Planet Money

From Podpedia

Planet Money
File:NPR Planet Money cover art.jpg
Presentation
Hosted by
LanguageEnglish
UpdatesTwice weekly
LengthAbout 20 minutes
Production
ProductionAlex Goldmark, Nick Fountain, Sally Helm, Bryant Urstad
Publication
Original releaseSeptember 6, 2008 – present
ProviderNational Public Radio / Chicago Public Media
Websitewww.npr.org/money

Planet Money is an American podcast and blog produced by NPR, in association with Chicago Public Media, producers of the program This American Life.[1]

History[edit | edit source]

The podcast launched on September 6, 2008 to cover the global financial crisis of 2008–2009 in the wake of the Federal takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. It was created after the success of "The Giant Pool of Money", an episode of This American Life.[2] Currently, episodes are produced two days a week and are around 20 minutes in length.[3] As of 2015, podcasts were hosted by Robert Smith, Stacey Vanek Smith, David Kestenbaum, Caitlin Kenney, Jacob Goldstein, and Noel King.

Planet Money also provides regular reports for Morning Edition and All Things Considered and occasional episodes of This American Life. Planet Money was the first to report the small print in the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 that allowed deviation from the original Paulson plan.[4] Senator Max Baucus praised the show's attempts to explain the financial crisis "in terms the average American starts to understand".[5] Planet Money episodes have been incorporated into undergraduate microeconomics and macroeconomics courses at some universities.[6][7] The show won a 2016 George Foster Peabody Award for its reporting that exposed retaliatory wrongdoing by Wells Fargo that created 2 million accounts without customers consent.[8] This multi-platform investigative series spanned NPR's Planet Money podcast and its flagship news programs Morning Edition and All Things Considered, as well as online stories.

References[edit | edit source]

  1. Schumacher-Matos, Edward (June 22, 2011). "Planet Money Misfires on Local Economic Developers". NPR Ombudsman Blog. NPR. Retrieved February 18, 2012. Planet Money is a joint venture between NPR and This American Life. 
  2. "'Giant Pool Of Money' Named To Decade Top 10 List". Planet Money. April 5, 2010. Retrieved June 3, 2010. 'The Giant Pool of Money'—the hour-long This American Life episode that explained the housing bust and gave rise to Planet Money—was just named one of the top 10 works of U.S. journalism of the past decade. 
  3. "Podcast Directory: Planet Money". NPR. 
  4. "Fine Print: A 'Back-Door' Bailout?". Planet Money Blog. October 3, 2008. 
  5. "Treasury Sec. Geithner explores ways to pay for health care". C-SPAN archives. March 4, 2009. 
  6. Moryl, R. (2013). "T-shirts, moonshine, and autopsies: Using podcasts to engage undergraduate microeconomics students". International Review of Economics Education. 13: 67. doi:10.1016/j.iree.2013.02.001. 
  7. Luther, W. J. (2014). "Using NPR's Planet Money Podcast in Principles of Macroeconomics". doi:10.2139/ssrn.2391013. 
  8. https://www.npr.org/about-npr/525542513/2016-peabody-award-for-nprs-investigation-of-wells-fargo-scandal

External links[edit | edit source]