Slow Burn: Plus

Slow Burn illuminates America’s most consequential moments, making sense of the past to better understand the present. Through archival tape and first-person interviews, the award-winning series uncovers the surprising events and little-known characters lurking within the biggest stories of our time.


Season 10: The Rise of Fox News

How a cable news channel became a cultural and political force—and how a whole bunch of people rose up to try and stop it.


Season 9: Gays Against Briggs

A nationwide moral panic, a California legislator who rode the anti-gay wave, and the LGBTQ+ people who stepped up and came out to try and stop him.


Season 8: Becoming Justice Thomas

Where Clarence Thomas came from, how he rose to power, and how he’s brought the rest of us along with him, whether we like it or not. Winner of the Podcast of the Year at the 2024 Ambies Awards.


Season 7: Roe v. Wade

The women who fought for legal abortion, the activists who pushed back, and the justices who thought they could solve the issue for good. Winner of Apple Podcasts Show of the Year in 2022.


Season 6: The L.A. Riots

How decades of police brutality, a broken justice system, and a video tape set off six days of unrest in Los Angeles.


Season 5: The Road to the Iraq War

Eighteen months after 9/11, the United States invaded a country that had nothing to do with the attacks. Who’s to blame? And was there any way to stop it?


Season 4: David Duke

America’s most famous white supremacist came within a runoff of controlling Louisiana. How did David Duke rise to power? And what did it take to stop him?


Season 3: Biggie and Tupac

How is it that two of the most famous performers in the world were murdered within a year of each other—and their killings were never solved?


Season 2: The Clinton Impeachment

A reexamination of the scandals that nearly destroyed the 42nd president and forever changed the life of a former White House intern.


Season 1: Watergate

What did it feel like to live through the scandal that brought down President Nixon?

History
Documentary
Politics
1
The Rise of Fox News | Plus: The Four Words Tha...
The New York Times’ Emily Steel on her Pulitzer-winning investigation of Bill O’Reilly.
22 min
2
The Rise of Fox News | 6. What Hath We Wrought?
Some of the people who built Fox News now wonder how much they’re to blame for what it’s become.
71 min
3
The Rise of Fox News | Plus: How Fox News Broke...
A former producer on why he left CNN to go to Fox News.
16 min
4
The Rise of Fox News | 5. Ludacris Has Been Fired
For the American left, Fox News was an enemy to be destroyed—but maybe also emulated.
58 min
5
The Rise of Fox News | Plus: Ed Helms and More ...
Behind the scenes at a fake news show during the rise of Fox News.
25 min
6
The Rise of Fox News | 4. Beacon of Truth
The Daily Show allowed an audience of millions to get to know Fox News without actually having to watch it.
59 min
7
The Rise of Fox News | Plus: CNN’s Tom Johnson ...
The former CNN president on the moment Fox News crashed the cable-news party.
19 min
8
The Rise of Fox News | 3. The Other Guy’s Hambu...
Life at CNN was pretty darn sweet. Then came Fox News.
51 min
9
The Rise of Fox News | 2. A Network for Normal ...
The Fox News story began with the death of a dream.
54 min
10
The Rise of Fox News | Plus: David Folkenflik o...
NPR’s media correspondent looks back at a fateful night for the cable news channel.
24 min
11
The Rise of Fox News | 1. We Report. You Can Su...
How Fox News went from bumbling to seemingly invincible.
51 min
12
Season 10 Trailer: The Rise of Fox News
Coming Sept. 18
2 min
13
Gays Against Briggs | Tribeca Festival Live Show
Host Christina Cauterucci interviews special guests at the 2024 Tribeca Festival.
95 min
14
Gays Against Briggs | Bonus Interview: Silvana ...
Host Christina Cauterucci interviews the activists behind this season's cover art.
27 min
15
Gays Against Briggs | 7. Turn Around. Fight Back.
After an infuriating verdict, gay San Franciscans took their anger to the streets.
87 min
16
Gays Against Briggs | 6. The Murders at City Hall
Thousands of activists gave everything to the Prop 6 campaign. Harvey Milk gave his life.
51 min
17
Gays Against Briggs | 5. Strange Bedfellows
In the 1970s, gay rights activists took a gamble—on Ronald Reagan.
50 min
18
Gays Against Briggs | 4. You Must Come Out
In the fight against John Briggs, desperate times called for a deeply personal tactic.
52 min
19
Gays Against Briggs | 3. Harvey Milk vs. the Ma...
How the unofficial mayor of Castro Street became the public face of the anti-Briggs campaign.
52 min
20
Gays Against Briggs | 2. Defend Our Children
John Briggs’ crusade against gay teachers tapped into a deep well of conservative anxiety.
48 min
21
Gays Against Briggs | 1. A Hotbed of Homosexuality
In the 1970s, California played host to the biggest gay rights fight the country had ever seen.
45 min
22
Season 9 Trailer: Gays Against Briggs
Coming May 22nd.
1 min
23
Announcing Slow Burn Season 9
Gays Against Briggs
1 min
24
Becoming Justice Thomas | Plus: The Epicenter o...
An interview with Slate’s Dahlia Lithwick and Mark Joseph Stern on Thomas’ jurisprudence.
60 min
25
Becoming Justice Thomas | 4. A National Disgrace
What if Anita Hill hadn’t been the only woman who testified against Clarence Thomas?
61 min