Introducing 'Matter of Opinion,' a new podcast from New York Times Opinion

The New York Times has debuted “Matter of Opinion,” a new Opinion podcast that features four of Opinion’s signature voices: Michelle Cottle, Ross Douthat, Lydia Polgreen and Carlos Lozada. Each week, they select a topic — from the news, from politics and culture, from their own unpublished work — and talk it through with depth and nuance.

Our four charismatic hosts are the secret sauce of what makes “Matter of Opinion” great. Each brings a unique perspective and professional expertise to the conversation; Michelle Cottle brings her years of reporting on politics and Washington; Lydia Polgreen reports back from her global endeavors; Carlos Lozada grounds the conversations in literature; and Ross Douthat brings, as always, his sharp and empathetic analysis of the political and spiritual worlds.

The four hosts are here to talk things through, open up to each other’s ideas and challenge listeners’ views to bring you the kind of smart analytical conversations you expect from Opinion, as well as the kind of fun and engaging dialogue you crave from a chat show.

“I once got sage advice on how to read The Times — start with the last page of the A section, where you find the staff columns, then work your way back to the front. That way you’d learn the most important news but also how to make sense of it. Some things never change. And with the launch of this show The Times’ audience can increasingly access Opinion’s signature voices in ways far beyond the 800-word column,” said Kathleen Kingsbury, Opinion editor.

The first episode of “Matter of Opinion” premiered May 11 with new episodes dropping weekly on Thursdays. Listeners can subscribe wherever they get their podcasts.

Michelle Cottle is a member of The New York Times editorial board, focusing on U.S. politics. She has covered Washington and politics since the Clinton administration. She joined the editorial board in 2018 after reporting on the nation’s capital as a contributing editor for The Atlantic.

Carlos Lozada joined New York Times Opinion as a columnist in 2022. Prior to that he served as an editor and book critic at The Washington Post. He won the Pulitzer Prize for criticism in 2019 and is the author of “What Were We Thinking: A Brief Intellectual History of the Trump Era.”

Lydia Polgreen spent a decade as a foreign correspondent for The New York Times and was editor in chief of HuffPost before joining New York Times Opinion as a columnist in 2022. She has received several awards for her international reporting, including the 2006 Polk Award for her coverage of ethnic cleansing in Darfur.

Ross Douthat joined The New York Times as an Opinion columnist in April 2009. He is the author of several books including “The Deep Places: A Memoir of Illness and Discovery,” and “Bad Religion: How We Became a Nation of Heretics.”