Slow Burn

In Slow Burn’s 10th season, host Josh Levin takes you back to a crucial inflection point in American history: the moment between 2000 and 2004 when Fox News first surged to power and a whole bunch of people rose up to try and stop it.You’ll hear from the hosts, reporters, and producers who built Fox News, many who’ve never spoken publicly. You’ll also hear from Fox’s biggest antagonists—the political operatives, journalists, and comedians who attacked it, investigated it, and tried to mock it into submission. And you’ll hear from Fox’s victims, who are still coming to terms with how a cable news channel upended their lives.

Want more Slow Burn? Join Slate Plus to immediately access all past seasons and episodes of Slow Burn (and your other favorite Slate podcasts) completely ad-free. Plus, you’ll unlock subscriber-exclusive bonus episodes that bring you behind-the-scenes on the making of the show. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Subscribe” at the top of our show page. Or, visit slate.com/slowburnplus to get access wherever you listen.


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
76
One Year: 1942 | 2. The Year Everyone Got Married
In 1942, matrimony was a national obsession. How would those weddings change America?
39 min
77
One Year: 1942 | 1. The Most Hated Man in America
In 1942, it was up to Leon Henderson to stop inflation. He became a nationwide villain.
42 min
78
Decoder Ring: McGruff Takes a Bite Out of Crime...
Did a trench-coat wearing dog’s catchy anti-drug anthems actually work?
42 min
79
Decoder Ring: McGruff Takes a Bite Out of Crime...
The unlikely origins of the trench-coat wearing bloodhound who tackled personal safety, guns and drugs.
32 min
80
One Year: 1986 | 7. The Man From Fifth Avenue
The stranger-than-fiction story of a mysterious American who starred in a Soviet propaganda film.
53 min
81
One Year: 1986 | 6. The Miracle of Cokeville
How the worst school attack in U.S. history was miraculously averted.
62 min
82
One Year: 1986 | 5. Herschel vs. the Blubber Bu...
How a cute story about a hungry sea lion became a fight over targeted animal killing.
46 min
83
One Year: 1986 | 4. A Boycott in Mississippi
The civil rights battle that divided a small Southern town, and captivated the nation.
54 min
84
One Year: 1986 | 3. The Mystery of Al Capone’s ...
How a live television special became a legendary American fiasco.
58 min
85
One Year: 1986 | 2. The Ultimate Field Trip
They competed for a spot on the Space Shuttle Challenger. Then they watched it explode.
55 min
86
Slow Burn presents... One Year: 1986 | 1. No Cr...
Would Isiah Thomas’ vision of a crime-free world set Detroit on a new path, or was it a recipe for failure?
50 min
87
Decoder Ring: The “Sex” Scandal That Made Mae West
Before she hit the big-screen, the sultry actress starred in a 1927 tabloid trial.
41 min
88
Decoder Ring: The First Alien Abductees
The alien abduction narrative started right here on Earth.
36 min
89
Decoder Ring: The Most Famous Poet No One Remem...
Searching for Rod McKuen.
43 min
90
Slow Burn presents: Decoder Ring - The Mall is ...
For a supposedly dying place, the mall keeps hanging around.
44 min
91
Roe v. Wade | 4. Roe Against Wade
How Justice Harry Blackmun became an accidental abortion rights hero.
10 min
92
Roe v. Wade | 3. Women vs. Connecticut
What it took to strike down one of the oldest abortion laws in the country.
8 min
93
Roe v. Wade | 2. Life or Death
How a doctor and nurse from Cincinnati irrevocably changed the debate over abortion in America.
10 min
94
Roe v. Wade | 1. Get Married or Go Home
In 1971, Shirley Wheeler became the public face of the fight for abortion rights.
52 min
95
The L.A. Riots | 8. Damages
How Rodney King and the city of Los Angeles tried to reckon with everything they’d suffered.
47 min
96
The L.A. Riots | 7. Into Ashes
April 30 felt like the calm after the storm. Then the fires started burning again.
37 min
97
The L.A. Riots | 6. No Peace
After the verdicts, Los Angeles erupted into fire and chaos.
39 min
98
The L.A. Riots | 5. The System
The officers who beat Rodney King had been caught in the act. Why wasn’t that enough to secure a conviction?
39 min
99
SB6 Extra: Leading Up to the Riots
A few excerpts from Season 6's Slate Plus interviews.
16 min
100
The L.A. Riots | 4. Glen
Rodney King woke up in a prison hospital to find himself at the center of the biggest story in the world.
32 min