Cascade PBS Ideas Festival Cascade PBS

In a live taping of The New Yorker’s Critics at Large podcast, Keefe and a panel discuss the genre's enduring popularity – and its problematic aspects.
The appetite for true crime is more insatiable than ever, but audiences, authors and podcast producers are also grappling with the ethics of the genre. Patrick Radden Keefe, author of books including Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Family and Say Nothing: A True Story of Memory and Murder in Northern Ireland, has made a career out of telling nuanced stories about unconscionable acts and the people who commit them. 
As part of the Cascade PBS Ideas Festival in early May, Keefe got on stage to speak with Alexandra Schwartz, Naomi Fry and Vinson Cunningham, co-hosts of The New Yorker podcast Critics at Large, about his work, the state of true crime and what it's like to write about terrible things. 
In this episode of the Cascade PBS Ideas Festival podcast, Keefe shares his process and his approach to the genre. Rather than dwell on gory details, he seeks to understand the underlying circumstances that lead people to commit crimes. He discusses the role of the journalist in this work, the challenges of adapting this kind of writing for the screen and what he’s learned from past stories, including “The Oligarch’s Son,” an article he wrote for The New Yorker about the sudden death of a London teenager, which he’s currently expanding into a book.  
This conversation was recorded on May 4, 2024. 
---
Credits
Host: Paris Jackson
Producer: Isaac Kaplan-Woolner
Event producers: Jake Newman, Anne O'Dowd
---
If you would like to support Cascade PBS, go to cascadepbs.org. In addition to supporting our events and our daily journalism, members receive complete access to the on-demand programming of Cascade PBS.

In a live podcast taping, historian Heather Cox Richardson debates the nation's founding and the state of democracy ahead of the 2024 election.
Historian Heather Cox Richardson, author of Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America, points out a central tension in American history: The founding fathers penned the idea of equality before the law, but as white male property owners, they could always have meant to exclude some people from participating in their new government. 
As part of the Cascade PBS Ideas Festival in early May, Richardson got on stage to dig into this tension with Celeste Headlee, host of Slate’s  Hear Me Out podcast. The two debated the founders’ intentions, the country’s consistent struggle to live up to its ideals and how this fraught historical context impacts the current state of American democracy.  
In this episode of the Cascade PBS Ideas Festival podcast, Headlee and Richardson discuss the American story and the American dream; how some of these narratives help drive the MAGA movement; the bitter war of ideas taking place in our country and what gives each of them hope despite it all.  
This conversation was recorded on May 4, 2024. 
---
Credits
Host: Paris Jackson
Producer: Isaac Kaplan-Woolner
Event producers: Jake Newman, Anne O'Dowd
---
If you would like to support Cascade PBS, go to cascadepbs.org. In addition to supporting our events and our daily journalism, members receive complete access to the on-demand programming of Cascade PBS.

The Journal co-hosts Kate Linebaugh and Ryan Knutson tackle the gap between bright data points and bad vibes with political correspondent Molly Ball.
Data suggests the U.S. economy is performing well, but many Americans don’t feel that way. How will those feelings influence the 2024 election? 
As part of the Cascade PBS Ideas Festival in early May, Kate Linebaugh and Ryan Knutson, co-hosts of the podcast The Journal, took the stage with Wall Street Journal senior political correspondent Molly Ball to dig into this strange economic picture and its political implications.  
In this episode of the Cascade PBS Ideas Festival podcast, Linebaugh, Knutson and Ball note how economic performance can swing elections, even when that performance is due to factors outside of elected officials’ control. They examine the unique drivers of the current economic picture, from pandemic recovery to inflation. They also debate the ways the economy might impact the Biden/Trump rematch, especially compared to other key issues, such as foreign policy, reproductive rights or political polarization.   
This conversation was recorded on May 4, 2024.  
---
Credits
Host: Paris Jackson
Producer: Isaac Kaplan-Woolner
Event producers: Jake Newman, Anne O'Dowd
---
If you would like to support Cascade PBS, go to cascadepbs.org. In addition to supporting our events and our daily journalism, members receive complete access to the on-demand programming of Cascade PBS.

Lindy West, Meagan Hatcher-Mays and Guy Branum rank Hollywood celebrities and Supreme Court justices in a lighthearted take on pop culture and politics.
New York Times bestselling author Lindy West and democracy expert and “recovering lawyer” Meagan Hatcher-Mays have been best friends for 25 years. Their podcast, Text Me Back!, celebrates that friendship through lively discussions of pop culture, politics, the paranormal and more.  
As part of the Cascade PBS Ideas Festival in early May, West and Hatcher-Mays took the stage with comedian and actor Guy Branum for a raucous, gossip-filled dissection of both Hollywood celebrities and the nine U.S. Supreme Court justices.  
In this episode of the Cascade PBS Ideas Festival podcast, the three laugh their way through Branum’s hot takes on his famous colleagues, from Natalie Portman to Chelsea Handler to Ludacris. They then rank the Supreme Court justices from best to worst and give them snappy taglines in the style of the Bravo television franchise The Real Housewives of New York.  
Along the way, the trio delve into serious political issues, too, from voting and reproductive rights to the entrenched power dynamics of the nation’s highest court.  
This conversation was recorded on May 4, 2024 and contains some strong language.  
---
Credits
Host: Paris Jackson
Producer: Isaac Kaplan-Woolner
Event producers: Jake Newman, Anne O'Dowd
---
If you would like to support Cascade PBS, go to cascadepbs.org. In addition to supporting our events and our daily journalism, members receive complete access to the on-demand programming of Cascade PBS.

Tug of War host David Rind and international correspondent Nada Bashir dig into how the war in Gaza has changed the Middle East and the world.
Since the Hamas attacks of October 7 and the outbreak of the war in Gaza, CNN’s Tug of War podcast has brought listeners into the heart of the conflict.  
As part of the Cascade PBS Ideas Festival in early May, host David Rind and CNN international correspondent Nada Bashir got on stage for a live taping of Tug of War. They discussed Bashir’s reporting in the region – and the unique challenges of covering an unfolding war with decades of context. 
In this episode of the Cascade PBS Ideas Festival podcast, Rind and Bashir explore the horrors taking place in Gaza and the many impacts the war is having on the rest of the region and the world. They discuss the international media’s heavy reliance on Palestinian journalists, as few other reporters have access to Gaza; what many media outlets get wrong and the impact of bias on all sides; and what Bashir will take with her as she continues her work.  
This conversation was recorded on May 4, 2024.  
---
Credits
Host: Paris Jackson
Producer: Isaac Kaplan-Woolner
Event producers: Jake Newman, Anne O'Dowd
---
If you would like to support Cascade PBS, go to cascadepbs.org. In addition to supporting our events and our daily journalism, members receive complete access to the on-demand programming of Cascade PBS.
 

Catch up on every session, featuring speakers such as Malcolm Gladwell, Lindy West and Ta-Nehisi Coates, on our weekly festival podcast.
This year’s Cascade PBS Ideas Festival has officially wrapped. But the insightful conversations that took place on May 4, 2024, are coming soon to a podcast app near you. 
To help launch this season of the Cascade PBS Ideas Festival podcast (formerly Crosscut Talks), host Paris Jackson sat down with events director Jake Newman to chat about this year’s approach to the festival, some of the luminaries who attended and what we can expect to hear in the coming weeks.   
In this short kickoff episode, Newman points to a few guests he’ll be eager to hear from, including author and podcaster Malcolm Gladwell, historian Heather Cox Richardson, writer Ta-Nehisi Coates and CNN international correspondent Nada Bashir. 
A new episode of the Cascade PBS Ideas Festival podcast will air every Monday, beginning May 13. 
---
Credits
Host: Paris Jackson
Producer: Isaac Kaplan-Woolner
Event producers: Jake Newman, Anne O'Dowd
---
If you would like to support Cascade PBS, go to cascadepbs.org. In addition to supporting our events and our daily journalism, members receive complete access to the on-demand programming of Cascade PBS.