No Compromise
4.3/5
Critic Rating
Winner of the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for Audio Reporting. Discover a social media empire with an unapologetic vision of gun rights—generating millions of likes, follows, and dollars. From WAMU's Guns & America, reporters Lisa Hagen of WABE and Chris Haxel of KCUR expose how three brothers from the most uncompromising corner of the gun debate are turning hot-button issues into donations and controversy.
Critic Reviews
Score: 4.5
Emmett Avery • Basement Medicine • Oct 26, 2020
"Though not produced to the level of public radio rock star programming such as “This American Life” and “Radiolab,” this production has a solid footing on the second tier of today’s podcasts, and I mean that as a good thing. It has a lot of strong reporting, and for the most part, it’s well written and edited. Using a heavy metal motif and astute though relatively conventional music choices, the podcast’s creators provide good definition and drive throughout the episodes released so far."
Score: 4
Nicholas Quah • Vulture • Sep 30, 2020
"No Compromise is compelling, but I do have some issues with it. The podcast has some real problems with tone control, insisting on a certain folksy “We’re just trying to understand you!” vibe that can, at times, paper over the very real danger that this ideology and these people represent. The tone control gets a little better the further in you get with No Compromise, which is great because the story it’s trying to tell is such an interesting one. "
Score: 4.5
Anna Leszkiewicz • New Statesman • Sep 23, 2020
"Hagan and Haxel take such figures seriously. They are sympathetic, well-informed listeners, genuinely curious to discover why and how these Americans became so extreme in their stances. This is rigorous, thoughtful and arguably necessary reporting, but at times I had the nagging feeling that No Compromise was falling into the same trap: directing attention to a movement that craves it; its well-intentioned scrutiny perversely legitimising a poisonous fringe campaign that thrives on interest, outrage and fear."
