Question Everything: "I Believed Sandy Hook Was a Hoax" (Bonus)
Long Shadow
Long Lead & PRX
0.0 • 0 Ratings
🗓️ 25 March 2026
⏱️ 47 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Long Shadow listeners: Today we’re sharing a great episode of the Question Everything podcast in our feed because it's the perfect crossover between "In Guns We Trust" and "Breaking the Internet."
Propagandist? Truth teller? Influencer? Question Everything unravels the contested work of journalists and the moral complexities surrounding the stories that impact us all.
Episode description:
Kate grew up believing the Sandy Hook school shooting was an elaborate false flag operation. For years she thought the 20 elementary school children and six educators who were killed that day did not actually die, but were played by crisis actors. And then, one day – in a matter of minutes – suddenly Kate realized how wrong she was.
Question Everything host Brian Reed talks with Kate about what it’s like to realize you believed something so obviously wrong, so deeply damaging, for so long. And he argues that her story is a case study for reforming Section 230 – the 1996 law that gives tech companies massive immunity from getting sued over what people post. Without that law, platforms like YouTube, which amplified the lies about Sandy Hook that Kate once believed, could be taken to court by the Sandy Hook families.
“Question Everything” is a production of KCRW and Placement Theory.
Guests:
- Kate, a former conspiracy believer
- Dr. Joan Donovan, disinformation scholar and Director of the Critical Internet Studies Institute at Boston University
Thanks for listening to Long Shadow and be sure to listen and subscribe to Question Everything wherever you get your podcasts.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is Longlead. |
| 0:05.5 | Hi, Long Shadow listeners, John Patrick Pullen here. |
| 0:08.8 | I'm the founding editor of Longlead, which produces Long Shadow. |
| 0:13.2 | Earlier this year, I heard an episode of the Question Everything podcast that tied into seasons three and four of Longshadow so well, I had to share it with you. |
| 0:22.6 | On Question Everything, reporter Brian Reed re-examines everything about journalism, the profession he thought he knew. |
| 0:29.6 | It's one of the sharpest podcasts around and recently won an Amby Award for Best Reporting. |
| 0:34.5 | The whole series is worth the listen. |
| 0:40.4 | This episode explores a woman named Kate, |
| 0:45.5 | who grew up believing the Sandy Hook School shooting was an elaborate false flag operation. |
| 0:52.2 | Then, one day, in a matter of minutes, she suddenly realizes how wrong she was. |
| 0:56.3 | Ryan talks with Kate about how the internet helped her come to believe this hoax. |
| 1:01.4 | He argues that her story is the case study for reforming Section 230, |
| 1:08.3 | the 1996 law that gives tech companies massive immunity from getting sued over what people post online. |
| 1:11.5 | We didn't cover that in season four of Longshadow, |
| 1:13.5 | but listeners of breaking the internet will hear a familiar expert voice |
| 1:15.3 | in this episode of Question Everything. |
| 1:18.1 | So, until we return with more Longshadow, |
| 1:21.6 | listen and subscribe to Question Everything, |
| 1:24.0 | a production of KCRW in Placement Theory, |
| 1:26.9 | and available wherever you get your podcasts. |
| 1:33.1 | Hi, Kate. How are you? I'm Brian. Hi. How's it going? Good. Nice to meet you. |
| 1:45.1 | Yeah, you do. |
... |
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