Finding time to stay up to date with current affairs can seem like an ongoing struggle. After all, there’s new news every day! The best news podcasts can take some of the pressure off by keeping you informed through engaging, thoughtfully produced programs that tackle and explain all the big issues.There are different formats of podcasts to suit diverse types of listeners.
With the multitude of news podcasts available, it’s safe to say there’s something for everyone. So, let’s take a deep dive into the vast ocean of podcasts and discover some of the most exceptional news shows of the present day.
1. What Is a News Podcast?
A news podcast is designed to provide listeners with information on important current affairs stories. Content can vary from short roundups of the top news items of the day to in-depth analysis of one particular topic that’s front of mind for the hosts. Some are very regional in their coverage, while others take a more global perspective.
2. 15 Best News Podcasts You Should Follow
2.1 Apple News Today
In snippets of 10 minutes, host Shumita Basu summarizes the top stories being discussed across a variety of news services. The content featured in Apple News Today draws from organizations like CNN and NPR, as well as the Wall Street Journal and the LA Times.
With new episodes to start your day from Monday to Sunday, it’s arguably the best morning news podcast available if you want a quick snapshot of what’s occupying the airwaves. However, bear in mind that it does tend to lean more heavily towards US stories rather than a more global view of current affairs.
Best Episode: Understanding the Latest Research into Long COVID
2.2 On the Media
Winner of a 2004 Peabody Award, On the Media has been running now for 30 years. Hosted by Brooke Gladstone, its biweekly episodes generally focus on how the media represent particular topics and influence public opinion. Recent shows, for example, have discussed how the press write about war and the effect media outlets have on our perception of AI like ChatGPT. As an interesting added feature, listeners can read complete transcripts online.
On the Media is one of a number of podcast offerings from WNYC, which also makes Death, Sex & Money, Radiolab and the Experiment.
Best Episode: How The Media Failed Amber Heard
2.3 Today in Focus
The best podcast for news deep dives, Today in Focus takes a single issue every weekday and puts it under the microscope. Each episode is about half an hour long and sees a Guardian journalist with expert knowledge on the theme at hand discussing it with the host.
Given it’s a podcast run by British paper the Guardian, there is more of a focus on the big UK news stories. However, compared to Apple News Today or The Daily (see below), there is a better ratio of global issues. For instance, recent listens have touched on the Brazilian elections and the violence in Haiti.
Best Episode: The Pegasus Project Part 1: An Invitation to Paris
2.4 The Daily
The Daily comes from the newsroom of the New York Times. True to its name, there are new 30-minute episodes each day except for Saturday – through Sunday makes up for this with a bumper hour-long show. Similar to the Guardian’s Today in Focus, the Daily takes a (usually America-focused) topic per recording and drills down into it with the help of one of the NYT’s journalists.
This show is often cited as the best daily news podcast Reddit users prefer. If you need any more incentive to listen, it’s also one of the best news podcasts on Spotify, at least according to audience numbers. Just like On the Media, it offers transcripts for those who want to read instead of listen.
Best Episode: Why Would Anybody Claim That Birds Aren’t Real?
2.5 The Globalist
The offshoot of a magazine rather than a news org, The Globalist is Monocle’s podcast on current affairs. Released every weekday morning, the show lives up to its name by taking a world’s eye view. Over the course of an hour, different editors spotlight a huge swathe of different stories, from coverage of discontent in Tunisia to Nigerian elections.
In addition to current affairs, The Globalist also tries to include a soupcon of culture every time. Recent episodes have discussed the appointment of Burberry’s new chief creative officer and taken a look at the market for eco-thrillers.
Best Episode: Friday 27 January
2.6 Planet Money
s every single story directly or indirectly related to economics? That’s the concept of Planet Money, which is one of the best news podcasts to address current affairs through a financial lens. Part of NPR’s stable of audio brands, it doesn’t tend to target frontpage stories, but rather looks at more quirky topics to bring out general observations about the modern world. Think the daycare market, ice cream brand collusion and how kids books tacitly teach business concepts.
A biweekly endeavor, most episodes of Planet Money range from 20 minutes to half an hour – just long enough to challenge your mind without becoming tedious.
Best Episode: Planet Money Goes to Space
2.7 The Takeaway
Another WYNC product, each episode of The Takeaway takes a single news item and runs through some of the key issues at stake over the course of 10 to 15 minutes. Usually, there’ll be a guest interviewee, whether that’s a politician, a journalist or a filmmaker.
Stories range from big international questions about migration, to American concerns like the plight of hospitals in rural areas. Compared to some of the other best news podcasts on this list, The Takeaway tends to dedicate more segments to questions of race, sexuality and gender.
Best Episode: Mississippi’s House Bill 1020: Modern Day Jim Crow?
2.8 Sustainababble
Going down the funny news podcast route, this show from Brits Ol and Dave took a scattershot approach to a whole heap of different ecological issues, from the effect of human excrement on the world to the pros and cons of so-called green capitalism.
After eight years of shows, Sustainababble recently bid farewell to the podcast world in December 2022. Much of their back catalog, however, remains relevant (and irreverent), including their second show, originally released in January 2015, which covered the practice of fracking.
Best Episode: Flying
2.9 Ukrainecast
Ukrainecast is a podcast that distills the BBC’s ongoing coverage of the war in Ukraine. Episodes tend to hover around the 30-minute mark and encompass lots of different aspects of the conflict. As well as conversations with BBC journalists about big news items like military advances and political speeches, hosts Gabriel Gatehouse and Victoria Derbyshire also take time to focus on human stories, too.
Some recent shows have featured interviews with Russian soldiers in Ukrainian POW camps, Ukrainian immigrants making new lives in the UK and frontline surgeons trying to keep the wounded alive under awful circumstances.
Best Episode: Inside a Prisoner of War Camp for Russians
2.10 Daily Drive
Not exactly one of the best news podcasts in itself, Spotify’s Daily Drive is an experiment in providing a mixture of news and music that’s meant to be personalized to you. Essentially, the streaming service tries to recreate the experience of radio, but with a playlist of songs and shows that have been catered to you based on an algorithm that analyzes your previous listens.
Designed to accompany your commute, each day comes with a fresh playlist consisting of brand-new podcast episodes of 5 to 10 minutes interspersed with music tracks based on your favorite tunes.
Best Episode: Depends on your algorithm!
2.11 Today, Explained
Hosted by Sean Rameswaram and Noel King, this show from Vox focuses mainly on US stories. Within that purview, however, Today, Explained ranges widely over everything from bee thievery in California to attacks on the US power grid.
Essentially, the show promises to take a single current affairs item and explain why you should be paying attention over the course of around half an hour.
Best Episode: Aging in America
2.12 World Business Report
The World Business Report is a weekday BBC production that examines several top business stories per show. These can be topics that are obviously related to finance, like the market performance of Alphabet, Amazon and Apple, as well as explorations of how world events like the Turkey earthquake tragedy and the Chinese spy balloon affect economies.
Rather unusually, two episodes are released every day, broadcast at 3:32pm and 10:32pm GMT. Each one runs to about 30 minutes.
Best Episode: Keeping the Lights on in South Africa
2.13 The Brief
If you enjoy the style of journalism Time Magazine offers but don’t have, well, time to actually read it, The Brief is the Goldilocks porridge for you. Each episode lasts about 20 minutes to half an hour and features five stories from the publication read aloud. While some might argue this format is not as engaging and/or doesn’t offer any value-added content, it’s ideal if you’re just looking to learn about top news items without much editorializing.
The podcast comes out daily, with an extra release every Monday that contains Time’s weekly cover story.
Best Episode: Cover Story: The AI Arms Race is Changing Everything
2.14 60 Minutes
For Americans, there’s a certain brand allure associated with the TV show 60 Minutes. The podcast adaptation tries to take advantage of this, using the existing audio from the news program, but with the video peeled away. This works just fine for those who like the American style of television reportage, though as with The Brief, it’s easy to tell this hasn’t been primarily designed for audio only.
Ironically, each episode actually clocks in at just over 40 minutes rather than an hour. The rest of the time would usually be occupied by ads, so that’s at least one advantage podcast listeners of 60 Seconds have over TV viewers.
Best Episode: 9/4/2022: Mental Health Crisis Among U.S. Teens and a New Model of Architecture
2.15 What a Day
What a Day has a slightly different tone from most of the other shows on this list. While it is structured around precis of some of the biggest daily stories, the hosts try to lend proceedings more of a chatty, informal air than the podcasts coming out of big news organizations.
Each episode tends to focus primarily on one or two items, followed by a roundup of other important headlines.
Best Episode: Going Deep With The Veep
3. FAQs
- What is the best news podcast to listen to?
If you’re looking for something short and sweet, Apple News Today provides snappy roundups of the top daily stories. For more longform analysis that will last you an entire commute, The Globalist is one of best news podcasts to try.
- Is there a daily news podcast?
Yes, lots, including the New York Times’ Daily podcast and the Guardian’s Today in Focus podcast, which pick a single news item to explore in depth.
- Is there any podcast for current affairs?
There are all sorts of podcasts that deal with current affairs, from those that look at the most important stories in a specific country to those that promise a more global perspective.
Best Episode: The Pegasus Project Part 1: An Invitation to Paris
