In an age of constant breaking news, it can be hard to tell what matters and what’s just noise. This week, a look at what we’ve learned from recent coverage of the Russia investigation, and what we’ve missed everywhere else — particularly in West Virginia, where a recent teachers' strike made history. Plus, a dive into the complicated history of country music and why we so often get it wrong.
1. Marcy Wheeler [@emptywheel], independent investigative reporter, on decontextualized Mueller scooplets. Listen.
2. Sarah Jaffe [@sarahljaffe], journalist and co-host of the podcast Belabored, on the teachers' strike in West Virginia, and Elizabeth Catte [@elizabethcatte], historian and writer, on the news media's narratives regarding Appalachia. Listen.
3. J. Lester Feder [@jlfeder], world correspondent for Buzzfeed News, on the political history of country music. Listen.
4. Nadine Hubbs [@nadinehubbs], author of Rednecks, Queers and Country Music, on our assumptions about the working class. Listen.
**Note: This program originally contained an interview with the New York Times' Farhad Manjoo discussing an experiment in which he got his news only from print journalism and "unplugged from Twitter and other social networks" for two months. That interview was pulled after further reporting revealed that he did no such thing.**
Music:
"Tipico" by Miguel Zenon
"Susan (The Sage)" by The Chico Hamilton Quintet
"Death Have Mercy / Breakaway" by Regina Carter
"Dinner Music for a Pack" of Hungry Cannibals by Raymond Scott
"Okie from Muskogee" by Merle Haggard
"Fightin' Side of Me" by Merle Haggard
"The Pill" by Loretta Lynn
"Watching You" by Rodney Atkins
"Pictures from Life's Other Side" by Hank Williams, Sr.
"Friends In Low Places" by Garth Brooks
"Redneck Woman" by Gretchen Wilson
"Take This Job and Shove It" by Johnny Paycheck
"F— Aneta Briant" by David Allan Coe
"Irma Jackson" by Merle Haggard
"They Don't Know" by Jason Aldean
"Wild Mountain Thyme" by Buddy Emmons
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