News podcasts are a great way to stay up-to-date on current events. There are plenty that offer unbiased, balanced, and neutral reporting on major issues. Listen to episodes at home, on your way to work, while in the gym, or even while traveling. Here are 12 of the top news podcasts you can subscribe to.
A Global Perspective on Breaking News: ‘The Globalist’
With over 1,700 episodes recorded, “The Globalist” is one of the longest-running news podcasts available to listen to for free online. The show is hosted by a mix of Monocle Magazine’s editors who are frequently joined by respectable experts who can offer insight into the day’s breaking news.
Five episodes are recorded per week, making this podcast a great one to add to your daily routine.
The regular hosts come from a variety of countries, allowing diverse insights into news stories you wouldn’t usually get.
A great podcast for hearing about major world news that really matters, but it also means you’ll need to consume smaller, local news elsewhere.
Apple News Today
With a Monday-Friday cadence, this short podcast (around 10 minutes) gives you a synopsis of the news in the United States as well as around the world. While Apple News Today typically relies on the news outlets that are part of Apple News, you don’t need to subscribe to Apple News to get a short, daily overview of the state of the world.
Very easy to digest
Offers links to articles/topics discussed
While it seems like a plus that it’s short, sometimes doesn’t cover all the news you might want to know about
A News Podcasts That Helps You Understand: ‘Today Explained’
Each episode of “Today Explained” focuses on a specific topic relating to a current news story and breaks it down so the average person can understand all aspects of it.
A well-researched and often features solid interviewees and sound bites to provide further context for complex issues.
This podcast provides great value to the listener but is more of a tool for understanding a news story rather than hearing a rundown of the day’s top stories.
Global Business and Finance News: ‘World Business Report’
“World Business Report” is an official BBC podcast that covers breaking news from around the world relating to politics, finance, business, and relationships between different countries. One episode may cover a breaking news story about immigration, while another may dive into trade relationships between countries.
Two to three episodes can be published per day if major news stories break, meaning you’ll be up-to-date on what’s happening around the world.
With a global focus, there may be entire episodes about certain countries or regions you’re not interested in.
High-Quality Factual News Stories: TIME’s ‘The Brief’
Similar to the “IGN Spoken Edition” podcast, this version offers podcast listeners a way to catch up on news stories published on the TIME website and magazine without having to read a single word.
A fantastic way to consume written TIME news stories.
The narration is clear and easy to understand, but it’s also a bit monotonous.
Episodes of “The Brief” range from 10 to 50 minutes long and contain a number of the newly published articles read aloud by a professional voice talent.
The Podcast for Daily American News: ‘The Takeaway’
“The Takeaway” is a podcast about domestic news made by Americans for Americans. Each episode of “The Takeaway” runs for around half an hour and new episodes go online every weekday.
Controversial topics discussed in a calm, respectful manner.
Those looking for news from outside the U.S. will need to look elsewhere.
Quick Daily Business News: ‘Business Story of the Day’
Only have five minutes in your schedule to catch up on the latest business news? NPR’s “Business Story of the Day” podcast is the podcast for you, with its short runtime and an impressive knack for fitting a summary of a breaking news story and a related interview all within a four-minute episode.
Short episode length means this podcast won’t be one that ends up in your unlistened pile.
Good variety of business news from different industries.
With only one topic covered per episode per day, it’s hard to ignore the feeling you’re missing out on other business news.
For Updates Throughout the Day: ‘English News’ from NHK World Radio Japan
The “English News” podcast from NHK World begins each episode with a quick breakdown of the latest stories before elaborating with more detail and nuance. The podcast feed can update several times a day with the latest breaking news which is something very few, if any, podcasts ever attempt to do.
Fast summary of breaking news.
Purely informative with no bias or debate.
The podcast feed only contains the latest episode so there’s no way to catch up on news you missed.
Award-Winning Investigative Reporting: ‘60 Minutes’
Winner of more than 80 Emmys, 60 Minutes is now available as a podcast, with each episode containing the complete audio from the TV episodes.
Award-winning journalism in podcast format for free.
A combination of breaking news, investigative journalism, and long-form content.
It’s great to have 60 Minutes episodes in podcast format, but audio-only does lead to some confusion when a non-English language is spoken and no subtitles are available.
International and Domestic News: PRI’s ‘The World’
“The World” is an American news podcast that covers domestic issues and news from around the globe. Each episode of “The World” runs for around 45 minutes and covers several breaking news stories, taking time to deep dive into several with analysis and interviews.
Provides news updates in several categories, from politics and business to art and human stories.
The presentation style may bore listeners in their teens or early 20s. This is a news podcast for those 30 and above.
Breaking Video Game News: ‘Kinda Funny Games Daily’
Hosted by a group of experienced video game journalists who know how to separate speculation from fact, “Kinda Funny Games” offers a reliable and entertaining source of video game news that covers Nintendo, PlayStation, Xbox, PC, and the industry as a whole.
A fresh style that’s professional and fun.
High-quality guests ranging from video game developers and voice actors to journalists from rival geek culture publications.
The hosts can occasionally lose focus and go off on a tangent. However, they always find their way back to the news.
Latest Pop Culture News Read to You: ‘IGN Spoken Edition’
“IGN Spoken Edition” makes keeping up with breaking pop culture news easy. Each episode consists of the professional narration of that day’s trending news story with subjects ranging from the reveal of a cool new anime series to a release date announcement for a major video game title or movie.
Releases a new episode every weekday.
Covers TV, movies, comics, anime, and video games.
Each episode is one to five minutes long.
Typically only covers the biggest news story of the day.
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