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Exciting news for audiophiles: serial, the podcast that sparked a true crime boom exactly 10 years ago, is back for a fourth series. Hosted by Sarah Koenig and her longtime collaborator Dana Chivis, guantanamo “Guantanamo Bay'' tells the story of Guantanamo Bay, a detention center for terrorist suspects on the US naval base in Cuba, through the people who worked there or were held there. (Guantanamo still operates with 30 prisoners remaining, despite various US government commitments to shut it down.)
serial Koenig points out that the first series was about the murder of a high school student and the conviction of her ex-boyfriend, who was released from prison. serial's interest has always been in the criminal justice system, and “Guantanamo is the most amazing thing we've ever seen.”
In the opening episode, Koenig and Chivis reveal how they created this podcast in 2015 to play recordings of Guantanamo's official media tour, colloquially known as “Gitmo.” This includes a casual visit to his three-gift shop located inside the camp where he sells his T-shirts with the slogan “There's no better his Gitmo.” It will be. Civis describes Guantanamo as more of a company town than a prison, saying, “Everything belongs to the US military: the car wash, the high school, the bowling alley, the 'Ground Zero' paintball range.”
But when she and Mr. Koenig asked camp staff how they felt about their work and the plight of prisoners, they received the same parroted answers. They say they are there to provide “safe, humane, lawful and transparent” detention for detainees. Realizing that it was impossible to ignore this official policy, they decided to shelve the project. But nine years later, many former employees, including guards, chaplains, translators and interrogators, are ready to speak, as are former detainees.
Of course, a podcast about Guantanamo already exists: Radiolab's excellent miniseries Another Latif He told the story of a prisoner who was an al-Qaeda explosives expert and a member of Osama bin Laden's inner circle. Koenig acknowledged that the topic has been well-covered and said he plans to piece together testimonies from former insiders to provide a more complete account of Guantanamo. His two of those insiders appear in the latest episode (two of his episodes have been released so far). A former interrogator known as Mr. Their interviews, conducted separately, were raw, candid, and often shocking.
Although this is a new material, serialeverything else feels reassuringly familiar: the squeaky-clean production, the gently tinkling soundtrack, the thoughtful observational tone, the methodical reporting. serial The first blockbuster series may have inadvertently created a true crime monster, but this latest project is a welcome reminder of why it became so popular. It's good to be back.
