The 14 Best Journalists Podcasts (2026)

Brooke Gladstone and Micah Loewinger have been doing something rare with On the Media for over two decades now: they treat the news itself as the story. Instead of chasing the latest headline, each semiweekly episode steps back and asks how and why that headline got made in the first place. You'll hear a segment on why a particular framing dominated cable news all week, followed by an interview with a reporter who spent months on a story nobody else picked up. Gladstone brings this steady, almost professorial clarity to everything she touches, while Loewinger adds a sharper edge when it comes to tech platforms and digital culture. With nearly 1,900 episodes and a 4.6-star rating from almost 9,000 reviews, this is one of the longest-running media criticism shows in existence. Recent episodes have tackled Meta's social media addiction trials, internet blackouts in Iran, and the Epstein files. The show doesn't shy away from criticizing outlets across the political spectrum, which makes it genuinely useful rather than just another echo chamber. It's produced by WNYC Studios, and the production quality reflects that public radio polish without feeling sterile. If you care about understanding not just what happened but how the story about what happened got told, this belongs at the top of your rotation.

Reveal comes from the Center for Investigative Reporting, the oldest nonprofit newsroom of its kind in the country, and you can feel that institutional weight in every episode. Host Al Letson has this warm, commanding presence that keeps you anchored even when the subject matter gets genuinely disturbing. The show has racked up Peabody Awards, duPonts, Emmys, and Murrows, and honestly, it earns them. Each episode typically runs 50 minutes to an hour, giving reporters enough room to actually build a story rather than just summarize findings. They've done extraordinary work on Taser safety, immigration enforcement, police accountability, and climate policy. A recent series tracked how ICE operations expanded under shifting political winds, combining on-the-ground reporting with policy analysis in a way that felt both urgent and carefully documented. With over 300 episodes and a 4.7-star rating from more than 8,000 listeners, Reveal consistently produces the kind of journalism that changes laws and prompts congressional hearings. The production blends field recordings, interviews with sources and whistleblowers, and careful narration without ever feeling overproduced. Letson's background as a performer gives the show an emotional resonance that pure news programs often lack. It's investigative reporting done right: patient, thorough, and willing to spend months or years on a single story before publishing.

Maeve McClenaghan hosts this brilliantly focused show that does one thing and does it well: she sits down with investigative journalists and gets them to walk through exactly how their biggest stories came together. Not the polished version you read in the final article, but the messy reality of dead-end leads, redacted documents, doors slammed in faces, and the single tip that cracked everything open. Each episode runs around 30 minutes, which turns out to be the perfect length for this kind of behind-the-curtain storytelling. McClenaghan is an investigative reporter herself, working on stories about arms deals and institutional failures, so she asks the right follow-up questions and knows when to push for specifics. The show has covered the BBC's famous Prince Andrew interview, lead contamination in Canadian drinking water, oil drilling damage in Basra, and British soldiers' alleged crimes in Kenya. With 76 episodes and a 4.8-star rating, it releases about twice a month from the UK. What makes The Tip Off special is that it treats journalism itself as an adventure story, which it genuinely is when you hear reporters describe staking out buildings or traveling undercover to hostile locations. It's the kind of podcast that makes you appreciate the actual labor behind the headlines you scroll past every morning.

TIME Magazine named Longform one of the 100 best podcasts of all time, and after listening to a handful of episodes, it's hard to argue. Hosts Aaron Lammer, Max Linsky, and Evan Ratliff spent over a decade (2012-2024) interviewing writers, journalists, filmmakers, and podcasters about how they actually do their work. Not the inspirational version, but the practical, sometimes unglamorous reality of reporting and writing for a living. They've recorded 655 episodes, talking with everyone from New Yorker staff writers to independent journalists building their own outlets from scratch. The conversations tend to be long and unhurried, often running over an hour, which gives guests room to really explain their process rather than deliver rehearsed talking points. You'll hear Kelsey McKinney talk about co-founding Defector, or Joseph Cox describe building 404 Media after Vice imploded. The show has this relaxed, collegial vibe that makes you feel like you're eavesdropping on a conversation between friends who happen to be deeply knowledgeable about the craft. It's particularly valuable if you're interested in the business side of journalism alongside the creative side, since many guests candidly discuss money, sustainability, and career pivots. The back catalog alone is worth months of listening, packed with interviews that remain relevant long after they first aired.

Gene Demby, B.A. Parker, and Lori Lizarraga host this NPR show that tackles race in America with a directness that most mainstream outlets won't touch. The genius of Code Switch is that it connects seemingly unrelated topics through the lens of race and identity, and the connections always land. One week they're tracing the 100-year evolution of Black History Month, the next they're examining why politicians weaponize crime statistics even when crime rates are historically low. With 593 episodes and a 4.6-star rating from over 14,500 listeners, this is one of NPR's most popular shows for good reason. The hosts are all working journalists who bring their reporting chops to every conversation, backing up observations with actual data and historical context rather than just opinions. Episodes release twice a week and typically run 30 to 45 minutes. Recent topics have included Bad Bunny's political activism, dating while Black across different eras, and immigration enforcement in sanctuary cities. What keeps Code Switch from feeling preachy is the genuine curiosity the hosts bring. They're not lecturing; they're figuring things out in real time and bringing listeners along for the ride. The production is polished without being slick, and the writing is consistently sharp.

The Columbia Journalism Review has been the industry's conscience since 1961, and The Kicker is its podcast arm. Currently hosted by Megan Greenwell, the show drops twice a month and runs about 30 to 40 minutes per episode. Each installment typically focuses on one big question about how journalism works or fails to work in the current moment. They've done standout episodes on the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette strike, Defector's worker-owned model, the political legacy of the Gawker trial, and what innovative local news outlets like Outlier Media are doing differently. With 318 episodes and a 4.6-star rating, it's built a loyal following among people who think seriously about the news industry. The conversations tend to feature working journalists, media scholars, and newsroom leaders, and Greenwell is good at pressing guests beyond surface-level answers. She has a talent for connecting a specific story to the bigger structural forces reshaping how news gets funded and distributed. It's not a breaking news show; it's more like the conversation you'd want to have after the news cycle settles down and you're ready to think about what it all means. If you're a journalist yourself, or just someone who reads a lot of news and wants to understand the machinery behind it, The Kicker provides that informed, measured perspective that's surprisingly hard to find elsewhere in the podcast world.

Alan Rusbridger edited The Guardian for twenty years. Lionel Barber ran the Financial Times for fourteen. Together they host Media Confidential, and the result is exactly what you'd expect when two people with that much institutional knowledge start talking freely about the industry they shaped. The weekly show runs about 40 minutes and covers everything from the Washington Post's financial struggles under Jeff Bezos to BBC governance battles and Prince Harry's legal fight against tabloid publishers. Rusbridger tends to bring the big-picture, philosophical perspective while Barber is more pragmatic and business-minded, and the tension between those approaches makes for genuinely interesting listening. They regularly bring on high-profile guests for interviews, though some of the best episodes are just the two of them dissecting a week's worth of media news. With 189 episodes since launching in 2023, they've settled into a comfortable rhythm. The show has a distinctly British sensibility, focusing heavily on UK media but covering American and international stories when they're significant enough. It's produced by Prospect Magazine and has a 4.3-star rating. If you want insider perspective on how major editorial decisions get made at the highest levels, this is the closest you'll get without actually sitting in the editor's chair.

Ben Smith co-founded Semafor after running BuzzFeed News, and Max Tani is one of the sharpest media reporters working today. Every Friday they sit down for about 30 minutes and pull apart the biggest media stories of the week with the kind of sourcing that only comes from being genuinely embedded in the industry. Smith has a knack for connecting dots between seemingly unrelated business moves, like explaining why a streaming deal actually tells you something about the future of local news. Tani brings the reporting muscle, often breaking news right on the show before it appears anywhere else. They've covered Rolling Stone's digital transformation, long-form podcasting economics, digital media profitability, and the business strategies behind major publishing decisions. With 87 episodes and a 4.5-star rating from 226 reviews, Mixed Signals has quickly become required listening for anyone who works in or cares about the media business. The tone is conversational but informed, never dumbed down and never pretentious. They assume you're paying attention to the news and reward that attention with actual insight rather than the surface-level takes you'd get from a Twitter thread. The show moves fast and doesn't waste time on long intros or tangents, which makes it an efficient way to stay current on an industry that changes constantly.

David Marchese and Lulu Garcia-Navarro take turns hosting The Interview for the New York Times, and each brings a completely different energy that keeps the show unpredictable. Marchese is known for his probing, sometimes uncomfortable questions that push famous guests off their talking points. Garcia-Navarro, who came from NPR, has a warmer but equally incisive approach. New episodes drop every Saturday, running about 45 minutes to an hour, and the guest list reads like a who's who of global influence: Gisele Pelicot discussing surviving abuse, Michael Pollan on AI and consciousness, Chloe Zhao on filmmaking and fear, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey confronting federal overreach. The show has 99 episodes and a 3.9-star rating from about 1,500 listeners, with the lower rating likely reflecting some guests being polarizing rather than any quality issue. What sets this apart from standard celebrity interview shows is the preparation. These hosts clearly read everything their guests have published and use that knowledge to ask questions that actually produce new information. It's journalism as conversation, backed by the full reporting power of the Times. Not every episode will interest every listener, but when the pairing of host and guest clicks, it produces some of the best long-form interviews available anywhere in audio.

BBC Radio 4's The Media Show has been a fixture of British broadcasting for years, and it works because the BBC has the institutional credibility to ask tough questions about other media organizations while also being willing to examine its own practices. Hosted by Katie Razzall, Ros Atkins, and Amol Rajan on rotation, each weekly episode runs about 30 minutes and tackles two or three media stories with a panel of journalists, editors, and industry figures. With 816 episodes, the archive is enormous. Recent shows have covered Murdoch family revelations, Washington Post layoffs, algorithm transparency, AI-generated content by Grok, and how viral videos are changing journalism. The rotating host format keeps things fresh. Atkins brings his signature analytical style, breaking stories down into their component parts. Razzall tends to focus on press regulation and ethical questions. Rajan brings energy and sometimes a willingness to be provocative. The show has a 4.4-star rating and publishes weekly. It skews British in its focus but covers American and global media stories regularly. The production is clean and efficient, no filler, no long intros, just straight into the discussion. For anyone trying to understand how the media industry operates in the UK and beyond, this is as reliable as it gets.

Alberto Cairo, Simon Rogers, and Scott Klein are three of the most respected names in data journalism, and their monthly podcast is basically a masterclass in how numbers become stories. Cairo is a professor and visualization expert at the University of Miami, Rogers built Google's News Lab data team, and Klein runs ProPublica's news applications desk. That combination means you get academic rigor, industry perspective, and newsroom practicality all in one conversation. With 50 episodes and a 4.8-star rating, the show covers everything from the Trans News Initiative's data-tracking project to how Singapore's Straits Times handles visualization, to politicians misusing data graphics in campaigns. A recent episode looked at how data journalism tracked federal immigration enforcement in Minnesota, blending technical methodology with real human impact. Each episode runs about 45 minutes and typically features a guest who's doing interesting work at places like the BBC, Reuters, or smaller independent newsrooms. The hosts have a genuine rapport that makes even technical discussions about chart types or dataset cleaning feel approachable. It's a niche show, no question, but for anyone interested in how journalists use data to hold power accountable, or for aspiring data journalists looking to learn from the best, there's nothing else quite like it in the podcast space right now.

Elaine Appleton Grant spent decades as a journalist before turning her attention to the craft of audio storytelling, and Sound Judgment is the result. The biweekly show brings in top podcast hosts, producers, and editors and gets them to break down their creative decisions in specific, useful detail. It's not a vague conversation about 'finding your voice.' Grant plays actual clips from her guests' shows and asks pointed questions about why they made particular editorial choices, from pacing decisions to how they handle sensitive interviews with vulnerable sources. One episode might feature the team behind a Pulitzer-nominated investigation explaining how they structured their narrative, while the next covers practical strategies for growing a podcast audience. With 49 episodes and a perfect 5.0-star rating from 46 reviewers, it's clearly resonating with its audience. Grant is a thoughtful interviewer who knows when to let a guest run and when to steer the conversation back to specifics that listeners can actually apply. The show appeals to two audiences at once: working journalists and producers looking to sharpen their audio skills, and podcast enthusiasts who want to understand why their favorite shows sound the way they do. Episodes run about 40 minutes, long enough to get into real substance but short enough to finish during a commute.

The Investigative Journalism Bureau at the University of Toronto produces Heliograph, a monthly podcast that does something clever: it takes a finished piece of investigative journalism and reverse-engineers it. Hosts Rob Cribb, Blair Bigham, Ryan McMahon, Wendy-Ann Clarke, and Masih Khalatbari rotate through episodes, each bringing expertise in different reporting areas. The show examines investigations from around the world, not just Canadian stories, asking reporters to explain their strategies, the obstacles they faced, and the lessons other journalists can take away. With 15 episodes and a 5.0-star rating, it's still relatively new but the quality is immediately apparent. They've covered psychological abuse and its neurological effects, corruption in international sports, ethics failures in clinical drug trials, and undercover reporting on animal cruelty networks. Each episode goes deep on methodology, which makes it valuable for working journalists and fascinating for anyone curious about how major investigations actually happen. The production is clean and professional, fitting for a university-affiliated bureau. The rotating host model means you get different perspectives and interviewing styles, preventing the show from feeling repetitive. It's a smaller show that deserves a bigger audience, particularly for listeners who've already worked through The Tip Off and want more behind-the-scenes reporting content.

Jan Fran and Antoinette Lattouf are two Australian journalists who left traditional newsrooms and now spend each Wednesday dissecting media coverage with the kind of candor that employment at a major outlet would never allow. The title says it all: they used to be journalists, and that freedom lets them call out sketchy editorial decisions, questionable sourcing, and the weird incentive structures that shape how news gets made. With 36 episodes and a 5.0-star rating, the weekly show has built a devoted following fast. Fran brings sharp humor and a knack for spotting when a story is being spun, while Lattouf has deep contacts across Australian media and often provides insider context that explains why a particular angle dominated coverage. Recent episodes have tackled the BBC bias scandal, AI in political advertising, media coverage of the Bondi attack, and Iran's control of protest narratives. The show has a distinctly Australian perspective, which is actually refreshing if you're used to American or British media criticism. They cover international stories through the lens of how Australian outlets handle them, which often reveals interesting differences in editorial culture. The tone is conversational and frequently funny, but the analysis underneath is serious. It's proof that media criticism works best when the critics genuinely understand the machinery from the inside.