I don't think any discussion of Radiolab is complete without mentioning their episode about "Yellow Rain". I was pretty shocked at how the episode went.<p><a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/239549-yellow-rain" rel="nofollow">https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/239549-yellow-rain</a><p>The episode contained significant distortions and omissions, all in the purported pursuit of truth.<p><a href="https://hyphenmagazine.com/blog/2012/10/10/deliberate-distortions-radiolab-and-hmong-story" rel="nofollow">https://hyphenmagazine.com/blog/2012/10/10/deliberate-distor...</a><p>This story made plain their lack of integrity. Since then, I've treated Radiolab for what it is- mildly interesting infotainment with unethical people at the helm.
I understand that the point of view that "kill all men" is not hate speech exists, and it's ok to interview someone who holds that view.<p>But when the hosts themselves started talking about how it's not hate speech like it's a very reasonable view to hold, I was a bit shocked. I never enjoyed radiolab or listened to much of it before, but I used to think it was a legit show with respectable hosts, even if I didn't like the format.<p>Would they also say "kill all Americans" is not hate speech because Americans are not "historically oppressed"? Sure, it's safer to talk about Japanese in China on the American radio.<p>(I haven't listened to the whole episode yet, in case they address it later.)
Don't dismiss this episode. I thought it would be kind of trite and boring, but they bring up some really good "What if?" issues that Facebook has to deal with. It also brings up other issues like pay to those filtering and (albeit only a small amount) the stress of workers who have to wade through all the nasty reports.
Disappointed to see the discussion here revolve around the podcast production style when the core topic of determining a world wide consensus for what is or isn’t considered ok to publish is such an impossible and simultaneously interesting problem.
Although the content is audio, I'd like to point out that this page is quite badly designed, particularly that <i>giant fixed-position header</i>.<p><a href="https://i.imgur.com/H0VSndS.png" rel="nofollow">https://i.imgur.com/H0VSndS.png</a>
Radiolab is incredibly hard to listen to with all the random noises and things they sprinkle into each episode. Contrast this with This American Life and its a world of difference.