Next Question with Katie Couric

Latest Episodes:

Who’s the woman behind Little Women? Dec 12, 2019

Show notes

If you don’t already know Greta Gerwig, then get ready to have a new hero by the end of this episode. Greta is an actress turned writer/director who is taking Hollywood by storm. Her first attempt at writing and directing resulted in the 2017 hit “Lady Bird,” and her career has only skyrocketed from there. In this interview, Katie and Greta bond over their mutual love of the book which inspired her latest project, a remake of the much loved Louisa May Alcott classic “Little Women.” While the film stars some major Hollywood heavyweights — Saoirse Ronan, Emma Watson, Laura Dern and Meryl Streep, to name a few— it’s Greta’s work behind the camera that brings a new sparkle to this classic tale. At a time when accolades for female directors are few and far between — for the fifth year in a row there were zero women nominated for a Golden Globe for directing — Greta’s voice is one that demands to be heard.

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Is there any stopping the spread of hate online? Dec 05, 2019

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NOTE: This episode contains discussions of racist ideologies and hate-based violence. Listener discretion is advised.

Sam (not his real name) was just 13 when he discovered a meme-focused online forum during a lonely time at school. His new friends there were more than happy to share their disturbing views about race and women with him, and Sam, looking for acceptance, was more than happy to listen. Except the more he listened, the more he started to believe what they had to say.

On this episode of Next Question, Katie sits down with Sam and his mom to talk about what it was like to get sucked into the far right online, then gets an expert’s take on how the internet is contributing to the rise of white nationalism—and the white nationalist violence we saw play out in places like Pittsburgh and El Paso. She also speaks to Angela King, a former neo-Nazi who works with extremists hoping to leave the far right behind, about how to help vulnerable young people navigate a world in which hate is always just a few clicks away.

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How did Julie Andrews become the icon she is today? Nov 28, 2019

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The pod is alive with the sound of music! That’s right, for this very special episode of Next Question, Katie sits down with the one and only Julie Andrews. In this funny, fascinating, and often moving conversation, she opens up to Katie about her six decade career on both stage and screen, her marriage to the late, great Blake Edwards, her friendships with legends like Carol Burnett and Elizabeth Taylor, and how she never gets tired of talking about The Sound of Music (lucky us!). Make sure to listen to the very end when Katie plays matchmaker and arranges a surprise phone call with Julie and one of her biggest fans (hint - she also happens to be a previous Next Question guest!)

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To impeach or not to impeach? Nov 21, 2019

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If you’re feeling overwhelmed by all the impeachment headlines, you’re not alone. It’s a lot to absorb—and the arguing back and forth is enough to make anybody want to run in the other direction. But the fact of the matter is our democracy is being tested right now, and we should all be paying attention. On this episode of Next Question, Katie breaks down what you need to know about the impeachment inquiry into President Trump with a little help from two brilliant legal minds: Neal Katyal, the former acting solicitor general who literally wrote the rules on how to investigate a sitting president, and Robert Ray, the prosecutor who led the Whitewater investigation. They talk about what to make of the impeachment hearings, what to expect next, and what the division over the investigation means for the future of American politics.

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How did teen vaping become an epidemic? Nov 14, 2019

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It unfolded right under our noses, in classrooms, on school buses, in locker rooms after sports practice—millions of kids got addicted to nicotine within the span of just a few years, thanks to the spread of vaping devices like Juul. This fall, the scope of the issue came into shocking focus as headline after headline documented the skyrocketing number of vaping-related illnesses. How exactly did we get here—and what can we do about it now? On this episode of Next Question, Katie talks to people on all sides of the issue, including a concerned high schooler who became an activist after watching his friends battle nicotine addictions; a mom who worries about her daughter’s Juul use now that she’s away at college; a journalist who started covering the trend long before the rest of the media caught on; and some of the country’s foremost addiction experts about the best ways to help teenage vapers—and keep kids away from e-cigarettes in the first place.

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Is It Time to Unfriend Facebook? Nov 07, 2019

Show notes

More than 2.1 billion people use Facebook or one of its services like Instagram and WhatsApp every day. Lately though, the company that started out with the noble vision of “making the world more open and connected” is facing some serious questions about the part it plays in a lot of harmful activities like spreading misinformation, mishandling its users’ personal information, and increasing the deep divisions of our already polarized nation. On this episode ofNext Question, Katie shares her recent headline-making interview with Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg at the Vanity Fair Summit in Los Angeles. It’s a tough, no-holds barred conversation that gets to the heart of the question on everyone’s mind - is Facebook doing enough to protect its more than 2 billion users and our democracy?

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Is ageism getting old? Oct 31, 2019

Show notes

Getting older should be something to celebrate. Instead, our youth-obsessed culture tells us we need to get rid of our wrinkles, dye our gray hair, and shave years off of our LinkedIn profiles, or risk becoming irrelevant—or worse, invisible. But why do we treat the very normal process of aging like it’s something to be ashamed of? On this episode of Next Question, Katie talks to an amazing group of women who refuse to apologize for acting (and looking) their age: Lyn Slater, a.k.a. the Accidental Icon; supermodel JoAni Johnson; anti-ageism activist Ashton Applewhite; and legendary advertising executive Cindy Gallop. Katie and her guests discuss the roots of our implicit biases against older people (especially older women), the social and economic costs of ageism, and why you should never say “thank you” when someone says you look good for your age.

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Is Jennifer Garner really that nice? Oct 24, 2019

Show notes

She’s been a fixture on the big screen for more than two decades, but Jennifer Garner has managed to remain about as un-Hollywood as it gets. She isn’t afraid to be goofy on Instagram (see: her pretend cooking show), she talks to her sisters almost every day, and she refuses to rest on her laurels, pouring everything she has into new projects—like Once Upon a Farm, a company dedicated to making high-quality food available to all families (not just the ones who can afford it). On this episode of Next Question, she opens up to Katie about diving into the world of business for the first time and her biggest priority of all: raising happy, healthy kids in the face of unruly paparazzi and hurtful tabloid headlines.

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Ronan Farrow on Catch and Kill Oct 17, 2019

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Ronan Farrow’s reporting on Harvey Weinstein helped inspire a cultural reckoning—and won him the Pulitzer Prize. So why did NBC try to kill the biggest story of the year? On this episode of Next Question, Katie sits down with Ronan to discuss his new book Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators—a jaw-dropping account of the extreme measures NBC News and Harvey Weinstein took to keep the producer’s history of sexual violence hidden. From the Russian spies who stalked him to Weinstein’s attempts to use Matt Lauer as leverage, Ronan and Katie talk about the campaign to silence both the press and the victims, the power structures that continue to protect abusers to this day, and where the #MeToo movement goes from here—not just in media, but in workplaces everywhere.

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Does CBD deserve the hype? Oct 10, 2019

Show notes

CBD is everywhere: You can buy CBD olive oil, CBD mascara, CBD supplements for your dog- even CBD tampons! Some swear it alleviates everything from insomnia to chronic pain, anxiety and depression. But is it everything it’s cracked up to be? Or is it just the latest fad? Katie weeds out CBD fact from fiction with a little help from Kristen Bell, a CBD devotee, Rob Rosenheck, co-founder of Hollywood’s favorite CBD brand, and Dr. Yasmin Hurd, the country’s leading CBD researcher. She even samples some CBD products—for science!—and shares her thoughts about the experience.

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