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Why We Wrote This

Who reports the news? People. And at The Christian Science Monitor, we believe that it’s our job to report each story with a sense of shared humanity. Through conversations with our reporters and editors, we explain the qualities behind our reporting that affect how we approach the news. Behind today’s headlines we find respect, resilience, dignity, agency, and hope. “Why We Wrote This” shows how. The Monitor is an award-winning, nonpartisan news organization with bureaus around the globe. Visit

news & politics

All Episodes

When Trump Speaks, What’s Heard?

Why We Wrote This ·

2024/03/29

Whether prepared or uttered on the fly, the campaign statements of former President Donald Trump often appear to be at least as fiery as his 2016 rhetoric. It’s impossible to ascribe intent. Some see unvarnished truth; others hear dog whistles that they fear will yield trouble. For this episode, guest host Gail Chaddock spoke with Linda Feldmann, a veteran White House reporter, on the challenge of sizing up Mr. Trump’s speech. How it’s interpreted by fervent fans – and by impassioned detractors

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When Trump Speaks, What’s Heard?

Why We Wrote This ·

2024/03/25

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Writer’s Read: A Different Border Tale

Why We Wrote This ·

2024/03/22

Pressure from the South on the U.S. southern border is real. But over the past decade, more and more people from Mexico and beyond – people who had initially pictured their futures in the United States – have by choice or circumstances ended up instead building successful lives in Mexico. “I just finally felt wanted,” one source told Mexico City-based writer Whitney Eulich, who describes her reporting, from Tijuana and Mexico City, at the top of this episode. Our special-format show also includes

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#MeToo, French Edition

Why We Wrote This ·

2024/03/15

A notoriously slow legal system, within a culture that has let auteurs become demigods, gave rise to what one French film star’s agent apologetically called “a sacred monster.” Paris-based writer Colette Davidson wrote about a slow shift in trust – from transgressors to accusers – that may finally bring some accountability in a nation wrestling with sexual abuse scandals involving some of its cinema icons. Hosted by Clay Collins.

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Writer’s Read: A Different Border Tale

Why We Wrote This ·

2024/03/13

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#MeToo, French Edition

Why We Wrote This ·

2024/03/08

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A Narrative Missed by the News

Why We Wrote This ·

2024/03/07

Partisan side-taking is real. But it isn’t the whole story. When you get way beyond the Beltway and filter out the manufactured distrust that’s cultivated by those on the extremes, you can often find public thought moving in the same direction on important issues. And you can find data to support that movement. Marshall Ingwerson, a special contributor and former editor of the Monitor, explored a counternarrative. In this episode, he joins guest host Gail Chaddock to discuss.

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Writer’s Read: Trust and the Texas Grid

Why We Wrote This ·

2024/03/01

When the Monitor began planning a series focused on trust, Texas-based writer Henry Gass immediately thought of “the freeze.” Three years after a winter storm devastated the state’s unique power grid, experts say the grid has become more reliable, more weatherized. There hasn’t been a repeat of the widespread outages. But “it’s deep in the Texan psyche now to worry about the grid,” a source told Henry. Rebuilding trust will take time and work. For this experimental, alternative-format episode of our

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A Narrative Missed by the News

Why We Wrote This ·

2024/02/29

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Writer’s Read: Trust and the Texas Grid

Why We Wrote This ·

2024/02/23

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Finding the Soul of Harlem

Why We Wrote This ·

2024/02/23

Ahead of a major museum retrospective on the thriving Harlem of the 1920s and its often overlooked artists, the Monitor’s cultural commentator toured that upper Manhattan neighborhood to get a better sense of the Harlem of today. He found an neighborhood that venerates its historical heroes while nurturing new ones. He found pride and purpose. Ken Makin joins host Clay Collins to talk about the staggering power of being there – and about the many ways Harlem draws from its past to shape its

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Finding the Soul of Harlem

Why We Wrote This ·

2024/02/20

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Artificial Intelligence, Real Learning

Why We Wrote This ·

2024/02/16

AI and education might appear destined to be in conflict. Generative chat and video set up as tempting cheats, ones that might be somewhat transparent for now but that are rapidly gaining in sophistication. Education writer Jackie Valley spoke with host Clay Collins about schools that are countering fear of misuse by incorporating forms of AI in responsible ways that also deepen learners’ engagement and joy.

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Artificial Intelligence, Real Learning

Why We Wrote This ·

2024/02/13

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Introducing ‘Rebuilding Trust’

Why We Wrote This ·

2024/02/09

News always answers the “what.” That’s important. But a news organization built to elevate humanity also has a mandate to go much deeper, to look at what’s really driving the news. Monitor Editor Mark Sappenfield joins host Clay Collins to talk about a current Monitor focus on trust, and about how serially focusing on universal values that need attention – as well as on global news – can help make the Monitor an indispensable beacon on the media landscape.

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Nordic Norm? The ‘Just Enough’ Life

Why We Wrote This ·

2024/02/02

Sweden is, of course, more complex than the Utopian collective that some have long considered it to be. That’s not to say that its societal emphasis on better living doesn’t persist. Writer Erika Page reported from around Sweden on the aspirational concept of “lagom” – essentially, a life kept in balance. She tells host Clay Collins about the reporting, and what it showed about a Scandinavian concept that reflects a universal yearning.

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Introducing ‘Rebuilding Trust’

Why We Wrote This ·

2024/02/01

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Understanding Evangelicals

Why We Wrote This ·

2024/01/26

American politics tends to meet with broad-brush depictions. That has colored perceptions of Evangelical Christians as always being in lock step with right-wing Republican views. But while there are clear overlaps, that’s not the whole story. Harry Bruinius, a religion and culture writer for the Monitor, joins guest host Gail Chaddock to talk about his recent piece on post-Evangelicals – including MAGA followers’ relationship to the movement and what that could bode for 2024 and beyond.

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Nordic Norm? The ‘Just Enough’ Life

Why We Wrote This ·

2024/01/24

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Understanding Evangelicals

Why We Wrote This ·

2024/01/12

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