NPR is my primary source of news, if we don’t count Bluesky and let’s not. I appreciate NPR’s relentlessly calm, measured tone, especially in contrast to what I’ve been forced to see/hear from programs that are not legally allowed to categorize themselves as news, such as F0xNews. But on the other hand, sometimes they are SO calm and measured, I miss that something enormous has happened. “Israel and the U.S. applied military strikes in Iran. Iran has confirmed the death of their Supreme Leader, and an estimated forty of their highest-ranking officials. Breezy and sunny today, possible snow flurries, highs in the 40s.” “The Pentagon canceled a contract with Anthropic AI, after Anthropic said their AI could not be used to spy on U.S. citizens or to use autonomous deadly force without human involvement. The Pentagon has made a new contract with OpenAI. Now it’s time for the weekly puzzle, with Will Shortz.”
Two of my weakest subjects are history and geography and, as you’ve heard me say before, I did not truly tune into politics until 2015. This means that when my country teams up with Israel and bombs Iran, I need a lot of relentlessly calm, measured context, and I need to hear it repeatedly until it starts to sink in. I had a 7-hour drive (Edward was home for an infusion and needed to be returned to school), and I listened to hours of commentary, trying to understand. By about the third run-through, I felt I had the gist, or at least the outline of the gist.
But I think NPR could go even a little deeper/clearer, or perhaps have a daily/weekly program for people who need remedial-level news. For example, I needed them to tell me what a Supreme Leader is. It SOUNDS important. But what IS it? If someone killed the United States’ “Supreme Leader,” who would that be, approximately? And it wouldn’t be silly to remind me what our own government’s rules are about killing one of those. And maybe go ahead and do a little sidebar on which one is Iran and which one is Iraq. That kind of thing.
Also, sometimes NPR tries to put things into a relatable context, but I feel like they miss. The other day, they were explaining that Russia says they’ll only make a peace deal with Ukraine if Ukraine gives Russia a large chunk of Ukraine—about a quarter of it. The newscaster said that Ukraine is about the size of Texas, so this would be like if the United States had to give up a quarter of Texas to another country in order to stop that country from attacking it. NO. No. I am bad at geography, but I am good at similes. This is like if the United States had to give up a quarter OF THE UNITED STATES to another country, in order to stop that country from attacking us.
Especially in the last year, it seems the NPR
coverage is even more measured than,
say in 2024, when it comes to Orange Voldermort. They have to be feeling the pressure and threat of unfounded lawsuits from OV like the other major news outlets.
Swistle,
I’ve been reading your blog for a while but never commenting. I’m about the same age as Rob and live in France.
Although the politics/news in France are maybe less dire, they are still very scary, and I have been practicing a “know just enough to make my own life, voting, and charity-choosing decisions and then ignore all the rest” policy. This feels like no longer enough, but I don’t quite know how to do more while still preserving a sliver of mental health.
Reading your blog, it feels like you’re fighting all of your natural inclinations to know about what’s going on and stand against it, even if it is difficult for you, and I would like you to know how inspired and grateful I am.
I am aware that it is a weird comment so I will stop there and get on with my day. I hope your day is as great as it can be !
“I hope your day is as great as it can be !”–I love that!
The Daily podcast by the New York Times has a focused episode on this today. I think they do a good job is stepping through the history that gives a good background in understanding the situation. I love their deep dive issues and they definitely me understand an issue better.
I used to listen to NPR a lot starting in the 90s and up until 2016. Then I just couldn’t bear the risk of hearing his voice without warning, so I stopped and never got back into the habit even during the Biden years. I read the paper daily and as we struggle with whether to keep getting the Post, which is becoming increasingly problematic, I keep remembering I could listen to NPR, but I still don’t (though I listen to a lot of NPR podcasts or podcasts that used to be NPR podcasts).
Same.
I used to wake up every morning to the voice of Steve Inskeep telling me what was going on in the world. After the news on the morning of Wed. Nov 9, 2016 I never listened again to NPR morning news. I still *read* NPR stories, and support our local NPR station in a big way, because they are one of few remaining news orgs reporting on local news. But never listen in the morning, the way I used to.
For an overview/dip into the history of Iran, I can recommend the graphic novel Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi. It’s YA, as it is an autobiographical account of her childhood and young adulthood in Iran around the time of the revolution in the 70s (? it’s been a while since I read it- we’re all doing our best). It’s a good combination of engaging and informative and the illustrations are great- deceptively simple. Just a thought if gaining information helps you feel better.
It wasn’t my personal cup of tea, but I think -Reading Lolita in Tehran- has been helpful for a lot of people about the changes in Iran and what life was like there before and after the 1979 Revolution. That Revolution is the one remembered in the US as creating “Iranian Hostage Crisis” which led to Reagan’s victory in 1980. In case you prefer your history in a novel version!
I think “Reading Lolita in Tehran” might be a very good recommendation. In case it’s helpful, I only remember one of the chapters being about Lolita specifically. There is also one about Reading Jane Austen in Tehran, which forever changed the way I think about Western vs. Muslim culture. And it is primarily a book about adult women grappling with big political things in a very everyday normal people kind of way. (It has been a couple decades since I read it though – I may be remembering some things wrong). Persepolis is also very good, and there is a movie for people like me who never really learned how to read graphic novels. I think the movie has less detail on some of the really dark stuff, but maybe that is ok.
If you want to do a deep dive to learn about some of these issues, (and sometimes one doesn’t want to!), may I suggest John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight? He goes in depth, it’s incredibly well researched, and yet enough humor is included to not feel all doom and gloom. He also tries to end every episode with something you can do to help. It’s all on Youtube. I’m sure he has an episode on the tensions in the middle east, Iran’s political structure, all the background.
Also, if you weren’t able to find this elsewhere – The Supreme Leader is the religious leader of Iran. But the religious institutions guide the secular government. So he’s a little like if the Pope lived in the USA, the USA’s official religion was Catholicism, and the Pope not only advised the president, but also helped make laws and make sure the government enforced Catholic values in society/when law making. In Iran, you can’t run for office without the ok from the religious institutions. Hope this is a helpful explanation and I’m not making you more confused!
I’m staring at a map of the United States. I’m wondering WHICH quarter of the U.S. Americans would be willing to become part of Russia, in order to stop the relentless and ongoing and deadly attacks by Russia.
Maybe the eastern seaboard—Maine to Florida and west to, let’s see, maybe draw a line drawn through Michigan, Indiana, and on down to Tennessee and Alabama. Plus a quarter of Alaska and Hawaii. The new borders to be decided on by the Russian aggressor.
Then finally! Peace with Russia FOREVER! Right?
🤯 🤯 🤯 🤯🤯
Sharing another resource for learning about Iran from a geography/history perspective. Rick Steves, the travel writer, created a beautiful one-hour documentary for PBS. It’s old (2009) but still worth a watch I think. https://youtu.be/CYoa9hI3CXg
Before 1979, Iran had a monarchy, led by the Shah (king) who was supported by the Carter administration, even as his power collapsed. There was a revolution, led by students and theologians, and the US embassy was captured leading to a hostage situation. When it all shook out, the religious leaders were leading the country. The leader who was just killed was the second of the Ayatollahs (religious leaders) to be in charge of Iran. The country’s laws and institutions were all religious-based.
Now, as there are different types of Christian (like e.g. Orthodox, Catholic, Baptist), so there are different types of Muslim, and Iran’s are mainly (and the rulers are) Shi’a, whereas most of what you would call the Middle East or Arabs are (mostly) a different type (Sunni). So they don’t 100% get on with each other. Which is one reason why Saudi and other Arab countries are on the “side” of US & Israel against Iran.
Hope this helps. And that it’s over soon. (And that I haven’t made a huge glaring mistake in that!)
I really like Politico and Slate. Politico is very neutral, with a few guest articles that are clearly opinion pieces. it’s focused on politics – who is working with who and the consequences of different outcomes. Their international desks carefully explain how different governments work without making me feel dumb. Their audience is lawmakers so nothing about the zeitgeist.
Slate is very left leaning with an annoying paywall but excellent analysis especially of the courts.
I like being able to read analysis to understand issues beyond headlines. CNNs new paywall for anything beyond headlines will make America dumber -but I don’t think their long form articles are worth the cost.
I’ve been listening to the podcast The Rest is History. Maybe you would like it? They just did a series on Iran before all this happened. Otherwise I would have had no idea who the Supreme Leader was either. They’re British and not talking about current events so it’s easy for me to listen to when I can’t handle hearing any more current events.
If you would like more in depth information but still presented in very easy to understand way, let me suggest the website Fronts.co and the associated youtube channels WarFronts and HomeFronts. They are a relatively new media company but do fantastic work.
I recommend following sharonsaysso on Instagram. She is known as America’s government teacher and she’s really helped me learn more and feel more confident about current events.
Fitting Headline! A couple of new cycles ago I read an Instagram post that said every week feels like another Netflix miniseries, and I can’t stop thinking about that, it keeps being proven right every week! And despite all that is happening, I somehow feel that the other shoot is still to drop.
I really like Jessica Yellin‘s News not Noise, she even addresses the issue of anxiety and how to handle it in the consumption of news. if you don’t want to send money on her substack, you’ll get a lot of information just following her on Instagram.
Here in Germany we have public television children’s news which I like to use as a starting point for any new and confusing developments (they are called logo) and a public radio station podcast called “Wissen mit Johnny” that covers everything from the E*stein files to dinosaurs.
I like to spend 5-10 minutes each morning reading Heather Cox Richardson’s substack called “Letters from an American”; it’s also in podcast form. She’s a historian who weaves connections from what’s happening today to past events. She provides straightforward context, minimal opinion, and a glimmer of optimism that we otherwise would not feel. Best of all, she identifies as a Lincoln Republican. Her newsletter is just about the only news I can handle since DT’s voice is triggering to me.
Axios has good international reporting
The issue is that there is very little reliable reporting in the US right now. Yes, including the nyt and npr. You can see it very very clearly in their genocide coverage, though calling it coverage is a huge stretch.
Folks fo follow for me include , heather cox Richardson, jay kuo, Tim Snyder, deep state radio. Al jazeerw is often pretty good.
I really appreciate the Pantsuit Politics podcast and, I hate say it, but their paid content is especially good and worth it for More to Say. Beth has a really great way of providing level setting information and talking about current events.
I know you didn’t ask for recommendations, and I hate to throw another one into the great suggestions you already have, but if you want measured and non-biased, Gabe Fleischer’s Wake Up to Politics on Substack is my go-to.
Since reading his newsletter, I now subscribe to updates from the Ways and Means committee in the House. I also follow Steve Scalise, the House Majority Leader, for updates of the daily legislative business that will be voted on. Wake Up to Politics newsletter links to these so I started subscribing so I can reference a bill by name, and get my representative’s attention.
https://www.majorityleader.gov/contact/email-sign-up.htm
The history of Modern Iran in podcast form
https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/tracking.swap.fm/track/VOdNgcECFk0maZgOJbmx/traffic.megaphone.fm/CBS4294486357.mp3?updated=1768383280