How We Got Here is a podcast for journalists about how history and identity shape narrative. As journalists, we like to say we’re writing the first draft of history. But if we don’t know our own history, we run the risk of misinterpreting what we see and what we hear. Of failing to connect the dots. George Floyd’s murder, the Black Lives Matter movement, the election, the attempted coup — they’ve all brought America to a reckoning with its national character.
Six professors from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism take a step back to examine the historical context of today’s news. They look at how race, gender, class, immigration and American empire impact the stories we cover and how we tell them. How We Got Here is a production of the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism in partnership with Columbia Journalism Review.