Katie Herzog and Jesse Singal
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Katie Herzog and Jesse Singal argue through media meltdowns, trans policy, and psychiatric skepticism.
Blocked and Reported follows online controversies until the jokes give way to reporting. The show moves fast, but it lingers on messy details: prison policy fights, AI-detection accusations, book-world drama, free-speech cases, and the strange social incentives around public shaming.
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Blocked and Reported is hosted by journalists Katie Herzog and Jesse Singal, who release numbered panel episodes alongside shorter premium previews and occasional live shows recorded on Substack. Most episodes follow a two-person panel format: the hosts trade commentary on recent headlines and online arguments, usually starting with personal banter before settling into a longer debate segment. Recurring subject matter includes gender-identity politics and trans policy, including contentious cases involving prisons and school boards, along with media criticism aimed at outlets like the New York Times and The Atlantic. The show returns repeatedly to skepticism about psychiatric diagnosis and the medicalization of everyday distress, and to publishing-industry controversies such as accusations of undisclosed AI-generated text in books and journalism. Guests appear periodically for extended interview segments; examples in the sample include Atlantic writer Helen Lewis discussing UK politics and Tourette's syndrome media coverage, and Unshrunk author Laura Delano discussing psychiatric treatment history. A running thread of media-industry gossip around writer Lindy West's personal and publishing life recurs across multiple premium episodes. The hosts generally approach stories with a contrarian, skeptical stance toward what they describe as overreach in progressive framing of news events, and the two do not always agree with each other on air. Production is conversational and lightly edited rather than scripted, with a fast, sarcastic back-and-forth style. The show suits listeners already following online media and culture-war debates who want detailed, argument-driven discussion rather than summary news coverage.
Made for: People already following online media and culture-war debates who want detailed, argumentative discussion of gender politics, psychiatry, and journalism rather than summary news coverage.
What sets it apart: Structured as an unresolved two-host debate rather than a single editorial voice, with the hosts frequently disagreeing with each other on air about gender-identity policy and media coverage.
Journalists Katie Herzog and Jesse Singal scour the internet for its craziest, silliest, most sociopathic content, part of an obsessive and ill-conceived attempt to extract kernels of meaning and humanity from a landscape of endless raging dumpster fires. www.blockedandreported.org
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Blocked and Reported tests viral political claims against their evidence while treating online absurdity as both comic material and a reporting problem.
Blocked and Reported follows online controversies past the viral post and into the evidence, incentives, and media habits underneath. Katie Herzog and Jesse Singal work through disputes conversationally, testing claims as they go and using dry, often self-directed humor to keep…
Blocked and Reported is where your internet scandal gets cross-examined, then interrupted by a weed joke.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A profane, argumentative culture-war episode that presses for clearer answers where slogans usually stand in.
Blocked and Reported opens with loose, profane banter, then settles into a sharper argument about prison housing, rights language, and the pressure to treat contested policy questions as already decided.
A sharp, skeptical pass through AI-detection claims, bias arguments, and the politics of proving who wrote what.
Blocked and Reported takes an AI-detection fight and treats it less as a settled scandal than as a test of how quickly online arguments harden around shaky evidence.
Afroman's raid saga gets treated as ridiculous spectacle with a real free speech fight underneath.
Afroman's return to the news gives Blocked and Reported a story that is funny on its face and still sharper than a novelty segment. Katie traces him as an early-2000s weed-rap figure who kept making music after the mainstream moved on, then lands on the 2022 raid and the…
A tart, watchful read on Lindy West's backlash, internet fame, and the fuzzy economics of online controversy.
Blocked and Reported returns to the Lindy West polyamory-book blowup with a sharper focus on what happens when internet fame meets a smaller, harder-to-measure audience.
A casual live Blocked and Reported chat where Lindy West, publishing gossip, comedy riffs, and host chemistry carry more weight than reporting.
Katie Herzog and Jesse Singal use this live Blocked and Reported session as a loose culture-politics hang, with Lindy West as the nearest thing to a through-line.
Katie Herzog and Helen Lewis turn a messy British right-wing feud and throuple chatter into brisk, skeptical media criticism.
Blocked and Reported brings Katie Herzog and Helen Lewis together for a loose, skeptical tour through online politics, media suspicion, and the culture-war weirdness around Episode 297's throuple theme.
A skeptical, personal conversation about adolescent despair, diagnosis, and the limits of one-size-fits-all psychiatric explanations.
Laura Delano's conversation with the host is a pointed entry into the new Challenging Books Book Club, centered on Unshrunk and the question of how teenage distress becomes psychiatric language.
Slow, unhurried Vermont conversations on gender, class, and aging, hosted by Erica Heilman.
Michael Buerk chairs a panel cross-examining witnesses on the week's contested moral question.
Authors Deesha Philyaw and Kiese Laymon interview writers and dissect essays like Toni Morrison's.
A basketball compliment turns into a fight.
This premium podcast episode preview discusses the resurgence of facilitated communication for disabled people and analyzes poor book sales for author Lindy West amid controversy.
A Lindy detour comes first.
Six years in, the hosts still can't hit the anniversary cleanly.
Katie introduces the first episode of 'Strange Bedfellows,' a new series by Longview exploring the evolution and tensions within the LGBTQ alliance, and offers a promotion for Primo listeners.
Blocked and Reported’s premium preview opens with Lindy West’s “Thrupple” story and the claim that her husband has “come out” and is unhappy.
Jesse Singel interviews writer Pamela Paul about her career, books, and topics including a critical article about her, the state of Lit Hub and online literary communities, and her article on therapy becoming woman-dominated.
A comedic preview of a premium episode discussing a controversy on Blue Sky involving Jamel Bowie, mixed with banter about weather and climate change.
This episode discusses listener feedback on a previous show about Iran, focusing on protests against beauty influencer Huda Katan's products at Sephora by the Iranian diaspora.
Obviously, this starts with Lindy West.
Katie and Jesse joke about Helen Lewis refusing to answer a body swap question, blending humor with commentary on internet culture.
The hosts discuss a beauty influencer's misstep into Iran discourse and banter about a recent interview with journalist Helen Lewis, touching on internet drama and polycules.
Helen Lewis gets weekend custody.
A preview of a premium episode discussing trans-related articles and polling, interspersed with casual banter about skiing and a tech conference.
Katie and Jesse joke about an ant infestation and reminisce about internet personality Arthur Chu.
The preview opens on the awkward premium setup, then moves into Unshrunk and Laura Delano's account of psychiatric treatment resistance, teenage despair, and the first psychiatric language handed to her.
The hosts discuss a carpenter ant infestation in a ceiling, humorously debating the ethics of extermination and consulting an entomologist friend.
Katie Herzog and Jesse Singal host a Valentine's Day special reading personal ads submitted by listeners, aiming to foster romantic connections with comedic commentary.
The hosts preview a premium episode discussing the Epstein case and its conspiratorial aspects.
This episode continues a discussion on net neutrality, prefaced by a lighthearted conversation about the Super Bowl and football team rivalries.
The hosts engage in casual banter about fashion, home decor, and technical issues while waiting for a live audience.
A preview of a premium episode discussing Will Stancil's activism, Jeffrey Epstein, AI evolution, and a detransition lawsuit.
A preview of a premium episode discussing Ethan Klein versus Hassan, with comedic banter and recommendations.
Jesse Singal and Katie Herzog banter about Jesse's upcoming trip to West Texas and an Austin event with fellow comedians.
Katie Herzog and guest Jonathan Kaye discuss disc golf and banter about sports terminology in a comedic interview.
Hosts Katie Herzog and Jesse Singal preview a premium episode discussing the Olivia Nuzzi and Ryan Lizard controversy with humorous banter.
Katie Herzog introduces Jessica the 80s Baby as a guest, joking about their first-ever conversation and her private identity.
A preview of a premium episode covering fights over stickers, Brianna Wu controversies, and a correction about Will Stancil's Twitter criticism.
A comedic preview of a premium episode discussing internet culture, road trips, and the absurdity of online moderation.
Katie Herzog interviews Frannie Block about a TikTok story involving a potential viral suicide contagion among young girls.
Katie and Jesse joke about Yom Kippur fasting and Katie's book draft completion.
Jesse and Katie banter about book deadlines, a potential Portland meetup, and Oregon stereotypes.
Mike Pesca discusses real estate tax strategies, particularly around primary vs.
Katie Herzog interviews writer and podcaster Katherine Dee about internet culture, pseudonyms, and experiences with platforms like Kiwi Farms and Reddit.
The hosts satirically recap a previous episode about journalist Taylor Lorenz's controversial promotion of a kid-friendly phone company.