Apple News In Conversation

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Inside Elon Musk’s digital government takeover Mar 27, 2025

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This year, Elon Musk and the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency have swept through federal agencies — ingesting data, enacting mass firings and cuts, and causing confusion among federal workers. Reporters Leah Feiger and Zoë Schiffer, along with their colleagues at Wired, recently spoke with over 150 sources, including current and former federal employees, about DOGE’s inner workings. Feiger and Schiffer sat down with Apple News In Conversation host Shumita Basu to discuss their story, “Inside Elon Musk’s ‘Digital Coup,’” which was selected as Apple News’s March Story of the Month.

A travel expert’s secrets for inexpensive luxury trips Mar 20, 2025

Show notes

Brian Kelly, founder of the Points Guy, has made a career out of helping people travel using credit-card points and frequent-flyer miles. His readers have taken trips across the globe, flown first class, and stayed in five-star hotels — all using rewards. Kelly is out now with a new book, How to Win at Travel, which details travel advice that goes beyond points and miles. He spoke with Apple News In Conversation host Shumita Basu about ways to make your next trip easier and more affordable.

What’s behind the U.S. military’s recruitment crisis? Mar 13, 2025

Show notes

The U.S. military is the most powerful and lethal in the world. But several branches of the armed forces have failed to meet their recruiting goals in recent years. That has some experts concerned about whether the country would be prepared to defend itself in the event of war. In a recent piece for the New Yorker, Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Dexter Filkins writes about the state of the military today. He spoke with Apple News In Conversation host Shumita Basu about the roots of this recruitment crisis, how the current administration plans to address it, and what it could mean for American security in the future.

Inside the Murdoch family’s succession drama Mar 06, 2025

Show notes

Last year, media mogul Rupert Murdoch tried to wrest control of his family trust — and the future of his massive news conglomerate — away from three of his children in favor of his eldest son, Lachlan. The bitter court battle that followed strained the family to the breaking point and prompted his youngest son, James, to share his story, for the first time, with Atlantic staff writer McKay Coppins. Coppins’s article was selected as Apple News’s February Story of the Month, and he spoke with Apple News In Conversation host Shumita Basu about James’s challenging relationship with his father and the war for the Murdoch media empire.

How this brutal sport took over America — and helped elect Donald Trump Feb 27, 2025

Show notes

The Ultimate Fighting Championship and the sport at its center, mixed martial arts, have exploded in popularity in recent years — and President Donald Trump is a fan. Trump and UFC CEO Dana White are also close friends, and have been for decades. For a story in Rolling Stone, Jack Crosbie details how the two have helped each other rise. Apple News In Conversation host Shumita Basu spoke with Crosbie about the integral link between Trump’s America and the UFC.

How much power does a president have? Feb 20, 2025

Show notes

One month into his second term, President Trump has made a lot of big moves quickly, from pardoning 1,500 Jan. 6 rioters and attempting to stop all foreign aid to ordering mass firings of federal employees. These actions have triggered a flurry of challenges in the federal courts. Beyond each individual case, a larger picture is forming of the executive office pushing the limits of its power. Ankush Khardori, a former federal prosecutor and senior writer for Politico Magazine, talks to Apple News In Conversation host Shumita Basu about how Trump could fundamentally alter the balance between our three branches of government — not only for himself but for future presidents.

“It’s like the Hunger Games”: Behind the scenes at ‘Saturday Night Live’ Feb 13, 2025

Show notes

Saturday Night Live has churned out dozens of unforgettable stars — from Bill Murray and Eddie Murphy to Tina Fey and Kristen Wiig — but the biggest force behind the show is executive producer Lorne Michaels. Ahead of SNL’s 50th anniversary, Susan Morrison, author of Lorne: The Man Who Invented Saturday Night Live, talks to Apple News In Conversation host Shumita Basu about Michaels’s unique management style and singular eye for comedy.

The dark side of the global human-egg trade Feb 06, 2025

Show notes

In at least 6% of in vitro fertilization (IVF) cases, the eggs come from donors — and that number is growing. The scarcity and value of human eggs have given rise to a flourishing global industry already worth billions of dollars. A new investigation in Bloomberg Businessweek reveals how this sprawling and largely unregulated market is ripe for exploitation. Apple News In Conversation host Shumita Basu spoke with senior reporters Susan Berfield and Natalie Obiko Pearson about the stories of the women behind this booming business. And to hear more on this story, listen to the three-part series The Human Egg Trade on Bloomberg’s Big Take.

Social media was supposed to be a force for good. What happened? Jan 30, 2025

Show notes

The social-media grounds are shifting. In recent weeks, there have been major developments at platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. Meanwhile, more and more experts are raising alarm bells about the harms of social media on society and our mental health. To understand how we got here and what might come next, Apple News In Conversation host Shumita Basu spoke with Nicholas Carr, author of the book Superbloom: How Technologies of Connection Tear Us Apart, who has been writing about the human consequences of technology for decades.

He infiltrated America’s militias — and then spilled their secrets Jan 23, 2025

Show notes

The militia movement in America has a long, embattled history — and President Trump ushered in a new chapter with his sweeping grant of clemency to the more than 1,500 people charged for their involvement in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. ProPublica reporter Joshua Kaplan sat down with Apple News In Conversation host Shumita Basu to talk about the message these pardons send and the insights of a unique source who secretly infiltrated and climbed the ranks of militia groups in America.

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