''You're Wrong About'' is an American history and pop culture

podcast A podcast is a Radio program, program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Typically, a podcast is an Episode, episodic series of digital audio Computer file, files that users can download to a personal device or str ...

created by journalist

Michael Hobbes Michael Hobbes is a journalist and podcast host. He was formerly a Senior Enterprise Reporter for HuffPost. His writing has also appeared in ''Pacific Standard'', ''The New Republic'', and ''Slate''. Hobbes currently co-hosts the podcast '' Ma ...

and writer Sarah Marshall. It has been hosted by Marshall since its inception; Hobbes also hosted until 2021. Launched in May 2018, the show explores misunderstood media events by interrogating why and how the public got things wrong. Show topics have included events including the ''Challenger'' disaster, the O. J. Simpson trial, and the

murder of Kitty Genovese In the early hours of March 13, 1964, Kitty Genovese, a 28-year-old bartender, was raped and stabbed outside the apartment building where she lived in the Kew Gardens neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City, United States. Two weeks ...

and covered people such as

Anna Nicole Smith Vickie Lynn Marshall (née Hogan; November 28, 1967 – February 8, 2007), known professionally as Anna Nicole Smith, was an American model, actress, and television personality. Smith started her career as a ''Playboy'' magazine centerfold in M ...

Yoko Ono Yoko Ono (, usually spelled in katakana as ; born February 18, 1933) is a Japanese multimedia artist, singer, songwriter, and peace activist. Her work also encompasses performance art and filmmaking. Ono grew up in Tokyo and moved to New York ...

Tonya Harding Tonya Maxene Price (née Harding; born November 12, 1970) is an American former figure skater and boxer, and reality television personality. Born in Portland, Oregon, Harding was raised by her mother, who enrolled her in ice skating lessons w ...

, and

Lorena Bobbitt John Wayne Bobbitt (born 1967) and Lorena Gallo (formerly Lorena Bobbitt; born May 15, 1969) were an American former couple, married on June 18, 1989, whose relationship received international press coverage in 1993 when Lorena severed John's p ...

. It was named one of the ten best podcasts by ''

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

'' in 2019.

About

is an American journalist and a former reporter for ''

HuffPost ''HuffPost'' (''The Huffington Post'' until 2017, itself often abbreviated as ''HPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and covers p ...

''. He is also the co-host of the podcast Maintenance Phase with

Aubrey Gordon Aubrey Gordon (born 1983), also known as Your Fat Friend, is an author, podcaster, and activist. She writes about fatness, fat acceptance, and anti-fat bias, and her podcast, Maintenance Phase, focuses on the poor science behind health and w ...

, as well as the podcast ''

If Books Could Kill ''If Books Could Kill'' is a podcast hosted by Michael Hobbes and Peter Shamshiri, in which they critique bestselling nonfiction books of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Books featured on the podcast include ''Freakonomics'' by Steven D ...

'' with Peter Shamshiri. Sarah Marshall is an American writer whose work has appeared in

BuzzFeed BuzzFeed, Inc. is an American Internet mass media, media, news and entertainment company with a focus on digital media. Based in New York City, BuzzFeed was founded in 2006 by Jonah Peretti and John Seward Johnson III, John S. Johnson III to ...

, '' The Believer'', and ''

The New Republic ''The New Republic'' (often abbreviated as ''TNR'') is an American magazine focused on domestic politics, news, culture, and the arts from a left-wing perspective. It publishes ten print magazines a year and a daily online platform. ''The New Y ...

''. She is known for an interest in the mischaracterization of women by the mainstream media best demonstrated in her 2014 long-form profile of

. The show began after Hobbes reached out to Marshall and proposed that they try to recreate their deep-dive research processes in audio format. The pair only met in person after recording the show remotely for the first five months. During each episode, Hobbes and Marshall trade off on researching the show's topic, with one host taking on the research and analysis of a topic and the other coming to the discussion with little-to-no knowledge about the relevant details. Each episode begins with the less informed host sharing what they remember about the person or event in question. Together they then explore the topic in a generally chronological manner, discussing relevant public responses and dominant societal trends from the era, before debunking that response and the subsequent media coverage. Witty observations and pop-culture references are woven in throughout the discussion. The discussions include references to primary resources used during the research process along with and direct quotes from media coverage interviews with relevant players. In March 2020, the podcast began a quarantine book club in response to

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

lockdowns. The related episodes differ from the regular format as they focus on a single book with one host having read it and the other learning about it over the course of multiple episodes. Books covered include the

satanic ritual abuse The Satanic panic is a moral panic consisting of over 12,000 unsubstantiated cases of Satanic ritual abuse (SRA, sometimes known as ritual abuse, ritualistic abuse, organized abuse, or sadistic ritual abuse) starting in North America in the 19 ...

book ''

Michelle Remembers ''Michelle Remembers'' is a discredited 1980 book co-written by Canadian psychiatrist Lawrence Pazder and his psychiatric patient (and eventual wife) Michelle Smith. A best-seller, ''Michelle Remembers'' relied on the discredited practice of r ...

'',

Jessica Simpson Jessica Ann Johnson (née Simpson; born July 10, 1980) is an American singer, actress, and fashion designer. After performing in church choirs as a child, Simpson signed with Columbia Records in 1997, aged seventeen. Her debut studio album, '' ...

's autobiography ''Open Book'', and ''Objection!'' by American lawyer and television personality

Nancy Grace Nancy Ann Grace (born October 23, 1959) is an American legal pundit, commentator and television journalist. She hosted ''Nancy Grace (TV program), Nancy Grace'', a nightly celebrity news and current affairs (news format), current affairs show ...

. The podcast is a part-time effort for both hosts and relies on crowd-funding. The independent nature of the show is rooted in moral concerns about critiquing the media and potential constraints inherent to sponsorship. In October 2021, it was announced that Hobbes was leaving the podcast and the show would continue with Marshall and guests.

Reception

In 2019, ''You're Wrong About'' was named one of the ten best podcasts by ''

''. Writing for the ''

Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It was launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is Ireland's leading n ...

'', Sarah Griffin praised the show's conversational tone noting how Hobbes and Marshall "handle incredibly dark subjects with a levity that never feels disrespectful." Rachel Syme compared Hobbes and Marshall as a modern-day

Statler and Waldorf Statler and Waldorf are a pair of The Muppets, Muppet characters from the sketch comedy television series ''The Muppet Show'', best known for their overly negative opinions and their tendency to Heckler, heckle people. The two elderly men fi ...

, claiming their show is a history podcast that "assumes the audience is capable of complex thought."

Episodes

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

2023

2024

References

External links

* {{podcast platform links 2018 podcast debuts American podcasts Audio podcasts Feminist podcasts History podcasts Independent podcasts