Front Burner

CBC

Your essential daily news podcast. We take you deep into the stories shaping Canada and the world.

  • 24 minutes 49 seconds
    Mass graves uncovered at Gaza hospitals

    In early April, after Israeli troops withdrew from the area surrounding the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis, Palestinian recovery teams were able to assess the destruction. And just last week, mass graves were uncovered on the hospital grounds. There’s been similar reports at Al-Shifa hospital in Northern Gaza as well.


    United Nations officials are calling for independent investigations into the matter. A statement by the Israeli Defence Forces has said accusations that they had buried the bodies were "baseless and unfounded".


    Freelance journalist Akram Al-Sattari has been reporting from the grounds of the Nasser Medical Complex. He spoke to Front Burner about what he witnessed.

    1 May 2024, 8:10 am
  • 27 minutes 49 seconds
    ‘F--k Trudeau,’ from fringe to mainstream

    When Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre visited a convoy camp on the border between New Brunswick and Nova Scotia last week, he was filmed in front of a “F--k Trudeau” flag.


    It was another moment of visibility for a slogan that’s encroached on the mainstream, appearing on bumper stickers and flags scattered across the country.


    So when did this visible hate for the Prime Minister start? What’s the relationship between extremist groups and mainstream anger? And is there any way for Justin Trudeau – or his opposition – to heal the divisions?


    Journalist Justin Ling has spent many hours listening to groups who profess hatred for Trudeau. He’s the author of Bug-Eyed and Shameless on Substack, and he recently spoke to the Prime Minister about these divisions.

    30 April 2024, 8:10 am
  • 34 minutes 10 seconds
    The growing wave of campus protests

     On April 17th, pro-Palestinian protesters set up an encampment on the lawn of Columbia University in New York, calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, and for their administration to divest from ties to Israel. The next day, their university’s president called on the NYPD to clear the encampment. They arrested more than 100 students. That event caused an eruption of solidarity encampments, protests, and faculty walk-outs at colleges and universities across the U.S. 


    Now, the encampments and solidarity protests have spread even further — including at McGill University in Montreal, and universities in Europe and Australia.


    Today, we’re going to talk about why students in multiple countries feel compelled to face arrest or suspension for this movement — and why others feel the protests are creating a dangerous climate that is fueling antisemitism.


    Our guest is Arielle Angel, editor-in-chief of the magazine Jewish Currents.

    29 April 2024, 8:10 am
  • 36 minutes 31 seconds
    Weekend Listen: Split Screen: Kid Nation

    The controversial reality TV show known as ‘Kid Nation’, which borrowed its premise from Lord of the Flies, was cancelled shortly after its 2007 debut. Producers took 40 kids into a makeshift desert town to fend for themselves and create their own society. Was the series an opportunity to discover what kids are capable of? Or simply a ploy for ratings? With access to former ‘Kid Nation’ contestants, their families, and the show’s creators, culture journalist Josh Gwynn uncovers how this cult TV show became a lightning rod for an ongoing debate about the ethics of reality TV. Welcome to Split Screen, an examination of the utterly captivating, sometimes unsettling world of entertainment and pop culture. From reality TV gone awry, to the cult of celebrity, each season of Split Screen takes listeners on an evocative journey inside the world of showbiz. Ex-contestants, producers, and cultural critics uncover complicated truths behind TV’s carefully curated facades, and question what our entertainment reveals about us. Split Screen: sometimes reality is twisted. More episodes are available at: https://link.chtbl.com/-vGm-quA

    27 April 2024, 10:10 am
  • 22 minutes 5 seconds
    The keffiyeh’s history of culture and conflict

    Earlier this month, the Ontario legislature banned the keffiyeh, a checkered black and white scarf long worn by Palestinians and often seen at pro-Palestinian protests.


    The ban was brought in because of a longstanding policy against clothing items that make overt political statements. But that decision has ignited a massive debate.


    So, is the keffiyeh a political statement? Is it traditional regalia? Is it both? 


    Today, we unpack those questions with Vox correspondent Abdallah Fayyad.


    He recently wrote a piece called "How the keffiyeh became a symbol of the Palestinian cause."

    26 April 2024, 8:10 am
  • 25 minutes 19 seconds
    What to expect from Trump's 'hush money' trial

    Donald Trump's first of four criminal trials is underway in New York, where he is accused of improperly disclosing money supposedly paid to adult film star Stormy Daniels in 2016 to cover up an alleged affair. It's the first time a former U.S. president has been tried criminally.


    Washington Post court reporter Shayna Jacobs has been covering the trial. She walks us through what the court has heard in the opening week, what to expect as the prosecution builds its case, and how the defense plans to counter it.

    25 April 2024, 8:10 am
  • 24 minutes 42 seconds
    The ‘trad wives’ glamorizing life at home

    For some time now, there’s been a growing trend on TikTok and Instagram of young women sharing about their daily lives as “trad wives.” “Traditional wives” forego the workplace, extol the virtues of homemaking, and often talk about the ways they “submit” to their husbands.


    So why do these women say they’ve chosen a life at home? How does their messaging cross into religion and politics? And is this “movement” a reaction to the burdens on modern women, or a threat to feminism’s progress?


    Journalist Sophie Elmhirst recently published a piece in the New Yorker titled “The Rise and Fall of the Trad Wife.”


    For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts


    Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

    24 April 2024, 8:10 am
  • 26 minutes 41 seconds
    After the airstrikes: Where do Iran and Israel go from here?

    Today we are joined by Beirut-based journalist Kim Ghattas, author of the bestselling book Black Wave: Saudi Arabia, Iran, and the Forty-Year Rivalry that Unraveled Culture, Religion, and Collective Memory in the Middle East. She is also a contributing editor at the Financial Times.


    We’re speaking to Kim about the unprecedented, overt attacks exchanged this month between Israel and Iran — most recently an Israeli strike on Friday near the Iranian city of Isfahan. 


    Where is this dangerous tit-for-tat headed next, and what’s at stake? What do Iran and Israel’s leaders actually want here? And what does it mean for the wider region?


    For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts


    Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

    23 April 2024, 8:10 am
  • 24 minutes 10 seconds
    Is democracy at stake in India’s election?

    The single biggest election in the history of democracy is happening right now in India. Just shy of one billion people are eligible voters, but it's not just big from a numbers perspective. It's also being called one of the most pivotal elections in Indian history.


    Incumbent Prime Minister Narendra Modi is projected to win. But Modi's commitment to Hindu nationalism has many questioning what a third term might mean for the future of India’s democracy, and the idea of a pluralistic Indian society.


    Salimah Shivji is the CBC's South Asia correspondent. She’s also working on a new CBC podcast about Modi and the fundamental ways he’s changing his country. It’ll be part of our Understood feed, you can subscribe here


    Salimah spoke to host Jayme Poisson about why the stakes of this election are so high.

    22 April 2024, 8:10 am
  • 22 minutes 50 seconds
    Is high finance killing Hollywood?

    What is the point of Hollywood? There are two obvious answers, right? To make good stuff that entertains people. And to make money for the big studios and the people who work for them.


    Those two things don't have to be mutually exclusive. But Daniel Bessner believes increasingly they have been.


    Bessner spent a year working on a deep dive into how Hollywood has evolved for Harper's Magazine. Bessner is also a historian, writer, and host of the podcast "American Prestige".


    For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts


    Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

    19 April 2024, 8:10 am
  • 25 minutes 38 seconds
    A pregnant woman’s perilous journey out of Gaza

    Lubna Al Rayyes, was in the third trimester of a high risk pregnancy when the war in Gaza started. She was frightened of what that meant for her and her baby. How do you plan for your delivery, when you’re living with airstrikes and having to uproot your life? 


    That’s when she connected with reporter Gabrielle Berbey, who documented Lubna’s journey…from attempting to get medical care in a warzone, to trying to make her way to Canada, where she has family. Gabrielle’s reporting is featured in the most recent episode of the critically-acclaimed podcast Reveal, from the Centre of Investigative Reporting.

    18 April 2024, 8:10 am
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