The Assignment with Audie Cornish

Audie Cornish spent years as a co-host of NPR's All Things Considered, and when she left for CNN, she brought her interviewing instincts with her but ditched the broadcast constraints. The Assignment is the result: a weekly show where Cornish picks one big cultural or political question and explores it through conversations with the people closest to it. She's not interested in horse-race politics or who's up and who's down. She wants to understand why people believe what they believe. The show works because Cornish is an unusually patient interviewer. She'll let a guest finish a thought that most hosts would interrupt, and then ask a follow-up that reframes the entire conversation. One week she might be talking to an online influencer about how they accidentally became a political figure. The next, she's sitting down with a policy expert to untangle something that sounds simple but absolutely isn't. The range keeps things unpredictable in the best way. With 218 episodes since 2022 and a 4.6-star rating, The Assignment has built a loyal audience that values substance over speed. Episodes drop every Thursday, run about 30 to 45 minutes, and are rated clean, which means Cornish keeps things professional without being boring about it. CNN produces the show, but it doesn't feel like cable news -- there's no shouting, no countdown clocks, no panel of pundits talking over each other. It's one person asking smart questions and actually listening to the answers.