The Study Hall Podcast

The Study Hall Podcast

Study Hall provides tools, tips, and community resources for media workers. Hosted by executive editor Daniel Spielberger, the Study Hall Podcast spotlights journalists making notable contributions to the media industry.

Episodes

October 29, 2025 42 mins

Jourdain Searles is a film critic whose work has appeared in Bustle, Los Angeles Review of Books, Indiewire, and other outlets. In this conversation with host Daniel Spielberger, Searles chats about her approach to film criticism, the significance of film reviews in the age of aggregation sites like Metacritic and Rotten Tomatoes, and how she handled people upset over her negative reviews. 

 

Follow Jourdain on X: https://x.com/jud...

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Peter Rubin is head of publishing at Automattic and an editor at Longreads, a website that curates longform stories and publishes original writing. In this conversation with host Daniel Spielberger, Peter chats about the art of the longread, internet curation during the post-Twitter age, the IP potential of longreads, and the attention economy. 

 

More info about Longreads’ member drive: https://longreads.com/join/

 

More info abou...

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Erin Somers is a reporter at Publishers Lunch. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Bustle, Esquire, and numerous other outlets. In this episode, she chats about her new novel, The Ten Year Affair. In this conversation with host Daniel Spielberger, Erin discusses how authors cultivate a sense of mystique and recounts her experience reporting from a Philip Roth festival. 

 

For more information about The Ten Year...

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Jacob Silverman is a reporter and author of “Gilded Rage: Elon Musk and the Radicalization of Silicon Valley,”  In this conversation with Daniel Spielberger, Jacob discusses his reporting on cryptocurrency, Silicon Valley’s connection to the weapons industry, and Twitter/X’s involvement with the Saudi Royal family. Jacob also offers insight into how tech billionaires became right-wing and what this foretells for American politics...

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Charlie Porter is a fashion critic whose work has been published in The Financial Times and The Guardian. In this conversation, Charlie chats about his debut novel “Nova Scotia House.” The novel follows Johnny, a middle-aged gay man who is trying to make sense of his past relationship with Jerry, a former lover who died of AIDS-related complications in 1995. The novel explores the legacy of queer counterculture and the AIDS crisis....

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September 24, 2025 43 mins

Delia Cai writes the newsletter Deez Links. In this conversation, Delia chats about the newsletter boom, Bari Weiss’s possible LUCRATIVE CBS News deal, and the creator/journalist dynamic. Delia previously was a staff writer at Vanity Fair. She’s the author of the novel “Central Places.” 

Keep up with Delia’s work: https://www.deezlinks.com/

More info about Study Hall: Studyhall.xyz 

Music by KT The Terrible.

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Derek Beres is a co-host of The Conspirituality Podcast.  His work examining health disinformation has appeared in The Guardian, Mother Jones, and The New York Times. In this conversation, Derek discusses the origins of the MAHA movement and how journalists can counter health disinformation. 

 

Listen to Conspirituality: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/conspirituality/id1515827446

 

Derek’s recent opinion piece for The New Yo...

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September 10, 2025 48 mins

Sarah Miller is a writer whose work has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, and Popula. In this conversation with host Daniel Spielberger, Sarah chats about her recent N+1 essay chronicling her ayahuasca journey in Peru. She also discusses her essay for The New Yorker on botox. Sarah shares her approach to essays, explaining why she tackles difficult topics like climate change and mental health with humor. 

 

Sarah’s es...

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Osita Nwanevu, a columnist at The Guardian and contributing editor at The New Republic, discusses his new book “The Right of the People: Democracy and the Case for a New American Founding.” In this conversation with host Daniel Spielberger, Osita outlines his proposal to transform the American government and shares how media institutions can become more democratic. 

 

More information about “The Right of the People”: 

https://www.p...

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Kylie Cheung is a reporter at Abortion Everyday. In this conversation with host Daniel Spielberger, Kylie chats about her new book “Coercion Surviving and Resisting Abortion Bans.” Kylie discusses the various manipulative tactics conservative politicians utilize to criminalize abortion and what’s missing from mainstream media coverage of reproductive justice. 

 

For more information about “Coercion”: https://www.plutobooks.com/9780...

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Kaila Yu is a writer, former model, and lead singer of Nylon Pink. In this conversation, she discusses her new book “Fetishized:A Reckoning with Yellow Fever, Feminism, and Beauty.” In the book, Yu chronicles her own journey in the entertainment industry and delves into the harmful stereotypes about Asian women. In this conversation, Yu offers advice on marketing, memoir writing, and more.

More info about Yu’s book: https://www.pen...

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Shawna Kenney’s writing has appeared in the Los Angeles Review of Books, VICE, PBS, and The New York Times. She’s the author of I Was a Teenage Dominatrix, a memoir. In this conversation, Shawna discusses her approach to publishing and teaching. She also shares insight into her DIY approach to publicity and the nuances of the creative nonfiction. 

Shawna is teaching a course for Study Hall; click here for more information: https://...

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Alicia Kennedy is a food and culture writer whose work has appeared in The Washington Post, The Guardian, and Vogue. She regularly writes her own newsletter (https://www.aliciakennedy.news/). In this conversation with host Daniel Spielberger, Alicia discusses how she started her newsletter, the state of food media, and integrating food justice concepts into her writing. 

Keep up with Alicia’s work: https://www.aliciakennedy.news

Mo...

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Brian Merchant is a tech journalist who writes the “Blood In The Machine” newsletter. In this conversation, Brian discusses his ongoing project chronicling the impact of AI on the jobs market and explains why tech companies often lean into dystopia when marketing new products. He also offers his take on how AI is changing the media industry. 

Check out Brian’s newsletter: https://www.bloodinthemachine.com/

More info about Study Hal...

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In this conversation, D.D. Guttenplan, the editor of The Nation, and Richard Kreitner, a contributing writer and host of the “Think Back” podcast (https://www.thinkbackpod.com/), chatted about The Nation’s 160th anniversary issue. With dispatches from 50 writers and arts across the 50 states, the issue ponders the current disunited of America. Guttenplan and Kreitner also chat about The Nation’s approach to foreign policy coverage ...

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Sam Adler-Bell’s writing has appeared in New York Magazine and The New Republic. He’s also the co-host of the “Know Your Enemy” podcast. In this conversation with Daniel Spielberger, Sam chats about researching conservative figures, writing about the internal ideological divide amongst Democrats, and presenting leftist populism to a broader audience. 

Listen to the Know Your Enemy podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/know...

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Zach Zimmerman is a comedian and writer whose work has been published in The New Yorker, Lithub, and other outlets. He’s also the author of the essay collection, “Is It Hot in Here (Or Am I Suffering for All Eternity for the Sins I Committed on Earth)?” Recently, he released a comedy special, “Surprise Me” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3J60D-JPSM)

 

In this conversation with host Daniel Spielberger, Zach shares how he got into ...

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Alex Thompson is a national political correspondent at Axios. Along with CNN’s Jake Tapper, he co-authored the New York Times Bestselling book, Original Sin: President Biden's Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again. In this conversation with host Daniel Spielberger, Alex shares why he was interested in covering Biden, what Democrats can take away from the book, political information bubbles, the current state...

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Mike Isaac is a technology correspondent for The New York Times who has been covering Meta and Silicon Valley. In this conversation with host Daniel Spielberger, Mike discusses his experience covering the FTC vs. Meta trial, deepfakes, and the rise of AI. In addition, Mike offers some tips on how reporters can find overlooked stories.

Keep up with Mike’s work: https://www.nytimes.com/by/mike-isaac

More information about Study Hal...

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Kat Tenbarge is an independent reporter who writes at Spitfire News. Before Spitfire News, Kat was a reporter at NBC News and Insider.  In this conversation with host Daniel Spielberger, Kat chats about her experience pivoting to independent multimedia reporting, the significance of the Blake Lively vs. Justin Baldoni case, and her coverage of Disney Adults.

Find out more about Spitfire News:https://spitfirenews.com/

 

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