police officers were convicted on federal racketeering charges stemming from an FBI investigation. They belonged to an elite task force charged with getting guns off the city’s streets. Instead, the plainclothes cops roamed Baltimore neighborhoods at will, robbing people on the street, breaking into homes to steal money, drugs or guns and planting evidence on their victims. The targets of the Gun Trac...
Inside a Rehab Empire
May 31, 2018 04:00 - 26 minutes - 24.3 MBThe collision of the opioid epidemic with criminal justice reform has created a boom for the rehab industry. Those with wealth and insurance often are able to pay thousands of dollars for private long-term programs. But the less fortunate have become easy prey for rehabs with a tantalizing promise: freedom from addiction for free. Reveal reporters Amy Julia Harris and Shoshana Walter have been uncovering the ways that some of these rehabs exploit their desperate clients. In this e...
What cops aren't learning (rebroadcast)
May 26, 2018 07:00 - 51 minutes - 46.7 MBSome police departments are embracing a set of tactics designed to reduce the use of force – and prevent police shootings. Rather than rushing in aggressively, officers back off, wait out people in crisis and use words instead of weapons. But this training isn't required in most states. Reveal teams up with APM Reports and finds that most cops spend a lot more time training to shoot their guns than learning how to avoid firing them. This episode was originally broadcast on May 6...
Across the Desert and the Sea
May 19, 2018 04:05 - 50 minutes - 46.3 MBAfrican migrants fleeing persecution or seeking opportunity often end up in Libya, where they are tortured and trafficked. Many try to escape to Europe, only to be intercepted at sea and returned to Libya. On this episode of Reveal, we bring you one reporter’s dispatch from a treacherous migrant rescue operation and explore how Europe’s immigration policy is helping Libyan warlords. Don’t miss out on the next big story. Get the Weekly Reveal newsletter today.
Reveal Presents: The View from Room 205
May 12, 2018 04:05 - 51 minutes - 46.7 MBIn 2014, WBEZ Chicago reporter Linda Lutton followed a class of fourth-graders at William Penn Elementary School on Chicago’s West Side. She wanted to explore a big idea that’s at the heart of the American dream: Can public schools be the great equalizer in society, giving everyone a chance to succeed, no matter where they come from or how much money their families have? Lutton told the story in a Peabody Award-nominated show, “The View from Room 205.” This week, Reveal presents a ...
More to the Story: Wildfires
May 09, 2018 16:24 - 19 minutes - 26 MBReveal revisits our investigation into California’s deadliest wildfires. Last October, more than 170 fires ripped across Northern California, burning more than 9,000 buildings, causing millions of dollars in damage and killing 44 people. Along with our partners at KQED we’ll examine what’s being done to ensure that emergency response failures are not repeated as the next wildfire season approaches. Don’t miss the next big story. Get the Weekly Reveal newsletter today.
More to the Story: Redlining
May 05, 2018 04:05 - 17 minutes - 24.3 MBReveal digs deep – and gets results. By mining data from 31 million records, we discovered a pattern of routine mortgage loan denials to applicants of color in more than 60 U.S. metropolitan areas. Our story led to attorneys generals’ investigations and lawmakers’ demands for accountability at the federal, state and city levels. It also led to thousands of questions from you, our listeners. Our reporters answered a handful of them. Don’t miss the next big story. Get the Weekly Reve...
Institutions of Higher Earning (rebroadcast)
April 28, 2018 04:05 - 51 minutes - 46.7 MBAcross the country, universities are being criticized over issues of money: from how they spend their endowments, to how they raise tuition, to how they award financial aid. Many students are feeling the pinch. They’re going into debt to pay for their education, or abandoning their dreams of a college degree altogether. This week on Reveal, we take a look at the bottom line for universities and students. This episode was originally broadcast on Dec. 9, 2017. Don’t miss out on the n...
Trumping Hate
April 21, 2018 04:05 - 50 minutes - 46.3 MBThere’s been a lot of conversation about whether Donald Trump has inspired a new wave of hate in America. Reveal reporter Will Carless set out to understand the president’s role in hundreds of hate incidents across the country, with help from the Documenting Hate project led by ProPublica. He found a striking pattern that extended across races, religions and sexual orientation. We also examine what’s going on inside the government agency that’s supposed to be fighting discriminatio...
Tesla and Beyond: Hidden Problems of Silicon Valley
April 14, 2018 04:05 - 50 minutes - 46.7 MBTech companies in Silicon Valley are under the microscope for not living up to their idealistic pledges to save the world. On this week’s episode of Reveal, we investigate companies on the cutting edge that are struggling to solve some old-fashioned problems: Worker safety at Tesla, and diversity at Google and beyond. — Don’t miss out on the next big story. Get the Weekly Reveal newsletter today.
Trump’s Mystery Mansion
April 12, 2018 04:05 - 12 minutes - 11.8 MBIn 2008, a small-time scam artist transferred a Beverly Hills mansion to Donald Trump for $0. Reveal reporters Lance Williams and Matt Smith tried to figure out why. The people involved in the deal say it was all a mistake. Real estate experts have never seen anything like it. Join us for a stranger-than-fiction tale on this special Reveal podcast. — Don’t miss out on the next big story. Get the Weekly Reveal newsletter today.
Checking into President Trump’s Washington DC Hotel
April 07, 2018 04:05 - 50 minutes - 46.2 MBIn 2016, the Justice Department alleged that Malaysian officials stole billions of dollars from their people and funneled some of it through the United States. Reveal teamed up with Washington D.C.’s public radio station, WAMU, to dig into one of the largest investigations ever by the Justice Department’s Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative. It’s a tale that features cameos from Leonardo DiCaprio, Donald Trump, the world’s largest yacht, a Malaysian playboy known for his lavish ...
Full of Lead: How Bullets are Poisoning Eagles
April 04, 2018 22:10 - 14 minutes - 13.5 MBLead – the toxic metal used for years in paint, plumbing, mining and more – still poisons people in all kinds of ways. Lead also kills wildlife when animals scavenge carcasses shot with lead bullets and left behind by hunters. Eagles and condors are not the hunters’ intended targets, but they’re dying from bullet dust. The Obama administration tried to phase out all lead ammunition on certain federal lands right before leaving office. But President Donald Trump’s interior secretary...
Poisoned, ignored and evicted: The perils of living with lead
March 31, 2018 04:05 - 39 minutes - 35.9 MBThe toxic water of Flint, Michigan, reminded us that lead is a very persistent poison. This week, Reveal investigates the lurking threat of lead from the dust of urban demolitions to the wilds of Wyoming. Hear how contractors help one another cut corners on demolitions, putting kids at risk, while city officials study the problem. Meet a public health nurse who explains why she advises families to choose a homeless shelter over a lead-tainted apartment, and learn how childhood lead...
Where criminals get their guns (rebroadcast)
March 24, 2018 04:05 - 51 minutes - 46.7 MBAcross the country, criminals are arming themselves in unexpected ways. In Florida, they’re stealing guns from unlocked cars and gun stores. In other places, they’re getting them from the police themselves, as cash-strapped departments sell their used weapons to buy new ones. On this episode of Reveal, we learn where criminals get their guns and what cars can teach us about gun safety. — To explore more reporting, visit revealnews.org or find us on fb.com/ThisIsReveal, Twitter @re...
The kids aren’t all right (rebroadcast)
March 17, 2018 04:05 - 51 minutes - 46.7 MBFederal law requires colleges and universities to track and disclose sexual assaults on campus. It’s different for kindergarten through 12th grade, where there are no similar requirements for cases involving assaults between students. In elementary, middle and high schools across the U.S., the Associated Press found a shocking level of sexual violence among students. The AP also uncovered a new dimension to the problem – on U.S. military bases. On this episode of Reveal, we delve...
Built to Burn
March 14, 2018 04:05 - 17 minutes - 15.7 MBLast year, California had its deadliest and most destructive wildfire season in recorded history. No fire killed more people or burned down more buildings than the Tubbs Fire. Reveal investigates what made the Tubbs Fire so devastating by delving into the history of one of the hardest-hit neighborhoods. — Head over to revealnews.org for more of our reporting. Follow us on Facebook at fb.com/ThisIsReveal and on Twitter @reveal. And to see some of what you’re hearing, we’re also o...
Warning System Down: California’s Deadliest Fires
March 10, 2018 05:05 - 35 minutes - 32.3 MBWildfires raged across Northern California in October, burning through the state’s famed Napa and Sonoma wine regions. In all, more than 170 blazes ripped across an area the size of Maryland and Delaware combined. Scores awoke to flames at their doors, and 44 people were killed in the deadliest fire event in state history. On this episode of Reveal, we team up with KQED to examine what led to delays in evacuations and why so many fire victims received no warnings at all. As wildfir...
Video: Atomic vets
March 08, 2018 05:05 - 184 MB VideoHundreds of thousands of U.S. veterans took part in nuclear tests after World War II, and into the Cold War. Many of these vets suffer long-term health issues including lung problems and cancer, and many haven’t received compensation for their injuries and feel abused, neglected and forgotten by the government and a country that exposed them to unforeseen risks. This story of the veterans who witnessed secret atomic testing is a co-production with our friends at the RetroReport. ...
Deja Nuke: Return of the Nuclear Threat
March 03, 2018 05:05 - 51 minutes - 46.7 MBWith the threat of nuclear war once again a part of the national conversation, Reveal looks at nuclear threats both foreign and domestic. This episode takes listeners to Iran and finds out what life is actually like inside North Korea. As the Trump administration pushes for the biggest increase in spending on nuclear weapons since the Cold War, Reveal explores how they’ve changed. Instead of annihilation, think “flexible” nuclear weapons that can threaten “limited” nuclear war. Tha...
My Town, Chi-Town
February 24, 2018 05:05 - 50 minutes - 46.3 MBChicago is experiencing a reversal of the great migration that propelled African Americans northward in search of opportunity in the first half of the 20th century. Since 2000, a quarter-million black Chicagoans have left. The reasons include decades of bad policy and broken promises on affordable housing, education and public safety. On this episode of Reveal, we team up with the Data Reporting Lab in Chicago to examine how trauma care teams have done more than law enforcement to ...
The red line: Racial disparities in lending
February 17, 2018 05:05 - 50 minutes - 46 MBIt’s been 10 years since the great housing bust and lending is back. Not everyone is getting a fair shot at getting a loan. In dozens of cities across the country, lenders are more likely to deny loans to applicants of color than white ones – even when you take into account how much money they make and how much they want to borrow. This type of housing discrimination was outlawed 50 years ago but it’s making a comeback. On this episode of Reveal, we dig into the new redlining. Thi...
Dropped and dismissed: Child sex abuse lost in the system (rebroadcast)
February 10, 2018 05:05 - 51 minutes - 46.7 MBThe scandal around USA Gymnastics and former Olympic team doctor Larry Nassar is shining a spotlight on the sexual abuse of young athletes. This week, Reveal revisits the story of a woman who decides to confront the coach she says abused her decades earlier. Reporter Tennessee Watson was abused by her gymnastics coach when she was a kid in the 1980s. Over 25 years later, when she learned he still was coaching children, she called the police. Her inside account of the arduous proces...
How Bernie Made Off: Are we safe from the next Ponzi scheme?
February 03, 2018 05:05 - 50 minutes - 45.9 MBBernard Madoff may be a fading memory from the past, but for reporter Steve Fishman, the fallen financier’s story holds lessons for today. Madoff masterminded one of the biggest Ponzi schemes in history, duping thousands of investors out of tens of billions of dollars. His scam rocked Wall Street for years. In this episode, we trace the rise and fall of Madoff through Fishman, who spent years interviewing investors, regulators and even Madoff himself from inside federal prison. We ...
Too Many Pills
January 27, 2018 05:05 - 51 minutes - 46.7 MBOn Reveal, we share how the government failed to stop the opioid epidemic. A Washington Post/60 Minutes partnership with Reveal tells the story of how a DEA insider and his team of lawyers and investigators tried to stop drug distribution companies from flooding America with truckloads of pain pills. His effort was met with backlash from his own agency, the drug industry and Congress. We also hear the intimate chronicle of one wife’s discovery of her husband’s video diaries after hi...
Too Many Pills
January 27, 2018 05:05 - 51 minutes - 46.7 MBOn Reveal, we share how the government failed to stop the opioid epidemic. A Washington Post/60 Minutes partnership with Reveal tells the story of how a DEA insider and his team of lawyers and investigators tried to stop drug distribution companies from flooding America with truckloads of pain pills. His effort was met with backlash from his own agency, the drug industry and Congress. We also hear the intimate chronicle of one wife’s discovery of her husband’s video diaries after hi...
#MeToo: Rape on the Night Shift
January 20, 2018 05:05 - 51 minutes - 46.7 MBThe #MeToo movement has swept from Hollywood to Capitol Hill. The careers of powerful men ended as women spoke out against workplace harassment and assault. On this episode of Reveal, we look at what happens when the people involved aren’t celebrities or powerful. We team up with KQED, the UC Berkeley Investigative Reporting Program, FRONTLINE and Univision to investigate sexual violence against female janitors. They usually work alone at night and that isolation can leave them vu...
The mystery of Mountain Jane Doe (rebroadcast)
January 13, 2018 05:05 - 51 minutes - 46.7 MBInvestigators dig up an unidentified murder victim, 45 years after she was buried, in an attempt to give her back her name. The exhumation leads to a series of unexpected revelations about who she was and why she may have been killed. Her case speaks to the complexity – and importance – of opening up cold cases. This Reveal story is one of thousands from the crisis of America’s unidentified dead. Head over to revealnews.org for more of our reporting. Follow us on Facebook at fb.co...
Video: Fought for, Forgotten
January 11, 2018 06:27 - 187 MB VideoThis short film was produced by the Glassbreaker Films team at The Center for Investigative Reporting. Glassbreaker Films is an all-female group of filmmakers working to promote gender parity in investigative journalism and documentary filmmaking. Competing threats to the bayous of Louisiana are leaving some Donald Trump supporters torn between the president’s various policies. The shrimping industry, which accounts for 15,000 jobs in the state, has seen a drastic decline in sales ...
The Tide is High
January 06, 2018 05:05 - 51 minutes - 46.7 MBThe damage inflicted on the United States by hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria will likely make the 2017 hurricane season the costliest in our history. But what is the government doing to prepare for the storms yet to come. In this hour, Reveal goes to Texas, Louisiana and Puerto Rico to investigate the government policies that let people build in harm’s way, make it difficult to move them to safety and fail to accurately tally the dead. Head over to revealnews.org for more of our...
A Revealing Year
December 30, 2017 05:05 - 51 minutes - 46.7 MBReveal has had a busy year – our team has chased stories from Oklahoma to Bermuda. We exposed a rehab program that provides labor at a chicken processing plant that’s been called a slave camp and followed the money trail of the Paradise Papers, leaked documents that revealed international tax shelters for some of America’s biggest companies. We reported on the rise of hate crimes and investigated hate groups. In this episode, we look at some of our best reporting from 2017 and how ...