Two podcasts you should listen to this week: 'Believed' and 'FiveThirtyEight Politics'

Do you love podcasts, but don’t know how to find new shows? Are you new to podcasts, and don't know where to start?

Welcome to “Thanks for Listening” — a column about the absolute best podcast episodes to listen to this week according to two producers at KUOW who make podcasts for a living. Every Monday, we'll both suggest a podcast that we really enjoy listening to and tell you why we like it.

You’ll hear about shows that span (and overlap) a variety of topics and genres: investigative journalism, fiction, food, feminism, comedy, history, true crime, mental health, Harry Potter, and much more.

So kick back and enjoy this week's picks.

Caroline’s Pick: Believed

Suggested Episode: "The Good Guy"

Length: 18 minutes

Listen while: This episode delves into sexual assault. Listen wherever feels safe and comfortable.

Brainpower required: 3/5

Family friendly? No

The podcast Believed from Michigan Radio and NPR is a series that asks a simple question: How did Olympic gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar get away with abusing so many girls, for so long?

With hindsight, and given the scale of the abuse, it’s nearly impossible to imagine. And yet, in the first episode, hosts Kate Wells and Lindsey Smith ask their listeners to do just that. The episode explores the legend of Larry Nassar before images of him in an orange jumpsuit dominated news coverage. What was it like for young gymnasts to come forward when he was lauded in the gymnastics community? How was he able to repel accusations that were investigated by police?

Elegantly produced, and compellingly told, it’s definitely worth a listen. Plus, last week they won a Peabody Award.

Clare’s Pick: FiveThirtyEight Politics

Suggested Episode: "Emergency Podcast: The Mueller Report"

Length: 46 minutes

Listen while: Folding laundry and/or meditating on the state of humanity

Brainpower required: 2/5

Family friendly? Yes

If you – like me – are so exhausted by political news that you managed to avoid almost all coverage of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report: good job. But if you – like me – also want to be informed about what the heck is going on in American politics, let me introduce you to the FiveThirtyEight Politics podcast.

FiveThirtyEight is a data-journalism powerhouse founded by numbers nerd Nate Silver, and its weekly politics show takes a data-focused approach to analyzing the whackadoodle world of political news. A normal episode features a roundtable of its political journalists, who use polling and other data to explain the week’s news and dive deep into one topic, story or debate.

I love how the show strips away all the politicking and buzzwords of big political stories to focus on things like how politicians form their strategies and what voters actually care about.

This episode is a departure from their normal model because it’s an assessment of Mueller’s report, but it still has that straightforward, no-nonsense approach that I find so refreshing. The same is true of last week’s episode breaking down Joe Biden’s chances of winning the Democratic nomination.