Katie Couric

Don Lemon is busy! The CNN Tonight anchor has spent the year guiding and framing the public’s understanding of a deadly pandemic, George Floyd’s death, the presidential election, an insurrection. Somehow, amid all of that, he wrote a book, “This is The Fire: What I Say To My Friends About Racism.” On Next Question with Katie Couric, Katie and Don talk about his personal exploration through America’s racist past and becoming the nation’s moral compass as it reckoned with its racist’s present.  To learn more, or purchase a copy of “This is the Fire: What I Say To My Friends About Racism,” go to Little Brown. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this week’s episode of Next Question with Katie Couric, Katie chats to everyone’s favorite pandemic sauce man, Stanley Tucci. They talk about Stanley’s new travel/food series on CNN called “Searching for Italy,” as well as his new movie, “Supernova,” co-starring Colin Firth. They also talk about Stanley’s upcoming new book (“Taste: My Life Through Food”), the origin story of his foodie obsession, his enviable physique, and how those mixology videos on Instagram started. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus a pandemic. And, after watching the slow tidal wave of infections, deaths, and fear consume most of Asia and Europe, Americans finally felt COVID’s impact at home. This totally unknown, novel virus took root, upending our lives. On this week’s episode of Next Question with Katie Couric, we recognize this sobering anniversary of a full year with the pandemic. Three Americans intimately involved with COVID-19 — an ER doctor, an epidemiologist, and a patient — share their experiences in those early, panic-stricken days and months of the spring 2020 to find out just how far we’ve come from and just how much we’ve learned about COVID-19, our healthcare system, science, and maybe even ourselves.  Learn more about this week’s guests: Fiona Lowenstein, independent journalist and co-founder of the Body Politic Covid-19 support group.  Dr. Jeremy Faust, emergency physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard medical school faculty and

“You’ll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey,” is the title of the very funny, if completely horrifying, new book by comedian and late-night host Amber Ruffin. The book, which Amber co-wrote with her sister Lacey Lamar, is a collection of essays about all the racist sh*t Lacey has to put up with as a Black woman living and working in Omaha, Nebraska. On this episode of Next Question with Katie Couric, Katie talks with the sisters about growing up in Omaha, their different trajectories and experiences with racism and how humor can be used to expose and talk about the hard stuff. Katie also explores Amber’s career, her new show (The Amber Ruffin Show, on Peacock) and her incredible ability to skewer the kind of everyday racism she and her siblings have always put up with. And if you haven’t seen it already, go watch Amber make the case for a White History Month.  Click here for more about the book, “You’ll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey: Crazy Stories About Racism,” from Grand Central Publishing. Learn

On the first episode of the new season of Next Question with Katie Couric, Katie sits down with actor, director, activist Robin Wright who stars in and directs the new movie, Land. Robin plays Edee, a woman experiencing tremendous grief who decides to leave her life in the city to live in a cabin in the wilderness. “It’s about the existence you once knew, that you once lived in will never exist in the same way again,” she says, “and I just thought, wow, that’s something to explore.” And with 2021 already proving to be a standout year for women in film — with more women premiering at Sundance and more female directors nominated for Golden Globes — Robin addresses Hollywood’s glass ceiling and whether the cracks are finally making an impact on the industry. ‘Land’ is playing in select theaters now and will be available on PVOD March 5. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this bonus episode of Next Question with Katie Couric, Katie shares a timely and important conversation with Maryland Governor Larry Hogan. As a Republican leader in a predominantly blue state, Governor Hogan offers a valuable perspective on how to effectively bridge the partisan divide in our increasingly polarized country. In this wide-ranging interview, he talks with Katie about this unprecedented moment in our nation’s history, what it means to be a “common sense conservative,” and why he thinks we’re just at the beginning of a “long and difficult battle for the soul of the Republican party.” Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Next Question with Katie Couric is back with its third season! After taking some podcasting detours to help make sense of an unprecedented 12 months — from the outbreak of COVID-19, to America’s racial reckoning, to the presidential election — Katie returns to her intimate interview podcast with some new questions. Like, how do you create art when the world is burning? How can we heal through this trauma together? And how can we find and share joy. Join Katie as she sits down (virtually, of course) with actors, activists, scholars, and authors — people who will impress you, move you, and maybe even make you laugh … wouldn’t it be nice to laugh? It’s a whole new season: new guests, new topics, same curious Katie. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Next Question with Katie Couric is gearing up for its third season, launching Feb. 25, 2021. In the meantime, Katie shares a really important and fascinating conversation she had this week. The 92nd Street Y invited Katie to moderate a talk with the founders of the Lincoln Project, the Super PAC started by former Republicans who wanted to defeat Donald Trump as well as hold accountable all those who violate their oath of the constitution regardless of party. Katie was joined remotely by former head of the New Hampshire Republican party Jennifer Horn and political strategists Reed Galen and Steve Schmidt. The conversation was recorded on Tuesday January 26. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This series began in the past, to better understand the origin and history of our ongoing fight for voting rights. And as Turnout comes to a close, we consider its future. Where do we go from here? What lessons can we take with us, and what impact might this election have on our ongoing push for a more inclusive democracy and a more perfect union. In this last episode of Turnout with Katie Couric, we hear from some of our previous guests — including Wendy Weiser, Gilda Daniels, and Tyler Okeke — about the biggest takeaways from the 2020 election and their impact on our democracy. But first, an interview with someone whose job it is to lay a civics foundation for the next generation of voters. Greg Cruey is a middle school social studies teacher in War, West Virginia — a one-time coal mining center that is now one of the poorest areas in the country. Because Mr. Cruey explains our voting system, our elections, and our democracy to his 6th, 7th, and 8th graders each year, we wanted to hear how he might put our

For the last nine months, as the coronavirus swept across the world, devastating so many lives in its wake, scientists have been working around the clock to develop a safe and effective vaccine in record time. And now the results from all of that hard work are starting to come in and it’s good news. Like, really good news. On this bonus episode of Next Question with Katie Couric, Katie talks with Dr. Stephen Hoge, a doctor, scientist and president of Moderna, one of the biotech firms leading the COVID-19 vaccine race. Moderna is remarkable in that it is, compared to the Pfizer behemoths of the world, a tiny biotech firm. But that hasn’t stopped it from cracking the vaccine code using a novel approach. In this wide-ranging interview, Katie and Dr. Hoge talk about the company, the pandemic, and the logistics of these vaccines — who gets them and when. Let’s call it, vaccines for dummies. Enjoy! Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy in

You’ve no doubt heard that the 2020 election welcomed historic turnout. But what do those high numbers of voters mean for our democracy, for future elections, and for the warring political parties as they conduct their post-mortems? On this episode of Turnout with Katie Couric, we hear from a data journalist who is starting to comb through the numbers. Neal Rothschild, director of audience and political data reporter for Axios, shares the four big takeaways that help explain the 2020 election. Then, Katie talks with her friend, the best-selling author Mitch Albom about the state of our divisiveness, the media’s problem, how we can find ways to reconnect and start to move forward as a country together.   More about the episodes and guests featured in this episode: Four demographic trends that explain Biden’s victory (Axios) Read more from Neal Rothschild or find him on Twitter Mitch Albom: The election will be meaningless if we don’t change our ways (Detroit Free Press) Find more about Mitch Albom’s books

All eyes are on Georgia this week as it wraps up its manual recount of nearly 5 million ballots. On Friday, November 13, when the recount began, several news outlets had declared Joe Biden the state’s winner. If that still holds when the recount is complete, Biden will be the first Democratic presidential candidate to win Georgia since 1992. If that weren’t enough, control of the Senate now hinges on two critical Georgia runoff elections, which will happen in early January 2021. At the center of this national political storm is Georgia’s Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. On this episode of Turnout with Katie Couric, an interview with the secretary, who gives us a peek behind the recount curtain, and talks about the high-pressure stakes of being the Republican in charge of President Trump’s recount: tweets, calls for resignation, and, yes, even death threats. For Brad Raffensperger, it’s all in a day’s work. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystu

On this episode of Turnout with Katie Couric, Katie shares her hopes and the need for open-mindedness as the country welcomes in the next administration. Then, we check in with some of our previous guests to get a temperature check on the country’s democracy now that the 2020 pandemic election is (almost) behind us. Jesse Littlewood from Common Cause shares his takeaways from the election, what the big turnout means for future races, and the new potential obstacles to voter access his organization is already watching and preparing to fight down the road. Finally, we check in with Annette Scott, a volunteer from the League of Women Voters, who is also a dedicated poll worker, on how Election Day went for her in New Jersey. More about the topics and guests featured in this episode: Read: I Gave Donald Trump a Chance After He Was Elected. The President’s Supporters Should Do the Same for Joe Biden Now (TIME) Jesse Littlewood is the vice president for campaigns at Common Cause, a democracy and voting rights wa

We are finally on the other side of the 2020 presidential election and it was — as promised — unprecedented. And a big part of that is because of you! Voters from all over the country came out (and mailed in ballots) in record numbers. 2020 is projected to have the highest turnout rate of eligible voters in more than a century. In this episode of Turnout with Katie Couric, we’ll hear some of your voting stories, which capture a moment in history that will be analyzed for years to come. Then, Katie shares her conversation with political consultant Brian Goldsmith, which took place on Instagram Live starting at 6 pm EST on Nov. 6. And while the news over the next few days may change in big and small ways, Brain and Katie help put this week and the weight of what happened into context. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's election week! And in this special bonus issue of Turnout, Katie Couric talks with New York Times columnist David Brooks about the moment when we fell through the floor of decency and what America has lost these last four years. David also shares what's at stake on Nov. 3, why this is another moment of moral convulsion for the country and how we can mend our extreme political divides.  Read more about this episode: Op-Ed: Trump's presidency Smashed the 'Decency Floor' The New York Times' opinion collection, ‘What Have We Lost' Weave, the Social Fabric Project from the Aspen Institute Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We’ve always said that this series was about so much more than this election. As we’ve shown in the first four episodes, the voting issues of our past — and how we respond to them — pave the way forward, shaping future elections, including the history-making moment we are living in today. But now that we’re face-to-face with the 2020 presidential race, it’s time to start diving into it. On this episode of Turnout with Katie Couric, Katie sorts through some of the week’s big election stories. Then, an interview with newly retired top GOP election lawyer Benjamin Ginsberg about his blunt and public rebuke of President Trump’s baseless claims of voter fraud. Ginsberg talks about the inherent difference between Republican and Democratic election policy, the impact of the 2000 Florida recount, and why Democrats’ worst fears about what could happen after November 3 may be unfounded.  Read Benjamin Ginsberg’s Washington Post op-eds: Republicans have insufficient evidence to call elections ‘rigged’ and ‘fraudulent’

This week on Turnout with Katie Couric: the power and drive of youth activism. First, 19-year-old youth activist Tyler Okeke makes the case for lowering the voting age to 16. Then, Katie talks with activist, author and podcast host DeRay Mckesson on his own youth activism and how to get this new protest generation to turnout for elections (hint: make voting easier!). We also hear advice from civil rights activists on where they find inspiration and why it’s important to keep paving the way, to make the world better and easier, for those who come after you. More about the guests and organizations mentioned in this episode: Courtland Cox, activist and veteran of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee Tyler Okeke, Vote at 16 Youth Organizer for Power California DeRay McKesson, activist, author of the book, “On the Other Side of Freedom: The Case for Hope,” and host of the podcast “Pod Save the People” from Crooked Media Rock The Vote, youth empowerment organization Judy Richardson, documentary filmm

This week on Turnout, Katie Couric explores how disinformation is used to suppress the vote and how it’s being tackled by activists and citizens alike. While disinformation has been used to subvert the voting process for decades, long before the internet, it is now thriving online like never before. “Bad actors” are lurking behind your screen and on your social media platforms, eager to sew chaos and distrust in the election system. But, fear not! There’s hope and also something YOU can do. Jesse Littlewood from Common Cause shares tips for how to spot disinformation on the internet and what to do about it (hint: don’t engage!). And, in an effort to provide some sort of check to Facebook’s unbalanced power, British investigative journalist Carole Cadwalladr tells us how her group, the “Real Facebook Oversight Board,” plans to hold Mark Zuckerberg’s feet to the fire.  More about the guests and organizations featured in this episode: Jesse Littlewood is the vice president for campaigns at Common Cause. As pa

Sheyann Webb-Christburg was eight years old when she first met Martin Luther King, Jr. It was late 1964 and Dr. King was in Selma, Alabama, to organize a voter registration campaign to draw attention to the need for legislation that would ensure Black Americans could safely and freely vote, because in the 1960s, particularly in Southern states like Alabama, that was certainly not the case. “Black folks couldn’t vote,” Sheyann’s father said when asked if he had ever cast a ballot. On this episode of Turnout with Katie Couric, Katie explores the historic struggle of Black enfranchisement — from the moments of brief political prosperity during Reconstruction, to the passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965, the election of President Barack Obama, and the ongoing fight to restore voting rights to people with past convictions. Woven throughout the episode is Sheyann’s story of being Martin Luther King’s smallest Freedom Fighter and what she witnessed on that Bloody Sunday in Selma in 1965. Katie also interviews De

The right to vote can sometimes be described as a “struggle,” a “fight,” even a “war.” But how did this come to be and who has been fighting to make every generation’s path to the ballot a little less arduous? On this episode of Turnout, Katie Couric goes back to the beginning, to find out what our founding can tell us about the continuing war on voting rights. Katie speaks with historian and biographer Jon Meacham about the framers’ hopes and dreams and who was left out of the more perfect union they designed. Then, Wendy Weiser, of the Brennan Center for Justice, and voting and Civil Rights expert Gilda Daniels help define voter suppression — and the many names it goes by. Finally, Oregon Gov. Kate Brown shares the ways she is helping to modernize her state’s election system — and the ways the rest of the country can and should follow suit. Guests: Jon Meacham, author “His Truth is Marching On: John Lewis and the Power of Hope” Wendy R. Weiser, director of the Democracy Program at the Brennan Center for