Best ISI Podcasts

In the war on terror, who is it that we’re really fighting? “Caliphate” follows Rukmini Callimachi, who covers terrorism for The New York Times, on her quest to understand ISIS. For more information about the series, visit nytimes.com/caliphate. This series includes disturbing language and scenes of graphic violence. Producer: Andy Mills; Reporters: Rukmini Callimachi and Andy Mills; Managing Producer: Larissa Anderson; Editors: Wendy Dorr and Larissa Anderson; Associate Producer: Asthaa Chaturvedi; Technical Director: Brad Fisher; Executive Producer, NYT Audio: Lisa Tobin; Editorial Director, NYT Audio: Samantha Henig; Assistant Managing Editor, NYT: Sam Dolnick; Music: William Brittelle, Andy Mills, Nate Henricks, Cliff Martinez, Brad Fisher, Taku Sugimoto and David Wingo

Seeking to separate fact from fiction, the multi award-winning series returns to investigate the divisive story of Shamima Begum.When three London school girls went missing in 2015, they generated global headlines and the media storm that ensued continues to this day. Back then, investigative journalist Josh Baker was filming at a mosque in the girls' neighbourhood as their families came to seek help; their daughters were on the way to Syria to join the Islamic State group. But it was too late, and they disappeared inside the so-called caliphate.For four years, their fate remained a mystery - with only occasional glimpses and sometimes conflicting reports of what they were doing with the terror group being made public. Only one of the girls emerged from the ashes of the so called caliphate - Shamima Begum.The new series will take listeners inside Josh's attempts to figure out what really happened, unearthing new information about one of the most talked about stories of our time. He travels from Bethnal Green in East London to the depths of what was ISIS controlled Syria as he challenges Shamima Begum and investigates if the story she tells is true.Series One - 'I'm Not A Monster: from BBC Panorama & FRONTLINE PBS'The first series of I'm Not A Monster told the story of Sam Sally, an American mother who left behind a comfortable life and travelled to the heart of what the Islamic State group called its caliphate with her family. Her husband became an IS sniper and her 10 year-old son was forced to appear in an infamous propaganda video threatening President Trump. It's the BBC's most awarded podcast series to date, having received 16 nominations, winning 11 awards in 10 different international programme competitions including the Rose d 'Or for Best Audio series, three Golds and the Grand Jury Prize at the New York Festivals Radio Awards and Best Documentary Series at the Webbys and the inaugural Podcast Academy Awards (the Ambies) in 2021.

Shamima Begum was 15 years old when she left Bethnal Green with her two school friends to travel to Syria to join the ISIS Caliphate in 2015. It was an event that left people across the world questioning how and why this could happen. As the war against ISIS continued, her fate remained a mystery. 5 years later Shamima re-emerged in a Syrian refugee camp, her apparent lack of remorse immediately turning her into a figure of hate. From day one, ITV News, led by its Global Security Editor Rohit Kachroo, has followed the story of Shamima closer than anyone else. With unparalleled archive, unique testimonies, exclusive interviews and analysis from an award winning journalist, we unpack the story from when it started, to where we are now. It's a story with one individual at the heart of it, but one that involves multiple agencies, institutions and countries, all seeking to shift the blame for how and why this happened. In Shamima Begum - The Blame Game, Rohit Kachroo addresses those questions.