The Capitol Forum

Latest Episodes:

Paramount's Long Odyssey to Own Warner Bros. (TCF Investigates) Aug 14, 2026

Show notes

The Ellison family has been on a quest to reshape American media and Hollywood — their next target: Warner Bros. Discovery, home of HBO Max and CNN.

Today on TCF Investigates, Arjun Singh sits down with editors Jeff Bliss and Jim Oliphant to hear about The Capitol Forum's exclusive reporting on the states' merger trial, and why a state victory could be a paradigm shift for antitrust law.

Alternative Protein vs Big Meat (Second Request) Aug 14, 2026

Show notes

Plant-based protein has become a mainstay in restaurants and household dinners, but as an emerging industry it's susceptible to the market power of major food companies.

Today on Second Request, Executive Editor Teddy Downey sits down with Andy Fitch and Cynthia Hanawalt of Columbia Law School's Sabin Center for Climate Change Law to discuss how antitrust law could prevent the alternative protein industry from being eaten up by its biggest players.

How Private Equity Could Create a New Financial Crisis (Second Request) Aug 07, 2026

Show notes

Millions of life insurance policies are tied to the fortunes and speculation of the world's biggest private equity companies. Now, their risk of defaulting on their obligations is increasing, and some worry it could lead to another financial crisis.

Today on Second Request, Teddy Downey sits down with Andrew Granato, Assistant Professor at the University of Texas School of Law, and Pranjal Drall, a J.D.-Ph.D. candidate in Financial Economics at Yale University, to discuss their recent paper, "Private Credit's State Backstop: How Private Equity Socializes Risk Through Insurers."

The Emerging Antitrust Risks in Edge Computing (Second Request) Jul 31, 2026

Show notes

Waymo, Apple, Meta and Google have constructed ecosystems that have immense leverage over the global economy and infrastructure. So how should antitrust law tackle that?

Today on Second Request, Executive Editor Teddy Downey sits down with J. Wyatt Fore to discuss the emerging antitrust risks in edge computing and AI.

Inside Uber's AI Strategy to Inflate Your Fare (Second Request) Jul 24, 2026

Show notes

Same ride, two different prices — that's the new reality facing Uber and Lyft passengers.

Today on Second Request, Executive Editor Teddy Downey sits down with Derek Kravitz of Consumer Reports to talk about Kravitz's new reporting on how Uber and Lyft make use of algorithmic pricing to charge consumers different prices and inflate base costs.

How Credit Card Swipe Fees Became Multibillion Dollar Tolls (Second Request) Jul 22, 2026

Show notes

Today on Second Request, Executive Editor Teddy Downey sits down with Carter Dougherty, senior fellow for anti-monopoly and finance at Demand Progress, who argues that Visa and Mastercard enable banks to coordinate pricing without ever explicitly agreeing to it — and makes the case for how the Credit Card Competition Act, ongoing antitrust litigation, and a more aggressive enforcement posture could finally break the duopoly's grip on the payments market.

Is the Paramount-Warner Bros. Merger in Real Trouble? (Second Request) Jul 17, 2026

Show notes

Twelve states just sued to block Paramount's $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, arguing the deal would leave viewers with fewer choices and higher prices.

Today on Second Request, Executive Editor Teddy Downey sits down with The Entertainment Strategy Guy, who writes one of Hollywood's leading newsletters about the streaming and entertainment industry.

Read The Entertainment Strategy Guy's Substack here: https://entertainment.substack.com/

Can an AI Chatbot Be Responsible for Murder? (Second Request) Jun 26, 2026

Show notes

What happens if an AI chatbot tells someone to kill someone else?

Tragically, this situation unfolded at a Florida school when a shooter asked ChatGPT for advice on how to conduct a school shooting. But do the creators of ChatGPT bear any responsibility? That's what Erie Meyer, former chief technology officer of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, thinks, and in this episode of Second Request she sits down with Arjun Singh to explain why.

The Surveillance Economy, Part Two (TCF Investigates) Jun 12, 2026

Show notes

In the second episode of The Surveillance Economy, a mini-series from The Capitol Forum Investigates, Arjun Singh sits down with Andrew G. Ferguson, a law professor and expert in policing and technology, to discuss his new book Your Data, Will Be Used Against You: Policing in the Age of Self-Surveillance.

Together, the two discuss how law enforcement agencies use personal data from data brokers to create predictive policing programs, and the potential pitfalls of consumer data being handed over to law enforcement.

The Surveillance Economy, Part One (TCF Investigates) Jun 10, 2026

Show notes

Corporations are spying on you — and you've given them permission to do it.

Every time we log on to a browser, open an app or share information with a business, that data is packaged and sold. This lucrative business, however, has turned consumer technology into a surveillance apparatus, and that information is being sold to governments around the world. In the first episode of a special two-part investigation on "The Capitol Forum Investigates," reporter Ethan Ehrenhaft tells the story of how a former cocaine smuggler taught the government how to surveil the public, and how states, including California, are trying to clamp down on the unchecked proliferation of personal data.

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