Former Atlantan Ellison Barber hosts Netflix true crime podcast ‘Allegedly’
For the past decade, Netflix has successfully gorged on true crime docs and scripted dramas.
Now it’s sampling the robust true crime podcast world as well with “Allegedly," a weekly video podcast hosted by Emmy-winning NBC News correspondent Ellison Barber, who grew up in metro Atlanta.
In each episode, Barber spends an hour on a set decked out to look like a cozy den with an expert on a particular crime case. The first episode with NBC News legal expert Misty Marris focuses on the 2021 murder of travel vlogger Gabby Petito by her boyfriend.
The next week, she discussed, with attorney Phillip Hamilton, the Alexander brothers, who were convicted in March of sex trafficking and could face life in prison.
“We try to find people who are smart and fun and can help me learn more about each case,” Barber said in an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
As a journalist, Barber said she was able to adjust to the dynamics of a podcast relatively quickly.
“It feels like a continuation of who I am as a person,” she said. “These are a lot like the conversations I’d have off camera.”
“Allegedly,” produced by NBC News Studios, is one of dozens of video podcasts Netflix has added to its streaming service this year as it seeks new ways to engage subscribers. Many are already popular podcasts, like “The Breakfast Club,” “The Bill Simmons Podcast” and “My Favorite Murder.”
Barber grew up in Decatur and Cumming. She still has videos of herself as a young child doing fake news reports with her sisters. “The camera was so old, it would only work when it was plugged in,” she said. “So I’d go out on the patio and do weather reports. I’d say, ‘It’s 50 degrees out here. It’s freezing!’ That tells you I grew up in the South!”
She remembered watching Clark Howard and Monica Kaufman (now Pearson) on WSB-TV. “I was a news junkie,” she said.
At Wofford College in Spartanburg, South Carolina, she originally pursued law until she saw the 2001 documentary “War Photographer” about famed war photographer James Nachtwey, which featured CNN’s chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour in Kosovo. Barber was captivated and still keeps a DVD copy of the doc on her bookshelf.
In Washington, D.C., after college, she landed a low-level research assistant job at “NBC Nightly News.” In her off time, she bought a journalism school syllabus and learned about broadcasting on her own. Despite having almost no experience, she landed a job as a reporter at a local affiliate in D.C. “It’s definitely not the way most people do it,” she said.
From there, Barber worked as a D.C. correspondent for Fox TV station affiliates, occasionally landing hits on Atlanta’s Fox 5, before moving to NBC News in 2020. She covered the COVID-19 pandemic out of Atlanta for several months, living temporarily in her parents’ basement.
NBC in 2022 sent Barber to Ukraine at the start of the war with Russia. She spent about 150 days there. “I wasn’t watching people who were refugees or victims of war,” she said. “These were survivors who were trying to help each other. I tried to find the brightest bits of humanity in those situations.”
She later spent a month covering the start of the Israel-Hamas war in 2023 and returned to the region multiple times.
In between, Barber covered her fair share of crime trials of figures such as Bill Cosby and Alex Murdaugh. “I have always been an avid watcher and listener of true crime,” she said.
When Netflix came calling, NBC News chose Barber to host “Allegedly,” which has a more casual vibe than a “Dateline” episode.
“We sort through different aspects of a case that don’t match up,” she said. “We try to verify things with court documents or interviews with witnesses. We are conversational but adhere to journalism standards, especially when cases are ongoing.”
Barber said she isn’t sure how long the first season will go: “I’m down to doing as many as Netflix wants. I’m just so deep in cases. We’re definitely going at least through the fall.”
About the Author
Rodney Ho writes about entertainment for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution including TV, radio, film, comedy and all things in between. A native New Yorker, he has covered education at The Virginian-Pilot, small business for The Wall Street Journal and a host of beats at the AJC over 20-plus years. He loves tennis, pop culture & seeing live events.
