A long form documentary podcast produced by independent journalists from the field, bringing stories from across the globe.
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Collaboration / Objectivity in the Times of Fake News (with Suno India)
Suno India speaks with journalists Prachi Pinglay and Kunal Shankar, who produced On Spec's Season 3, Episode 4 - Love in Times of Hate. They discuss what the impact of fake news has been on India, and what it was like reporting and putting together the episode for On Spec.
4/11/2021 • 21 minutes, 13 seconds
Season Three: Disinformation Teaser
Get ready for Season Three: Disinformation! On Spec takes a deep dive into the global abyss of fake news, bringing you the story of how the scourge of disinformation is effecting ordinary people in seven different countries.
2/18/2021 • 1 minute, 35 seconds
Collaboration / Inside Iran's Holiest Shrine
Scott Gurian, an American journalist and the voice behind Far From Home podcast, transports us to Mashad, Iran, inside a pilgrimage site where he and his fellow travelers find themselves grappling with cultural and religious differences. Then Scott tells On Spec his reflections about the trip, and how he managed to avoid Iran’s government minders to record his story.
2/3/2021 • 29 minutes, 43 seconds
OnSpec/08 - My Phoenix
Phoenix is one of the fastest growing cities in the U.S., an example of urbanization shaped by generations of immigrants. An Arizona native, journalist Alisa Reznick gives a tour of the old and new Greater Phoenix through the eyes of her extended family, who came three generations ago from Mexico, and new migrants struggling to get asylum.
1/11/2021 • 29 minutes, 39 seconds
Collaboration / Foreign Correspondence
In this collaboration with Foreign Correspondence podcast, On Spec host Fariba Nawa gives a raw, intimate interview to Jake Spring about her two-decade career, family, and the struggles of straddling two cultures as a journalist. You can listen to all episodes of the podcast Foreign Correspondence, where you will hear deep dive interviews with a diverse group of foreign reporters. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/foreign-correspondence/id1462899794
11/1/2020 • 1 hour, 29 minutes, 4 seconds
Collaboration / Feminism in the Age of COVID-19 (with Continuum Collective)
In this collaboration with the Continuum Collective, we are exploring the rise in gender-based violence during the pandemic and what can be done about it. On Spec's host Fariba Nawa joins Jillian Foster, the host of the Continuum Collective's Radicals & Revolutionaries Lab podcast, and Teri Yuan, the host of the Engendered podcast.
8/16/2020 • 1 hour, 2 minutes, 30 seconds
OnSpec/07 - Treasure Hunters
Journalist Margaux Benn ventures to the remote province of Nimroz, Afghanistan and follows the tracks of ancient artefacts, from the desert straddling Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan, to a shop in the capital Kabul. Some could be antiquities ending up on a shelf among fakes, then illegally taken to Dubai and sold at a high price.
3/15/2020 • 30 minutes, 17 seconds
OnSpec/06 - Rupi’s Journey
Oscar Durand brings you the story of a Bolivian street musician in Istanbul, who like the rest of us, wonders where the years have gone and what he will do with his life. Oscar, a Peruvian and former engineer, found a common bond with Rupi on speaking Spanish and the meaning of life. (Rupi's name has been changed per his request.)
2/2/2020 • 24 minutes, 39 seconds
OnSpec/05 - The ISIS Conundrum
As the world grapples with how to serve justice to thousands of foreign ISIS affiliates captured in Syria and Iraq, Australian journalist Tessa Fox travels to northeast Syria to meet the Australians accused of being affiliated with the group.
1/4/2020 • 33 minutes, 9 seconds
OnSpec/04 - The Badlands - Pakistan's Tribal Areas
Umar Farooq reports on how Pakistan’s tribal areas, once proud of their fierce independence, are ready to join Pakistan proper, and how youth there worked to end a century-old collective punishment law. Locals where caught between US drones, the Taliban, and the Pakistani military. This is the untold story of the war on terror, and what reforms in the tribal areas mean for peace in Afghanistan.
12/7/2019 • 37 minutes, 40 seconds
OnSpec/03 - Truffle Terror: The Iraqis Risking Their Lives in Pursuit of a Desert Delicacy
Pesha Magid travels to Anbar to bring you the story of how, and why, locals are risking kidnapping by ISIS to hunt for desert truffles. A rare but beloved delicacy in Iraq, this was the best year for them since the 1990s. The biggest of the truffles grow far out in the remotest regions of Anbar province — where at least a thousand ISIS fighters are suspected to be hiding. With almost no other way of earning a living, Iraqis continue to make the dangerous journey to the desert.
11/17/2019 • 28 minutes, 42 seconds
OnSpec/02 - Salty Showers, Arab Spring Flowers
As protesters once again take to the streets of Baghdad, we take a step back to examine whether climate change has a hand in the political crisis in Iraq. Shawn Carrié brings you a story through the eyes of activists that grounds the climate crisis — by transporting you to Iraq, where a water shortage led to massive protests in a country still reeling from war — and those protests brought down the government.