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Best Podcasts of 2020 Part 2
Photo credit: Peter B. Collins and Jeff Schechtman
Journalism & Media

WhoWhatWhy’s Top Ten Podcasts of 2020 – Part 2

01/01/21

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Here are the final five of our curated list of podcasts that we think reflect the momentous year we’ve all been through.

This year WhoWhatWhy has been proud to deliver to you 62 podcasts from professors, authors, political activists, entrepreneurs, US senators, investigative journalists, economists, scientists, and thought leaders. 

Picking our 10 most significant is never an easy task. Here are the second five. Of course, you can always find YOUR favorites by going directly to our podcast page. 

Roy Cohn, Joseph McCarthy, Army-McCarthy Hearings
Sen. Joseph McCarthy (R-WI) huddles with Chief Counsel Roy Cohn during a session of the Army-McCarthy hearings, September 1953. Photo credit: © Keystone Press Agency/Keystone USA via ZUMAPRESS.com

McCarthy to Cohn to Trump

A look at how the long shadow of Joe McCarthy and Roy Cohn is cast on Donald Trump and all the events of 2020. 

Aaron Rahsaan Thomas
S.W.A.T. showrunner Aaron Rahsaan Thomas (center). Cover art for some of the shows Thomas has worked on includes CSI NY, The Shield, S.W.A.T., and Southland. Photo credit: Photo courtesy of Aaron Rahsaan Thomas, Alliance Atlantis Communications / IMDb , Fox Television Network / IMDb, MiddKid Productions / IMDb, and John Wells Productions / IMDb.

Hollywood Has Sold Us ‘Copaganda’

The Black Lives Matter movement and the relationship between the police and the Black community was one of the top stories this year. Yet, for many of us what we know about police and policing comes mostly from how police are portrayed in popular culture.  

COVID-19, paper test strip, kit
What if everyone received a 50-count COVID-19 rapid test kit?
Photo credit: Adaped by WhoWhatWhy from Jessica Spengler / Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

We Had the Tool to Prevent Lockdowns and Death

If properly mobilized, we had the tool and the medical know-how that could have changed the course of the pandemic. Why didn’t we do it? 

DC, MLK, riots
‘US News & World Report’ photograph of soldier standing guard on the corner of 7th & N Street NW in Washington, DC, with the ruins of buildings destroyed during the riots following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. on April 8, 1968. Oklahoma Senator Fred Harris (D-OK) with members of the Kerner Commission (inset). Photo credit: Library of Congress / Wikimedia and Library of Congress / Wikimedia

Is It 1968 All Over Again?

In 1967 and 1968, riots took place all across America, resulting in over 70 dead and untold injured. Was this a worse time than we have seen today? 

divided America, protests
Photo credit: Anthony Crider / Flickr (CC BY 2.0), Tony Webster / Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0), Mobilus In Mobili / Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0), and Joe Piette / Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0).

Anger & Violence & Secession, Oh My!

When all the political and social dust has settled from 2020, it may turn out that we were simply too divided to heal. Is succession a real possibility? 

Author

  • Jeff Schechtman

    Jeff Schechtman's career spans movies, radio stations, and podcasts. After spending twenty-five years in the motion picture industry as a producer and executive, he immersed himself in journalism, radio, and, more recently, the world of podcasts. To date, he has conducted over ten thousand interviews with authors, journalists, and thought leaders. Since March 2015, he has produced almost 500 podcasts for WhoWhatWhy.

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