About this episode
<p>A little while back, our friends over at On the Media released a gripping and immersive reporting series about FEMA, the agency that is supposed to be there for all of us in the wake of disaster. In <a href="https://link.podtrac.com/2ogq6g7y" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><i>American Emergency</i></a> (https://zpr.io/MtrUmJU3yEMW), OTM investigates how the agency tasked with saving America became distrusted, despised… and defunded.<br><br> Today we talk to <i>On the Media</i> co-host Micah Loewinger about how this project came out, what reporting went into making it happen, and play a couple of fun and truly surprising bits of the story that the OTM team uncovered. And it’s a story that highlights the ideal and promise of good government, right alongside the frustration with bureaucracy and mismanagement, and of course the undercurrent of profound mistrust in governmental power. </p> <p>As natural disasters are getting more extreme and less predictable, this series makes sense of that tangle, and provides a prescient peek into FEMA’s future.</p> <p><i>Special thanks to </i><a href="https://link.podtrac.com/2ogq6g7y" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><i>On the Media</i></a><i> </i>(https://zpr.io/MtrUmJU3yEMW)<i>. </i>To hear Micah in person, talking more about the complex history of FEMA, <a href="https://wnyc.org/events/otm-fema" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">join him on June 24th at WNYC's The Greene Space</a> (https://wnyc.org/events/otm-fema).</p> <p><i>Signup for our newsletter!! It includes short essays, recommendations, and details about other ways to interact with the show. </i><a href="https://radiolab.org/newsletter" rel="noopener noreferrer"><i>Sign up</i></a><i> (https://radiolab.org/newsletter)!</i></p> <p><i>Radiolab is supported by listeners like you. Support Radiolab by becoming a member of </i><a href="http://members.radiolab.org" rel="noopener noreferrer"><i>The Lab</i></a><i> (https://members.radiolab.org/) today.</i></p> <p><i>Follow our show on </i><a href="http://instagram.com/radiolab" rel="noopener noreferrer"><i>Instagram</i></a><i>, </i><a href="http://twitter.com/radiolab" rel="noopener noreferrer"><i>Twitter</i></a><i> and </i><a href="http://facebook.com/radiolab" rel="noopener noreferrer"><i>Facebook</i></a><i> @radiolab, and share your thoughts with us by emailing </i><a href="mailto:radiolab@wnyc.org" rel="noopener noreferrer"><i>radiolab@wnyc.org</i></a><i>.</i><br><i>Leadership support for Radiolab’s science programming is provided by the Simons Foundation and the John Templeton Foundation. Foundational support for Radiolab was provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.</i></p><br/> <p>Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See <a href="https://pcm.adswizz.com">pcm.adswizz.com</a> for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.</p>