Season 17

Correspondent Matt Gutman and His ABC News Producing Team on Tracking Trash

“If we're not looking at these issues and understanding them for what they actually are - not just what we hope they are -  I don't see much of a bright future, for my kids or anybody else's.”

—Evan Simon, ABC News Producer

Ever wonder if your plastic really gets recycled when you throw it in that bin? Lisa Cohen and Abi Wright speak to ABC News’ Chief National Correspondent Matt Gutman, and his producing team to hear how they tracked their own plastic bags, with surprising results.

Revisiting HBO Real Sports’ David Scott as an Era Comes to an End

“It is easier than it's ever been in the history of human civilization to get your work in print, on the air, on the web. And that is just an amazing opportunity that frankly no other generation before you has had -  so have at it.” 

- HBO Real Sports’ David Scott’s advice to young journalists

We revisit duPont-Columbia Awards Winner David Scott’s interview to mark the end of an era - 29 seasons of the groundbreaking “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel," a hard-hitting magazine show that looked at sports from the complex lens of power, culture, and human rights.

“The Janes” Doc Directors on Its Relevance Today

“These were just ordinary women turned outlaws.” - Director Tia Lessin

Directors of the 2023 DuPont award-winning film ‘The Janes’, Emma Pildes and Tia Lessin join journalist and J School Adjunct Professor Jessica Bruder for a lively conversation about their film that deep dives into an historic underground service for women seeking safe, affordable, illegal abortions, in the 60s and 70s. 

CNN's Jake Tapper with Dean Jelani Cobb

The incentive structures in the worlds of politics and news media… are geared towards division and not just division, but demonizing people.  And it's very dangerous. It has already resulted in loss of life.”

-CNN’s Jake Tapper

Jake Tapper is the CNN Chief Washington Correspondent, anchor of The Lead with Jake Tapper, and co-host of the Sunday morning public affairs program State of the Union. In 2023, he was part of the team that won a duPont-Columbia award for their coverage of the conflict in Ukraine. He also hosted the awards at Columbia University in 2018.

In this episode, Tapper sits down with Columbia Journalism School’s Dean Jelani Cobb to reminisce about their longstanding friendship and talk about the extraordinary state of American politics. including how journalists should report on figures like Trump. 


The New Yorker’s Masha Gessen with Dean Jelani Cobb

“Maybe the whole art of being a journalist, is being defenseless…you have to be willing to be injured by what you see and somehow convey that..but also not to not to let that injury get in the way of seeing.”

–Journalist Masha Gessen

Masha Gessen is an award-winning journalist and author who received the 2022 John Chancellor Award for Excellence in Journalism, honoring their decades-long career. They have covered topics such as Putin, Trump, L.G.B.T.Q rights, and most recently, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. 

In this episode, Gessen joins fellow New Yorker staff writer and Columbia Journalism School’s Dean Jelani Cobb to discuss the path that led them to become an essential voice highlighting some of the most vital and pressing issues facing Russia, the US, and beyond.