The Slow Newscast
The Observer
The Slow Newscast from The Observer takes the news slowly. We investigate, and every week we focus on stories that really matter in the UK and around the world. From wars in Ukraine and Gaza through to true crime and injustice and real life mysteries, The Slow Newscast team is devoted to narrative investigations covering some of the biggest topics of the day.Who are the people biohacking themselves in a quest for immortality? Or the man taking on an entire nation in the high seas to protect whales? And what happened when humanity's most distant messenger fell silent? From a newsroom with a different approach to journalism these are the stories we tell.Subscribe to The Observer and use the code AUDIO50 to get 50% off your annual subscription: Early access, bonus content and ad-free listening to our podcastsA daily edition, curated by our editors 7 days a weekPuzzles from the inventors of the cryptic crosswordRecipes for every occasionFree tickets to join Observer events in our newsroom or online Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Sep 30, 2021 • 37min
Pfizer's war
It’s been said often enough: the pandemic has been like a war. Economically, on civil liberties and the deaths it has caused, it’s hard to find a better comparison. And just like a war it places responsibilities on companies that make vital supplies which are different from peacetime – to profit, but not to profiteer Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Sep 23, 2021 • 50min
Wrong turn: murder and miscarriage of justice
Plenty of people take wrong turns in their lives. But so too can justice systems. John Crilly and hundreds more have been the victims of the legal doctrine of Joint Enterprise and how it has been applied for the past 30 years. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Sep 16, 2021 • 32min
Beau and Biden: Constant companions
Joe Biden’s life has been marked by grief, most recently at the death of his beloved son, Beau. And Beau Biden’s legacy isn’t only personal, it’s political, too. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Sep 9, 2021 • 48min
Orphaned by America
In Donald Trump's America, thousands of children who crossed the border from Mexico were separated from their parents. It's now clear that some of those families - perhaps hundreds - may never be reunited. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Sep 2, 2021 • 54min
Smear: cartels and conspiracies in Oldham
A year ago, journalist Joshi Herrmann got an anonymous tip. It sent him to a website claiming to have evidence of serious corruption, grooming gangs and “cartels” operating in Oldham. From there, Joshi stumbled across a remarkable story about how online conspiracies are poisoning local politics, spilling out from paranoid corners of the internet all the way to the ballot box. And at the heart of it all is on one rather angry man, who calls himself “the recusant”... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Aug 26, 2021 • 1h 2min
Son of Afghanistan
The remarkable story of Rohullah Yakobi, a daring escape, and a 20-year war. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Aug 19, 2021 • 36min
Popbitch: the power of gossip
Over 20 years, a simple email newsletter has reshaped celebrity culture. In a special edition of the Slow Newscast, Claudia Williams tells the story of Popbitch. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Jul 29, 2021 • 44min
Boycott! The lost Olympics
With human rights groups demanding a diplomatic boycott of next year’s Winter Olympics in Beijing, we look back to Moscow 1980, and ask what’s the lesson of the most notorious Olympic boycott in modern times? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Jul 22, 2021 • 43min
The porn headmaster
In the internet age, anyone with a camera can make and sell porn. But what happens when a shoot goes wrong? In the second episode in our Porn Planet series investigating online pornography, we look into the world of porn production Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Jul 15, 2021 • 52min
Genesis: The mystery of where Covid began
The truth of an origin story has never mattered more: did Covid cross to humans from an animal, or did it escape from a laboratory? The arguments have only grown fiercer. And in the fog of war, the World Health Organisation lost its way Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
