Dear Colleagues,

As life returns to normal, we’re working to bring moments of serendipity to listeners alongside our news reporting. Here’s a rundown of what we’ve been up to.

Special Guest Hosts

Some well-established Times journalists (and recurring guests of The Daily) are filling in for Michael Barbaro, who recently welcomed a baby with his partner. Michael will continue to voice the billboard of the show, even when the guest host leads the conversation with a reporter. Listeners will have the chance to hear new voices from The Times, such as the political correspondent Astead Herndon, the national correspondent Sabrina Tavernise and the technology columnist Kevin Roose.

Special Episodes

Curious listeners are always hungry to hear a good story. As The Daily team has grown, there’s been no shortage of rich, deeply reported journalism to be told through audio.

Over the past few weeks, listeners have been introduced to some of this signature enterprise journalism through the airwaves with special episodes, like Odessa and Day X. We’re excited by the opportunity to showcase not only some of the stellar talent on The Daily team, but voices from across The Times’s global newsroom, like Berlin bureau chief Katrin Bennhold.

We know listeners are eager to learn more about the world through audio storytelling. These episodes have allowed us to introduce more variety and news-adjacent programming into The Daily.

Odessa

Earlier this year we introduced Odessa, a four-part series about a West Texas high school reopening during the pandemic — and the teachers, students and nurses affected in the process.

On June 10, we celebrated Odessa High School’s commencement with a live event connecting listeners to Odessa students and faculty. The virtual event included a performance by Odessa’s award-winning marching band (which was featured in the second Odessa episode) and a commencement speech from La’Darius Marshall, star from the Netflix docuseries “Cheer.”

As we mentioned in our last note a few months ago, these episodes served as a model for The Daily’s approach to original reporting, which leads us to our most recent reporting project – Day X.

Day X

In Day X, our newest documentary series hosted by Berlin bureau chief Katrin Bennhold, hear all about Neo-Natzi’s and their alleged far-right assassination plot to take down the Federal Republic of Germany. It’s a swirling story of intrigue, faked identity, and the backlash about a changing national identity in Germany.

These episodes ask the question that they believe many nations are faction: “What happens when the threat is coming from within?” Katrin joined WNYC to discuss her reporting and the show.

Listeners Having Fun

If you can’t laugh at yourself, who can you laugh at? TikTok users are paying homage to the show by sharing their best Michael Barbaro impressions, full of dramatic pauses and moody background music. They’re even impersonating Michael to take on viral challenges.

Until next time,
-The Daily Team