I love the topics, the depth, the thoughtful questions from Megna, and particularly - the Jackpod! MJL

I used to listen to On Point every day and genuinely miss it. Every now and again I check back to see if the quality of the show has gone back up to what it used to be in the Tom Ashbrook days. Unfortunately, I am continuously disappointed by its lack of moderate reporting- it feels like much of the show has become very partisan with a strong progressive basis under Megna- you always know what her opinions are / whose side she is on. The decline of On Point and NPR over the past several years was pretty well summed up by Uri Berliner recently. I’m still a supporter and hope it can return to what it used to be and have a stronger viewpoint diversity.

Excellent podcast with relevant topics. I enjoy the host tremendously. She has a lovely voice and asks smart questions. lol s of interesting guests.

Highly recommend! One of the best podcasts! Clear, perfectly structured, great host, great correspondents! If you like listening to clear, factual discussions about important issues this podcast is the right one for you. I really enjoyed listening to the 5 episodes about populism. Thanks to the host!!! Added today: Jack Beatty would make a great professor. He is inspiring, knowledgeable and enthusiastic in explaining complex concepts by breaking them down for us and adding anecdotes that have a funny side.

Sure low information voters are on both sides, but the low IQ indoctrinated by propaganda mass media left are clueless beyond those media talking points. It’s really sad they can’t see the middle-ground truth.

Not only encouraging for those of worried about the rise of authoritarianism around the world, but a great recounting of Poland’s political history since Soviet era thru Solidarity Union to now providing good context for understanding. Much needed right now

The host is thoughtful and asks good questions. Good topics too.

The story on witchcraft was kind of dopey. A little definition of what a witch is would’ve helped. How could you talk of a serious issue of 100,000 children in Africa being accused of being witches and also in the same podcast talk about some gen z youtuber looking for views and claiming to be a witch. Two completely different topics. I dont know how you could combine these two.

Been listening to this podcast for 10+ years. It's great, and love the mix of news, book reviews, movies news.

Sad to see the once rational and articulate Jack Beatty come down with Trump Derangement Syndrome. This was once a great radio show before the Tom Ashbrook mutiny. Jack was the only moderate survivor. It’s a sad way to finish a career. Maybe Jack should get out of Boston more.

stupid trump tramples on all the rules, gives the rule of law the middle finger. i as a federal taxpayer do not want any of my taxes paying for secret service protection for that fat arss’d whiney authoritarian narcissist. i would like to see that practice removed for trump as people need protection from him, his threats and flying monkeys, trump doesn’t need nor deserve that protection! grrrr

This is my favorite all encompassing podcast. The subject matter, whatever it might be, is super interesting. You don’t leave any stones unturned when it comes to questions. Interviewing skills are impeccable and your guests are phenomenal.

Meghna, you need to push back more forcefully on Batya Ungar-Sargon’s naive, skewed views about Trump. Her whataboutism is astounding, and sickeningly equivocal. Terrible interview.

Big fan of this podcast I recently discovered. How Israel is murd*ring innocent people in Gaza so the illegal settlers can invade like parasites.

Thank you for the great show. I wish the breaks were coming after the guest finishes her/his talk, not in the middle of it. It feels disruptive, the speakers and the listeners loose the tread of the talk.

The Palestinian round table discussion was painful to listen to. Zero accurate history. Scary to believe these are the “moderates” among us.

Incredibly smart program featuring deep dives into current issues. Host is wildly well informed on seemingly EVERYTHING. I listen everyday and frequently go back into the archives to find past episodes. Thank you for amazing programming.

Maybe just have a separate podcast for him? I miss regular stories with varied guests.

I have been listening to this podcast for years now. I so appreciate the way Meghna cogently and calmly hosts conversations about a whole gamut of important topics. Thank you!

I’ve been listening since the previous host. I really love the current host, Magna. She is a good interviewer, and is smart and asks good questions and steers the conversation really well. I like the topics and it helps me stay in the know about what’s going on in the world! I think of it like Fresh Air with Terry Gross, but with more of a world view and more of an eye towards politics.

One of three or four podcasts that I try a follow daily

Meghan Chakrabarty is brilliant and I love the way she chooses and interviews guests. As opposed to some other podcasts I listen to regularly, this show makes an effort to present a balanced view of issues (the recent fora with Israeli, then with Palestinian guests about the war in Gaza), and I really appreciate that. I do agree with a previous commenter that the adulation of Jack Beatty in the recent “Jackpod” series is excessive. Let his knowledge and commentary speak for itself

I so appreciate the show having a dedicated weekly show with Jack Beatty- I have great respect for his analysis and intelligence. Please continue! Also - I concur with another listener who recently was cited on the show as having a plan to leave America if Trump is elected in 2024. We recently retired and moved from Ohio to Maine and we are keeping our options open until the election and have also seriously considered a move out of the country if Trump returns in 2025 when our current lease expires.

One of the great interviewers working in public radio today. Smart, occasionally surprising topic choices, and Meghna digs into them, always staying present for follow-ups.

I really hate the write this review. On point, for years, was my favorite show on NPR. It was the reason I donated. It was interesting, challenging, and tried to make sense of the world. Unfortunately, the last couple years it's simply a mediocre essay on current topics. Seldomly challenging, often just boring.

I have always liked Jack Beatty’s insight but the praise that is heaped on him every Friday makes my teeth hurt. It is absolutely ridiculous. Is Megna mocking him? Is it written into his rider? Very strange, please make it stop.

I’ll echo another review to say this show used to have insightful, hope-filled perspectives. Now it’s all doom and gloom. I’ve entirely stopped listening, and I’m reminded why when I scroll through the recent topics.

As usual, Meghna uses her incredible interview skills to dive deeply into this topic. I’ve heard several other Sinclair interviews but always felt that I had more questions afterwards than beforehand. Those previously unaddressed inconsistencies & conflicts I found with his own statements were pressed by Meghna. Other interviewers let these issues slip by. However, Meghan’s persistence, sharp analytical skills & thirst to deeply understand what the person she’s interviewing means, keeps her asking for clarifications. So few interviewers have the moxie & expertise to keep pressing for answers as Meghna does. Thx WBUR & NPR for putting Meghna in this national broadcast seat.

What a horrible idea for the media to continue to engage in both sides-isms. trump is an outright liar, who tells his cult to NOT listen to others, only him. Biden may be old, and getting slower before our eyes, but he mostly speaks truth. If “people” by 11 points believe trump had better economy than Biden(your primary example of how Biden is engaging in “don’t believe your eyes”), is that Bidens fault? Is Biden making crap up or simply articulating facts, that the cult followers have been programmed to not believe. He’s stating facts. Do better Jack. Sadly, there are 2 sides in our political world today. A Pro-Democracy side and an authoritarian side . Period

Thank you!

Meghna is one of the very best interviewers. She’s intelligent, well informed and fair. Today’s episode with Congressman Blumenauer was a breath of fresh air. Behind his deep understanding of the the Farm Bill is an acute awareness of the folly of omnibus legislation. The system is at the core of congressional disfunction. Giant omnibus bills are lazy ways to legislate. Stir everything into one big pot and then find out what’s in it after the bill is printed when it’s too late to understand just what the leaders and members have agreed to. The misnamed Inflation Reduction Act is a perfect example.

🤮🤮🤮

The episode on the decriminalization of sex work was awful and offensive. It was absolutely disrespectful to Melanie Thompson’s lived experience, her criticism of the sex trade, and her advocacy work as someone personally invested in the Nordic model of sex trade decriminalization. Meghna invited Ariela Moscowitz, an advocate for the full decriminalization of sex work, who did nothing but spout ad hominem attacks and baseless statistics with no grounding in actual research. While Melanie was pried for the most intimate details of her horrific experience in the sex trade, Meghna asked no pointed questions of Ariela. Ariela claimed that all women in the sex trade choose to engage in that “work” because “why wouldn’t they?” Ariela was condescending towards those who favored the Nordic model, and absolutely dismissive of Melanie’s actual lived experience (Ariela, by the way, is a college-educated white woman with a PhD who has no firsthand experience in the sex trade). Meghna showed no courage or confidence in pushing back on a total ideologue. Very disappointing. Unsubscribed.

We listen to this show every day. It’s topical and so well crafted. The producers are so adept at pulling it all together. But the real treat is MEGNHA. She is funny and honest and so, so smart. And she knows just the right questions to ask to clarify those spaces where the listener hears what is said but may not totally understand it. This is mastery, and makes the shows so satisfying to listen to. And all of that on live radio. She thinks on her feet faster than the speed of light!

Not since David Brudnoy have I heard pro gaming that is educational two sided all points conveyed Fantastic program

Facebook whistleblower episode. Host might as well just do a book review. She steers the guest to an annoying degree. Bad technique. Going to delete from my rotation.

While I don’t listen to every episode, it still is one of my favorites. I’ll skip a topic every now and then if I have absolutely no interest in it, which is maybe once a week. I enjoy Meghna’s efforts to remain mostly neutral on most topics and how she will ask (sometimes) difficult questions to both sides. I was disappointed though with the recent episode about Kamala Harris - the guests were mostly compromised of the same basic ideology so nothing really from “both sides”, and I expected Meghna to challenge them (just a) little bit. The lack of truely opposing views was evident from the start. I think most VPs are cannon fodder really, but when one of the guests compared Kamala’s propensity for word salad to Dan Quayle’s misspelling of the word potato, which in and of themselves are no where near the same thing, Meghna chimed and and supported it. Going so far as to later repeat the same analogy unprompted. Despite this recent episode I would have given it a 5 but I pretty much skip any episode hosted by anyone but Meghna. The guest host don’t even try to looks at issues from the middle. Those episodes, which sadly sometimes cover a topic I’d really like, are unlistenable. That goes for any segment with Jack Beatty too. I hit the fast forward button whenever he is asked to give his opinion on anything.

Still in my podcast rotation since it was once a must listen in a distant past. But in a post-unbiased world of journalism, it’s only an occasional listen. Lately, they “seem” to want to try to do real pieces with a wider point of view. Example: the Kamala Harris episode. It was a real effort to address what is in plain view, her lack of popular appeal and her inability to string two coherent sentences together. Both guests TRIED to comment fairly only to always go back to their prescribed positions to defend her and blame other circumstances. Ok, fair. But then at the end of the show it all came full circle to the only thing they know: It’s all because of racism and misogyny. Predictable. Never fails. Disappointing.

Very poor and unapologetically partisan episode, embarrassingly unquestioning from both the interviewer and the guest. Do better than that!

So I’ve been wondering for a while why the trans panic that’s sweeping red states hasn’t been addressed on the show. They finally had an episode about trans people and it’s about the UK and Meghna’s knowledge of trans healthcare and topics seemed to be a copy and paste from she who shall not be spoken’s Twitter feed. There are actual trans people in the US affected by the current state level legislation. Why didn’t you bring it up? The show has really gone downhill in recent years anyway.

I wanted to thank you for taking a deep dive on this topic. The first 3 shows are very informative and I hope that other MSM will take up this topic because I’m concerned that not enough people are aware of this.

A good show, but recently only about fear, worry, and division. We have enough of that from every news source... how about the creativity and hopeful thinking which used to characterize this show? I rarely listen these days as the subject matter and title are inevitably depressing, and I'm trying to find inspiration, even in news analysis

I rarely miss an episode. The hour goes by fast; I wish Meghna would be more succinct with her questions.so her guests would have more time to talk.

Next time you do a whole show on gender transition, please consider getting the point of young people who you were discussing and missgendering. Strong TERF vibes.

My hat’s off to On Point for covering this extremely important, but nuclear subject. Particularly in the US it’s practically impossible to have a sane, coherent discussion about appropriate care protocols for gender questioning kids without name calling and recriminations. This episode transcended politics on both sides to center gender questioning kids and what needs to be done to ensure they have access to excellent support and care. Big thanks to everyone who had a hand in putting this together!

Ms. Schoor allowed all of her guests equate the despicable Republicans barred from committee assignments with the current honorable, intelligent and truthful Democrats. She asked no hard questions, never pushed back, and allowed untruths and partial info to go unquestioned. I love Meghna on this show. Please keep her as host and allow Kimberly to find a position more suited to her.

… as Ashbrook did. Was a uniquely excellent program format.

I encountered this podcast by mistake and I am so glad I did. If you are looking for a well informed historical analysis of social issues, then this is your podcast. Each issue takes on a journey between the past and present giving you a clear picture of underlying contexts and reasons for what has and is occurring. By the end of an episode there is often clear guidance of future directions. Insightful and audacious, this podcast will definitely leave a mark on your life.

Make America Great Again Very well done brainwash

I look back fondly on the days when Tom hosted the show, but I also enjoy Meghna hosting as well but to a lesser extent. It’s disappointing how left-leaning this show has become. You can’t call yourself balanced news if 90% of your guests are of the left while the remainder is centrist (9%) or right-leaning read “domestic terrorist” or “fascist” (1%). As I said, I enjoy Meghna as the host but it’s very rare for her to give a fair shake to the right unless they have a representative speaking on the show. And for the love of God keep Jack Beatty off the show. Calling him a hack is an insult to hacks. It’s a wonder he’s even audible with how deep he lets the Democrats slide down his throat. NPR is basically a left equivalent of the Daily Wire at this point. The only difference is that I pay for that subscription willingly while NPR gets that sweet tax money.