In October of 2014, journalist and staff producer on This American Life, Sarah Koenig, debuted her investigative podcast, Serial. This podcast investigates the trial and conviction of high school student, Adnan Syed, who was accused of strangling his ex-girlfriend, Hae Min Lee, in 1999. Through an episode a week, Koenig delves into the case, listening to past interrogations, tracking down people involved with the students at the time, and bringing new information to light. This past December, Koenig released the second season of Serial. This season follows the story of Bowe Bergdaul, a soldier that was held captive by the Taliban for 5 years after abandoning his post in Afghanistan. Koenig analyzes Bergdaul’s motives for deserting and the repercussions of his actions in this thought-provoking podcast.
Koenig begins this season by summarizing Bowe’s story. He was a sergeant in the U.S. military when he abandoned his post in an attempt to create a “dustwun” situation. This means that a service member cannot be located but, it is not confirmed if they are dead or captured. Bergdaul claims to have done this to draw attention to poor leadership within his unit. Shortly after leaving his post, Bergdaul was captured by the Taliban and held for 5 years. In 2014, President Obama arranged a deal with the Taliban in which he released 5 Taliban prisoners from Guantanamo Bay in exchange for Bergdaul’s safe return home. This decision has caused a large amount of controversy among American citizens and Koenig attempts to view the situation from all angles.
There have already been 4 episodes of this season, but it’s not too late to catch up on listening. A new episode airs every Thursday. This podcast has received rave reviews and is definitely not one to miss.
Comments
This sounds very interesting and I’ll definitely be looking into it!
This was a really interesting article, and I think I’ve heard about Serial before! It was cool actually reading about it and learning what it is about.