The Take makes global news feel intimate. Three times a week, our award-winning host Malika Bilal speaks with Al Jazeera English reporters and sources across all borders and walks of life to explain the biggest stories in the news and how and why the headlines got there. Each episode focuses on a single news story from the ground up and hones in on the conversations and perspectives listeners won’t find anywhere else.
The Take uses a mix of first-person stories, reporting, and analysis to connect our listeners to the most important news stories across the globe, whether they’re happening in Ukraine, Iran, or Madagascar, and explain why the immediacy of local events has global implications for us all. With a focus on the Global South, and on topics and angles often overlooked, The Take keeps listeners informed on the important or under-discussed details informing some of the biggest headlines. We offer a throughline about the stories that are shaping our world - from artificial intelligence, political intrigue, and social justice to stories about strong people in the midst of adversity. With millions of listeners, The Take is bringing global communities into the conversation.
The Take is a visa-free passport to communities around the world. Our goal is to bring listeners into the story so they can understand what is happening on the ground. We do this by speaking to the people whose lives are directly impacted – resulting in unique conversations about the news - and from a perspective that is truly global. Drawing on the expertise of Al Jazeera’s global network of journalists, as well as sources around the world, The Take hears from people who have lived in the communities they are covering.
Through conversations with people on the ground, The Take leads listeners through the intricacies of the news they need to know - always with an emphasis on our guests’ direct experiences and of the implications for people at the center of global events. For this reason, we place a high priority on exploring the stories that have global resonance in the news, because every local story has global reverberations. Whether it’s interviewing a migration researcher fleeing war himself, or an Iranian journalist who’s had her own experiences with the country’s morality police, our interviews get personal, even with the experts – and we treat everyone as an expert in their own story.
Listeners to The Take are invited behind the news headlines, to hear from the people found in their wake. Much like Al Jazeera’s television network and website, we focus on stories from the Global South.
The podcast is already critically acclaimed, having won an Online Journalism Award for Excellence in Audio Digital Storytelling and a Gracie Award for host Malika Bilal, as well as recognition from the Signal Awards, the Lovies, and most recently, an Anthem award.
Many voices you hear share English as a second, third, or fourth language. That makes us unique and keeps our listeners returning. From the start, we’ve seen our global listenership steadily rise. And what we’ve heard from many of them is that they appreciate the stories we are telling and want to hear more. As it turns out, there are few places to listen to the intimate yet in-depth reporting The Take does, from Eswatini to Gaza and Turkey to Hong Kong.
