Podcast · Society & Culture

Scene on Radio

by Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke University · English · Society & Culture

Scene on Radio is a two-time Peabody-nominated podcast that dares to ask big, hard questions about who we are—really—and how we got this way. Our latest is Season 7, Scene on Radio: Capitalism . Previous series include Seeing White (Season 2), looking at the roots and meaning of white supremac

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New episodes: Weekly
Typical length: 45 min
Latest: 23 Sep 2026
Language: English

Latest episode

23 Sep 2026 · 45 min

Guest Episode: Question Everything

When it comes to using AI in the creation of "journalism," just how far could things go? We're sharing a fresh episode from the excellent podcast, Question Everything. In Scene on Radio's latest season, we looked at the news media in crisis and some of the ways the work of journalists can get corrupted. In this episode of Question Everything, reporter Zach St, Louis got a tip about a strange local news site in Florida whose reporters didn't seem to exist. He started digging and discovered a nationwide network of fake, AI-generated local news sites. The episode is called, The Curious Case of…

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Earlier episodes 29 most recent

S8 · E9 · 9 Sep 2026 · 56 min
S8 E9: The News, Bonus Q&A
Co-hosts John Biewen and Chenjerai Kumanyika respond to questions sent in by listeners in response to Scene on Radio Season 8: The News. Questions about AI and propaganda, journalistic bias, America's plummeting press freedom ranking, about whether we got it wrong about the media's coverage of Trump -- and about pathways to a better news and information system. Music by Brian Blade and the Fellowship Band and Lili Haydn. Music consulting by Joe Augustine of Narrative Music.
2 Sep 2026 · 39 min
Guest Episode: Occupy! An Unfinished Uprising
We're sharing an episode from a new series: Occupy! An Unfinished Uprising, from Future Hindsight. In 2011, in the wake of the financial crisis and Great Recession stemming from Wall Street wheeling and dealing gone bad, protesters gathered in lower Manhattan to take a stand. The movement quickly spread across the U.S. and beyond, inspiring hundreds of occupations and a new generation of activists. Occupy went quiet after a couple of months, but the movement changed the national conversation about capitalism and awakened a generation of activists. Occupy! An Unfinished Uprising, is told…
19 Aug 2026 · 1 hr 13 min
Guest Episode: The Battle for Free Speech
We're sharing an episode from another series we think will be of interest to our listeners -- one that's closely related to our Season 8 series, The News: The Battle for Free Speech. As the United States marks its 250th anniversary this year, our most basic freedom — the freedom of speech — is under attack. This immersive series takes you on a journey to look at the threats to free speech, from Trump to Silicon Valley. Series co-hosts Michael Fox and Marc Steiner explore the history of the fight for free speech and the battle being waged over it today, within the United States and abroad. In…
29 Jul 2026 · 42 min
First America: It Happened Here
The American Revolution wasn’t just a fight for liberty. It was also a sprawling conflict with Indigenous nations over who would control North America. To stake its claim, the United States was willing to commit genocide. This is episode 3 of First America, a new show about how America’s current moment is 250 years in the making. Indigenous author and host Rebecca Nagle talks to Maggie Blackhawk (Ojibwe) about how our country’s early treatment of Native Americans set a template for authoritarianism in the United States. There are more episodes in the First America season which we are not…
22 Jul 2026 · 45 min
First America: Playing Indian
We’re back with Episode 2 of First America, a new show by Indigenous author Rebecca Nagle about how the United States really came to be and how we got to today’s present moment. Rebecca and historian Phil Deloria (Dakota descent) head to Boston to try to understand Americans’ obsession with playing Indian. In the early republic, pretending to be Indian symbolized freedom and helped the colonists form a new, national identity. From Boy Scouts to new agers and sports fans, the American tradition of White people dressing up like Natives never went away. Find First America wherever you get…
15 Jul 2026 · 37 min
First America: "Merciless Indian Savages"
We're sharing the first of three episodes from a new series we think our listeners will want to hear. Americans have been told our Revolution was fought over taxation and representation. But the last entry of the Declaration focuses on the founders' contempt for the “merciless Indian savages.” How does a whole country miss a key point of its own founding document? That's the question at the heart of First America. Hosted and reported by Rebecca Nagle, an Indigenous author and former host of the This Land podcast, and featuring leading Native historians, First America unveils how the…
S8 · E8 · 8 Jul 2026 · 43 min
S8 E8: Making Media Democratic
This season we've explored how the news media are failing the American people and our democracy. In this concluding episode, we look at solutions -- how to help good journalism survive, and how we might imagine a better, more democratic media system. By John Biewen, with co-host Chenjerai Kumanyika. Interviews with Les High and Victor Pickard. Story editor: Diane Hodson. Assistant Producer, Arlene Arevalo. Fact-checking by Anna Pujol Mazzini. Music by Brian Blade and the Fellowship Band, Michelle Osis, Lili Haydn, Alex Weston, James Nathan Jones, goodnight Lucas, and Jason Hill. Music…
S8 · E7 · 1 Jul 2026 · 55 min
S8 E7: Can We Blame the Media For THIS?
Many people in the United States and around the world view the rise of Donald Trump and his MAGA movement as a grave crisis. At the same time, most Americans are angry with the news media. What role did the media play in making a President Trump possible? By John Biewen, with co-host Chenjerai Kumanyika. Interviews with Nicole Hemmer, Dan Froomkin, Michael Tomasky, and others. Story editor: Diane Hodson. Assistant Producer, Arlene Arevalo. Fact-checking by Anna Pujol Mazzini. Music by Brian Blade and the Fellowship Band, Michelle Osis, Lili Haydn, Alex Weston, James Nathan Jones, goodnight…
S8 · E6 · 24 Jun 2026 · 50 min
S8 E6: What Could Have Been
Ever thought about whether America's overwhelmingly corporate, for-profit news system is working as it should? It didn't have to be this way. In the 20th century, reformers fought for a more democratic and more accountable news media in the United States. They won victories, including the creation of the nation's public broadcasting system. What happened next? By John Biewen, with co-host Chenjerai Kumanyika. Interviews with John Lowery, Dan Schiller, Victor Pickard, and Mark Lloyd. Story editor: Diane Hodson. Assistant Producer, Arlene Arevalo. Fact-checking by Anna Pujol Mazzini. Music by…
S8 · E5 · 17 Jun 2026 · 49 min
S8 E5: Follow the Money
The early history of the news in Europe and the U.S. offers surprising lessons about the best traditions of journalism, and about the news we need in our own time of crisis. By John Biewen, with co-host Chenjerai Kumanyika. Interviews with Pascal Verhoest, Rachael King, Joseph Adelman, and Victor Pickard. Story editor: Diane Hodson. Assistant Producer, Arlene Arevalo. Fact-checking by Anna Pujol Mazzini. Music by Brian Blade and the Fellowship Band, Michelle Osis, Lili Haydn, Alex Weston, James Nathan Jones, and Jason Hill. Music consulting by Joe Augustine of Narrative Music. For more on…
S8 · E4 · 10 Jun 2026 · 44 min
S8 E4: What About Us
Scene on Radio requests and receives an independent analysis of its own journalistic biases. We then return the favor, examining the examiner. The exercise leads to fresh insights into the muddled ways people often think about bias. By John Biewen, with co-host Chenjerai Kumanyika. Interview with Vanessa Otero. Story editor: Diane Hodson. Assistant Producer, Arlene Arevalo. Fact-checking by Anna Pujol Mazzini. Music by Brian Blade and the Fellowship Band, Michelle Osis, Lili Haydn, Alex Weston, James Nathan Jones, and Jason Hill. Music consulting by Joe Augustine of Narrative Music. Link to…
S8 · E3 · 3 Jun 2026 · 53 min
S8 E3: About that Liberal Media
For generations, many on the political right have claimed that major news media in the U.S. have a pronounced liberal bias. Is it true? And why does it matter? We take a fresh look. By John Biewen with co-host Chenjerai Kumanyika. Interviews with Michael Massing, Peter Beinart, and William Youmans. Story editor: Diane Hodson. Assistant Producer, Arlene Arevalo. Fact-checking by Anna Pujol Mazzini. Music by Brian Blade and the Fellowship Band, Michelle Osis, Lili Haydn, Alex Weston, James Nathan Jones, and Jason Hill. Music consulting by Joe Augustine of Narrative Music.
S8 · E2 · 27 May 2026 · 48 min
S8 E2: When the News Dies
Many people know that the journalism industry is struggling financially, especially at the local level. But the disastrous depths of that crisis, and its impact on communities and American democracy, are not as well understood. We visit a news desert in southeastern North Carolina. By John Biewen with co-host Chenjerai Kumanyika. Interviews: Penny Muse Abernathy, Mark DeLap, Angelica Das, and others. Story editor: Diane Hodson. Assistant Producer, Arlene Arevalo. Fact-checking by Anna Pujol Mazzini. Music by Brian Blade and the Fellowship Band, Michelle Osis, Lili Haydn, Alex Weston, James…
S8 · E1 · 27 May 2026 · 40 min
S8 E1: The Myth of the Echo Chamber
Americans have access to a flood of news, and yet we're in a deep information crisis. What's really wrong with the news media? Is it what we think it is? And what about news consumers? Most of us don't trust the media, but can we trust ourselves? By John Biewen with co-host Chenjerai Kumanyika. Interviews: Ethan Jordan, Dannagal Young, and others. Story editor: Diane Hodson. Assistant Producer, Arlene Arevalo. Fact-checking by Anna Pujol Mazzini. Music by Brian Blade and the Fellowship Band, Michelle Osis, Lili Haydn, Alex Weston, James Nathan Jones, Goodnight Lucas, and Jason Hill. Music…
S8 · 20 May 2026 · 2 min
Introducing Scene on Radio: The News
Everybody's mad at the media. And Americans seem helpless to solve our problems, in large part because we have no shared narrative and few shared facts. A well informed citizenry we are not. In Scene on Radio's 8th season, producer and host John Biewen and returning co-host Chenjerai Kumanyika will examine the deep crises facing American journalism, how things got this way, and what it might mean to build a better and more democratic news and information system. From the Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke University and PRX. Find more, including episode transcripts, at SceneonRadio.org.
13 May 2026 · 29 min
Guest Episode: Drilled: Carbon Cowboys
We're happy to share this episode from award-winning climate journalist Amy Westervelt, co-host of Scene on Radio's 5th season: The Repair. Amy returns with a new season of Drilled, her podcast about the deception, disinformation, and power structures keeping real climate solutions out of reach. Drilled: Carbon Cowboys exposes how Midwest Republican corn ethanol mogul Bruce Rastetter sold "sustainable aviation fuel" to world leaders, from North Dakota to Brazil. Find Drilled wherever you get podcasts and hear episodes early and ad-free with a Pushkin+ subscription. Sign up on the Drilled…
22 Oct 2025 · 15 min
Historical Maturity and Cowardice: Keeping ScOR #15
Host John Biewen reads an essay from his newsletter, Keeping ScOR. After a visit to his hometown, Mankato, Minnesota -- the subject of the Scene on Radio episode, "Little War on the Prairie" -- John reflects on the changes there and America's latest assault on history. Music by goodnight, Lucas. To read see the Keeping ScOR newsletter archive or subscribe to receive it, go here: https://buttondown.com/KeepingScOR#subscribe-form
6 Aug 2025 · 34 min
Voices of Hiroshima
A rebroadcast of a Scene on Radio episode, eighty years after the United States dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The word “Hiroshima” may bring to mind a black-and-white image of a mushroom cloud. It’s easy to forget that it’s an actual city with a million people and a popular baseball team. What did the cataclysm of 1945 mean in the place where it happened, to the people who lived through it? John Biewen went to Hiroshima and interviewed A-bomb survivors in 1995. “Voices of Hiroshima” is a production of Minnesota Public Radio, from American Public Media.
14 May 2025 · 16 min
Making Ignorance Sacred Again: Keeping ScOR #7
Host John Biewen reads an essay from his newsletter, Keeping ScOR. Reflections on the Trump Administration's attempt to wrangle control of the national story and how it's told. Will this attack on factual history succeed? Music by goodnight, Lucas. To read see the Keeping ScOR newsletter archive or subscribe to receive it, go here: https://buttondown.com/KeepingScOR#subscribe-form The video of David Joy referred to in the episode is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0g_6uidwcE
18 Mar 2025 · 18 min
The New Old Racism: Keeping ScOR#4
Host John Biewen teases Season 8 and reads an installment from his new newsletter, Keeping ScOR. Eight years after our "Seeing White" series, whiteness is still a helluva drug -- and a powerful tool for Trump 2.0. Music by goodnight, Lucas Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
22 Jan 2025 · 34 min
Bonus: Michael Kliën and the Body Politic
Michael Kliën wants to help bring about profound change in the world, but not through the usual means. An Austrian-born Dance professor at Duke University, Kliën is a leading social choreographer. He sets up experiments involving people moving amongst each other -- wordlessly -- in pursuit of new ways of being and the "soul democratic." By Scene on Radio host and producer John Biewen. Music by goodnight, Lucas and Blue Dot Sessions. Scene on Radio is a production of the Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke University. Links: Michael Klien’s website Video of Kliën works: Parliament Constitution…
S7 · E13 · 11 Dec 2024 · 1 hr 12 min
S7 E13: CAPITALISM Bonus, Live at Motorco
With our Capitalism season and the election behind us, now what? Can we find hope and a way forward? In a live show taped December 5, 2024, at Motorco Music Hall in Durham, North Carolina, Season 7 co-hosts John Biewen and Ellen McGirt are joined by journalism professor, podcast maker, and two-time Scene on Radio co-host Chenjerai Kumanyika . They discuss how to move toward a more democratic economy and society – with the live audience, and with Camryn Smith and Courtney Smith of Durham’s Communities in Partnership. Episode art: Photo by Summer Steenberg. Music by Michelle Osis and Lilli…
21 Nov 2024 · 1 hr 20 min
Post-election '24 All-Star Special
Host John Biewen is joined by Celeste Headlee, Chenjerai Kumanyika, Ellen McGirt, and Amy Westervelt, co-hosts of Scene on Radio's full-length seasons -- Seeing White, MEN, The Land That Never Has Been Yet, The Repair, and Capitalism -- for a free-wheeling conversation about the 2024 U.S. election of Donald J. Trump and what it all means. Scene on Radio comes from the Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke University. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
S7 · E12 · 18 Sep 2024 · 1 hr 3 min
S7 E12: Reimagined Economies
In our season finale, we visit with people on two continents who are turning core structures of capitalism on their heads – or, at least, sideways. By John Biewen with co-host Ellen McGirt. Interviews with John Fullerton, Ander Etxeberria, Deseree Fontenot, Corrina Gould, Regan Pritzker, Dana Kawaoka-Chen, Mateo Nube, and Marjorie Kelly. Story editor: Loretta Williams. Music by Michelle Osis; Lilli Haydn; Chris Westlake; Alex Symcox; and goodnight, Lucas. Music consulting by Joe Augustine of Narrative Music. Episode art by Harper Biewen. "Capitalism” is a production of the Kenan Institute…
S7 · E11 · 4 Sep 2024 · 51 min
S7 E11: Better Capitalism?
In the first of two episodes looking at responses to capitalism’s failings, we explore reforms aimed at making the current economic system more humane, fair, effective, and sustainable. By John Biewen with co-host Ellen McGirt. Interviews with Lutz Schwenke, Jordi Llatje i Espinal, Marjorie Kelly, Oren Cass, Jayati Ghosh, John Fullerton, and Rick Alexander. Story editor: Loretta Williams. Music by Michelle Osis, Lilli Haydn, Chris Westlake, Alex Symcox, and Goodnight, Lucas. Music consulting by Joe Augustine of Narrative Music. "Capitalism” is a production of the Kenan Institute for Ethics…
S7 · E10 · 21 Aug 2024 · 55 min
S7 E10: The Extracted
A visit to West Africa and Western Europe to look at the cocoa trade. Did the colonial side of early capitalism – Western countries getting rich at the expense of poorer nations – ever change, or does it continue today? Reported by Ugochi Anyaka-Oluigbo and written by Ugochi and Loretta Williams, with co-hosts John Biewen and Ellen McGirt. Story editor: Loretta Williams. Mixed by John Biewen. Interviews with Achike Chude, Chernoh Bah, Bart Van Besien, and others. Music by Michelle Osis, Lilli Haydn, Chris Westlake, Alex Symcox, and Goodnight, Lucas. Music consulting by Joe Augustine of…
S7 · E9 · 14 Aug 2024 · 1 hr 3 min
S7 E9: At the Tipping Point
In 1972, a team of young scientists at MIT published a study exploring what would happen to human civilization if people kept pursuing endless economic growth on a finite planet. They weren’t just disbelieved, they were ridiculed. The story of Donella Meadows and The Limits to Growth. Reported and produced by Katy Shields and Vegard Beyer, with co-hosts John Biewen and Ellen McGirt. Story editor: Loretta Williams. Archival audio of Donella Meadows, Dennis Meadows, Aurelio Peccei, Jay Forrester, and others. Interviewee: John Fullerton.Original music by Nora Beyer. Additional music by Michelle…
S7 · E8 · 7 Aug 2024 · 45 min
S7 E8: The People's Pushback
S7 E8: The People’s Pushback Over several decades, a growing number of people in the United States and elsewhere – especially younger people – have turned against capitalism. The reasons are not mysterious. Reported by Lewis Raven Wallace and produced by John Biewen, with co-host Ellen McGirt. Interviews with Esteban Kelly, Josh Bivens, Malaika Jibali, and Evan Caldwell. Story editor: Loretta Williams. Music by Michelle Osis, Lilli Haydn, Chris Westlake, Alex Symcox, and Goodnight, Lucas. Music consulting by Joe Augustine of Narrative Music. "Capitalism” is a production of the Kenan…
S7 · E7 · 31 Jul 2024 · 58 min
S7 E7: Gilded Age 2.0
S7 E7: Gilded Age 2.0 After 40 years of neoliberalism, most Americans of every political stripe agree that the economy is “rigged” in favor of corporations and the wealthy. But we may not know the half of it. By John Biewen, with co-host Ellen McGirt. Interviews with Nancy MacLean, Edward Balleisen, Brad DeLong, Marjorie Kelly, and Oren Cass. Story editor: Loretta Williams. Music by Michelle Osis, Lilli Haydn, Chris Westlake, Alex Symcox, and Goodnight, Lucas. Music consulting by Joe Augustine of Narrative Music. "Capitalism” is a production of the Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke…

About Scene on Radio

Scene on Radio is a English society & culture podcast from Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke University. Melo plays each episode straight from the publisher's own feed — no ads added, no account needed — and remembers where you stopped, in this browser only.

Publisher: Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke University
Language: English
Category: Society & Culture
New episodes: Weekly
Typical length: 45 min
Latest episode: 23 Sep 2026
Feed: RSS — paste into any podcast app
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