Canary: The Washington Post Investigates

The Washington Post

12 episodes listed below

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A quiet investigation into power and silence.

The gist

Canary follows the reporting trail from Lauren Clark’s public warning in D.C. to Carol Griffin’s allegation against Judge Truman Morrison. It is patient, document-driven journalism about memory, family pressure, court records, and what institutions make hard to see.

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About Canary: The Washington Post Investigates

Canary is a Washington Post investigative podcast about sexual assault allegations, silence, and the institutions that decide whose stories get heard. It begins with a warning. Lauren Clark, a young woman in D.C., was sexually assaulted and handed out flyers naming her attacker. That act reached far beyond her own case. In Alabama, Carol Griffin contacted Amy Britton with information about Judge Truman Morrison, the judge connected to Lauren’s case. Carol said Morrison had assaulted her when she was a teenager. From there, the series becomes a careful record of what it takes to bring an old allegation into public view. Nothing moves quickly. Calls are made, letters are drafted, family members hesitate, and documents raise as many questions as they answer. The reporting stays close to Carol’s uncertainty as she weighs loyalty, shame, anger, and the fear of harming people she once trusted. It also follows Lauren’s case back into the courtroom, where questions about sentencing and authority become hard to separate from Morrison’s own past. Canary is not built like a puzzle box. Its tension comes from process. Amy Britton looks for records that are not easy to search, asks what D.C. does and does not disclose about judges, and turns to data reporting when the public record proves incomplete. The series also spends real time with Carol’s parents, Janet and Jean, as they struggle with skepticism, protectiveness, and the painful realization that the story belongs to their daughter. The tone is measured and human. It lets pauses matter. It lets documents matter too. Morrison’s written responses, his retirement, and the absence of fuller answers all become part of the record. For listeners used to louder true crime, Canary may feel unusually patient. That patience is the point. It treats disclosure not as a dramatic twist, but as a long, costly act shaped by memory, evidence, family, and institutional power.

Made for: For listeners who prefer investigative true crime grounded in reporting, documents, interviews, and institutional questions. It suits people interested in sexual assault accountability, judicial transparency, and survivor testimony handled with restraint.

What sets it apart: Canary stands apart by making the reporting process central: records searches, unanswered letters, family interviews, and public-data gaps carry as much weight as revelation. Its emotional force comes from patience rather than spectacle.

In their own words

After a sexual assault case in the District of Columbia, one woman’s public warning ricochets all the way to Birmingham, Ala., where another woman gives voice to a devastating allegation. This seven-part investigative series from The Washington Post follows the Alabama woman’s decision to come forward with a claim of sexual assault against a high-ranking figure in the D.C. criminal justice system, and the spiraling effects of that choice. “Canary: The Washington Post Investigates” is about the intertwining stories of these two women, separated by decades and united by a shared refusal to stay silent. It’s a podcast...

Why you'd press play

An attic search leads to judicial records, if your true-crime appetite favors receipts over spectacle.

Press play if you want

  • to follow Amy Britton from one woman's allegation through family memories and a missing apology letter
  • to see how a reporter tests claims against court records, relatives, and the accused man's response
Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →
sexual assault allegationssurvivor disclosurejudicial accountabilityD.C. court recordsfamily memory and hesitationsentencing scrutinyinvestigative reporting processpublic warnings

Talks about

Best episodes of Canary: The Washington Post Investigates

Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.

Broken Doors, Episode 1: "That's what you get"May 25, 2022

A measured look at a no-knock warrant case, built from records and family memory.

Broken Doors begins by circling back to Benji Edwards's Mississippi childhood home and the effect of a no-knock warrant that has lingered with the family for more than seven years.

Chapter 2: "A secret that she couldn't tell"Oct 1, 2020

A careful chapter that turns one tip into a deeper, more troubling pattern.

The chapter takes a single follow-up email and opens it into a steady account of how Carol Griffin's allegation sends Amy Britton back through years of connection, family history, and the uneasy silence around Judge Truman Morrison.

Chapter 5: "He's hurt my daughter"Oct 1, 2020

A restrained chapter about disclosure, family fear, and the cost of speaking up.

Chapter five, "He's Hurt My Daughter," stays with Carol after the disclosure and keeps the emotional frame tight. Carol says she has been overwhelmed, irritated that her parents will not speak for her, and still stuck in the old feeling of not being centered.

Chapter 4: "To serve as a judge"Oct 1, 2020

A steady chapter about duty, records, and the uneasy work of making a judge legible.

The chapter stays close to Carol after the first Birmingham trip, when something she has been carrying for a long time finally starts to surface.

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Episodes

  1. 1

    Introducing “The Empty Grave of Comrade Bishop”

    This is a trailer episode for 'The Empty Grave of Comrade Bishop,' a Washington Post investigative podcast about the fate of Grenadian revolutionary leader Maurice Bishop, executed in a 1983 coup along with seven others whose remains have never been found.

    Oct 12, 2023·3m
  2. 2

    Introducing “Field Trip”

    This episode is a trailer for Field Trip, a Washington Post podcast hosted by Lillian Cunningham about the history and future of America's national parks.

    Jun 20, 2023·4m
  3. 3

    Broken Doors, Episode 1: "That's what you get"

    This is Episode 1 of Broken Doors, a Washington Post investigative podcast about no-knock warrants hosted by Jen Abelson and Nicole Dunca.

    May 25, 2022·43m·4 clips
  4. 4

    Introducing "Broken Doors"

    Mar 25, 2022·4m
  5. 5

    Chapter 4: "To serve as a judge"

    This is Chapter 4 of Canary, an investigative podcast from The Washington Post in which reporter Amy Britton investigates Judge Truman Morrison, a prominent DC federal judge and bail reform advocate accused of sexual assault by a woman named Carol.

    Oct 1, 2020·23m·2 clips
  6. 6

    Chapter 1: "The system failed us"

    Oct 1, 2020·28m
  7. 7

    Chapter 6: "You can always have the last word"

    Hidden gem

    Amy Britton reports on the final stages of Canary’s investigation into Carol Griffin’s allegation that Truman Morrison sexually assaulted her when she was 16.

    Oct 1, 2020·42m·2 clips
  8. 8

    Chapter 3: "No way in hell she would make this up"

    In Chapter 3 of Canary: The Washington Post Investigates, Amy Britton examines how Carol Griffin’s decades-old allegation against Judge Truman Morrison could be corroborated.

    Oct 1, 2020·27m·1 clip
  9. 9

    Chapter 7: "I'll find my joy"

    Oct 1, 2020·30m
  10. 10

    Chapter 2: "A secret that she couldn't tell"

    A warning opens the chapter.

    Oct 1, 2020·29m·2 clips
  11. 11

    Chapter 5: "He's hurt my daughter"

    This is Chapter 5 of Canary, an investigative podcast from The Washington Post in which reporter Amy Britton investigates Judge Truman Morrison based on an accusation of sexual assault from a woman named Carol.

    Oct 1, 2020·34m·3 clips
  12. 12

    Introducing “Canary: The Washington Post Investigates”

    Sep 17, 2020·3m