On the Media: Recent Episodes
WNYC Studios
The Peabody Award-winning On the Media podcast is your guide to examining how the media sausage is made. Host Brooke Gladstone examines threats to free speech and government transparency, cast a skeptical eye on media coverage of the week’s big stories and unravel hidden political narratives in everything we read, watch and hear.
President Trump has some of the worst approval ratings of any president in modern history, second only to Richard Nixon the week before he resigned. On this week’s On the Media, what the polls say about Americans’ perceptions of Trump and his policies. Plus, a look at the polarized propaganda being beamed into Iran.
[01:00] Brooke Gladstone interviews G. Elliott Morris, journalist, statistician, and author of the data-driven news website Strength In Numbers, about public perceptions of President Trump and his policies, and what Trump’s historic unpopularity could mean for the upcoming midterm elections.
[19:14] Micah Loewinger speaks with Nancy Scola, a reporter covering tech, policy, and politics, about her recent profile of Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr, tracing his trajectory from “spectrum nerd,” to MAGA insider.
[36:23] Micah sits down with Nahid Siamdoust, an assistant professor of media and Middle Eastern studies at the University of Texas at Austin, to discuss the state of the Iranian media landscape, and how a newer anti-regime channel, Iran International, is contributing to intense polarization among Iranians around the world.
Further reading / watching:
- “What's behind Donald Trump's record-low approval rating?” By G. Elliott Morris
- “How Brendan Carr Became MAGA’s Media Watchdog,” by Nancy Scola
- “Spreading Static,” by Nahid Siamdoust
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Brooke speaks with Garrett M. Graff, journalist, historian, and author of the newsletter Doomsday Scenario, about Trump’s damage to the United States’ standing as a world power and his dismantling of core pillars of American policy.
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The race to build the most advanced artificial intelligence continues to dominate the headlines. On this week’s On the Media, who does this new technology actually serve? Plus, how even critical media coverage can feed into the AI hype.
[01:00] Host Brooke Gladstone sits down with Cory Doctorow, journalist, activist, and author of Enshittification, on his new guide to seeing through the relentless, $16 trillion AI hype machine and understanding the technology for exactly what it is, rather than the outlandish stories told about it.
[16:47] Brooke continues her conversation with Cory, and they discuss how the hype itself is keeping the AI industry afloat.
[28:47] Brooke asks Cory about his rejection of the notion that AI domination – of our jobs, our lives, our art, and more – is inevitable. Plus, they interrogate the role of the tech in a creative’s life, and why AI art leaves us cold.
Further reading / watching:
- The Reverse Centaur's Guide to Life After AI by Cory Doctorow
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At the start of 2026, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, was top of mind for many Americans. There were nationwide protests, congressional hearings, and plenty of headlines. But as the weeks went on, ICE faded some from the spotlight. This month, two fatal shootings involving ICE officers have reignited protests and renewed questions about tactics, training, and recruitment for the agency at the heart of Trump's anti-immigration efforts. Host Micah Loewinger sits down with Joseph Cox, investigative reporter and co-founder of 404 Media, to talk about the array of tactics and surveillance tech ICE had been using.
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This week, the State Department published a report accusing Cuba of being the “capital of 21st-century communism,” and of plotting an anti-American revolution. On this week’s On the Media, why the Trump administration can’t stop invoking Cuba as its “communist” bogeyman. Plus, hear from a former flight attendant turned independent journalist, who is doggedly covering ICE’s removal flights.
[01:00] Brooke Gladstone looks at how President Trump and his allies are using dehumanizing language and the specter of communism — seemingly inspired by far right provocateur Jack Posobiec — to try to discredit all Democrats leading up to the midterm elections. Gil Duran, journalist and author of The Nerd Reich, explains the connection.
[08:47] The State Department released a report this week about the threat that Cuba poses to the United States, listing everyone from Mayors Zohran Mamdani and Karen Bass, journalist Amy Goodman, to a co-founder of Ben & Jerry’s as agents of Cuban influence. Brooke sits down with Michael J. Bustamante, associate professor of Cuban and Cuban-American history at the University of Miami, to talk about the cherry-picked historical scholarship in the report, and the role that the Cuba bogeyman plays in American politics today.
[31:25] Micah Loewinger speaks with Gillian Brockell, independent journalist and former flight attendant who is covering ICE flights and third-country removals. Brockell explains why all ICE flights, domestic and international, are unsafe, and how the Trump administration is trying to skirt around judges’ orders by sending asylum seekers to countries, often far-flung, that they didn’t come from.
Further reading / watching:
- “Why Trump Keeps Talking About Communism: The 'Unhumans' Playbook,” by Gil Duran
- Cuban Memory Wars: Retrospective Politics in Revolution and Exile, by Michael J. Bustamante
- “ICE Deportation Flights Are Getting Longer and Crueler,” by Gillian Brockell
- “Tracking All of Trump’s Known Third-Country Removals,” by Gillian Brockell
- “Video proves Delta flew Liam Ramos and his dad to ICE detention center,” by Gillian Brockell
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After the BBC ran a segment that edited to sections of a speech by President Trump, implying he called on his supporters to violently attack the Capitol, the president sued the British broadcaster for $10 billion in damages. The BBC apologized and retracted the segment. The BBC did not, however, cut him a check, opting instead to hire a top American media law firm to fight the suit.
This week, Brooke talks to Liz Dye, host of the Law and Chaos podcast about how Trump bit off more than he could chew with this lawsuit against the BBC, and his tried-and-tested strategies against U.S. broadcasters don't work as well for him in this case.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Bluesky, TikTok and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
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This week, several New York Times reporters were subpoenaed by the Justice Department for their reporting on Air Force One. On this week’s On the Media, how a fifty-year-old Supreme Court ruling left journalists exposed to this kind of legal challenge. Plus, hear how Ebay employees launched a bizarre harassment campaign against a couple of e-commerce reporters.
[01:00] Micah Loewinger interviews Matt Gertz, senior fellow at Media Matters, about Todd Blanche’s recent confirmation hearings, his track record of being a Trump loyalist and frequent Fox News guest, and what his appointment reveals about the shifting independence of the attorney general from the White House.
[16:39] Micah speaks with Lee Levine, media lawyer and author of the upcoming book In Bad Faith: Earl Caldwell and the Fight for a Free Press, about the Justice Department delivering subpoenas to New York Times journalists for reporting on security concerns regarding the president’s new Air Force One, and what we can learn from the history of past presidential administrations weaponizing subpoenas against the press.
[32:11] Brooke Gladstone sits down with Jenny Carchman, director of the documentary Whatever It Takes: Inside the eBay Scandal, to discuss the harassment and intimidation campaign carried out against Ina and David Steiner, the authors of an online e-commerce trade publication, using tactics straight out of horror movies.
Further reading / watching:
- “With Todd Blanche, MAGA media is finally getting its dream AG,” by Matt Gertz
- “The Subpoenas Are Coming! The Subpoenas Are Coming!” by Lee Levine
- In Bad Faith: Earl Caldwell and the Fight for a Free Press by Lee Levine.
- Whatever It Takes: Inside the eBay Scandal
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Bluesky, TikTok and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
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As Director of National Intelligence, Gabbard presided over the nation’s top intelligence agencies, including the CIA, the NSA, and the intelligence branch of the FBI. Her tenure was brief but embattled. In addition to advising the president on things like Iran’s nuclear capabilities, Gabbard regularly released tranches of declassified documents in reports with headlines like, “New Evidence Uncovers Obama-Directed Creation of False Intelligence Report Used to Launch Years-long Coup to Undermine President Trump and the American People.”
But last month, a remarkable story from Washington Post reporter Jon Swaine brought us one step closer to understanding the enigma that is Tulsi Gabbard. His investigation, Tulsi Gabbard, her guru and the mysterious messages that helped shape her political career, helps explain why, for instance, Gabbard has shapeshifted over the years, from liberal Democrat to Bernie Sanders ally to Trump insider. Why she’s flip-flopped on same-sex marriage and war with Iran. As Swaine uncovered, Gabbard’s public persona may have been shaped and re-shaped, in part, by a mysterious guru and his followers.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Bluesky, TikTok and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
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ABC has enlisted the help of its audience to defend The View and Jimmy Kimmel against attacks from the Federal Communications Commission. On this week’s On the Media, hear about the MAGA movement trying to shift television to the right. Plus, the legal theory that the FCC is using to put pressure on the networks.
[01:00] Host Brooke Gladstone speaks with Jim Rutenberg, writer-at-large for the New York Times, about how Trump’s FCC is reviving a nearly century-old rule to crack down on late-night talk shows. Rutenberg explains why MAGA’s embrace of the FCC’s regulatory powers to go after “liberal bias” in the media signals a shift within the Republican party.
[26:47] Brooke sits down with Daniel Suhr, the president of a legal advocacy group called the Center for American Rights and the architect behind the legal theory that the FCC is using to put pressure on TV networks. They discuss his goal to make network TV look more like the AM radio band.
Further reading:
- “How a Century-Old Rule Is Scrambling Late-Night TV,” by Jim Rutenberg
- “The MAGA Plan to Take Over TV Is Just Beginning,” by Jim Rutenberg
- “The FCC’s Public Notice on ‘Bona Fide News,’” by Daniel Suhr
- “The end of an agency,” by Daniel Suhr
- “Straight Talk on FCC 'Jawboning'” by Daniel Suhr
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Bluesky, TikTok and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
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The Department of Justice collected more than 6 million pages of the Epstein Files, and released about 3 million under the Epstein Files Transparency Act. A few months ago, Brooke visited an art installation called the Donald J. Trump and Jeffrey Epstein Memorial Reading Room to behold the files... at least those we’ve been authorized to see. Plus, Andrea Sterling, an online content creator and a survivor of Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse, shares how to felt to see the files in real life.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Bluesky, TikTok and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
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In August of 2023, police raided a small local newspaper in rural Kansas, seizing computers and cellphones. Later, the paper’s publisher would discover there was no legal basis for the search. On this week’s On the Media, find out who was behind the raid, and what the saga reveals about the plight of local journalism today.
[01:00] On a Friday morning in a small, rural town in Kansas, the publisher of the local newspaper opens his door to see the police. They have a search warrant in hand, and within minutes, they’re searching his home. He finds out that at the same time, officers are combing through his newsroom, seizing computers and cellphones. All of this comes as a massive surprise – no warning, no subpoena, and, as he later finds out, no legal right.
This week, we’re airing an episode of KCRW’s Question Everything, hosted by Brian Reed, which digs into why this violent raid occurred, who’s behind it, and the long-lasting, tragic ramifications.
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This week we’re sharing a segment from our friends at the New Yorker Radio Hour. David Remnick sits down with the hosts of the hit podcast, The Rest is History, who turned their childhood love of history into a blockbuster show. They discuss how Brits remember the Declaration of Independence and the Revolutionary War.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Bluesky, TikTok and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
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In Texas, a judge sentenced a group of anti-ICE demonstrators to decades in prison. On this week’s On the Media, how leftist zines were used to convict a group of protesters accused of ties to antifa. Plus, as we approach the nation’s 250th birthday, we reflect on America’s inability to reckon with the darkest parts of its past.
[01:00] Micah interviews Lex McMenamin, movement building reporter at The Guardian US, about how leftist zines were used to sentence anti-ICE protesters to decades in prison this week.
[12:55] Brooke sits down with Eddie Glaude, professor of African American Studies at Princeton University, to talk about his latest book, “America, U.S.A.: How Race Shadows the Nation's Anniversaries,” and why, at every major milestone, the United States has struggled to reconcile a “double-consciousness.”
Further reading:
- “‘This is injustice’: how leftist zines were used to sentence anti-ICE protesters to decades in prison,” by Lex McMenamin
- America, U.S.A.: How Race Shadows the Nation's Anniversaries by Eddie S. Glaude Jr.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Bluesky, TikTok and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
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Top voices on the far right are currently facing the consequences of their own actions. Ben Shapiro is complaining about the rise of a podcaster he made a star; Joe Rogan is upset about the spread of conspiracy theories; and Christopher Rufo is complaining about bigotry in the Republican party. This week, Micah talks to Vox Senior Correspondent Zack Beauchamp about what he calls the 'hot dog men' of the right, and what the phenomenon signals about the future of the Republican party.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Bluesky, TikTok and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
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Donald Trump has signed a preliminary agreement to end the war in Iran. On this week’s On the Media, hear how J.D. Vance has been positioned to suffer the political fallout from the conflict – and from the much criticized deal. Plus, the theological tensions dividing the MAGA coalition.
[01:34] Host Micah Loewinger speaks with Joe Perticone, national political reporter at The Bulwark, about how J.D. Vance is being set up as the Iran deal “fall guy.”
[18:26] Micah talks to Oren Persico, staff writer for The Seventh Eye, an independent Israeli website devoted to journalism and freedom of the press, about the Israeli media coverage of the Iran deal as a ‘catastrophic capitulation,’ the fracturing relationship between President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu and what it may portend for Israel’s political future.
[34:14] Host Brooke Gladstone sits down with Matthew D. Taylor, visiting scholar at Georgetown University's Center on Faith and Justice, to discuss how the growing factions in the Republican party over Israel and the Iran war are part-policy, part-divergent Christian theologies.
Further reading:
- “JD Vance Is Being Set Up as the Iran Deal Fall Guy,” by Joe Perticone
- “How Christian Zionism and Christian Antisemitism Are Tearing MAGA Apart,” by Matthew D. Taylor
- The Violent Take It by Force: The Christian Movement That Is Threatening Our Democracy, by Matthew D. Taylor
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This week JD Vance has been doing a lot of press; partly to sell the quote-unquote peace deal with Iran that he had a hand in brokering. But he’s also on a book tour! Communion, out this week, is Vance’s follow-up to his 2016 best seller hillbilly elegy.
Some of the excerpts being circulated are making their own headlines, like this one, quote; “One of the dumbest things I ever said came when I argued that ‘childless cat ladies’ across the Democrat Party were running our country into the ground,”
He first made his cat lady quip when he was running for office in Ohio and it came up again when he was on the campaign trail with Donald Trump in 2024.
So while Vance is attempting to claw his way back into the good books with said women, we are taking this opportunity to rerun a fabulous conversation Brooke had in 2024 with Kathryn Hughes, author of the book Catland: Louis Wain and the Great Cat Mania. In it, she traces the many meanings ascribed to cats and their guardians, because cruelty to cats has a long tradition. Early on, Hughes described the notorious case in 1730 of the Great Cat Massacre in Paris.
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This week, a mob attacked immigrant communities in Northern Ireland after Elon Musk fomented anger on X. On this week’s On the Media, hear how a group linked with a global neo-Nazi movement organized the riots. Plus, what the recent upheaval at 60 Minutes tells us about the state of TV news.
[01:34] Micah speaks with David Gilbert, a reporter at WIRED covering disinformation and online extremism, about the anti-immigrant riots that exploded across the UK and more recently Northern Ireland, and how Elon Musk stoked violence on X. Plus, the racist ideology behind the attacks.
[17:29] Micah sits down with Oliver Darcy, founder of Status and co-host of Power Lines, to discuss the turmoil at 60 Minutes since Bari Weiss fired about half a dozen staffers.
[32:52] Brooke talks with Maria Kuznetsova and Dan Storyev, the authors of the upcoming book How to Survive Authoritarianism: A Russian's Phrasebook for Everyday Life in America, about how Russian words and phrases can help Americans understand what's happening in their country today.
Further reading:
- “A White Supremacist Youth Group Helped Orchestrate the Belfast Riots,” by David Gilbert
- “Elon Musk and America’s Far Right Stoke Anger Over Murder of UK Teen,” by David Gilbert
- “Bari in the Bunker and Ellison at the Gates,” by Oliver Darcy
- “Pelley’s ‘60 Minutes’ Revolt,” by Oliver Darcy
- How to Survive Authoritarianism: A Russian's Phrasebook for Everyday Life in America by Maria Kuznetsova and Dan Storyev
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Bluesky, TikTok and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
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China is home to over one billion internet users, and about half are consumers of internet literature. While the industry started as a group of hobby writers, it's now a multimillion dollar industry that has spawned adaptations to TV shows, films, and games. One of the most successful genres has become a phenomenon in and of itself. It's called "alt-history" fiction, which typically follows a contemporary man traveling back in time to save ancient China from a crisis. Brooke sits down with Rongbin Han, a Chinese cyberpolitics expert at the University of Georgia, about why this particular genre of web novel has grabbed so many readers' attention, what it can teach us about how Chinese people are imagining China's rise on a global stage, and how it's an illustration of a state and its people co-producing, or negotiating, a shared vision of an ideal, powerful China.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Bluesky, TikTok and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
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This week, Anthropic filed for an IPO following a valuation of nearly $1 trillion, which would make it one of the largest IPOs in history. On this week’s On the Media, the company’s marketing campaign to position it as the “good guy” of AI. Plus, what a literary AI scandal reveals about our vanishing ability to tell what’s human and what’s not.
[01:00] Micah speaks with Brian Merchant, a tech journalist and author of the book and newsletter Blood in the Machine, about Anthropic’s successful positioning of itself as the “ethical AI company,” even gaining themselves a seat at the table when the Pope debuted his encyclical on AI, and how fostering this image seems to be paying off in the form of a massive valuation and upcoming IPO.
[16:18] Micah sits down with Vauhini Vara, a contributing writer for The Atlantic and the author of Searches: Selfhood in the Digital Age,on the infiltration of AI into literature, and how publishing and journalism have entered a new era of trying to keep AI writing at bay.
[27:51] Brooke talks with David Garrett, founder of the new non-profit the Institute for Primary Facts, about the pop-up exhibit he organized in New York City that displayed over 3,400 printed volumes of the Epstein files, and how he intends it to be a “pressure campaign” for accountability. Plus, Andrea Sterling, an online content creator and a survivor of Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse, on the impact of seeing the files in real life.
Further reading:
- “How Anthropic used AI ethics slop to play the pope and eclipse OpenAI,” by Brian Merchant
- “This Literary AI Scandal Changes Everything,” by Vauhini Vara
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For a second week, reports of inhumane conditions at Delaney Hall in New Jersey are drawing protesters and camera crews. A handful of journalists anddozens of protesters have been arrested. Under this Trump administration, I.C.E.’s operations have ballooned, making it the highest-funded U.S. law enforcement agency. This week we're sharing an interview Micah did with Drew Harwell, a technology reporter for The Washington Post, from earlier this year. They discuss how I.C.E. is trying to enlist new agents through a "wartime recruitment push."
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The Department of Justice is trying to create a nearly $1.8 billion fund to compensate Donald Trump’s political supporters who claim they were unfairly targeted by the government. On this week’s On the Media, how Trump is using the federal legal system to reward his allies and go after his perceived enemies. Plus, how a prison fire in 1930 changed the course of history for CBS News.
[01:00] Micah speaks with Anna Bower, senior editor at Lawfare, about President Trump’s effort to sue himself and how the Department of Justice is trying to reward him, and his political allies, with a nearly $1.8 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund.”
[17:14] Brooke speaks with historian A. Brad Schwartz about how a horrific prison fire in 1930 changed the trajectory of CBS News. CBS aired on-the-spot coverage of the event, with Otto "Deacon" Gardner, an inmate in the prison, at the microphone. Gardner's gripping broadcast captured the attention of audiences across the country and started CBS on the path to creating the hard-hitting news that would define the network for nearly a century.
[35:53] Brooke continues her conversation with historian A. Brad Schwartz about how the prison fire showed executives at CBS that there was an audience for vivid, on-the-spot news coverage.
Further reading:
- “The President Who Sued Himself,” by Anna Bower and Eric Columbus
- “The Eyewitness,” by A. Brad Schwartz
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Bluesky, TikTok and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
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Russian language has a rich vocabulary for describing life under tyranny. Like the plain-clothed ICE officers snatching people off the streets? In Russian, they would be called "siloviki." Former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem's requirement that she personally approve of contracts over $100,000? That's a phenomenon that Russians would call "manual control." Government workers being required to perform a military parade for the president's birthday? They would be called "budget people" in Russian. Brooke speaks with Maria Kuznetsova and Dan Storyev, the authors of the upcoming book How to Survive Authoritarianism: A Russian Phrasebook for Everyday Life in America, about how Russian words and phrases can help Americans understand what's happening in their country today. The book comes out in September.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Bluesky, TikTok and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
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The president has proposed a new leader for the Federal Emergency Management Agency. On this week’s On the Media, a reckoning with the future of FEMA, and an interview with Trump’s nominee to lead the agency. Plus, a FEMA worker starts an anonymous newsletter to share how cuts are hurting the agency.
[01:56] Micah Loewinger brings us the final installment of OTM’s miniseries American Emergency: The Movement to Kill FEMA. Micah interviews Cameron Hamilton, an unqualified MAGA warrior brought in to take the agency down last year. When he refused to kill FEMA point blank, he was fired. Hamilton shares what it was like to work at FEMA under Kristi Noem. Earlier this month, Hamilton was nominated by the president to lead the agency – despite his lack of experience.
[21:08] Micah interviews an anonymous FEMA worker who started a newsletter amid the chaos of Kristi Noem’s leadership at DHS. The goal of the online publication, called Alt-FEMA, was to get the truth out about the agency’s capacity — at a time when it was bleeding staff and experience. Its stated mission is to record “what is being dismantled: institutional knowledge, coordination capacity, and the ability to serve communities in crisis.”
[31:21] Micah explores the future of FEMA, and the administration's plans to reduce the role of the agency in responding to disasters. We hear from a veteran FEMA staffer, MaryAnn Tierney, and a climate beat reporter at Grist, Jake Bittle, who wrestled with the proposed reforms. Micah also speaks to the Director of Emergency Management in Vermont, Eric Forand, and an emergency manager of a tribal nation on the West Coast about how diminished federal disaster funding could hurt their communities.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Bluesky, TikTok and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
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This week, the President announced a proposed expansion of the America's refugee program - from 7,500 admissions to 17,500. But there's a caveat: those extra 10,000 spots are reserved for white South Africans. Last May, when the first round of Afrikaners arrived in the States, OTM host Micah Loewinger spoke to Carolyn Holmes, professor of political science at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, about why Afrikaner white rights groups objected to the refugee policy, and the long-standing exchange of ideas between white nationalist elites in the US and South Africa.
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How an unprecedented storm of conspiracy theories beset FEMA during Hurricane Helene.
[00:00] Host Micah Loewinger presents the third part of our investigation American Emergency: The Movement to Kill FEMA. This week, Micah takes a deep dive into the aftermath of Hurricane Helene in 2024, when conspiracy theories surged online, including the old rumors about FEMA camps. And we hear from a library worker who was rescued by raft during the storm, about the greatest obstacle she faced after the storm: bureaucracy.
Further reading / watching:
- “The simple statistical error Republican Supreme Court justices used to gut the VRA,” by G. Elliot Morris
- “This year’s U.S. House elections will be least competitive on record,” by G. Elliot Morris
- “Some N.C. residents distrust FEMA so much they’re hesitant to apply for hurricane aid,” by Brianna Sacks
- “How a conspiracy-fueled group got a foothold in this hurricane-battered town,” by Brianna Sacks
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On Sunday, President Trump rejected Iran’s latest response to his administration’s ceasefire proposal by taking to Truth Social, calling it "totally unacceptable." In the meantime, the Strait of Hormuz, a critical oil chokepoint through which a fifth of the world’s oil travels, remains effectively blocked. And people everywhere are beginning to feel the squeeze. The national average cost of gas is now $4.55 per gallon, and diesel is inching closer to $6 a gallon. The Philippines has long declared a national energy emergency, government workers moving to a four-day work week. Lufthansa has canceled 20,000 flights through October of this year.
But curiously, you wouldn’t know it if you wandered down Wall Street. Last week, the S&P 500 Index and Nasdaq Composite hit an all-time high, and both have continued to climb this week. This week, host Brooke Gladstone sits down with Bryan Walsh, editor of Vox’s Future Perfect section, to discuss the phenomenon of “economic blindness,” or the jarring mismatch between economic reality and the markets. Plus, how human evolution may play a role in this cognitive dissonance.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Bluesky, TikTok and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
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To understand how FEMA became so distrusted, we look at its response to Hurricane Katrina – and how it stained the agency’s reputation forever.
[00:00] Host Micah Loewinger presents the second part of our investigation American Emergency: The Movement to Kill FEMA. This week, we look at the event that shaped FEMA’s reputation perhaps more than any other: Hurricane Katrina, one of the costliest disasters in U.S. history. Experts had warned about this kind of storm for years, but when it hit the agency only had one staffer on the ground–a PR guy named Marty Bahamonde. We also hear from Superdome survivor Chavon Allen, who was celebrating her 19th birthday when the hurricane made landfall.
Further reading / watching:
- “We’re missing the economic fallout of the Iran war — just like we did with Covid,” by Bryan Walsh
- Disaster: Hurricane Katrina and the Failure of Homeland Security, by Christopher Cooper and Robert Block
- Hurricane Katrina: Race Against Timeon Hulu
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Last month, the Justice Department, in a startling move, issued a challenge the Presidential Records Act--saying that the bedrock law for keeping Oval Office archives available to the public goes too far. Ironic, considering how Donald Trump has boasted about his presidential library—the home of presidential archives—which renderings show to be a skyscraper (and possibly hotel) in downtown Miami.
Last summer, Brooke spoke with Tim Naftali, a Senior Research Scholar at the Columbia School of International and Public Affairs, about how President Trump has raised millions of dollars his future presidential library already, and why it should matter to the rest of us.
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Just after Donald Trump's first term began, he announced that he was considering eliminating the Federal Emergency Management Agency — the agency that helps Americans amid unthinkable disasters. And just a month ago, Trump repeated his disdain for FEMA, declaring that he’s poised to make some big changes.
On this week’s On the Media, we present the first installment in a four-part series called American Emergency: The Movement to Kill FEMA. In this episode, OTM co-host Micah Loewinger tells the origin story of FEMA — which initially focused less on disaster relief and more on plans to save the government from nuclear attack. The agency’s secrecy inspired wild conspiracy theories and paranoia among far-right groups, including the fear that FEMA is building camps to detain citizens and stifle political dissent. The episode culminates with a never-before-told story of a plot to stalk FEMA’s top brass in the nineties.
Further reading:
- Sound of Impact, by Adam Shaw
- Raven Rock: The Story of the U.S. Government's Secret Plan to Save Itself--While the Rest of Us Die, by Garrett M. Graff
- "FEMA and Disaster – a Look at What Worked and What Didn’t From a FEMA Insider," by Leo Bosner
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When CBS was founded in 1927, its radio programming focused on entertainment, music, and fun. That all changed when a horrific prison fire broke out at the Ohio Penitentiary in 1930. CBS aired on-the-spot coverage of the event, with Otto "Deacon" Gardner, an inmate in the prison, at the microphone. At the time, Gardner's gripping broadcast captured the attention of audiences across the country and started CBS on the path to creating the hard-hitting news that would define the network for nearly a century. Brooke sits down with historian A. Brad Schwartz, author of the recent piece CJR piece "The Eyewitness", to talk about this largely forgotten event in radio history and what it tells us about the type of radio reporting that speaks to listeners and builds trust with audiences.
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Earlier this month, Donald Trump posted an AI picture that seemed to depict him as Jesus Christ. On the week’s On the Media, why the image drew so much ire from Trump’s own followers. Plus, why The Onion, a satirical newspaper, is taking over the website of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.
[01:00] Host Brooke Gladstone sits down with David Gilbert, reporter at WIRED covering disinformation and online extremism, to discuss the backlash among MAGA supporters to some of President Trump’s recent Truth Social posts, and how he is seeing more anger toward Trump in rightwing media spaces.
[15:49] Host Micah Loewinger speaks with Ben Collins, CEO of Global Tetrahedron–the parent company of the satirical newspaper The Onion–about the long saga of trying to buy right-wing conspiracist Alex Jones’ media empire, InfoWars. Then, Micah chats with Tom Heidecker, newly named creative director of InfoWars, about how he plans to turn the website and studio into a place for comedy.
[30:55] Micah talks with Amy Goodman, host of Democracy Now!, about “Steal This Story, Please!,” a new documentary about her forty-year career as an investigative journalist, radio host, and trailblazer of independent media. Plus, they discuss the often-blurred lines between activism and journalism, and why she prioritizes truth over access in her reporting.
Further reading / watching:
- “Staunch Trump Supporters Are Now Asking if He’s the Antichrist,” by Makena Kelly and David Gilbert
- “MAGA Is Starting to Look Beyond Trump,” by David Gilbert
- “At Long Last, InfoWars Is Ours,” by Bryce P. Tetraeder
- “Steal This Story, Please!” (documentary)
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Micah Loewinger speaks with Judd Legum, the author of the accountability newsletter Popular Information, about the explosive rise of prediction markets, and the implications of their growing partnerships with newsrooms.
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Eric Swalwell suspended his campaign for governor of California following multiple allegations of sexual harassment and assault. On this week’s On the Media, how two social media stars worked to make these allegations public. Plus, what it will take for Hungary to rebuild a robust independent press after years of crackdowns under Orban.
[01:00] Brooke speaks with Melanie Mason, POLITICO’s California Bureau Chief, to trace the “whisper network,” involving an education policy influencer with over 1.4 million followers, that exposed California Rep. Eric Swalwell’s history of sexual assault and resulted in his resignation from Congress and exit from the California gubernatorial race. Plus, what this reckoning reveals about the legacy of #MeToo.
[18:33] Host Brooke Gladstone sat down with Ivan Nagy, a political journalist and Delacorte Fellow at the Columbia Journalism Review from Hungary, days before the Hungarian election to discuss covering the lead-up, and the lasting damage inflicted on the press by Viktor Orban that will inevitably carry over into the next administration.
[34:50] Brooke calls up Ivan Nagy again after Hungary’s election last weekend to discuss what it was like on the ground in the aftermath of Peter Magyar’s historic win over Viktor Orban, and what the new Prime Minister could mean for the media.
Further reading / watching:
- “‘If Someone Lit Up a Match, the Place Would Explode,’” by Ivan L. Nagy
- “The whisper network that caught up to Eric Swalwell,” by Melanie Mason and Jeremy White
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This week we're handing over our podcast slot to NPR's Planet Money. They're currently 3 episodes in to a series all about the book industry. It’s very media, you’re gonna love it.
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President Trump threatened to commit war crimes before reaching a shaky ceasefire deal with Iran. On this week’s On the Media, the repercussions of the Nixon-era diplomatic theory that Trump appears to be testing in the Middle East. Plus, why shortwave radio remains a powerful tool for communication.
[01:00] Host Brooke Gladstone sits down with Bill Scher, the politics editor at the Washington Monthly, to discuss Trump’s escalating use of the “Madman Theory” in conflicts abroad and how it’s never been a winning strategy.
[16:15] Shortly after the first attacks on Iran in early March, mysterious messages in Persian were broadcast on shortwave radio. Shortwave radio has long been a tool for bypassing state surveillance, censorship, and regulations, as reporter Katie Thornton found in her examination of shortwave radio for season two of The Divided Dial. In this segment, Katie Thornton took a trip to the 737-person northern Maine town of Monticello to find one of shortwave’s farthest reaching broadcasters.
[37:12] Reporter Katie Thornton continues her examination of shortwave radio. This segment originally aired as part of season two of The Divided Dial, which was supported in part by a grant from the Fund for Investigative Journalism.
Further reading / watching:
- “Trump Believes in “Madman Theory.” But He’s Actually a Madman” by Bill Scher
- The Divided Dial, seasons 1 and 2
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Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has led Hungary for the past 16 years, the longest-serving leader in the European Union. He has systematically brought the institutions of Hungary under centralized state control, from the courts and the press to the education system, gutting the democratic checks to his power. But political upstart Peter Magyar, head of the opposition party, is currently beating Orbán in the polls. Brooke sits down with Ivan Nagy, reporter for the Columbia Journalism Review, to discuss covering the campaigns, what new leadership would mean for the nation's media, and the lasting damage done to journalism in Hungary, whether Orbán wins or loses.
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The U.S. has waged war on Iran for more than a month now. On this week’s On the Media, what Defense Secretary Hegseth’s monthly Pentagon prayer meetings reveal about his war strategy. Plus, hear how trans rights are being curtailed across the country.
[01:00] Host Brooke Gladstone sits down with Brian Kaylor, president and editor-in-chief of Word&Way and author of The Bible According to Christian Nationalists, to talk about Defense Secretary Hegseth’s monthly prayer meetings at the Pentagon. They discuss what the violent rhetoric reveals about Hegseth’s approach to war and why these meetings signal a troubling fusion of church and state.
[18:46] Brooke talks with Marlene Laruelle, professor at Luiss University in Rome and director of the Illiberalism Studies Program at George Washington University, about Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel’s series of lectures on religion, tech, politics, and society, which he took to the doorstep of the Vatican last month. They discuss his controversial beliefs about the antichrist, and what Thiel’s theology reveals about his desire to reorder politics.
[33:04] Brooke speaks with Alejandra Caraballo, civil rights attorney and a clinical instructor at Harvard Law School’s Cyberlaw Clinic, about the torrent of legal attacks against trans people, and why she's been looking toward a legal framework invented in the wake of Nazi Germany, called "the dual state," to better understand this moment.
Further reading / watching:
- “At Pentagon Worship Service, Hegseth Casts Iran Conflict as Violent Holy War Against God’s Enemies,” by Brian Kaylor
- “Peter Thiel in Rome: Is Liberalism Ready for the Return of God?” by Marlene Laruelle
- “The Dual State of Trans Existence,” by Alejandra Caraballo
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Last Friday, the Washington state Attorney General sued Kalshi, the prediction market platform where users can place bets on real world events, such as the number of deportations this year or the winner of Survivor 50. Washington’s civil lawsuit is now one of twenty waged against Kalshi, and follows on the heels of Arizona’s Attorney General filing criminalcharges against the platform earlier this month. Prediction markets generated almost $64 billion in trading volume last year, up 400% from 2024. And when the US and Israel initiated strikes on Iran in early February, Kalshi users took to the platform in droves, spending $54 million on “Ali Khamenei out as Supreme Leader?” during the first week of the war.
Prediction markets are just an intensification of a process that’s been slowly transforming our relationship to our bodies, our careers, our hobbies, our lives – everything is now saturated with numbers, and we can’t stop counting them and tracking them and comparing them. But what do we lose out on when we become obsessed with numbers or lines moving up or down on a graph, when we turn aspects of real life into games? Philosopher C. Thi Nguyen turned to actual games, like Twister and The Mind, to root out the answer in his latest book, The Score: How to Stop Playing Somebody Else's Game. For the midweek pod, host Micah Loewinger speaks to him about the dangers of scoring systems and metrics in the context of real life, why those same scoring systems are so freeing in games, and what the philosophy of games can reveal about the meaning of life.
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A judge ruled that the Pentagon’s recent restrictions on the press are unconstitutional. On this week’s On the Media, hear how Pete Hegseth’s ever-changing media policies have made it harder to cover military actions abroad. Plus, how a tenacious journalist used access to the Pentagon building to expose war crimes during the Vietnam War.
[01:00] Host Micah Loewinger sits down with Dan Lamothe, who covers the US military and Pentagon for the Washington Post, to talk about leaving the Pentagon press corps alongside reporters from major news outlets in October of last year, after refusing to sign onto stringent new rules on how they could do their reporting.
[09:45] Micah talks with Anna Merlan, senior reporter at Mother Jones, on the cast of right wing influencers and conspiracists now staffing the Pentagon press corps. Plus, Micah interviews content creator Cam Higby, a member of the new press corps, about why he agreed to the Pentagon’s restrictions on access.
[33:23] Micah speaks with Laura Poitras, a journalist and filmmaker whose past works include CitizenFour, All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, and Risk, to discuss her latest documentary, Cover-Up, which chronicles the life of investigative journalist Seymour Hersh and his ferocious drive to uncover government wrongdoing, and what today’s press corps can learn from him.
Further reading / watching:
- “Hegseth order on first Caribbean boat strike, officials say: Kill them all,” by Alex Horton and Ellen Nakashima
- “‘Signalgate’ report contradicts Hegseth’s claim of ‘total exoneration’,”by Dan Lamothe
- “Meet the New Pentagon Press Corps,” by Anna Merlan
- Cover-Up, directed and produced by Laura Poitras and Mark Obenhaus
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This week, the Idaho Senate is considering a bill that would block transgender people from using public bathrooms that conform with their gender identity, escalating the state’s preexisting trans bathroom ban in public schools. A first offense could land someone in prison for a year. This bill is just the latest in a devastating cascade of legal actions stripping away trans rights. For the midweek pod, host Brooke Gladstone speaks with Alejandra Caraballo, a civil rights attorney and a Clinical Instructor at Harvard Law School Cyberlaw Clinic, about why she's been looking toward a legal framework invented in the wake of Nazi Germany called "the dual state" to better understand this moment.
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President Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth are demanding “more patriotic” coverage of the widening war in Iran. On this week’s On the Media, hear how the Pentagon is cracking down on its publication, Stars and Stripes. Plus, fake AI images of the Iran war are proliferating, and they're getting more convincing.
[01:00] Host Micah Loewinger breaks down the calls from the Trump administration for the media to produce “patriotic” coverage of the war in Iran. Plus, a closer look at the reporting by legacy outlets with journalist Minnah Arshad. Arshad analyzed The New York Times’ early coverage of the war, and found that Iranian victims were underrepresented. Next, Micah sits down with scholar Mahsa Alimardani to discuss fake AI images of the Iran conflict, and how AI detection tools are being used to discredit authentic footage.
[22:30] Micah speaks with Samantha Gross, the director of the Energy Security and Climate Initiative at the Brookings Institution, to dissect the developing energy crisis being caused by the disruption of oil exports through the Strait of Hormuz.
[37:54] Host Brooke Gladstone talks to Erik Slavin, Editor-in-Chief of Stars and Stripes, the independent, award-winning newspaper that has served the military for roughly a century, about the Pentagon’s plan to crack down on their reporting and refocus their content away from “woke distractions.”
Further reading / watching:
- “First Draft: How the Media Manufactures Consent for War,” by Minnah Arshad and Andrew Perez
- “How AI Content Detection is Being Weaponized in the Iran War,” by Shirin Anlen and Mahsa Alimardani
- “The Fake Images of a Real Strike on a School,” by Mahsa Alimardani
- “Why Iran’s disruption of the Strait of Hormuz matters,” by Samantha Gross, Caitlin Talmadge, and Melanie W. Sisson
- “Pentagon says it will ‘refocus’ Stars and Stripes content,” by Corey Dickstein
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Brooke Gladstone talks with Pasha Talankin, star and co-creator of the new documentary Mr. Nobody Against Putin. Pasha is a high school teacher who made an incredibly vivid and detailed account of Putin’s efforts to indoctrinate schoolchildren in Russia.
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The US and Israel have continued a large-scale bombing campaign in Iran, killing over 1,300 civilians. On this week’s On the Media, the far-reaching implications of the Department of Defense’s scrapping of an initiative to protect civilians. Plus, how different corners of the MAGA-verse are metabolizing the Epstein files.
[01:00] Host Brooke Gladstone interviews Wes J. Bryant, a former senior policy advisor at the Pentagon and retired Air Force Master Sergeant, about the civilian protection initiative he was working on for the Department of Defense and the deadly consequences of Secretary Hegseth’s decisions to close it down.
[31:28] Host Micah Loewinger sits down with David Gilbert, a reporter at WIRED covering disinformation and online extremism, to explore how different segments of the right are reacting to the Epstein files, from far-right commentators like Nick Fuentes to Fox News to Qanon conspiracists.
Further reading / watching:
- “The U.S. Built a Blueprint to Avoid Civilian War Casualties. Trump Officials Scrapped It,” by Hannah Allam
- “MAGA Is Raging Over the Epstein Files. But They’re Not Mad at Donald Trump,” by David Gilbert
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Recently a surprising ruling came down from U.S. District Court Judge Royce C. Lamberth. The Reagan-appointed judge found that Kari Lake - (formerly best known as the loser of two state-wide races in Arizona), had acted unlawfully in running the United States Agency for Global Media, the body that oversees Voice of America and the handful of other government-assisted media outlets.
Kari Lake, wrote the judge "satisfies the requirements of neither the statute nor the Constitution," potentially making all of her actions this past year null and void. Lake, who once described herself to a gaggle of reporters as "your worst fricking nightmare" told NPR that she would appeal the ruling.
Last spring February when Lake started slashing and burning the 80-year old service, Micah spoke to Nicole Hemmer, a historian at Vanderbilt University to learn about the history the VOA.
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The US military used AI tools for real-time targeting in its strikes on Iran. On this week’s On the Media, what recent conflicts can tell us about AI-powered weapons and the dangerous future of warfare. Plus, lessons on democratic resilience from around the world.
[01:00] Host Brooke Gladstone interviews Siva Vaidhyanathan about how the U.S. military is using artificial intelligence in its strikes on Iran, and what can be gleaned from recent conflicts about the state of AI-powered warfare. Plus, what does accountability for war mean when AI is involved? Brooke also hears from Alan Rozenshtein, Senior Editor at Lawfare, about the Trump administration’s pressure campaign on AI company Anthropic.
[33:45] Brooke sits down with Zack Beauchamp, senior correspondent at Vox, to talk about why he got fed up reporting on “democratic backsliding,” and decided to instead investigate “democratic resilience”— and what lessons exist for Americans around the world.
Further reading / watching:
- “Who’s Deciding Where the Bombs Drop in Iran? Maybe Not Even Humans.” by Siva Vaidyanathan
- “Congress—Not the Pentagon or Anthropic—Should Set Military AI Rules,” by Alan Z. Rozenshtein
- “What the Defense Production Act Can and Can’t Do to Anthropic,” by Alan Z. Rozenshtein
- The Reactionary Spirit: How America's Most Insidious Political Tradition Swept the World, by Zack Beauchamp
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“To Catch a Predator” aired on television as a segment of NBC’s Dateline in the early 2000's.Men would be lured into talking online to a decoy posing as a child then would show up at a so-called 'sting house' fitted with hidden cameras where the truth of their situation would be revealed.
The show eventually became one of the biggest and most influential true crime shows ever, drawing seven million viewers per episode by its final season in 2007. The main draw? Watching the humiliation of the would-be child predators play out in front of your eyes.
David Osit, is a filmmaker whose recent documentary “Predators,” probes the ugly legacy of the show -- how it blurred the lines between justice and entertainment and what it says about us that we watched it.
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Netflix is backing out of a bid to acquire Warner Brothers Discovery, clearing the way for Paramount to take over. On this week’s On the Media, what happens to journalism and democracy when a tiny group of billionaires are calling the shots. Plus, four years since Russia’s war on Ukraine began, a look at the legacy of the first American reporter who was killed there.
[01:00] Host Micah Loewinger speaks with Victor Pickard, professor of media policy and political economy at the University of Pennsylvania, to discuss why what’s happening at CBS, The Washington Post, and Paramount is simply the latest stage of a phenomena called "media capture," and what we can do to free ourselves from its binds.
[17:58] Micah first sits down with Miriam Berger, a Pulitzer-finalist who spent two years reporting from Israel on the war in Gaza for The Washington Post, to talk about what we’ve lost with the termination of the paper’s Middle East bureau, and then Jodie Ginsberg, CEO of the Committee to Protect Journalists, on why her organization labeled 2025 the most deadly year for the press since it began collecting data–largely due to Israeli forces in Gaza.
[35:49] Micah talks to filmmaker Craig Renaud about his Oscar-nominated documentary, “Armed Only With a Camera,” which is part tribute to his brother, Brent Renaud, the first American journalist to be killed by Russian soldiers while covering the war in Ukraine, and part salute to war journalists who are still reporting and risking their lives.
Further reading / watching:
- “The American Media Polycrisis: Cascading Layers of Capture,” by Victor Pickard
- “Lack of tents, food and warm clothes leaves Gazans exposed ahead of winter,” by Miriam Berger
- “Record 129 press members killed in 2025; Israel responsible for 2/3 of deaths,” by CPJ Staff
- Armed Only with a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud, directed by Craig Renaud and Brent Renaud
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As media empires, from The Washington Post to CBS News, continue to be dealt significant blows, uncertainties abound about the remaining strength of a once robust American press landscape—but media scholars have long questioned how strong our system was to begin with. For this week's podcast extra, Micah sits down with Victor Pickard, professor of media policy and political economy at the University of Pennsylvania, to discuss why what we're seeing now is simply the latest stage of a phenomena called, "media capture," and what we can do to free ourselves from the downward slide.
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Late night host Stephen Colbert has accused CBS of spiking an interview for fear of backlash from the Federal Communications Commission. On this week’s On the Media, hear about the MAGA movement trying to shift television to the right. Plus, the legal theory that the FCC is using to put pressure on the networks.
[01:00] Host Brooke Gladstone speaks with Jim Rutenberg, writer-at-large for The New York Times, about how Trump’s FCC is reviving a nearly century-old rule to crack down on late-night talk shows. Rutenberg explains why MAGA’s embrace of the FCC’s regulatory powers to go after “liberal bias” in the media signals a shift within the Republican party.
[25:44] Brooke sits down with Daniel Suhr, the president of a legal advocacy group called the Center for American Rights and the architect behind the legal theory that the FCC is using to put pressure on TV networks. They discuss his goal to make network TV look more like the AM radio band.
Further reading / watching:
- “How a Century-Old Rule Is Scrambling Late-Night TV,” by Jim Rutenberg
- “The MAGA Plan to Take Over TV Is Just Beginning,” by Jim Rutenberg
- “The FCC’s Public Notice on ‘Bona Fide News,’” by Daniel Suhr
- “The end of an agency,” by Daniel Suhr
- “Straight Talk on FCC 'Jawboning'” by Daniel Suhr
- The Divided Dial: Episode 3 - The Liberal Bias Boogeyman
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In 1946, Orson Welles, the actor and director behind Citizen Kane, was at the pinnacle of his career. At the time, he had a national radio show called Orson Welles Commentaries on ABC. After a year on the radio, discussing politics and Hollywood, Welles heard of a shocking crime. It was the end of World War Two. A Black soldier, heading home, was brutally beaten by a white police officer in South Carolina. No one knew the identity of the officer. No one even knew the town where it happened.
Welles pledged to solve the mystery… on the air...
In this midweek podcast we're bringing you episode one of a new series from our friends at Radio Diaries called Orson Welles and the Blind Soldier. It’s the story of a crime in a small, southern town…that became a spark for the budding civil rights movement. For the rest of the series, go to the radio diaries website.
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In a landmark trial in California, Meta and Google are being accused of addicting children to social media. On this week’s On the Media, hear how the dramatic proceedings are playing out, and how measures to protect kids online can backfire. Plus, why are betting companies showing up in newsrooms?
[01:00] Host Brooke Gladstone speaks with Madlin Mekelburg, a legal reporter at Bloomberg, about the landmark lawsuit against Google and Meta that went to trial this week. The social media giants are being accused of deliberately designing their platforms in a way that is addictive and harmful to children’s brains, and the verdict of this case will influence the outcomes of thousands of similar cases across the country. Plus, neuroscience researcher Ian Anderson explains why the ‘addiction’ framework misses the complexity of what social media does to our brains.
[20:00] Brooke interviews Julia Angwin, investigative journalist and founder of Proof News, a nonprofit journalism studio. They discuss the tools that users can employ to protect themselves against doomscrolling, and how social media bans across the world can sometimes do more harm than good.
[34:41] Host Micah Loewinger speaks with Judd Legum, the author of the accountability newsletter Popular Information, about the explosive rise of prediction markets, and the implications of their growing partnerships with newsrooms.
Further reading / watching:
- “Social Networks Face Big Tobacco Moment Over Addiction Cases,” by Madlin Mekelburg
- “Overestimates of social media addiction are common but costly,” by Ian Anderson and Wendy Wood
- “I Killed Color on My Phone. The Result Shocked Me,” by Julia Angwin
- “Social Media Use and Well-Being Across Adolescent Development,” by Ben Singh, Mason Zhou, Rachel Curtis, et al
- “Evidence for link between digital technology use and teenage mental health problems is weak, our large study suggests,” by Qiqi Cheng and Neil Humphrey
- “The casino-fication of news,” by Judd Legum
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At the end of December, familiar scenes of protest in Tehran were being documented and shared across the world. But on January 8th, the images stopped coming after the Iranian regime cut off the internet in an attempt by the authorities to prevent protestors from organizing and posting videos online for the outside world to see. Under the cover of darkness the regime is reported to have killed up to 30,000 people.
Brooke spoke to Mahsa Alimardani, the Associate Director of the Technology Threats & Opportunities program at WITNESS, where she works on distinguishing visual truths in the AI age. She says that the internet has started flickering back on after a nearly three-week-long national blackout–the longest the country has ever seen–but that a thick fog of disinformation still covers Iran.
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In the latest batch of Epstein files, hundreds of pages are redacted, shielding the names of prosecutors and possible co-conspirators. On this week’s On the Media, what the files say about how the criminal justice system failed Epstein’s victims. Plus, the toppling of a statue raises questions about who represents Puerto Rican culture.
[01:00] Host Brooke Gladstone speaks with Julie K. Brown, investigative journalist for The Miami Herald, whose reporting back in 2018 led to sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein’s arrest. Brown is pouring through the Epstein files and finding new information about how prosecutors failed to bring Epstein to justice for so many years. She is documenting what she finds in her substack newsletter, The Epstein Files by Julie K. Brown.
[19:24] We’re celebrating the launch of Season 3 of La Brega from Alana Casanova-Burgess and Futuro Media by featuring episode one: about the toppling of the statue of a Spanish colonizer in San Juan a few years ago, what that reveals about Puerto Rico’s champions, and who deserves that pedestal.
Further reading / watching:
- “What I found today in The Epstein Files,” by Julie K. Brown
- “Did the FBI investigate Trump and Epstein?” by Julie K. Brown
- Season 3 of La Brega
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In 2022 Brent Renaud became the first American journalist to be killed by Russian soldiers while covering the war in Ukraine. Brent’s collaborator for many years was his brother Craig. When word got back to Craig that Brent had been shot, he did what he and his brother had always done. He kept filming.
Craig and his producer Juan Arredondo used that footage along with material from their archive to make the Oscar nominated short documentary “Armed Only With a Camera.”
The film is part tribute to his brother, part salute to war journalists who are still out there, risking their lives. Micah spoke to Craig about how the brothers got started in the journalism business.
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The Trump administration called Alex Pretti, who was shot and killed by federal officers, a “domestic terrorist.” And then bystander footage flooded the internet. On this week’s On the Media, how the real-time verification of video evidence is transforming public discourse. Plus, what the anti-ICE protests in Minneapolis have in common with the Boston Massacre.
[01:00] Host Brooke Gladstone speaks with Brandy Zadrozny, senior enterprise reporter at MS Now, about the informal network of far-right content creators traveling to anti-ICE protests in Minneapolis, and why the right-wing narrative is losing power in the face of an outpouring of bystander footage.
[17:45] Host Micah Loewinger talks with Radley Balko, author of The Rise of the Warrior Cop: The Militarization of America's Police Forces, about similarities between the conditions that led to the Boston Massacre in 1770 and what we’re seeing today in Minneapolis and other cities targeted by ICE operations today.
[31:43] Brooke sits down with Eliot Higgins, the founder of Bellingcat, to discuss his framework for the essential functions of democracy— verification, deliberation, and accountability—which have broken down into hollow performances or simulations in the United States today.
Further reading / watching:
- “In Minneapolis, far-right influencers frame ICE resistance as terrorism,” by Brandy Zadrozny
- “Two cities under siege,” by Radley Balko
- “Verification, Deliberation, Accountability: A new framework for tackling epistemic collapse and renewing democracy,” by Eliot Higgins and Natalie Martin
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Stars and Stripes, the venerated, independent award-winning newspaper that has served the armed services for roughly a century, may be getting an uninvited makeover, courtesy of Pete Hegseth’s Defense Department.
In a statement posted on X earlier this month, Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said that Stars and Stripes would no longer be carrying wire reports from the Associated Press, and that it would steer away from all that is woke or might sap morale. Parnell said the defense department would be bringing the newspaper “into the 21st century.”
Brooke spoke to Erik Slavin, Editor-in-Chief of Stars and Stripes.
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Children as young as five have been detained by immigration agents in Minnesota. On this week’s On the Media, how I.C.E. uses technology to surveil the public and recruit more members. Plus, following Trump’s threats against Greenland, ties between the United States and its closest allies are fraying.
[01:00] Host Brooke Gladstone speaks with Garrett M. Graff, journalist, historian, and author of the newsletter Doomsday Scenario, about Trump’s damage to the United States’ standing as a world power following his campaign for Greenland and his dismantling of core pillars of American policy.
[19:14] Host Micah Loewinger talks with Joseph Cox, investigative reporter and co-founder at 404 Media, about his detailed reporting into ICE’s quietly widening arsenal of surveillance tools.
[37:01] Micah sits down with Drew Harwell, technology reporter for The Washington Post, to discuss ICE’s elaborate “wartime recruitment” strategy, and what it means for immigration policy in the United States.
Further reading / watching:
- “We Are Witnessing the Self-Immolation of a Superpower,” by Garrett M. Graff
- “‘ELITE’: The Palantir App ICE Uses to Find Neighborhoods to Raid,” by Joseph Cox
- “ICE’s Facial Recognition App Misidentified a Woman. Twice,” by Joseph Cox
- “Inside ICE’s Tool to Monitor Phones in Entire Neighborhoods,” by Joseph Cox
- “New Legislation Would Rein In ICE’s Facial Recognition App,” by Joseph Cox
- “ICE plans $100 million ‘wartime recruitment’ push targeting gun shows, military fans for hires,” by Drew Harwell and Joyce Sohyun Lee
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EXTENDED VERSION! Brooke spoke to Mark Blyth, professor of International Economics and Public Affairs at Brown University, to talk about what the headlines are missing in the Department of Justice’s investigation into Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell, and why we need to know the trending politics of central banks around the globe.
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The Justice Department has launched a criminal investigation against the Federal Reserve and its chairman. On this week’s On the Media, hear how the Trump administration’s pressure campaign plays into a larger trend chipping away at central banks. Plus, how a teacher in Russia stood up to Putin’s propaganda.
[01:00] Host Brooke Gladstone sits down with Mark Blyth, professor of International Economics and Public Affairs at Brown University, to talk about what the headlines are missing in the Department of Justice’s investigation into Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell, and why we need to know the trending politics of central banks around the globe.
[16:50] Brooke Gladstone talks with Pasha Talankin, star and co-creator of the new documentary Mr. Nobody Against Putin. Pasha is a high school teacher who made an incredibly vivid and detailed account of Putin’s efforts to indoctrinate schoolchildren in Russia.
[36:51] Brooke continues her conversation about Mr. Nobody Against Putin with David Borenstein, the film’s co-director.
Further reading / watching:
- Mr Nobody is screening on Jan 21 at the Independent Film Center in New York before expanding to select theaters in the U.S. and Canada.
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This week, we revisit a conversation with Andy Kroll, a reporter covering justice and the rule of law at ProPublica, about the profile he wrote of Russell Vought, the director of a little-known, but powerful office inside the White House. Donald Trump calls him "Darth Vader," and Vought is behind thousands of federal layoffs. Hear why Kroll calls him Trump's "shadow president," and about Vought's goal to put federal workers "in trauma."
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After a U.S. citizen was shot and killed by an immigration agent, the Department of Homeland Security is sending even more forces to Minneapolis. On this week’s On the Media, how the Trump administration is spinning the narrative around the shooting. Plus, an exiled Venezuelan journalist explains the state of the press in his home country.
[01:00] Host Micah Loewinger speaks with Jeffrey Meitrodt, a senior investigative reporter for the Minnesota Star Tribune, to examine the veracity of conservative content creator Nick Shirley’s viral video claiming to uncover evidence of widespread fraud at Somali-run daycares in Minnesota.
[21:32] Micah talks with Rafael Osio Cabrices, editor-in-chief at Caracas Chronicles, about Venezuela’s evolving media landscape. Plus, what foreign news outlets are missing in their coverage of the US raid and capture of Nicolás Maduro.
[36:15] Host Brooke Gladstone sits down with Abe Newman, a political scientist and Georgetown professor, to discuss “neo-royalism.” Newman coined the term, with his co-author Stacie Goddard, to explain the logic of the Trump administration’s foreign policy, from Greenland to Venezuela.
Further reading / watching:
- “We went to the day cares Nick Shirley did. Here’s what we found,” by Deena Winter and Jeffrey Medtroit
- “How Foreign Media and Analysts are Misreporting Venezuela,” by Rafael Osio Cabrices
- “Further Back to the Future: Neo-Royalism, the Trump Administration, and the Emerging International System,” by Stacie E. Goddard and Abraham Newman
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Host Brooke Gladstone talks with Emily Nussbaum, television critic for The New Yorker, about the forgotten story of Gertrude Berg, the woman behind the television sitcom, and the anti-communism campaign that clouded her legacy.
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Political debates are taking over the internet. On this week’s On the Media, hear how one viral Youtube channel is reshaping political discourse. Plus, why the Trump administration is pressuring museums, monuments, and even parks to rewrite history.
[01:00] Host Micah Loewinger delves into the meteoric rise of the YouTube channel Jubilee with technology and online culture journalist Taylor Lorenz, and the channel’s mission of fostering “radical empathy” by hosting political debates between wildly opposing groups. He speaks with Mehdi Hasan, editor-in-chief of Zeteo, about his recent Jubilee debate with far right conservatives and how the channel is transforming the meaning of political debate. Plus, Stassia Underwood, a participant of one Jubilee debate, opens up about her experience on set.
[25:17] Host Brooke Gladstone sits down with Bryan Stevenson, public interest lawyer and founder of the Equal Justice Initiative, a human rights organization based in Montgomery, Alabama, to talk about the Trump Administration's war on museums, especially those that deal with our nation's history of racism.
Further reading / watching:
- “1 Conservative vs 25 LGBTQ+ Activists (feat. Michael Knowles)” (Jubilee)
- “1 Progressive vs 20 Far-Right Conservatives (ft. Mehdi Hasan)” (Jubilee)
- The Worst Thing We’ve Ever Done, On the Media (2018)
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This year, Bari Weiss became the new editor in chief of CBS News. The network’s owner, Paramount, also acquired Weiss’ online publication, The Free Press, for an estimated $150 million. And unconventionally for a news executive, Weiss appeared in front of the camera in December when she hosted a town hall with Erika Kirk. This week, we’re revisiting a conversation with Peter Shamshiri, co-host of the podcast If Books Could Kill, about Weiss's rapid rise.
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And just like that, 2025 is coming to a close. On this week’s On the Media, hear a tour of a 12-month news blitz, from AI to the Pentagon press room to the reshaping of legacy outlets. Plus, what we can expect from the year to come.
[02:33] This week, Brooke and Micah review how legacy outlets made big changes in the wake of Donald Trump’s inauguration this year. Featuring: Oliver Darcy, author of the newsletter Status.
[11:53] Brooke and Micah take stock of the administration’s embrace of far right online personalities – in the White House and in the press room. Plus, a review of the wreckage DOGE has left in its wake, and Trump’s crackdown on free speech.
Featuring: Vittoria Elliott, senior reporter at Wired, Ryan J. Reilly, senior justice reporter for NBC News, Brandy Zadrozny, senior reporter at MS NOW, Anna Merlan, senior reporter for Mother Jones, Corey Robin, professor of political science at Brooklyn College.
[37:38] Brooke and Micah review how the press covered the deployment of the national guard; the aftermath of Charlie Kirk’s murder; and the ongoing turmoil at CBS. Plus, how to steel ourselves for the year ahead.
Featuring: Jamison Foser, media critic and author of the newsletter Finding Gravity, and Jamelle Bouie, columnist for The New York Times.
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The New Yorker turned a hundred this year. And marking the occasion is a new documentary film on Netflix titled: “The New Yorker at 100”. But with some 5000 print issues, and ten decades worth of reporting, illustrating, and editing… where does one even begin? That’s a question staff writer Jelani Cobb brought to the film’s director, Marshall Curry, and executive producer, Judd Apatow, on an edition of The New Yorker Radio Hour that we're sharing this week.
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Donald Trump has signed an executive order limiting state regulation on artificial intelligence. On this week’s On the Media, Republicans spar over AI, and what deregulating the industry means for the rest of us. Plus, how AI fakery got better in 2025.
[01:00] Host Brooke Gladstone sits down with Maria Curi, tech policy reporter for Axios and author of the Axios Pro: Tech Policy newsletter, to chat about the massive bets that Silicon Valley and the White House are making on artificial intelligence.
[13:10] Host Micah Loewinger talks with Stephen Witt, author of the book The Thinking Machine, about the massive infrastructure project, and potential problem, that is AI.
[28:54] Brooke speaks with Craig Silverman, cofounder of Indicator, about why Big Tech embraced fakeness in 2025, and what that means for 2026 and beyond.
Further reading / watching:
- “States defiant in face of Trump's AI executive order,” by Maria Curi
- “MAGA scrambles to influence Trump's AI executive order,” Maria Curi
- “Inside the Data Centers That Train A.I. and Drain the Electrical Grid,” by Stephen Witt
- “2025: The year tech embraced fakeness,” by Craig Silverman & Alexios Mantzarlis
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This year, Silicon Valley poured its collective resources in AI. Billions and billions of dollars. But behind the snazzy ads and glowing endorsements, some users and journalists are warning of bigger issues with the largely unregulated industry. Host Brooke Gladstone sits down with Craig Silverman, cofounder of Indicator, a publication dedicated to understanding and investigating digital deception, to discuss his article arguing that this is the year Big Tech embraced fakeness.
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The Supreme Court appears ready to let Donald Trump fire Federal Trade Commission members at will. On this week’s On the Media, why the court’s expansion of presidential powers would impact the entire government. Plus, how two Hollywood giants are squaring off over a massive merger.
[02:47] Host Brooke Gladstone sits down with Noah Rosenblum, associate professor of law at New York University, to discuss how the Supreme Court’s pending decision in Trump v. Slaughter could radically expand the president’s power, and the history behind the case.
[23:02] Host Micah Loewinger talks with Oliver Darcy, lead author of the newsletter Status and co-host of the podcast Power Lines, about the moguls at Netflix and Paramount Skydance battling over Warner Brothers Discovery, and what this means for the future of CNN, which is owned by Warner Brothers Discovery, and Hollywood.
[37:41] Micah speaks with Joel Simon, founding director of the Journalism Protection Initiative at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism, about what happened with Blake Lively’s legal team subpoenaed Perez Hilton, the gossip blogger, and why expanding the legal framework of journalistic protections is essential.
Further reading / watching:
- The Supreme Court Is About to Hand Trump a Cudgel in the Paramount-Netflix Fight, by Mark Joseph Stern
- The CNN Sacrifice, by Oliver Darcy
- The O.G. News Influencer, by Joel Simon
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Last summer, Perez Hilton, the gossip blogger who rose to fame for his scoopy and sometimes vicious takes in the early 2000s, was served a subpoena by Blake Lively's legal team. Perez Hilton decided to resist the subpoena under the argument that he is a journalist who is entitled to protect his sources. Micah speaks with Joel Simon, the longtime former head of the Committee to Protect Journalist and founding director of the Newmark School's Journalism Protection Initiative, about who gets included under the umbrella of journalism and why expanding the legal framework of journalistic protections is so important in today's media landscape.
Further reading:
"The O.G. News Influencer," by Joel Simon
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The New York Times has sued the Pentagon for restricting access to journalists. On this week’s On the Media, meet the new cast of right wing influencers and conspiracy theorists replacing the press corps in the Pentagon. Plus, a new documentary examines the life and work of investigative journalist Seymour Hersh.
[01:00] Host Micah Loewinger sits down with Dan Lamothe, who covers the US military and Pentagon for the Washington Post, to talk about the Trump administration’s shifting narrative around a second strike that killed two survivors on a boat in the Caribbean. Lamothe used to have a desk in the Pentagon as part of the press corps, but left alongside reporters from major news outlets after they refused to sign onto stringent new rules on how they could do their reporting.
[16:58] Micah talks with Anna Merlan, senior reporter at Mother Jones, about the cast of right wing influencers and conspiracists now staffing the Pentagon press corps. Plus, Micah interviews Cam Higby, a member of the new press corps, about why he agreed to the Pentagon’s restrictions on access.
[30:15] Micah spoke to another of the new Pentagon press corps; Cam Higby, who reports for his independent online outlet Fearless Media. He has over 750,000 followers on TikTok and over 400,000 on Instagram.
[43:18] Micah speaks with Laura Poitras, a journalist and filmmaker whose past works include CitizenFour, All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, and Risk, to discuss her newest documentary. Poitras shares the process of making Cover-Up, coming soon to Netflix, which chronicles the life of investigative journalist Seymour Hersh. Poitras describes Hersh's ferocious drive to uncover government wrongdoing, and what today’s press corps can learn from him.
Further reading / watching:
- “Hegseth order on first Caribbean boat strike, officials say: Kill them all,” by Alex Horton and Ellen Nakashima
- “‘Signalgate’ report contradicts Hegseth’s claim of ‘total exoneration’,”by Dan Lamothe
- “Meet the New Pentagon Press Corps,” by Anna Merlan
- Cover-Up, directed and produced by Laura Poitras and Mark Obenhaus
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Late last month, Reuters reported that DOGE had “disbanded,” that the group was no longer a centralized government entity. But according to Wired Reporter Vittoria Elliott, while DOGE is no longer moving across the government "in a move-fast-and-break-things blitz,” it is far from dead and gone. One source, at the USDA, told Wired that DOGE operatives had “burrowed into the agencies like ticks.” Elliott tells Brooke about how DOGE is continuing to shape the government, and what she's learned from talking to federal workers.
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A new feature on X, formerly known as Twitter, has revealed that some prominent MAGA accounts are based in South Asia and Eastern Europe. On this week’s On the Media, how foreign actors funnel political rage-bait into social media feeds. Plus, a school librarian in Louisiana shares how she’s been targeted by book-banning activists.
[01:00] Host Micah Loewinger sits down with Charlie Warzel, staff writer at The Atlantic and author of its newsletter Galaxy Brain, to discuss the recent X update that revealed many high profile, pro-MAGA accounts might be based in foreign countries.
[16:37] Host Brooke Gladstone talks with Amanda Jones, school librarian in Livingston Parish, Louisiana and former School Librarian of the Year, to discuss her experience as a target of book-banning activists. Plus, why protecting libraries is as crucial as ever.
[32:44] Brooke Gladstone talks to Elyse Graham, professor of sociology at Stony Brook University and author of Book and Dagger: How Scholars and Librarians Became the Unlikely Spies of World War II. They discuss the role that academics, archivists, and librarians played in WWII intelligence gathering activities, and why the CIA invested in storytelling as a result.
Further reading / watching:
- Elon Musk’s Worthless, Poisoned Hall of Mirrors, by Charlie Warzel
- The Librarians film
- That Librarian: The Fight Against Book Banning in America, by Amanda Jones
- Book and Dagger: How Scholars and Librarians Became the Unlikely Spies of World War II, by Elyse Graham
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Bluesky, TikTok and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
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This month marks 25 years of Bullseye, a public radio show and podcast founded, hosted, and produced by Jesse Thorn. The show began as an offbeat college radio show at UC Santa Cruz, as a way for Thorn and his friends to hone their comedian sensibilities over the airwaves during their daily 7:30am slot. Today, it’s a show where artists open up about how and why they pursue their art. And it goes out on NPR. Earlier this month, host Brooke Gladstone called Jesse up to ask him how his show survived every new iteration of podcasting, and how it all began.
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Progressive and centrist Democratic candidates had big wins in the 2025 elections. On this week’s On the Media, a data scientist fact-checks the claim that Democrats need moderate voters to win. Plus, an Arizona state senator shares how she’s reaching her constituents on TikTok and on the ground.
[01:00] Host Brooke Gladstone sits down with G. Elliot Morris, a journalist, statistician, and author of the data-driven news website Strength in Numbers, to hash out what the data says about whether becoming more moderate is really the key to Democratic candidates winning more elections.
[20:09] Brooke chats with Matt Bennett, co-founder of Third Way, a center-left think tank, about his view that Zohran Mamdani’s win in New York City poses a “serious political problem” for the Democrats.
[36:06] Finally, Brooke calls up Analise Ortiz, state senator for Arizona’s 24th district, to discuss how TikTok, old-fashioned door-knocking, and making tangible differences in peoples’ lives is the way for the Democrats to start winning again.
Further reading:
- Moderation is not a silver bullet, by G. Elliott Morris
- Seven data-driven lessons from the 2025 elections, by G. Elliott Morris
- Was It Something I Said? by Third Way
- Debunking Myths About the Democratic Party, by Third Way
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Bluesky, TikTok and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
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If you’ve ever donated to a Democratic candidate, you’ve probably been rewarded with a never-ending stream of pleas for more money in your inbox. And we’re not talking about polite reminders. Demands are often in ALL CAPS. Attached to names of celebrities like GEORGE CLOONEY or TAYLOR SWIFT. And warnings that something awful is about to happen.
Adam Bonica is a political scientist at Stanford University who writes a Substack newsletter called On Data and Democracy. He reached his breaking point with Democratic Party spam last year, and decided to investigate why they landed on this strategy, and how effective it really is.
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The Trump administration is asking universities to sign an agreement in exchange for preferential access to federal funding. On this week’s On the Media, how the arrangement would radically alter the relationship between the government and higher education. Plus, how university leaders are navigating the fight over academic freedom.
[00:00] Universities were not always so vulnerable to the whims of politics. The whole system of taxpayer-funded, university-led scientific research came about at the end of World War II, and was the brainchild of a man named Vannevar Bush. He felt the partnership of government and academics had to be equal in order to yield breakthroughs. Today, the Trump administration is proposing a new “compact” that would make the President the dominant partner. We speak with one of the authors of the Trump compact, May Mailman.
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Back in October, Nick Fuentes, the Gen Z white nationalist influencer, was trending in the news after a leaked Young Republicans chat revealed how his ideas were taking hold in some conservative circles. Then, just a week or so later, Fuentes sat down for an interview with Tucker Carlson. That 2-hour interview triggered a crisis amongst the GOP’s top brass that pitted major conservative influencers against each other, and garnered headlines declaring the start of a Republican “civil war.” For this midweek podcast extra, host Micah Loewinger called up Zack Beauchamp, senior correspondent for Vox, to wade through the fallout around Fuentes and Carlson, and break down what this tells us about antisemitism in American politics.
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Millions of dollars in federal grants have been terminated, throwing cutting-edge research at American universities into crisis. On this week’s On the Media, meet the two men at the center of the fight over the future of academia.
[0:00] Harvard president Alan Garber and National Institutes of Health director Jay Bhattacharya are at the heart of the national fight over the future of academia. Alan Garber has been cast as the defender of academic freedom and democracy; Jay Bhattacharya is Donald Trump’s pick to lead the NIH, the agency withholding billions of dollars in research grants from Harvard. Oddly enough, the two men go way back: Garber was Bhattacharya’s undergraduate thesis adviser and mentor in the late 1980s. This episode tells the story of how the two men found themselves adversaries — and what it means for the future of science.
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Zohran Mamdani has won the 2025 New York City mayoral race, with a higher turnout of voters than New York has seen in decades. This despite the fact that New York’s senators — Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand — did not back Mamdani, and House Democrat Leader Hakeem Jeffries waited until the day before early voting began to endorse the Democratic nominee.
Mamdani’s divided party support reflects an intensifying argument over whether Democratic candidates must move closer to the political center - or further away - in order to win. Brooke speaks with Elliott Morris, a journalist, statistician, and author of the data-driven news website Strength in Numbers, about what the numbers say around moderation and why it might not be the silver bullet Democratic strategists seemed to crave.
Further reading:
- Moderation is not a silver bullet, by Elliott Morris
- The Strategist’s Fallacy in American politics, by Elliott Morris
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President Trump is compelling universities across the country to adopt a more conservative agenda in exchange for access to federal funds. On this week’s On the Media, how this pressure campaign is playing out at the oldest and richest university in America: Harvard.
[0:00] Our latest collaboration with the Boston Globe is Season Two of The Harvard Plan, in which reporter Ilya Marritz explores what has unfolded at Harvard University since Donald Trump’s inauguration. Three members of the university community tell the story: Ryan Enos, a political scientist, Kamila Naxerova, a genetics professor and cancer researcher, and Kit Parker, a lieutenant colonel in the United States Army Reserve and professor of bioengineering and applied physics.
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The Harvard Plan - our collaboration with the Boston Globe, is back! In episode one, we hear what unfolded at Harvard from Donald Trump’s inauguration to convocation 2025. Three main characters, inside Harvard, tell the story from their perspective: politics professor Ryan Enos, genetics professor and cancer researcher Kamila Naxerova and campus conservative Kit Parker, lieutenant colonel in the United States Army Reserve and Professor of Bioengineering and Applied Physics at Harvard. The personal perspectives of our three guides are interwoven with the dramatic timeline and unfolding news.
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The federal government shutdown has entered its fourth week. On this week’s On the Media, hear about the man who is laying off four thousand federal workers this month, whom some call a “shadow president.” Plus, a white nationalist influencer reveals how fast the Republican party is shifting right.
[02:21] Host Brooke Gladstone sits down with Andy Kroll, a reporter covering justice and the rule of law at ProPublica, to discuss Russell Vought, the director of a little-known, but powerful office inside the White House.
[20:23] Host Micah Loewinger speaks with Ben Lorber, a senior research analyst at Political Research Associates, about his work tracking Nick Fuentes, the Gen Z white nationalist influencer, since 2019 – and why he’s not convinced that Fuentes is as powerful as he claims to be.
[38:13] Host Micah Loewinger called up Gregorio Olivares Gutierrez, a junior and student journalist at the University of Texas, Dallas, to talk about the turmoil between campus newsrooms and their administrations over covering student protests.
Further reading / listening:
- “The Shadow President,” by Andy Kroll
- Safety through Solidarity: A Radical Guide to Fighting Antisemitism, by Shane Burley and Ben Lorber
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Bluesky, TikTok and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
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This summer, Republicans clawed back over a billion dollars that had been pledged to public media. But it wasn’t until this month that the corporation for public broadcasting – longtime distributor of that money – started to wind down operations, and those federal funds finally ran out.
Now, many stations are weighing whether to spend their shrinking budgets on national programming from the likes of NPR, or to fund journalism on their local communities. We’re affected, too. So begins a new reckoning to save not just individual stations, but the interconnected system that makes public radio so special.
LaFontaine E. Oliver is the president, CEO and executive chair of New York Public Radio. This week -- which is also WNYC pledge week -- he tells Brooke about how federal cuts are changing public media, and how our station is facing this critical moment.
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Tech giants Apple and Google have been quietly removing ways for citizens to document The United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s activities. On this week’s On the Media, one group’s efforts to make sure citizens can see what ICE is doing. Plus, the online right-wing campaign that led a historian to flee the country.
[01:00] Host Micah Loewinger speaks with Joseph Cox, co-founder of 404 Media, about the Trump administration’s pressure campaign to get rid of apps that document ICE activities, including one that archives videos of ICE abuses, and why these apps could matter for future ICE accountability.
[15:34] Host Micah Loewinger speaks with Mark Bray, historian and author of Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook, who left the country after being accused of being “antifa,” resulting in death threats and doxxing. Bray, a professor at Rutgers University, shares how his research is helping him to understand the harassment campaign led by conservative media against him.
[31:51] Host Brooke Gladstone called up John J. Lennon, contributing editor for Esquire, at Sing Sing Correctional Facility, where he’s serving the 24th year of his 28-year-to-life sentence for murder, drug sales, and gun possession. He recently wrote the book, The Tragedy of True Crime: Four Guilty Men and the Stories That Define Us, and discusses the impact of the genre on people serving time and why he wants to rewrite typical true crime narratives.
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For decades, the United States backed efforts to achieve a two-state solution—in which Israel would exist side by side with the Palestinian state, with both states recognizing each other’s claim to contested territory. The veteran negotiators Hussein Agha, representing Palestine, and Robert Malley, an American diplomat, played instrumental roles in that long effort, including the critical Camp David summit of 2000. But, in their new book, “Tomorrow Is Yesterday,” they conclude that they were part of a charade. There was never any way that a two-state solution could satisfy either of the parties, Agha and Malley tell The New Yorker Radio Hour's David Remnick in an interview. “A waste of time is almost a charitable way to look at it,” Malley notes bitterly. “At the end of that thirty-year-or-so period, the Israelis and Palestinians are in a worse situation than before the U.S. got so heavily invested.” The process, appealing to Western leaders and liberals in Israel, was geared to “find the kind of solutions that have a technical outcome, that are measurable, and that can be portrayed by lines on maps,” Agha says. “It completely discarded the issue of emotions and history. You can’t be emotional. You have to be rational. You have to be cool. But rational and cool has nothing to do with the conflict.”
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The Supreme Court has returned to the bench and is poised to hear major cases on tariffs and federal firings. On this week’s On the Media, how a century-old legal theory may help us understand how the highest court handles Trump’s second administration. Plus, meet the Ellisons, who are buying up American media like the Vanderbilts collected railroads.
[02:26] Host Brooke Gladstone speaks with Greg Sargent, a staff writer at The New Republic and the host of the podcast “The Daily Blast,” on Stephen Miller’s plan to normalize President Trump’s authoritarian moves.
[13:37] Host Brooke Gladstone sits down with Pema Levy, a reporter at Mother Jones, to discuss a theory on the two-track justice system in Nazi Germany, and why one justice is warning that the U.S. Supreme Court could recreate it.
[34:54] Host Micah Loewinger speaks with Jake Lahut, a reporter for Wired covering the White House, about the Ellison family–America’s newest media magnates–and what their reign might mean for all of us.
Further reading / listening:
- “Inside Stephen Miller’s Secret Plan to Normalize Trump’s Dictator Rule,” by Greg Sargent
- “The ‘Dual State’ Theory Was Invented to Describe Nazis. The Supreme Court Could Take Us There,” by Pema Levy
- “Larry Ellison Is a ‘Shadow President’ in Donald Trump’s America,” by Jake Lahut
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
This week, “Monster: The Ed Gein Story” is the most watched show on Netflix. It’s a dramatized retelling of the life of the serial killer who inspired “Psycho” and “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.” The “Monster” franchise, which includes two earlier seasons about Jeffrey Dahmer and Lyle and Erik Menendez, is one of Netflix’s splashiest hits – the Dahmer season is still the fourth-most viewed English language show in the history of the platform. And the true crime obsession only grows each year. On Netflix last year, 15 of the top 20 documentaries were true crime docs, compared to just six in 2020.
But what does it mean for the subjects of these documentaries, that Americans endlessly crave stories about murder and bloodshed and terror? John J. Lennon is a contributing editor for Esquire and writes frequently for New York Review of Books and the New York Times. This week, he spoke to host Brooke Gladstone from Sing Sing Correctional Facility, where he’s serving his 24th year of his 28-year-to-life sentence for murder, drug sales, and gun possession. They spoke about his new book, The Tragedy of True Crime, what it was like to watch himselfget featured in a true crime documentary, and why he wants to upend the typical 'true crime' narratives of good vs. evil.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
This week, President Trump said he plans to use the military against America's "enemy within." On this week’s On the Media, how Trump’s rhetoric can obscure the real limits to his powers. Plus, how Humphrey Bogart betrayed the ideals of his most celebrated film.
[01:00] Host Micah Loewinger sits down for an extended conversation with Jamelle Bouie, columnist at The New York Times. They unpack the unprecedented Quantico meeting, the importance of keeping an eye on history, and why Trump’s mental decline seems to go uncovered by the political press. Plus, a defense of name-calling.
[38:26] Host Brooke Gladstone speaks with Corey Robin, distinguished professor of political science at Brooklyn College and author of Fear: The History of a Political Idea, on how free speech crackdowns can change our political culture and tear at the fabric of the soul. Plus, how Humphrey Bogart betrayed the ideals of his most celebrated film.
Further reading / listening:
- “‘The Most Epic Political Victory Our Country Has Ever Seen’ Is Nothing of the Kind” , by Jamelle Bouie
- Fear: The History of a Political Idea, by Corey Robin
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
This week in Uganda, the pop star-turned-politician Bobi Wine released his election manifesto to win the presidency in 2026. The current leader, Yoweri Museveni, has held power in Uganda since 1986 and is seeking his seventh term.
Last year, Brooke spoke with Bobi Wine and Moses Bwayo, a co-director of the Oscar-nominated documentary Bobi Wine: The People's President. They discussed Bobi’s first bid for the presidency, the brutal backlash he has faced alongside his supporters, and why it's important for the world to pay attention to what's happening in Uganda.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
President Trump has declared that Tylenol should not be used during pregnancy. On this week’s On the Media, how funding cuts and disputed claims linking the drug to autism have sent scientists reeling. Plus, how the religious right are processing the death of Charlie Kirk.
[01:00] Host Brooke Gladstone sits down with John Tuthill, neurobiology and biophysics professor at the University of Washington, describes the state of scientific research under Donald Trump, and how it feels to review grant proposals “while the system is burning.”
[15:52] Host Micah Loewinger speaks with Josh Keating, senior correspondent at Vox, on how the Trump administration is combining the “war on terror” with the “war on drugs.”
[33:48] Host Brooke Gladstone talks with Matthew D. Taylor, senior Christian scholar at the Institute for Islamic, Christian and Jewish Studies in Baltimore, about how Charlie Kirk has been memorialized as a saint and a martyr by the religious right, and what it means.
Further reading / listening:
- “Fear and loathing on study section: Reviewing grant proposals while the system is burning,” by John Tuthill
- “What happens when Trump combines the war on drugs with the war on terror,” by Josh Keating
- “Inside Charlie Kirk's Memorial: A Deep Dive into Christian Nationalism and Political Polarization,” by Bradley Onishi, Straight White American Jesus Podcast
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
Joseph and Shirley Wershba, worked at CBS news back in the good ol' days. In 1948, along with Edward R. Murrow, Joe Wershba helped produce the CBS’s first salvo against McCarthyism. Brooke spoke to Joe and his wife Shirley in 2005 about the film "Good Night, and Good Luck," which was partly based on their life.
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Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show has been pulled off the air following his comments about Charlie Kirk’s killer. On this week’s On the Media, how threats to free speech have escalated in the wake of the assassination. Plus, a school librarian in Louisiana shares how she’s been targeted by book-banning activists.
[02:25] Host Micah Loewinger sits down with Lily Mason, professor of political science at Johns Hopkins and the co-author of the book Radical American Partisanship: Mapping Violent Hostility, to discuss what data we have on how Americans think about political violence.
[21:07] Micah speaks with Ryan Broderick, author of the Garbage Day newsletter, to examine the evidence around Charlie Kirk’s alleged killer, and what radicalization looks like in a digital age.
[35:45] Host Brooke Gladstone talks with Amanda Jones, school librarian in Livingston Parish, Louisiana and former School Librarian of the Year, to discuss being a target of book-banning activists. Plus, why protecting libraries is as crucial as ever.
Further reading / listening:
- Radical American Partisanship: Mapping Violent Hostility, Its Causes, and the Consequences for Democracy, by Lily Mason
- “Charlie Kirk was killed by a meme,” by Ryan Broderick
- That Librarian: The Fight Against Book Banning in America, by Amanda Jones
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
Brooke Gladstone speaks with Paul Offit, the director of the Vaccine Education Center and a physician in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, about how the Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., purged the CDC’s vaccine advisory committee members, the controversial figures Kennedy replaced them with, and what impact this will have on the future of vaccines and immunology in the US.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
Conservative activist Charlie Kirk was shot and killed in front of a crowd of students at Utah Valley University. On this week’s On the Media, how the murder of a MAGA media powerhouse is driving both calls for unity, and more violence. Plus, CBS cracks under pressure from the Trump administration.
[01:00] Hosts Brooke Gladstone and Micah Loewinger analyze the media coverage of the assassination of conservative youth leader and media personality Charlie Kirk at a university event on Wednesday.
[13:34] Brooke speaks with Oliver Darcy, media reporter and author of the newsletter Status, about CBS News’ recent concessions to the Trump administration and how the network is signaling a move to the right under new leadership.
[30:43] Micah talks to Peter Shamshiri, co-host of the podcast If Books Could Kill, about what the writings of Bari Weiss reveal about the ideological underpinnings of her media empire, The Free Press.
Further reading / listening:
- “The Weiss Price,” by Oliver Darcy
- “CBS’ Conservative Cop,” by Oliver Darcy
- Pundit Portrait: Bari Weiss, If Books Could Kill podcast
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
Brooke chats with Dorian Lynskey, cultural journalist and author of the recent book, Everything Must Go: The Stories We Tell About the End of the World, to examine our centuries-long obsession with telling end-of-the-world stories and what they reveal about our shifting fears through history. Plus, the evolution of the apocalyptic story, from the Book of Revelation to On the Beach to Station Eleven.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
President Trump is preparing to send the National Guard to cities across the country. On this week’s On the Media, what the press is missing about the president’s so-called “crackdown” on crime. Plus, in the aftermath of a Russian attack, a Ukrainian town asks journalists to record the atrocities.
[01:00] Host Micah Loewinger speaks with Jamison Foser, media critic and author of the newsletter Finding Gravity, about President Trump’s plans to send troops into American cities, and how mainstream outlets are missing the mark in their coverage.
[14:08] Host Brooke Gladstone sits down with Zack Beauchamp, senior correspondent at Vox, about a telling conversation between four leading MAGA tastemakers, and what it reveals about how the right is thinking about authoritarianism in relation to US democracy.
[31:41] Veteran NPR reporter Deb Amos visited Ukraine to report on how Ukrainians are telling the story of the atrocities committed by Russian troops in Bucha – to themselves and the world.
Support for this reporting was provided by the International Women’s Media Foundation’s Women on the Ground: Reporting from Ukraine’s Unseen Frontlines Initiative in partnership with the Howard G. Buffett Foundation.
Further reading / watching:
- “Trump’s military occupation of American cities is unpopular. The media is trying to manufacture consent for it.” by Jamison Foser
- “The right debates just how weird their authoritarianism should be,” by Zack Beauchamp
- Bucha
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
A beloved squirrel named Peanut was seized in a raid by New York environmental officers last year. A maelstrom of online outrage ensued, upending New York wildlife enforcement in the process. In conversation with NYC Now's Janae Pierre, our colleague, reporter Jon Campbell, unravels the saga -- revealing a story about mistaken identities and the power of online fury.
You can listen to more episodes from NYC Now here: https://www.wnyc.org/shows/nyc-now
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
President Donald Trump’s countless executive orders and mounting deportations are testing America’s democratic institutions. On this week’s On the Media, what we can learn from Hungary’s recent backslide into autocracy. Plus, why resistance movements throughout history have succeeded with 3.5 percent of the population, or less, behind them.
[01:00] Host Micah Loewinger speaks with Andrew Marantz, a staff writer at The New Yorker, about his recent piece, “Is the U.S. Becoming an Autocracy?” and what we can learn from Hungary’s recent backsliding into authoritarianism.
[15:44] Micah speaks with Márton Gulyás, founder of Partizán, Hungary’s leading independent news show, about what lessons journalists in the US might take away from his experience.
[37:20] Micah sits down with Maria J. Stephan, political scientist and co-author of Why Civil Resistance Works, to dissect the 3.5% rule, a statistic that’s been making its rounds on social media, which is a measurement of the power of collective action. Stephan and her co-researcher Erica Chenoweth first coined the term in 2010.
Further reading:
- “Is the U.S. Becoming an Autocracy?” by Andrew Marantz
- “Big Tents and Collective Action Can Defeat Authoritarianism,” by Maria J. Stephan
- Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict by Erica Chenoweth and Maria J. Stephan
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
For these last couple of weeks of August we’ve been airing a miniseries from our friends at Radio Diaries.The third and final part is about a woman named Dorothy Thompson. In 1939, Time Magazine called her a woman who “thinks, talks and sleeps world problems and scares strange men half to death.” They weren’t wrong.
Thompson was a foreign correspondent in Germany in the years leading up to World War 2…and she broadcast to millions of listeners around the world. She became known for her bold commentaries on the rise of Hitler — the Nazis even created a “Dorothy Thompson Emergency Squad” to monitor her work. She was an eloquent and opinionated advocate for the principles of democracy. But by the end of the war, those strong opinions put her career in jeopardy.
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This month, the director of Voice of America is being forced out in the latest of many moves to dismantle the state broadcasting service. On this week’s On the Media, a history of the Voice of America, and how it’s been politicized. Plus, hear why propagandists in Russia, China, and Iran are celebrating cuts to U.S.-funded foreign reporting.
[01:00] Episode 1 of The Divided Dial, Season 2: Fishing in the Night. You know AM and FM radio. But did you know that there is a whole other world of radio surrounding us at all times? It’s called shortwave — and, thanks to a quirk of science that lets broadcasters bounce radio waves off of the ionosphere, it can reach thousands of miles, penetrating rough terrain and geopolitical boundaries. Reporter Katie Thornton on how this instantaneous, global, mass communication tool — a sort of internet-before-the-internet — transformed from a utopian experiment in international connection to a hardened tool of information warfare and propaganda.
[34:14] Host Micah Loewinger sits down with Alsu Kurmasheva, press freedom advocate and veteran journalist of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Tatar-Bashkir service, on what the network provides in countries lacking a free press and her own nine month detention in Russia. Plus, Bay Fang, president of Radio Free Asia, or RFA, on why authoritarians are celebrating Trump’s shutdown and how RFA’s closure will further diminish press freedom in Asia.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
This week, we're airing part two of a documentary series, courtesy of Radio Diaries, about three radio personalities who had huge audiences in their time, but today, are largely forgotten.
These days, we’re used to media that thrives on conflict, that amplifies the most outrageous voices in the room. It’s something we often trace back to shock jocks like Howard Stern, and in-your-face talk show hosts like Tucker Carlson and Rush Limbaugh. But long before all those guys, there was Joe Pyne. At the height of his career in the 1950s, the New York Times called him the “ranking nuisance of broadcasting.”
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When Donald Trump returned to office, tech companies donated millions of dollars to his inaugural committee. On this week’s On the Media, the rightwing roots of Silicon Valley. Plus, the CEO of the burgeoning social media platform, Bluesky, on how to billionaire-proof the internet.
[01:00] Micah Loewinger speaks with Becca Lewis, a postdoctoral researcher at Stanford University, about how Silicon Valley has always had rightwing roots — an influential group of conservative thinkers in the tech world have long seen new technologies as tools for restoring older social orders.
[14:47] Host Micah Loewinger speaks with Jay Graber, the CEO of Bluesky, a competitor to Twitter/X that’s seen massive growth recently, about how Bluesky is structured in a fundamentally different way than other social media platforms, and why that might make it “billionaire-proof.”
[32:27] OTM producer and new parent Molly Rosen speaks with Amanda Hess, author of the new book Second Life: Having a Child in the Digital Age, on how new technologies have transformed the experience of parenthood and what this signals about the future.
Further reading:
- “‘Headed for technofascism’: the rightwing roots of Silicon Valley,” by Becca Lewis
- Second Life: Having a Child in the Digital Age, by Amanda Hess
- “My Son Has a Rare Syndrome. So I Turned to the Internet,” by Amanda Hess
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
For these final weeks of summer we wanted to transport you away from the doom and gloom of the daily news with a trio of stories produced by our friends at the public radio documentary-maker, Radio Diaries. The series is called “Making Waves” and it profiles three people who pushed the boundaries of radio: one to warn, one to rile, one to preach. This week's focus is the preacher. In 1934, the Washington Post called Elder Lightfoot Solomon Michaux the “best known colored man in America.” His Sunday services were broadcast to over 25 million listeners on CBS radio. Black America saw Michaux as a leader for racial harmony and progress. But during the civil rights movement, his reputation took an unlikely turn.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
President Trump fired the commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics following a weak jobs report. On this week’s On the Media, how the Trump administration is threatening government data. Plus, a viral YouTube channel raises questions about the meaning of political debate.
[01:00] Host Brooke Gladstone situates President Trump’s recent firing of the commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics within a larger effort to discount facts that aren’t politically convenient. Plus, Amy O’Hara, a professor at Georgetown's Massive Data Institute, on the importance of government data, and Andreas Georgiou, a scholar in statistics at Amherst College, on his years-long battle to defend accurate economics data in Greece.
[12:34] Brooke speaks with Angelo Carusone, the president of Media Matters, a liberal watchdog group that follows and fact-checks right-wing outlets like Fox News, NewsMax, and the Tucker Carlson Network, about the group’s fight for survival as it faces a deluge of lawsuits brought by Elon Musk’s X.
[28:22] Host Micah Loewinger delves into the meteoric rise of the YouTube channel Jubilee with technology and online culture journalist Taylor Lorenz, and the channel’s mission of fostering “radical empathy” by hosting political debates between wildly opposing groups. He speaks with Mehdi Hasan, editor-in-chief of Zeteo, about his recent Jubilee debate with far right conservatives and how the channel is transforming the meaning of political debate. Plus, Stassia Underwood, a participant of one Jubilee debate, opens up about her experience on set.
Further reading:
- “Under Siege From Trump and Musk, a Top Liberal Group Falls Into Crisis,” by By Kenneth P. Vogel, Kate Conger, and Ryan Mac
- “1 Conservative vs 25 LGBTQ+ Activists (feat. Michael Knowles)” (Jubilee)
- “1 Progressive vs 20 Far-Right Conservatives (ft. Mehdi Hasan)” (Jubilee)
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
Here in New York we’re not due to select our next mayor till November but somehow it feels like we’re already embroiled in pre-election chaos. Eric Adams is now running as an independent, and to do so he was required to present the signatures of 7,500 New Yorkers who support him. He actually handed in around 50,000 signatures so he more than made the cut off. But when our colleagues in the WNYC newsroom (and for the podcast NYC Now) began to look into those signatures, they stumbled onto a scandal.
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As reports of starving children in Gaza mount, France, Britain, and Canada are preparing to recognize Palestinian statehood. On this week’s On the Media, Palestinian journalists documenting food scarcity in Gaza are themselves going without food. Plus, how Israeli tv stations are deflecting blame for the blockade on aid.
[01:00] Host Micah Loewinger speaks with Adel Al Salman, a Cyprus-based photo editor for the Agence France-Press. They discuss how shocking images of starving children may have contributed to a shift in the conversation around Gaza, and how the Palestinian journalists taking those photos are starving, too. Plus, Micah asks Diana Buttu, a lawyer and former peace negotiator for the Palestine Liberation Organization, if the change in discourse will make a difference on the ground in Gaza.
[17:04] Micah sits down with Oren Persico, media critic and staff writer for the Israeli outlet The Seventh Eye, about how (and if) images of the horrors in Gaza are being discussed on Israeli television.
[29:44] Host Brooke Gladstone talks with Emily Nussbaum, television critic for The New Yorker, about the forgotten story of Gertrude Berg, the woman behind the television sitcom, and the anti-communism campaign that clouded her legacy.
Further reading:
- “Israeli Human Rights Group Says Israel Is Committing Genocide. Why Did It Take 22 Months?” by Diana Buttu
- “The Forgotten Inventor of the Sitcom,” by Emily Nussbaum
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
Brooke spoke in May with McKay Coppins, a staff writer at The Atlantic, about the remarkable, extensive interviews he conducted with members of the Murdoch family — particularly James Murdoch and his wife Kathryn. (Rupert and his eldest son, Lachlan, declined to participate). Hear about the infighting and sibling rivalry, and how the HBO show “Succession” influenced the family’s fight over the future of their own media empire.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
The FCC just approved a lucrative merger between Paramount and Skydance. Weeks earlier, Paramount settled a lawsuit with the president by paying him 16 million dollars. On this week’s On the Media, hear how that money is being funneled to Donald Trump’s future presidential library. Plus, how conservative outlets are coordinating attacks on universities.
[01:00] Host Brooke Gladstone speaks with Tim Naftali, a Senior Research Scholar at the Columbia School of International and Public Affairs, about how President Trump has raised millions of dollars from lawsuit settlements with media companies for his future presidential library, and why this matters.
[19:23] Host Micah Loewinger speaks with Katherine Mangan, a senior writer at The Chronicle of Higher Education, about the recent investigations launched into George Mason University by the Trump administration, and the media campaign that followed suit.
[32:43] Micah sits down with Elizabeth Lopatto, senior writer at The Verge, to dissect the ‘violently racist’ background of the hacker who allegedly stole admissions data from five universities, leading to the leak of Zohran Mamdani’s Columbia application to the New York Times. Plus, the consequences of the Times omitting any mention of the hacker from their coverage of the leak.
Comment from Patrick Healy, Assistant Managing Editor for Standards and Trust at the New York Times: "Our reporters obtained information about Mr. Mamdani’s Columbia college application and went to the Mamdani campaign with it. When we hear anything of news value, we try to confirm it through direct sources. Mr. Mamdani confirmed this information in an interview with The Times. Mr. Mamdani shared his thinking about the limitations of identity boxes on forms like Columbia’s, and explained how he wrote in “Uganda,” the country of his birth – the kind of decision many people with overlapping identities have wrestled with when confronted with such boxes. We believe Mr. Mamdani’s thinking and decision-making, laid out in his words, was newsworthy and in line with our mission to help readers better know and understand top candidates for major offices. We sometimes receive information that has been hacked or from controversial sources. The Times does not solely rely on nor make a decision to publish information from such a source; we seek to confirm through direct sources, which we did with Mr. Mamdani. Sometimes sources have their own motives or obtain information using means we wouldn't, like Trump's taxes, Wikileaks or Edward Snowden. It’s important to share what we can about sourcing, but we always independently assess newsworthiness and factual accuracy before publishing. On sourcing, we work to give readers context, including in this case the initial source’s online alias, as a way to learn more about the person, who was effectively an intermediary. The ultimate source was Columbia admissions data and Mr. Mamdani, who confirmed our reporting. We heard from readers who wanted more detail about this initial source. That’s fair feedback. We printed his online alias so readers could learn more about the person. The purpose of this story was to help illuminate the thinking and background of a major mayoral candidate." Full version here.
Further reading:
- “The Death of Nonpartisan Presidential History,” by Tim Naftali
- “George Mason Is the Latest University Under Fire From Trump. Its President Fears an “Orchestrated” Campaign,” by Katie Mangan
- “This ‘violently racist’ hacker claims to be the source of The New York Times’ Mamdani scoop,” by Elizabeth Lopatto
- “The Columbia hack is a much bigger deal than Mamdani’s college application,” by Elizabeth Lopatto
- “Mamdani Identified as Asian and African American on College Application,” by Benjamin Ryan, Nicholas Fandos, and Dana Rubinstein
- “Columbia Cyberattack Appears Politically Motivated, University Says,” by Sharon Otterman
- “Columbia University Applicants’ Personal Data Stolen by Hacker,” by Cameron Fozi
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
EXTENDED VERSION: Brooke sits down with Jessa Crispin, critic and editor-in-chief of The Culture We Deserve, to talk about her new book What Is Wrong with Men: Patriarchy, the Crisis of Masculinity, and How (Of Course) Michael Douglas Films Explain Everything, which tracks the “masculinity crisis” through Michael Douglas films.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
The Trump administration is trying to subdue fury from all angles over the Epstein Files. On this week's On the Media, how the controversy is fracturing Republicans and firing up Democrats. Plus, tracing today’s so-called “masculinity crisis” through the films of Michael Douglas.
[00:00] Host Brooke Gladstone dissects the bitter division between President Trump and several MAGA politicians and influencers over his administration’s handling of the Epstein files, and how the president is suddenly at odds with the initial source of his political momentum – conspiracies.
[00:00] Host Micah Loewinger speaks with Dan Friedman, a senior reporter for Mother Jones, about what we actually know regarding Trump’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein and the line between skepticism and conspiracism.
[00:00] Brooke sits down with Jessa Crispin, critic and editor-in-chief of The Culture We Deserve, to chat about her new book What Is Wrong with Men: Patriarchy, the Crisis of Masculinity, and How (Of Course) Michael Douglas Films Explain Everything, which tracks the “masculinity crisis” through Michael Douglas films.
Further reading:
- “Stop Taking the Epstein Bait, Dems,” by Dan Friedman
- What Is Wrong with Men: Patriarchy, the Crisis of Masculinity, and How (Of Course) Michael Douglas Films Explain Everything by Jessa Crispin
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
The Atlantic hurricane season is currently underway – and in fact, it was the tail end of tropical storm Barry that contributed to the deadly flash floods in Texas two weeks ago that has claimed at least 132 lives so far. As I write this, over 100 people are still missing.
According to writer Nathaniel Rich, when it comes to planning for a fraught climate future, New Orleans sets an example the rest of the country would be wise to follow. This week, we're revisiting this conversation about how the city confronts the inevitable.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
Like it or not, more people are using artificial intelligence than ever. On this week’s On the Media, hear about the AI arms race between the U.S. and China, and how the tech gets overhyped. Plus, a composer wrestles with a new AI music generator – which threatens his own job.
[01:00] Brooke speaks with Ed Zitron, host of the Better Offline podcast and author of the newsletter Where’s Your Ed At, about how tech moguls have gotten away with overhyping A.I. for years. Plus, the apparent race for AI supremacy between the U.S. and China.
[18:09] Brooke continues the conversation with Ed Zitron, peeling back the facade to explore what generative A.I. can actually do.
[29:51] Former OTM producer, and current composer and sound designer, Mark Henry Phillips, on how AI music generators could fundamentally upend his industry for good.
Further reading:
- “Deep Impact,” by Ed Zitron
- “Godot Isn't Making it,” by Ed Zitron
- “Bubble Trouble,” by Ed Zitron
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
In Amanda Hess' new book, Second Life: Having a Child in the Digital Age, she explores the many apps, megamaternity brands, high-tech baby gear, and social media subcultures that have infiltrated in the process of having a baby in modern-day America. OTM producer and new parent Molly Rosen speaks with Hess about how new technologies have transformed the experience of parenthood and what this signals about the future.
Further reading:
- Second Life: Having a Child in the Digital Age, by Amanda Hess
- My Son Has a Rare Syndrome. So I Turned to the Internet., by Amanda Hess
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
President Trump is asking lawmakers to claw back over a billion dollars in federal funds for public broadcasting. On this week’s On the Media, the long history of efforts to save—and snuff out—public broadcasting. Plus, the role of public radio across the country, from keeping local governments in check to providing life-saving information during times of crisis.
[01:00] Hosts Brooke Gladstone and Micah Loewinger explore the history of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and break down its funding with Karen Everhart, managing editor of Current.
[07:59] Host Micah Loewinger speaks with Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts, a member of the Subcommittee which oversees the Corporation For Public Broadcasting, on his decades-long fight with Republican lawmakers to keep NPR and PBS alive.
[13:45] Host Brooke Gladstone sits down with Mike Gonzalez, a senior fellow at The Heritage Foundation, who authored a part of the foundation’s Project 2025 chapter on ending CPB funding.
[26:15] Hosts Brooke Gladstone and Micah Loewinger on how public radio stations across the country work to hold local governments accountable, ft: Scott Franz of KUNC in Colorado, Matt Katz formerly of WNYC, and Lindsey Smith of Michigan Public.
[34:27] Host Micah Loewinger takes a deep dive into the role of public radio during crises, ft: Tom Michael, founder of Marfa Public Radio and Laura Lee, former news director for Blue Ridge Public Radio.
[41:28] Host Brooke Gladstone sits down with Sage Smiley, news director at KYUK in Bethel, Alaska, to talk about the station’s life-saving coverage of the Kuskokwim Ice Road in southwestern Alaska, and what the region would lose without public radio.
Further reading:
- “End of CPB funding would affect stations of all sizes,” by Adam Ragusea
- “Is there any justification for continuing to ask taxpayers to fund NPR and PBS?” by Mike Gonzalez
- “Should New Jersey Democratic Officials Keep Jailing Immigrants for ICE?” by Matt Katz
- “A secret ballot system at Colorado’s statehouse is quietly killing bills and raising transparency concerns,” by Scott Franz
- “Not Safe to Drink,” a special radio series by Michigan Public
- “The Rock House Fire: 5 Years Later,” by Tom Michael
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
Today's country music industry is deeply associated with a certain jingoistic ‘rally around the flag,' ‘support the troops’ spirit. In this week’s podcast, we're re-airing a conversation with Joseph M. Thompson, author of Cold War Country: How Nashville's Music Row and the Pentagon Created the Sound of American Patriotism.
Micah and Joseph discuss how hillbilly music transformed into the powerful country music industry, starting with a little assistance from the US military in the 1940s and 50s. Plus, how country music came to be linked to a certain type of American patriotism, and why some of country music’s most famous jingoistic songs are more complex than many listeners think.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy’s revamped CDC vaccine advisory board stopped recommending certain flu vaccines this week. On this week’s On the Media, a scientist debunks the claims that RFK, Jr.’s appointees are making. Plus, how the media covered the U.S. bombing of Iran.
[02:01] Host Micah Loewinger unspools the Trump administration’s attempts to control the narrative around the war in Iran, including the president’s insistence on the “total obliteration” of Iran’s nuclear sites, conflicting reports over whether or not Iran had a nuclear weapons program in the works, and how the media is missing the mark.
[12:04] Brooke continues her conversation with Paul Offit about the new controversial figures appointed to the CDC’s vaccine advisory committee, and how science communication could improve in the next public health crisis.
Correction, 6/30/2025: In an earlier version of this broadcast, Brooke said that COVID-19 was spread by primarily by droplets. The virus is in fact spread by aerosol particles as well as by droplets.
Further reading:
- “Lawmakers and Pundits Speed Run Iraq WMDs-Level Lies About Iran,” by Sarah Lazare and Adam Johnson
- “Donald Trump and Sean Hannity Set Off a Wave of Disinformation After Iran Bombing,” by David Gilbert
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
This week, On the Media shares the final episode of Dead End: The Rise and Fall of Gold Bar Bob Menendez. For WNYC, reporter and host Nancy Solomon describes how the FBI watched Menendez have a dinner with Egyptian spies, the moment they found gold bars in a closet, and more. As Menendez faces the trial of his life, Nancy asks: why would a man at the top of the political world risk everything? And is our political system partly to blame? Can a senator who is not wealthy succeed in a political system that is infused with gifts, luxury trips and money?
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
President Donald Trump says he’ll decide whether or not to attack Iran within the next two weeks. On this week’s On the Media, hear why the right is split on what the president should do. Plus, scrutiny on student journalists has intensified.
[01:00] Host Brooke Gladstone on the recent narratives forming around the ‘No Kings’ protest and President Trump’s military parade. Plus, a look at the lie that the left is more politically violent than the right – a falsehood that has emerged in rightwing narratives about ICE being victimized.
[14:03] Brooke speaks with Andrew Prokop, senior politics correspondent at Vox, about the bitter divide growing within the MAGA ranks – between the “America First” faction, who advocate against war with Iran and helping Ukraine, and GOP hawks who want Trump to attack.
[30:44] Host Micah Loewinger sits down with Gregorio Olivares Gutierrez, a rising junior at the University of Texas Dallas and editor-in-chief of The Retrograde, to discuss his brief tenure as editor-in-chief of his school’s official paper, The Mercury. They examine how The Mercury’s coverage of a pro-Palestine encampment last spring ignited a chain of events that led to the university firing him and the entire staff, and the de facto shuttering of the paper. Mike Hiestand, Senior Legal Counsel at the Student Press Law Center, on the chilling effect experienced by student journalists across the country after ICE arrested Tufts grad student Rümeysa Öztürk.
Statement from Barnard College: "Barnard respects and supports a robust student press. As students present in Butler Library during the disruption have been confirmed to be working as journalists, we have notified them that their interim suspensions have been lifted. As our review continues, we will issue additional notifications as appropriate."
Statement from Columbia University: “The interim suspension on the Columbia student journalist was lifted within hours after it was issued once it was determined that the individual was a member of the student press who was covering the protest as a reporter, not a participant in the disruptions to academic activities that were in violation of University policies and Rules. Columbia University continues to strongly believe in the value of a vibrant and independent student press."
Statement from University of Texas Dallas: “UT Dallas has always supported student journalists’ editorial control and wants to create an environment where they can learn best journalistic practices and follow professional standards and guidelines. For clarification, the former editor was not removed for editorial content, but because he violated student media bylaws. Over the past few months, a group of university faculty, students, and staff has worked together to establish a new advisory committee for student media. Its goals included reviving the campus newspaper and ensuring the staff has necessary resources to operate with the editorial independence critical for student journalists.”
UT Dallas Student Media Memo: “Removal of The Mercury Editor-in-Chief” by Lydia Lum
Gregorio Olivares Gutierrez’s Appeal to the UT Dallas Student Media Memo regarding his removal
Further reading:
- “Parsing ICE’s mixed-up, hard-to-believe assault claims,” by Philip Bump
- “‘They’re Taking Shirly’: An Army Sergeant Thought His Family Was Safe. Then ICE Deported His Wife,” by Sonner Kehrt
- “The surprising right-wing push to keep us out of war,” by Andrew Prokop
- Question Everything with Brian Reed: “Rümeysa Öztürk is Locked Up for an Op-ed: An Urgent Summit with the Student Newspaper that Published It”
- The Eagle: A Times Union Podcast, “The Future of Journalism”
- The Mercury’s May 20, 2025 Edition: “Welcome to UTD”
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
In this week's midweek podcast, we share the next installment of WNYC's Dead End: The Rise and Fall of 'Gold Bar' Bob Menendez. Yesterday, the former senator began an 11-year prison sentence. In this episode, Nancy Solomon takes a look at a relationship that spanned a key chapter in Bob Menendez's political downfall. Nadine Arslanian was a stay at home mom in Englewood cliffs, New Jersey. Within weeks of meeting the Senator, she was arranging off-the-books meetings with Egyptian generals. And what started as a rebound romance turned into the centerpiece of an international bribery case.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
A federal judge ruled that President Donald Trump’s deployment of troops in Los Angeles was illegal before an appeals court quickly overturned it. A legal battle is now underway. On this week’s On the Media, how President Trump has exaggerated crises to expand his presidential powers. Plus, a new documentary investigates who killed a Palestinian-American journalist.
[01:00] Host Brooke Gladstone shares how to navigate the deluge of LA protest coverage – debunking fake footage, identifying distracting talking points, and more.
[12:53] Brooke speaks with Elizabeth Goitein, Senior Director of the Liberty and National Security Program at the Brennan Center for Justice, about President Trump’s shocking memorandum authorizing the preemptive deployment of federal troops against protesters. Plus, how Trump has invoked emergency powers more than any other president, and what it means for American democracy.
[32:47] Host Micah Loewinger sits down with Dion Nissenbaum, a former foreign correspondent for the Wall Street Journal, about the new documentary “Who Killed Shireen?” he produced for Zeteo, the media organization founded by former MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan.
Further reading:
- “AI Chatbots Are Making LA Protest Disinformation Worse,” by David Gilbert
- “‘The Insurrection Act’ by Any Other Name: Unpacking Trump’s Memorandum Authorizing Domestic Deployment of the Military,” by Elizabeth Goitein
- “A Guide to Emergency Powers and Their Use,” by Elizabeth Goitein
- Who Killed Shireen?by Dion Nissenbaum, Fatima AbdulKarim, Conor Powell at Zeteo
- 'Who Killed Shireen?' Film Screening in Washington, DC on July 9
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
Bob Menendez will become the first Senator to go to prison in more than 40 years when he reports to federal penitentiary next week. Most of you will, no doubt, be aware of the broad strokes of his corruption and bribery case. You know, the gold bars and cash found in his suburban ranch house. But our home station, WNYC, has produced a podcast that tries to go deeper than much of the media coverage. So we’re bringing you the first episode of Dead End: The Rise and Fall of Gold Bar Bob Menendez— hosted and reported by Nancy Solomon.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
President Donald Trump’s countless executive orders and mounting deportations are testing America’s democratic institutions. On this week’s On the Media, what we can learn from Hungary’s recent backslide into autocracy. Plus, why resistance movements throughout history have succeeded with 3.5 percent of the population, or less, behind them.
[01:36] Host Micah Loewinger speaks with Andrew Marantz, a staff writer at The New Yorker, about his recent piece, “Is the U.S. Becoming an Autocracy?” and what we can learn from Hungary’s recent backsliding into authoritarianism.
[16:17] Micah speaks with Márton Gulyás, founder of Partizán, Hungary’s leading independent news show, about what lessons journalists in the US might take away from his experience.
[37:53] Micah sits down with Maria J. Stephan, political scientist and co-author of Why Civil Resistance Works, to dissect the 3.5% rule, a statistic that’s been making its rounds on social media, which is a measurement of the power of collective action. Stephan and her co-researcher Erica Chenoweth first coined the term in 2010.
Further reading:
- “Is the U.S. Becoming an Autocracy?” by Andrew Marantz
- “Big Tents and Collective Action Can Defeat Authoritarianism,” by Maria J. Stephan
- Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict, by Erica Chenoweth and Maria J. Stephan
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
This past weekend, OTM co-host Micah Loewinger went to Seattle to sit down with an all-time favourite guest of the show: tech activist and writer Cory Doctorow. We recorded the following conversation in front of a live audience at the Cascade PBS Ideas festival. The topic was “Enshittification” – Cory’s theory of how everything on the internet got worse.
We first discussed this idea on the show a couple years ago – and this was an opportunity to talk about what enshittification looks like right now: the latest attempts by tech companies to take advantage of users and workers, and the surge of lawsuits attempting to hold these companies to account.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
On Tuesday, NPR and three Colorado public radio stations sued the Trump administration for violating the First Amendment. On this week’s On the Media, the soon-to-be lone Democratic commissioner at the FCC speaks out against what she calls the weaponization of her agency. Plus, the final episode of The Divided Dial introduces the unlikely group trying to take over shortwave radio.
[01:37] Host Micah Loewinger speaks with Anna Gomez, soon to be the lone Democratic commissioner at the Federal Communications Commission, about her makeshift media tour–where Gomez is speaking out about what she sees as the weaponization of her agency.
[12:47] Episode 4 of The Divided Dial, Season 2: Wall St. Wants Your Airwaves. In recent years, creative, often music-focused pirate broadcasting has been thriving on shortwave. Reporter Katie Thornton reveals how these surreptitious broadcasters are up against a surprising enemy: not the FCC, but a deep-pocketed group of finance bros that is trying to wrestle the airwaves away from the public, and use them for a money-making scheme completely antithetical to broadcasting. What do we lose when we give up our public airwaves?
Further reading:
- Remarks of FCC Commissioner Anna M. Gomez at the 2025 Media Institute Communications Forum, May 15, 2025
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
EPISODE 4
In recent years, creative, often music-focused pirate broadcasting has been thriving on shortwave. But these surreptitious broadcasters are up against a surprising ideological foe: Not the FCC, but a deep-pocketed group of finance bros that is trying to wrestle the airwaves away from the public, and use them for a money-making scheme completely antithetical to broadcasting. What do we lose when we give up our public airwaves?
The Divided Dial was supported in part by a grant from the Fund for Investigative Journalism
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
Before they were appointed, the leaders of the F.B.I. boosted misinformation about a ‘deep state.’ Now they’re in power, they’ve become the focus of conspiracy theories. On this week’s On the Media, how MAGA infighting about Jeffrey Epstein reveals a greater problem for the Republican Party. Plus, the story of one of the world's farthest-reaching radio stations: a haven for extremists based in small-town Maine.
[01:00] Host Micah Loewinger talks with Will Sommer, senior reporter at The Bulwark, about why the Trump White House’s allegiance with conspiracy theorists is souring, and how Jeffrey Epstein is dividing the MAGA base.
[09:04] Episode 3 of The Divided Dial, Season 2: World's Last Chance Radio. In the internet era, much of the shortwaves have been left to the most extreme voices — including a conspiratorial flat earth ministry, and an ultra-conservative cult complete with everything from sexual abuse to dead infants and illegal burials. In the 737-person northern Maine town of Monticello, reporter Katie Thornton explores one of the world's farthest-reaching radio stations that has given them a home, pumping out extremism and conspiracy theories to the world as the voice of American broadcasting.
Join us on June 11th for a conversation between OTM's Micah Loewinger and journalist Katie Thornton about The Divided Dial. Click here to buy tickets.
Further reading:
- “The Real Reason Trump World Just Can’t Quit Conspiracy Theories,” Will Sommer
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
EPISODE 3
Today, in the internet era, much of the shortwaves have been left to the most extreme voices — including a conspiratorial flat earth ministry, and an ultra-conservative cult complete with everything from sexual abuse to dead infants and illegal burials. In the 737-person northern Maine town of Monticello, one of the world's farthest-reaching radio stations has given them a home, pumping out extremism and conspiracy theories to the world as the voice of American broadcasting.
The Divided Dial was supported in part by a grant from the Fund for Investigative Journalism.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
On Monday, dozens of Afrikaners arrived in the US as refugees. On this week’s On the Media, how a fringe group of white South Africans have been lobbying for Donald Trump’s attention for almost a decade — but refugee status was never on their wish list. Plus, the second episode of The Divided Dial, all about how rightwing extremists took over shortwave radio.
[01:00] Host Micah Loewinger talks with Carolyn Holmes, a professor of political science at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, about the arrival of white South African refugees in the US, why Afrikaner white rights groups are objecting to the policy, and the long-standing exchange of ideas between white nationalist elites in the US and South Africa.
[16:42] Episode 2 of The Divided Dial, Season 2: You Must Form Your Militia Movements. Many governments eased off the shortwaves after the Cold War, and homegrown US-based rightwing extremists edged out shortwave peaceniks to fill the void. Reporter Katie Thornton explores how in the 1990s, US shortwave radio stations became a key organizing and recruiting ground for white supremacists and the burgeoning anti-government militia movement. On this instantaneous, international medium, they honed a strategy and a rhetoric that they would take to the early internet and beyond.
Further reading:
- “Tucker Carlson, those South African white rights activists aren’t telling you the whole truth,” by Carolyn Holmes (2019)
- “‘Kill the Boer’: The anti-apartheid song Musk ties to ‘white genocide’” by Nick Dall
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
EPISODE 2
Many governments eased off the shortwaves after the Cold War, and homegrown US-based rightwing extremists edged out shortwave peaceniks to fill the void. In the 1990s, US shortwave radio stations became a key organizing and recruiting ground for white supremacists and the burgeoning anti-government militia movement. On this instantaneous, international medium, they honed a strategy and a rhetoric that they would take to the early internet and beyond.
The Divided Dial was supported in part by a grant from the Fund for Investigative Journalism.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
President Trump’s many executive orders, detentions, and deportations have triggered a host of lawsuits. On this week’s On the Media, how to understand the dozens of legal actions facing Trump. Plus, it’s the first episode of The Divided Dial, all about the battle for shortwave radio.
[01:00] Host Micah Loewinger talks with Chris Geidner, who has covered the Supreme Court for most of his career and writes for Law Dork, about how he tracks the 100+ lawsuits challenging President Trump’s actions, the patterns emerging from the deluge of cases, and how the legal battles against the Trump administration have actually been more successful than the public may perceive.
[14:25] Episode 1 of The Divided Dial, Season 2: Fishing in the Night. You know AM and FM radio. But did you know that there is a whole other world of radio surrounding us at all times? It’s called shortwave — and, thanks to a quirk of science that lets broadcasters bounce radio waves off of the ionosphere, it can reach thousands of miles, penetrating rough terrain and geopolitical boundaries. Reporter Katie Thornton on how this instantaneous, global, mass communication tool — a sort of internet-before-the-internet — transformed from a utopian experiment in international connection to a hardened tool of information warfare and propaganda.
Further reading:
- The horrors are not aberrations. This is the Trump administration's plan, by Chris Geidner
- The pushback against Trump's lawlessness is real — and making a difference, by Chris Geidner
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
EPISODE 1:
You know AM and FM radio. But did you know that there is a whole other world of radio surrounding us at all times? It’s called shortwave — and, thanks to a quirk of science that lets broadcasters bounce radio waves off of the ionosphere, it can reach thousands of miles, penetrating rough terrain and geopolitical boundaries. How did this instantaneous, global, mass communication tool — a sort of internet-before-the-internet — go from a utopian experiment in international connection to a hardened tool of information warfare and propaganda?
The Divided Dial was supported in part by a grant from the Fund for Investigative Journalism.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
To mark his first hundred days in office, President Trump signed three executive orders related to immigration. On this week’s On the Media, the powerful database that can help I.C.E. track down and deport people. Plus, the dramatic fight for power over Rupert Murdoch’s media empire.
[01:00] Host Brooke Gladstone talks with Jason Koebler, co-founder of 404 Media, about how a surveillance company is supplying ICE with a powerful database to identify and deport people with minor infractions or certain characteristics.
[20:57] Host Micah Loewinger speaks with Jason Leopold, a senior investigative reporter at Bloomberg and writer of the newsletter “FOIA Files,” about the Trump administration’s attacks on Freedom of Information Act offices at the CDC and FDA, and what they mean for the future of government transparency.
[31:50] Brooke talks with McKay Coppins, a staff writer at The Atlantic, about the remarkable, extensive interviews he conducted with members of the Murdoch family — particularly James Murdoch and his wife Kathryn. (Rupert and his eldest son, Lachlan, declined to participate.) Plus, how the HBO show “Succession” influenced the family’s fight over the future of their own media empire.
Further reading:
- Inside a Powerful Database ICE Uses to Identify and Deport People, by Jason Koebler
- Trump Filed a FOIA Request. We FOIAed His FOIA, by Jason Leopold
- Growing Up Murdoch: James Murdoch on mind games, sibling rivalry, and the war for the family media empire, by McKay Coppins
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
The Redstone family is a controlling shareholder of Paramount Global — one of the biggest entertainment companies out there. (Think CBS Entertainment, MTV, Nickelodeon.) The family is also one of the inspirations for HBO's Succession, which makes sense the more you get to know them.
Shari Redstone currently has the controlling stake in Paramount Global. Company leadership was carefully criticized in a recent on-air "rebuke" by 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley, who said the show was receiving new kinds of oversight amid the Trump presidency. The drama has unfolded as Redstone seeks FCC approval for a lucrative merger, and the Trump administration is suing Paramount Global for billions of dollars.
This week we revisit Redstone's backstory by re-airing a conversation with Rachel Abrams, a senior producer and reporter for The New York Times Presents, and the co-author with James B. Stewart of Unscripted: The Epic Battle for a Media Empire and the Redstone Family Legacy.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
The Federal Communications Commission is currently investigating CBS for “intentional news distortion” for its editing of an interview with Kamala Harris. On this week’s On the Media, what the new chairman of the FCC has been up to, and what led a top CBS producer to quit. Plus, what a growing effort to rewrite the history of Watergate tells us about the American right.
[01:00] The Federal Communications Commission is currently investigating CBS for “intentional news distortion” for its editing of an interview with Kamala Harris. Host Brooke Gladstone talks with Max Tani, Semafor’s Media Editor and co-host of the podcast Mixed Signals, about Brendan Carr’s busy first three months as Chairman of the FCC and the impacts that these kinds of investigations could have on press freedoms.
[15:37] Host Micah Loewinger speaks with Michael Koncewicz, political historian at New York University, about the fight over who gets to tell the story of Watergate and the years-long conservative movement to rehabilitate Richard Nixon’s image.
[29:26] Brooke sits down with Bryan Stevenson, public interest lawyer and founder of the Equal Justice Initiative, a human rights organization based in Montgomery, Alabama, to talk about the Trump Administration's war on museums, especially those that deal with our nation's history of racism.
Further reading:
- How Nexstar dodged a Trump lawsuit, by Max Tani
- Shari Redstone kept tabs on ‘60 Minutes’ segments on Trump, by Max Tani
- The Alarming Effort To Rewrite the History of Watergate, by Michael Koncewicz
- The Worst Thing We’ve Ever Done, On the Media (2018)
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EXTENDED VERSION
Micah spoke to left-wing YouTuber, David Pakman for last week's show. This is the long version of that conversation.
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Conservative influencers have captured a massive audience on the internet, boasting nearly five times more followers than their progressive competitors. On this week’s On the Media, the hosts spend twelve hours immersed in right wing media and report back on what they saw. Plus, why Democrats are struggling to compete for audiences online.
[00:00] According to a new study from Media Matters for America, right-leaning shows dominate on social media. Hosts Brooke Gladstone and Micah Loewinger immerse themselves in right-wing podcasts and Rumble shows to hear how these creators are covering the news of the week.
[20:26] Brooke and Micah continue their journey into the right-wing online ecosystem, where they encounter how celebrity gossip can be a gateway to controversial political takes.
[32:41] Host Micah Loewinger chats with left-leaning news content creators Brian Tyler Cohen and David Pakman about why Democrats are struggling to reach younger and working class audiences, and how the rise of independent media has left progressives in the dust.
Further reading:
- “The right dominates the online media ecosystem, seeping into sports, comedy, and other supposedly nonpolitical spaces,” by Kayla Gogarty
- The Echo Machine: How Right-Wing Extremism Created a Post-Truth America by David Pakman
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, has been edged out of the headlines this past week, or so, by the administration’s current flirtation with a constitutional crisis. But the DOGE team is still busy. One project on the office's agenda, originally reported by WIRED late last month, is to rewrite the Social Security Administration's code base—in other words, the agency's computer programs, which handle millions of Americans’ personal and financial data. Brooke sits down with Clive Thompson, author of Coders: The Making of a New Tribe and the Remaking of the World, contributing writer to New York Times Magazine, and monthly columnist for Wired, to discuss the coding language under DOGE's microscope.
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The president’s on-again, off-again tariffs are wreaking havoc on the economy. On this week’s On the Media, how the press is struggling to keep up with covering the chaos. Plus, the CEO of Bluesky, an alternative to Twitter, shares her vision for a better internet.
[00:00] Host Micah Loewinger breaks down a wild week in the economy–why the press can’t keep up, and what we can learn from the rollercoaster of tariffs the Trump administration has implemented.
[00:00] Host Micah Loewinger speaks with Jay Graber, the CEO of Bluesky, a competitor to Twitter/X that’s seen massive growth recently, about how Bluesky is structured in a fundamentally different way than other social media platforms, and why that might make it “billionaire-proof.” Plus, TechDirt founder and editor Mike Masnick documents the surprising role that his wonky paper played in the founding of Bluesky.
[00:00] Host Brooke Gladstone sits down with Douglas Rushkoff, whose many books probe the practice and philosophy of digital technology, about whether the apocalypse survival fantasies of tech billionaires are actually viable.
Further reading/listening:
- Protocols, Not Platforms: A Technological Approach to Free Speech, by Mike Masnick
- Survival of the Richest: Escape Fantasies of the Tech Billionaires, by Douglas Rushkoff
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
This week we’re bringing you an interview from our friends at the New Yorker Radio Hour. It's a conversation between host David Remnick and Democratic congressman Chris Murphy. Murphy is the junior senator from Connecticut and a vehement critic of leaders in his party who’ve taken a “business as usual” approach in dealing with the Trump administration. He opposed Chuck Schumer’s negotiation to pass the Republican budget and keep the government running and Murphy advocated for the democrats to skip the president’s joint address to congress en masse. He believes that his party has a winning formula if they stick to a populist anti-big-money agenda and he despairs that some in his party aren’t responding appropriately to what he sees as a crisis.
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The Trump administration has pulled funding for universities like Columbia and the University of Pennsylvania, and is threatening to withhold federal dollars from public schools with diversity, equity and inclusion programs. Harvard is also fighting to retain its funding. On this week’s On the Media, hear how the distinctly American idea of “diversity” has fallen out of favor—from higher education to the Supreme Court.
Reporter Ilya Marritz explains how the Trump administration is cracking down on universities by pulling funding. Plus. how the history of Harvard and the concept of “diversity” is the hidden subtext for the Trump administration’s education policies. In the past half-century, the academy (and the business world) embraced the idea of diversity as a social good–an idea developed at Harvard and endorsed by the Supreme Court, until the latter ended race-based affirmative action in 2023.
You can find earlier installments of Ilya’s reporting for The Harvard Plan, a collaboration with The Boston Globe, here.
Further reading/listening:
- The Harvard Plan: Part One
- The Harvard Plan: Part Two
- University presidents aren’t capitulating to Trump, they say. They’re ‘adapting.’ by Hilary Burns
- Trump is threatening Harvard with funding cuts in the billions. But what does he want the university to do? by Hilary Burns
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According to the American Gaming Association, bets on March Madness basketball games could amount to as much as $3.1 billion. Almost every national sports outlet — ESPN, The Athletic, Bleacher Report, NBC, CBS, The Ringer — has partnered with a major sports betting company. Big money is changing hands. What does that mean for sports journalism? On the Media producer Rebecca Clark-Callender reports in a piece that first aired a year ago.
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When a journalist was accidentally added to a Signal chat that disclosed sensitive war plans, a controversy erupted about our national security. On this week’s On the Media, a look at how right-wing media is processing “Signalgate.” Plus, why Donald Trump is calling himself the crypto president.
[01:00] Host Micah Loewinger speaks with Will Sommer, a senior reporter at the Bulwark, about the controversy surrounding “Signalgate,” or when The Atlantic’s Editor-in-Chief got added to a Signal group chat in which Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shared detailed plans for bombing Houthi militants. They discuss the response from the Trump administration, and how rightwing media have been covering the scandal.
[17:24] Host Brooke Gladstone sits down with Jennifer Berkshire, co-author of The Education Wars, to explore President Trump’s plan to dismantle the Department of Education. Plus, why MAGA-backed school voucher programs have been met with fierce opposition from conservatives in red states.
[33:32] Host Micah Loewinger chats with Jacob Silverman, who covers tech, crypto, politics, and corruption, and co-authored Easy Money: Cryptocurrency, Casino Capitalism, and the Golden Age of Fraud, about President Trump’s seismic shift from criticizing crypto to naming himself the “Crypto President” and launching a $TRUMP memecoin.
Further reading:
- “Cruel to Your School,” by Jennifer Berkshire
- “The Strange Bedfellows Fighting School Vouchers,” by Jennifer Berkshire
- “In Red States, Rural Voters Are Leading the Resistance to School Vouchers.” by Jennifer Berkshire
- “The President Took A $75 Million Bribe And We All Saw It,” by Jacob Silverman
- Easy Money: Cryptocurrency, Casino Capitalism, and the Golden Age of Fraudby Jacob Silverman
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President Trump's appointee at the Environmental Protection Agency, Lee Zeldin, is making a lot of changes at the EPA. Including cutting 31 environmental rules regarding climate change pollution, electric vehicles, and power plants. Environmentalists say this is a gutting of regulation.
GOP lawmakers deem the EPA a job killer that does nothing but burden businesses with regulations. In the eyes of the American public, the environment ranks low on the list of priorities the government should address.
But flash back to the late 1960s, and it's a very different story. The environment was a bipartisan issue, and a Republican president created the EPA in 1970 in response to public pressure. So how did we get here? How did the environment go from universal concern to political battleground — with the EPA caught in the crossfire?
In a piece we first aired in 2017, Brooke considered the tumultuous history of the EPA, its evolving relationship with the public, and its uncertain future.
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The Trump administration has cut funding for Voice of America, the 80-year-old state media network. On this week’s On the Media, how pulling federal funds from VOA’s parent organization will imperil press freedom abroad. Plus, a Radio Free Europe journalist describes being detained for nine months in Russia until she was released alongside Evan Gershkovich.
[01:00] Host Micah Loewinger speaks with Nicole Hemmer, political historian and co-host of the podcast “This Day.” They discuss the complicated history of Voice of America, which was founded in 1942 to counter Nazi propaganda. Plus, what the funding cuts to VOA and its parent organization tell us about how the Trump administration wants the U.S. to be perceived.
[15:57] Host Micah Loewinger sits down with Alsu Kurmasheva, press freedom advocate and veteran journalist of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Tatar-Bashkir service, on what the network provides in countries lacking a free press and her own nine month detention in Russia. Plus, Bay Fang, president of Radio Free Asia, or RFA, on why authoritarians are celebrating Trump’s shutdown and how RFA’s closure will further diminish press freedom in Asia.
[33:35] Host Brooke Gladstone chats with Dorian Lynskey, cultural journalist and author of the recent book, Everything Must Go: The Stories We Tell About the End of the World, to examine our centuries-long obsession with telling end-of-the-world stories and what they reveal about our shifting fears through history. Plus, the evolution of the apocalyptic story, from the Book of Revelation to On the Beach to Station Eleven.
Further reading:
Everything Must Go: The Stories We Tell About the End of the World, by Dorian Lynksey
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This week's midweek podcast is a segment from Tuesdays episode of the Brian Lehrer show -- the legendary live call-in show that airs every weekday morning on our producing station, WNYC. The segment features Derek Thompson, staff writer at The Atlantic, author of the "Work in Progress" newsletter and host of the podcast "Plain English," and Ezra Klein, New York Times opinion columnist and host of their podcast, the "Ezra Klein Show." They are co-authors of Abundance, their new book that argues limits placed by past generations to protect jobs and the environment are preventing solving shortages.
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A Columbia University graduate who led protests last year has been detained by I.C.E. Even though he is a green card holder. On this week’s On the Media, hear why the case has conjured comparisons to the Red Scare of the forties and fifties. Plus, a look at the years-long campaign to dismantle press freedoms in the United States.
[01:00] Host Brooke Gladstone speaks with Corey Robin, distinguished professor of political science at Brooklyn College, on the arrest of Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil, and the parallels between now and the Red Scare of the forties and fifties.
[16:49] Brooke continues her conversation with Corey Robin, author of Fear: The History of a Political Idea. Robin explains how free speech crackdowns can change our political culture and tear at the fabric of the soul. Plus, how Humphrey Bogart betrayed the ideals of his most celebrated film.
[27:00] Host Micah Loewinger speaks with David Enrich, business investigations editor for The New York Times and author of the new book, Murder the Truth: Fear, the First Amendment, and a Secret Campaign to Protect the Powerful, on why a Supreme Court case that’s protected press freedoms for over half a century may now be in danger.
Further reading:
- “Two Paths for Jewish Politics,” by Corey Robin
- “Muskism and McCarthyism,” by Alan Dean, Charles Petersen, and Corey Robin
- “There Are No Good Reasons Not to Fight,” by Corey Robin
- “Can the Media’s Right to Pursue the Powerful Survive Trump’s Second Term?” by David Enrich
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
Last January the hedge fund Alden Global Capital sold The Baltimore Sun to David Smith, an executive at Sinclair Broadcast Group. Smith once told Trump that Sinclair was "here to deliver your message.” He is also known to support conservative causes like Moms for Liberty. It's been a year and with the release of new circulation numbers, its clear that whatever Smith is doing at the Sun, isn't working: Circulation is down, web traffic is down, journalists are leaving in the their droves.
After the sale went through last year, we spoke to Milton Kent, professor of practice in the School of Global Journalism and Communication at Morgan State University and Liz Bowie, who worked at The Sun for over 30 years before making the jump to the nonprofit, the Baltimore Banner.
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President Trump’s on-again, off-again tariff announcements sent stock markets plunging. On this week’s On the Media, how to make sense of the ever-changing news about the economy. Plus, the policy behind the ‘Make America Healthy Again’ rhetoric.
[01:00] Host Micah Loewinger speaks with Gordon Hanson, an economist at Harvard University’s Kennedy School, about President Trump’s “America First” vision and the potential consequences of his chaotic tariff scheme.
[17:22] Micah sits down with Mark Blyth, a professor at Brown University, who explains the rhetoric about short term pain for long term gains, and what to make of the economy right now.
[35:07] Host Brooke Gladstone speaks with Helena Bottemiller Evich, Editor-in-Chief of Food Fix, to trace the complicated relationship between Republicans and food policy, from the Obama era to RFK Jr.’s “Make America Healthy Again” plan.
Further reading:
- “Track One Car Part’s Journey Through the U.S., Canada and Mexico—Before Tariffs” by By Vipal Monga Follow and Santiago Pérez
- “Washington’s New Trade Consensus (And What It Gets Wrong),” by Gordon Hanson
- “Austerity Is Back – and More Dangerous Than Ever,” by Mark Blyth
- “Republicans propel MAHA agenda with wave of state legislation,” by Helena Bottemiller Evich
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Since Kash Patel was announced as the director for the FBI, pundits have warned of a return to the era of J. Edgar Hoover, who ran the bureau for 48 years. But according to Beverly Gage, the author of G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century, under Patel, the FBI could be politicized in ways that even its notorious first director would have rejected. This week, Micah and Beverly discuss how Hoover established a playbook for weaponizing the FBI, and how Patel might go even further.
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Breaking from a century of tradition, the White House says it will seize control of the press pool covering the president. On this week’s On the Media, the new administration is prioritizing access for an array of far-right influencers and news outlets. Plus, what President Trump’s pivot toward Russia means for Ukraine after three years of war.
[00:00] Host Brooke Gladstone sits down with Anna Merlan, senior reporter at Mother Jones covering disinformation, technology, and extremism, to discuss the White House’s latest move to control the press pool covering the president.
[00:00] Host Micah Loewinger speaks with Brandy Zadrozny, senior reporter at NBC News covering the internet, to discuss the rise of Dan Bongino, from right wing podcaster to Donald Trump’s new pick for Deputy Director of the FBI, and his history of anti-FBI rhetoric.
[00:00] Brooke Gladstone talks to Yaroslav Trofimov, chief foreign affairs correspondent for the Wall Street Journal and the author of No Country for Love, about the ultraconservative embrace of Putin’s Russia in the United States and how President Trump has spearheaded a paradigm shift in Republican foreign policy vis-à-vis Russia.
Further reading:
- “Meet the New State Media,” by Anna Merlan
- “Dan Bongino's yearslong history of FBI criticism and conspiracy theories,” by Brandy Zadrozny
- “How a U.S. President Pivoted Toward Russia,” by Yaroslav Trofimov
- “Russia Wants to Erase Ukraine’s Future—and Its Past,” by Yaroslav Trofimov
- No Country for Love, by Yaroslav Trofimov
- Our Enemies Will Vanish: The Russian Invasion and Ukraine's War of Independence, by Yaroslav Trofimov
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Days before Russia invaded Ukraine 3 years ago, Russian president Vladimir Putin read an essay he’d written in 2021, “On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians,” wherein he claimed that Ukraine is a fake country that was invented by Lenin. This version of Russian history, which is full of inaccuracies amplified on Russian state media, has been used by the Russian state to justify their imperialist wars. But the myths in Russia's state-sponsored version of history are not new. In fact, Mikhail Zygar, a Russian investigative journalist, has traced the myths back at least as far as the middle ages. In Zygar's book, War and Punishment: Putin, Zelensky, and the Path to Russia's Invasion of Ukraine, he unravels a thousand years of fables that led to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year. In this conversation with Brooke which we first aired in 2023, Zygar recounts and contextualizes the history-fueled ingredients of today's Russian propaganda, and talks about his mission to write new works of Russian history that account for the country's colonial past, and present.
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Elon Musk’s claims of fraudulent government spending contain some wild inaccuracies. On this week's On the Media, how the mythos surrounding tech entrepreneurs paved the way for MAGA’s embrace of Silicon Valley leaders. Plus, meet the scholars and librarians who helped the Allies win World War II.
[01:00] Host Micah Loewinger looks at Elon Musk’s new role in the rightwing media ecosystem and how it’s driving policy. He talks to Will Oremus, tech reporter at The Washington Post, about DOGE and Elon Musk’s feuds with Reuters and Politico.
[16:42] Micah Loewinger speaks with Becca Lewis, a postdoctoral researcher at Stanford University, about how an influential group of conservative thinkers in Silicon Valley have long seen new technologies as tools for restoring older social orders
[32:41] Brooke Gladstone talks to Elyse Graham, professor of sociology at Stony Brook University and author of Book and Dagger: How Scholars and Librarians Became the Unlikely Spies of World War II. They discuss the role that academics, archivists, and librarians played in WWII intelligence gathering activities, and why the CIA invested in storytelling as a result.
Further reading:
- “Musk accused Reuters of ‘social deception.’ The deception was his.,” by Will Oremus
- “‘Headed for technofascism’: the rightwing roots of Silicon Valley,” by Becca Lewis
- Book and Dagger: How Scholars and Librarians Became the Unlikely Spies of World War II, by Elyse Graham
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This week, the Senate will consider more of Trump’s Cabinet nominees, including his pick for FBI director, Kash Patel. For this midweek podcast, we're looking back at this conversation host Micah Loewinger had with Atlantic staff writer Elaina Plott Calabro, who charted Patel's rise to power, starting at the very beginning of his legal career. She explains how he came to loathe the media, and love Trump.
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The new administration is purging data from government websites and databases, such as the Department of Justice and the National Security Agency. On this week's On the Media, a historian shares the political playbook for rewriting the past in order to control the future. Plus, meet the different Christian groups vying for power at the White House.
[01:00] Host Micah Loewinger looks at the White House’s purge of data and records. He talks to Dara Kerr, a reporter at the Guardian, about President Trump’s attempt to ramp up deportations and how ICE is fudging its numbers. Micah also speaks with Molly White, author of the newsletter “Citation Needed” and Wikipedia editor, about why Musk and others on the right are going after Wikipedia.
[13:24] Host Brooke Gladstone talks to Jason Stanley, professor of philosophy at Yale University and author of the book Erasing History: How Fascists Rewrite the Past to Control the Future, about the narrative the new administration is constructing.
[31:46] Brooke Gladstone hears from Matthew D. Taylor, author of The Violent Take It by Force: The Christian Movement That Is Threatening Our Democracy. They discuss the three Christian factions jostling for power in the new administration: the independent Charismatics like Trump’s faith adviser Paula White-Cain, the trad Catholics (represented by J.D. Vance), and the theobros (epitomized by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth).
Further reading:
“US immigration is creating a mirage of mass deportations on Google search,” by Dara Kerr“Elon Musk and the right’s war on Wikipedia,” by Molly WhiteErasing History: How Fascists Rewrite the Past to Control the Future, by Jason StanleyThe second coming of Donald J. Trump,” by Matthew D. Taylor On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
Micah Loewinger joins Anna Sale on Death, Sex & Money to revisit their 2023 conversation with Tasha Adams, the ex-wife of Stewart Rhodes, the founder of the Oath Keepers. Rhodes was convicted of seditious conspiracy for his role in the January 6th insurrection — prosecutors argued that members of the Oath Keepers used force to block the results of the election. He was sentenced to 18 years in prison.
Now he's out.
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Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency has accessed sensitive information at the treasury and gutted the United States Agency for International Development. On this week’s On the Media, how a tech magazine scooped mainstream outlets with its reporting on the DOGE taskforce. Plus, at the Department of Justice, data wipes and mass firings target records of January 6.
[01:00] Host Micah Loewinger sits down with Vittoria Elliott, reporter for WIRED covering platforms and power. This week WIRED has been covering Elon Musk’s rampage through the federal agencies, and has been the first to report on several key stories
[12:51] Micah speaks with Ryan J. Reilly, who covers the Justice Department and federal law enforcement for NBC News, about President Donald Trump’s campaign of retribution against those in the Justice Department and Federal Bureau of Investigation who he feels unfairly targeted him and his followers.
[26:09] Host Brooke Gladstone sits down with Representative Don Beyer of Virginia to talk about Democrats' approach as President Trump challenges Congress’ power. Brooke also speaks with Ezra Levin, co-founder and co-executive director of the nonprofit Indivisible, about Democrats’ PR strategies, and the party’s resistance to using the Mitch McConnell playbook to push back against the G.O.P.
Further reading:
“The Young, Inexperienced Engineers Aiding Elon Musk’s Government Takeover,” By Vittoria Elliott“The US Treasury Claimed DOGE Technologist Didn’t Have ‘Write Access’ When He Actually Did,” By Vittoria Elliott, Leah Feiger, Tim Marchman“Trump administration forces out multiple senior FBI officials and January 6 prosecutors,” By Ken Dilanian, Tom Winter, Ryan J. Reilly and Michael KosnarSedition Hunters: How January 6th Broke the Justice System, By Ryan Reilly“Here's How Democrats Can Stop Trump and Musk,”by Ezra Levin and Leah Greenberg On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
According to the Financial Times, 225 out of Elon Musk’s 616 tweets and retweets in the first week of January were about U.K. politics. Meanwhile, Musk has praised the prime minister of Italy, far-right politician Giorgia Meloni, describing her as “even more beautiful on the inside than on the outside.” At a time when his company SpaceX is reportedly in talks for a billion dollar contract with the Italian government. And then there’s his entrance into the German political scene; showing up to AFD rallies and more. Micah Loewinger spoke to Bojan Pancevski, chief European political correspondent at The Wall Street Journal, about Musk’s political profile in Germany, and its consequences.
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President Donald Trump has signed dozens of executive orders since returning to office. On this week’s On the Media, how the directives are butting heads with existing laws. Plus, what the DeepSeek saga reveals about American A.I.
[01:00] Host Brooke Gladstone sits down with Dahlia Lithwick, a senior editor at Slate and host of the podcast Amicus, to discuss Donald Trump’s attempt to freeze billions of dollars in federal funding, the legality of the president’s litany of executive orders, and how political paralysis is the point.
[21:00] Brooke speaks with Ed Zitron, host of the Better Offline podcast and author of the newsletter Where’s Your Ed At on how the release of a new Chinese A.I. chatbot model, DeepSeek-R1, threatens to burst the American A.I. bubble, and how tech moguls have gotten away with overhyping A.I. for years.
[38:14] Brooke continues the conversation with Ed Zitron, peeling back the facade to explore what generative A.I. can actually do.
Further reading:
“How Will the Supreme Court Respond to Trump’s Budget-Freeze Power Grab?” by Dahlia Lithwick“Trump’s First Flurry of Executive Orders Plagued by a Surprising Problem” by Dahlia Lithwick and Mark Joseph Stern“Deep Impact” by Ed Zitron“Godot Isn't Making it” by Ed Zitron“Bubble Trouble” by Ed Zitron On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
When OpenAI launched ChatGPT in November 2022, all the big tech firms were clamoring to make their own versions of the “intelligent” chatbot. Billions of dollars have been thrown into the technology – training the models, creating more advanced computer chips, building data centers. But last week, a Chinese artificial intelligence company called DeepSeek released a generative AI model that is not only competitive with the latest version of OpenAI’s model, but it was done cheaper, in less time, and with less advanced hardware. For this midweek podcast extra, host Brooke Gladstone sat down with Ed Zitron, host of the Better Offline podcast and writer of the newsletter “Where’s your Ed at,” to talk about how this new Chinese AI model threatens to burst the American tech AI bubble.
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President Donald Trump’s second term began with a flurry of executive orders and press. On this week’s On the Media, how to navigate the onslaught of news. Plus, executives at major outlets are telling reporters to tone down coverage of the new administration. And, what we can learn about Trump by looking at the legacy of his favorite president, William McKinley?
[01:00] Host Brooke Gladstone on the flood of executive orders emerging from President Trump’s return to the Oval Office, and how the chaos is the point. Plus, host Micah Loewinger explores the role of fear in stymying action and understanding.
[18:55] Micah Loewinger speaks with Oliver Darcy, author of the newsletter Status and former CNN media reporter, on how media execs are instructing reporters to tone down their Trump coverage, and how current political journalism compares to that of four years ago.
[34:21] Brooke Gladstone speaks with Chris Lehmann, the D.C. bureau chief for The Nation and a contributing editor at The Baffler, on what we can learn from President Donald Trump's role model, President William McKinley.
Further reading:
“What ‘Mass Deportation’ Actually Means” by Dara Lind“The Invasion of the Body Snatchers” by Oliver Darcy“Donald Trump Is Building a Bridge to 1896” by Chris Lehmann On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
We are living in history all of the time. Nevertheless, there are some times that seem more historical than usual. Like now, when academics and artists and even librarians have come under attack. We mention this particular sign of these times because of a new, delightful book by historian Elyse Graham, professor of Sociology at Stony Brook University called “Book and Dagger - How Scholars and Librarians Became the Unlikely Spies of World War Two." The book is a breezy and enthralling read, but assiduously footnoted for those who might question her very compelling argument that without this unheralded corp of peculiar recruits, that war might very well have been lost.
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The Supreme Court has upheld a ban on TikTok. On this week’s On the Media, hear how the ruling could affect other media companies, and where TikTokers are going next. Plus, California’s latest wildfires are devastating, but they’re not unprecedented.
[01:00] Host Micah Loewinger sits down with David Cole, professor of law and public policy at Georgetown University, and former National Legal Director of the American Civil Liberties Union, to discuss what the Supreme Court TikTok ban could mean for all kinds of media companies.
[16:39] Host Micah Loewinger speaks with Ryan Broderick, tech journalist, host of the podcast Panic World, and author of the newsletter “Garbage Day,” on the great TikTok migration to RedNote, and what the platform’s potential ban means for the future of the Internet.
[35:08] Host Brooke Gladstone speaks with Rebecca Solnit, author of A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities That Arise in Disaster, on what she, a California native, has found shocking but not surprising about the Los Angeles fires.
Further reading:
“Free Speech for TikTok?,” by David Cole“America's youth longs for Chinese e-commerce,” by Ryan Broderick“TikTok doesn't need America,” by Ryan Broderick“The chronicle of a fire foretold,” by Rebecca SolnitA Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities That Arise in Disaster by Rebecca Solnit On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
There have been hints dropped that the incoming administration intends to shake up the White House briefing room to potentially allow in more podcasters and outlets friendly to Trump. Whether or not it happens, the threats set the tone for another period of bad relations with the press corps. Time Magazine’s Olivia Waxman told Brooke back in 2017 that it was ever thus.
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NPR and PBS stations are bracing for war with the incoming Trump administration. On this week’s On the Media, the long history of efforts to save—and snuff out—public broadcasting. Plus, the role of public radio across the country, from keeping local governments in check to providing life-saving information during times of crisis.
[01:00] Hosts Brooke Gladstone and Micah Loewinger explore the history of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and break down the funding with Karen Everhart, managing editor of Current.
[06:59] Host Micah Loewinger speaks with Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts, a member of the Subcommittee on Communications, Media, and Broadband, which oversees the Corporation For Public Broadcasting, on his decades-long fight with Republican lawmakers to keep NPR and PBS alive.
[13:44] Host Brooke Gladstone sits down with Mike Gonzalez, a senior fellow at The Heritage Foundation, who authored a part of the foundation’s Project 2025 chapter on ending CPB funding.
[34:26] Hosts Brooke Gladstone and Micah Loewinger on how public radio stations across the country work to hold local governments accountable, ft: Scott Franz of KUNC in Colorado, Matt Katz formerly of WNYC, and Lindsey Smith of Michigan Public.
[00:00] Host Micah Loewinger takes a deep dive into the role of public radio during crises, ft: Tom Michael, founder of Marfa Public Radio and Laura Lee, news director for Blue Ridge Public Radio.
[00:00] Host Brooke Gladstone sits down with Sage Smiley, news director at KYUK in Bethel, Alaska, to talk about the station’s life-saving coverage of the Kuskokwim Ice Road in southwestern Alaska, and what the region would lose without public radio.
Further reading:
“End of CPB funding would affect stations of all sizes,” by Adam Ragusea“Is there any justification for continuing to ask taxpayers to fund NPR and PBS?” by Mike Gonzalez“Should New Jersey Democratic Officials Keep Jailing Immigrants for ICE?” by Matt Katz“A secret ballot system at Colorado’s statehouse is quietly killing bills and raising transparency concerns,” by Scott Franz“Not Safe to Drink," a special radio series by Michigan Public“The Rock House Fire: 5 Years Later,” by Tom Michael On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
In the aftermath of the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol in January 2021, politicians, pundits, and the American public condemned the violence—while many considered Donald Trump responsible for what had happened. In a few weeks, Trump will be sworn in for a second term at the very same place rioters overran four years ago. For this midweek podcast extra, host Micah Loewinger sat down with Dan Barry, senior writer at The New York Times and co-author of the recent article, “‘A Day of Love’: How Trump Inverted the Violent History of Jan. 6,” to talk about how Trump and his allies diligently worked to rewrite the American memory of that day, and why they were so successful.
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The complete story of American imperialism is missing from our history books. On this week’s On the Media, how the United States worked to capture territory and expand power, while preaching democracy and freedom.
[01:00] Host Brooke Gladstone sits down with historian Daniel Immerwahr, on the hidden history of the United States empire. For Americans, empire often means economic and military power abroad, or CIA coups in Central America–not British-style imperialism. But the American empire was — and in some ways continues to be — a lot closer than most people realize. Immerwahr explains the role of guano — bird poop — in launching America's overseas empire, and the legal, political and social clashes that ensued.
[17:57] Host Brooke Gladstone continues her conversation with historian Daniel Immerwahr, exploring why, at the dawn of the last century, the arguments over imperialism didn’t end with poets like Rudyard Kipling and writers like Mark Twain. How should the adolescent U.S., big-headed about its democratic values, grapple with capturing territory? Immerwahr explains how this vital debate blazed across America’s consciousness like a comet, then vanished just as quickly.
[34:47] Host Brooke Gladstone and historian Daniel Immerwahr conclude their conversation, discussing how, after World War II, global anti-colonial sentiment (combined with less dependence on natural resources) led to a shrinking of America's physical empire. But the American empire didn't disappear — it merely changed form.
This originally aired in our April 5, 2019 program, “Empire State of Mind.”
Further reading/listening/watching:
- How To Hide An Empire: A History of the Greater United States,by Daniel Immerwahr
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With Trump’s imminent return to the White House, we’ve decided to take stock of how political and journalistic norms have evolved over the years. For this week’s midweek podcast, we’re sharing an episode from Radiolab that aired in October, on the whirlwind history of Gary Hart, a young charismatic Democrat who in 1987 was poised to win his party’s nomination and possibly the presidency – until a bombshell sex scandal derailed it all. Brooke Gladstone and Radiolab co-host Latif Nasser discuss that history, and why sex scandals don’t really matter anymore.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
It’s been almost a year since the historic music outlet Pitchfork shrank considerably. On this week’s On the Media, why the distinctive voices in music journalism are worth saving. Plus, how AI music generators could upend the industry.
[01:00] Host Micah Loewinger, speaks with Ann Powers, critic and correspondent for NPR Music, on Condé Nast's acquisition of the influential music publication Pitchfork, and what this means for the future of music journalism.
[12:45] Host Micah Loewinger speaks to Kyle Chayka, staff writer at The New Yorker, about how algorithms are changing how people discover and listen to music – and all too often, not for the better.
[28:39] Former OTM producer, and current composer and sound designer, Mark Henry Phillips, on how AI music generators could fundamentally upend the industry for good.
Further reading:
- “With Pitchfork in peril, a word on the purpose of music journalism,” by Ann Powers
- "Why I Finally Quit Spotify," by Kyle Chayka
A segment from this show originally aired on our January 19, 2024 program, Trouble at The Baltimore Sun, and the End of an Era for Pitchfork.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
For the new documentary, The Bibi Files, director Alexis Bloom uses hundreds of hours of leaked, previously unseen interrogation footage of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his wife Sara, his son Yair, his staff and inner circle – to trace how the corruption charges against Netanyahu and Israel’s war on Gaza have converged. On this week’s midweek podcast, we re-air a conversation between Brooke Gladstone and Israeli journalist Raviv Drucker, one of the main guides through The Bibi Files, to discuss his role in the documentary and how Netanyahu’s corruption cases act as the “engine” that drives the wider conflict in the region.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
Donald Trump has a big plan to remake American universities. On this week’s On the Media, hear how the distinctly American idea of “diversity” has fallen out of favor—from higher education to the Supreme Court.
Reporter Ilya Marritz explains how the deep history of Harvard and the concept of “diversity” is the hidden subtext for much of the recent strife. In the past half-century, the academy (and the business world) embraced the idea of diversity as a social good–an idea developed at Harvard and endorsed by the Supreme Court, until the latter ended race-based affirmative action in 2023. This episode also looks at what’s in store for universities as the incoming Trump-Vance administration promises to pressure them to change curricula.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
This year was earth’s hottest on record, and the Atlantic storm season brought with it five major hurricanes. And yet in December, the Pew Research Center found that only some 20 percent of Americans expect to make major sacrifices in their lifetime due to the climate crisis. According to writer Nathaniel Rich, when it comes to planning for a fraught future, New Orleans sets an example the rest of the country would be wise to follow.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
The suspected killer of the UnitedHealthcare CEO has been crowned a hero by many on social media. On this week’s On the Media, what the fandom reveals, and what the coverage of it has missed. Plus, tune in to part two of The Harvard Plan. Hear how plagiarism allegations at the university exploded into a toxic discourse about DEI and “diversity hires.”
[01:00] Hosts Brooke Gladstone and Micah Loewinger examine how the suspected killer of the UnitedHealthcare CEO became an internet sensation, what the spectacle itself reveals, and the gulf between the reactions on TikTok and in mainstream media.
[15:29] Reporter Ilya Marritz, in part two of this collaboration with WNYC’s On The Media, Harvard’s first Black president Claudine Gay is accused of academic plagiarism, just days after giving testimony to Congress. The drip-drip of new allegations keeps the story in the headlines. It also reinforces critics’ allegation that Gay is a “diversity hire,” unworthy of the job. We hear from two of the writers who broke that news, and from a defender of Harvard’s diversity efforts.
Check out our collaboration with the Boston Globe here.
Further reading/listening/watching:
- “Luigi Mangione’s Full Story Isn’t Online,” by John Herrman
- "Beware, fellow plutocrats, the pitchforks are coming," Ted Talk by Nick Hanauer
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
Last week, the website for Enron – yes, that Enron – came back online. And on Monday the new CEO, Connor Gaydos, introduced himself, with what the fine print called "First Amendment protected parody." And it so happens that Gaydos is a source of another satirical piece of news… "Birds Aren't Real." On this week's midweek podcast, we re-air a conversation between Brooke Gladstone and writer Ian Beacock, about how the fake conspiracy theory gained traction, and what it reveals about our culture.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
Many of Donald Trump’s cabinet picks are emulating online influencers in their efforts to sell products and promote themselves. On this week’s On the Media, hear about the phenomenon academics are calling “influencer creep.” Plus, a look at the short, troubled tenure of Harvard’s 30th president, Claudine Gay, and the media firestorm that ensued.
[01:00] Host Micah Loewinger speaks with Drew Harwell, technology reporter at The Washington Post, and Elaina Plott Calabro, staff writer at The Atlantic, on how, and why, Donald Trump is filling his cabinet with influencers.
[14:27] Reporter Ilya Marritz, in part one of our collaboration with the Boston Globe, dives into Claudine Gay's groundbreaking tenure as Harvard's first Black president. Gay’s appointment began with high hopes in September 2023, but soon devolved into a proxy battleground for American cultural wars — spurring escalating disputes over anti-Semitism and free speech, tarnishing her presidency as a symbol of diversity's failings. This series slows down the whipsaw chain of events to bring listeners direct eyewitness accounts of what happened, from professors, wealthy donors, and spiritual leaders.
Further reading/listening/watching:
- “Trump and allies blur the lines between politician and influencer,” by Drew Harwell
- “The Man Who Will Do Anything for Trump,” by Elaina Plott Calabro
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
Over the weekend, president-elect Donald Trump nominated a little-known, largely inexperienced civil servant to an enormous role in his upcoming administration – Kash Patel as FBI director.
Firing current FBI director Christopher Wray, who has 2 years left in his 10 year term, would itself be an alarming break in norms. Atlantic staff writer Elaina Plott Calabro, profiled Kash Patel in August, chartint his rise to power, starting at the very beginning of his legal career. She explains how he came to loathe the media, and love Trump.
Further reading:
"The Man Who Will Do Anything For Trump," by Elaina Plott Calabro
"What the FBI Has Done, and Kash Patel Could Do," by Jon Allsop
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
How did the right get their vice grip of the airwaves, all the while arguing that they were being censored? On this week’s On the Media, a look at the early history of American radio, and why, in the post-war era, the U.S. government encouraged more diverse viewpoints on the airwaves — until it didn’t. Plus, the technological and legal changes that led to the popularity of conservative talk radio hosts like Rush Limbaugh.
[00:10] Reporter Katie Thornton explains how radio programming shifted from the 1930s to the 1960s, and how the FCC attempted to prevent propaganda on the airwaves. Plus, what legal challenges conservative radio faced during the Civil Rights Era.
[10:07] Reporter Katie Thornton takes a deeper look at The 700 Club, a Christian television news show that helped give rise to a network of conservative Christian radio stations.
[22:51] Reporter Katie Thornton describes how the introduction of high-quality FM radio led AM radio to focus on talk radio, and the factors that made way for Rush Limbaugh to become the breakout star of conservative talk shows.
Further reading/listening/watching:
- Messengers of the Right: Conservative Media and the Transformation of American Politics by Nicole Hemmer
- News For All The People: The Epic Story of Race and the American Media, by Joseph Torres and Juan González
- Shadow Network Media, Money, and the Secret Hub of the Radical Right, by Anne Nelson
- Talk Radio’s America: How an Industry Took Over a Political Party That Took Over the United States, by Brian Rosenwald
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
Our latest episode featured Micah's interview with Hank Green, a very popular YouTuber and science communicator. We got a lot of nice feedback about the conversation, and there were some interesting exchanges that we couldn’t fit in the radio version. So we’re bringing you a longer edit here. Hank describes how content creators depend on legacy media; his inspiration for making videos in 2007; and how OTM can reach a bigger audience.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
A recent report from the Pew Research Center finds that 1 in 5 Americans get their news from influencers. On this week’s On the Media, YouTuber and science communicator Hank Green explains how he makes the truth go viral. Plus, hear how tech billionaires plan to escape the end of the world.
[01:00] Host Micah Loewinger speaks with Renée DiResta, researcher studying online manipulation and professor at Georgetown University, about what the data tells us about how news consumption is changing. Plus, how news influencers are rewriting the power dynamics of media.
[17:04] Host Micah Loewinger interviews science communicator, YouTuber, and entrepreneur Hank Green about how he makes the truth go viral, how he connects with his audience of many millions, and how he chooses what topics to cover.
[33:44] Host Brooke Gladstone talks with Douglas Rushkoff, whose many books probe the practice and philosophy of digital technology, about whether the apocalypse survival fantasies of tech billionaires are actually viable.
Further reading/listening/watching:
- Invisible Rulers: The People Who Turn Lies Into Reality, by Renée DiResta
- “Everyone Was Wrong About Avocados - Including Us,” by SciShow
- “Why do Cars Suddenly Look Like Putty??” by Hank Green
- Survival of the Richest: Escape Fantasies of the Tech Billionaires, by Douglas Rushkoff
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
In the run up to the election Donald Trump was doggedly pursuing the votes of young men. He courted them, as we described on the show, through interviews with influencers like Joe Rogan and Adin Ross, and Logan Paul. These personalities are part of the so-called manosphere, where anti-feminist, often right-wing politics are the norm. While reporting on this corner of the internet, host Micah Loewinger has been thinking a lot about a conversation he had with Richard Reeves, author of the book of Boys and Men: Why the Modern Male is Struggling, Why It Matters and What to Do About It. When Micah spoke to him last year, he said that the mainstream political discourse around men is fundamentally broken.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
Many of Donald J. Trump’s cabinet picks have something in common: a very close relationship with Fox News. On this week’s On the Media, hear about the revolving door from the conservative network to the White House. Plus, election conspiracy theories from Kamala Harris supporters go viral. And a satirical news site buys up Alex Jones’ Infowars.
[01:00] Host Brooke Gladstone speaks with Matt Gertz, senior fellow at Media Matters, about the re-opened revolving door between conservative media and the Trump administration.
[11:52] Host Micah Loewinger sits down with Anna Merlan, senior reporter at Mother Jones, to discuss the flurry of apparent Democratic voters questioning election results on social media, and why, without backing from public officials, “BlueAnon” is likely a nonstarter.
[20:05] Host Brooke Gladstone chats with Bill Adair, founder of PolitiFact and author of the new book Beyond the Big Lie, about the history of fact-checking and why the field – in desperate need of resources and reinforcements – is struggling to break through in our information ecosystem.
[33:23] Host Micah Loewinger talks with Matt Pearce, former staff writer at the LA Times, and president of Media Guild of the West, about the media’s audience problem.
[43:00] Host Brooke Gladstone calls up Ben Collins, CEO of The Onion, because The Onion bought Alex Jones’ Infowars. Need we say more.
Further reading / listening:
“A comprehensive review of the revolving door between Fox and the second Trump administration," by Matt Gertz“Election Conspiracy Theories Are For Everyone,” by Anna MerlanBeyond the Big Lie: The Epidemic of Political Lying, Why Republicans Do It More, and How It Could Burn Down Our Democracy, by Bill Adair“Lessons on media policy at the slaughter-bench of history,” by Matt Pearce“Here’s Why I Decided To Buy ‘InfoWars',” by Bryce P. Tetraeder, Global Tetrahedron fictitious CEO On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
Many media outlets were prepared for conspiracy theories and lies to spread after the election. But many thought that it would be coming from Donald Trump or his supporters spreading the “Big Lie.” But since Donald Trump’s win, some social media posts from Kamala Harris supporters and people on the left have gone viral questioning the outcome of the election.
Host Micah Loewinger speaks with Anna Merlan, senior reporter at Mother Jones covering disinformation, technology, and extremism, about the viral post-election delusions and how conspiratorial thinking can be expected from any losing party.
Further reading:
“Election Conspiracy Theories Are for Everyone,” by Anna Merlan
“The 200-Year History of Using Voter Fraud Fears to Block Access to the Ballot,” by Pema Levy
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
Since Donald J. Trump won the election, journalists have been retreading his path to victory, and discussing how the press should cover his next presidency. On this week’s On the Media, hear how a group of powerful podcasters helped boost Trump to his second term. Plus, an exiled Russian journalist shares rules for surviving an autocracy.
[01:00] Hosts Brooke Gladstone and Micah Loewinger and Executive Producer Katya Rogers discuss the day after the election. We also hear from OTM listeners about how they’re feeling post-election, and what they want to see covered in the next Trump presidency.
[14:13] Host Micah Loewinger muses on the influence of Joe Rogan in this election, and looks at how Rogan, who previously said he held progressive views, ended up endorsing Trump.
[28:13] Host Brooke Gladstone interviews M. Gessen, opinion columnist at The New York Times, about their rules for surviving autocracy. They discuss the fallacy of Americans “voting against their interests”; what the path of Viktor Orbán suggests about Trump’s next steps; and how to keep the dream of democracy alive.
Further reading / listening:
- “Where Does This Leave Democrats?” by Ezra Klein
- “Joe Rogan’s Galaxy Brain,” by Justin Peters
- “Is the Gen Z bro media diet to blame?” by Rebecca Jennings
- “Autocracy: Rules for Survival,” by M. Gessen
- Surviving Autocracy, by M. Gessen
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
Brooke and Micah recorded a conversation on Wednesday morning after the election. On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donatingtoday (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show onInstagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughtswith us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
As the election approaches, conspiracy theories have flooded social media. On this week’s On the Media, hear why journalists are struggling to keep up with disinformation, on and offline. Plus, what does The Washington Post’s non-endorsement really mean? And, a look at the media coverage of the Uncommitted movement.
[01:00] Host Micah Loewinger speaks with Brandy Zadrozny, senior reporter at NBC, about the growing swirl of disinformation around the election—and the toll it’s taking.
[14:26] Host Brooke Gladstone takes a close look at the implications of The Washington Post’s decision to skip a presidential endorsement, and what it means to “obey in advance.”
[24:07] Host Micah Loewinger interviews democratic strategist Waleed Shahid, a co-founder of the Uncommitted Movement, about how the press has covered Arab and Muslim voters.
[37:34] Host Brooke Gladstone talks with historian Ira Chinoy, author of Predicting the Winner: The Untold Story of Election Night 1952 and the Dawn of Computer Forecasting, about how newspapers in the 1800s, radio stations in the 1920s, and television in the 1950s helped to make election night the spectacle it is today.
Further reading:
- “Extremists inspired by conspiracy theories pose major threat to 2024 elections, U.S. intelligence warns,” by Brandy Zadrozny
- "On anticipatory obedience and the media," by Ian Bassin and Maximillian Potter
- Predicting the Winner: The Untold Story of Election Night 1952 and the Dawn of Computer Forecasting, by Ira Chinoy
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
Donald Trump is being called a fascist – by his former appointees and his opponent Kamala Harris.
On Sunday, in a rally at Madison Square Garden in New York, Trump and his allies traded in crude and racist insults, amplifying the nationalistic rhetoric his camp has become known for. The event drew stark comparisons to another gathering at the Garden–a 1939 "Pro-American Rally," put on by the German-American Bund, a pro-Nazi group, with 20,000 of its members in attendance.
The MAGA rally, for some, was the tipping point for calling Donald Trump a fascist. For others, it was simply another piece of evidence placed atop an already very tall stack.
Host Brooke Gladstone speaks with Jason Stanley, a professor of philosophy at Yale University and author of Erasing History: How Fascists Rewrite the Past to Control the Future. He first warned about Trump’s fascist rhetoric in 2018, and explains why it's more important than ever to call it by its name.
A portion of this interview originally aired in our October 25, 2024, program, Fascism, Fear and the Science Behind Horror Films.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
Donald Trump is being called a fascist – by his former appointees, as well as by his opponent Kamala Harris. On this week’s On the Media, a historian of fascism explains why he sounded the alarm back in 2018. Plus, the science behind why horror films make your skin crawl.
[01:00] Host Brooke Gladstone speaks with Jason Stanley, a professor of Philosophy at Yale University and who has written several books on fascism. He first warned about Trump’s fascist rhetoric in 2018, and explains why it's more important than ever to call it by its name.
[20:05] Host Brooke Gladstone sits down with science writer Nina Nesseth to explore how horror filmmakers make our skin crawl, the anatomy of a jump scare, and why all screams aren’t created equal. Her book Nightmare Fuel: The Science of Horror Films delves into question – why do we crave being scared senseless in the movie theater?
[32:50] OTM producer Rebecca Clark-Callender dives into the history of Black horror to see what it is and who it's for, ft: Robin R. Means Coleman, professor of Media Studies and of African American and African Studies at the University of Virginia and co-author of The Black Guy Dies First: Black Horror Cinema from Fodder to Oscar; Tananarive Due, author, screenwriter, and lecturer on Afrofuturism and Black Horror at University of California, Los Angeles; Rusty Cundieff, writer and director of Tales from the Hood (1995);and Betty Gabriel, actor widely known for her acclaimed performance as "Georgina" in Jordan Peele's blockbuster Get Out (2017).
Further reading:
- Erasing History: How Fascists Rewrite the Past to Control the Future, by Jason Stanley
- How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them, by Jason Stanley
- Nightmare Fuel: The Science of Horror Films by Nina Nesseth
- Horror Noire: A History of Black American Horror from the 1890s to Present by Robin R. Means Coleman
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
For the last few years, patriotism has been stuck in the wheelhouse of the GOP. A Gallup poll from June shows that 60% of Republicans — compared to 29% of Democrats — express extreme pride in being American. Donald Trump wraps himself in flags at each rally, walking out to God Bless America. But recently, Democrats have been taking it back, little by little. At a rally in Philadelphia, the crowd erupted into chants of, “USA! USA! USA!” and at the DNC, former Republican representative Adam Kinzinger proclaimed, “The Democrats are as patriotic as us.” That same night, Kamala Harris claimed that Americans all have the “fundamental freedom” to clean air and water, and the right to an environment free from the pollutants that “drive the climate crisis.”
A group of researchers at New York University, led by Katherine Mason, are investigating this unlikely pairing – flag-waving, steak grilling, good ol’ American patriotism and climate change. They released a new study measuring the effectiveness of this combination in changing stubborn minds. This week, host Brooke Gladstone sits down with Katherine Mason to discuss the effectiveness of combining patriotism with climate change, and how to harness peoples’ inherent psychological need for stability to promote social change.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
This election is set to be the most expensive ever. On this week’s On the Media, what does a billion dollars in campaign funds actually buy? Plus, Democrats condemned dark money for years. Now they embrace it.
[01:00] Hosts Brooke Gladstone and Micah Loewinger explore why Donald Trump came to be so reliant on his billionaire donors. Plus, Andrew Perez of Rolling Stone details Trump’s history of promising his benefactors big favors. And Bloomberg reporter Annie Massa breaks down the relationship between Trump and megadonor Jeff Yass.
[09:48] Host Micah Loewinger speaks with Kenneth Vogel, who covers money, influence, and politics at the New York Times, about the rise of the dark money political infrastructure following the 2010 Supreme Court decision Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission.
[24:53] Host Micah Loewinger sits down with Helen Santoro, money and politics reporter at The Lever, about Kamala Harris’ robust political history as a proponent of dark money reform, and her recent about-face.
[38:16] Host Brooke Gladstone talks with Steven Sprick Schuster, professor of economics at Middle Tennessee State University, to discuss if raising more money actually helps you win an election.
Further reading / listening:
- “Republicans Tell Trump That Elon Musk’s Super PAC Is Blowing It,” by Asawin Suebsaeng, Miles Klee, and Andrew Perez
- “How Jeff Yass Became One of the Most Influential Billionaires in the 2024 Election,” by Annie Massa
- “Democrats Decried Dark Money. Then They Won With It in 2020,” by Kenneth Vogel and Shane Goldmacher
- “Harris’ Turn To The Dark (Money) Side,” by Helen Santoro
- “Does Campaign Spending Affect Election Outcomes? New Evidence from Transaction-Level Disbursement Data,” by Steven Sprick Schuster
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
The new film “The Apprentice,” takes us back to New York in the 1970s, to when Donald Trump was just starting to make a name for himself, and to his introduction to Roy Cohn, the ruthless attorney and political fixer. The fictionalized depiction of real events, shows how Cohn molded Trump into his protégé, imparting his political lessons on how to wield political power, manipulate the media, and bend the truth.
The film was directed by Ali Abbasi and written and executive produced by Gabriel Sherman, with notable actors such as Jeremy Strong playing Roy Cohn, Sebastian Stan as Donald Trump, and Maria Bakalova as Trump’s first wife, Ivana.
The team faced a complicated path to bringing “The Apprentice” to theater screens – struggling with procuring financing, searching for a distributor in the United States, and also facing legal threats from the Trump team – but it finally opened in theaters in the United States on October 11th.
On Monday, Trump wrote on Truth Social about the film: “It’s a cheap, defamatory, and politically disgusting hatchet job, put out right before the 2024 Presidential Election, to try and hurt the Greatest Political Movement in the History of our Country…”
Host Brooke Gladstone sat down with screenwriter and executive producer of the film, Gabriel Sherman, on Friday, October 11th.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
When Fox News launched in 1996, critics joked about its incompetence. But just a few years later, the network proved itself to be a political force. On this week’s On the Media, hear how Fox News rose to power during the election of 2000.
Hosts Brooke Gladstone and Micah Loewinger introduce Slow Burn’s host Josh Levin. Levin spoke with the hosts, reporters, and producers who built Fox News, many who’ve never spoken publicly before. And you’ll hear from Fox’s victims, who are still coming to terms with how the channel upended their lives.
Further reading / listening:
- Slow Burn: The Rise of Fox News - SEASON 10
- Crazy Like a FOX: The Inside Story of How Fox News Beat CNN, by Scott. Collins
- Murdoch’s World: The Last of the Old Media Empires, by David Folkenflik
- How to Steal an Election: The Inside Story of How George Bush’s Brother and FOX Network Miscalled the 2000 Election and Changed the Course of History, by David W. Moore
- The Loudest Voice in the Room: How the Brilliant, Bombastic Roger Ailes Built Fox News-and Divided a Country, by Gabriel Sherman
A portion of this episode originally aired on our September 25, 2024 podcast, OTM Presents Ep. 1 of Slow Burn's The Rise of Fox News: We Report. You Can Suck It
.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
It’s been less than two weeks since Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida, tearing through the southeast United States. And already, Hurricane Milton is looming as a deadly sequel. With states still reeling from the physical and emotional toll of the first storm, more trouble has been brewing online. This week on our podcast extra, host Micah Loewinger sits down with Will Oremus, technology reporter for The Washington Post, to talk about how he and his colleagues have been documenting the spread of false information on social media following the disaster.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
Israel has launched a ground invasion into Lebanon. On this week’s On the Media, hear from a reporter in Beirut on the state of the press as the country braces for more violence. Plus, the state of book censorship in America.
[01:00] Host Brooke Gladstone speaks with Nada Homsi, correspondent at The National’s Beirut bureau, on what the press looks like in Lebanon as Israel launches a ground invasion into the country.
[14:23] Host Brooke Gladstone sits down with Raviv Drucker, an Israeli journalist, to hear about his role in the unreleased documentary, The Bibi Files, directed by Alexis Bloom. The film uses never-before-seen leaked interrogation footage of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his inner circle to lay out his corruption case.
[31:05] Host Brooke Gladstone talks with Kelly Jensen, an editor at the online publication Book Riot, about how book censorship has shifted over the past year to a government affair – with new laws and regulations passed in Idaho, Utah, and South Carolina among other states.
[39:36] Host Brooke Gladstone interviews Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson, whose children’s picture book, And Tango Makes Three, is among the long list of banned titles across the country. Hear why they’re suing in Florida to make their book — and others — accessible again.
Further reading:
- “Hezbollah’s dominance raises questions about Lebanon’s army role in Israel conflict,” by Nada Homsi
- "It’s Still Censorship, Even If It’s Not a Book Ban," by Kelly Jensen
- And Tango Makes Three, by Justin Richardson, Peter Parnell, and illustrator Henry Cole
- Jacob's Missing Book, by Sarah Hoffman, Ian Hoffman, and illustrator Chris Case
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
And exclusive sneak peek of a brand new radio play starring Edie Falco, John Turturro and Tony Shalhoub. Inspired by Sinclair Lewis’ dystopian novel, It Can’t Happen Here, Richard Dresser’s novel, and now 6-part radio play called It Happened Here 2024, offers a glimpse of what could happen after the 2024 election if fascism creeps into the USA.
The story centers around the Weeks family as they brace for the election. Paul and Ruth’s family work to defeat the so-called Great Leader. Paul’s brother Garret and his family are on the other side. Family get-togethers are tense. When the Great Leader, with a giant boost from the Supreme Court, shockingly wins the quote, “most important election ever,” the family is thrown into chaos.
It Happened Here 2024 describes a country that still has Netflix and free two-day delivery, where the only thing lost is freedom....
Listen to the rest of the episodes wherever you get your podcasts!
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
In Georgia, a controversial new rule to hand-count ballots is being challenged in court. On this week’s On the Media, how the big lie of 2020 is shaping elections in 2024. Plus, how newsrooms are preparing for a whirlwind of disinformation on election night — and beyond.
[01:00] Host Micah Loewinger speaks with Sam Gringlas, politics reporter at WABE, about the controversy surrounding new election rules in Georgia and the officials backing them.
[14:37] Host Micah Loewinger interviews Ari Berman, voting rights correspondent at Mother Jones, about the wave of efforts by Republican lawmakers across the country to change voting and election laws, and what happens if we have a tie in the Electoral College.
[25:59] Host Brooke Gladstone sits down with Benjamin Mullin, media reporter for The New York Times, to hear how newsrooms are bracing for election night 2024.
[37:30] Host Brooke Gladstone speaks with Mark Clague, professor of musicology at the University of Michigan, about the role of music in this year's presidential campaigns, the history of political anthems, and the consequences of pop star celebrity culture seeping further into our political sphere.
Further reading:
- “Georgia's Republican-led election board OKs controversial rule to hand-count ballots,” by Sam Gringlas
- “Officials Voted Down a Controversial Georgia Election Rule, Saying It Violated the Law. Then a Similar Version Passed,” by Doug Bock Clark
- “How Republicans Could Block a Democratic Victory in Georgia,” by Ari Berman
- “Minority Rule: The Right-Wing Attack on the Will of the People―and the Fight to Resist It,” by Ari Berman
- “News Outlets Brace for Chaos on Election Night (and Perhaps Beyond),” by Benjamin Mullin and Michael M. Grynbaum
- “Taylor Swift’s endorsement of Kamala Harris shows how big a role music is playing in the 2024 election,” by Mark Clague
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
When Fox News launched in 1996, critics called it “disorganized, incompetent, and laughably inept”. And during that election cycle it barely registered. But everything changed in 2000, when Fox News called Florida (and the presidency) for George W. Bush before any of the other networks. Potentially altering the outcome of the election in Bush’s favor.
Our midweek podcast this week is episode one of the new series of Slow Burn from Slate which takes that pivotal moment as its starting point to examine the place FOX News has carved out in our culture. The series traces the channel’s surging popularity in those early years, and profiles a bunch of people who rose up to try and stop it.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
Lies that immigrants are eating pets in Springfield, Ohio have inspired dozens of threats against the town, and toward Haitian-Americans across the nation. On this week’s On the Media, hear how public acceptance of political violence has grown. Plus, how January 6 became a recruiting tool for one of the country’s largest militias.
[01:00] Host Brooke Gladstone speaks with Macollvie Neel, special projects editor at The Haitian Times, to talk about the recent wave of rhetoric and threats aimed at the Haitian community in Springfield, Ohio, and why Neel and other reporters saw it coming.
[13:29] Host Brooke Gladstone interviews Lilliana Mason, Professor of Political Science at Johns Hopkins University, about the growing acceptance of political violence in America, and the reasons behind it.
[27:14] Host Brooke Gladstone sits down with Matthew Dallek, a historian and professor of political management at George Washington University, to look at the history of political violence and presidential assassinations.
[37:32] Host Micah Loewinger speaks with Joshua Kaplan, reporter at ProPublica, about how one powerful, but largely unseen militia avoided scrutiny after January 6th. And why a day that led many members to quit, turned into a call to arms.
Further reading:
- “Haitians in Springfield: A tale of Black immigration in ‘Anytown USA,’” by Macollvie J. Neel
- “How to Prevent a Spiral of Political Violence in America,” by Lilliana Mason
- “Radical American Partisanship,” by Nathan Kalmoe and Lilliana Mason
- “The Fading Line Between Rhetorical Extremism and Political Violence,” by Matthew Dallek
- “Political Violence May Be Un-American, but It Is Not Uncommon,” by Matthew Dallek and Robert Dallek
- “Armed and Underground: Inside the Turbulent, Secret World of an American Militia,” by Joshua Kaplan
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
Last Tuesday, as audience members and press were still milling about the presidential debate stage in Philadelphia after the spotlights dimmed, the real bombshell of the night dropped — Taylor Swift's endorsement Kamala Harris and Tim Walz. And this week, pop star Billie Eilish and her brother Finneas took to Instagram, announcing that they were voting for Harris and Walz.
Swift and Eilish stand amid a sea of pop stars, including, among others, Beyonce, Charli xcx, and Cardi B, who have cheered on the Harris campaign — which has felt more like a weeks-long rave than the usual pre-election slog. The soundtrack for the Democratic National Convention was provided by a sunglass-clad DJ Cassidy, while the RNC featured performances by Kid Rock and bands like Sixwire. Politics and music, this year in particular, seem inextricable. For the midweek podcast, host Brooke Gladstone speaks with Mark Clague, a professor of musicology at the University of Michigan, about the role of music in this year's presidential campaigns, the history of political anthems, and the consequences of pop star celebrity culture seeping further into our political sphere.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
Kamala Harris has come under fire for ignoring interview requests from the press. On this week’s On the Media, the debate over whether giving media access actually helps inform voters. Plus, a guide to understanding election polls, and how they’ve evolved since the failures of 2016 and 2020.
[01:00] Host Brooke Gladstone explores a rising complaint from some in the political press that Vice President Kamala Harris isn’t engaging enough with reporters, featuring: Perry Bacon Jr., Washington Post columnist, Matt Bai, a journalist at the Washington Post who has interviewed many presidential candidates, and David Lurie, a contributing writer for Public Notice.
[19:57] Host Micah Loewinger speaks to Courtney Kennedy, Vice President of Methods and Innovation at Pew Research Center, to reassess our Breaking News Consumer’s Handbook on polls and answer the age-old question: should we care about them at all?
[34:26] Host Micah Loewinger speaks with Gordon Hanson, an economist and a co-director of the Reimagining the Economy Project at Harvard University’s Kennedy School, about why tariffs have rebounded in political popularity amongst Democrats and Republicans.
Further reading:
- “Harris should talk to journalists more. Particularly the wonky ones,” by Perry Bacon Jr.
- “The media gets nothing from Kamala Harris. That’s mostly on us,” by Matt Bai
- “Kamala Harris is cutting off Trump’s political oxygen,” by David Lurie
- “Key things to know about U.S. election polling in 2024,” by Scott Keeter and Courtney Kennedy
- “Washington’s New Trade Consensus: And What It Gets Wrong,” by Gordon Hanson
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
Last summer, OTM host Micah Loewenger reported a piece about the rise of worker-owned newsrooms: Hell Gate, a local New York publication, and Defector, a national outlet focused on sports and culture.
Inspired by Defector and Hell Gate, more worked-owned outlets have come on the scene — including 404 Media, known for its mix of fun internet coverage and hard-nosed investigations. In this week’s midweek podcast, Micah speaks to 404 co-founder Samantha Cole about the challenges they have faced since they started their own outlet. Plus, what their success can teach us about the future of news.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
At a town hall event hosted by Fox, Donald Trump shared a number of falsehoods, and appeared to confuse who he was running against. On this week’s On the Media, how mainstream outlets fail to hold the Republican candidate accountable. Plus, meet the right-wing American pundits who’ve received payouts from the Kremlin.
[01:00] Host Brooke Gladstone speaks with Daniel Drezner, professor of International Politics at Tufts University. Drezner discusses how the political press continues to struggle to cover Trump, and his campaign against Vice President Kamala Harris.
[12:34] Host Brooke Gladstone interviews Dan Froomkin, editor of presswatchers.org. Froomkin explains why fact checkers at legacy outlets are too often adding to political confusion.
[20:49] Host Micah Loewinger speaks with Will Sommer, reporter for the Washington Post who writes about conservative media. They discuss a federal investigation into how the Russian-funded media network RT funded and influenced content of a conservative media company in the U.S., which appears to be the Tennessee-based Tenet Media.
[35:01 ] Host Micah Loewinger speaks with Dan Taberski, the host and creator of the podcast series “Hysterical,” about the ties between a medical mystery in Le Roy, New York in 2011, and the unending Havana Syndrome saga.
Further reading:
- “The Very Weird Media Coverage of the 2024 Presidential Race,” by Daniel Drezner
- “'Fact-checking' does a (hopefully fatal) face plant,” by Dan Froomkin
- “Inside Tenet Media, the pro-Trump ‘supergroup’ allegedly funded by Russia” by Will Sommer
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
Brooke and Micah update the listeners about a new funding model for the show.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
During election season, voters hope to glimpse the true selves of presidential candidates. And sometimes, revealing details hide in plain sight. On this week’s On the Media, one reporter sifts through political memoirs for truths about politicians and the people they lead. Plus, in vivid detail, a novelist imagines the private lives of former presidents.
[01:00] Host Brooke Gladstone speaks with Carlos Lozada, New York Times Opinion columnist and a co-host of the weekly “Matter of Opinion” podcast. Lozada explains how he mines political memoirs for deeper understanding of our political figures by examining what they include and what they omit.
[16:43] Brooke speaks with Vinson Cunningham, author of the novel Great Expectations. Cunningham, who is now a theater critic at The New Yorker, worked on the 2008 Obama campaign and later in the White House. Great Expectations is inspired by that time in his life and the difficult-to-read candidate for the presidency.
[35:05] Brooke interviews novelist Curtis Sittenfeld about her exploration of the minds of political figures through fiction, first in American Wife (inspired by Laura Bush) and next in Rodham, which considers what Hilary Clinton’s life would have looked like if she had never married Bill. They discuss the questions that led Sittenfeld to write those novels and why fiction based on real people makes readers so uncomfortable — especially the sex scenes.
This show originally aired on our May 3, 2024 program, How to Read a President, with Carlos Lozada, Vinson Cunningham, and Curtis Sittenfeld.
Further reading:
- The Washington Book by Carlos Lozada
- Great Expectations by Vinson Cunningham
- American Wife and Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld
- Curtis Sittenfeld: ‘People misunderstood the sex scenes in Rodham’
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
A recent update to the Apple podcast app also included a tweak to how podcast downloads work. As a podcast user you’re free to shrug and move on. But for podcast creators this could be a big deal. According to data from Podtrac, overall downloads across the industry were down 15 percent as of February. This American Life lost 20 percent of their downloads. Some shows at NPR saw a 30 percent dip. In this week's midweek podcast, OTM producer Molly Rosen looks at how Apple has shaped the podcast industry.
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When President Biden campaigned for re-election, he highlighted threats to democracy and his long track record. But since Kamala Harris took over the ticket, the party has landed on new messaging. On this week’s On the Media, a democratic strategist explains why we heard words like joy and freedom over and over at the Democratic National Convention. Plus, hear how Christian nationalism is shaping American politics.
[01:00] Host Brooke Gladstone interviews Anat Shenker-Osorio, a democratic messaging strategist who has advised PACs and committees in battleground states, about the party’s new messaging strategy. They discuss how mockery shrinks strongmen to size; why voters seem to like the word “freedom” more than “democracy”; and more.
[16:39] Brooke speaks with Matthew D. Taylor, scholar at the Institute for Islamic, Christian, & Jewish Studies in Baltimore and author of the forthcoming book, The Violent Take It by Force: The Christian Movement That Is Threatening Our Democracy. They discuss different strains of Christian nationalism — from the sentimental view of America as a Christian nation, to the desire to uphold Christian supremacy. Plus, how the phenomenon has shaped American politics for centuries.
[32:23] Brooke continues her conversation with Matthew D. Taylor. Taylor introduces Brooke to the world of independent charismatic Christianity and its media, where an extreme form of Christian nationalism has taken root. Plus, the Christian leaders who stoked violence on January 6th.
A portion of this episode originally aired on our April 19, 2024 program, Meet the Media Prophets Who Preach Christian Supremacy. Plus, Journalism in ‘Civil War’
Further reading / listening:
- The rise of the "Brat Pack" — and a new Democratic political style by Anand Giridharadas
- Why Kamala Harris’ New Politics of Joy Is the Best Way to Fight Fascism, by Anat Shenker-Osorio
- How the Alabama IVF Ruling Was Influenced by Christian Nationalism by Matthew D. Taylor
- Christian Nationalism (Un)Defined by Matthew D. Taylor
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This is an episode from the Vox daily news podcast, Today, Explained. Host Noel King spoke with OTM regular, Rick Perlstein. As a historian of US politics he is often called upon to draw comparisons between today’s events and those of the past. This year in particular, the echoes with 1968 are unavoidable: the DNC is again in Chicago, there are protests outside (this time its about Gaza, then it was the Vietnam War).
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New York City’s alternative weekly newspaper, The Village Voice, birthed a generation of legendary writers. On this week’s On the Media, how the Voice transformed journalism and what’s being lost as alt-weeklies across the country die off. Plus, a look at how AI sludge is flooding old news websites.
[01:00] Host Micah Loewinger speaks with Tricia Romano, author of The Freaks Came Out to Write, about the early days of The Village Voice, including one reporter’s mission to stop Robert Moses and its revolutionary music section.
[16:02] Micah continues his conversation with Tricia Romano, getting into the Voice’s sale to Rupert Murdoch, the tensions within the paper, and how Craigslist led to its ultimate demise.
[34:41] Micah speaks with Wired tech reporter Kate Knibbs about how the site of publication The Hairpin mysteriously relaunched with a slate of bizarre, AI-generated articles. Knibbs managed to track down the new owner of the site, a Serbian entrepreneur known as DJ Vujo.
Portions of this episode originally aired on our April 12, 2024 program, The Rise and Fall of Alt-Weeklies, and Backpage.com vs The Feds, and our February 9, 2024 program, If You Can’t Beat ’Em… Join ’Em? Journalism in an AI World.
Further reading:
- The Freaks Came Out to Write: The Definitive History of the Village Voice, the Radical Paper That Changed American Culture
- “Zombie Alt-Weeklies Are Stuffed With AI Slop About OnlyFans,” by Kate Knibbs
“Confessions of an AI Clickbait Kingpin,”
by Kate Knibbs
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In 2011, a group of high school girls in the small town of Le Roy, New York started coming down with mysterious medical symptoms. When their parents took to the story to the press, it became a national news sensation, attracting the attention of everyone from the environmental activist Erin Brokovich to a former Bachelor contestant with a medical diagnosis tv show. Host Micah Loewinger speaks with Dan Taberski, the host and creator of a new podcast series called Hysterical, about what happened in Le Roy, New York and what this and other similar events can tell us about the relationship between the media and hysteria.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
This week, Kamala Harris’ VP pick Tim Walz went viral for being a typical Midwestern dad. On this week’s On the Media, the narratives surrounding Walz, and the political appeal of the car-tinkering, grill-manning father figure. Plus, the news influencers covering the election, and what their work reveals about the future of legacy journalism.
[02:22] Host Brooke Gladstone examines the narratives swirling around Gov. Tim Walz, and chats with Charlie Warzel, staff writer at The Atlantic, about the many memes, videos, and tweets claiming the VP nominee is “dad-coded.”
[14:50] Host Micah Loewinger speaks with Nathan Grayson, reporter and co-founder of the gaming publication Aftermath. They discuss Donald Trump’s recent interview with live streamer Adin Ross and Trump’s courtship of edgelord influencers like Logan Paul. Plus, is there a place for politicians on platforms like Twitch and Kick?
[33:18] Host Micah Loewinger talks with Makena Kelly, who writes about politics and the internet for Wired, about how the Republican and Democratic national conventions are inviting influencers to watch. Then, Micah checks in with Taylor Lorenz, columnist at the Washington Post and host of the podcast Power User, about how the rise of short-form video is impacting the news industry.
Further reading / listening:
- “Dad Is on the Ballot” by Charlie Warzel
- Stream Big: The Triumphs and Turmoils of Twitch and the Stars Behind the Screen (forthcoming in 2025) by Nathan Grayson
- The Influencers with as Much Presidential Access as the Press, by Makena Kelly
- Democratic convention will host hundreds of online influencers, by Taylor Lorenz
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
Brooke Gladstone interviews Kathryn Hughes, author of Catland, about the storied history of the cat lady trope, how cats became beloved by so many in our culture, and the many meanings ascribed to the animals.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
Vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance’s remarks on childless cat ladies have ties to a movement urging people to have more children. On this week’s On the Media, find out why declining birth rates are regarded by some as a harbinger of doom. Plus, the storied history of so-called cat ladies, and why they often face contempt.
[01:00] Host Micah Loewinger on our “weird” politics, why every day in our news cycle feels like an eternity, and the debate over Donald Trump’s interview at the National Association of Black Journalists conference.
[06:38] Host Brooke Gladstone speaks with Rachel Cohen, policy correspondent at Vox, about J.D. Vance and the belief that falling birth rates foretell social and economic catastrophe.
[23:49] OTM producer Candice Wang reports the story of an older, more established population anxiety: the fear that there are simply too many people for our planet to sustain.
[32:55] Host Brooke Gladstone interviews Kathryn Hughes, author of Catland, about the storied history of the cat lady trope, how cats became beloved by so many in our culture, and the many meanings ascribed to the animals.
Further reading / listening:
- “The movement desperately trying to get people to have more babies” by Rachel Cohen
- Building the Population Bomb by Emily Klancher Merchant
- The Book That Incited a Worldwide Fear of Overpopulation by Charles C. Mann
- Reproductive Rights and Wrongs: The Global Politics of Population Control by Betsy Hartmann
- Catland: Louis Wain and the Great Cat Maniaby Kathryn Hughes
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“The Sound of Sport” was produced by Peregrine Andrews for Falling Tree Productions and originally broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2011. Dennis Baxter is the host of the documentary which was made right around the time of the London Olympics in 2012. Some things have changed in the intervening years, but if you're watching the Paris Olympics, this documentary is a perfect companion.
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Conservative media outlets are testing a series of talking points to discredit the leading Democratic candidate for president. On this week’s On the Media, hear how right-wing coverage of Kamala Harris compares to what Hilary Clinton received. Plus, podcast host Ezra Klein reflects on how his early call for President Biden to step aside came true.
[00:10] Host Micah Loewinger speaks with Kat Abughazaleh, a video creator also known as Kat Abu, about how right-wing attacks on the presumptive Democratic nominee Kamala Harris compare to those on Hillary Clinton in 2016, and how conservative media outlets were unprepared to coordinate a campaign against Harris.
[14:02] Host Brooke Gladstone speaks with Jamilah King, editorial director at Mother Jones, about Kamala Harris’ rise from district attorney in Oakland, California to the second highest office in the United States, and the narratives that have followed her and her political career through the years.
[30:34] Micah speaks with Ezra Klein, New York Times columnist and host of ‘The Ezra Klein Show,’ to reflect on Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the presidential race, and Klein’s role as one of the earliest voices calling for Biden to step aside.
Further reading / listening:
- Fox’s Racist, Sexist Attacks on Kamala Aren’t Landing. Yet. by Kat Abughazaleh
- It’s Kamala’s Campaign Now by Jamilah King
- Democrats Have a Better Option Than Joe Biden by Ezra Klein
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
Moments after President Biden withdrew from the presidential race on Sunday, GOP leaders rushed to tug at any loose threads in his withdrawal. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson threatened legal challenges to his withdrawal, calling it “unlawful,” and other GOP leaders like J.D. Vance referred to the move as a “coup” and “a threat to democracy.” For the midweek podcast, host Brooke Gladstone speaks with Rick Hasen, a legal scholar and law professor at UCLA, to break down how the arguments against the president’s withdrawal hold no legal legitimacy, why Kamala Harris’ ascension as likely nominee is an example of the democratic process working, not failing, and other narratives emerging from the GOP in response to Biden’s exit from the race.
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At the Republican National Convention, Donald J. Trump named J.D. Vance as his pick for Vice President. On this week’s On the Media, hear how Vance went from liberal darling to MAGA leader, with a little help from a billionaire. Plus, meet the right-wing Christians who see the failed attempt on Trump’s life as evidence of his divine anointing by God.
[00:00] Host Brooke Gladstone charts the media’s role in shaping J.D. Vance's rise. Vance rose to fame as a liberal media darling who frequently lambasted Donald Trump after the publication of his blockbuster memoir “Hillbilly Elegy,” to Trump’s VP pick and a new leader of the MAGA movement. Ian Ward, a reporter at Politico, and Simon van Zuylen-Wood, a staff writer at New York Magazine, speak to how Vance’s vision of America extends far beyond Trumpism.
[00:00] Host Micah Loewinger speaks with Andrew Prokop, senior politics correspondent at Vox, about Vance’s roots in the so-called New Right, a scrappy but growing offshoot of conservatism that aims to seize and destroy societal institutions they believe are controlled by the left. Plus, John Herrman, tech columnist at New York Magazine, explains what Big Tech sees in MAGA.
[00:00] Brooke speaks with Matthew D. Taylor, author of the forthcoming book The Violent Take it by Force, about how the attempted assassination of Trump has amplified a subset of evangelicals who believe that prophecy foresaw the event. These right-wing Christians see Trump as an anointed candidate, saved by God.
Further reading / listening:
- The Radicalization of J.D. Vance by Simon van Zuylen-Wood
- 55 Things to Know About JD Vance, Trump’s VP Pick by Ian Ward
- J.D. Vance’s radical plan to build a government of Trump loyalists by Andrew Prokop
- Why Silicon Valley Elites Are Turning MAGA by John Herrman
- How the Assassination Attempt Has Ignited the Prophecy World by Matthew D. Taylor
- The Violent Take It by Force: The Christian Movement That Is Threatening Our Democracy by Matthew D. Taylor
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Across the globe, summers are getting unseasonably, and scarily hot, and last year the United Nations announcing that we've entered the era of "global boiling." And yet it's hard to grapple with the damage caused by extreme heat. It's the deadliest kind of climate disaster, but victims of heat often die out of sight of the public eye. FEMA doesn't even respond to extreme heat waves in the way it does to other "major disasters." Jake Bittle is a staff writer at Grist covering climate impact. Brooke spoke to Bittle last year about the invisibility of extreme heat, the challenge it presents to news outlets, and the potential value of naming heat waves.
This is a segment from our August 18, 2023 show, Read All About It.
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Immigration is one of the most important issues in this year’s presidential election. This week, On the Media traces how root causes of mass migration from Central America to the United States over the past decade stem back to the Cold War. Plus, a deep dive on terms like “colonialism” and “decolonization,” and what they mean in the context of Israel-Palestine.
[01:00] Host Brooke Gladstone speaks with Jonathan Blitzer, who covers immigration for The New Yorker and is author of the book, Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here, about how the root causes of mass migration from Central America to the United States over the past decade stem back to the Cold War. This interview originally aired on our February 2, 2024 show.
[15:30] Brooke continues her conversation with Jonathan Blitzer about how the past and future of Central America and the United States are inextricable, and the far-reaching consequences of Congress’ refusal to reform the immigration system since 1990. This interview originally aired on our February 2, 2024 show.
[30:58] Brooke Gladstone speaks with Iyad el-Baghdadi, a Palestinian human rights activist, writer, and co-author of The Middle East Crisis Factory, about the value of historical parallels to describe the conflict in Palestine, and why the precise meanings behind words like “decolonization” and “colonialism” are crucial. This interview originally aired on our March 8, 2024 show.
Further reading / listening:
- Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here
- The Middle East Crisis Factory
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
In January 2023, a TV show called In the Know debuted on Peacock. The comedy is a parody of a daily NPR show produced in New York City, with rather cringey characters portrayed by stop-motion puppets. Each episode also features an interview with a real person who appears on Zoom. The show is written by Zach Woods, Brandon Gardner, and Mike Judge, creator of Beavis and Butthead (who also voices the character of Sandy the movie critic). Woods, known for playing Gabe on The Office and Jared from Silicon Valley, plays the central role of Lauren Caspian, billed as the third most famous NPR host. Brooke speaks with Zach Woods and Brandon Gardner about why public radio provides such rich ground for satire, and how comedy can restore complexity to the world.
This interview originally aired on our January 26, 2024 show.
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Every year on the Fourth of July, households across America embrace the aesthetics of patriotism. On this week’s On the Media, find out how the early country music industry got a major boost from the US military and became associated with the “sound of patriotism.” Plus, how a song written by a Canadian became an anthem for the Confederate “lost cause.”
[01:00] Host Micah Loewinger speaks with Joseph Thompson, a professor of history and author of the new book Cold War Country, about how hillbilly music transformed into the powerful country music industry, starting with a little assistance from the US military in the 1940s and 50s.
[18:40] Micah continues his conversation with Joseph Thompson about how country music came to be linked to a certain type of American patriotism, and why some of country music’s most famous jingoistic songs are more complex than many listeners think.
[32:15] Brooke Gladstone speaks with Jack Hamilton, pop critic for Slate and author of the book Just Around Midnight: Rock and Roll and the Racial Imagination, about how “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” became an anthem for the Confederate ‘Lost Cause.’ This interview originally aired on our January 8th, 2021 show.
Further reading / listening:
- Cold War Country: How Nashville's Music Row and the Pentagon Created the Sound of American Patriotism
- Just Around Midnight: Rock and Roll and the Racial Imagination
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Last month, Clarence Thomas acknowledged several luxury trips that were gifted to him by billionaire Harlan Crow. But the pair’s financial ties had long been public knowledge, thanks to a bombshell report by ProPublica in 2023. The gifts included lavish vacations, trips on private yachts and jets — and even a trip to Indonesia valued at as much as half a million dollars. Most of these gifts went undisclosed, despite that being required by law. But this isn’t Thomas’ first rodeo. He has reportedly accepted a slew of gifts in the past, including $1200 worth of tires from an Omaha businessman, and a bust of President Lincoln valued at $15,000.
Brooke speaks to Corey Robin, a journalist and political science professor at Brooklyn College and the City University of New York Graduate Center, about Clarence Thomas relationship with money and power, and Robin’s article in Politico, "The Clarence Thomas Scandal Is About More Than Corruption. It’s about his jurisprudence."
This interview originally aired on April 21, 2023.
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Some of the most outrageous stories about President Biden are originating from a single, unverified source. On this week’s On the Media, hear about the shadowy organization that’s influencing election narratives. Plus, factual errors are at the heart of a recent Supreme Court decision. Learn how we can reform the system.
[01:00] Host Brooke Gladstone interviews Judd Legum, author of Popular Information, about how a rightwing outlet is presenting itself as a neutral news source, all the while pushing coordinated messaging about President Biden.
[18:04] Host Micah Loewinger speaks to Mark Joseph Stern, senior writer at Slate, about the factual errors in a recent Supreme Court ruling concerning guns.
[35:48] Micah interviews Allison Orr Larsen, professor of law at William and Mary, about how so many contested facts reach the highest court via amicus briefs. Plus, how to reform the so-called “amicus machine.”
Further reading:
- “Sinclair floods local news websites with hundreds of deceptive articles about Biden's mental fitness,” by Judd Legum
- “Clarence Thomas’ Opinion Legalizing Bump Stocks Is Indefensible,” by Mark Joseph Stern
- “The Supreme Court Decisions on Guns and Abortion Relied Heavily on History. But Whose History?” by Allison Orr Larsen
- “It’s a Fact: Supreme Court Errors Aren’t Hard to Find,” by Ryan Gabrielson (2017)
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This week, we turn away from the media for a moment, to a realm thousands of feet beneath the ocean’s surface – where sperm whales swim. These behemoths spend most of their lives in complete darkness, surfacing only for a few minutes at a time. They have the largest brains of virtually any other creature on earth, and they grow to be the size of one school bus, even two – and weigh as much as ten of them. But despite leading wildly different lives, scientists say they may communicate with each other – much like we do.
In May, scientists at CETI, or Cetacean Translation Initiative, published a study claiming that they use a complex phonetic alphabet that echoes the structures of human languages. This week, host Brooke Gladstone speaks with Shane Gero, a biologist focusing on the acoustic complexity and social behavior of whales and Biology Lead at CETI, about this phonetic alphabet, and how it might be the first of many steps that could lead to translating what these sea giants are saying – and saving their lives.
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Why does every social media platform seem to get worse over time? This week’s On the Media explores an expansive theory on how we lost a better version of the internet, and the systems that insulate Big Digital from competition. Plus, some solutions for fixing the world wide web.
[01:00] Host Brooke Gladstone interviews Cory Doctorow, journalist, activist, and the author of Red Team Blues, on his theory surrounding the slow, steady descent of the internet.
[15:59] Brooke asks Cory if the troubles that plague some corners of the internet are specific to Big Digital, rather than the economy at large—and how our legal systems enabled it all. Doctorow explains how the antitrust practices of the early 1900s went awry, and what exactly he means by “twiddling.”
[31:29] Cory and Brooke discuss possible solutions to save the world wide web. Among them: better enforcement of privacy laws, interoperability, and the ever elusive "right-to-exit." Plus, hear about the one industry that so far has been mostly immune to the forces of "enshittification."
This episode originally aired on our September 1, 2023 program, How Big Tech Went to Sht*.
Further reading:
- “The ‘Enshittification’ of TikTok” by Cory Doctorow
“Too big to care,” by Cory Doctorow
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Over the past few months, The Washington Post has weathered a slate of unfavorable news. In May, publisher and CEO Will Lewis revealed the Post lost 77 million dollars last year. Lewis also announced a big restructuring and, as reported by Semafor’s Max Tani, the paper’s chief technology officer should have "AI everywhere in our newsroom."
But then things started changing at the top of the news organization. Sally Buzbee, who had served as the executive editor for the Post over the last three years, resigned. And in the wake of her departure CEO Will Lewis, and his chosen replacement for Buzbee, Robert Winnett, became the center of multiple investigations. Allegations of paying sources, using informants who secured scoops via deception, and even approving destruction of evidence have now made headlines. This week, Micah sits down with NPR media correspondent, David Folkenflik to make sense of the news, and what it all might mean for one of America’s most storied papers.
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Over the past two decades, 900 British postal workers were wrongfully prosecuted for fraud. On this week’s On the Media, hear how a TV show about the Post Office Scandal sparked a political reckoning in the U.K. Plus, meet the Redstones – the complicated family behind Paramount Global.
[00:00] Host Brooke Gladstone interviews Jonathan Freedland, columnist at the Guardian and host of the Politics Weekly America podcast, about how coinciding election campaigns in the US and the UK this year are influencing each other from across the pond.
[00:00] Brooke explores how a recent British TV drama about the "Post Office Scandal" sparked a long overdue political reckoning in the U.K., and shone a light on the stories of British postal workers wrongfully prosecuted for fraud. Brooke interviews reporter Rebecca Thomson, who first broke the story in 2009; reporter Nick Wallis, author of The Great Post Office Scandal and consultant for the television drama; and Lee Castleton, a former subpostmaster in East Yorkshire.
[00:00] Lastly, Brooke interviews Rachel Abrams, senior producer and reporter for The New York Times Presents and co-author of Unscripted: The Epic Battle for a Media Empire and the Redstone Family Legacy. They discuss the Redstones, the family behind the media empire Paramount Global.
Further reading:
- The Great Post Office Scandal by Nick Wallis
- Mr. Bates vs The Post Office, PBS
- Unscripted: The Epic Battle for a Media Empire and the Redstone Family Legacy by Rachel Abrams and James B. Stewart
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This week's midweek podcast comes from our colleagues at the New Yorker Radio Hour:
On the Netflix reality-TV dating show “Love Is Blind,” contestants are alone in windowless, octagonal pods with no access to their phones or the Internet. They talk to each other through the walls. There’s intrigue, romance, heartbreak, and, in some cases, sight-unseen engagements. According to several lawsuits, there’s also lack of sleep, lack of food and water, twenty-hour work days, and alleged physical and emotional abuse. New Yorker staff writer Emily Nussbaum has been reporting on what these lawsuits reveal about the culture on the set of “Love Is Blind,” and a push for a new union to give reality-TV stars employee protections and rights. “The people who are on reality shows are a vulnerable class of people who are mistreated by the industry in ways that are made invisible to people, including to fans who love the shows,” Nussbaum tells NYRH host, David Remnick. Nussbaum’s forthcoming book is “Cue the Sun! The Invention of Reality TV.”
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This week, the Department of Justice accused one of the most influential right wing outlets of laundering tens of millions of dollars. On this week’s On the Media, a former reporter on his progression from defining the disinformation beat to running one of the most famous fake news outlets, The Onion. Plus, a satirical movement about birds illuminates the inner workings of conspiracies.
[01:09] Host Micah Loewinger interviews Ben Collins, newly minted shareholder and CEO of the satirical site The Onion, about how his background in disinformation reporting led him to his latest gig.
[18:03] Host Brooke Gladstone speaks with Ian Beacock about Birds Aren’t Real, a prank conspiracy theory that is itself a case study in how misinformation spreads.
[34:41] Lastly, Brooke interviews Annalee Newitz about their latest book, Stories Are Weapons: Psychological Warfare and the American Mind. They discuss how stories have long been spun as a means of controlling people — from the 18th century to today’s culture wars.
Further reading:
- “Trump, QAnon and an impending judgment day: Behind the Facebook-fueled rise of The Epoch Times,” by Brandy Zadrozny and Ben Collins
- “Birds Aren’t Real: The Prank That Turned Misinformation on Its Head,” by Ian Beacock
- Stories Are Weapons: Psychological Warfare and the American Mind by Annalee Newitz
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Something happened on the internet this week that was at once HUGE and also kind of a foregone conclusion. Jimmy Donaldson better known as Mr. Beast has been for many years basically the king of YouTube. But, as of this week, Mr Beast is now officially the most subscribed YouTuber in the world with 271 million followers at time of recording. His clickbaity game-show style videos, with their extravagant sets and giant payouts, have come to define this era of the site.
Remember Squid Game, the Korean Netflix sensation? That show got around 265 million views. Mr Beast’s “real life” Squid Game video got 616 million views.
That’s why he’s number 1. And there’s actually a very interesting history of jockeying for YouTube’s top spot. Mr. Beast has overtaken a giant Indian entertainment company, T-series (266 million subscribers) which had reigned unchallenged for years.
In 2019, Micah worked with Brooke on a piece about the last time a big Western YouTuber went head to head with T-series. Back then it was a guy who was sort of the Mr Beast of that time, a youtuber known as PewDiepie.
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When Donald J. Trump was found guilty on all counts in the hush money trial, some in the press were caught off guard. But the former president and conservative pundits primed for this result with a strategic messaging campaign. On this week’s On the Media, hear how Trump uses Truth Social to disseminate talking points to a web of right-wing influencers.
[01:10] Host Micah Loewinger analyzes the media coverage following the announcement of the verdict in Trump’s hush money trial and the ways that rightwing media had been primed to respond. He also interviews Sarah Ellison of the Washington Post about how a network of right-wing influencers amplify Donald Trump’s Truth Social posts, carrying their reach far beyond the platform.
[22:58] Micah speaks with Matthew Goldstein, business reporter at the New York Times, about the short, rocky history of Trump Media and how the company became the latest memestock.
[35:58] Lastly, host Brooke Gladstone interviews Lynsey Addario, an award-winning photojournalist who has covered humanitarian crises abroad for over two decades, about how accurately Alex Garland’s film “Civil War” depicts what it's like to report on violent conflict and her real-life experiences covering wars abroad.
Further reading:
- “How Trump’s allies amplify his Truth Social messages to the wider world,” by Sarah Ellison
- “How Donald Trump’s Financial Future Became Tied to Trump Media,” by Matthew Goldstein
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
Micah breaks down media hype about AI. According to Sam Harnett, a former tech reporter, journalists are repeating lazy tropes about the future of work that once boosted companies like Uber, Airbnb, and Fiverr. Plus, Julia Angwin, founder of Proof News, debunks fantastical claims by AI companies about their software. And Paris Marx, host of Tech Won’t Save Us, explains how AI leaders like Sam Altman use the press to lobby regulators and investors.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
A majority of Americans believe that the economy is in a recession even though it’s not. On this week’s On the Media, hear why there’s a mismatch between facts and feelings about the economy. Plus, how the outlandish claims of AI companies often go unchecked by the press.
[01:09] Host Micah Loewinger interviews Jeanna Smialek of The New York Times about whether the ‘vibecession’ is back and the factors that are shaping negative perceptions of the economy.
[14:41] Micah speaks with Gordon Hanson, economist at Harvard University’s Kennedy School, about how President Biden has adopted, and even escalated, former President Trump’s tariffs on China, and why the political narratives around tariffs don’t always match up with the economic realities.
[29:29] Lastly, Micah breaks down media hype about AI. According to Sam Harnett, a former tech reporter, journalists are repeating lazy tropes about the future of work that once boosted companies like Uber, Airbnb, and Fiverr. Plus, Julia Angwin, founder of Proof News, debunks fantastical claims by AI companies about their software. And Paris Marx, host of Tech Won’t Save Us, explains how AI leaders like Sam Altman use the press to lobby regulators and investors.
Further reading:
- “High Interest Rates Are Hitting Poorer Americans the Hardest,” by Ben Casselman and Jeanna Smialek
- “Washington’s New Trade Consensus,” by Gordon Hanson
- “How Tech Media Helped Write Gig Companies into Existence,” by Sam Harnett
- “Press Pause on the Silicon Valley Hype Machine,” by Julia Angwin
- “AI is Fueling a Data Center Boom. It Must Be Stopped," by Paris Marx
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Immigration consistently polls as one of the most important topics for voters. According to a recent Gallup poll immigration is the most polarizing issue of the last 25 years, with 48 percent of Republicans saying it’s the most important issue compared to just 8 percent of Democrats. This probably has something to do with the coverage of immigration in conservative media. And recently, right pundits have begun to focus on one of the most dangerous parts of a migrants’ journey north from South America.
In March, New York Times reporter Ken Bensinger reported a story from the Darien Gap in Panama, which was once thought to be too perilous to cross but which now sees thousands of migrants make their way through every month. For this week's podcast extra, we bring you a recent episode of the podcast What Next, hosted by our former WNYC colleague Mary Harris. Mary spoke to Ken Bensinger about the right wing media obsession with the Darien Gap.
Further reading / listening:
Right-Wing Influencers Descend on the Darien Gap On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
On this week’s On the Media we revisit another fraught moment in American democracy: the contested election between Al Gore and George W. Bush in 2000. Hear about the extraordinary legal battle that ensued, and what it can teach us about partisan politics today.
Leon Neyfakh, host of the podcast Fiasco, takes us back in time to witness how the Gore and Bush campaigns fought for recounts; how “chads” and “military ballots” became central to the contest; and the role of the so-called Brooks Brothers riot.
Further listening:
- Fiasco: Bush v Gore
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This week, President Biden announced major new tariffs on $18 billion worth of imports from China. The goods that will be affected include batteries, steel, aluminum, and semiconductors. Tariffs on electric vehicles will go up from
25 percent to 100 percent. These new tariffs signal a reversal from Biden’s messaging on tariffs during the 2020 campaign, and also a reversal of a decades-long consensus in Washington that lower tariffs are better for the American economy. To understand how we got here, Micah spoke with Gordon Hanson, an economist and a co-director of the Reimagining the Economy Project at Harvard University’s Kennedy School.
Further reading:
- Help for the Heartland? The Employment and Electoral Effects of the Trump Tariffs in the United States
- Washington’s New Trade Consensus
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
In reports about pro-Palestinian college encampments, comparisons to the anti-war demonstrations of 1968 abound. On this week’s On the Media, hear how historical analogies distract us from what makes today’s protests unique. Plus, a reporter debunks a theory that Bill Gates is somehow funding campus activism.
[01:09] Host Micah Loewinger speaks with Danielle K. Brown, a journalism professor at Michigan State university, about how coverage has detracted focus from students’ demands for universities to cut ties with Israel. Plus, Rick Perlstein, a columnist at The American Prospect, says reporters’ fondness for drawing parallels with 1968 has obscured the singularity of today’s encampments.
[16:54] Micah continues the conversation about pro-Palestinian protest coverage with Andrew Perez, senior politics editor at Rolling Stone. They explore the inaccurate reporting on “outside agitators” and funding sources of campus demonstrations.
[31:38] Micah speaks with Oren Persico, a staff writer at The Seventh Eye, about how current events like a potential Israeli invasion of Rafah and the ongoing Israel-Hamas ceasefire negotiations are being covered by Israeli media.
Further reading / listening:
- Media coverage of campus protests tends to focus on the spectacle, rather than the substance by Danielle K. Brown
- The New Anti-Antisemitism by Rick Perlstein
- ‘Politico’ Misses Mark in Story on Who’s Funding Pro-Palestine Protests Against Biden by Andrew Perez
- Will Israel shut down Al Jazeera by Oren Persico
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Last week, news broke that writer Paul Auster died from complications related to lung cancer. The New York Times called him “the patron saint of literary Brooklyn;” elsewhere he was dubbed "the dean of American postmodernists." He was the author of many novels such as The New York Trilogy, and he wrote screenplays, memoirs, and nonfiction, including Burning Boy: The Life and Work of Stephen Crane.
He was also a long-time friend of Brooke and her husband Fred Kaplan — they lived a few blocks away from each other in their Brooklyn neighborhood. In November of 2021, Paul Auster walked over to Brooke’s home studio to talk about Stephen Crane.
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When politicians publish their autobiographies, often they reveal more than intended. On this week’s On the Media, find out how one reporter sifts through political memoirs for truths about politicians and the people they lead. Plus, in vivid detail, a novelist imagines the private lives of former presidents.
[01:00] Host Brooke Gladstone speaks with Carlos Lozada, New York Times Opinion columnist and a co-host of the weekly “Matter of Opinion” podcast. Lozada explains how he mines political memoirs for deeper understanding of our political figures by examining what they include and what they omit.
[16:59] Brooke speaks with Vinson Cunningham, author of the new novel Great Expectations. Cunningham, who is now a theater critic at The New Yorker, worked on the 2008 Obama campaign and later in the White House. Great Expectations is inspired by that time in his life, and the difficult-to-read candidate for the presidency.
[35:19] Brooke interviews novelist Curtis Sittenfeld about her exploration of the minds of political figures through fiction, first in American Wife (inspired by Laura Bush) and next in Rodham, which considers what Hilary Clinton’s life would have looked like if she had never married Bill. They discuss the questions that led Sittenfeld to write those novels and why fiction based on real people makes readers so uncomfortable — especially the sex scenes.
Further reading:
- The Washington Book by Carlos Lozada
- Great Expectations by Vinson Cunningham
- American Wife and Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
Chinese science fiction has gone from a niche, underground genre to the country's hottest new export. On Saturday, at the 8th China Science Fiction Conference hosted in Beijing, an animated presenter unveiled graphs detailing the meteoric rise of the genre, claiming that China had raked in nearly $16 billion in revenue from its sci-fi industry in 2023. And in late March, an adaptation of one of China's biggest cultural exports, 'The Three Body Problem,' premiered on Netflix. The show, based on a book by Liu Cixin, follows a group of modern-day scientists battling an alien invasion, triggered by one cataclysmic decision made by an aggrieved physicist during the Cultural Revolution in China. The show garnered roughly 15.6 million views in its first week.
But the seed of this science fiction craze was first planted in 2008, with the publication of the book, which quickly became an unexpected global phenomenon. The book and its two sequels have exceeded the total sales of all literary works exported by China so far — thus piquing the interest of the Chinese government. For the midweek podcast, host Brooke Gladstone speaks with Jing Tsu, professor of East Asian Languages and Literatures & Comparative Literature at Yale, about the rise of science fiction in China as a soft power tool, the genre's complicated relationship with the Chinese government, and its evolution through the twentieth century.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
Trump is back in court for his hush money trial hearing, and his immunity case was argued at the Supreme Court. On this week’s On the Media, hear what gets lost in the blow-by-blow coverage of Trump’s legal woes. Plus, an essay from a former NPR editor has lawmakers calling to cut funding to the public radio network.
[01:10] Host Brooke Gladstone speaks with Dahlia Lithwick, who covers the courts for Slate and hosts the podcast Amicus, about her frustration with pundits' obsession with solving political problems involving Trump with the law.
[15:14] Host Micah Loewinger speaks with Kelly McBride, NPR’s public editor, about the push to ‘defund NPR’ sparked by a former NPR editor’s essay and whether his points have any salience.
[32:59] Brooke continues the conversation about NPR with Alicia Montgomery, vice president of audio at Slate and former editor at NPR. They explore the real problems brewing at the public radio network.
Further reading / listening:
- The Law Alone Cannot Curb Donald Trump’s Lawlessness
- The relentless focus on Gaza
- The Real Story Behind NPR’s Current Problems
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
Alex Garland's new film, 'Civil War,' debuted at no. 1 at the box office earlier this month, and follows four journalists on a road trip from New York City to D.C. in the midst of societal collapse. The beating heart of the film is Lee, a veteran photojournalist played by Kirsten Dunst, who's determined to interview the president as his administration is on the verge of collapse to rebel forces.
Lynsey Addario is an award-winning photojournalist who has covered humanitarian crises abroad for over two decades, including the ongoing war in Ukraine, and conflicts in the Middle East and Africa. For the midweek pod, Brooke Gladstone speaks with Addario about her real-life experience covering wars abroad, and how accurately the film depicts what it's like to report amidst a dangerous war.
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Former president Trump says he wants to make America pray again. On this week’s On the Media, hear how Christian nationalism is shaping American politics. Plus, what the new film Civil War has to say about the role of journalism when civilizing norms have broken down.
[01:08] Host Brooke Gladstone speaks with Matthew D. Taylor, scholar at the Institute for Islamic, Christian, & Jewish Studies in Baltimore and author of the forthcoming book, The Violent Take It by Force: The Christian Movement That Is Threatening Our Democracy. They discuss different strains of Christian nationalism — from the sentimental view of America as a Christian nation, to the desire to uphold Christian supremacy. Plus, how the phenomenon has shaped American politics for centuries.
[17:42] Brooke continues her conversation with Matthew D. Taylor. Taylor introduces Brooke to the world of independent charismatic Christianity and its media, where an extreme form of Christian nationalism has taken root. Plus, the Christian leaders who stoked violence on January 6th.
[35:27] Brooke speaks with Zack Beauchamp, senior correspondent at Vox, about Alex Garland’s new film Civil War, the power it derives from avoiding ideological warfare, and what it reveals about the role of journalism during complete civil collapse.
Further reading / listening:
- How the Alabama IVF Ruling Was Influenced by Christian Nationalism
- Christian Nationalism (Un)Defined
- “Civil War” has little to say about America — but a lot to say about war
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
April 19th, which is this Friday, marks an odd holiday known as Bicycle Day — the day, now 81 years ago, when Swiss scientist Albert Hofmann rode his bike home from work after dosing himself with his lab concoction, lysergic acid diethylamide, or LSD. The first acid trip.
Hofmann’s wobbly ride is what launches us into an exploration of a moment, when Ken Kesey, an evangelist of acid would emerge from a Menlo Park hospital lab, and plow through the nation’s gray flannel culture in a candy colored bus. Some know Kesey as the enigmatic author behind One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest — others, as the driving force in The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, Tom Wolfe’s seminal work in New Journalism. In honor of the 50th anniversary of the release of Acid Test, Brooke speaks with Wolfe and writer River Donaghey about how acid shaped Kesey, spawned the book and de-normalized American conformity.
Songs:
Holidays B by Ib Glindemann
Im Glück by Neu!
Apache '65 by Davie Allan and the Arrows
Selections from "The Acid Tests Reels" by The Merry Pranksters & The Grateful Dead
Alicia by Los Monstruos
The Days Between by The Grateful Dead (Live 6/24/95)
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
New York City’s alternative weekly newspaper, The Village Voice, birthed a generation of legendary writers. On this week’s On the Media, how the Voice transformed journalism and what’s being lost as alt-weeklies across the country die off. Plus, why the feds brought America’s most controversial alt-weekly mogul to court.
[02:17] Host Micah Loewinger speaks with Tricia Romano, author of The Freaks Came Out to Write, about the early days of The Village Voice, including one reporter’s mission to stop Robert Moses and its revolutionary music section.
[15:09] Micah continues his conversation with Tricia Romano, getting into the Voice’s sale to Rupert Murdoch, the tensions within the paper, and how Craigslist led to its ultimate demise.
[29:11] An alt-weekly mogul, Mike Lacey, became the Larry Flynt of the internet age. The hosts of the new Audible show Hold Fast conducted a series of interviews with Lacey to tell the story of the alt-weekly chain’s rise and fall.
Further reading / listening:
- The Freaks Came Out to Write: The Definitive History of the Village Voice, the Radical Paper That Changed American Culture
- Hold Fast: The Unadulterated Story of the World’s Most Scandalous Website
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
The Village Voice, founded in 1955, is widely credited as the first alternative weekly newspaper, or alt-weekly. The big show this week is all about the rise and fall of the alt-weekly—the type of off-beat, fearless publication that, once-upon-a-time, you could pick up on a street corner in cities across the country. For the mid-week podcast, Micah interviewed Tricia Romano, the author of a new oral history titled, The Freaks Came Out To Write: The Definitive History of the Village Voice, the Radical Paper that Changed American Culture. Their conversation about this legendary New York publication was wide-ranging, and too long for the radio. And too profane for the radio. So we’re bringing you a longer, uncensored version here. Don’t listen to this one with kids.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
President Joe Biden is calling for a ceasefire in Gaza as famine looms. On this week’s On the Media, hear how warring media narratives have jeopardized UNRWA, the largest humanitarian aid organization in the region. Plus, what the explosion in sports gambling means for the future of sports journalism.
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Mehul Srivastava [@MehulAtLarge], Financial Times correspondent, and Chris Van Hollen [@ChrisVanHollen], US Senator from Maryland, on the warring media narratives around UNRWA. Listen.
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Lex Takkenberg [@LTakkenberg], humanitarian law expert and a former Chief of Ethics for UNRWA, on the lessons to be learned from the agency's founding and its predecessor, the United Nations Conciliation Commission for Palestine. Listen.
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OTM producer Rebecca Clark-Callender [@Rebecca_CC_] explores how sports media and the gambling industry's relationship keeps evolving, featuring: Brian Moritz [@bpmoritz], sports media scholar at St. Bonaventure University, Danny Funt [@dannyfunt], reporter and contributor to the Washington Post, and Albert Chen, author of Billion Dollar Fantasy: The High-Stakes Game Between FanDuel and DraftKings That Upended Sports in America. Listen.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
With his cool rhymes and even cooler clothes, Basketball Hall of Famer Walt "Clyde" Frazier made a successful transition from NBA star to sports broadcaster on the MSG Network. Frazier sat down with Brooke back in 2012 for a live event to discuss basketball, broadcasting, and the art of being cool. We're re-airing it now because a) it was Mr. Frazier's birthday this week! and b) we're in a sporting mood — we have a big piece in the hopper for this week's show all about sports betting, reported by OTM producer Rebecca Clark-Callender.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
Following the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, conspiracy theories proliferated. On this week’s On the Media, hear how memes and misinformation obscure the real causes of tragedies, from bridges to planes. Plus, what Ronna McDaniel’s hiring and firing from NBC News tells us about the revolving door from politics to tv news.
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David Gilbert [@daithaigilbert], reporter for Wired covering disinformation, and Katya Schwenk [@ktyschwnk], reporter at The Lever, on why disasters are fertile ground for conspiracy theories, which obfuscate real quality control issues. Listen.
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Michael Socolow [@MichaelSocolow], media historian at the University of Maine, on the history of the revolving door between politics and news.
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Calvin Trillin, contributor at The New Yorker, on his career and his latest book, The Lede: Dispatches from a Life in the Press. Listen.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
Beyoncé’s new album, Cowboy Carter, comes out on Friday — and the record has already sparked plenty of conversation about race and the country music genre. This week, we're sharing an episode from our friends at the podcast Today, Explained from Vox media, on this very topic. Hear co-host Noel King take a journey through the history of black musicians making country music, and more.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
Donald Trump said if he isn’t elected there will be a bloodbath. Or did he? On this week’s On the Media, how to understand the GOP nominee’s double speak, eight years into his political career. Plus, a deep dive into Russia’s latest disinformation invention– journalists that don’t really exist. And, life in Russia-occupied Ukraine.
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Jennifer Mercieca [@jenmercieca], professor at Texas A&M University, on how Trump's rhetoric has intensified. Listen.
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Steven Lee Myers [@stevenleemyers], disinformation reporter at The New York Times, explains how Russia is creating fake journalists and fake stories to sow animus against Ukraine. Listen.
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Shaun Walker [@shaunwalker7], central and eastern Europe correspondent at The Guardian, on Russian propaganda and re-education in occupied regions of Ukraine. Listen.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
On Wednesday, March 29 2023, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich was detained by the FSB, Russia's security service, and charged with espionage. It was the first time that an American journalist in Russia has been charged with espionage, which carries a potential 20-year prison sentence, since the Cold War. OTM producer Molly Schwartz spoke to Valerie Hopkins, international correspondent for The New York Times, Gordon Fairclough, World Coverage Chief for The Wall Street Journal, Gulnoza Said, the Europe and Central Asia program coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), and Dan Storyev and Maria Kuznetsova from OVD-Info, a Russian human rights group, about how the Kremlin is using Gershkovich as a pawn in a game of hostage diplomacy.
This is a segment from our April 14, 2023, show Inside Russia's Crackdown on Journalists. The email address mentioned at the end of this piece where people can write Evan Gershkovich letters in prison is freegershkovich@gmail.com.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
Recently, the House passed a bill that could ban TikTok from the US unless the app’s Chinese owners divest. On this week’s On the Media, hear how the bill will likely fail to live up to its promise. Plus, a pulse-check on the book-banning movement, and a look into the larger mission behind Moms for Liberty.
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Julia Angwin [@JuliaAngwin], opinion writer for The New York Time and founder of the new outlet Proof News, on why this TikTok legislation won't do what lawmakers claim it will. Listen.
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Adam Laats [@AdamLaats], professor of education and history at Binghamton University, on the long history leading to Moms For Liberty. Listen.
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Jennifer Berkshire [@BisforBerkshire], lecturer at Yale’s Education Studies Department, on why Moms for Liberty election losses are not a reason to ignore the group's power. Listen.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
Writer Calvin Trillin joined The New Yorker in 1963, and he continues to contribute today. Trillin’s trademark humility and humor show up in all of his writing, whether it’s a story about the invention of the buffalo chicken wing, or the civil rights movement, or an old ditty about our political woes. Brooke recently sat down with him to discuss his career and his latest book, The Lede: Dispatches from a Life in the Press.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
Donald Trump recently held a meeting with Elon Musk, the owner of the site formerly known as Twitter. On this week’s On the Media, hear how the significance of the social media platform has changed as fewer people tune into traditional right-wing media. Plus, a deep dive on terms like “colonialism” and “decolonization,” and what they mean in the context of Israel-Palestine.
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Philip Bump [@pbump], columnist for the Washington Post, on what Donald Trump might want from an allegiance with Elon Musk. Listen.
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Iyad el-Baghdadi [@iyad_elbaghdadi], human rights activist, writer, and co-author of “The Middle East Crisis Factory,” on why the words we use to describe the war in Gaza should be clear and precise. Listen.
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Valerie Hopkins [@VALERIEinNYT], an international correspondent at the New York Times covering Russia, on the growing intensity of Putin's crackdown on dissent in Russia, and Mstyslav Chernov [@mstyslavchernov], on his now Oscar-nominated documentary depicting the early days of Russia's siege on Ukraine. Listen.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
Few clichés are as well-worn, and grounded in reality, as the dread many Americans feel towards doing their taxes and the loathing they have for the IRS. But as much as the process is despised, relatively little is known about how it could be improved. Reporter Jessica Huseman said that's largely because tax prep companies keep it that way. Brooke spoke to Huseman in 2017 about what an improved system might look like and how tax prep companies work to thwart any such changes.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
A Palestinian-American college student was shot in Vermont last fall. On this week’s On the Media, he reflects on the explosive media attention he’s received. Plus, what the data says about allegations of biased media coverage of Israel and Palestine, and former MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan explains his approach to covering the war.
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Suzanne Gaber [@SuzanneGaber], producer at Notes from America, speaks with Hisham Awartani, a Palestinian-American college student, about the explosive media attention he received after he was shot in Vermont last fall. Listen.
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William Youmans [@wyoumans], professor of Media and Public Affairs at George Washington University, and Mona Chalabi [@MonaChalabi], data journalist and illustrator, on the allegations of biased media coverage about Israel and Palestine and what data reveals. Listen.
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Mehdi Hasan [@mehdirhasan], former MSNBC host and CEO of the new media company Zeteo, on his approach to covering Gaza, and his goal of making his audience care about news beyond the borders of the US. Listen.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
In February, Donald Trump praised Russia for being a "war machine" and said that Russia should “do whatever the hell they want” to NATO allies that do not contribute enough to the military alliance. Far-right figures like Nick Fuentes, who referred to Vladimir Putin as "my Czar," have also shown support for the Russian president and his war on Ukraine. And while more mainstream Republican pundits like Tucker Carlson have walked back past praise for Putin, the American far-right's obsession with Russia goes back almost two decades.
Brooke sat down with Casey Michel, writer and investigative journalist, to discuss why white nationalists like David Duke, Richard Spencer, and Matthew Heimbach have long since looked to Putin's Russia as inspiration for their far-right movements in this country, and why Putin's attempts to create a nationalist Christian ethnostate serve as their model.
This segment originally aired on our March 4th, 2022 program, The Fog of War.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
An Alabama Supreme Court ruling on frozen embryos threatens fertility treatments across the state. On this week’s On the Media, hear how a particular branch of Christian nationalism influenced one justice’s decision. Plus, how film adaptations of books have come to dominate our screens.
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Matthew D. Taylor [@TaylorMatthewD], senior scholar at the Institute for Islamic, Christian, & Jewish Studies, on how a particular strain of Christian Nationalism, once on the fringe of America’s religious landscape, is slowly emerging as a political force. Listen.
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Alexander Manshel [@XanderManshel], assistant professor of English at McGill University and author of Writing Backwards: Historical Fiction and the Reshaping of the American Canon, on how literary prizes have changed over the last few decades, and how much they actually matter. Listen.
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Cord Jefferson [@cordjefferson], writer and director of the new film American Fiction, on his movie's critique of Hollywood and the process of adapting a novel for the screen. Listen.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
Russia's jailed opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, has died in prison. Navalny had been living behind bars since shortly after landing in Moscow in January of 2021. He had been returning home following months of recovery in Europe, after he fell violently sick on a flight between Siberia and Moscow.
In the months following Navalny’s poisoning, Christo Grozev, former lead Russia investigator at Bellingcat, was stuck in Vienna with filmmaker Daniel Roher. The two had just been booted from Ukraine, where they had been trying to film an investigation. Grozev suddenly had a lot of time on his hands, a laptop, and a fresh stack of data from the Russian black market so naturally he began to investigate who was behind the poisoning.
Daniel Roher directed the documentary “Navalny,” which portrays the story of the close collaboration between Navalny, his team, and Grozev, in the hunt for the dissident’s would-be killers. Last year, Brooke spoke to Roher and Grozev about the making of the documentary, which won the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature.
This is a segment from our February 10, 2023 show, Hide and Seek.
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Coverage of President Joe Biden’s age has reached a fever pitch. On this week’s On the Media, hear whether the quality of the reports has matched their volume. Plus, meet Bobi Wine, a pop star and opposition politician who is fighting for democracy in Uganda.
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Judd Legum [@JuddLegum], founder of the newsletter Popular Information, Charan Ranganath [@CharanRanganath], a neuroscientist at UC Davis and author of the forthcoming book, Why We Remember: Unlocking Memory’s Power to Hold on to What Matters, and Jack Shafer [@jackshafer], senior media critic at Politico, on the flood of coverage around Biden's age following the release of the Hur report last week and the consequences of the media's minute focus on it. Listen.
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Lili Loofbourow [@Millicentsomer], television critic at the Washington Post, on Jon Stewart's return to The Daily Show after nine years, and whether the unique form of political comedy he pioneered still holds up in today's drastically different political landscape. Listen.
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Bobi Wine [@HEBobiwine] and Moses Bwayo [@bwayomoses], co-director of the new Oscar-nominated documentary Bobi Wine: The People's President, on the journey of Wine, a popstar-turned-politician, who has used his music as a platform to fight for democracy in Uganda. Listen.
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Last week we learned that ousted Fox blowhard Tucker Carlson had gone to Russia. He was spotted eating fake McDonalds and watching a ballet at the Bolshoi theater. But Tucker was there for more important things than fast food and culture; he was there for a sit down with President Putin. Carlson was mainly silent as Putin delivered an almost 40 minute long speech on the history of how Ukraine belongs to Russia.
But the myths in Putin's and Russia's state-sponsored version of history are not new. Last summer Brooke spoke to Mikhail Zygar who had traced it back at least as far as the middle ages.
This is a segment from our August 4, 2023 show, Making History.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
In December, the New York Times sued OpenAI for allegedly using the paper’s articles to train chatbots. On this week’s On the Media, a look at how media outlets are trying to survive in this era of generative AI. Plus, why New York’s oldest Black newspaper is joining forces with an AI startup to address biases in the technology.
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Kate Knibbs [@Knibbs], senior writer at Wired, on AI clickbait flooding the internet. Listen.
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John Herrman [@jwherrman], tech columnist for New York Magazine, on the love-hate relationship between AI companies and journalism. Listen.
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Elinor Tatum [@elinortatum], editor in chief of The New York Amsterdam News, on a push to make AI technology and data diverse. Listen.
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Abbie Richards [@abbieasr], misinformation researcher and a senior video producer at Media Matters, on the AI-generated conspiracy theories multiplying TikTok. Listen.
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Naomi Klein has been confused for writer Naomi Wolf for much of her career. Wolf rose to prominence with the book The Beauty Myth in the 90s, establishing herself as a bestselling feminist, liberal writer. Klein, on the other hand, wrote acclaimed critiques of capitalism such as No Logo and The Shock Doctrine. To say Klein is often mistaken for Wolf is an understatement. In the interview she did just before ours, a TV host mistakenly called her by Wolf's name. The confusion is incessant on social media, and escalated when Wolf became notorious as a peddler of covid-19 conspiracies. A few weeks ago, Wolf discovered that a fellow anti-vaxxer was spreading a conspiracy theory, this time about her.
Ultimately, Klein decided to plunge down the rabbit hole to follow Wolf, and emerged with a new book Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World, a wide-ranging exploration of doubling in our lives, culture, and politics. Brooke speaks to Klein about how social media has given all of us doppelgangers; why she's proud of her "bad" personal brand; and the value of "unselfing."
This segment first aired in our September 15, 2023 show, The “Too Old” President and Political Doppelgängers.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott has threatened to defy the federal government’s control over the border as the surge of migrants continues. On this week’s On the Media, a look at what might be a brewing constitutional crisis. Plus, hear MSNBC’s Chris Hayes make a case for why journalists should be paying even closer attention to Donald Trump.
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Adam Serwer [@AdamSerwer], staff writer at The Atlantic, on the humanitarian and constitutional crisis at the Texas border. Listen.
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Jonathan Blitzer [@JonathanBlitzer], staff writer at The New Yorker, on what the media misses when it covers immigration. Plus, how and why U.S. immigration changed in the 21st century.
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Chris Hayes [@chrislhayes], host of “All In with Chris Hayes” on MSNBC, on reasons why the media should re-up their focus on Donald Trump. Listen.
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In Micah Loewinger's introduction to this interview, he shared this personal anecdote:
"Before I landed a job at this show, I worked for a few years, on and off, at a couple record stores around New York City. And some of my favorite albums to this day, were recommended to me by my coworkers. Men and women who I consider to be archivists –– not just of old formats like vinyl records, CDs, and cassettes –– but of underappreciated artists and niche genres. A knowledge of music history that can only come from a lifetime of obsessive listening, research, and curation.
Nowadays, I pay for Spotify. I try to learn about music off the app and then save it for later listening on Spotify, but sometimes I find myself just letting its recommendation algorithm queue up the next track, and the next. And it definitely works. Spotify has helped me discover great music, but it’s never been as revelatory as a personal recommendation from a friend or an expert at a record store or an independent radio station.
This feeling … that I’ve traded convenience for something deeper is what made me want to read Filterworld: How Algorithms Flattened Culture by Kyle Chayka, a staff writer at the New Yorker."
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
After New Hampshire and Iowa, the GOP field is narrowing to Donald Trump's benefit once again. On this week’s On the Media, hear how Florida governor Ron DeSantis went from right-wing media darling to the party outcast. Plus, what gets lost in the blow-by-blow coverage of Trump’s legal woes.
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Nick Nehamas [@NickNehamas], politics reporter for the New York Times, Mary Ellen Klas [@MaryEllenKlas], opinion writer at Bloomberg and former capital bureau chief for the Miami Herald, and Tom Scocca [@tomscocca], creator of the Indignity newsletter, on the rise and fall of Ron DeSantis' presidential campaign, and the lessons it offers about how to cover elections. Listen.
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Dahlia Lithwick [@Dahlialithwick], lawyer and writer at Slate, on how our legal system isn't designed to save our democracy, and what's wrong with mainstream media's coverage of Trump's trials. Listen.
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Zach Woods, actor known for his role of Gabe Lewis on The Office, and Brandon Gardner [@BrandonJGardner], improviser and writer, on their new Peacock show, In the Know, which parodies public radio, and reflects our current culture wars. Listen.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
This week we're featuring the work of our colleagues at WNYC:
Valerie Reyes-Jimenez called it “The Monster.” That’s how some people described HIV and AIDS in the 1980s. Valerie thinks as many as 75 people from her block on New York City’s Lower East Side died. They were succumbing to an illness that was not recognized as the same virus that was killing young, white, gay men just across town in the West Village.
At the same time, in Washington, D.C., Gil Gerald, a Black LGBTQ+ activist, saw his own friends and colleagues begin to disappear, dying out of sight and largely ignored by the wider world.
In our first episode of Blindspot: The Plague in the Shadows, we learn how HIV and AIDS was misunderstood from the start — and how this would shape the reactions of governments, the medical establishment and numerous communities for years to come.
You can listen to more of Blindspot: The Plague in the Shadows by subscribing here. New episodes come out on Thursdays.
Blindspot is a co-production of The HISTORY® Channel and WNYC Studios, in collaboration with The Nation Magazine.
A companion photography exhibit by Kia LaBeija featuring portraits from the series is on view through March 11 at The Greene Space at WNYC. The photography for Blindspot was supported by a grant from the Economic Hardship Reporting Project, a nonprofit organization that promotes coverage of social inequality and economic justice.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
This year has had a rocky start for journalism. The Baltimore Sun changed hands again, and layoffs loom at the LA Times. On this week’s On the Media, hear how private investment firms broke local news. Meanwhile, nonprofit publications try to repair the damage. Plus, a music critic reflects on the job cuts at Pitchfork and the power of the album review.
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Margot Susca [@MargotSusca], assistant professor of journalism, accountability, and democracy at American University and author of "Hedged: How Private Investment Funds Helped Destroy American Newspapers and Undermine Democracy," on the tactics used by private equity firms and hedge funds to reshape local news. Listen.
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Milton Kent [@SportsAtLarge], professor of practice in the School of Global Journalism and Communication at Morgan State University, and Liz Bowie [@lizbowie], education reporter for The Baltimore Banner and former reporter for The Baltimore Sun, on the purchase of The Baltimore Sun by David Smith, the executive chairman of Sinclair Broadcast Group, and what it means for Baltimore's local news landscape. Listen.
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Ann Powers [@annkpowers], critic and correspondent for NPR Music, on Condé Nast's gutting of the influential music publication Pitchfork, and what this means for the future of music journalism. Listen.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
EXTENDED VERSION; Nightmarish images of destruction in Gaza have filled the news and social media feeds for months. But within Israel, mainstream media outlets tell a very different story. This week, Micah Loewinger speaks with Oren Persico, a staff writer at The Seventh Eye, an independent investigative magazine focused on media and freedom of speech in Israel, about the Israeli media landscape in the months following October 7th, and the "dome of disconnection" it created.
This is a segment from our January 12th, 2024 show, Israeli TV News Sanitizes the Bombing of Gaza. Plus, a Plagiarism Fight Gets Political.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
The conflict in the Middle East has already killed tens of thousands of Palestinians. On this week’s On the Media, hear how Israeli media outlets are broadcasting a sanitized version of what's happening in Gaza to the Israeli people. Plus, how one billionaire is going after the media for an article about plagiarism.
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Oren Persico [@OrenPersico], staff writer at The Seventh Eye, an independent investigative magazine focused on freedom of speech in Israel, on how Israeli mainstream media outlets are sanitizing the destruction in Gaza. Listen.
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Will Sommer [@willsommer], media reporter at The Washington Post, on how fights over plagiarism have become a political tool. Listen.
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Masha Gessen [@mashagessen], staff writer at The New Yorker, on how the politics of memory around the Holocaust damages our ability to understand the conflict in Gaza and Israel. Listen.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
50 years ago ABBA won the contest for the song Waterloo.
Recently Brooke's old friend Charlie asked her to take part in a new podcast born of his love of and obsession with Eurovision, an international song contest organized annually by the European Broadcasting Union, or EBU, with reps from some 70 countries!
This week's midweek podcast is episode three of the new series "Mysteries of the Euroverse," hosted by Charlie Sohne and Magnus Riise.
On Instagram: @euroversepodcast
On YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6GlG8M6PKJOxfx5vk9jRiA
www.euroversepodcast.com
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
Daniel Ellsberg, the famed whistleblower who leaked the Pentagon Papers to the Washington Post, died six months ago. On this week’s On the Media, hear about his life, how the Pentagon Papers made it to print, and the impact he had on generations of whistleblowers. Plus, the women who covered the War in Vietnam.
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Tom Devine, legal director for the Government Accountability Project, on Daniel Ellsberg's legacy and the ways he changed public perception of whistleblowers in the U.S. Listen.
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Les Gelb, former columnist and former Defense Department official, on his experience leading the team that wrote the Pentagon Papers, subject of the Hollywood drama, "The Post." Listen.
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Seymour Hersh, on how he broke the story of My Lai — the massacre now regarded as the single most notorious atrocity of the Vietnam war. Listen.
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Reporters Kate Webb, Jurate Kazickas [@juratekazickas], and Laura Palmer on how they covered the Vietnam War and why they went. Listen.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
On February 23, 1972, oral arguments began in the Supreme Court for a case that would shape the course of journalism. In the case known as “Branzburg v. Hayes,” the arguments rolled together three related cases that explored the reporter's privilege to protect confidential sources in the face of a legal investigation. The most important of these three cases was United States v. Caldwell. Earl Caldwell was a New York Times reporter who covered the civil rights movement in the late 1960s and early 1970s, including the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and activities of the Black Panther Party. Caldwell was approached multiple times by the FBI to give up sources and additional details surrounding his coverage of the Black Panther Party. OTM host Micah Loewinger mined oral history interviews with Earl Caldwell and spoke with Lee Levine, an attorney and media law expert who is writing a book about Earl Caldwell, to learn about legal precedents for journalists being called on to testify in federal investigations, the limits of First Amendment privileges for the press, and the sometimes tenuous relationship between journalists and the government.
Special thanks to the Maynard Institute For Journalism Education for allowing us to use its Earl Caldwell oral history.
This segment originally aired in our May 26, 2023 show, Seditious Conspiracy.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
And just like that, the year is coming to a close. On this episode of On the Media, hear about the challenges that await journalists in the upcoming election in 2024. Plus, what reporters uncovered about our courts this year. And, a look back at one of the deadliest years for journalists in recent memory, in large part due to the Israel-Hamas war. With excerpts from:
- Inside CNN's Turbulent Year
- E. Jean Carroll and the Progress of #MeToo
- The Press Is Still Failing to Responsibly Cover the GOP and Trump
- What Media Coverage of Trump’s Movement is Missing
- CNN's Impossible Dilemma
- Naomi Klein Isn't the Only One With a Doppelganger
- We Don't Talk About Leonard: Episode 2
- Clarence Thomas' Unshaken Belief in Big Money
- The Supreme Court is in Crisis. Here's How the Press Should Cover It.
- Reporting on Russia's War in Exile
- The Arrest of Journalist Evan Gershkovich
- The Deadly Toll of Reporting From Gaza and Israel
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
During this holiday season, you likely encountered public nativity scenes depicting the birth of Jesus, presenting the family with very rare exceptions as white. And the same can be said of his ubiquitous adult portrait –– with fair skin and hair a radiant gold, eyes fixed on the middle distance. In this segment from 2020, Eloise talks to Mbiyu Chui, pastor at the Shrine of the Black Madonna in Detroit, about unlearning Jesus's whiteness. She also hears from Edward Blum, author of The Color of Christ: The Son of God and the Saga of Race in America, about how the image came dominate in the U.S., and psychologist Simon Howard on how White Jesus has infiltrated our subconsciouses. Lastly, Eloise speaks to Rev. Kelly Brown Douglas, womanist theologian and Dean of the Episcopal Divinity School at Union Theological Seminary, about the theology of the Black Christ.
This is segment first aired in our October 1st, 2020 program, God Bless.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
In the run up to the 2024 election, polls are frontpage news. On this week’s On the Media, a guide on which polls to pay attention to, and how to interpret them. Plus, hear about a growing segment of the population: news avoiders. What they can teach us, and what they're missing out on. And, a look at changing expectations of truth in comedy — from Lenny Bruce to Hasan Minhaj.
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Ruth Igielnik [@RuthIgielnik] on the limitations of polls, and the insights we can draw from them leading up to the 2024 election cycle. Listen.
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Benjamin Toff [@BenjaminToff] on the rise of news avoiders, and what they're missing. Listen.
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Jesse David Fox [@JesseDavidFox] on the Hasan Minhaj scandal, and what it reveals about the relationship between truth and comedy. Listen.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
This holiday season, book store displays — and Christmas stockings — will be filled with novels minted with gold and silver medals. Those gilded stamps denote recognition by literary prizes like the National Book Award, which was announced just last month. Alexander Manshel is the author of Writing Backwards: Historical Fiction and the Reshaping of the American Canon. With Melanie Walsh, he recently wrote a piece about how literary prizes have changed over the past few decades, leading to the recognition of more authors of color, for one. This week, Brooke asks Manshel how much these prizes actually matter. And according to another study he co-authored (with J.D. Porter and Laura B. McGrath, titled "Who Cares About Literary Prizes?"), the influence of literary awards is undeniable...
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
An unprecedented deal on transitioning away from fossil fuels was struck at the United Nations’ COP 28 summit, but many scientists say the timeline is too slow. On this week’s On the Media, hear how climate denialism is being replaced by the increasingly popular climate delayism. Plus, a pulse check on the book-banning movement.
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Tim McDonnell [@timmcdonnell], energy and climate editor for Semafor, and Michael Mann [@MichaelEMann], climate scientist and geophysicist at the University of Pennsylvania, on the deal made at COP 28, and how climate denialism has turned to "delayism." Listen.
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Adam Laats [@AdamLaats], professor of education and history at Binghamton University, on the long history leading to Moms For Liberty. Listen.
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Jennifer Berkshire [@BisforBerkshire], lecturer at Yale’s Education Studies Department, on why Moms for Liberty election losses are not a reason to ignore the group's power. Listen.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
Norman lear the veteran writer and producer behind such hit TV shows as All in the Family and The Jeffersons, died last week at the age of 101. Back in 2015, Anna Sale, host of the podcast Death, Sex and Money interviewed Lear at his luxury apartment in Manhattan. He told Anna he wanted to make sure his kids would never be "desperate for a dollar" — but what "desperate" meant has fluctuated along the way. "I guess now it’s 60 billion," he deadpanned, adding, "That’s a joke."
Lear's own childhood had a degree of desperation: When Lear was nine, his father, Herman, was sent to jail for selling fake bonds. Lear's mother scrambled to make ends meet. "My mother tried to warn him," he said. "But nobody ever told Herman anything." When his father returned from prison three years later, tensions remained high. "I used to sit at the kitchen table and I would score their arguments," he says of his parents. "I would give her points for this, him points for that, as a way of coping with it."
Lear has been married three times, and has six kids — ranging in age from 28 to 77. That range of ages has presented its own challenges. "My middle daughter was ... hoping, wishing, trying to be pregnant," he says. "And her dad is suddenly married to a younger woman, and in a year’s time or less, she’s pregnant. That was not an easy time."
He spoke about the lessons he’s continued to learn over the years, how he’s managed to bring his family closer together despite their differences, and what he’s anticipating for the final stage of his life.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
This holiday season, media outlets across the country are raising the alarm about an apparent crisis in retail crime. On this week’s On the Media, how the data about shoplifting don’t back up the alarmist coverage. Plus, the cost and consequences of media outlets turning to AI to generate stories.
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Daphne Howland [@daphnehowland], senior reporter at Retail Dive, traces how one baseless data point about retail crime spread unquestioned in media. Listen.
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Nicole Lewis, engagement editor at The Marshall Project, digs into the data that supposedly proves a shoplifting crisis. Listen.
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Jeff Asher [@Crimealytics], co-founder of AH Datalytics, explains why perception of crime is often out of step with reality. Listen.
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Jay Allred [@jayallred651], CEO of Source Media Properties, explains how a collaboration with Gannett and a non-generative AI model went wrong. Listen.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
This month marks the anniversary of when most of us first heard about George Santos and his ever-expanding list of lies from a New York Times report published after the midterm election, but a local newspaper called the North Shore Leader was sounding the alarm months before. The New Yorker staff writer Clare Malone took a trip to Long Island to speak with the Leader’s publisher, Grant Lally, and its managing editor, Maureen Daly, to find out how the story began. “We heard story after story after story about him doing bizarre things,” Lally told her. “He was so well known, at least in the more active political circles, to be a liar, that by early summer he was already being called George Scamtos.” Lally explains how redistricting drama in New York State turned Santos from a “sacrificial” candidate—to whom no one was paying attention—to a front-runner. At the same time, Malone thinks, “the oddly permissive structure that the Republican Party has created for candidates on a gamut of issues” enabled his penchant for fabrication. “[There’s] lots of crazy stuff that’s popped up in politics over the past few years. I think maybe Santos thought, Eh, who’s gonna check?”
This story first ran on the New Yorker Radio Hour in January of this year.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
After a seven-day ceasefire, fighting has resumed in Gaza. On this week’s On the Media, how the word “genocide” entered discussions of the Israel-Hamas conflict, and the legal implications of the term. Plus, why boardroom drama at the tech company OpenAI received so much media coverage.
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Ernesto Verdeja [@ErnestoVerdeja], executive director of the Institute For The Study of Genocide at the University of Notre Dame, on the debate and legal implications surrounding the charge of "genocide." Listen.
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Max Read [@readmaxread], journalist and writer of the "Read Max" newsletter, on why internal theatrics at OpenAI's made so many headlines. Listen.
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Deepa Seetharaman [@dseetharaman], reporter covering artificial intelligence for the Wall Street Journal, on the journey of "effective altruism" from the halls of Oxford University to the boardrooms of Silicon Valley. Listen.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
In his Veteran’s day speech a couple of weeks ago former President Donald Trump said this about his political enemies;
TRUMP: the threat from outside forces is far less sinister, dangerous and grave than the threat from within. We pledge to you that we will root out the communists, Marxists, fascists and the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country.
Jeff Sharlet, author of The Undertow: Scenes from a Slow Civil War, argues that Trump's narratives of martyrdom, a persecuted in-group, a mysterious out-group, and a rhetoric of violence are all hallmarks of fascism. Brooke spoke with Sharlet in June about what the rhetoric, aesthetics, and myth-making of Trump and the movement he rode to power can tell us about a rising fascist movement in the United States, and why Sharlet argues we're in the midst of a slow civil war.
This is a segment from our June 16, 2023 show, Indicted (Again).
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
This year has seen record layoffs in the media industry, with some digital news giants closing down altogether. On this week’s On the Media, hear how The New York Times became a profitable powerhouse at a time when other outlets are struggling to survive. Plus, instead of reaching for top profits, some new publications have opted for a humbler mission: survival.
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Ben Smith [@semaforben], editor-in-chief and co-founder of Semafor, on what went wrong for BuzzFeed News, and why digital media is splintering. Listen.
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Micah Loewinger [@MicahLoewinger] examines why The New York Times is expanding, and thriving, even amongst record layoffs at other media outlets. Listen.
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Micah Loewinger [@MicahLoewinger] takes a look at a growing cohort of new outlets around the US trying to wrestle journalism away from big capital through a co-operative business model. Listen.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
In September, The New Yorker published an article by Clare Malone titled “Hasan Minhaj’s Emotional Truths,” fact-checking moments from the comedian’s stand up specials. The article reportedly cost Minhaj the hosting gig for The Daily Show, and Minhaj posted a lengthy Youtube video responding to its claims. The New Yorker has stood behind its story, even after Minhaj called it misleading. The scandal, which has been covered by almost every major news outlet, brings into question what audiences expect from comedians — especially ones who do Jon-Stewart-style political commentary.
This week, Brooke speaks to Jesse David Fox, author of Comedy Book: How Comedy Conquered Culture and the Magic That Makes It Work, about why the saga provoked such a strong reaction. Plus, Fox explains the changing role of truth in comedy: from the authentic acts of Lenny Bruce and Richard Pryor, to the vulnerability of Tig Notaro. Fox also notes that the fall from grace of Louis C.K., who pre-#MeToo was often proclaimed the "most honest" comedian, informs the rise of the hyper-performative, absurdist comedy of John Early and Kate Berlant.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
President Joe Biden and Xi Jinping just recently met face-to-face for the first time in a year. On this week’s On the Media, a look at why Chinese state media released glowing content about the U-S leading up to the summit. Plus, the rise and fall of the online feminist publication Jezebel.
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Daniel Sneider [@DCSneider], lecturer in East Asian Studies and international policy at Stanford University, on what the media made of President Biden's meeting with President Xi Jinping. Listen.
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Drew Harwell [@drewharwell], tech reporter for The Washington Post, on TikTok's place in the Israel-Hamas war. Listen.
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Anna Holmes [@AnnaHolmes], founding editor of Jezebel, on the birth, life, and death of a website devoted to women. Listen.
Music from this week's show:
It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas - Avalon
Skylark - Anita O’Day
What's That Sound - Michael Andrews
Jesusland - Ben Folds
Tilliboyo - Kronos Quartet
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
As we've discussed on the show at length, most recently with Cory Doctorow in our series The Enshittification of Everything, Amazon has slowly been inserting itself into seemingly every facet of our lives. All the while using its status as a monopoly in the market to squash competition, take advantage of its users and skew prices for everyone. At the end of our series Doctorow described how he has hope in among other people, Lina Khan, the chair of the Federal Trade Commission.
Says Khan; “Amazon has actually quietly been hiking prices for consumers in ways that are not always clearly visible but at the end of the day can result in consumers paying billions of dollars more than they would if there was actually competition in the market.”
In this midweek episode, we are airing a conversation our colleague and host of the New Yorker Radio Hour, David Remnick had with Lina Khan about her plan to sue Amazon for violating antitrust laws.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
Donald Trump was out of sight at the GOP presidential primary debate – but definitely not out of mind. On this week’s On the Media, a look at how the press is covering the former president and his threats against democracy. Plus, a deep dive into the meteoric rise and stumble of the podcast industry.
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Dan Froomkin [@froomkin], editor of presswatchers.org, on how the press is failing the public in covering Donald Trump in this moment. Listen.
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OTM Producer Molly Rosen [@mollyfication] with Kevin Marks [@kevinmarks], a software engineer who wrote the first script that downloaded "audio blogs" onto iTunes, and Rob Walch, VP of Podcaster Relations at Libsyn, on Apple's power over podcasts. Listen.
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Micah Loewinger [@MicahLoewinger] takes stock of how we got to this moment in podcasting and the role public radio stations will play in the future, feat: Alex Sujong Laughlin [@alexlaughs], supervising producer and co-owner at Defector Media, Anna Sale [@annasale] host of Death, Sex & Money, Felix Salmon [@felixsalmon], host of Slate Money, and Nick Quah [@nwquah], podcast critic for Vulture and New York Magazine. Listen.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
Last week on the show, Brooke spoke to two writers about new wrinkles in the now 6-year-old #MeToo movement. But we had one additional interview that we wanted to share. In this midweek podcast extra, Brooke sits down with Lili Loofbourow, Washington Post television critic, to discuss three phases of TV post-#MeToo. Plus, Loofbourow explains how series like "Fleabag," "The Morning Show," and "Unbelievable" have internalized lessons from the movement, and what we can expect going forward.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
Israel began a ground operation in Gaza as a conflict that’s already left thousands dead continues to escalate. On this week’s On the Media, reflections on the unique difficulty of covering this war. Plus, six years after explosive allegations against Harvey Weinstein helped launch a movement, how MeToo lives on in the media.
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David Remnick, editor of The New Yorker, on striving to balance perceptions and narratives, and the challenges posed to a reporter covering the Israel-Hamas war. Listen.
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Vickie Wang [@VickieDeTaiwan] is an interpreter, writer, and stand-up comic, on how one television show sparked a movement in Taiwan. Listen.
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Yomi Adegoke [@yomiadegoke], columnist for The Guardian and British Vogue, on the powerful intersection of #MeToo and the internet. Listen.
Music:
Frail as a Breeze - Erik FriedlanderWhispers of a Heavenly Death - John ZornFallen Leaves - Marcos CiscarI Am - India ArieBoy Moves the Sun - Michael AndrewsQuizas Quizas Quizas - Ramon Sole**
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
There's been no shortage of opinions across the globe as the Israel-Hamas conflict rages on. But stateside, there's also been an abundance of statements: from individuals, brands, and even colleges and universities. That isn't uncommon in the social-media age, but do all those words actually tell us something? In this midweek podcast extra, Brooke sits down with Sam Adler-Bell, writer and co-host of the podcast “Know Your Enemy,” to talk about the phenomena of "statementese," when we started expecting comments from institutions, and the potential downside of thinking that Instagram posts are all we can do.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
Experts say disinformation around the Israel-Hamas war is running rampant. On this week’s On the Media, a guide to understanding your feed in the midst of armed conflict. Plus, a deep dive into Saudi Arabia’s rebranding experiment.
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Mike Caulfield [@uwcip], a research scientist at the University of Washington’s Center for an Informed Public, Aric Toler [@AricToler], a reporter at the visual investigations team at the New York Times, and Shayan Sadarizadeh [@Shayan86], a journalist at BBC Monitoring and BBC Verify, on how to navigate your social media feed in the midst of the war in Israel and Gaza. Listen.
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OTM correspondent Micah Loewinger [@MicahLoewinger] looks at Saudi Arabia's strategy to shore up its power, and the role the nation could play in negotiations for peace between Israel and Palestine. Featuring: Justin Scheck [@ScheckNYTimes], a reporter at the New York Times, and co-author of Blood and Oil: Mohammed Bin Salman’s Ruthless Quest For Global Power, Ahmed Al Omran [@ahmed], a reporter based in Saudi Arabia, and Kim Ghattas [@KimGhattas], a writer at The Atlantic and author of Black Wave: Saudi Arabia, Iran, and the Forty-Year Rivalry That Unraveled Culture, Religion, and Collective Memory in the Middle East. Listen.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
It's been over 20 days since the United States has had a Speaker of the House. Republican Kevin McCarthy was ousted by the right flank of his party earlier this month, and the tumultuous race for a new Speaker has revealed deep divisions in the Republican party. On Tuesday morning, House Republicans selected Tom Emmer, the majority whip from Minnesota, as their next man up. He's the third nominee the GOP has offered up in the past three weeks, after Steve Scalise and Jim Jordan each failed to secure enough Republican votes to win on the House floor. And with conflict brewing in the Middle East and government shutdown looming on the horizon, House Republicans have left Congress in paralysis with their inability to elect a speaker.
For the midweek podcast, OTM correspondent Micah Loewinger speaks with Brian Rosenwald, a Scholar in Residence at the University of Pennsylvania and author of Talk Radio’s America: How an Industry Took Over a Political Party That Took Over the United States, about how the long-deteriorating relationship between conservative media and the GOP led us to this point.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
More than twenty journalists have been killed during the recent Israel-Hamas conflict. On this week’s On the Media, hear about the deadly challenges facing reporters on the ground. Plus, why comparisons of the Hamas attack on October 7th to September 11th serve as a warning for the geopolitical fallout that may lie ahead.
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OTM host Brooke Gladstone [@OTMBrooke] on the worsening fog of war surrounding Israel and Palestine, and the confusion and disinformation in the coverage of the conflict. Listen.
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OTM correspondent Micah Loewinger [@MicahLoewinger] and Sherif Mansour, the Middle East and North Africa Program Coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists, on the sharp rise in cases of violence against reporters in Gaza and Israel. Listen.
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Tareq Baconi, president of the board of Al-Shabaka, the Palestinian Policy Network, and David Klion [@DavidKlion], contributing editor at Jewish Currents, on why comparisons of 9/11 to the Hamas attack forewarn us of geopolitical conflict. Listen.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
This week, amid the deluge of coverage of the Israel-Hamas conflict following Hamas’ surprise attack on October 7th, a certain historical analogy kept coming up: "this is Israel's 9/11." The analogy has been widely repeated, by officials abroad and stateside.
For some invoking 9/11 explains Israel's retaliation. For others, the analogy is a warning, a reminder of the still unfolding violence and death that the American response wrought around the globe. This week, Brooke sits down with David Klion, contributing editor at Jewish Currents, who wrote about the analogy for n+1 magazine, to discuss why we should see it the invocation of 9/11 as a lesson and a warning.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
In the third episode of "We Don't Talk About Leonard," Leonard Leo is in Maine, a man in his castle, at the height of his powers. He has helped remake the American judicial system, and now he has a plan to do the same for society and politics — to make a Federalist Society for everything. ProPublica reporters Andrea Bernstein, Andy Kroll, and Ilya Marritz drill even further into the fight to gain influence over state courts, and reveal what Leo and his allies are planning for the future.
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Big money starts pouring into state Supreme Court races in Wisconsin and across the country. Listen.
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Leonard Leo takes over a network of conservatives trying to shape American culture. Listen.
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Leonard Leo faces pushback in a town where people know who he is. Listen.
This podcast was created in partnership with ProPublica, a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive their biggest stories as soon as they’re published.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
This week, Bloomberg reported that social media posts about the Israel-Hamas conflict have led to a sticky cesspool of confusion and conflict on Elon Musk’s X, formerly known as Twitter. On Saturday, just hours after Hamas fighters from Gaza surged into Israel, unverified photos and videos of missile air strikes, buildings and homes being destroyed and other posts depicting military violence — in Israel and Gaza — crowded the platform. But some of the horror, not all of course, were old images passed off as new. Some of this content was posted by anonymous accounts that carried blue checkmarks, which signals that they had purchased verification under X’s “premium” subscription service. Some military footage circulating on X were drawn from video games, and some of the lies were, as usual, pushed by far-right pundits on the platform, for clicks or, possibly, ulterior motives. For the midweek podcast, Brooke speaks with Avi Asher-Schapiro, who covers tech for the Thomson Reuters Foundation, about how Musk's policy changes at X have led to a stronger initial surge of misinformation than usual during this conflict, and how an algorithmically-driven "fog of war" impacts our historical record of this conflict.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
Leonard Leo realized that in order to generate conservative rulings, the Supreme Court needs the right kind of cases. In this episode of “We Don’t Talk About Leonard,” ProPublica reporters Andrea Bernstein, Andy Kroll, and Ilya Marritz investigate the machine that Leonard Leo built across the country to bring cases to the Supreme Court and fill vacant judgeships, and the web of nonprofits he’s created through which to funnel dark money into judicial races.
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The rise of a conservative lawyer through the ranks demonstrates the growing importance of state solicitors general. Listen.
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Leonard Leo cultivates wealthy donors, and a fishing trip sets off a Supreme Court ethics scandal. Listen.
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Leonard Leo gains power and prominence as the author of former President Trump's list of potential Supreme Court appointees, and a Federalist Society donor becomes disillusioned. Listen.
This podcast was created in partnership with ProPublica, a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive their biggest stories as soon as they’re published.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
Donald Trump is in court this week in New York City, again, for a multimillion dollar civil fraud trial. He, his sons, and the Trump organization have been accused of using false financial statements and inflating their net worth by billions. In addition to this case, Trump is facing four criminal indictments: the January 6th insurrection case in DC, the Stormy Daniels hush money case in New York, the classified documents case in Florida, and the political interference case in Georgia. It’s a lot to keep track of, but this civil trial is worth one's attention. If NY State Attorney General Letitia James succeeds, Trump could lose control of his businesses and his most valuable assets, like Trump Tower — along with whatever’s left of the public image he spent decades constructing on television and in the press.
Russ Buettner is a reporter on the New York Times Investigation Desk, the team that hunted down Trump’s tax returns and other elusive financial documents, in an effort to understand how exactly the former president got his money and how he lost so much of it. For the midweek podcast, OTM correspondent Micah Loewinger called Russ to learn about what Trump’s history of fraud means for his future, the revelations of the trial so far, and what details have gotten lost in the deluge of coverage.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
In this first episode of our new miniseries, We Don't Talk About Leonard, ProPublica reporters Andrea Bernstein, Andy Kroll, and Ilya Marritz investigate the background of the man who has played a critical role in the conservative takeover of America's courts — Leonard Leo. From his humble roots in middle class New Jersey, to a mansion in Maine where last year he hosted a fabulous party on the eve of the Supreme Court decision to tank “Roe.”
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The night before the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, Leonard Leo threw a lavish party at his house in Maine. Listen.
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Leonard Leo's journey from a high-schooler with the nickname "Moneybags Kid" to a high-ranking member of the Federalist Society. Listen.
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Leonard Leo and the Federalist Society turn their attention to the state supreme courts. Listen.
This podcast was created in partnership with ProPublica, a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive their biggest stories as soon as they’re published.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
In late August, Gannett, the country’s largest newspaper company, rolled out a new artificial intelligence service that promised to automate high school sports coverage across the country. And within a matter of days it had gone horribly wrong. People on Twitter quickly discovered that bizarre phrases like “close encounters of the athletic kind,” or how one team “took victory away” from another, had shown up on Gannett news sites in Florida, Indiana, Georgia, Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee. As Scott Simon explained on NPR, in some of these AI articles there were robotic place holders where there should’ve been a mascot’s name.
Jay Allred is the CEO of Source Media Properties, which includes Richland Source, a local news organization in Ohio, and LedeAI, the company that built the technology that Gannett was using to automate its high school coverage. For the midweek podcast, OTM correspondent Micah Loewinger speaks with Jay about what went wrong, why he wanted to build this technology in the first place, and whether this disaster had shaken his belief in its potential.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
Thousands of protesters descended on New York as the United Nations convened its Climate Summit. On this week’s On the Media, hear how Big Oil is being taken to court for lying to the public about fossil fuels. Plus, a look at a global network of think tanks that’s been vilifying climate activism for decades.
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Rebecca Leber [@rebleber], senior climate reporter at Vox, on why some climate activists are turning to lawsuits to make change. Listen.
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Amy Westervelt [@amywestervelt], host and producer of the podcast Drilled, on how a network of think tanks is shaping perceptions of peaceful climate activism as dangerous and extreme. Listen.
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Leah Sottile [@Leah_Sottile], extremism reporter and the host of the podcast Burn Wild, on how eco-terrorism became security priority for the U.S. government. Listen.
Music:
Il Casanova de Federico Fellini - Nino Rota
Prelude 8: The Invisibles - John Zorn
It’s Raining - Irma Thomas
Middlesex Times - Donnie Darko - Michael Andrews
Way Down in the Hole - Tom Waits
Puck - John Zorn
Final Retribution -John Zorn
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
In July, the World Health Organization issues a report indicating that aspartame, an artificial sweetener used in many low calorie sodas and snacks, was "possibly carcinogenic to humans." The new statement on a widely utilized artificial sweetener led to controversy in the medical community, with the Federal Drug Administration saying they saw no concern over aspartame consumption. Some dietitians even took to social media to voice their contradicting opinions. Anahad O’Connor, a health columnist at The Washington Post, the response to the announcement on social media smelled a bit fishy. In a report released earlier this month with colleagues Caitlin Gilbert and Sasha Chavkin, O’Connor found that dozens of registered dietitians, some with more than 2 million followers each, were paid to counter the WHO’s announcement. He and his colleagues followed the money back to industry groups like American Beverage, which represents companies like Coca-Cola and PepsiCo. This week, OTM correspondent Micah Loewinger sits down O'Connor to learn more about the growing trend of influencer dietitians and the long history of food and beverage lobbies attempting to influence our eating habits.
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
The House has opened a formal impeachment inquiry into President Biden. On this week’s On the Media, find out exactly what Republicans are looking for–and why they should’ve already found it. Plus, geriatric men are the likely presidential nominees. Is there such a thing as “too old” for the job?
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Stephen Collinson [@StCollinson], CNN senior political reporter, on the impact of a baseless impeachment inquiry on the institution of Presidential impeachments. Listen.
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James Fallows [@JamesFallows], writer of the “Breaking the News'' newsletter on Substack, and the former chief speechwriter for the Carter administration, on if the press is tackling the age question correctly. Listen.
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Dr. Steven N. Austad [@StevenAustad], The University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Protective Life Endowed Chair in Healthy Aging Research, on what the science of aging can tell us about a potential Biden second term. Listen.
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Naomi Klein [@NaomiAKlein], journalist and author of Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World, on being confused for writer and conspiracist Naomi Wolf for much of her career, and her exploration of doppelgangers and the mirror world the other Naomi inhabits. Listen.
Music:
72 Degrees and Sunny - Thomas Newman
Eye Surgery - Thomas Newman
Lost Night - Bill Frisell
Young at Heart - Brad Mehldau Trio
Disfarmer Little Girl - Bill Frissell
Pavane, Op. 50 - Gabriel Faure - Academy of St. Martin in the Fields
The First Time Ever I saw Your Face - Bert Jansch
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
Twenty-two years ago, two planes crashed into the Twin Towers. Another plane hit the Pentagon, and another crashed in Pennsylvania — killing nearly 3,000 people in total. The attacks became the pretense for a sprawling, ongoing war on terror that has directly and indirectly claimed some 4.5 million lives in post-9/11 war zones, including Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Syria, and Yemen, according to a 2023 estimate from Brown University.
In his 2021 podcast, 9/12, Dan Taberski brought us the story of a documentary filmmaker named Dylan Avery, whose 2005 film Loose Change helped embolden the 9/11 Truther Movement. In this piece, OTM reporter Micah Loewinger speaks with Taberski about Loose Change, and the complicated notoriety it brought to Avery. He also interviews Korey Rowe, a producer on Loose Change, about how Google Video helped it become the internet's first viral film. Then, Micah speaks with Charles B Strozier, author of Until the Fires Stopped Burning: 9/11 and New York City in the Words and Experiences of Survivors and Witnesses, about the moment when exactly 9/11 conspiracy theories broke into the mainstream.
This segment originally aired in our September 10th, 2021 program, Aftershocks.
In early August, Christopher Anthony Lunsford, who goes by Oliver Anthony, quietly released a song called "Rich Men North of Richmond." A week later, the folk song had rocketed to the top of the Billboard charts — a historic feat for someone with no chart history to speak of. But the ascent wasn't without controversy. The song, to some, sounded like a right-wing anthem. And it was heralded as such online by right wing pundits, and included as a part of the first question of the opening Republican presidential primary debate. But Oliver Anthony's politics, and the song's appeal, have turned out to be a little more complicated. This week, OTM correspondent Micah Loewinger sits down with Chris Molanphy, Slate’s pop-chart columnist, and author of the forthcoming book "Old Town Road," to talk about how such an unlikely song rose to the top. Micah speaks to Molanphy about how the Billboard charts have gotten weirder, and more anarchic, and what "Rich Men North of Richmond" has in common with "Ballad of the Green Berets," a song released almost 60 years prior.
Why does every social media platform seem to get worse over time? This week’s On the Media explores an expansive theory on how we lost a better version of the internet, and the systems that insulate Big Digital from competition. Plus, some solutions for fixing the world wide web.
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Cory Doctorow [@doctorow], journalist, activist, and the author of Red Team Blue, on his theory surrounding the slow, steady descent of the internet. Listen.
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Brooke asks Cory if the troubles that plague some corners of the internet are specific to Big Digital, rather than the economy at large-- and how our legal systems enabled it all. Listen.
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Cory and Brooke discuss possible solutions to save the world wide web, and how in a sea of the enshittified there's still hope. Listen.
Music:I’m Not Following You - Michael AndrewsI’m Forever Blowing BubblesThe Desert and Two Grey Hills - Gerry O’BeirneLa vie en rose - Toots ThielemansAll I Want (Joni Mitchel) - Fred Hersch
In March 2021, when President Joe Biden announced the nomination of Lina Khan to be a commissioner at the Federal Trade Commission, the decision was met with a rare kind of excitement for the otherwise sleepy agency. The excitement seemed bipartisan as 21 Republican senators voted to confirm the commissioner. Not long after, then 32-year-old Khan was promoted to chairperson of the agency, making her the youngest chair in the FTC's history. Since then the tone around Khan has changed dramatically, as Republican commissioners at the agency have pushed back against what they see as a radical agenda. Back in March, OTM correspondent Micah Loewinger spoke to Emily Birnbaum, technology and lobbying reporter for Bloomberg, about a growing anti-antitrust movement emerging in the press and in Washington, and why Khan has become its main target.
In late 2016, American diplomats in Havana, Cuba started hearing a mysterious buzzing sound and experiencing debilitating symptoms. On this week’s On the Media, why the government now disputes theories that it was a secret Russian weapon. Plus, what the electric hum of your refrigerator and the uncanny hearing ability of pigeons reveal about the world we live in.
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Adam Entous, staff writer at The New York Times, Jon Lee Anderson, staff writer at The New Yorker, and Robert Bartholomew, sociologist and author of Havana Syndrome: Mass Psychogenic Illness and the Real Story Behind the Embassy Mystery and Hysteria, on the investigation into the mysterious affliction that spread across the globe. Listen.
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Jennifer Munson, OTM Technical Director, and Nasir Memon, New York University professor of computer science and engineering, on the obscure technology called electrical network frequency analysis, or ENF, and the world of audio forensics. Listen.
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Robert Krulwich [@rkrulwich], co-creator and former co-host of Radiolab, and John Hagstrum, a geophysicist emeritus at the U.S. Geological Survey, on the mysterious avian disappearance that rocked world headlines. Listen.
Music:
Meet Tina - Havana Syndrome
History Lesson - Havana Syndrome
Okami - Nicola Cruz
Electricity - OMD
Wallpaper - Woo
When two blockbuster movies, Barbie and Oppenheimer, premiered in U.S. theaters on the same day in July 2023, they ushered in a renewed enthusiasm for the double feature, and introduced the word "Barbenheimer" to moviegoers' vocabularies. For this midweek podcast, we’re returning to an old OTM piece by David Serchuk about a sound—more specifically, a scream—that's lived an amazingly long and storied life on the silver screen.
This summer’s extreme heat has contributed to disasters around the world--but some of them are hard to see. On this week’s On the Media, why extreme heat is one of the most challenging climate disasters for reporters to cover. Plus, the story of how historical fiction became the unexpected darling of the literary world.
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Jake Bittle [@jake_bittle], staff writer at Grist, on this year's scarily hot summer and the impacts of extreme heat. Listen.
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OTM producer Eloise Blondiau [@eloiseblondiau] takes a deep dive into how historical fiction became a rich resource for reckoning with our past, feat: Alexander Manshel, assistant professor of English at McGill University [@xandermanshel], and novelists Alexander Chee [@alexanderchee] and Min Jin Lee [@minjinlee11]. Listen.
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Tiya Miles [@TiyaMilesTAM], professor of history at Harvard University and author of All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley’s Sack, a Black Family Keepsake, on rediscovering lost histories. Listen.
Music:
Misterioso - (Monk) - Kronos Quartet
Non Pusc Sofir
Principio di Virtu
Going Home - Hank Jones, Charlie Haden
The Beatitudes - Kronos Quartet
Tilliboyo - Kronos Quartet
Traveling Music - Kronos Quartet
In the first half of the last school year, PEN America has recorded almost 900 different books pulled from library shelves across the country. As long as libraries have existed, people have tried to police what goes in them.
The burning of the Library of Alexandria is a metaphor that gets invoked any time we lose access to a treasure trove of books. But for centuries it has also inspired scientists and inventors, philosophers and programmers to dream about creating an ideal library, one that provides access to all the knowledge in the world. OTM producer Molly Schwartz goes to a birthday party for Wikidata at the Brooklyn Public Library, where she talks to Wikimedia New York City president Richard Knipel, Wikimedia software engineer James Forrester, and long-time Wikipedia editor Jim Henderson about how the free online encyclopedia has made strides toward providing knowledge to the sum of human knowledge. She also speaks with library historian Alex Wright, author of the book Glut: Mastering Information Through the Ages, and software engineering consultant Gyula Lakatos, creator of the Library of Alexandria application suite, about the history of universal library projects and what keeps the dream alive.
When the US women’s soccer team was knocked out of the world cup, they became the latest target of a right-wing media campaign. On this week’s On the Media, the state of discourse around gender. Plus, the quality of coverage around trans rights, and how it’s changed.
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Alex Abad-Santos [@alex_abads], senior correspondent at Vox, on the right-wing outrage against the US women's national soccer team after their elimination from the World Cup. Listen.
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Micah Loewinger [@MicahLoewinger], OTM correspondent, on the state of coverage of trans rights, and how it has changed since New York Times contributors wrote an open letter to the paper accusing it of biased reporting several months ago. Listen.
This week, another legal blow for former president Donald Trump after a judge ruled to dismiss Trump's counter defamation lawsuit against E Jean Carroll for statements she made about a ruling on civil case earlier this year. Back in May, a Manhattan federal jury found that former president Donald Trump sexually abused writer E. Jean Carroll in a luxury department store dressing room in the mid 1990s, and awarded her $5 million for defamation and battery. The jurors, however, rejected Carroll's claim that she was raped. This came at the end of a seven-day trial, during which Carroll testified against Trump's claims that she was lying, and that he had never met her. The day of the verdict, Carroll strolled out of the courtroom onto the New York City sidewalk, sunglass-clad and triumphant. Rebecca Traister is a writer-at-large for New York magazine, and author of “Good and Mad: The Revolutionary Power of Women’s Anger.” This week, she speaks with Brooke about the place that this nearly thirty-year-old case holds in the landscape of Me Too, the premature death bells of the movement, and just how long it takes for movements to fully permeate laws, practices, and attitudes.
This is segment originally aired in our May 12, 2023 show, Her Day in Court.
This year, the Department of Defense began renaming military bases that honor the Confederacy. On this week’s On the Media, a former general explains why the reckoning with the myth of the “lost cause” is overdue. Plus, hear how Russian propaganda about the war in Ukraine has been hundreds of years in the making.
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Ty Seidule [@Ty_Seidule], the Vice Chair of the National Commission on Base Renaming, on the military's efforts to reckon with the "Lost Cause." Listen.
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Alexis Akwagyiram [@alexisak], Managing Editor of Semafor Africa and former Reuters bureau chief in Nigeria, on the potential widespread impact of the coup in Niger. Listen.
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Mikhail Zygar [@zygaro], investigative journalist and founder of the independent Russian TV channel Rain, on debunking some of Russia's most powerful myths about itself. Listen.
Music:
The Last Bird - Zoe Keating
Tomorrow Never Knows - Quartetto D’Archi Dell’orchestra Sinfonia di Milano Giuseppi Verdi
Winter Sun - Gerry O’Beirne
Ali Farka Toucche - Jenny Scheinman
Airborne Toxic Event - Danny Elfman
Lieutenenent Kije - Sergei Prokofiev
Lieutenenent Kije - Sergei Prokofiev
Days before Russia invaded Ukraine last year, Russian president Vladimir Putin read an essay he’d written in 2021, “On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians,” wherein he claimed that Ukraine is a fake country that was invented by Lenin. This version of Russian history, which is full of inaccuracies amplified on Russian state media, has been used by the Russian state to justify their imperialist wars. But the myths in Russia's state-sponsored version of history are not new. In fact, Mikhail Zygar, a Russian investigative journalist, has traced the myths back at least as far as the middle ages. In Zygar's new book, War and Punishment: Putin, Zelensky, and the Path to Russia's Invasion of Ukraine, he unravels a thousand years of fables that led to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year. In this conversation with Brooke, Zygar recounts and contextualizes the history-fueled ingredients of today's Russian propaganda, and talks about his mission to write new works of Russian history that account for the country's colonial past, and present.
According to a New York Times-Siena poll released this week 54 percent of republican voters said if the election were held today they would vote for Donald Trump. DeSantis trails by 37 percentage points and the others in the field are in single digits.
Despite, (or because of?) his solid lead, Trump is wavering on whether he will show his face at the first Republican presidential debate set for August 23rd. As he told Maria Bartiromo on Fox;
“You’re leading people by 50 or 60 points, you say, why would you be doing a debate? It’s actually not fair. Why would you let someone who’s at zero or one or two or three be popping you with questions?”
Trump’s debate snubbing is just the latest example of the GOP resistance to a longstanding political norms. refusal by Republicans to meet political norms.
Last year Ronna McDaniel, chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, wrote a letter to the commission on presidential debates, the independent, bipartisan organization that has convened general election debates since the 80s. In her letter, she said that the RNC would boycott the presidential debates during the upcoming election cycle. That is, unless the commission was willing to meet its demands.
Between the RNC’s demands and now the potential absence of the Republican front-runner the question is; what, if anything, would be lost if the presidential debates didn't happen? Brooke spoke to Alex Shephard - senior editor at The New Republic, last year after he wrote an article titled, Let the Presidential Debates Die.
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President Biden just ordered U.S. investigators to share evidence of Russian war crimes with The International Criminal Court. On this week’s On the Media, what will it take to secure justice for Ukraine? Plus, a moving look back at the early days of the conflict.
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Mstyslav Chernov [@mstyslav9], a video journalist for the Associated Press and director, on the making of the documentary, "20 Days in Mariupol," and what footage from Ukrainian frontlines didn't make it to American newsreels. Listen.
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Deborah Amos [@deborahamos], a veteran Middle East correspondent and this week's guest co-host, on how war crime investigators focusing on Ukraine first learned how to document war crimes in Syria, and what this means for holding Russia accountable. Listen.
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Nathaniel Raymond [@nattyray11], war crimes investigator and Executive Director of Yale's Humanitarian Research Lab, about his report confirming the Russian government held at least six thousand Ukrainian children in re-education camps. Listen.
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Philippe Sands [@philippesands], professor of law at University College London, on why Western nations are hesitant to charge Putin for the “crime of aggression.” Listen.
In February of 2022, Mstyslav Chernov, a video journalist for the Associated Press, director, and novelist, decided to go to Mariupol — the critical port city on Ukraine’s southeastern edge, just 35 miles from the Russian border. He arrived an hour before the first bombs hit the city. What Chernov chronicled over the next three weeks is captured in the new documentary “20 Days in Mariupol.” He was there as a reporter, but only a small fraction of his footage made it to the outside world. This week, Brooke sits down with Chernov about what didn't make it to American newsreels, and where he finds hope in the midst of war.
This is a segment from our July 28, 2023 program, To Catch a War Criminal.
When Russia invaded Ukraine, activists, lawyers, and open source intelligence organizations who had been working on documenting war crimes in Syria shifted their focus to Ukraine. These organizations and individuals had honed strategies from the Syrian Uprising for tracking the actions of the Russian military, documenting war crimes though open source information like social media posts and satellite images, and submitting the evidence to courts of law according to international justice legal standards. Brooke speaks with Deborah Amos, a veteran Middle East correspondent, about what it means to have a conflict where war crimes are being documented from day one, and what it would take to hold Russian leaders to account for the atrocities being perpetrated in Ukraine.
This reporting was made possible by support from the Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination at Princeton.
This is a segment from our July 28, 2023 program, To Catch a War Criminal.
In March of 2023, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Commissioner for Children’s Rights, Maria Lvova-Belova, for the alleged crime of deporting Ukranian children to Russian re-education camps. In the 21 years since the court’s establishment, the U.S. refrained from joining the ICC due to objections over its jurisdiction over U.S. citizens. But on Wednesday, President Biden announced the U.S. would share data from their investigations into Russian war crimes in Ukraine, a first for this level of cooperation between the U.S. and the ICC.
This week, guest host Deborah Amos speaks with Nathaniel Raymond, a war crimes investigator and the Executive Director of Yale’s Humanitarian Research Lab, about his bombshell report that confirmed the Russian government held at least six thousand Ukrainian children in re-education camps, and the impact of the U.S. sharing data with the ICC on the case against Putin.
This is a segment from our July 28, 2023 program, To Catch a War Criminal.
There is no shortage of charges to bring against Putin for his actions in Ukraine — the alleged mass deportation of children to Russia is one of them. But his first crime in this war was the very invasion of Ukraine says Philippe Sands, professor of law at University College London, and author of East West Street: On the Origins of Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity.He says that prosecuting Putin for this initial act of war, the so-called “crime of aggression,” is the best way for the international community to hold Russia’s leader accountable. Sands made that case in a Financial Times article just a few days after Putin invaded Ukraine. In this conversation with Deborah Amos, Sands describes the war crimes on the books today, how they came to be there, and why Western nations are hesitant to charge Putin for the “crime of aggression.”
The researchers at Yale's Humanitarian Research Lab gather in a carpeted underground bunker, beneath the campus library, to steadily gather evidence of Russia's alleged war crimes. In a report published earlier this year, in collaboration with the State Department, they presented evidence of the Russian government operating more than 40 child custody centers for Ukrainian children who have been forcibly removed from their homes to Russia. On the other hand, Russia's embassy in Washington has claimed that the children were forced to flee to safety due to the war. About a month later, on March 17, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Russian president Vladimir Putin, accusing him of the war crime of illegally deporting children from Ukraine. For this week's midweek podcast, we're airing a piece by our guest co-host Deborah Amos, first broadcast by NPR's Morning Edition in February, in which she reported on the devastating evidence unearthed by the Yale researchers, and what this means for leveraging accountability against Putin.
On April 20, 2023, BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti announced that BuzzFeed would be closing down its newsroom and laying off 15 percent of its staff. The news came amidst a deluge of headlines about struggles in the media industry, including: layoffs at NBC, Vox, NPR, Spotify, Insider, News Corp, ABC, and Gannett; the closure of MTV news; bankruptcy at Vice. But the end of BuzzFeed News in particular symbolized the end of an era. BuzzFeed's rapid rise and success in the late aughts and 2010s helped define the style and format of digital media. In 2013, BuzzFeed was getting 130 million unique viewers a month. Disney made an offer to buy BuzzFeed for half a billion dollars that same year, which Peretti turned down. In 2016, BuzzFeed was valued at $1.7 billion. And then, last fiscal quarter, BuzzFeed reported $106 million in net losses. In this conversation, Brooke talks with Ben Smith, the Editor-in-Chief and co-founder of Semafor and author of the new book, Traffic: Genius, Rivalry, and Delusion in the Billion-Dollar Race to Go Viral, about his goals in building a newsroom at BuzzFeed, the lessons he learned, and what he thinks about the future of of news.
For the big show this weekend OTM correspondent Micah Loewinger is working on a piece about the extraordinary transformation of the New York Times from a struggling newspaper into a digital behemoth. In the meantime, and as kind of background research for you guys, we’re airing a fascinating interview about the Grey Lady from our colleagues at the New Yorker Radio Hour. Host David Remnick spoke to A. G. Sulzberger, the publisher of The New York Times, whose family has owned the paper since 1896. Sulzberger says he wants to push back on a culture of “certitude” in journalism. “In this hyper-politicized, hyper-polarized moment, is society benefiting from every single player getting deeper and deeper, and louder and louder, about declaring their personal allegiances and loyalties and preferences?” he asks.
Over the past year, the federal reserve has raised interest rates repeatedly in its attempt to curb inflation. On this week’s On The Media, is greed to blame for our inflation woes? Plus, how a century-long PR campaign taught Americans to love the free market and loathe their own government.
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Lydia DePillis [@lydiadepillis], economy reporter at The New York Times, on what "greedflation" actually is. Listen.
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Naomi Oreskes [@NaomiOreskes], professor of the history of science at Harvard University and the co-author, with Erik M. Conway, of “The Big Myth: How American Business Taught Us to Loathe Government and Love the Free Market,” on century-old PR campaign, conducted by big business, to imbue Americans with a quasi-religious belief in the free market. Listen.
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China Miéville, a speculative fiction writer and author of the recent book, "A Spectre, Haunting: On the Communist Manifesto," on the ebb and flow of the text’s popularity through the decades, and what we might draw from it today. Listen.
Music:
Nocturne No.1 in B-Flat Major Op.9. No1 (Chopin) - Ivan Moravec
Ballade No. 2 in F, Op. 38 (Chopin) - Maurizio Pollini
March for the 3rd Regiment of Foot - Liberty Tree Wind Players
The New East Louis Toodle-Oo (Duke Ellington)
The People United Will Never Be Defeated - Carla Bley, Charlie Haden, Don Cherry
Stolen Moments - Ahmad Jamal Trio
This spring, Volkswagen and Mazda announced that they will be removing AM radios from their upcoming fleets of electric vehicles.Tesla, BMW, Audi, and Volvo have already gotten rid of AM radios in their electric fleet. The automakers cited engineering difficulties. AM's already crackly reception is vulnerable to even more buzz and interference when installed near an electric motor. This announcement, however, incited a burst of outrage from conservative talk radio hosts, such as Charlie Kirk, who called it an "all-out attack on AM radio," and Mark Levin, who claimed, "they finally figured out how to attack conservative talk radio." But it isn't just conservatives lambasting the automakers' moves — a bipartisan group of lawmakers are joining forces to stop the exclusion of AM radios from these cars. In May, Senator Ed Markey and Representative Josh Gottheimer, both Democrats, helped introduce bills that would require car companies to include AM radios. And in late June, Senators Ted Cruz and Ed Markey co-wrote a letter to seven major automakers asking them to commit by July 7 to keep radios in new vehicles. For the midweek podcast, OTM correspondent Micah Loewinger speaks with Katie Thornton, a freelance journalist and host of OTM's Peabody Award-winning miniseries, "The Divided Dial," about the dangerous myth of AM radio's reputation as a solely conservative platform, the medium's potential as a highly accessible source of local news, and what this story means for the future of AM radio.
This year, headlines have been dominated by claims that artificial intelligence will either save humanity – or end us. On this week’s On the Media, a reckoning with the capabilities of programs like ChatGPT, and declarations that machines can think. Plus, the potential implications of handing over decision-making to computers.
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Tina Tallon [@ttallon], assistant professor of A.I. and the Arts at the University of Florida, on the love-hate relationship with AI technology over the past 70 years, and Nitasha Tiku [@nitashatiku], tech culture reporter for The Washington Post, on what ChatGPT can actually do. Listen.
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Geoffrey Hinton [@geoffreyhinton], a cognitive psychologist and computer scientist, on holograms, memories, and the origins of neural networks. Listen.
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Matt Devost [@MattDevost], international cybersecurity expert and CEO and co-founder of the global strategic advisory firm OODA llc., on the rise of AI-powered weapons and what it means for the future of warfare. Listen.
Music:Original music by Tina Tallon
Horizon 12.2 by Thomas Newman
Bubble Wrap by Thomas Newman
Seventy-two Degrees and Sunny by Thomas Newman
Eye Surgery by Thomas Newman
Final Retribution by John Zorn
Lachrymose Fairy by Thomas Newman
Almost as soon as an armed rebellion flared in Russia last week, it fizzled. On this week’s On the Media, how the brief revolt compares to military coups from history, and how it’s different. Plus, how to cover a new kind of conspiracy theory candidate, and what it might mean for the country.
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Naunihal Singh [@naunihalpublic], author of "Seizing Power: The Strategic Logic of Military Coups," on the brief rebellion in Russia, and how paying attention to the narratives in the aftermath of the mutiny is equally as important as the mutiny itself. Listen.
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Anna Merlan [@annamerlan], author of "Republic of Lies: American Conspiracy Theorists and Their Surprising Rise to Power," on the mistake the media have made in covering RFK Jr. Listen.
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Claire Wardle [@cward1e], co-founder and co-director of the Information Futures Lab at the Brown School of Public Health, on the backlash to content moderation, and the impacts of these changes as candidates like RFK Jr., an anti-vaccine activist, enter the 2024 presidential race. Listen.
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Paul Offit [@DrPaulOffit], a pediatrician specializing in infectious diseases, vaccines, immunology, and virology and the co-inventor of a rotavirus vaccine, on the science community's response to RFK Jr. over the years, and the dangers of elevating such conspiracies to the White House. Listen.
Journalists are grappling with how to cover Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. in his run for the Democratic nomination in the 2024 presidential race. Kennedy is currently polling 15% against Joe Biden among Democrats. He is also known for his fringe beliefs. In a recent interview on Joe Rogan's podcast, Kennedy claimed that vaccines alter genes, young people are more at risk from COVID vaccines than from COVID, and WiFi radiation from cellphones causes cancer. Kennedy is not the first presidential candidate to spout misinformation on the campaign trail. But his blend of anti-vaccine messaging, critiques of mainstream media, anti-trans stances, support of bitcoin, and environmentalist bona fides has made him attractive to a unique coalition of voters that journalist Anna Merlan describes as "anti-vax activists, crypto enthusiasts, silicon valley moguls and supporters from across the horseshoe of extremism.” Merlan is the author of Republic of Lies: American Conspiracy Theorists and Their Surprising Rise to Power and a longtime chronicler of the anti-vaccine movement. She spoke with OTM guest host Brandy Zadrozny about mistakes that media have made in their coverage of RFK Jr., techniques of his confusing style of debate, and what his candidacy means for the anti-vaccine movement.
This is a segment from our June 30, 2023 show, On The Trail With RFK Jr.
Last week, on June 24, Yevgeny Prigozhin, a Russian oligarch and head of the Wagner mercenary group, led an armed revolt against Russia's national army. Wagner fighters seized Rostov-on-Don, the head of military headquarters for Russia's war in Ukraine, before marching toward Moscow. But, almost as quickly as the rebellion flared, it fizzled. The fact that Prigozhin was not calling for the removal of Russian President Vladimir Putin means that the uprising was not a coup, says Naunihal Singh, author of Seizing Power: The Strategic Logic of Military Coups, with whose help OTM created a Breaking News Consumer's Handbook: Military Coup Edition back in 2016 (pictured below). OTM guest host Brandy Zadrozny speaks with Singh about how the Wagner insurrection followed the military coup playbook and where it diverged, why social media are not a substitute for traditional media when it comes to overthrowing power, and how paying attention to the narratives in the aftermath of the mutiny is equally as important as the mutiny itself.
This is a segment from our June 30, 2023 show, On The Trail With RFK Jr.
After the 2016 presidential election, online platforms were forced to contend with their policies around mis- and disinformation online. With the rise of COVID disinformation in 2020, that focus only grew. In the early days of the pandemic, online platforms like Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube put content moderation policies in place to hold back the tide of fake news about things like COVID vaccines and COVID treatments. But as we approach the 2024 presidential race, these companies have started to roll back these policies. Claire Wardle is the co-founder and co-director of the Information Futures Lab at the Brown School of Public Health. In this week's show, she says that what we are seeing is a backlash in response to those efforts at content moderation, which were made on the fly and without community input. She sits down with guest host Brandy Zadrozny to discuss the impacts of these changes as candidates like RFK Jr., an anti-vaccine activist, enter the race.
This is a segment from our June 30, 2023 show, On The Trail With RFK Jr.
Almost 20 years ago, RFK Jr. called Dr. Paul Offit, a pediatrician specializing in infectious diseases, vaccines, immunology, and virology and the co-inventor of a rotavirus vaccine, to talk about the safety of vaccines. Offit thought the conversation went well. Then, just a short while later, RFK Jr.'s notorious article claiming vaccines and autism were linked came out in Rolling Stone. This week, Brandy calls Offit back to talk about the science community's response to RFK Jr. over the years and the dangers of elevating such conspiracies to the White House.
This is a segment from our June 30, 2023 show, On The Trail With RFK Jr.
On Monday, CNN aired a bombshell recording in the classified documents case against former president Donald Trump. The recording, released to CNN by the special counsel working on the Department of Justice’s indictment of Trump, is reportedly of a 2021 meeting in Bedminster, New Jersey, where Trump discussed and seemingly showed secret documents to a group of onlookers. It was just the latest revelation in the government's case against the former president. Classified documents that belonged to former high-level government officials, including but not limited to former President Trump, former Vice President Pence, and President Biden, have been found in unauthorized locations in recent months. These cases vary greatly in volume and severity, but they point to a larger, systemic problem in the American government: the problem of overclassification. The latest data that the government released, in 2017, showed that around 50 million government documents are classified a year by over four million people, including outside government contractors, costing American taxpayers around $18 million, says Oona Hathaway, professor of law at Yale Law School, former special counsel to the Pentagon, and author of the Foreign Affairs article "Keeping the Wrong Secrets." In this conversation with Brooke, Hathaway talks about the incentives driving government employees to classify so many documents, the differences between the Trump and Biden document dramas, and why labeling so many things as "secret" makes these secrets less safe.
This is a segment originally aired on our January 27, 2023 show, Sorry, That’s Classified.
Women are such a presence in war reporting now that it's hard to remember a time when they were not. The book War Torn,published in 2002, shares the stories of women journalists who covered Vietnam. Brooke talks with three of those journalists — Jurate Kazickas, Kate Webb, and Laura Palmer — about how they covered the war and why they went.
This is a segment from our June 23, 2023 program, tk. It originally aired on our September 20, 2002, program.
The late Leslie Gelb, the man who supervised the team that compiled the Pentagon Papers, wasn't a character in the 2017 Hollywood drama, "The Post." During his life, he was rarely called for comment in documentaries and films about the Pentagon Papers leak. Back in 1971, Gelb was troubled by the publication of the Papers by both the New York Times and the Washington Post, but he came to see that they demonstrated the major flaws of the Vietnam War effort. Brooke spoke with Gelb a few years back about what the Pentagon Papers were trying to achieve in the first place, how they're understood by the public, and what "The Post" missed in its interpretation.
This is a segment from our June 23 program, tk. It originally aired on our June 18, 2021 program,Behind Closed Doors, and on our January 12, 2018 program, Outrage Machine.
On June 16, famed whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg died at the age of 92. Ellsberg became one of the most influential whistleblowers in history after he leaked the Pentagon Papers to The New York Times in 1971. The secret 7000-page history of US involvement in Vietnam, going back decades, revealed presidents and officials of both parties lying to the public and lying to each other. The leak made Ellsberg a top enemy of the government for years. This week, Brooke takes a look back at her conversations with Ellsberg over the years and speaks with Tom Devine, legal director for the Government Accountability Project, about Ellsberg's legacy and the ways he changed public perception of whistleblowers in the U.S.
Daniel Ellsberg, the famed whistleblower who leaked the Pentagon Papers to the Washington Post, has died. On this week’s On the Media, hear about his life, how the Pentagon Papers made it to print, and the impact he had on generations of whistleblowers. Plus, the women who covered the War in Vietnam.
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Tom Devine, legal director for the Government Accountability Project, on Daniel Ellsberg's legacy and the ways he changed public perception of whistleblowers in the U.S. Listen.
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Les Gelb, former columnist and former Defense Department official, on his experience leading the team that wrote the Pentagon Papers, subject of the Hollywood drama, "The Post." Listen.
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Seymour Hersch, on how he broke the story of My Lai — the massacre now regarded as the single most notorious atrocity of the Vietnam war. Listen.
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Reporters Kate Webb, Jurate Kazickas [@juratekazickas], and Laura Palmer on how they covered the Vietnam War and why they went. Listen.
In 1968, Seymour Hersh was an ambitious young freelance reporter writing for The New York Times. His big break came when he got a tip from an antiwar attorney about a soldier who killed a bunch of civilians in Vietnam. Hersh floated that story by a general working for the Army Chief of Staff, who mentioned an Army officer named William Calley. Armed with a name, Hersh tracked down Calley’s lawyer, George Latimer, in Utah. In Latimer’s office, Hersh laid eyes on an army indictment sheet charging Calley with the murder of 109 "Oriental human beings.” In 2008, Brooke Gladstone spoke to Hersh about how he broke the story of My Lai — the massacre now regarded as the single most notorious atrocity of the Vietnam war.
This is a segment from our June 23, 2023 program, TK. It originally aired on our March 14, 2008 program, and on our August 15, 2008 program.
Last Monday, Reddit moderators from nearly 9,000 subreddits shut down their forums in what might be the largest moderator-coordinated social media protest in internet history. They're battling against Reddit CEO Steve Huffman's decision to start charging for access to the platform's software framework, or API, in an attempt to spin a profit, woo investors, and eventually IPO in the second half of 2023. Although the blackout began to die down within 48 hours of its inception, over 3,000 subreddits, such as those with over 30 million followers each like r/funny, r/gaming, and r/music are still dark to this day. On this week's podcast extra, OTM correspondent Micah Loewinger speaks with Jason Koebler, the editor-in-chief at Motherboard, Vice’s tech section, to discuss the intricacies of the protest and why he dubbed it "a battle for the soul of the human internet.”
On Tuesday, former president Trump was arraigned following his federal indictment. On this week’s On the Media, debunking claims that the former president is being targeted for his politics. Plus, one reporter’s cross-country examination of fascism in the United States.
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Eric Levitz, [@EricLevitz], features writer covering politics and economics for New York Magazine, on the political narratives around Trump's federal indictment. Listen.
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Jeff Sharlet [@JeffSharlet], journalist and author of The Undertow: Scenes from a Slow Civil War, on the rhetoric, aesthetics, and myth-making of Trump and a rising fascist movement in the United States. Listen.
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Jim Fallows [@JamesFallows], this week's co-host and writer of the “Breaking the News” newsletter on Substack, speaks with OTM host Brooke Gladstone [@OTMBrooke] about the journalistic portrayal of middle America and how not to cover presidential elections. Listen.
On Friday June 9, federal charges against former president Donald Trump were published, announcing a historic federal indictment of a former president. The charges, related to Trump's handling of classified documents, included 37 felony counts, 31 of which fell under the Espionage Act of 1917. Trump pled not guilty to all charges. The trial will likely not take place for months, but by Tuesday, with the arrival of Donald Trump to a Federal Courthouse in Miami, the verdict in Republican circles was already in: this was a political move by the Department of Justice. This week, guest host James Fallows sat down with New York Magazine writer Eric Levitz to discuss his recent piece, The DOJ Went Easy on Trump for Political Reasons, and the history of charging government employees for their mishandling of classified information.
Just before Trump was elected in 2016, guest co-host James Fallows and his wife Deborah Fallows extensively traveled the country to take the nation’s pulse, and wrote a book titled, Our Towns: A 100,000-Mile Journey into the Heart of America, it was later turned into a documentary with Max (then HBO). What they found was heartening — that the daily lives of Americans in rural areas aren't mainly centered around politics and culture wars. OTM host Brooke Gladstone and James, who writes the newsletter "Breaking the News," reflect on the journalistic portrayal of middle America and the possibility of a slow civil war. They draw from James' decades-long political reporting career from his days on the Jimmy Carter campaign and in the White House as a speechwriter, and his coverage of nearly every presidential campaign since, to interrogate how the political press, and its audience, have stumbled into long-hardened journalistic patterns during each election cycle.
In late 2021, Isabella Weber, an economist at University of Massachusetts, Amherst published a paper with a new idea. The theory, what she called "seller's inflation," sought to address the confounding fact that the economy was seeing rising high prices andskyrocketing corporate profits. The idea quickly moved from the halls of academia to the political arena. And quicker still, it was dismissed—at one point called a "conspiracy theory." But now, in 2023, "greedflation" is popping up across headlines. This week, OTM correspondent Micah Loewinger sits down with Lydia DePillis, a reporter on the business desk at The New York Times, to talk about her 2022 article dissecting the arguments for and against greedflation’s impact on the economy, and everything that's happened since.
CNN recently ousted CEO Chris Licht after a bombshell profile brought up questions about CNN’s editorial direction. On this week’s On the Media, what the turmoil at CNN can teach us about how to cover politicians who continually lie on air. Plus, a deep dive into newspaper archives reveals that we’ve been having the same debates for over a century.
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Brian Stelter [@brianstelter], former anchor of CNN's now-discontinued Reliable Sources, on the origins of CNN's tumultuous year and the ongoing fallout inside the network. Listen.
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Jay Rosen [@jayrosen_nyu], a press critic and professor of journalism at New York University, on CNN's dilemma of trying to both interview GOP candidates and pursue accuracy, and how networks should learn how to cover Trump in 2024. Listen.
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OTM correspondent Micah Loewinger [@MicahLoewinger] speaks with political scientist Paul Fairie [@paulisci] about the big media narratives that still animate online debates and press coverage, and how little has changed in our political discourse from decade to decade. Listen.
OTM correspondent Micah Loewinger takes a look at some of the big media narratives that continue to animate online debates and panicked press coverage. He speaks with political scientist Paul Fairie, who has devoted his Twitter account to investigating refrains like "nobody wants to work anymore" and "people are losing their sense of humor" to show that seemingly modern moral panics have been repeated in the American press every decade for over a century. With the help of voice actors (see below), listen as Paul and Micah dive deep into the newspaper archives to demonstrate how little has changed in our political discourse.
Special thanks to Andy Lanset, Nancy Solomon, Jesse Brenneman, Brigid Bergen, Arya Sundaram, Rex Doane, John Schaefer, Annie McEwan, Brigid Bergen, Matt Katz, Amy Pearl, Eric Weber, Molly Schwartz, Ellery Groth, Becca Bressler, Ian Donahue, Amanda Aronczyk, Kareem Lawrence, and Sean Carlson.
This is a segment from our June 9, 2023 episode, TKTK. It originally aired on December 16, 2022.**
CNN ousted CEO Chris Licht this week after a series of disastrous decisions that culminated in last month's town hall with Donald Trump and the PR debacle that was Tim Alberta's bombshell profile of Licht published last week in The Atlantic. Licht was handpicked last year by Warners Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav as the leader who would transform CNN into a friendlier home for Republican candidates and viewers. But now, as CNN enters the 2024 election cycle, the network will be forced to further chart its course. Will they choose to platform GOP candidates? And if so, how are they going to navigate a ceaseless maelstrom of lies?
According to press critic Jay Rosen, one of the most revealing parts of Alberta’s explosive profile was Licht's explanation of how the network would cover Trump in the upcoming election: business as usual. The ex-CEO said, “It’s very simple… You cover him like any other candidate.” This week, Rosen speaks with Brooke about CNN's impossible mission to platform Republicans and pursue the truth, and how we can even begin to try and cover Trump as the election cycle creeps up, all while incorporating lessons learned since 2016.
On January 24, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on Ticketmaster. The hearing followed in the aftermath Taylor Swift's "Eras Tour" tickets going on sale last November, a debacle during which Ticketmaster broke down during the presale, leaving millions of fans without tickets. Senators convened to hear testimony from a top Live Nation executive (Ticketmaster’s parent company), competitors in ticketing and concert promotion, antitrust experts, and a musician. The hearing represented a step toward a potential antitrust case against Live Nation and Ticketmaster, which merged in 2010.
Moe Tkacik and Krista Brown are researchers at the American Economic Liberties Project, a left-leaning think tank which is part of a consortium that is pushing for the DOJ to break up the Live Nation monopoly. In February Micah Loewinger spoke to them about an article they co-wrote for The American Prospect about Ticketmaster’s forty-plus-year-history, and how the company came to dominate, and in some ways reshape, the live music landscape.
This is a segment from our February 3, 2023 show, Too Big to Fail?.
The long-simmering argument over student debt flared up last August when Biden unveiled his student debt relief plan. He promised to reduce federal student debt by $10,000 for borrowers earning up to $125,000 annually, and $20,000 for recipients of Pell Grants. But ever since, the president’s plan has been battered. Numerous lawsuits have been filed against the Biden administration, and over the past few days, both the House of Representatives and the Senate have passed a resolution to block the plan.
However, one of the toughest challenges to the plan has mostly evaded the media’s glare. Biden v. Nebraska was first filed last September in the Eastern Missouri U.S. District Court by six states: Nebraska, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and South Carolina. While five of the states’ cases have been struck down, Missouri remains. Eleni Schirmer is a writer, postdoc at Concordia University’s Social Justice Centre, and organizer with The Debt Collective. She recently co-authored a piece at the New York Times, "The Case Against Student Debt Relief Barely Even Pretends to Make Sense." This week, Schirmer speaks with Brooke about the research she and her team did to debunk the lawsuit's shaky claims, and the consequences of inadequate fact-checking at the Supreme Court.
Iconic hip hop group De La Soul's music is finally available on streaming platforms, just in time for the fiftieth anniversary of hip hop. To say listeners are overjoyed is an understatement. Only a few days after their streaming debut, De La Soul's 1989 debut album, 3 Feet High and Rising, soared to no. 5 on the UK album chart, even topping their original 1990 high of no. 13. For fans, this was a long time coming. The hip hop group had a towering presence in the 80s and 90s, and their playful ingenuity and eccentricity inspired other greats like the Beastie Boys, Childish Gambino, OutKast, and the Pharcyde. But what kept De La Soul's tunes out of rotation for decades — and thus, largely out of the public imagination — was an infuriating entanglement of legal restrictions surrounding sampling, an art form where producers take snippets of songs and stitch them together to form sonic collages. OTM Correspondent Micah Loewinger speaks to Dan Charnas, an associate arts professor at NYU and author of the book "Dilla Time: The Life and Afterlife of J Dilla, the Hip-Hop Producer Who Reinvented Rhythm," about how music copyright law suppresses the artistic voices of hip hop producers.
Last week, Tasha Adams watched her ex-husband, Stewart Rhodes, get sentenced to 18 years in prison for seditious conspiracy. Rhodes both founded and led the Oath Keepers, a far-right anti-government militia group that marched on the Capitol during the January 6th insurrection. Earlier the same week, Adams also finalized her divorce proceedings against Rhodes — ending over twenty years of a marriage that culminated in abuse and isolation.
In our last episode, OTM correspondent Micah Loewinger and Anna Sale, host of Death, Sex & Money, traveled to Montana to speak to Adams about her marriage with Rhodes. Now we're giving you an extended look at that conversation through a segment that originally aired on Death, Sex & Money.
Anna and Micah talk to Tasha about her decades-long marriage with Stewart, from their courtship in a ballroom dance class in Las Vegas, to abuse and isolation as Stewart became transfixed on politics and apocalyptic ideas. Plus, Tasha sits down with Kelly Jones, ex-wife of far-right radio host Alex Jones, and they compare notes on their marriages, and reflect on their secret text exchanges from 2018, when Tasha was plotting her escape from Stewart with her six kids.
On Thursday May 25, founder of the Oath Keepers Stewart Rhodes was sentenced to 18 years in prison for his role in the January 6th attack on the Capitol. On this week’s On the Media, hear how OTM correspondent Micah Loewinger’s reporting became evidence in a federal trial. Plus, what can history tell us about when journalists are called to testify.
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OTM reporter Micah Loewinger [@MicahLoewinger] speaks with senior editor of Lawfare, Roger Parloff [@rparloff], about becoming a federal witness in the trial of Oath Keeper Stewart Rhodes. Listen.
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Micah talks to Lee Levine, first amendment lawyer, about the case of civil rights reporter Earl Caldwell and the impact it continues to have on journalists testifying in court. Listen.
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Micah and Death, Sex, & Money host, Anna Sale [@annasale], speak with Stewart Rhodes' ex-wife Tasha Adams [@That_Girl_Tasha] on her relationship with Rhodes and the impact of his 18-year prison sentence. Listen.
On April 20, 2023, BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti announced that BuzzFeed would be closing down its newsroom and laying off 15 percent of its staff. The news came amidst a deluge of headlines about struggles in the media industry, including: layoffs at NBC, Vox, NPR, Spotify, Insider, News Corp, ABC, and Gannett; the closure of MTV news; bankruptcy at Vice. But the end of BuzzFeed News in particular symbolized the end of an era. BuzzFeed's rapid rise and success in the late aughts and 2010s helped define the style and format of digital media. In 2013, BuzzFeed was getting 130 million unique viewers a month. Disney made an offer to buy BuzzFeed for half a billion dollars that same year, which Peretti turned down. In 2016, BuzzFeed was valued at $1.7 billion. And then, last fiscal quarter, BuzzFeed reported $106 million in net losses.In this conversation, Brooke talks with Ben Smith, the Editor-in-Chief and co-founder of Semafor and author of the new book, Traffic: Genius, Rivalry, and Delusion in the Billion-Dollar Race to Go Viral, about his goals in building a newsroom at BuzzFeed, the lessons he learned, and what he thinks about the future of of news.
This week, the CEO of OpenAI testified at a senate hearing about the dangers of artificial intelligence and called for its regulation. On this week’s On the Media, how long-term fears about AI are shaping perceptions of the technology today, and steps Congress could take to fix problems with internet platforms. Plus, debunking myths about the writers’ strike. 1. Will Oremus [@WillOremus], technology and the digital world reporter for The Washington Post, on the fears and hopes circulating around AI in Congress and Silicon Valley. Listen.
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Emily St. James [@emilystjams], TV critic turned TV writer, on the age-old myths around Hollywood writers' strikes. Listen.
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Cory Doctorow [@doctorow], journalist, activist, and the author of Red Team Blue, on solutions to the enshittification of the internet. Listen.
On Tuesday we entered the third week of one of the largest entertainment strikes in recent memory, the first TV writer's strike since 2007. More than 11,000 people are participating in the action by the Writers Guild of America, resulting in shows like The Tonight Show and Last Week Tonight going dark.
At the heart of the strike are concerns about the changes streamers like Netflix have presented for writer pay and career development. For one, the streamers don’t pay writers residuals, the cut of money they would traditionally get every time their show was rerun on television. Now writers are more likely to be paid for the number of days they work on any given show. But while writer's fight for a new contract some old myths are resurfacing about the strike's impact, including the idea that when writers stopped working in 2007, there was an explosion of reality tv shows. For this week's podcast extra, Brooke speaks with former TV critic turned TV writer Emily St. James about some of the less than true notions about the current strike and previous strikes and why they keep circulating.
This week, E. Jean Carroll was awarded 5 million dollars in damages in a trial that found Donald J. Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation. Shortly after, Trump mocked Carroll in a town hall on CNN. On this week’s On the Media, hear what Carroll’s case, and its coverage, tells us about the progress of the Me Too Movement. Plus, how Big Tech has made the internet harder to use.
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Our host Brooke Gladstone [@OTMBrooke] on what the CNN town hall actually revealed. Listen.
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Rebecca Traister [@rtraister], writer-at-large for New York Magazine, and author of Good and Mad: The Revolutionary Power of Women’s Anger, on what E. Jean Carroll's case can tell us about the #MeToo movement. Listen.
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Cory Doctorow [@doctorow], journalist, activist, and the author of Red Team Blue, on the political attitudes and technical mechanisms that lead to the decline of platforms online. Listen.
If you discovered this series through Apple podcasts, or because you heard that we won a Peabody Award for our work; WELCOME! For our longtime listeners who have heard these episodes before, your weekly dose of On the Media will be available as ever, on Friday afternoon. Enjoy!
Episode 5: There's Something About Radio
Highly politicized, partisan companies like Salem have a hold on the airwaves — and they don’t plan to give it up. Senior Vice President of Salem, Phil Boyce speaks candidly to Katie about the personalities he handpicked to spread Salem’s message and about the company’s plans to expand into the media world off the airwaves. And in this final episode of the series we ask the perennial question: peddling election denialism seems to be a solid business model — but is it legal?
The Divided Dial is hosted by journalist and Fulbright Fellow Katie Thornton. Her written articles and audio stories have appeared in The Atlantic, 99% Invisible, The Washington Post, BBC, NPR, WNYC, Minnesota Public Radio, The Guardian, Bloomberg’s CityLab, National Geographic, and others. She is a lifelong radio nerd who got her start in media as a teenager, volunteering and working behind the scenes at radio stations for many years. You can follow her work on Instagram or on her website.The Divided Dial was edited by On the Media's executive producer, Katya Rogers. With production support from Max Balton and fact-checking by Tom Colligan, Sona Avakian, and Graham Hacia. Music and sound design by Jared Paul. Jennifer Munson is our technical director. Art by Michael Brennan. With support from the Fund for Investigative Journalism.
If you discovered this series through Apple podcasts, or because you heard that we won a Peabody Award for our work; WELCOME! For our longtime listeners who have heard these episodes before, your weekly dose of On the Media will be available as ever, on Friday afternoon. Enjoy!
Episode 4: From The Extreme to The Mainstream
In the 1970s, talk radio was hitting its stride, with hosts and listeners from all political persuasions. But the radio dial was about to change forever. Community needs assessments, requirements to offer public service programs and multiple perspectives, and limits on how many stations a single company could own were all eradicated. Technological and legal changes would consolidate the radio industry exponentially, allowing conservative talk radio hosts like Rush Limbaugh to take over the airwaves. In this episode, we look at radio’s last four decades to understand how we got to where we are today, and how conservative talk radio came to dominate a medium that once thrived on varied viewpoints.
The Divided Dial is hosted by journalist and Fulbright Fellow Katie Thornton. Her written articles and audio stories have appeared in The Atlantic, 99% Invisible, The Washington Post, BBC, NPR, WNYC, Minnesota Public Radio, The Guardian, Bloomberg’s CityLab, National Geographic, and others. She is a lifelong radio nerd who got her start in media as a teenager, volunteering and working behind the scenes at radio stations for many years. You can follow her work on Instagram or on her website.The Divided Dial was edited by On the Media's executive producer, Katya Rogers. With production support from Max Balton and fact-checking by Tom Colligan, Sona Avakian, and Graham Hacia. Music and sound design by Jared Paul. Jennifer Munson is our technical director. Art by Michael Brennan. With support from the Fund for Investigative Journalism.
If you discovered this series through Apple podcasts, or because you heard that we won a Peabody Award for our work; WELCOME! For our longtime listeners who have heard these episodes before, your weekly dose of On the Media will be available as ever, on Friday afternoon. Enjoy!
Episode 3: The Liberal Bias BoogeymanHow did the right get their vice grip of the airwaves, all the while arguing that they were being silenced and censored by a liberal media? In this episode we look at the early history of American radio to reveal that censorship of far-right and progressive voices alike was once common on radio. And we learn how, in the post-war and Civil Rights period, the US government encouraged more diverse viewpoints on the airwaves — until it didn’t.The Divided Dial is hosted by journalist and Fulbright Fellow Katie Thornton. Her written articles and audio stories have appeared in The Atlantic, 99% Invisible, The Washington Post, BBC, NPR, WNYC, Minnesota Public Radio, The Guardian, Bloomberg’s CityLab, National Geographic, and others. She is a lifelong radio nerd who got her start in media as a teenager, volunteering and working behind the scenes at radio stations for many years. You can follow her work on Instagram or on her website.The Divided Dial was edited by On the Media's executive producer, Katya Rogers. With production support from Max Balton and fact-checking by Tom Colligan, Sona Avakian, and Graham Hacia. Music and sound design by Jared Paul. Jennifer Munson is our technical director. Art by Michael Brennan. Special thanks this episode to Tianyi Wang.With support from the Fund for Investigative Journalism.
If you discovered this series through Apple podcasts, or because you heard that we won a Peabody Award for our work; WELCOME! For our longtime listeners who have heard these episodes before, your weekly dose of On the Media will be available as ever, on Friday afternoon. Enjoy!
Episode 2: From Pulpit to Politics
How did the little-known Salem Media Group come to have an outsized political influence? In this episode we trace the company’s rise to power from its scrappy start in the 1970s to the present day — a growth that paralleled and eventually became inextricable from the growth of the Religious Right. We learn that Salem is tightly networked with right wing political strategists, pollsters, big donors, far right leaders and Republican party mainstays thanks to their involvement with the Council for National Policy — a secretive group of Evangelical and conservative leaders. For decades, the CNP has been working behind the scenes to get a specific, highly influential subset of voters to act. And Salem has been a megaphone for their cause.
The Divided Dial is hosted by journalist and Fulbright Fellow Katie Thornton. Her written articles and audio stories have appeared in The Atlantic, 99% Invisible, The Washington Post, BBC, NPR, WNYC, Minnesota Public Radio, The Guardian, Bloomberg’s CityLab, National Geographic, and others. She is a lifelong radio nerd who got her start in media as a teenager, volunteering and working behind the scenes at radio stations for many years. You can follow her work on Instagram or on her website.The Divided Dial was edited by On the Media's executive producer, Katya Rogers. With production support from Max Balton and fact-checking by Tom Colligan, Sona Avakian, and Graham Hacia. Music and sound design by Jared Paul. Jennifer Munson is our technical director. Art by Michael Brennan.With support from the Fund for Investigative Journalism.
If you discovered this series through Apple podcasts, or because you heard that we won a Peabody Award for our work; WELCOME!
SUBSCRIBE TO ON THE MEDIA TO LISTEN TO THE OTHER 4 EPISODES IN THE SERIESEpisode 1: The True Believers
In 2016, Christian talk radio host Eric Metaxas begrudgingly encouraged his listeners to vote for then-presidential candidate Donald Trump. By 2020, he pledged his life to fighting the “stolen election” while talking with Trump on the air. Ahead of the midterm elections, Metaxas and many of his fellow talk radio hosts made sure the falsehood of massive 2020 election fraud was top of mind — on the airwaves and beyond. And while election-denying candidates didn't do as well as many on the right had hoped, at least 170 such candidates have been elected to state and national offices, some of whom will be in charge of future elections. We meet the company whose hosts never backed down from the lies of the stolen 2020 election: Salem Media Group, the largest Christian, conservative multimedia company in the country – and perhaps the most influential media company you’ve never heard of.
The Divided Dial is hosted by journalist and Fulbright Fellow Katie Thornton. Her written articles and audio stories have appeared in The Atlantic, 99% Invisible, The Washington Post, BBC, NPR, WNYC, Minnesota Public Radio, The Guardian, Bloomberg’s CityLab, National Geographic, and others. She is a lifelong radio nerd who got her start in media as a teenager, volunteering and working behind the scenes at radio stations for many years. You can follow her work on Instagram or on her website.The Divided Dial was edited by On the Media's executive producer, Katya Rogers. With production support from Max Balton and fact-checking by Tom Colligan, Sona Avakian, and Graham Hacia. Music and sound design by Jared Paul. Jennifer Munson is our technical director. Art by Michael Brennan.With support from the Fund for Investigative Journalism.
Two decades have passed since George W. Bush gave his “Mission Accomplished” speech about the U.S. invasion of Iraq. On this week’s On the Media, hear how Iraqi journalists have fought to tell their stories over the last twenty years. Plus, what coverage of the Disney v. Florida lawsuits is missing, and a theory to account for the internet’s creeping demise.
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Mark Joseph Stern [@mjs_DC], a senior writer covering courts and the law for Slate, on Disney taking Ron DeSantis to court. Listen.
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OTM producer Suzanne Gaber [@SuzanneGaber] takes a closer look the troubles and triumphs of Iraqi journalism, twenty years after George W. Bush delivered his famous “Mission Accomplished” speech. Listen.
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Cory Doctorow [@doctorow], journalist, activist, and the author of Red Team Blue, on his theory surrounding the slow, steady descent of the internet. Listen.
Music from this week's show:
I’m Not Following You - Michael Andrews
I'm Forever blowing bubbles
We Insist - Zoe Keating
The Glass House - David Bergau
The Hammer of Los - John Zorn
On this show, we’ve spent many hours dissecting the digital anatomy of the internet. We’ve chronicled concerns about privacy, the appeal of connection, the rapture of echo chambers, and the ever-bumbling attempts to regulate it all. But now we turn to the increasingly potent feeling that, when it comes to the world wide web, everything kinda seems to be getting worse.
This week, Brooke sits down for the first of three conversations with with Cory Doctorow, journalist, activist, author of the new novel Red Team Blues, and special advisor to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, to discuss his theory on why going online might feel less and more repellent, how that happened, and what we can do about it.
Disney's lawsuit against Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has been covered in the media as a question of First Amendment rights. The lawsuit comes after a year of public feuding following Disney's criticism of DeSantis' Parental Rights in Education bill, also known as the "Don't Say Gay" bill. A new oversight board, appointed by Gov. DeSantis, moved to void a contract that has given Disney special privileges. In press releases around the suit, Disney has claimed that the government of Florida retaliated against them for their political views, thereby suppressing their freedom of expression. But Mark Joseph Stern, a senior writer covering courts and the law for Slate, points out in an article for Slate that Disney's legal argument has little to do with the first amendment, and much more to do with a moribund clause from the Constitution — the contracts clause. Brooke speaks with Stern about the history of the contracts clause and why bringing back its relevance could have devastating impacts.
On April 9, 2003, a US marine battalion rolled triumphantly into Firdos Square, in the center of Baghdad, two and a half weeks after the US invasion of Iraq began. Hours later, the marines toppled a statue of Saddam Hussein, amongst what seemed like a roaring, jubilant crowd of Iraqis. It became, perhaps, the most televised image of the Iraq War — and it seared itself into the minds of its viewers. Twenty years later, that image is still circulated, and sometimes celebrated.
Peter Maass, then a contributing writer for the New York Times Magazine, stood at the edge of Firdos Square that day. What he witnessed, was vastly different from what viewers were seeing on their television screens across the world. Years later, Maass reconstructed the chain of events that led to the toppling to see what went wrong. For this week's podcast extra, he speaks with Brooke about how the media subconsciously creates events for itself to cover — and how the rampant misconceptions that followed in the wake of the toppling led to a pernicious view of the Iraq War that we're still trying to divorce from today.
In late 2016, American diplomats in Havana, Cuba started hearing a mysterious buzzing sound, followed by debilitating symptoms. On this week’s On the Media, why the government now disputes theories that it was a secret Russian weapon. Plus, what the electric hum of your refrigerator and the uncanny hearing ability of pigeons reveal about the world we live in.
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Adam Entous, staff writer at The New York Times, Jon Lee Anderson, staff writer at The New Yorker, and Robert Bartholomew, sociologist and author of Havana Syndrome: Mass Psychogenic Illness and the Real Story Behind the Embassy Mystery and Hysteria, on the investigation into the mysterious affliction that spread across the globe. Listen.
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Jennifer Munson, OTM Technical Director, and Nasir Memon, New York University professor of computer science and engineering, on the obscure technology called electrical network frequency analysis, or ENF, and the world of audio forensics. Listen.
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Robert Krulwich [@rkrulwich], co-creator and former co-host of Radiolab, and John Hagstrum, a geophysicist emeritus at the U.S. Geological Survey, on the mysterious avian disappearance that rocked world headlines. Listen.
In the fall of 2016, just two years after Obama reopened diplomatic relations with Cuba, a few American diplomats started hearing high-pitched, eerie buzzing sounds in their houses and at a nearby hotel. Shortly thereafter, some of them experienced debilitating symptoms such as headaches, fatigues, trouble reading, bloody noses, and brain fog. The mysterious affliction, dubbed 'Havana Syndrome,' seemed to spread among American diplomats, and then across the globe. Then, the questions burst forth: what happened to them? Were they being attacked, and if so, by whom? Was there a weapon involved, or were the patients undergoing a collective stress response?
It's been seven years since the initial cases, but the mystery still drives headlines to this day, despite a series of reports by intelligence agencies claiming that it was unlikely a foreign adversary was involved. The Intercept reported just last week that the Pentagon has requested $36 million to treat patients of Havana Syndrome, and to continue studying its origins. In a recent podcast distributed by Vice, "Havana Syndrome," Adam Entous, staff writer at The New York Times, and Jon Lee Anderson, staff writer at The New Yorker, traveled to Cuba to investigate the mystery. Meanwhile, a book called Havana Syndrome: Mass Psychogenic Illness and the Real Story Behind the Embassy Mystery and Hysteriaby sociologist Robert Bartholomew, alleges that the press has misreported the story from day one.
This week, OTM correspondent Micah Loewinger speaks with Entous, Anderson, and Bartholomew to try and make sense of the conflicting theories — and understand the true toll of the mystery for all involved.
This is a segment from our April 28, 2023, episode, Mysteries of Sound.
Pigeons are more often mocked than their avian brethren. But human beings have relied on pigeons for centuries to act as messengers, a reliable early post system — or in one case, a news bulletin. The birds possess remarkable navigation abilities, which is why on a summer morning in France in 1997, 60,000 pigeons were released to mark the centenary of the Royal Pigeon Racing Society with a cross channel flight. The problem? Most of them never came back. It was dubbed the “the great pigeon race disaster" and baffled experts and pigeon fanciers alike. But this week, OTM correspondent Micah Loewinger sits down with Robert Krulwich, co-creator and former co-host of Radiolab, and John Hagstrum, a geophysicist emeritus at the U.S. Geological Survey, to try and figure out exactly what exactly happened.
This is a segment from our April 28, 2023, episode, Mysteries of Sound.
Ever noticed the discreet humming sound your refrigerator makes? Well, in audio forensics, there's an obscure field called electrical network frequency analysis, or ENF, that can extract a surprising amount of information from the noise emitted by many of our electronics. ENF analysts can take a recording of that hum and tell you — to the minute — what time and date the recording was made. In this piece, guest host Micah Loewinger explores how the technology works, and what it's useful for.
The Redstone family controls Paramount Global, formerly known as ViacomCBS, Inc, — one of the biggest entertainment companies out there. (Think CBS entertainment, MTV, Nickelodeon.) The family is also one of the inspirations for HBO's Succession, which makes sense the more you get to know them. Sure, Rupert Murdoch plays his kids off each other and broke up with one wife on email. But Sumner Redstone, who died at 97 in 2020, had a love life that shook his media empire to its core, never mind the tabloids. This week, Brooke speaks to Rachel Abrams, a senior producer and reporter for The New York Times Presents, and the co-author with James B. Stewart of Unscripted: The Epic Battle for a Media Empire and the Redstone Family Legacy.
Fox News settled with Dominion Voting Systems for over 780 million dollars on Tuesday. On this week’s On the Media, the impact media moguls, and their families, have had on our culture at large. Plus, the bigger lessons we can learn about money and free speech from the revelations surrounding Clarence Thomas.
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Jim Rutenberg [@jimrutenberg], writer-at-large for the New York Times and its Sunday magazine, on the Dominion lawsuit settlement and what's next for Fox News. Listen.
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Robert Thompson, professor of television, radio, and film at Syracuse University, on the impact of the Murdoch family and their media empire, and what can be learned about their real-life power from the fictional tv show. Listen.
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Corey Robin [@CoreyRobin], professor of political science at Brooklyn College and the CUNY Graduate Center, on what bigger lesson we can learn from the newest controversy around Justice Clarence Thomas. Listen.
Music from this week's show:
Finding Mink - Danny Elfman Eye Surgery - Thomas NewmanSuccession (Main Title Theme)Time is Late - Marcos CiscarString Quartet No. 5 - Philip Glass - Kronos QuartetTateh’s Picture Book - Randy Newman
Jesse Armstong, the creator and showrunner of the hit TV show Succession, has made no secret about drawing from the real-life drama of media-mogul families like the Murdochs (Fox News), the Redstones (CBS/Viacom), the Robertses (NBC/Comcast), the Sinclairs, the Mercers, and the Hearsts. But perhaps nowhere are the parallels more obvious than between the Murdoch family—with Rupert Murdoch as the aging media mogul and his three kids from one marriage fighting to run his media empire— and the fictional Roys. Brooke speaks with Robert Thompson, professor of television, radio, and film at Syracuse University and the founding director of the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture, about the impact of the Murdoch family and their media empire on the broader culture, and what can be learned about their real-life power from the fictional tv show.
This is a segment from our April 21, 2023, episode “Murdoch. Logan. Clarence.”
The jury was empaneled and opening arguments were set to begin on Tuesday, April 18, when the news broke that Fox News had settled the defamation suit brought against it by Dominion Voting Systems for $787.5 million. The settlement came after months of discovery revealed damning text messages from Fox News hosts and top execs showing they did not believe the election fraud news they spread following former President Donald Trump's loss in the 2020 election. Brooke speaks with Jim Rutenberg, writer-at-large for The New York Times and its Sunday magazine, who was in the courtroom covering the trial, about what the case already had done to Fox News' reputation, Rupert Murdoch's playbook, and the impact the Murdoch media empire has had on culture and politics around the world.
This is a segment from our April 21, 2023, episode “Murdoch. Logan. Clarence.”
Earlier this month, a Texas judge issued a contentious decision about a drug named Mifepristone, widely used as an abortion pill and a medication to aid treatment of people who suffer miscarriages. U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, a Trump-appointee with documented anti-abortion views, ruled to suspend use of the drug across the entire country, saying that the Food and Drug Administration didn't properly vet the drug when it was cleared for market over twenty years ago.
The FDA has spent quite a bit of time in the national limelight the past few years, largely due to the pandemic. But despite its occupation of headlines, the FDA’s history–and at times contentious relationship with the government that created it–aren’t always as widely covered. This week, Brooke sits down with Daniel Carpenter, the Allie S. Freed Professor of Government at Harvard University and author of the book, “Reputation and Power: Organizational Image and Pharmaceutical Regulation at the FDA,” to talk about the agency's origins and complicated task in the face of our modern political arena.
For the first time since the Cold War, an American reporter has been charged with espionage in Russia. On this week’s On the Media, hear about one journalist who stayed to cover Putin’s invasion, and from one who left. Plus, a look at why NPR has sworn off Twitter for good, and how it will affect people who get their news from the app.
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OTM producer Molly Schwartz [@mollyfication], takes a deep dive into the imprisonment of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, and the challenges of reporting on the ground in Russia right now. Listen.
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Nikita Kondratyev, reporter for Novaya Gazeta Europe, on leaving Russia and covering Putin's invasion in exile. Listen.
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Zoe Schiffer [@ZoeSchiffer], managing editor of Platformer, on Elon Musk's newest fight with the press and the departure of NPR from Twitter. Listen.
Music from this week's show: Berotim - John ZornWe Insist - Zoe KeatingApril - KinoFellini’s Waltz - Enrico PieranunziBryter Layter - Nick DrakeBlue Monk - Jimmy GiuffreCello Song - Nick Drake
The day before Evan Gershkovich was detained by Russian authorities, March 28, Brooke was in Berlin to interview Nikita Kondratyev of Novaya Gazeta Europe about his decision to leave Russia. Because of the crackdown on journalists inside the country, at least a thousand Russian journalists have left since the invasion of Ukraine over a year ago, according to a legal aid group called the Net Freedoms Project. This week, Brooke speaks to Kondratyev outside a coffee shop in East Berlin about how to report on Russia from abroad, and about the community he’s found in Germany.
Many thanks to the American Academy in Berlin for their support in producing this conversation.
This is a segment from our April 14, 2023, show, Crackdown in Russia.
Donald Trump is the first ever president to be charged with criminal activity. And leading up to his arraignment, cable news has dug in, breathlessly tracing his every movement — his jet touching down in LaGuardia, his short journey from Trump Tower to the courthouse, and even his expressions and body language inside the courtroom. TV news hosts left no detail unturned, offering up 24/7, wall-to-wall coverage. According to Alex Shephard, staff writer at The New Republic, the coverage saw media outlets stumbling back into some of its "worst habits." In this week's podcast, Shephard tells Brooke about what reporters missed about the indictment.
Today, more than 37 million Americans live in poverty. The problem has been addressed countless times since the nation’s founding, but it persists, and for the poorest among us, it gets worse. America has not been able to find its way to a sustainable solution, because most of its citizens see the problem of poverty from a distance, through a distorted lens. So in 2016, we presented "Busted: America's Poverty Myths," a series exploring how our understanding of poverty is shaped not by facts, but by private presumptions, media narratives, and the tales of the American Dream. This week we're revisiting part of that series.
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Matthew Desmond [@just_shelter], author of "Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City"and the new book "Poverty, by America," on the myriad factors that perpetuate wealth inequality and Jack Frech [@FrechJack], former Athens County Ohio Welfare Director, on how the media's short attention span for covering inequality stymies our discourse around poverty. Listen.
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Jill Lepore, historian and staff writer for the New Yorker, on the long history of America's beloved "rags to riches" narrative and Natasha Boyer, a Ohio woman whose eviction was initially prevented thanks to a generous surprise from strangers, on the reality of living in poverty and the limitations of "random acts of kindness." Listen.
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Brooke considers the myth of meritocracy and how it obscures the reality: that one's economic success is more due to luck than motivation. Listen.
You can find all 5 episodes of the series on our website.
On Tuesday, April 4, former President Donald Trump was arrested and appeared in court for his arraignment in New York. The charges stem from hush money paid to Stormy Daniels in 2016, allegedly to cover up an extramarital affair. The entire case leads to larger questions about how democracies, where everyone is supposed to be equal under the law, do or don’t hold their leaders to account. Guest host Ilya Marritz spoke with Rick Perlstein, a journalist, historian, and author of The Invisible Bridge: The Fall of Nixon and the Rise of Reagan, about perhaps the most famous case of a former US president alluding punishment. On September 8, 1974, President Gerald Ford pardoned his predecessor, Richard Nixon, who resigned from office one month earlier. The pardon rocked a nation still in the throes of the Watergate scandal, and perhaps permanently altered the trust of the public in the executive branch. But a quieter, separate movement had begun within the Republican Party. Perlsteinexplains how the groundwork for our struggle to prosecute, even the most guilty seeming presidents, can be traced back to that fateful fall day in 1974.
This is a segment from our September 9, 2022 show, Lock Him Up?.
For the first time in our history, a former U.S. president has been indicted. On this week’s On the Media, what Israel can teach us about when a nation’s leader runs afoul of the law. Plus, social media companies are back in the hot seat, facing serious legal threats at the local and national levels.
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Yael Freidson [@YaelFreidson], legal correspondent for the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, on why the crisis in Israel reached a boiling point after Prime Minister Netanyahu's attempts to cut down systems of accountability. Listen.
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Julia Bacha [@juliabacha], the director of the documentary film ‘Boycott’ and the creative director at Just Vision, a nonprofit media organization that creates content about Israel and Palestine, on how Israel’s Ministry of Strategic Affairs was created to combat the boycott movement—first within borders, then overseas. Listen.
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Avi Asher-Schapiro [@AASchapiro], tech reporter at the Thomson Reuters Foundation, on the surge of bills across the United States aiming to reduce the impact of social media on the mental health of children and teens. Listen.
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Jacqueline Nesi [@JacquelineNesi], assistant professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at Brown University, on the murkiness of the data on teen mental health and social media, and the possible consequences of restricting screen time. Listen.
Music:We Insist - Zoe KeatingThe Glass House - Going to TehranHow Strange - Nicole Cruz RemixOtotoa - Malphino Equinox - John Coltrane
The U.S. is one of Israel’s strongest allies. And when a boycott-Israel movement threatened the country’s image internationally, Israel’s government responded. The Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement, which calls for a boycott of the Israeli government and associated companies in protest of the country's military occupation and treatment of Palestinians, was started in 2005 by Palestinian civil society and quickly spread abroad. Israel created domestic policy that would prevent its citizens from boycotting companies operating within occupied Palestine. Just a few years later, versions of the anti-BDS law were popping up across state governments in the U.S. with a little help from the Israeli government. There are now 34 U.S. states with a version of the law. This week, guest host Ilya Marritz speaks with filmmaker Julia Bacha about her film, ‘Boycott,’ and how the anti-boycott laws spread and their implications for other boycott movements.
This is a segment from our March 31, 2023 show, Indicted.
On Thursday, news of the first ever indictment of a former U.S. President made waves through the country. Meanwhile, in Israel, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is on trial for corruption while the country witnesses some of the largest protests in its history over a proposed overhaul to the judicial system. Critics say the overhaul, proposed by Netanyahu, would end the independence of the supreme court, and limit the power of judges. This week guest host, Ilya Marritz speaks with Yael Freidson, the legal correspondent for the Israeli newspaper Haaretz about the state of Netanyahu's trial and its impact on Israeli politics, and what Americans can learn from the situation.
This is a segment from our March 31, 2023 show, Indicted.
As legislation crops up across the country looking to dramatically curb young people's autonomy and time on social media, some researchers are voicing caution. This week, guest host Ilya Marrtiz sits down with Jacqueline Nesi, assistant professor of psychiatry and human behavior at Brown University and author of the Substack "Techno Sapiens," to talk about why the data on teen mental health and social media isn't as cut and dry as we might believe, and what unintended consequences might come from restricting kids time online.
This is a segment from our March 31, 2023 show, Indicted.
There's an upwelling of political will to regulate the impact that social media are having on children and teens. Last week, Utah Governor Spencer Cox signed two bills into law that aim to restrict how children are able to access social media in the state. The bills, known jointly as the Social Media Regulation Act, are scheduled to go into effect next March. They require that people under 18 have parental permission to use any social media, implement a digital curfew, and mandate that social media apps be designed in a way that isn't "addictive." Utah's bills are the first of their kind to pass in the United States, but they are part of a larger trend. California, Arkansas, Texas, Connecticut, New Jersey, and Louisiana have bills in the works, and some legislators at the federal level are also keen on taking action. TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew was grilled for over five hours by a House committee last week, and a major line of questioning was about the impact that the app is having on children.
Guest host Ilya Marritz speaks with Avi Asher-Schapiro, tech reporter at the Thomson Reuters Foundation, about the potential efficacy of these kinds of laws, the difficulty of changing structural issues with social media, and how trial lawyers are stepping in to sue social media companies on behalf of parents who claim that the apps are causing severe mental health issues for their children.
This is a segment from our March 31, 2023 show, Indicted.
In 2022 HBO picked up nearly forty Emmy awards — many of which went to The White Lotus, which airs its finale this weekend. That year also happened to be the Home Box Office's 50th birthday. John Koblin co-wrote the book It's Not TV: The Spectacular Rise, Revolution, and Future of HBO with Felix Gillette. Last winter, guest host Ilya Marritz spoke to Koblin, who covers the television industry for The New York Times, about how the network came to be a critical darling, and HBO's fraught future under its new owner, Discovery+.
This is a segment from our December 9, 2022 show, Still Watching?.
Highly politicized, partisan companies like Salem Media Group have a hold on the airwaves — and they don’t plan to give it up. This week, Senior Vice President of Salem Phil Boyce speaks candidly to reporter Katie Thornton about the personalities he handpicked to spread Salem’s message and about the company’s plans to expand into the media world off the airwaves. Peddling election denialism seems to be a solid business model — but is it legal?
This episode is an adaptation of our latest series, The Divided Dial. You can listen to the full series here. The Divided Dial is reported and hosted by journalist and Fulbright Fellow Katie Thornton. You can follow her work on Instagram or on her website. The Divided Dial was edited by On the Media's executive producer, Katya Rogers. With production support from Max Balton and fact-checking by Tom Colligan, Sona Avakian, and Graham Hacia. Music and sound design by Jared Paul. Jennifer Munson is our technical director. Art by Michael Brennan. With support from the Fund for Investigative Journalism.
If you ask Democrats why the US invaded Iraq in 2003, many will say that President George W. Bush cynically lied about weapons of mass destruction. Meanwhile, some Republicans will say that President Bush meant well, but had been led astray by faulty intelligence.
As we pass the 20th anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq, both of these narratives persist — and both distort the past, according to New York Times columnist Max Fisher. Fisher argues that the invasion was instead simply the natural unfolding of the neoconservative worldview. In this week's pod, we revisit his 2018 conversation with Brooke to unpack the hubris behind this worldview and examine how it grew from an esoteric, academic ideology into a force that still shapes American policies and minds today.
How did the right get their vice grip of the airwaves, all the while arguing that they were being silenced and censored by a liberal media? This week, we look at the early history of American radio to reveal that censorship of far-right and progressive voices alike was once common on radio. And reporter Katie Thornton explains how, in the post-war and Civil Rights period, the US government encouraged more diverse viewpoints on the airwaves — until it didn’t. Plus, the technological and legal changes that led to conservative talk radio hosts like Rush Limbaugh taking over the airwaves.
This episode is an adaptation of our latest series, The Divided Dial. You can listen to the full series here. The Divided Dial is reported and hosted by journalist and Fulbright Fellow Katie Thornton. You can follow her work on Instagram or on her website. The Divided Dial was edited by On the Media's executive producer, Katya Rogers. With production support from Max Balton and fact-checking by Tom Colligan, Sona Avakian, and Graham Hacia. Music and sound design by Jared Paul. Jennifer Munson is our technical director. Art by Michael Brennan. With support from the Fund for Investigative Journalism.
Iconic hip hop group De La Soul's music is finally available on streaming platforms, just in time for the fiftieth anniversary of hip hop. To say listeners are overjoyed is an understatement. Only a few days after their streaming debut, De La Soul's 1989 debut album, 3 Feet High and Rising, soared to no. 5 on the UK album chart, even topping their original 1990 high of no. 13. For fans this was a long time coming. The hip hop group had a towering presence in the 80s and 90s, their playful ingenuity and eccentricity even inspired other greats like the Beastie Boys, Childish Gambino, OutKast, and the Pharcyde. But what kept De La Soul's tunes out of rotation for decades — and thus, largely out of the public imagination — was an infuriating entanglement of legal restrictions surrounding sampling, an art form where producers take snippets of songs and stitch them together to form sonic collages. For this week's pod extra, OTM Correspondent Micah Loewinger speaks to Dan Charnas, an associate arts professor at NYU and author of the book "Dilla Time: The Life and Afterlife of J Dilla, the Hip-Hop Producer Who Reinvented Rhythm," about how music copyright law suppresses the artistic voices of hip hop producers.
In 2016, Christian talk radio host Eric Metaxas begrudgingly encouraged his listeners to vote for then-presidential candidate Donald Trump. By 2020, he pledged his life to fighting the “stolen election” while talking with Trump on the air. Ahead of the midterm elections, Metaxas and many of his fellow talk radio hosts made sure the falsehood of massive 2020 election fraud was top of mind — on the airwaves and beyond. And while election-denying candidates didn't do as well as many on the right had hoped, at least 170 such candidates have been elected to state and national offices, some of whom will be in charge of future elections. This week, reporter Katie Thornton introduces us to the company whose hosts never backed down from the lies of the stolen 2020 election: Salem Media Group, the largest Christian, conservative multimedia company in the country – and perhaps the most influential media company you’ve never heard of. Thornton traces the company’s rise to power from its scrappy start in the 1970s to the present day — a growth that paralleled and eventually became inextricable from the growth of the Religious Right.
This episode is an adaptation of our latest series, The Divided Dial. You can listen to the full series here. The Divided Dial is reported and hosted by journalist and Fulbright Fellow Katie Thornton. You can follow her work on Instagram or on her website. The Divided Dial was edited by On the Media's executive producer, Katya Rogers. With production support from Max Balton and fact-checking by Tom Colligan, Sona Avakian, and Graham Hacia. Music and sound design by Jared Paul. Jennifer Munson is our technical director. Art by Michael Brennan. With support from the Fund for Investigative Journalism.
In March 2021, when President Joe Biden announced the nomination of Lina Khan to be a commissioner at the Federal Trade Commission, the decision was met with a rare kind of excitement for the otherwise sleepy agency. The excitement seemed bipartisan as 21 Republican senators voted to confirm the commissioner. Not long after, then 32-year-old Khan was promoted to chairperson of the agency, making her the youngest chair in the FTC's history. Since then the tone around Khan has changed dramatically, as Republican commissioners at the agency have pushed back against what they see as a radical agenda. For this week's pod OTM correspondent Micah Loewinger speaks with Emily Birnbaum, a technology and lobbying reporter for Bloomberg, about a growing anti-antitrust movement emerging in the press and in Washington and why Khan has become its main target.
A billion dollar defamation lawsuit has given the public an unprecedented view into the inner workings of Fox News. On this week’s On the Media, how the network’s election falsehoods reveal the company’s commitment to profit over truth. Plus, the story of how historical fiction became the unexpected darling of the literary world. And, how a historian grapples with gaps in our historical record.
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Andrew Prokop [@awprokop], senior politics correspondent at Vox, and David Folkenflik [@mjs_DC], media correspondent for NPR News, on the latest revelations in Dominion Voting Systems' lawsuit against Fox News. Listen.
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OTM producer Eloise Blondiau [@eloiseblondiau] takes a deep dive into how historical fiction became a rich resource for reckoning with our past, feat: Alexander Manshel, assistant professor of English at McGill University [@xandermanshel], and novelitsts Alexander Chee [@alexanderchee] and Min Jin Lee [@minjinlee11]. Listen.
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Tiya Miles [@TiyaMilesTAM], professor of history at Harvard University and author of All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley’s Sack, a Black Family Keepsake, on rediscovering lost histories. Listen.
Fifty years ago, if you wanted to be considered a serious novelist, you might write a contemporary novel. One that captured the current moment and all its anxieties, fashions, technologies. But in the 21st century, the historical novel would give you far better odds for a critical hit. According to Alexander Manshel, author of the forthcoming book Writing Backwards: Historical Fiction and the Reshaping of the American Canon, between 2000 and 2020, about three quarters of the novels shortlisted for the National Book Award, the Pulitzer Prize, and the National Book Critics Circle Award took place in the historical past. The New York Times Sunday book review section even has a regular, dedicated column for the genre. One of the paper’s critics, Megan O’Grady, has praised our current time as a “golden age” for the historical novel.
Think of authors like Hilary Mantel, Toni Morrison, Colson Whitehead, Min Jin Lee, Louise Erdrich, and Viet Thanh Nguyen. Their books often do more than transport us to another time. When they focus on lesser known histories, they ask us to consider what is worth remembering at all. This week, OTM producer Eloise Blondiau speaks to Alexander Manshel and authors Alexander Chee and Min Jin Lee about how historical fiction became a rich resource for reckoning with our past.
Fox News is in the fight of its legal life right now. Dominion is suing Fox News for 1.6 billion dollars in damages over false claims that it helped rig the 2020 elections for President Biden. Dominion’s legal team draws a direct line from the heated rhetoric of Fox hosts to the January 6, 2021 protests that became a violent siege of the US Capitol. And that forms the basis of an entirely different defamation suit, filed roughly 10,000 miles away. This time, the suit was filed by Lachlan Murdoch against a small Australian paper for an opinion piece that implied the Murdochs had some responsibility in the events of the January 6 insurrection. Guest host David Folkenflik speaks with Lachlan Cartwright, the Editor at Large of the Daily Beast where he covers power, crime, celebrity and justice, to get a look into the lawsuits and what they mean for the future of the Fox empire.
This is a segment from our October 7th, 2022 program, So Sue Me.
For decades the so-called "free market" has been seen as a fundamental part of American society, often lauded in debates about the success of capitalism. But with wealth inequality in the U.S. at an all-time high, debates about capitalism have ramped up. This week, Brooke sits down with Naomi Oreskes, professor of the history of science at Harvard University and the co-author with Erik M. Conway of “The Big Myth: How American Business Taught Us to Loathe Government and Love the Free Market,” to trace the evolution of what Oreskes calls "free-market fundamentalism" back to a century-old public relations campaign that still impacts American politics.
This week we're airing an interview that Brooke did while on a fellowship at the American Academy in Rome. She and her husband Fred Kaplan (author of the War Stories column in Slate), sat down with Mark Hannah, host of the podcast "None of the Above," produced by the Eurasia Group Foundation.
From the Crimean War of 1853 to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine this year, journalists, reporters, and the media have shaped the public’s understanding of war. But do the stories we read and the photos we see provide an impartial picture of the wars they document? As Hannah recently explained in Foreign Policy,certain aspects of American war coverage—reliance on government sources and incentives to simplify geopolitics as battles between good and evil—have long compelled news organizations to tilt toward military action.
This interview originally aired on May 18, 2022.
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Julia Rock [@jul1arock], reporter at the The Lever, and Allison Fisher [@citizenfisher], director of the Climate and Energy Program for Media Matters for America, on why the Ohio derailment was a foreseeable disaster and how dearth of early media coverage, which failed to hold parties accountable, left space for distrust. Listen.
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Gönül Tol [@gonultol], the founding director of the Middle East Institute's Turkey program and author of "Erdoğan’s War: A Strongman’s Struggle at Home and in Syria," on the impact of government corruption on Turkey's death toll after this month's earthquake. Listen.
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Natasha Hall [@NatashaHallDC], a senior fellow at the Middle East Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, on the ways politics have played into a delay in aid in Syria. Listen.
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Keren Landman [@landmanspeaking], senior reporter covering public health and emerging infectious diseases at Vox, on the risks of bird flu and if we should be worried about another pandemic. Listen.
Music:Fallen Leaves - Marcos CiscarInvitation to a Suicide - John ZornBerceuse In D Flat Major, Op. 57 - Ivan MoravecTime Is Late - Marcos CiscarWhen Doves Cry Airborne Toxic EventLachrymae Antiquae - Kronos QuartetWhite Man Sleeps - Kronos QuartetThe Old House - Marcos Ciscar
Over the last few weeks, we’ve seen the news focus on the devastation and response to the earthquake in Turkey. But in Syria, coverage has been more complicated, because when the quake hit, the country was in its twelfth year of a long, drawn-out civil war. It took four days for the United Nations to reach parts of Syria, leaving many Syrians feeling abandoned. International organizations, like the UN, have said this is in part because the hardest hit areas are located both in regions controlled by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and in the Northwest, where rebel groups hold power. In the aftermath, the rebel-held areas have struggled most for support. This week Brooke speaks with Natasha Hall, a senior fellow at the Middle East Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, about the ways politics have played into the delay of aid.
YouTube is one of the biggest media companies in the world. In 2020, we uploaded 500 hours of footage to the site every minute. And on average we watched over 5 billion videos every day. It’s a broadcasting machine so complex, it would make Marshall McLuhan’s head explode. OTM Correspondent Micah Loewinger has been obsessed with YouTube since he was 13. Last fall he sat down with journalist Mark Bergen to discuss his new book, Like, Comment, Subscribe: Inside YouTube’s Chaotic Rise to World Domination. According to Bergen, the founders of the site originally envisioned something more akin to Tinder than homemade TV.
This is a segment from our September 30, 2022 program,Still Loading….
Elif Batuman is a writer who got her PhD in comparative literature, focusing on Russian literature. Her first two books, The Possessed and The Idiot, the second of which was nominated for a Pulitzer prize, borrow titles from novels by Fyodor Dostoevsky. In her recent article for The New Yorker, Batuman writes about how she originally read and fell in love with the novels as universal, non-ideological reflections on the human condition. But over the past few years, she has been rereading these novels as reflections of the time and place in which they were written—specifically, as books that were written in the context of Russian empire. Writers such as Alexander Pushkin, Leo Tolstoy, Fyodor Dostoevsky, and Nikolai Gogol contended with themes of empire in their books, and alternately supported, opposed, benefited from, and contended with Russian imperialism throughout their lives and careers. Today, these same writers are appropriated by Vladimir Putin to justify his imperialist aims and wars of aggression. In this conversation with Brooke, Batuman discusses how she's grappling with difficult questions about the intersection of politics and art, and how she questions the form of the novel in her latest book, Either/Or.
Thirty-four years ago, the Ayatollah Khomeini, the Supreme Leader of Iran, issued a fatwa calling for the assassination of the novelist Salman Rushdie, whose book “The Satanic Verses” Khomeini declared blasphemous. It caused a worldwide uproar. Rushdie lived in hiding in London for a decade before moving to New York, where he began to let his guard down. “I had come to feel that it was a very long time ago and, and that the world moves on,” he tells David Remnick. “That’s what I had agreed with myself was the case. And then it wasn’t.” In August of last year, a man named Hadi Matar attacked Rushdie onstage before a public event, stabbing him about a dozen times. Rushdie barely survived. Now, in his first interview since the assassination attempt, Rushdie discusses the long shadow of the fatwa; his recovery from extensive injuries; and his writing. It was “just a piece of fortune, given what happened,” that Rushdie had finished work on a new novel, “Victory City,” weeks before the attack. The book is being published this week. “I’ve always thought that my books are more interesting than my life,” he remarks. “Unfortunately, the world appears to disagree.”
David Remnick’s Profile of Rushdie appears in the February 13th & 20th issue of The New Yorker.
On this week’s On the Media, what the data says about how boys and men are struggling today. Plus, the history behind Ticketmaster’s dominance in the live music industry, and how Hollywood trust-busting in the 1930s and 1940s unleashed an era of indie films.
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Richard Reeves [@RichardvReeves], a senior fellow in Economic Studies at the Brookings Institution and author of the book Of Boys and Men: Why the Modern Male Is Struggling, Why It Matters, and What to Do About It, on the research that shows gender disparities growing in a surprising direction. Listen.
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Moe Tkacik and Krista Brown [@moetkacik and @KristaKBrown], researchers at the American Economic Liberties Project, on how the grunge band Pearl Jam tried to take on Ticketmaster in the 1990s. Listen.
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Peter Labuza [@labuzamovies], a film historian and researcher with the International Cinematographers Guild, on how a Supreme Court case broke up Hollywood's studio system and what this history can teach us about the present moment. Listen.
Rates of death by suicide and drug overdose for men in the US are spiking, boys are falling behind in the education system, and men's participation in the labor market is dropping. But, given the fact that men are still overrepresented in positions of power, this conversation can cause some cognitive dissonance. OTM correspondent Micah Loewinger speaks with Richard Reeves, a senior fellow in Economic Studies at the Brookings Institution and author of the new book, Of Boys and Men: Why the Modern Male Is Struggling, Why It Matters, and What to Do About It, about why it's important to have these conversations, why the problems besetting men and boys are affecting everyone, and how, in the absence of institutional solutions, reactionary voices are stepping in to fill the void.
This is a segment from our February 3, 2023 show, Too Big to Fail?.
On January 24, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on Ticketmaster. The hearing followed in the aftermath Taylor Swift's "Eras Tour" tickets going on sale last November, a debacle during which Ticketmaster broke down during the presale, leaving millions of fans without tickets. Senators convened to hear testimony from a top Live Nation executive (Ticketmaster’s parent company), competitors in ticketing and concert promotion, antitrust experts, and a musician. The hearing represented a step toward a potential antitrust case against Live Nation and Ticketmaster, which merged in 2010.
Moe Tkacik and Krista Brown are researchers at the American Economic Liberties Project, a left-leaning think tank which is part of a consortium that is pushing for the DOJ to break up the Live Nation monopoly. This week, Micah Loewinger speaks to them about an article they co-wrote for The American Prospect about Ticketmaster’s forty-plus-year-history, and how the company came to dominate, and in some ways reshape, the live music landscape.
This is a segment from our February 3, 2023 show, Too Big to Fail?.
The end of 2022 witnessed the sunsetting of the Paramount consent decrees, a monumental antitrust case that broke up Hollywood's studio system. In the 1930s and 40s, Hollywood was run by five big studios and three smaller ones, which controlled not only the production of movies, but also their distribution in movie theaters. This vertical integration caught the attention of the Department of Justice's antitrust division, and in 1948 a Supreme Court decision resulted in the Paramount decrees, which broke up the studios' monopolies and ushered in a new era of independent filmmaking. In this interview with Micah Loewinger, Peter Labuza, a film historian and a researcher with the International Cinematographers Guild, says the history of the Paramount decrees offers lessons for how to think about the ubiquity of today’s streaming services like Netflix and Disney+, and the impact they're having on audiences and the filmmaking industry alike.
This is a segment from our February 3, 2023 show, Too Big to Fail?.
Former OTM producer Alana Casanova-Burgess is back with season 2 of her critically acclaimed podcast series, La Brega. This one is all about the music!
For over a century, Puerto Rican musicians have been influential across the hemisphere. From the Harlem Hellfighters of WWI who helped develop jazz to the reggaetoneros who dominate today’s charts, Puerto Rican music is everywhere. We start the season with the island’s most celebrated composer Rafael Hernandez, who wrote beloved songs like “Lamento Borincano,” “Ahora Seremos Felices,” and “Perfume de Gardenias” – and one of the island’s unofficial anthems, “Preciosa.” It’s a love song written for Puerto Rico that praises the island’s beauty and, remarkably, also calls out the forces that oppress it.
When Bad Bunny exploded onto the scene and became the most-streamed artist in the history of the world, it became undeniable that Puerto Rican lyrics – the poetry of what people sing about, the bregas in every chorus – resonate all over the hemisphere. In September, he put out a music video for his hit “El Apagón,” (“The Blackout,”) which then turned into a mini-documentary about gentrification – the way people from the states are taking advantage of tax benefits and displacing Boricuas. It’s called “Aqui Vive Gente" ("People Live Here").
“El Apagón,” has become somewhat of an anthem – an installment in the long tradition of Puerto Ricans singing about home, longing and belonging, popularized by Rafael Hernandez. But Bad Bunny isn’t singing about yearning for Puerto Rico – his music is often about never even leaving in the first place. It’s about staying, and creating a future for Puerto Ricans in Puerto Rico. If the video’s Youtube comments – declarations of solidarity – are any indication, his music has touched on something deeply relatable across Latin America.
Learn more about the voices in this episode:• Myzo, the singer from the plane• Bobby Sanabria, Grammy-nominated bandleader and educator• Elena Martínez, folklorist at City Lore and the Bronx Music Heritage Center• Watch Marc Anthony’s performance of “Preciosa”• Watch Bianca Graulau’s documentary “Aquí Vive Gente” (“People Live Here”)
Our cover of “Preciosa” is by the artist Xenia Rubinos (out in March).
You can listen to first season of La Brega and hear new episodes from this season here. Listen to the La Brega Spotify playlist, featuring music from this episode – and this season. It will be added to each week as new episodes come out.
In January, WNYC host Brian Lehrer embarked on an oral history project, where callers described the events that changed their lives forever. The series was titled News That Defined Your Generation, and Brian began with callers in their nineties, and ended with listeners in their twenties. Whether or not you're sold on the generational labels, the length of our lives undeniably determines which bits of history we encounter up close, and which are passed down to us. This week, Brooke and Brian discuss the limits of the generational lens, and the news events that defined them.
Americans love to generalize about generations. We can’t help but shoe-horn our relatives into neatly labeled categories: Silent Generation, Gen X, Millennials, Gen Z, and of course, the Boomers. Around 76 million Americans were born in the Baby Boom era between 1946 and 1964, in the post-war economic expansion, replete with financial benefits galore, at least for many white people. This generation completely reshaped our country's infrastructure, politics, and culture — and became accustomed to a system that bent over backwards to accommodate its massive population. But as the boomers themselves are aging, their aggregated wealth has become an achy spot for the younger people of today. This week, Brooke speaks with Philip Bump, national columnist at The Washington Post, who set out to interrogate how this enormous generation molded America as we know it. In his new book, “The Aftermath: The Last Days of the Baby Boom and the Future of Power in America,” he examines what will happen when the boom inevitably fizzles out.
For decades, the Central Intelligence Agency has cultivated its appeal as an organization shrouded in secrecy, engaged in cutting edge tech and no-holds-barred espionage in defense of the US. It’s an image that sells in Hollywood. The CIA also assisted in the making of some movies about some real life operations. But as the agency ages, it continues to strive to stay up to date. In 2022, when the CIA turned 75, the agency launched operation:podcast. Brooke speaks with David Shamus McCarthy, author of Selling the CIA: Public Relations and the Culture of Secrecy, about the latest venture for the agency and the CIA's long history of public relations initiatives.
Many of us are still cookin’ with gas, but should we? On this week’s On the Media, a look at why gas stoves, and the political flame-war over appliances, are back in the news. Plus, why new research says we’ve left the golden age of science and technology.1. Paris Marx [@parismarx], the host of the podcast ‘Tech Won’t Save Us,’ and the author of ‘Road to Nowhere: What Silicon Valley Gets Wrong about the Future of Transportation,' on the longstanding debate on electric cars in the US, and whether they really do enough to lower carbon emissions. Listen.
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Rebecca Leber [@rebleber], a senior reporter covering climate at Vox, on how the controversy surrounding gas stoves is nothing new, and the gas industry's long PR campaign to convince the public that "cooking was gas" is just better. Listen.
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William Broad [@WilliamJBroad], a science journalist and senior writer at The New York Times, on new research published in Nature that suggests that our mad sprint for scientific breakthroughs has slowed significantly, and what this might mean for science. Listen.
For much of the 20th century, it felt like at any moment the world might turn upside down via a new discovery. From tectonic plates to DNA's double helix to humans on the moon, the headlines featured marvel after marvel. But in the race for knowledge, new research suggests we've slowed from our early sprint. In the journal Nature this month, researchers used a new technique to qualify, and then quantify, scientific breakthroughs. The results? Our proportion of blockbuster discoveries to regular science has shrunk, and shrunk a lot. This week, Brooke sits down with William J. Broad, science journalist and senior writer at The New York Times, to discuss the merits of the analysis, and what it might mean for science.
This is a segment from our January 20, 2023 show, Great Expectations.
Gas stoves have been in the headlines following comments from Consumer Product Safety Commission member Richard Trumka Jr. In an interview with Bloomberg, Trumka said that gas stoves are: "a hidden hazard. Any option is on the table. Products that can’t be made safe can be banned." Trumka's comments came after a December 2022 study in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health that linked gas stoves to approximately 13 percent of childhood asthma cases in the United States. The Biden Administration has said that it's not moving toward a federal ban, but Trumka's remarks elicited a strong reaction. Rightwing politicians and media outlets framed this as a culture wars story, describing gas stoves as uniquely American and criticizing states like California and New York, which have made moves toward phasing out gas stoves, for government overreach. As Ohio Congressman Jim Jordan succinctly tweeted: "God. Guns. Gas stoves."
But Rebecca Leber, a senior reporter covering climate at Vox, explains that the controversy surrounding gas stoves is nothing new, especially for those who have been following the science linking the burning of methane to various health issues. Brooke speaks with Leber about the pros and cons of using gas versus electric stoves, the difficulties of regulating indoor air quality, and the gas industry's long media campaign to convince the American public that "cooking with gas" is just better.
This is a segment from our January 20, 2023 show, Great Expectations.
In 2022, sales of electric vehicles spiked, around 68% higher than 2021. When you think of electric cars, you might think of the long touted benefits for the environment, and, likely, Tesla. But as more car manufacturers create all-electric vehicles, several states have begun to take varying stances on the future of their cars: in Wyoming, a potential ban of electric vehicles; in Virginia, a halt on plans for a battery manufacturing facility; meanwhile in New York and California, promises to only sell zero-emission cars by the year 2035.
This week, Brooke speaks with Paris Marx, the host of the podcast "Tech Won’t Save Us," and the author of "Road to Nowhere: What Silicon Valley Gets Wrong about the Future of Transportation," about the longstanding debate around electric vehicles, and the viability of a switch to electric vehicles in the U.S.
This is a segment from our January 20, 2023 show, Great Expectations.
Human aspirations for technology are vast. One day, maybe we'll develop technologies that cure cancer. Rid us of viruses. Perhaps fix that pesky climate change. Even, deliver us from death altogether.... But is the increasing belief in salvation through technology just religion in new clothes? Meghan O'Gieblyn is the author of the book God, Human, Animal, Machine: Technology, Metaphor, and the Search for Meaning. In the fall of 2021 Brooke spoke to O'Gieblyn about the shared assumptions of Christian creationists and transhumanist tech leaders, the flawed metaphor of the mind as a computer, and the relationships of humans to the machines we build.
This is a segment from our October 15th, 2021 program,Against the Machine.
Schools across the country are considering whether to ban the new AI chatbot, ChatGPT. On this week’s On the Media, a look at the ever-present hype around AI and claims that machines can think. Plus, the potential implications of handing over decision-making to computers.
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Tina Tallon [@ttallon], assistant professor of A.I. and the Arts at the University of Florida, on the love-hate relationship with AI technology over the past 70 years, and Nitasha Tiku [@nitashatiku], tech culture reporter for The Washington Post, on history of the tech itself. Listen.
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Geoffrey Hinton [@geoffreyhinton], a cognitive psychologist and computer scientist, on holograms, memories, and the origins of neural networks. Listen.3. Matt Devost [@MattDevost], international cybersecurity expert and CEO and co-founder of the global strategic advisory firm OODA llc., on the rise of AI-powered weapons and what it means for the future of warfare. Listen.
Music:Original music by Tina TallonHorizon 12.2 by Thomas NewmanBubble Wrap by Thomas NewmanSeventy-two Degrees and Sunny by Thomas NewmanEye Surgery by Thomas NewmanFinal Retribution by John ZornLachrymose Fairy by Thomas Newman
Advances in artificial intelligence (AI) technologies have big implications for lethal autonomous weapons, which are already in use in conflict zones around the world. Matt Devost is an international cybersecurity expert who started his career hacking into systems for the US Department of Defense back in the 1990s. In this interview with Brooke, Devost explains about the many ways that AI will be changing weapons in the near future, especially for micro decision making. He also talks about how the "wow" moment surrounding ChatGPT could extend to the use of AI for weapons, and the ethical risks that come into question when machines, rather than humans, make decisions.
This is a segment from our January 13, 2023 show, It’s a Machine’s World.
Since he first learned about holograms in high school, Geoffrey Hinton has been fascinated by how human brains think and store memories. This fascination led him to the study of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies. Since the 1970s, Hinton has been researching how machines can be programmed to learn and analyze information in the same associative, pattern-based ways that human brains do. Brooke speaks with Hinton about his pioneering work in neural networks, what it was like working for years on a technology that many in his field didn’t think would work, and how language is an imperfect tool.
This is a segment from our January 13, 2023 show, It’s a Machine’s World.
Why so much chat about ChatGPT? Because rather than holding it close for testing like some of the other big players, its creator, Open AI, made the chatbot available to the public. The chatbot, which can be used on your internet browser after a free sign up, can produce essays, poems, screenplays — almost whatever you ask of it, with results of varying quality. But in addition to the buzz ChatGPT has produced, it also generated controversy. Last week, New York City schools banned use of the AI software due to fears that it would enable students to cheat in their classes more easily. But the technology that powers ChatGPT has far more uses than plagiarism. This week, Brooke talks to Tina Tallon, assistant professor at the University of Florida, about how AI has fallen in (and out) of vogue over the past few decades. Plus, Nitasha Tiku, reporter at The Washington Post, explains why ChatGPT is making headlines, and the limits of the buzzy tech.
This is a segment from our January 13, 2023 show, It’s a Machine’s World.
This week HBO is set to release its latest show, The Last Of Us, about two strangers, who end up on a perilous journey together through a zombie-infested post-apocalyptic America. The show, starring Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey, is based on a hit video game series of the same name. It should be an easy hit for the network.
Yet, the show's creators have had to contend with what's known as the “video game curse.” Dating back to the 1993 Super Mario Bros. movie, adaptations of video games into film and television have left us with a long list of critical failures. From 2022's Uncharted, to the 2021 Mortal Kombat, and the 2016 Assassin’s Creed movie, which earned a whopping 19% on Rotten Tomatoes. This week, OTM Correspondent Micah Loewinger speaks with New Yorker writer and editor, Alex Barasch, about his latest piece ‘Can a Video Game Be Prestige TV?,’ if HBO's latest venture could finally break the infamous curse, and why studios continue to make productions based on video games.
The start of a new year is a time to look both forward and back. On this week’s On the Media, hear how facing our climate’s fragility could inspire hope, instead of despair. Plus, a physicist explains how creation stories help us understand our place in the universe.
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Luke Kemp [@LukaKemp], a Research Associate at Cambridge’s Centre for the Study of Existential Risk, on a new study that says we need to put more attention on the possibility of human extinction and other climate catastrophes. Bryan Walsh [@bryanrwalsh], editor of Vox’s ‘Future Perfect,’ also explains why our brains have a hard time processing catastrophes like climate change. Listen.
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Mark Blyth [@MkBlyth], professor of International Economics and Public Affairs at Brown University, on how the economy is ultimately a mirror of our accomplishments, advances, fears, and mistakes. Listen.3. Guido Tonelli, a particle physicist at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, on the importance of creation myths, and what scientists can tell us about the fragility of the universe. Listen.
Music in this week's show:Merkabah - John ZornCarmen Fantasy - Anderson & RoeThe Stone - The ChieftainsSuite for Solo Cello No. 6 in D Major (Bach) - Yo Yo MaSentimental Journey - The Sydney Dale OrchestraPeace Piece (Bill Evans) - Kronos QuartetLove Theme from Spartacus - Yusef Lateef
At the end of 2022, Congress passed legislation to ban TikTok from all government devices, citing data privacy concerns and potential ties between the app and the Chinese government. But this isn't the first time the incredibly popular social media platform occupied headlines. Ever since TikTok exploded worldwide in 2018, news outlets across the country have breathlessly reported on TikTok challenges, which they claim range from the bizarre (licking toilet seats) to the dangerous ("National School Shooting Day"). However, the actual reach and impact of these challenges remain mysterious — or, more often, minimal.
On the Media correspondent Micah Loewinger breaks down a short history of these TikTok panics, and looks into the failures of news outlets to judiciously report on overblown TikTok virality, as well as the cyclic paranoia that arises when we face new technology (think: comic books corrupting youth in the 1950s). He poses the question: haven't we been through this already?
Special thanks to New York City Municipal Archives for providing archival audio related to the effects of radio and comics books on children.
This segment originally aired on our May 13th, 2022 program, Seeing is Believing.
In October, a court ruled in favor of the Department of Justice and blocked the merging of two publishing giants: Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster. On this week’s On the Media, hear what readers will lose if conglomerates further monopolize the market. Plus, it turns out readers do not want to curl up with a good ebook.1. Alexandra Alter [@xanalter], reporter at the New York Times, on how the booming publishing industry is wrestling with supply chain nightmares and more to meet reader demand. Listen.
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Katy Waldman [@xwaldie], writer at The New Yorker, explains what's at stake in the DOJ v. Penguin Random House case. Listen.
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Margot Boyer-Dry [@M_BigDeal], freelance culture writer, on why book covers are looking more and more similar, blobs and all. Listen.
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John B. Thompson, Professor of Sociology at the University of Cambridge, on how Amazon changed the book market for good, and why the appeal of the print book persists. Listen.
Music in this week's show:Paperback Writer - Quartetto d’Archi Dell'Orchestra Sinfonica di MilanoGuiseppe VerdiTymperturbably Blue - Duke EllingtonI Could Write A Book - Miles DavisTateh’s Picture Book - Randy NewmanMy Baby Loves A Bunch of Authors - Moxy Fruvous
During this holiday season, you likely encountered public nativity scenes depicting the birth of Jesus, presenting the family with very rare exceptions as white. And the same can be said of his ubiquitous adult portrait –– with fair skin and hair a radiant gold, and eyes fixed on the middle distance. In this segment from 2020, Eloise talks to Mbiyu Chui, pastor at the Shrine of the Black Madonna in Detroit, about unlearning Jesus's whiteness. She also hears from Edward Blum, author of The Color of Christ: The Son of God and the Saga of Race in America, about how the image came dominate in the U.S., and psychologist Simon Howard on how White Jesus has infiltrated our subconsciouses. Lastly, Eloise speaks to Rev. Kelly Brown Douglas, womanist theologian and Dean of the Episcopal Divinity School at Union Theological Seminary, about the theology of the Black Christ.
This is segment first aired in our October 1st, 2020 program, God Bless.
And just like that, 2022 is coming to a close. On this week's On the Media, a look back at our year of coverage, from Russia’s war on Ukraine, to an unprecedented rise in book bannings at home. Tune in to hear about the fights, fictions, and things we’re still figuring out.
With excerpts from:
Is Talk of a Possible 'New' Civil War Useful?The Perils of a Gauzy HistoryHow Meduza is Adapting to Russia's Crackdown on SpeechWhen the World Starts to Look AwayJoe Rogan's Podcast isn't Just 'Entertainment'Musk And The International Reach of TwitterHow Anti-LGBTQ Rhetoric Foreshadowed a Deadly ShootingRepublicans' Latest Go-To Dog WhistleHow to Interview a 'Big Lie' BelieverIn Georgia, a Conservative Elections Official Stands Up to the Big LieHow Books Get Removed from Classrooms and LibrariesParents vs. DemocracyLibraries Under AttackThe Big Sigh: An Assessment of Our Economic FutureThis Much Death is Not 'Normal'The State of Our ImmunityShould the Country See What an Assault Rifle Does to the Body of a Child?How Racism Ended a Renaissance of WeightDonald Trump, Ye, and The New Old Anti-Semitism Music:What's That Sound by Michael AndrewsLost, Night by Bill Frisell Fallen Leaves by Marcos CiscarEye Surgery by Thomas NewmanGerman Lullaby by The KiboomersGormenghast by John ZornBerotim by John Zorn featuring Bill Frisell, Carol Emanuel, and Kenny WollesenCellar Door by Michael AndrewsLiquid Spear Waltz by Michael AndrewsHarpsichord by Four Tet
A look back at the fights of 2022, on the battlefields at home and abroad, featuring excerpts from:
Is Talk of a Possible 'New' Civil War Useful?The Perils of a Gauzy HistoryHow Meduza is Adapting to Russia's Crackdown on SpeechWhen the World Starts to Look AwayJoe Rogan's Podcast isn't Just 'Entertainment'Musk And The International Reach of TwitterHow Anti-LGBTQ Rhetoric Foreshadowed a Deadly ShootingRepublicans' Latest Go-To Dog Whistle This is a segment from our December 23, 2022 show, In Restrospect.
In pursuit of a more perfect union, the America project faces some perennial challenges. And 2022 offered no exceptions. Excerpts from:
This Much Death is Not 'Normal'The State of Our ImmunityShould the Country See What an Assault Rifle Does to the Body of a Child?How Racism Ended a Renaissance of WeightDonald Trump, Ye, and The New Old Anti-Semitism This is a segment from our December 23, 2022 show, In Restrospect.
A search for truth in 2022 became a power struggle over books, ballots, and bills. Including excerpts from:
How to Interview a 'Big Lie' BelieverIn Georgia, a Conservative Elections Official Stands Up to the Big LieHow Books Get Removed from Classrooms and LibrariesParents vs. DemocracyLibraries Under AttackThe Big Sigh: An Assessment of Our Economic Future This is a segment from our December 23, 2022 show, In Restrospect.
We covered a lot of ground in the series, so in this bonus episode we wanted to give space to some of the voices we couldn’t fit into the story; a concerned citizen who tried to take the issue of combatting on-air conspiracy theories into her own hands, a journalist who went into the belly of the beast, a former talk radio host and some of the people on the receiving end of the right wing broadcasts...the listeners.
This year, right-wing groups at home and abroad were animated by wistful recollections of the past. On this week's On the Media, hear how nostalgia is weaponized in politics. Plus, a deep dive into newspaper archives reveals that we’ve been having the same debates for over a century.
1. Sophia Gaston [@sophgaston], social researcher and the Head of Foreign Policy & UK Resilience at UK think tank Policy Exchange, on the use of nostalgia as a cultural and political force in Europe. Listen.
- Adam Serwer [@AdamSerwer], staff writer at The Atlantic, and the author of “The Cruelty Is the Point," on weaponized nostalgia in American discourse. Listen.
3. OTM correspondent Micah Loewinger [@MicahLoewinger] speaks with political scientist Paul Fairie [@paulisci] about at some of the big media narratives that felt representative of 2022 and how little has changed in our political discourse. Listen.
2022 is the year of "Woke Hollywood." Movie-makers have bet a fortune on recycling the classics, building a business out of nostalgia, but updating them with modern sensibilities — which are met each time with backlash. In June, Pixar released Lightyear, which inevitably pulled focus away from the protagonist Buzz to his sidekick Alicia, and her girlfriend, who shared Pixar's first ever on-screen same sex kiss. And in September, Amazon introduced the world to an updated Middle Earth, now populated with Black hobbits.
Adam Serwer, a staff writer at The Atlantic, and the author of “The Cruelty Is the Point,” says that these cynical narratives are just one way we see nostalgia weaponized in American discourse — and that consuming this gauzy view of history has led to dangerous consequences for both conservatives and liberals.
This is a segment from our December 16, 2022, The Good Ol' Days.
The Make America Great Again slogan of the 2016 presidential election brought nostalgia front and center in American politics. Although former President Donald J Trump by no means originated nostalgia as a political tool, his MAGA strategy has gone global, effectively employed this year, notably in the campaigns of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and President Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines. And in early December it came up again with an attempted coup in Germany. The plot to execute the German leadership was led by a far-right group called the Reichsbürger, or the “Citizens of the Reich,” fueled by a conspiracy theory that the German state was just a mirage, or a corporation set up by the Allies after World War Two. And in parts of East Germany, the Reichsbürger found some support in a nostalgia for an idealized Germany of long ago. Brooke speaks with Sophia Gaston, a social researcher and the Head of Foreign Policy & UK Resilience at the think tank Policy Exchange, about the use of nostalgia as a cultural and political force spreading across Europe.
This is a segment from our December 16, 2022, The Good Ol' Days.
As we approach the end of the year, OTM correspondent Micah Loewinger takes a look at the some of the big media narratives that felt representative of 2022. He speaks with political scientist Paul Fairie, who has devoted his Twitter account to investigating refrains like "nobody wants to work anymore" and "people are losing their sense of humor" to show that seemingly modern moral panics have been repeated in the American press every decade for over a century. With the help of voice actors (see below), listen as Paul and Micah dive deep into the newspaper archives to demonstrate how little has changed in our political discourse.
Special thanks to Andy Lanset, Nancy Solomon, Jesse Brenneman, Brigid Bergen, Arya Sundaram, Rex Doane, John Schaefer, Annie McEwan, Brigid Bergen, Matt Katz, Amy Pearl, Eric Weber, Molly Schwartz, Ellery Groth, Becca Bressler, Ian Donahue, Amanda Aronczyk, Kareem Lawrence, and Sean Carlson.
This is a segment from our December 16, 2022, The Good Ol' Days.
Highly politicized, partisan companies like Salem have a hold on the airwaves — and they don’t plan to give it up. Senior Vice President of Salem, Phil Boyce speaks candidly to Katie about the personalities he handpicked to spread Salem’s message and about the company’s plans to expand into the media world off the airwaves. And in this final episode of the series we ask the perennial question: peddling election denialism seems to be a solid business model — but is it legal?
The Divided Dial is hosted by journalist and Fulbright Fellow Katie Thornton. Her written articles and audio stories have appeared in The Atlantic, 99% Invisible, The Washington Post, BBC, NPR, WNYC, Minnesota Public Radio, The Guardian, Bloomberg’s CityLab, National Geographic, and others. She is a lifelong radio nerd who got her start in media as a teenager, volunteering and working behind the scenes at radio stations for many years. You can follow her work on Instagram or on her website.The Divided Dial was edited by On the Media's executive producer, Katya Rogers. With production support from Max Balton and fact-checking by Tom Colligan, Sona Avakian, and Graham Hacia. Music and sound design by Jared Paul. Jennifer Munson is our technical director. Art by Michael Brennan. With support from the Fund for Investigative Journalism.
A 2020 story about Hunter Biden's hacked laptop keeps finding its way back into the news cycle. On this week's On the Media, a look at Elon Musk's so-called Twitter Files and whether they’re newsworthy. Plus, the meteoric rise and fraught future of HBO, which turned 50 this year.
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Blake Montgomery [@blakersdozen], tech news editor at Gizmodo, and Olivia Nuzzi [@Olivianuzzi], Washington correspondent for New York Magazine, on the Twitter Files and their relationship to the story of Hunter Biden's laptop. Listen.
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Christopher Grimes [@grimes_ce], correspondent for the Financial Times, on Disney's foray into the culture wars and its ongoing battle with the governor of Florida. Listen.
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John Koblin [@koblin], co-author of It's Not TV: The Spectacular Rise, Revolution, and Future of HBO, on the history and lasting impact of HBO. Listen.
In 2022 HBO picked up nearly forty Emmy awards — many of which went to The White Lotus, which airs its finale this weekend. This year also happened to be the Home Box Office's 50th birthday. John Koblin co-wrote the book It's Not TV: The Spectacular Rise, Revolution, and Future of HBO with Felix Gillette. This week, guest host Ilya Marritz talks to Koblin, who covers the television industry for The New York Times, about how the network came to be a critical darling, and HBO's fraught future under its new owner, Discovery+.
This is a segment from our December 9, 2022 show, Still Watching?.
Disney is just the latest in a long list of individuals and companies who have been dragged into the ongoing culture wars. This particular conflict began just before March of 2022, when Florida enacted the Parental Rights in Education Act, also known as the ‘Don’t Say Gay Bill.’ After the company issued a public statement denouncing the bill, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis vowed to end a 55-year agreement that allows Disney World to operate as something like a magic, self-governing kingdom. DeSantis signed a bill into law that would dissolve Disney’s special status in June of 2023 if no other agreement is reached — and the tumult also contributed to a change of leadership at Disney, in an effort to salvage the company's fraught relationship with the sunshine state. Our guest host, Ilya Marritz, speaks with Financial Times Correspondent Christopher Grimes about how corporations should speak out about social values, if at all, and the ongoing complications in Disney's relationship with Florida.
This is a segment from our December 9, 2022 show, Still Watching?.
On December 2, journalist Matt Taibbi published a story as a Twitter thread under the moniker of The Twitter Files. The thread, which was hyped and promoted by Twitter's new owner and CEO, Elon Musk, included internal documents from Twitter about how the company made the decision to suppress a 2020 article from the New York Post about Hunter Biden's laptop. The documents notably did not contain evidence linking Twitter's decision to the FBI. Right-wing media have picked up the story as proof that there is collusion between "big tech," the FBI, and Democratic politicians, while mainstream media have been largely ignoring it. The second "episode" of the files was published by journalist Bari Weiss on Thursday, December 8. Blake Montgomery, tech news editor at Gizmodo, speaks with Ilya Marritz about the newsworthiness of the "Twitter Files" and what they tell us about the challenges of content moderation. Then, Ilya sits down with Olivia Nuzzi, Washington correspondent for New York Magazine, to talk about her and co-writer Andrew Rice's reporting on the story behind the Twitter Files, "The Sordid Saga of Hunter Biden's Laptop," and what it might mean for the rest of us.
This is a segment from our December 9, 2022 show, Still Watching?.
In the 1970s, talk radio was hitting its stride, with hosts and listeners from all political persuasions. But the radio dial was about to change forever. Community needs assessments, requirements to offer public service programs and multiple perspectives, and limits on how many stations a single company could own were all eradicated. Technological and legal changes would consolidate the radio industry exponentially, allowing conservative talk radio hosts like Rush Limbaugh to take over the airwaves. In this episode, we look at radio’s last four decades to understand how we got to where we are today, and how conservative talk radio came to dominate a medium that once thrived on varied viewpoints.The Divided Dial is hosted by journalist and Fulbright Fellow Katie Thornton. Her written articles and audio stories have appeared in The Atlantic, 99% Invisible, The Washington Post, BBC, NPR, WNYC, Minnesota Public Radio, The Guardian, Bloomberg’s CityLab, National Geographic, and others. She is a lifelong radio nerd who got her start in media as a teenager, volunteering and working behind the scenes at radio stations for many years. You can follow her work on Instagram or on her website.The Divided Dial was edited by On the Media's executive producer, Katya Rogers. With production support from Max Balton and fact-checking by Tom Colligan, Sona Avakian, and Graham Hacia. Music and sound design by Jared Paul. Jennifer Munson is our technical director. Art by Michael Brennan. With support from the Fund for Investigative Journalism.
An ancient scapegoat for society’s woes is back in the news. On this week’s On the Media, a deeper look at the confusing landscape of modern anti-semitism. Plus, a conversation with some of the dogged reporters who spent years uncovering the truth behind the 2014 Malaysia Airlines crash in Ukraine.
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Leo Ferguson [@LeoFergusonnyc], the Director of Strategic Projects for the Jews for Racial & Economic Justice, on the rise of modern anti-Semitism. Listen.
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Aric Toler [@AricToler], Director of Research and Training at Bellingcat, an investigative news outlet, and Roman Dobrokhotov [@Dobrokhotov], the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Insider, a Russian investigative online news outlet, on what it took to uncover the truth behind the 2014 Malaysia Airlines crash in eastern Ukraine. Listen.
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Christo Grozev [@christogrozev], the lead Russia investigator with Bellingcat, about how he uncovered the real identity of a Russian "sleeper" agent who went by the name Maria Adela. Listen.
On November 17, the District Court of the Hague handed down a verdict from their years-long criminal investigation into the people responsible for shooting down Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over a field in eastern Ukraine. The passenger plane was shot down in 2014 by a surface-to-air Buk missile, killing the 283 passengers and 15 crew members on board. The Dutch court found two Russians and one Ukrainian guilty.
Investigative journalists played a crucial role in identifying the parties responsible. The journalists and researchers at Bellingcat, an investigative news outlet that specializes in collaborative reporting using open source materials, teamed up with Roman Dobrokhotov, an investigative reporter and Editor-in-Chief of The Insider, to identify the Russian military commanders who ordered the firing of the missile that killed 298 people. Using a combination of voice analysis, caller ID apps, and a package delivered to a fake address, they identified the commanders and handed this information to the Dutch court. In the process, they also revealed secret Russian intelligence operations behind Russia's so-called "separatist movements" in Ukraine and Georgia. Aric Toler, the director of research and training at Bellingcat, explains the open source methods used to crack the case, and Brooke speaks with Dobrokhotov about how investigative journalism has led to a greater understanding of Putin's government and how it operates.
This is a segment from our December 2, 2022, The Oldest Trick.
This week, we’re sharing a chat Brooke had with her longtime colleague Brian Lehrer for Interview Magazine. Brian hosts his inimitably thoughtful daily talk show for WNYC, where he rallies a community of callers and experts to talk about the issues they care about most. But you may not know that Brian was once the first ever host of this very show. In this conversation, Brooke and Brian discuss how they made their ways into public radio, parasocial relationships, and the difference between accuracy and objectivity. This conversation appears in full on Interview Magazine's website, with the headline "Brian Lehrer Points the Mic at Brooke Gladstone."
*Episode 3 - The Liberal Bias Boogeyman* How did the right get their vice grip of the airwaves, all the while arguing that they were being silenced and censored by a liberal media? In this episode we look at the early history of American radio to reveal that censorship of far-right and progressive voices alike was once common on radio. And we learn how, in the post-war and Civil Rights period, the US government encouraged more diverse viewpoints on the airwaves — until it didn’t.
The Divided Dial is hosted by journalist and Fulbright Fellow Katie Thornton. Her written articles and audio stories have appeared in The Atlantic, 99% Invisible, The Washington Post, BBC, NPR, WNYC, Minnesota Public Radio, The Guardian, Bloomberg’s CityLab, National Geographic, and others. She is a lifelong radio nerd who got her start in media as a teenager, volunteering and working behind the scenes at radio stations for many years. You can follow her work on Instagram or on her website.
The Divided Dial was edited by On the Media's executive producer, Katya Rogers. With production support from Max Balton and fact-checking by Tom Colligan, Sona Avakian, and Graham Hacia. Music and sound design by Jared Paul. Jennifer Munson is our technical director. Art by Michael Brennan. Special thanks this episode to Tianyi Wang. With support from the Fund for Investigative Journalism.
Conspiracy theories and disinformation have found a home on right-wing talk radio, where falsehoods often escape scrutiny from regulators and fact-checkers. On this week’s On the Media, hear how one Christian radio network grew a gargantuan audience and served up the Big Lie. Plus, a look at how the rise in LGBTQ hate online is connected to the deadly shooting in Colorado.
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Jo Yurcaba [@JoYurcaba], a journalist focused on LGBTQ+ issues for NBC News, on how anti-trans rhetoric contributed to increasing fears in the queer community in the days leading up to the shooting in Colorado Springs. Plus, Sophie Bjork-James [@sbjorkjames], Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Vanderbilt University, on the impact of religious fundamentalism in supporting ant-LGBTQ+ talking points. Listen.
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Journalist Katie Thornton, host of "The Divided Dial," on the how right-wing talk radio embraced election lies. Part 1 & Part 2.
In television's younger days, going live was extremely difficult, costly and rare. But in November of 1963 a monumental tragedy made live coverage essential, no matter the cost, whenever a president left the White House. WNYC’s Sara Fishko recollects those dreadful days in November when everyone was paralyzed in front of the small screen.
Episode 2: From Pulpit to Politics
How did the little-known Salem Media Group come to have an outsized political influence? In this episode we trace the company’s rise to power from its scrappy start in the 1970s to the present day — a growth that paralleled and eventually became inextricable from the growth of the Religious Right. We learn that Salem is tightly networked with right wing political strategists, pollsters, big donors, far right leaders and Republican party mainstays thanks to their involvement with the Council for National Policy — a secretive group of Evangelical and conservative leaders. For decades, the CNP has been working behind the scenes to get a specific, highly influential subset of voters to act. And Salem has been a megaphone for their cause.
The Divided Dial is hosted by journalist and Fulbright Fellow Katie Thornton. Her written articles and audio stories have appeared in The Atlantic, 99% Invisible, The Washington Post, BBC, NPR, WNYC, Minnesota Public Radio, The Guardian, Bloomberg’s CityLab, National Geographic, and others. She is a lifelong radio nerd who got her start in media as a teenager, volunteering and working behind the scenes at radio stations for many years. You can follow her work on Instagram or on her website.
The Divided Dial was edited by On the Media's executive producer, Katya Rogers. With production support from Max Balton and fact-checking by Tom Colligan, Sona Avakian, and Graham Hacia. Music and sound design by Jared Paul. Jennifer Munson is our technical director. Art by Michael Brennan. With support from the Fund for Investigative Journalism.
While many of us watch the deterioration of Twitter's U.S. offices online, the situation outside of the U.S. is more dire. Of the staff Musk has already fired, a large number were engineers, human rights specialists, and content moderators from Twitter’s international desks. Over 90% of the staff in India, nearly the entire Africa hub, and most of its staff in Mexico have been laid off.
So what does that mean for the more than 260 million Twitter users outside the U.S.? In some countries in the global south, Twitter has long been used to amplify social movements — from the Arab Spring to the #EndSars movement in Nigeria. What happens when activists lose a tool to speak up against oppression? Brooke speaks with Avi Asher-Schapiro, a reporter covering tech for the Thomson Reuters Foundation, about how the international cuts are impacting local users in the global south.
This is a segment from our November 18, 2022 show, Flipping The Bird.
Elon Musk's first weeks as CEO of Twitter have been marked by unrest at the company. Half the company and around 80 percent of the contract workforce was laid off. On Wednesday, November 16, Musk sent a company-wide email with an ultimatum that employees either had to commit to an "extremely hardcore" work environment that would require "working long hours at high intensity" or leave the company. On Thursday, Twitter locked down all of its buildings and denied badge access to all employees until Monday while the company figures out who still works there. Despite Musk's attempt to find new ways to "pay the bills," the instability has caused major advertisers to pause their ads on the platform, which spells trouble for a company that relies on advertisements for 90 percent of its revenue.
The mass exodus of employees from one of the world's most significant social media sites had users taking to Twitter on Thursday night predicting the imminent demise of a once-beloved platform and reminiscing about the good times they'd had on the site. Zoë Schiffer, the managing editor of Platformer, was one of the reporters breaking this news day by day. She speaks of Twitter's code freeze, the fear that employees will sabotage the company, and the irony of Elon Musk's claims to free speech absolutism as he fires employees for criticizing his management.
This is a segment from our November 18, 2022 show, Flipping The Bird.
On Tuesday, Donald Trump announced his third run for the presidency at Mar-a-Lago. This came on the heels of a week-long, post-midterm rejection of MAGAism, and its leader. Fourteen candidates endorsed by Trump lost their races, leading to the best midterm result for a Democratic president in decades. Since then, the pundits have been asking: Is Trumpism over? Even if it may seem like the GOP is ready to move on from Trump, it’ll be tougher to move on from Trumpism. This week in The New York Times, Tom Scocca wrote that it’s difficult to “declare defeat for a movement that is built around refusing to accept defeat.” Though some may call Trump a loser, noted Scocca, they haven’t yet gathered up the courage to find another “less Trumpy” way to win. Even so, “Trumpism is Over” is the dominant post-midterm political narrative.
Prior to the election, however, politics reporters were enthralled by other narratives — an inevitable Red Wave of Republican success, a "bleak" future for Biden, and the Dems, as always, "in disarray." James Fallows has been writing about the jarring gap between reality and the predictions of political reporters for forty years. He also writes the Substack newsletter “Breaking the News." Fallows speaks with Brooke about the political press' obsession with telling the future and the narratives that have a chokehold on elections coverage.
This is a segment from our November 18, 2022 show, Flipping The Bird.
Since Elon Musk took over Twitter, there has been nothing short of crisis — leading to massive layoffs and lost advertisers. On this week’s On the Media, what this chaos means for activists worldwide who used the platform as a public square. Plus, how political predictions distort coverage of elections.
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James Fallows [@JamesFallows], writer of the “Breaking the News” newsletter on Substack, on the political press' obsession with telling the future and the narratives that have a chokehold on elections coverage. Listen.
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Zoë Schiffer [@ZoeSchiffer], Managing Editor of Platformer, on the mass exodus of employees from one of the world's most significant social media sites. Listen.
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Avi Asher-Schapiro [@AASchapiro], tech reporter for the Thomson Reuters Foundation, on the impact of Musk's leadership on Twitter users around the world. Listen.
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Clive Thompson [@pomeranian99], journalist and author of Coders: The Making of a New Tribe and the Remaking of the World, on the website many are fleeing to amid chaos at Twitter. Listen.
In the wake of the five alarm fire at Twitter, a small, quiet social media alternative has been quietly attracting the tweeting weary. Mastodon, named for the prehistoric elephant relatives, was originally created by a German programmer named Eugen Rochko in 2016. And even though it shares similarities to its blue bird peer, the two platforms possess many differences. For one, Mastodon is organized by groups called "servers" or "instances," there's no universal experience like on Twitter. It's also completely decentralized — each server is run by individuals or small groups — with no overseeing company. But is it here to stay? This week, Brooke sits down with Clive Thompson, a tech journalist and author of the book Coders: The Making of a New Tribe and the Remaking of the World,to talk about why people like Mastodon, who it's for, and why we should watch its latest evolution.
You can find Clive Thompson on Mastodon at @clive@saturation.social and OTM by searching @onthemedia@journa.host.
Episode 1: The True Believers
In 2016, Christian talk radio host Eric Metaxas begrudgingly encouraged his listeners to vote for then-presidential candidate Donald Trump. By 2020, he pledged his life to fighting the “stolen election” while talking with Trump on the air. Ahead of the midterm elections, Metaxas and many of his fellow talk radio hosts made sure the falsehood of massive 2020 election fraud was top of mind — on the airwaves and beyond. And while election-denying candidates didn't do as well as many on the right had hoped, at least 170 such candidates have been elected to state and national offices, some of whom will be in charge of future elections. We meet the company whose hosts never backed down from the lies of the stolen 2020 election: Salem Media Group, the largest Christian, conservative multimedia company in the country – and perhaps the most influential media company you’ve never heard of.
The Divided Dial is hosted by journalist and Fulbright Fellow Katie Thornton. Her written articles and audio stories have appeared in The Atlantic, 99% Invisible, The Washington Post, BBC, NPR, WNYC, Minnesota Public Radio, The Guardian, Bloomberg’s CityLab, National Geographic, and others. She is a lifelong radio nerd who got her start in media as a teenager, volunteering and working behind the scenes at radio stations for many years. You can follow her work on Instagram or on her website.
The Divided Dial was edited by On the Media's executive producer, Katya Rogers. With production support from Max Balton and fact-checking by Tom Colligan, Sona Avakian, and Graham Hacia. Music and sound design by Jared Paul. Jennifer Munson is our technical director. Art by Michael Brennan. With support from the Fund for Investigative Journalism.
Across the county, librarians are fighting to keep libraries open and books on the shelves. On this week’s show, hear what the American Library Association is doing to stand up to unprecedented challenges, and what a suit against the Internet Archive could mean for the future of e-books. Plus, how the legend of the ancient Library of Alexandria continues to inspire utopian projects today.
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Emily Drabinski [@edrabinski], incoming President of the American Library Association, on the greatest threats to libraries today, and how to fight them. Listen.
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Nitish Pahwa [@pahwa_nitish], web editor at Slate, on how a lawsuit against the Internet Archive could affect how libraries lend out e-books for good. Listen.
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Molly Schwartz [@mollyfication], OTM producer, takes us inside the quest for a "universal library," from the Library of Alexandria to today. Listen.
Last week, a popular website that allowed readers to read e-books online for free, called Z-library, was taken down. In response, an angry reader took to TikTok comparing the takedown to the burning of the Library of Alexandria, the legendary 3rd-century BCE library built by the Ptolemaic emperors with the goal of collecting all the books in the world.
The burning of the Library of Alexandria is a metaphor that gets invoked any time we lose access to a treasure trove of books. But for centuries it has also inspired scientists and inventors, philosophers and programmers to dream about creating an ideal library, one that provides access to all the knowledge in the world. OTM producer Molly Schwartz goes to a birthday party for Wikidata at the Brooklyn Public Library, where she talks to Wikimedia New York City president Richard Knipel, Wikimedia software engineer James Forrester, and long-time Wikipedia editor Jim Henderson about how the free online encyclopedia has made strides toward providing knowledge to the sum of human knowledge. She also speaks with library historian Alex Wright, author of the book Glut: Mastering Information Through the Ages, and software engineering consultant Gyula Lakatos, creator of the Library of Alexandria application suite, about the history of universal library projects and what keeps the dream alive.
A few weeks back, attorneys filed a final round of briefs for a largely unknown case against the world’s biggest free digital library — the Internet Archive, a treasure trove of over 35 million books, 8 million videos, and some 734 billion web pages. The outcome of Hachette v. Internet Archive could and upend digital lending, as we know it, everywhere.
During the pandemic, when libraries were closed to reduce risks of infection, the Internet Archive lifted restrictions on its digital lending, basically making all its e-books available to everyone all the time. That’s not how it usually works. Usually, the Internet Archive and almost all libraries practice what's called “controlled digital lending.” This allows libraries to treat digitized materials just like print books. They purchase some, and then lend them to one patron at a time, over and over.
The four major publishers bringing the lawsuit were prompted by the pandemic-era orgy of unbounded lending — now over and done with — to raise objections to what had become business as usual. The publishers claim that digital lending has bled them of millions, and violates copyright laws. Nitish Pahwa, a web editor and writer at Slate, talks to Brooke Gladstone about the threat to the Internet Archive — and the act of digital lending itself.
Emily Drabinski, the recently elected president of the American Library Association (ALA), found herself in the crosshairs of a right-wing media storm after she excitedly tweeted, “I’m a Marxist Lesbian and I won!” The resulting slew of articles portrayed libraries as dangerous places where children are "groomed" by radical liberals. The accusations reflect a time where much of the county is seeing a larger push to ban books that deal with the experiences of Black and LGBT+ people. According to ALA statistics, 2022 could be a record-breaking year in challenges to library book since the organization started tracking this data in 2000. Amid this intensifying effort to remove books from schools and public libraries, Drabinski argues that librarians need to change the narrative – focusing on the ways that they remain important anchor institutions in their communities. Brooke speaks with Drabinski about how libraries across the country are providing communities with far more than books: with public spaces and vital services, like diaper banks, COVID vaccine sites, internet hotspots, and workshops to apply for rental assistance.
Jess deCourcy Hinds is the solo librarian at the Bard High School, Early College library in Queens, New York. In 2010, she received a new order of books about the civil rights movement, but Hinds noticed something strange: all of the books had Dewey Decimal numbers in the 300s, meaning they were supposed to be shelved in the social sciences section. She thought that some of the books belonged in the 900s, the history section. Like books on President Obama. Because texts about the 44th President were classified as social science, he would be separated from all the other books about U.S. presidents in her library. It seemed like part of a trend. "When it came to the LGBTQ books, and the women's history books, and books on immigrant history, all of those were in the 300s as well," says Hinds. So she and her students decided to rebel, to put books about President Obama into the history section: "we just started moving them."
The Dewey Decimal Classification System is a method that dates back to 1876 and is used by most libraries around the world. The second most popular system, the Library of Congress Classification System, was published in the early 1900s and based on the organization of Thomas Jefferson's personal library. These systems help patrons find books on the shelves and facilitate resource-sharing between libraries. But they also encode bias into the structure of libraries. To understand what that means for our current collections, On the Media producer Molly Schwartz spoke with Wayne A. Wiegand, a library historian and author of Irrepressible Reformer: A Biography of Melvil Dewey, Caroline Saccucci, former Dewey Program Manager at the Library of Congress, Emily Drabinski interim chief librarian of the Mina Rees Library at CUNY, and Dartmouth librarian Jill Baron from the documentary Change the Subject.
This segment originally aired in our September 3, 2021 program, Organizing Chaos.
As the midterms approach, conspiracy theories about election fraud are shaping some races. On this week’s On the Media, a deep dive into the impact of the Big Lie on local elections, and the people who run them. Plus, how misinformation about the attack on Paul Pelosi spread like wildfire.
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Angelo Carusone [@GoAngelo], President and CEO of Media Matters, on how conspiracy theories around the attack on Paul Pelosi spread all the way up to Fox News. Listen.
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OTM Correspondent Micah Loewinger[@MicahLoewinger] traveled to Georgia to speak to 'Big Lie' activists who are challenging peoples' right to vote, those who've been challenged, and election workers caught in the crosshairs of conspiracy theories about election fraud in Georgia. Listen.
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OTM correspondent Micah Loewinger [@MicahLoewinger] traveled to Georgia to talk with Anne Dover, a Republican in charge of elections in one of Atlanta's most conservative areas, about how her role has changed since the rise of the Big Lie, and what she's doing to stand up to it. Listen.
When Jordan Peele’s horror film Get Out hit theaters in 2017, it became an unexpected blockbuster and cultural phenomenon. The movie follows a black man named Chris, played by Daniel Kaluuya, who goes to visit his white girlfriend’s family in the country. Shortly after arriving, Chris starts to notice that something seems off and the other black people he encounters act... strangely. Slowly it’s revealed that Chris’ girlfriend, Rose Armitage, played by Allison Williams, and her family are a part of a cult that hijacks black people’s bodies and transplants the brains of their white members inside them. Their victims are still conscious but trapped in "The Sunken Place,” alive but unable to change their fate.
Betty Gabriel played Georgina the maid, whose body is possessed by the white matriarch of the Armitage family. Gabriel, in a sense, played two characters at once. This Halloween, OTM producer Rebecca Clark-Callender did a deep dive on the history of Black horror movies, and sat down with Gabriel to ask about how she prepared to play a woman possessed. For this midweek podcast we’re bringing you an extended cut of their conversation.
With early midterm voting underway, Fox News has been increasing crime coverage to drive voters to the polls. On this week’s On the Media, a look at the ways fear impacts our minds and bodies, both on and off screen. Plus, how filmmakers like Jordan Peele have inspired a renaissance of the Black Horror genre.
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Philip Bump [@pbump], national correspondent at The Washington Post, on what Fox News' focus on crime can tell us about the Republican party's midterm strategy. Listen.
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Nina Nesseth [@cestmabiologie], science writer and author of "Nightmare Fuel: The Science of Horror Films," on the neuroscience behind horror films. Listen.
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OTM producer Rebecca Clark-Callender [@Rebecca_CC_] takes a deep dive into the history of Black horror to see what it is and who it is for, featuring: Robin R. Means Coleman, Ida B. Wells and Ferdinand Barnett Professor of Communication Studies at Northwestern University and author of Horror Noire: A History of Black American Horror from the 1890s to Present; Tananarive Due, an author, screenwriter, and lecturer on Afrofuturism and Black Horror at University of California, Los Angeles; Rusty Cundieff, writer and director of Tales from the Hood (1995); and Betty Gabriel, actor widely known for her acclaimed performance as "Georgina" in Jordan Peele's blockbuster Get Out (2017). Listen.
An investigation by nonprofit newsroom The Markup found that four internet providers disproportionately offered lower-income and least-White neighborhoods slow internet service for the same price as speedy connections they offered in other areas. According to Leon Yin, Investigative Data Journalist at The Markup, homes in historically redlined areas were offered internet speeds so slow, the FCC doesn’t consider it to be broadband. This week, guest host Micah Loewinger asks Yin how he trawled through more than 800,000 internet service offers with his team to arrive at his findings, and what's at stake. (Responses from the internet providers that Yin surveyed can be found in The Markup article, here.)
In 1999, a National Institutes of Health study declared that 325,000 Americans were dying of obesity-related illness every year. In 2004, a Centers for Disease Control study came out with an even bigger number: 365,000, which led to the declaration that obesity was bound to overtake smoking as the #1 killer of Americans. Twenty years later, we still hear those figures. But another research paper from the CDC, published in 2005, revealed radically different results. Brooke sits down with the author of that paper, Katherine Flegal, an epidemiologist and retired senior scientist at the CDC, to talk about why her numbers were lost to time.
Plus, if the science isn't so simple, why did fat become so scary? Katie Lebesco, a researcher concentrating on food, pop culture, and fat activism, explains how our bodies became the breeding ground for a new moral panic.
This is a segment from our October 21st, 2022 program, The F Word. It originally aired on July 8, 2022.
The last two years have been filled with talk of risk — how to assess it, qualify it, and control it. And while the politicization of community risk trudges on, its perplexing cousin, individual risk, continues to occupy the minds and resources of scientists. Respiratory conditions like asthma, or immunosuppressive treatments for cancer, were shoe-ins for things that could compromise a person's defenses against the novel coronavirus. But another risk factor emerged early on as an equally obvious candidate: obesity.
But is it that simple? This week, Brooke sits down with Dr. Yoni Freedhoff, associate professor of family medicine at the University of Ottawa, to explain what scientists and news consumers alike miss when they talk about obesity, and why the medical community's relationship with weight leaves so much to be desired.
This is a segment from our October 21st, 2022 program,The F Word. It originally aired on July 8, 2022.
Early in the pandemic, weight was named a risk factor for severe covid-19. But what if the greater risk is poor medical treatment for fat people? This week, On the Media dives into the fictions, feelings, and fraught history of fat. Including how sugar and the slave trade laid the groundwork for American beauty standards.
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Dr. Yoni Freedhoff [@YoniFreedhoff], Associate Professor of Family Medicine at University of Ottawa, on what we do and don't know about the relation of weight and the severity of a Covid infection. Listen.
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Katherine Flegal [@CeriseFlegal], epidemiologist and former senior scientist at the Centers For Disease Control, on our flawed understanding of the data around weight and death, and Katie Lebesco [@KatieLeBesco], researcher focusing on food, pop culture, and fat activism, on why the "obesity epidemic" is a moral panic hiding behind a thin veil of scientific language. Listen.
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Sabrina Strings [@SaStrings], sociologist at the University of California, Irvine, on how European attitudes about fat dramatically changed in the 18th century. and set the standards Americans still see today. Listen.
Music in this Week's Show:Slim Jenkins Place - Booker T and the MGs
Eye Surgery- Thomas Newman
String Quartet No. 5 (Phillip Glass) - Kronos Quartet
Disfarmer - Bill Frisell
Lost, Night - Bill Frisell
In the Bath - Randy Newman
The De Lessup’s Dance - Gavin Wright
Breakaway - Regina Carter
Back in the 16th century, a question captured Europe’s artistic and philosophical elite: what is beauty? Proportions, facial features, and fat were all dissected in search of the divine ideal. The answers, left for us in the form of Renaissance art, offer a snapshot of a society that valued women of luminous variety, and especially those of weight.
But something started to change around the beginning of the 18th century. Brooke sits down with Sabrina Strings, sociologist at University of California, Irvine, and author of Fearing the Black Body: The Racial Origins of Fat Phobia, to discuss how, in both the brushstrokes and philosophy of the Enlightenment, fatness began to fall out of favor —and why.
This is a segment from our October 21st, 2022 program,The F Word. It originally aired on July 8, 2022.
What counts as media? For us, its any medium through which we express ourselves — whether from one to one, from one to many, or just from one... to one’s own self.
We can do it with our style. Our hair. Even our glasses. They're choices that express not just our aesthetics, but our politics, too.
It was the idea of Poppy King, lipstick designer extraordinaire, whose Frog Prince lipstick was listed by Elle Australiaas one of the most iconic lipstick shades of all time. King's a devoted listener, so, in collaboration with the show, she designed a special lipstick. It's called Well Red and she offered a batch of them to us as a donation so that we can pass them on to you.
We are offering these very special lipsticks to you for a donation of $12 a month or $144 for a year's worth of support for this show.
Go to onthemedia.org/donate or text lipstick to 70101.
Thank you so much!
PS here's a video we made of all of us trying it on
A jury recently ordered Alex Jones to pay nearly one billion dollars to the families of the victims of the Sandy Hook shooting. On this week’s On the Media, a former Alex Jones staffer struggles with the damage his participation wrought. Plus, does social media really turn nice people into trolls?
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Elizabeth Williamson [@NYTLiz], features writer for The New York Times, on the Sandy Hook defamation trials against Alex Jones and what the trials taught us about the spread of misinformation. Listen.
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Josh Owens [@JoshuaHOwens ], a former InfoWars employee, on what can be done to help people who have become consumed by conspiracy theories. Listen.
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Michael Bang Petersen [@M_B_Petersen], political science professor at Aarhus University, on the difference (or lack thereof) between on and offline behaviors, and how social media might not be affecting us in the ways we think. Listen.
Monday was Indigenous People’s Day, renamed from Columbus day to honor the lives and history lost to centuries of colonization. Often the stories shared about the first people here are those of loss, like the Trail of Tears and the Massacre at Wounded Knee. This week, David Treuer, an Ojibwe professor of literature at the University of Southern California, offers a counter-narrative to this tragic account in his book, The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Native America From 1890 to the Present.
This week, two cases headed to the Supreme Court that could change the internet as we know it. On this week’s On the Media, a look at the legal gray areas of how news gets shared online. Plus, how one reporter’s prolific coverage of Trump earned her friends and enemies alike.
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Daphne Keller [@daphnek], director of the Program on Platform Regulation at Stanford University's Cyber Policy Center, on how two new Supreme Court cases may reshape social media as we know it. Listen.
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Lachlan Cartwright [@LachCartwright], editor at large at the Daily Beast, on the recent lawsuits plaguing Fox News, and how they reveal glimpses of a future news empire. Listen.
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Maggie Haberman [@maggieNYT], senior political correspondent for the New York Times, on her extensive reporting on Donald Trump, and why it has inspired strong reactions in journalistic circles. Listen.
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Dave Enrich [@davidenrich], the business investigations editor at The New York Times, on how Big Law attorneys can still fly under the media's radar. Listen.
Music:
Fallen Leaves by Marcos CiscarNight Thoughts by John ZornSolace by The StingMain Title by Randy NewmanBubble Wrap by Thomas NewmanNewsreel by Randy NewmanAccentuate the Positive by Syd Dale Orchestra
Are the women-led protests in Iran powerful enough to force change when past attempts have failed? On this week’s On the Media, a look at the moments that ignite movements, both online and in the streets. Plus, how silly videos built one of the largest media companies in the world, and the story of how one Twitch streamer successfully took down an army of harassers.
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Fatemeh Shams [@ShazzShams], poet and professor of Persian literature at the University of Pennsylvania, on how the recent wave of protests in Iran differs from previous movements. Listen.
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Ben Collins [@oneunderscore__], senior reporter for NBC, on how a famous Twitch streamer got an online forum taken down. Listen.
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Mark Bergen [@mhbergen], journalist and author of Like, Comment, Subscribe: Inside YouTube’s Chaotic Rise to World Domination, on how YouTube transformed from a dating site to an essential part of society. Listen.
John Waters is the writer and director of such cult classics like Pink Flamingos, Serial Mom, and his biggest mainstream success, Hairspray. He’s been making movies since the 1960s and this year he released his debut novel, Liarmouth: A Feel Bad Romance.
The novel is an incredibly dirty romp filled with the kind of taboo storytelling that John Waters revels in. In his work, he shines a light on the worst of us but rarely to ridicule, more as a reminder of how gloriously sinful we can be, as we discussed when I spoke with him in his Manhattan home. His interest in the carnal, though, has its limits. “When I got a colonoscopy, they said, do you wanna watch? No!” he told us. “Why do I wanna go on a fantastic voyage up my a–hole?”
We also talked about money management, aging, and his secret to maintaining his many long friendships. “I do stay in touch and if anything bad happens to you, I call. If you get a bad review, I call. If you go to jail, I definitely am your first visit,” he laughed. “I never don't come visit you if you're in jail.”
Earlier this week, Adnan Syed, the subject of the hit 2014 podcast 'Serial, walked free after a judge ruled that there were errors in the State of Maryland's investigation of his case. In 2000, at age 17, Syed was convicted for the murder of Hae Min Lee, his high school ex-girlfriend, back in 2000. The lasting impact of Serial is hard to overstate. The podcast reached millions of listeners around the world, inspiring legions of internet sleuths to dig into the evidence of the case themselves and creating the template for a new genre of serialized, true-crime podcasts.
Rabia Chaudry, an attorney, criminal justice reform advocate, and friend of Syed, was the person who originally brought Syed's story to Sarah Koenig, the host and reporter of Serial who was then working at WBEZ's This American Life. Chaudry was eager for media attention on the flaws in the state of Maryland's investigation of Lee's murder, but the media phenomenon that Serial would become far surpassed anything she could have predicted. Chaudry subsequently launched her own podcast, Undisclosed, and she executive produced a 2019 documentary for HBO, "The Case Against Adnan Syed."In this in-depth conversation with Brooke Gladstone, Chaudry talks about her decades-long fight to free Syed, the limits of Serial, and how she's harnessed the power of podcasting to exonerate people who have been falsely accused.
Today, when we encounter the medieval world it’s mostly a dark time. Un-enlightened by reason, but also literally gloomy – all bare stone and grey skies. We know it as a brutal time, dominated by white men with steeds and swords, or drenched in blood by marauding Vikings. But in their new book, The Bright Ages: A New History of Medieval Europe, historians Matthew Gabriele and David M. Perry trace the harm of the myths of the “Dark Ages,” and illuminate the medieval stories that have mostly escaped our modern gaze.
This is a segment from our January 14th, 2022 program A Question of War.
The federal court is hearing a case that could change the publishing industry as we know it. On this week’s show, hear what readers will lose if conglomerates further monopolize the market. Plus, print sales far exceed expectations — it turns out readers do not want to curl up with a good ebook.
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Alexandra Alter [@xanalter], reporter at the New York Times, on how the booming publishing industry is wrestling with supply chain nightmares and more to meet reader demand. Listen.
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Katy Waldman [@xwaldie], writer at The New Yorker, explains what's at stake in the DOJ v. Penguin Random House case. Listen.
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Margot Boyer-Dry [@M_BigDeal], freelance culture writer, on why book covers are looking more and more similar, blobs and all. Listen.
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John B. Thompson, Professor of Sociology at the University of Cambridge, on how Amazon changed the book market for good, and why the appeal of the print book persists. Listen.
Music in this week's show:
Paperback Writer - Quartetto d’Archi Dell'Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano
Guiseppe Verdi
Tymperturbably Blue - Duke Ellington
I Could Write A Book - Miles Davis
Tateh’s Picture Book - Randy Newman
My Baby Loves A Bunch of Authors - Moxy Fruvous
This week, Brooke talks to Christo Grozev, lead Russia investigator with Bellingcat, about how he uncovered the real identity of a Russian "sleeper" agent who went by the name Maria Adela. Grozev tells Brooke about how rarely these kinds of spies are discovered, what made "Maria Adela" an unlikely spy and what kind of information she could have gathered on NATO.
As the government continues its investigation into classified documents found at former President Donald Trump’s home, a tough question has emerged. On this week’s On the Media, hear how democracies around the world have grappled with whether to prosecute a former leader. Plus, why new leadership at CNN is reigniting the debate over the place of objectivity in journalism.
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James D. Long [@prof_jameslong], associate professor of political science at the University of Washington, on the consequences of modern democracies across the globe prosecuting — or choosing not to prosecute — their former leaders. Listen.
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Rachel Donadio [@RachelDonadio], a journalist and contributing writer for The Atlantic, discusses what we can learn from Italy’s experience with trying Silvio Berlusconi for crimes relating to his business and personal life. Listen.
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Yael Freidson [@YaelFreidson], the Legal and Jerusalem affairs correspondent for Haaretz, on Israel's struggle around prosecuting a sitting prime minister. Listen.
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Rick Perlstein [@rickperlstein], a journalist and author of The Invisible Bridge: The Fall of Nixon and the Rise of Reagan, explains the continuing impact of Gerald Ford's decision to pardon Richard Nixon for his crimes. Listen.
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Jon Allsop [@Jon_Allsop], a freelance journalist and author of a daily newsletter for Columbia Journalism Review titled, The Media Today, on CNN's new leadership and the long-reigning debate over impartiality in political journalism. Listen.
This week saw the conclusion of the campaign to shut down one of the internet’s most toxic forums, Kiwi Farms.
Twitch streamer Clara Sorrenti aka “Keffals” led the charge against the site after she was targeted by anonymous users of Kiwi Farms for being a trans woman and speaking out against anti-LGBTQ laws. Stalkers repeatedly doxxed her and her family members, and left them threatening voicemail messages.
Harassment campaigns against trans people, journalists, influencers, activists, sex workers, all sorts of people, effectively became the site’s raison d'etre after it was founded in 2013. OTM correspondent Micah Loewinger spoke to NBC's Ben Collins about the life and death of Kiwi Farms.
Six months into Russia’s invasion, Ukrainians are still fighting back on all fronts. On this week’s show, hear how Ukraine’s newest struggle is for our attention, and how Big Tech is letting Russian propaganda spread. Plus, the story of a Ukrainian gaming influencer who turned to video games and his internet community to survive the conflict.
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Olga Tokariuk [@olgatokariuk], Ukrainian journalist, describes watching international attention on the war wane in real time, and its consequences. Listen.
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Andrey Boborykin [@mediaborscht], Executive Director of Ukrainska Pravda, one of Ukraine's biggest independent outlets, speaks with Brooke about how big tech companies continue to platform Russian propaganda. Listen.
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Micah Loewinger [@MicahLoewinger], OTM correspondent, on the Ukrainian Twitch streamer who used his virtual military skills and online community to get his family to safety when the invasion began (Part One). Listen.
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Micah Loewinger revisits his reporting on Bobi, the Twitch streamer who escaped war in Ukraine, to learn what has happened since (Part Two). Listen.
For most of the 20th century, during which time it was the control of a Moscow-based government for nearly 70 years, Ukraine didn't have an independent press. Over the past two decades, an ecosystem of independent press has grown in Ukraine. This Ukrainian press corps has been tirelessly covered the Russia's invasion of Ukraine over the past six months. But even as their audiences grow, funding from advertising for their reporting has dried up as Ukraine's economy struggles. Ukrainian media have also been subject content bans on Facebook for "glorifying violence" as they report on the war. Andrey Boborykin, Executive Director of Ukrainska Pravda, one of Ukraine's biggest independent outlets, speaks with Brooke about the ongoing information war between Ukraine and Russia, how big tech companies continue to platform Russian propaganda, and what local Ukrainian media outlets are doing to keep their doors open.
Six months after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, President Putin has rallied the Russian population around the brutal conflict. On this week’s On the Media, hear how the Kremlin’s crackdown on the press paved the way for war. Plus, a look inside the world of Russian propaganda, and how it influences people.
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OTM Producer Molly Schwartz [@mollyfication] speaks with Alec Luhn [@ASLuhn] and Veronika Silchenko [@NikaSilchenko], freelance journalists for Vice, on reporting in Russia under repressive new laws. And Kirill Martynov [@kmartynov], Editor-in-Chief of Novaya Gazeta Europe, and Katerina Kotrikadze [@katyakotrikadze], news director and anchor at TV Rain, and Roman Dobrokhotov [@Dobrokhotov], Editor-in-Chief of The Insider, on working as Russian journalists-in-exile. Listen.
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Thomas Rid [@RidT], author of the book Active Measures, on the the long ancestry of modern-day Russian info ops, and Francis Scarr [@francis_scarr], senior digital journalist at BBC Monitoring, on the false narratives that Russian state TV broadcasts about the war in Ukraine. Listen.
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Anastasiia Carrier [@carrierana22], freelance journalist, on growing up with Russian propaganda and unlearning the Kremlin's lies. Listen.
Music:
String Quartet No. 3 by Henryk GoreckiExurgency by Zoe Keating
We Insist by Zoe Keating
The Artifact & Living by Michael Andrews
I Got a Right to Sing the Blues by Billy Kyle
Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy by Pyotr Tchaikovsky
The Hammer of Los - John Zorn
Khovanshchina Overture (remix)
Blackbird by Brad Mehldau**
This week OTM shares the third and final episode of Hard, a series about Viagra from our colleagues at Death, Sex & Money. In this episode we hear from Viagra users past and present whose ideas about sex have shifted—from being a goal-oriented pursuit to one that is much more about pleasure and acceptance.
You can hear more from Death, Sex & Money here.
When you hear the word “Neanderthal,” you probably picture a mindless, clumsy brute. It’s often used as an insult — even by our president, who last year called anti-maskers “Neanderthals.” But what if we have more in common with our ancestral cousins than we think? On this week’s On the Media, hear how these early humans have been unfairly maligned in science and in popular culture.
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John Hawks [@johnhawks], professor of anthropology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, on our biological family tree—and the complicated branch that is Neanderthals. Listen.
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Rebecca Wragg Sykes [@LeMoustier], archeologist and author of Kindred: Neanderthal Life, Love, Death and Art, on and what we know about how they lived. Listen.
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Clive Finlayson [@CliveFinlayson], Director, Chief Scientist, and Curator of the Gibraltar National Museum, on how studying what’s inside Gorham and Vanguard caves can help reconstruct Neanderthal life beyond them. Listen.
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Angela Saini, science journalist, on how Neanderthals have been co-opted to push mythologies about the genetic basis of race. Listen.
*Music:
Boy Moves the Sun by Michael Andrews
Young Heart by Brad Mehldau
Sacred Oracle by John Zorn
Tomorrow Never Knows by Quartetto d’ Archi Di Dell’Orchestra di Milano Guiseppe Verdi
Investigations by Kevin MacLeod*
This week OTM shares the second episode of the three-part series, Hard, produced by our WNYC colleagues at Death, Sex & Money. In this installment, the team dives into the scientific advancements that led to Viagra's FDA approval in 1998. From an unforgettable conference presentation...to an overnight drug study, where an unexpected side effect kept popping up. Also the intentionality around the early marketing of Viagra—when former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole encouraged men to summon the bravery to talk to their doctors—and how that message has shifted over the years.
You can hear more from Death, Sex & Money here.
An old threat has returned to classrooms across the country — and it’s made of pages and ink. On this week’s On the Media, hear what it means to ban a book, and who has the right to choose what kids learn. Plus, meet the student who took his school board all the way to the Supreme Court in the 80s.
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Kelly Jensen, editor for Book Riot who writes a weekly update on “book censorship news,” on what it means to ban a book. Listen.
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Jennifer Berkshire [@BisforBerkshire] and Jack Schneider [@Edu_Historian], hosts of the education podcast “Have You Heard,” on the rights—both real and fictional—of parents to shape what their kids learn. Listen.
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OTM reporter Micah Loewinger [@MicahLoewinger] takes a deep dive into our nations history of taking books off shelves, with the 1982 Supreme Court decision in Island Trees School District v Pico. Featuring: Steven Pico, then student and plaintiff in the case and Arthur Eisenberg, New York Civil Liberties lawyer, who represented him.Listen.
Music:
Tymperturbably Blue by Duke Ellington
York Fusiliers by Douglas Monroe & Yorktown Fife and Drums
Eye Surgery by Thomas Newman
Viderunt Omnes by The Kronos Quartet
In 1998, when Viagra was approved by the FDA, it suddenly opened up new sexual possibilities for people who had previously had none. The drug also sparked an earnest and very public conversation about erectile dysfunction — one that quickly veered toward late-night punchlines. And yet, despite the millions of prescriptions written during its nearly 25 years of existence, for some, Viagra did not prove to be the quick fix they had hoped for. This month, OTM shares the first episode of a compelling 3-part series about the drug from our colleagues at Death, Sex & Money.
You can hear more from Death, Sex & Money here.
A group of climate scientists warn that the potential for humanity's mass extinction has been dangerously underexplored. On this week’s On the Media, we hear how facing our planet’s fragility could inspire hope, instead of despair, and a physicist explains how creation stories are essential for understanding our place in the universe.
- Luke Kemp [@LukaKemp], a Research Associate at Cambridge’s Centre for the Study of Existential Risk, on a new study that says we need to put more attention on the possibility of human extinction and other climate catastrophes. Bryan Walsh [@bryanrwalsh], editor of Vox’s ‘Future Perfect,’ also explains why our brains have a hard time processing catastrophes like climate change. Listen.
- Charles Piller [@cpiller], investigative reporter for Science Magazine, on his six month investigation into how faulty images may invalidate groundbreaking advancements in Alzheimer's research. Listen.
- Guido Tonelli, a particle physicist at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, on the importance of creation myths, and what scientists can tell us about the fragility of the universe. Listen.
This week’s podcast extra is about podcasts, but this story has its roots in the early days of rock 'n' roll. Alan Freed was a celebrity DJ on WINS in New York, famous for helping popularize the nascent genre through the 1950s. But, unbeknownst to his listeners, record promoters were secretly bribing Freed and other popular disc jockeys across the country for extra air time for their artists — in a rampant practice known as “payola,” which eventually caught the eye of regulators. In 1960, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) outlawed payola, requiring broadcasters to disclose any payments received. However, members of the music industry would continue to blow the whistle on similar behavior in the decades that followed.
According to Bloomberg reporter Ashley Carman, a similar culture of pay-to-play is taking hold in the world of podcasting. Her latest piece is titled, “Podcast Guests Are Paying Up to $50,000 to Appear on Popular Shows.”
Former president Donald Trump is trying to bury the January 6th committee’s findings, but his old allies aren’t helping. Meanwhile, we take a look at the governor of Florida’s polarizing press strategy, and why reporters think presidential hopefuls are no longer returning their calls.
- David Folkenflik [@davidfolkenflik], media correspondent for NPR, on the resurgence of Trump-related news. Listen.
- David Freedlander [@freedlander], freelance political journalist, on why he thinks Republicans are no longer speaking to the press. Listen.
- Dexter Filkins, staff writer at The New Yorker, on Ron DeSantis’ press strategy and where politicians' relationship with the press went wrong. Listen.
- Kate Kelly [@Kate_Kelly_Esq], human rights attorney, on the importance of the the Equal Rights Amendment and how it can protect abortion rights. Listen.
It's Shark Week. This year's Discovery programs boast flashy titles like Stranger Sharks, Air Jaws, Great White Serial Killer, and Rise of the Monster Hammerheads, and feature sharks writhing through murky water, their jaws clenching on dead fish bait, sharp teeth snapping at divers.
Sharks first splashed into Hollywood — and widespread infamy — with the 1975 blockbuster Jaws. It's the type of horror film that sticks with you, especially when you're on a swim at the beach and think, what's out there? Over the last few decades, beachgoers have encountered a slight uptick in shark sightings and incidents. This summer is no exception.
But even as these predators shut down beaches, many marine biologists have waged a counter PR campaign for sharks, arguing that popular media have far overstated their danger. Chris Pepin-Neff is a senior lecturer of Public Policy at the University of Sydney, and author of the book Flaws: Shark Bites and Emotional Public Policymaking. They say that the maligning of these fish harms not only sharks — but humans as well.
Gas prices are coming down. Inflation is still going up. Jobs are strong, yet recession fears abound. This week, On the Media dives into the contradictory mess of money news – and what it ultimately says about us.
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John Cassidy [@JohnCassidy], staff writer at the New Yorker, on why Americans feel gloomy about the economy, even when it isn't affecting their spending. Listen.
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Rani Molla [@ranimolla], senior data reporter at Vox's Recode, on the data behind today's weird job market. Listen.
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Felix Salmon [@felixsalmon], chief financial correspondent at Axios, on the power of the price of gas. Listen.
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Mark Blyth [@MkBlyth], professor of International Economics and Public Affairs at Brown University, on how the economy is ultimately a mirror of our accomplishments, advances, fears, and mistakes. Listen.
This weekend marks five brutal months since Russia invaded Ukraine — with no end in sight. And in Russia, support for the war has remained high. 77% approve of Putin’s actions in Ukraine, according to a survey conducted in late May by the Levada Center, Russia’s only remaining independent pollster. The war, at least in its neatly repackaged, Kremlin-approved form, is somewhat popular amongst Russians. On March 4th, Putin signed a "fake news" law, which threatens imprisonment for any journalist who deviates from the Kremlin's depiction of the war in Ukraine, shielding the operation of a durable and effective propaganda machine — which has been turning its gears for decades.
Independent journalist Anastasiia Carrier was born and raised in Russia. She’s spent the last few years in the US working as a reporter, and actively wrenching herself away from the propaganda she grew up believing about Russia’s unequal prominence. In this episode of On the Media, Carrier talks about breaking away from her past as a Putin supporter.
In 2014, the brutal killing of John and Joyce Sheridan, a prominent couple with personal ties to three governors, shocked even the most cynical operatives. In February 2015, the Somerset prosecutor announced that John Sheridan had murdered his wife in cold blood and then killed himself. In 2017, the manner of death was updated to “undetermined.” In this episode of On the Media, hear Nancy Solomon's investigation into their brutal deaths, and the damning evidence of corruption she found at the highest levels in the Garden State.
Dead End is hosted by Nancy Solomon. You can (and you should!) listen to all 8 episodes here.
Earlier this year, the New Jersey Attorney General opened up an investigation into the killings of John and Joyce Sheridan, a well known couple with personal ties to three governors. In 2014, they were found stabbed to death, and their home set on fire. Local police thought that John Sheridan murdered his wife and then killed himself. That was eight years ago. So why is the Attorney General revisiting the case now? Well, this year, our WNYC colleague Nancy Solomon released an investigation into their brutal deaths, and found damning evidence of corruption at the highest levels in the Garden State. The series is called Dead End: A New Jersey Political Murder Mystery. In this midweek podcast, Nancy tells Brooke how she used the true crime format to get listeners to care about corruption in New Jersey.
Early in the pandemic, weight was named a risk factor for severe covid-19. But what if the greater risk is poor medical treatment for fat people? This week, On the Media dives into the fictions, feelings, and fraught history of fat. Including how sugar and the slave trade laid the groundwork for American beauty standards.
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Dr. Yoni Freedhoff [@YoniFreedhoff], Associate Professor of Family Medicine at University of Ottawa, on what we do and don't know about the relation of weight and the severity of a Covid infection. Listen.
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Katherine Flegal [@CeriseFlegal], epidemiologist and former senior scientist at the Centers For Disease Control, on our flawed understanding of the data around weight and death, and Katie Lebesco [@KatieLeBesco], researcher focusing on food, pop culture, and fat activism, on why the "obesity epidemic" is a moral panic hiding behind a thin veil of scientific language. Listen.
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Sabrina Strings [@SaStrings], sociologist at the University of California, Irvine, on how European attitudes about fat dramatically changed in the 18th century. and set the standards Americans still see today. Listen.
Music in this Week's Show:Slim Jenkins Place - Booker T and the MGs
Eye Surgery- Thomas Newman
String Quartet No. 5 (Phillip Glass) - Kronos Quartet
Disfarmer - Bill Frisell
Lost, Night - Bill Frisell
In the Bath - Randy Newman
The De Lessup’s Dance - Gavin Wright
Breakaway - Regina Carter
This fall, students in Hong Kong will learn a new version of history — one that erases the fact the region was ever a British colony. According to four history textbooks currently under development in China, Hong Kong has always been a part of China, despite over a century of British dominion. And so continues a pattern of effacing and repainting histories.
During her years as a reporter in Hong Kong, Louisa Lim, author of the new book Indelible City: Dispossession and Defiance in Hong Kong, stumbled across shards of her city's various, conflicting histories — some imposed by colonial forces, others originating from Hong Kongers themselves. This week, Annalee Newitz talks to Lim about the myths that obscure the region's past, and the impact this myriad of histories has had on Hong Kongers' sense of political and cultural identity.
The overturning of Roe v. Wade will remain the most discussed opinion of this Supreme Court term. But just a day earlier, the high court issued another monumental opinion — this one on guns. On this week's On the Media, hear why this latest ruling will send lawyers scrambling into historical archives. Plus, an inside look at Justice Clarence Thomas' unique strain of conservatism.
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Timothy Zick, professor of law at William and Mary Law School, about what's next in the debate over gun control, and why it will be all about history. Listen.
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Corey Robin [@CoreyRobin], writer and professor of political science at Brooklyn College and the CUNY Graduate Center, on all that we've missed (or ignored) about Justice Clarence Thomas. Listen.
Music:
Dream Machine - John ZornSign and Sigil - John ZornWhispers of A Heavenly Death - John Zorn
As the country reels from last Friday’s decision by the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade, people, politicians, and health care providers are scrambling to figure out what’s next. But pregnancy was already an especially complicated process, full of rules and regulations, for one particular sector of the population — the military. According to a 2018 report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office, women made up just 16.5% of active-duty service members in the Department of Defense; however, military women are more likely than their civilian counterparts to have unintended pregnancies. They’re also more likely to suffer a miscarriage or ectopic pregnancy, making medical care an essential should the department continue to diversify. This week, Brooke sits down with Kyleanne Hunter, senior political scientist at the RAND Corporation and a Marine Corps combat veteran, to talk about how the department had just begun to make positive changes, and now sits in a complex limbo.
This week, the Supreme Court officially struck down Roe v. Wade, overturning fifty years of legal precedent and abortion rights across the country. On this week’s On the Media, hear about the case that almost defined the abortion debate instead. Plus, the Jan 6 committee’s latest bombshell evidence of Trump’s manipulation of the justice department.
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Alana Casanova-Burgess [@Alanallama], former OTM producer, and Jessica Glenza [@JessicaGlenza], health reporter at the Guardian, look at the case that Ruth Bader Ginsburg wished the Court heard instead of Roe v. Wade. Neil Siegel, a professor of law and political science at Duke University School of Law, puts the Susan Struck v. Secretary of Defense case in context. Dahlia Lithwick [@Dahlialithwick], who writes about the courts at Slate, untangles what the justices actually decided in Roe. Listen.
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Michael Waldman [@mawaldman], president of the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, discusses how the January 6 committee's findings could aid a Justice Department indictment. Listen.
Music:
The Water Rises (Laurie Anderson) - The Kronos Quartet
John’s Book of Alleged Dances - The Kronos Quartet
Tateh's Picture Book - Randy Newman
Atlantic City - Randy Newman
All across the country this month, people are celebrating queer and trans pride with parades, cookouts, dances, and family gatherings. And yet the future of the community feels darker than it has in a long time. Threats from Proud Boys and elected officials seem to reinforce the idea that LGBT people cannot survive or thrive in places outside a few coastal cities. But a study from the Movement Advancement Project in 2019 revealed that at least 3 million queer people live in rural America. And many have no interest in fleeing to big cities for protection. This week, Annalee Newitz sits in for Brooke, and talks to Rae Garringer about their oral history project, Country Queers. When Garringer was attending college in the early 2000s, the only queer rural representation they saw was in crime stories. Country Queers features LGBT people who are living in rural parts of the United States, in small towns and remote farms, and they’re often taking great joy in it.
In this week's January 6th committee hearings, a documentary selling election conspiracies was laughed off by the likes of Bill Barr. But myths about a stolen election are no joke. On this week’s On the Media, hear about a pundit's efforts to revitalize and repackage The Big Lie. Plus, one man’s escape from the conspiracy theory machine.
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Philip Bump [@pbump], national correspondent at The Washington Post, on debunking election myths made for the silver screen. Listen.
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Nina Jankowicz [@wiczipedia], former head of the Disinformation Governance Board, on the lessons learned from government-led attempts to counter disinformation. Listen.
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Josh Owens [@JoshuaHOwens], former staff member at InfoWars, on what made him leave, and how he's come to terms with his past role in dangerous movement. Listen.
Music in this Week's Show:
Ava Maria D. 839 - Pascal Jean and Jean Brenders
First Drive - Clive Carroll and John Renbourn
Boy Moves the Sun - Michael Andrews
Exit Music (For A Film) - Brad Mehldau Trio
Josh Owens was an InfoWars employee from 2013 to 2017. In an essay published on CNN.com this week, Owens described his deep regret over the past 5 years as he grappled with the damage his work caused. OTM reporter Micah Loewinger spoke to Owens this week about Jones' role in the dissemination of disinformation in the light of what we are learning about the January 6th insurrection.
Gun control legislation appears doomed once again, even as Congress heard heartbreaking testimony from parents of the children killed in Uvalde. On the latest episode of On the Media, why some activists and journalists now advocate for publishing the gruesome photos of victims. Plus, how one family grappled with the brutal video of their loved one's death in prison.
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Susie Linfield, professor of journalism at New York University, on the push to share photographs of victims, and the limited political power of an image. Listen.
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Spencer and Gail Booker, family of Marvin Booker, who was killed by police in 2010, share what their family went through, and why Marvin's death being caught on camera remains so difficult. Listen.
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Lois Beckett [@loisbeckett], senior reporter for The Guardian, on why our coverage of gun violence tends to focus on just one kind tragedy, and how we could make it better. Listen.
Back in the before-times, when we used to go into the radio station every day, our office next-door neighbor was WNYC host Brian Lehrer. He hosts a 2 hour live radio call-in show every day from 10 to noon in New York city.
In this segment from his show he examines the relationship between Dr. Oz and Oprah Winfrey.
The Trump-endorsed Dr. Oz recently won the Republican Senate primary in Pennsylvania. One reason the doctor is so popular, despite the many critics who say he promotes unscientific therapies and cures, is his many appearances on Oprah Winfrey's long-running daytime talk show. Kellie Jackson, historian, associate professor of African Studies, Wellesley College and host and executive producer of the Oprahdemics podcast, and Leah Wright Rigueur, associate professor of history, Johns Hopkins University and co-host of the Oprahdemics podcast, talk to Brian about Oprah's role in giving Dr. Oz a platform, what he became and if she has any responsibility to speak out.
It’s been more than a year since the Insurrection of January 6, and in the months since we've received dribs and drabs of shocking information about what really transpired. And finally, this month, the official account of the day will be made public. On June 9, the House select committee investigating the assault on the U.S. Capitol begins a series of hearings — live, and at primetime. Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin predicts the hearings are "going to blow the roof off the House in terms of explaining to America what actually happened in the attack on our democracy."
This week, Brooke is joined by investigative reporters and hosts of the podcast Will be Wild, Andrea Bernstein and Ilya Marritz, to talk about the what to look for in the upcoming hearings — the kind of coverage to avoid (clue: the question, 'Will Trump run again?') and more. Bernstein and Marritz’s 8-part podcast series focuses on what led to the January 6th insurrection and what comes next.
This is a segment from our June 3rd, 2022 program, When the Fog Clears.
This week, we're sharing an excerpt of a new podcast hosted by the creators of Trump, Inc., Andrea Bernstein and Ilya Marritz. Will Be Wild chronicles the forces behind the January 6th insurrection, with stories from those who tried to stop the attack, and those who took part. Bernstein and Marritz hone in on the lies that galvanized the insurrection, including one about a suitcase full of fake ballots — and speak to two of the men who tried to tell the truth. The series explores the damaging mission to bring autocracy to the U.S., and posits that January 6th wasn't the end of the story — it was merely a practice round.
This is a segment from our June 3rd, 2022 program, When the Fog Clears.
This Wednesday afternoon, in Fairfax County Circuit Court in Virginia, a jury awarded Johnny Depp $15 million in damages in libel suit against Amber Heard, and gave her $2 million in her countersuit against him. All this, over a December 2018 op-ed she wrote in The Washington Post describing herself as "a public figure representing domestic abuse." Depp’s lawyers say he was defamed by the article even though it never mentioned his name. This case, argued over six weeks before a seven-person jury and judge, and a noisily expanding online audience, drove much of the internet crazy with guilty pleasure. Thus ensued a collective hurling of feces at Amber Heard, despite the evidence gathered meticulously in a 2020 British libel case also focused on Depp’s spousal abuse. The only quarter of the media that seemed reluctant to engage in the facts of the case was the progressive press, or the liberal media. There you could find coverage of the social media chaos, but not the underlying reality. This bothered journalist Michael Hobbes, host of the podcast Maintenance Phase, who observed that usually reliable outlets tended to steer around the facts, and sold an already victimized woman down the river.
Another virus has joined SARS-CoV-2 in the headlines, and its name is much catchier. Monkeypox (which, by the way, is more likely transmitted by rodents) has cases mounting in Europe, and about 10 confirmed in the U.S. so far. Unlike the coronavirus strain we called "novel" in 2020 when we first saw it in humans — monkeypox is not new. The first human case was identified in 1970 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It also appears to be harder to transmit than coronavirus, it mutates at a slower rate, and its symptoms include a rash. This week, Science writer Jon Cohen explains why the virus is making headlines today, and why coverage shouldn't incite panic.
This is a segment from our May 27th, 2022 program, Imperfect Immunity.
For some, a COVID-19 diagnosis can spiral into Long Covid, with months, or even years, of symptoms such as brain fog, fatigue, gastrointestinal issues, and nerve damage — and researchers still don't know what causes it. Millions worldwide now live with Long Covid, and the CDC reported this week that 1 in 5 adult Covid patients may develop the condition. Alarm bells have been ringing since Long Covid first appeared on the horizon of pandemic media coverage in 2020 — and nearly every mainstream media publication is now covering it with varying degrees of success. Fiona Lowenstein, an independent journalist, contracted Long Covid in March 2020. Since then, they've written some of the first mainstream media articles about the condition, built up a global support network of 11,000 Long Covid patients, and produced a guide on how to cover Long Covid in a way that prioritizes patient experiences and reduces stigma. They argue that centering patients' experiences could be what we need to fix what's ailing the confusing coverage of this condition.
This is a segment from our May 27th, 2022 program, Imperfect Immunity.
With a springtime rise in Covid cases and a virus that keeps evolving, is the immunity we’ve built through repeated vaccination and past infection a solid enough bulwark at this stage in the pandemic? Our immune systems are multifaceted beyond infection-blocking antibodies, so increasing case numbers might not mean decreasing protection. And next month the FDA will decide on an updated vaccine recipe for the fall to keep up with the newest variants. While a return to spring 2020 seems unlikely, it's unclear exactly how our collective immunity will hold up going forward.
To get a sense of where we currently stand, this week Brooke speaks with Atlantic staff writer and microbiology expert, Katherine J. Wu. Her latest piece on Covid imagines a metaphorical mountain of immunity we’ve been climbing for the past two-and-a-half years. She says vaccines, while imperfect, have kept us from tumbling down by effectively warding off severe disease and death.
This is a segment from our May 27th, 2022 program, Imperfect Immunity.
As we trudge through our third year of the pandemic, what is the state of our immunity to COVID? On this week’s On the Media, hear how vaccines and reinfections interact with fast-evolving variants. Plus, why we should take the recent monkeypox outbreak seriously, but avoid panicking.
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Katherine Wu [@KatherineJWu], staff writer for The Atlantic, on building immunity three years into the pandemic. Listen.
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David Robertson, doctoral candidate at Princeton University, on what the press got wrong when covering herd immunity. Listen.
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Fiona Lowenstein [@fi_lowenstein], journalist and founder of Body Politic, on how to write about Long Covid. Listen.
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Jon Cohen [@sciencecohen], writer at Science, on why we shouldn't compare the recent monkeypox outbreak to Covid. Listen.
Music:
Sleep Talking by Ornette Coleman
Sonata for Violin and Guitar (Mauro Giuliani) by Itzhak Perlman and John Williams
Superstition (Stevie Wonder) by Jung Sungha
I Got A Right To Sing the Blues by Billy Kyle
John’s Book of Alleged Dances by The Kronos Quartet
Back in 2020, the term "herd immunity" was the light at the end of the tunnel. If we could somehow gather enough antibodies from vaccines and natural infections, we could reach "full immunity" and stamp out COVID-19 for good. But quickly enough, our hopes were dashed by wave after wave of variants, breakthrough infections, and now, reinfections. Nowadays, "herd immunity" is associated with a seemingly careless "let it rip" mentality, and has been left in the dust — especially by advocates within the disability community, who claim that it sidelines those most vulnerable to infections and long-term conditions like long covid.
David Robertson, a doctoral candidate in Princeton University's History of Science Program, says that we prematurely abandoned the term — and that we never truly understood what herd immunity meant in the context of COVID-19.
This is a segment from our May 27th, 2022 program, Imperfect Immunity.
Last week’s show was titled “Again and Again” and it led with an essay about the then latest devastating mass shooting, in Buffalo. We combed our archives for all those people we’d spoken to in the past about the tropes and mistakes that litter the coverage of these abominations. We didn’t gather new tape because...honestly? We’ve said it all before. And then it happened again. This time in Texas at an elementary school.
August of 2019 saw another moment where 2 shooting rampages occurred within days of each other; one in El Paso, Texas and the next in Dayton, Ohio.
At the time, Washington Post columnist Margaret Sullivan wrote, “When a mass shooting happens, even when it happens twice in a 24-hour period — even when the death tolls soars into the dozens — we reflexively spring into action. We describe the horror of what happened, we profile the shooter, we tell about the victims’ lives, we get reaction from public officials. It’s difficult, gut-wrenching work for journalists on the scene. And then there’s the next one. And the next one. If journalism is supposed to be a positive force in society — and we know it can be — this is doing no good.”
Lois Beckett is a senior reporter for The Guardian. She covered gun violence for many years, now gun policy. She says that mainstream coverage of the issue is flawed because it's focused mainly on one type of tragedy. She explained to me when I spoke to her 3 years ago, how better coverage would mean focusing on the root causes of gun violence.
This is a segment from our September 6th, 2019 program, Pressure Drop.
In the wake of yet another racist mass shooting, this time in Buffalo, New York, media outlets are churning out heartbreakingly familiar stories, with the same tropes and the same helplessness. On this week's On the Media, how we've become mired in patterns and lost sight of the potential solutions. Plus, how journalists should cover the ongoing siege on democracy. Then, a deep dive into the forgotten legacy of one of America's most influential writers.
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Brooke Gladstone [@OTMBrooke], OTM host, on the tropes that choke coverage of every mass shooting, and why we should focus on consequences and the 'rot at the root.' Listen.
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Jay Rosen [@jayrosen_nyu], professor of journalism at New York University and media critic for PressThink, on why journalists should still be in "emergency mode." Listen.
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Paul Auster, acclaimed novelist and author of Burning Boy: The Life and Work of Stephen Crane, on the 19th century writer's forgotten legacy. Listen.
Music:
White Man Sleeps by The Kronos Quartet
Fergus River Roundelay by Gerry O’Beirne
Middlesex Times by Michael Andrews
A Ride with Polly Jean by Jenny Scheinman
Cellar Door by Michael Andrews
Last weekend, the United States saw another string of mass shootings: on Friday, one in Dallas’ nightlife district; on Saturday, another at a supermarket in Buffalo; and on Sunday, yet another in California, this time at a church. The stories are heartbreaking and, worst of all, deeply familiar. As is the news cycle, riddled with the same errors, the same poor choices, that usually plague our reporting of mass violence. This week, Brooke looks back at our years of reckoning with how to cover mass shootings in this country, and where the media fits in our seemingly entrenched inability to change.
This week, the results of the Republican primaries reminded us yet again, that no amount of fact-checking will untether the party from the grip of the Big Lie. Since Trump’s presidency, media critic Jay Rosen has called for journalists to enter ‘emergency mode’ — to sound the alarm on repeated attacks on democracy rather than reassuming what he calls ‘the view from nowhere.’ This week, Rosen tells Brooke how to cover the ongoing siege on democracy.
This is a segment from our May 20th, 2022 program, Again and Again.It originally aired on our June 11th, 2021 program,Little Fires Everywhere.
Before his death from tuberculosis in 1900 at age 28, writer Stephen Crane found enduring critical acclaim and a mass audience with The Red Badge of Courage — a civil war novel he wrote in his early twenties. That’s the book that most who can remember Crane know him by. Acclaimed novelist Paul Auster read it in high school. But when Auster returned to Crane’s work decades later, he found a captivating corpus of poetry, journalism, and novels — vast both in size and impact.
In Auster's latest book of nonfiction, Burning Boy: The Life and Work of Stephen Crane, he makes the case that Crane was "the first American modernist, the man most responsible for changing the way we see the world through the lens of the written word." In Crane's short life, Auster says he paved the way for Ernest Hemingway and Albert Camus, yet he's barely a household name himself. This week, Brooke talks to Auster about Crane's radical refusal to judge the subjects of his writing, and why Crane has been mostly forgotten. Plus, how Crane's fly-on-the-wall journalism in the late 1800s reminds Auster the so-called “New Journalism,” of the 1970s.
This is a segment from our May 20th, 2022 program, Again and Again. It originally aired in our November 5th, 2021 program, The History of Tomorrow.
This week we're airing an interview that Brooke did while on a fellowship at the American Academy in Rome. She and her husband Fred Kaplan (author of the War Stories column in Slate), sat down with Mark Hannah, host of the podcast "None of the Above," produced by the Eurasia Group Foundation.
From the Crimean War of 1853 to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine this year, journalists, reporters, and the media have shaped the public’s understanding of war. But do the stories we read and the photos we see provide an impartial picture of the wars they document? As Hannah recently explained in Foreign Policy, certain aspects of American war coverage—reliance on government sources and incentives to simplify geopolitics as battles between good and evil—have long compelled news organizations to tilt toward military action.
With Roe v Wade under threat, some politicians and media outlets are trying to turn the national conversation away from abortion and toward civility. On this week’s On the Media, how the GOP has mastered the art of setting the narrative. Plus, how moral panics surrounding dangerous TikTok trends follow a century-old pattern of blaming new technology for the deviant behavior of teenagers.
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Paul Waldman [@paulwaldman1], opinion writer for the Washington Post, on Republicans decrying the draft opinion leak and protests to motivate their base ahead of the midterms. Listen.
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Micah Loewinger [@MicahLoewinger], OTM correspondent, on alarmist news coverage of TikTok challenges and its misleading influence on panicked parents. Listen.
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Brandy Zadrozny [@BrandyZadrozny], senior reporter for NBC News, on the story of Tiffany Dover, and how misinformation about her death fueled anti-vax messaging. Listen.
Music:
Fallen Leaves by Marcos Ciscar The Camping Store by Clive Carroll and John Renbourn Coffee Cold by Galt MacDermot Middlesex Times by Michael Andrews
This week, we take a look at the latest celebrity trial to ensnare the national attention. Johnny Depp is suing Amber Heard, his ex-wife, for defamation, and she’s counter suing him for the same. Depp’s suit takes issue with an op-ed Heard wrote back in 2018 for the Washington Post in which she identifies herself as a survivor of domestic violence. She first came forward with allegations against Depp in 2016. In 2018, Depp sued British tabloid, The Sun, for defamation over headlines that accused him of abuse, but he lost that case. Given the history, you might expect to see fewer headlines over this latest trial. But, not so. The ratings for Court TV, which is broadcasting every moment of the trial, have more than doubled. Pair the live visuals with Depp’s rabid online fanbase, and you’ve got a case being watched billions of times over — in fact, the #JusticeforJohnnyDepp hashtag has upwards of 10 billion views on TikTok and it’s spawned several viral sounds and trends and … comedy sketches. Guest host Brandy Zadrozny asks EJ Dickson, senior writer for Rolling Stone, about how pro-Depp coverage of the case took over TikTok, and its consequences.
Across news outlets, crime reporting often relies on police sources and incomplete data. On this week’s show, hear how to spot bias in crime stories and what more nuanced coverage looks like. And, the struggle to protect whistleblowers calling out police abuse. Plus, the story of one powerful tabloid that has stymied bail reform for decades.
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Laura Bennett, the co-author of “Freedom, Then the Press: New York Media and Bail Reform,” on how to read a crime story. Listen.
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Matt Katz [@mattkatz00] WNYC reporter, on what bad coverage of bail reform looks like. Listen.
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Tom Devine, legal director of the Government Accountability Project, on how to protect whistleblowers on police misconduct. Listen.
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Tauhid Chappell [@TauhidChappell], Philadelphia Project Manager for Free Press, on abolishing the crime beat. Listen.
This week, OTM presents a story from our colleagues at The Experiment. There’s a common story about abortion in this country, that people have only two options to intentionally end a pregnancy: the clinic or the coat hanger. They can choose the safe route that’s protected by Roe v. Wade—a doctor in a legal clinic—or, if Roe is overturned, endure a dangerous back-alley abortion, symbolized by the coat hanger. But a close look at the history of abortion in this country shows that there’s much more to this story. As a draft of the majority opinion overruling Roe v. Wade was leaked to the media this week, activists are once again preparing to take abortion into their own hands.
Reporter Jessica Bruder explores the abortion underground to learn about the movement’s origins, and reveals how activists today are mobilizing around effective and medically safe abortion methods that can be done at home.
A transcript of this episode is available.
Further reading: “A Covert Network of Activists Is Preparing for the End of Roe”
After news broke that Elon Musk is likely to purchase Twitter later this year, the billionaire began sharing a controversial vision for the app. On this week’s On the Media, hear why Musk’s plan to turn Twitter into a so-called free speech platform could spiral out of control and how urban planning can make safer digital spaces. Plus, how science fiction inspired some of Silicon Valley’s most powerful men.
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Anand Giridharadas [@AnandWrites], author of Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World, Erika D. Smith [@Erika_D_Smith], LA Times columnist, and Natalie Wynn [@ContraPoints], YouTuber and political commentator, on the implications and possible outcomes of Elon Musk's potential purchase of Twitter. Listen.
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Eli Pariser [@elipariser], co-director of Civic Signals, on how urban planning can manage the problems of social programing to create digital spaces that don't exploit us. Listen.
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Jill Lepore, Harvard historian and staff writer at the New Yorker, Annalee Newitz [@Annaleen], former Editor-in-Chief of Gizmodo and science fiction author, and Gene Seymour [@GeneSeymour], longtime cultural critic, on tech moguls' obsession with science fiction. Listen.
On this week's podcast extra we present episode 1 of a new series from our colleague, Nancy Solomon. She’s our New Jersey specialist at WNYC and she’s got quite the tale to tell. It’s about a murder on a Jersey cul de sac that was never solved. And it involves some of the most powerful people in the state. It’s even got a waterfront land deal. It’s sort of like Chinatown meets American Hustle. It’s a seven episode podcast, and we think you’ll like it. Listen and subscribe here: https://link.chtbl.com/M_a20dat?sid=otmwebsite
Checking in on the so-called Great Resignation. On this week’s On The Media, hear why the trend is a logical response to the cult of work. Plus, when technology makes our jobs harder, maybe being a 'luddite' isn't such a bad thing.
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Sarah Jaffe [@sarahljaffe], journalist and author of Work Won't Love You Back: How Devotion to Our Jobs Keeps Us Exploited, Exhausted, and Alone, on how love and meaning became intertwined with our jobs. Listen.
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Anne Helen-Peterson [@annehelen], writer and journalist, and Charlie Warzel [@cwarzel], contributing writer at The Atlantic, on how technology is—or, dramatically is not — making life easier at work. Listen.
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Gavin Mueller [@gavinmuellerphd], assistant professor of New Media and Digital Culture at the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands, on what modern lessons can be learned from the Luddite workers of 19th century England. Listen.
Music from this week's show:
Sign and Sigil by John Zorn
BROKE by Modest Mouse
Middlesex Times by Michael Andrews
Blues by La Dolce vita Dei Nobili
Liquid Spear Waltz by Michael Andrews
Stolen Moments by Ahmed Jamal Trio
International Workers' Day is celebrated with rallies and protests all over the world on May 1, but it's not a big deal in the United States. Back in 2018, Brooke spoke with Donna Haverty-Stacke of Hunter College, CUNY about the American origin of May Day — and about how it has come to be forgotten. The first national turnout for worker's rights in the U.S. was on May 1, 1886; contrary to what you may have heard elsewhere, it wasn't the same thing as the Haymarket Affair. Haverty-Stacke is also author of America’s Forgotten Holiday: May Day and Nationalism, 1867–1960, and she explains that the fight over May 1, or May Day, is also about the fight for American identity and what it means to be radical and patriotic at the same time.
The OTM crew (in 2018) sings "Into The Streets May First," a never-before-professionally-recorded 1935 Aaron Copland anthem:
Cassette tapes mostly gather dust these days. But back in their heyday, they fundamentally changed how we communicate, in ways we’re still making sense of today. On this week’s On the Media, hear how the cassette tape fueled the Iranian revolution, helped pierce the Iron Curtain, and put human connection in the palm of our hands.
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Simon Goodwin on his innovation to broadcast computer software over the radio back in 1983. Listen.
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Computer programmer Fuxoft explains his role in 'Sneakernet,' which saw pirated material of all types smuggled into 1980s Czechoslovakia via cassette tape. Listen.
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The role of cassette tapes in the Iranian Revolution. Listen.
This episode was reported, produced, scored and sound designed for Radiolab by Simon Adler with original music throughout by Simon. Top tier reporting and production assistance was provided by Eli Cohen.
Few clichés are as well-worn, and grounded in reality, as the dread many Americans feel towards doing their taxes and the loathing they have for the IRS. But as much as the process is despised, relatively little is known about how it could be improved. Pro Publica's Jessica Huseman said that's largely because tax prep companies keep it that way. Brooke spoke to Huseman in 2017 about what an improved system might look like and how tax prep companies work to thwart any such changes.
One of the primary roadblocks to change, said Huseman, is an organization called the Free File Alliance, a public-private partnership whereby private tax companies agree to provide a free service for most Americans in exchange for the IRS not offering any such service itself. Brooke spoke with Tim Hugo, Executive Director of the Free File Alliance, about whether it is really the best way to help American taxpayers.
Congress is threatening to cut billions in COVID aid even as a new variant emerges. On this week’s On the Media, how our policy debate reveals an indifference for long COVID disabilities and death on a staggering scale. And, how that apathy tracks with a pattern of past pandemics. Plus, a look at the novelist Kurt Vonnegut’s theory of storytelling, and what it tells us about why so many Americans have stopped paying attention to the virus.
- Ed Yong [@edyong209], staff writer at The Atlantic, on why mass deaths from COVID have failed to provoke a strong political and social reckoning. Listen.
- Laura Spinney, [@lfspinney], author and science journalist on how pandemics have historically disabled people, and what this teaches us about Covid long-haulers. Listen.
- Micah Loewinger [@MicahLoewinger], OTM correspondent, on how to make sense of Covid's ever-changing plot, using Kurt Vonnegut's theory of "the shapes of stories." Listen.
Music:
Agnus Dei by Martin Palmeri
Love Theme from Spartacus by Fred Hersch
Passing Time by John Renbourn
Misterioso by Kronos Quartet
Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered by Brad Mehldau Trio
Hey waddayaknow? There are more variants in the news. Back when Omicron was first making headlines at the end of last year, we made a Breaking News Consumer's Handbooks: Variant Edition. Brooke spoke to Katherine J. Wu, a staff writer at The Atlantic who covers science, to review the steps a news consumer can take to stay informed minus the anxiety.
Breaking News Consumer's Handbook: Variant Edition (Andrea Latimer/WNYC)
For a linkable text equivalent, a pdf version is available here.
This is a segment from our December 3rd, 2021 program, Pigeon With A Mustache.
More than a month into Putin’s invasion, Ukrainian resistance has proved mightier than the Russian leader seems to have anticipated. On this week’s On the Media, hear how Russia is following the well-established American track record of entering wars without plans for ending them. Plus, a sober look at Russia’s nuclear strategy. And, how the threat of nuclear apocalypse has shaped American culture since World War II. Then, a look at the 1983 made-for-TV film that spurred a national conversation about disarmament.
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Gideon Rose, author of How Wars End, on what Russia should've learned from America's misadventures in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Listen.
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Kristin Ven Bruusgaard[@KBruusgaard], postdoctoral fellow at the University of Oslo, on the actual threat of Russia's nuclear arsenal. Listen.
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Alex Wellerstein [@wellerstein], historian of science at Stevens Institute of Technology, on why the threat of nuclear apocalypse can be hard to comprehend. Listen.
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Marsha Gordon [@MarshaGGordon], professor of film studies at North Carolina State University, on one of the most important films about nukes. Listen.
Music:
Sacred Oracle by John Zorn
Horizon by Thomas Newman
In The Bath by Randy Newman
La Vie En Rose by Toots Thielemans
Gormenghast by John Zorn
White Lotus Theme by Cristobal Tapia De Veer
99 Luftballoons by Nena
A new poll this week from AP-NORC found that when asked, close to half of Americans say they are very concerned that Russia would directly target the U.S. with nuclear weapons, and an additional 3 in 10 are somewhat concerned. Given that Vladimir Putin put his nuclear forces on high alert at the start of his invasion of Ukraine, and with the rhetoric heating up as the war continues, it's hardly surprising that people are worried.
All the talk of nukes got us thinking about a segment from a few years back in which Brooke spoke to playwright Anne Washburn, about her work Mr. Burns: A Post-Electric Play. In it she imagines a world that has been devastated by a nuclear incident and how the remaining civilization would process the destruction over time...by retelling an episode of The Simpsons and about what the episode's evolution over the decades says about society's need for stories and about the role of comedy in the face of tragedy.
Excerpts taken from the 2013 production at Playwrights Horizons, directed by Steve Cosson, and a 2017 production at Amherst Regional High School, directed by Nathan Baron-Silvern. Music by Michael Friedman.
This week’s confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson were filled with dog whistles and distractions. On our latest episode, hear how Republicans are using rhetoric about pedophiles to discredit their opponents. Plus, the story of an American author who learned and unlearned Putin’s myth about Ukrainian nazification.
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Melissa Gira Grant [@melissagira], staff writer at The New Republic, on the cruel new Republican buzzword: "grooming." Listen.
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Lili Loofbourow [@Millicentsomer], staff writer at Slate, on the eerie experience of watching Zelesnsky act in the television show, "Servant of the People" and more. Listen.
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OTM presents a story from The Experiment, featuring Franklin Foer [@franklinfoer], on his family's debt to Ukrainians. Listen.
Music:
Sarabande (Barry Lyndon OST) by National Philharmonic Orchestra
German Lullaby by The Kiboomers
Juliet of the Spirits (Main Theme) by Nino Rota
Heroes by David Bowie
Lost, Night by Bill Frisell
The Supreme Court is an opaque and difficult to understand institution. Luckily, drawing on the expertise of seasoned SCOTUS reporters, we've put together a handy guide for the discerning news consumer to make sense of the court, its decisions, and its coverage.
Song: "Jeopardy! (Theme and Variations)" by the Resonance Flute Consort
As the horrific violence in Ukraine escalates, the global far-right is justifying Russia’s invasion with outlandish conspiracy theories. On this week’s On the Media, guest host Matt Katz digs into one viral lie that went mainstream. Plus, how internet sleuths are collecting digital evidence of alleged Russian war crimes to be used in international courts. And, we hear from the author of a new book about four foreign correspondents who shaped early American coverage of World War II.
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Ben Collins [@oneunderscore__], senior reporter with NBC News, on the viral Ukrainian "bioweapon labs" conspiracy theory. Listen.
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Eliot Higgins [@EliotHiggins], founder of Bellingcat, on how his organization uses open source investigations to track alleged Russian war crimes. And Alexa Koenig [@KAlexaKoenig], Executive Director of the Human Rights Center at the UC Berkeley School of Law, on how such digital evidence may be used by future war crime tribunals. Listen.
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Deborah Cohen [@DeborahACohen], professor of history at Northwestern University, on her new book about four foreign correspondents who sounded the alarm on WWII. Listen.
Russia's Memorial International maintained an archive whose purpose was to amass and preserve the crimes against humanity committed in the Soviet Union. On March 3rd it was closed down by order of the Kremlin. It was only a month ago that we first aired this piece about the threats to the archive, but already the information and media landscape in Russia is unrecognizable. Unknown numbers of journalists have fled draconian new laws that could land them in prison for 15 years for contradicting the party line on the war in Ukraine and state controlled media has has tightened its stranglehold l of the airwaves. In the chaos of the past few weeks, Memorial’s closing was - tragically, just another data point…another nail in the coffin for truth seekers.
OTM producer Molly Schwartz - who was in Moscow but has since left, visited Memorial International and spoke with archivist Nikita Lomakin about the importance of preserving Russia’s oldest Human Rights organization. In this piece, Molly also interviews historian Ivan Kurilla, author of The Battle for the Past: How Politics Changes History, about how the attacks on the archive resonate with Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
This is a segment from our February 11, 2022 program I’m No Expert.
The refugee crisis sparked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine may be the fastest-growing displacement of people in Europe since World War II. On this week’s On the Media, hear the story of an internet community that guided an influencer and his family through the warzone. Plus, how Russia’s draconian anti-press laws have driven journalists out of the country.
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Michael Wasiura [@michael_wasiura], writer and former pundit, on how his role giving the American perspective on Russian state TV became obsolete and what he's doing now. Listen.
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Alexey Kovalev [@Alexey__Kovalev], investigative editor at Meduza, on his experience fleeing Russia after the Kremlin tightened it's grip on information about the war, choking out independent media. Listen.
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Micah Loewinger [@MicahLoewinger], OTM correspondent, on the Ukrainian Twitch streamer who used his virtual military skills and online community to get his family to safety when the invasion began. Listen.
Music:
Frail as a Breeze by Erik Friedlander
Glass House (End Title) by David Bergeaud
Time is Late by Marcos Ciscar
Horizon 12.2 by Thomas Newman
Peace Piece (Bill Evans) by Kronos Quartet
This is a piece we first ran last September. It's reported by OTM producer Molly Schwartz who until the war in Ukraine started was a fellow on a journalism program in Moscow. Molly’s recounted for us the effects of a bizarre and cumbersome law - one of the many tactics used by the Kremlin to silence dissenting voices.
Following widespread protests across Russia last year in support of jailed opposition leader Alexey Navalny, Putin's government has engaged in a wave of crackdowns on dissent, expelling and imprisoning opposition leaders, and shutting down independent news outlets. They've also, since April 2021, added 30 Russian journalists or news outlets to the government's list of "foreign agents."
Journalists or news organizations who are labeled as "foreign agents" don't have to to shut down or stop publishing. Instead, they have to jump through various bureaucratic hoops — like reporting all their income and expenses to the Ministry of Justice (to be publicly posted on its website), and, perhaps most Kafkaesque of all, including a 24-word legal disclaimer on top of everything they publish. This includes every article, every advertisement, every tweet, every Instagram story, every response to a friend's comment on social media.
This is a segment from our September 24th, 2021 program, The Subversion Playbook.
Footage captured and shared by Ukrainian civilians is helping the world see through the fog of war. But not every video in your news feed is the real deal. On this week’s On the Media, how to sift fact from fiction with our new Breaking News Consumer's Handbook: Ukraine Edition. Plus, how journalists and analysts are using OSINT to track the war. Then, how an international white Christian nationalist movement is fueling Putin’s views and violence.
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Jane Lytvynenko [@JaneLytv], senior research fellow at the Technology and Social Change Project at Harvard University’s Shorenstein Center, on how to sort out the real from the fake while keeping up with the news from Ukraine. Listen.
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Peter Aldhous [@paldhous], science reporter at Buzzfeed, on how open-source intelligence is changing how we all experience war. Listen.
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Casey Michel [@cjcmichel], writer and investigative journalist, on white Christian nationalism—here and in Russia. Listen.
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Jason Stanley [@jasonintrator], professor of philosophy at Yale University, on the anti-Semitic conspiracy theories that plague eastern Europe. Listen.
Music:
Exit Music For A Film by Brad Mehldau
Motherless Child by LaTonya Peoples
Eye Surgery by Thomas Newman
The Artifact & Living by Michael Andrews
Trance Dance by John Zorn
Using the Apostate Tyrant as His Tool by Kronos Quartet
Final Retribution by John Zorn
Waltz (From Swan Lake) by Europa Philharmonic Orchestra
This week, OTM presents stories from Puerto Ricoas told in a podcast series called "La Brega," hosted by Alana Casanova-Burgess. Hear what that term means, how it's used, and what it represents. Also,how one of the most famous homebuilding teams in American history tried to export American suburbanism to Puerto Rico... as a bulwark against Cuban communism.
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Alana [@AlanaLlama] explores the full meaning(s) of la brega, which has different translations depending on who you ask. According to scholar and professor emeritus at Princeton, Arcadio Diaz Quiñonez, the closest English word is "to grapple." Alana also speaks to Cheo Santiago [@adoptaunhoyo], creator of "Adopta Un Hoyo" (Adopt a Pothole), which encourages people to paint around and photograph potholes to alert other drivers. Because the roads are rarely fixed properly, the challenges of potholes and what people do to get around them is a metaphorical and literal brega in Puerto Rico. Listen.
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Next, Alana turns to the boom and bust of Levittown, a suburb that was founded on the idea of bringing the American middle-class lifestyle to Puerto Rico during a time of great change on the island. Alana (herself the granddaughter of an early Levittown resident) explores what the presence of a Levittown in Puerto Rico tells us about the promises of the American Dream in Puerto Rico. Listen.
Created by a team of Puerto Rican journalists, producers, musicians, and artists from the island and diaspora, "La Brega" uses narrative storytelling and investigative journalism to reflect and reveal how la brega has defined so many aspects of life in Puerto Rico. All episodes are out now, and available in English and Spanish.
Listen to the full series: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | Google Podcasts
Music in this series comes from Balún and ÌFÉ
This week, OTM presents the second installment of a new series by our colleagues at The Experiment. In this episode, we learn that SPAM is at the center of one of the longest and most contentious labor battles in U.S. history. In 1985, workers at the Hormel Foods plant in Austin, Minnesota, went on strike, demanding better working conditions and stable wages. Generations of meatpackers had worked at the plant, some for most of their lives—and that gruesome, difficult work afforded them a sustainable, middle-class life. So when that way of life was threatened, they fought back. SPAM boycotts spread to cities and towns around the world. The strike went on for almost two years, pit neighbor against neighbor, and turned violent; the National Guard was called in to protect those who crossed the picket line. In the end, the strike is a Rorschach test: either a lesson in what is possible when workers unite, or a cautionary tale about biting the SPAM that feeds.
This episode is the second in a new three-part miniseries from The Experiment—“SPAM: How the American Dream Got Canned.”
Mainstream journalists keep falling for crypto scams that can end up costing their audiences a fortune. On this week’s On the Media, hear why all of us might want to become at least a bit literate in crypto-technology. Plus, the story of an American pundit living in Moscow, who’s being paid to be Russian TV’s favorite punching bag.
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Adam Davidson [@adamdavidson], founder of NPR's Planet Money, on the need for market context when reporting on cryptocurrency. Listen.
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Katie Notopoulos [@katienotopoulos], senior tech reporter at BuzzFeed and Maxwell Strachan [@maxwellstrachan], features writer and editor at Motherboard at VICE, on the backlash from covering crypto investors who'd rather remain anonymous. Listen.
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OTM producer Molly Schwartz [@mollyfication], on how Russian TV downplays talk of war using an American as a straw man. Listen.
Music:
I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles by Classic Carnival Circus Calliope Music
Newsreel by Randy Newman
Ave Maria - Pascal Jean & Jean Brenders
Avalon by Randy Newman
Fergus Roundelay by Gerry O'Beirne
Sonata for Violin and Guitar (Mauro Giuliani) by Itzhak Perlman & John Williams
Peter and the Wolf (Prokofiev) by Mario Rossi & Wiener Opernochester
On this week's podcast we’re bringing you a story from our colleagues at The Experiment.
It’s about SPAM: the meaty kind. During World War II, wherever American troops spread democracy, they left the tinned pork-mix in their wake; tossing cans of SPAM out of trucks to the hungry people they sought to liberate. That’s how Experiment producer Gabrielle Berbey’s grandfather first came to know and love SPAM as a kid in the Philippines. Once a classic American product, 80 years later it is now a staple Filipino food: a beloved emblem of Filipino identity.
In this episode Gabrielle sets out to understand how SPAM made its way into the hearts of generations of Pacific Islanders, and ends up opening a SPAM can of worms.
This episode is the first in a new three-part miniseries from The Experiment—“SPAM: How the American Dream Got Canned.”
Joe Rogan’s fans, critics, and everyone in between have spent weeks hearing his name plastered on the news. On this week’s On the Media, a look at the real lessons emerging from the debate about the debate. Plus, what Putin’s attack on Russia’s past might tell us about Ukraine’s future.
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Greg Bensinger [@GregBensinger], member of New York Times editorial board, Peter Kafka [@pkafka], host of the Vox podcast Recode Media, Andy Campbell [@AndyBCampbell], senior editor at HuffPost, and Tom Webster [@webby2001], senior vice president at Edison Research, on why we're all talking about Joe Rogan. Listen.
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Jill Filipovic [@JillFilipovic], attorney and writer, on who holds responsibility for misinformation. Listen.
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Gita Jackson [@xoxogossipgita], on the misguided defenses of Joe Rogan's racist comments. Listen.
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OTM producer Molly Schwartz [@mollyfication], on Russia's newest effort to erase the past. Listen.
Music:
Blue Monk by Jimmy Giuffre
Ain't Misbehavin’ by Hank Jones
Investigations by Kevin MacLeod
I Am by India Arie
Breathe by India Arie
String Quartet No.5 (Philip Glass) by Kronos Quartet
Peace Piece (Bill Evans) by Kronos Quartet
Todd Gitlin - writer, academic, media analyst, sociologist and lifelong activist died on February 5th. In his youth he helped organize the first national demonstration against the Vietnam War, held in Washington in 1965. He organized rallies against South Africa aparthied and for civil rights in America. Later as an educator and author and media critic of the left and right, worked as both an observer and shaper of thoughts about media narrative until the end of his life.
Gitlin was also a mentor to many and a huge influence on many who came to the nascent field of media criticism. Among them, New York University journalism professor and Media critic Jay Rosen, writer of the oft-quoted pressthink blog, and a regular here on our show. Brooke spoke with Rosen this week about the influence Gitlin had on his career.
An old threat has returned to classrooms across the country — and it’s made of pages and ink. On this week’s On the Media, hear what it means to ban a book, and who has the right to choose what kids learn. Plus, meet the student who took his school board all the way to the Supreme Court in the 80s.
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Kelly Jensen, editor for Book Riot who writes a weekly update on “book censorship news,” on what it means to ban a book. Listen.
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Jennifer Berkshire [@BisforBerkshire] and Jack Schneider [@Edu_Historian], hosts of the education podcast “Have You Heard,” on the rights—both real and fictional—of parents to shape what their kids learn. Listen.
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OTM reporter Micah Loewinger [@MicahLoewinger] takes a deep dive into our nations history of taking books off shelves, with the 1982 Supreme Court decision in Island Trees School District v Pico. Featuring: Steven Pico, then student and plaintiff in the case and Arthur Eisenberg, New York Civil Liberties lawyer, who represented him.Listen.
Music:
Tymperturbably Blue by Duke Ellington
York Fusiliers by Douglas Monroe & Yorktown Fife and Drums
Eye Surgery by Thomas Newman
Viderunt Omnes by The Kronos Quartet
In 1951, Grove Press was a tiny, almost-defunct independent publisher, with just three titles in its catalog, including Herman Melville’s The Confidence Man. But then Barney Rosset took over and, with a few choice books, helped push America past its Puritanical roots and into the sexual revolution. He died in 2012 and we are re-airing this interview I did with him many years back, to set up this week’s show in which we’ll be trying to unpack the latest round of book banning in America.
When you hear the word “Neanderthal,” you probably picture a mindless, clumsy brute. It’s often used as an insult — even by our president, who last year called anti-maskers “Neanderthals.” But what if we have more in common with our ancestral cousins than we think? On this week’s On the Media, hear how these early humans have been unfairly maligned in science and in popular culture.
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John Hawks [@johnhawks], professor of anthropology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, on our biological family tree—and the complicated branch that is Neanderthals. Listen.
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Rebecca Wragg Sykes [@LeMoustier], archeologist and author of Kindred: Neanderthal Life, Love, Death and Art, on and what we know about how they lived. Listen.
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Clive Finlayson [@CliveFinlayson], Director, Chief Scientist, and Curator of the Gibraltar National Museum, on how studying what’s inside Gorham and Vanguard caves can help reconstruct Neanderthal life beyond them. Listen.
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Angela Saini, science journalist, on how Neanderthals have been co-opted to push mythologies about the genetic basis of race. Listen.
*Music:
Boy Moves the Sun by Michael Andrews
Young Heart by Brad Mehldau
Sacred Oracle by John Zorn
Tomorrow Never Knows by Quartetto d’ Archi Di Dell’Orchestra di Milano Guiseppe Verdi
Investigations by Kevin MacLeod*
Earlier this month, Ronna McDaniel, Chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, wrote a letter to the Commission on Presidential Debates—the independent, bipartisan organization that has convened general election debates since the 1980's. In her letter, McDaniel said that the RNC would boycott the presidential debates during the upcoming election cycle. That is – unless the commission was willing to meet its demands. The move is the latest refusal by Republicans to meet political norms. And it also poses the question: What – if anything – would be lost if the presidential debates didn’t happen? Brooke spoke to Alex Shephard, staff writer at The New Republic who's article on the subject was titled: “Let the Presidential Debates Die.”
It’s been over a year since Donald Trump was defeated fair and square in the 2020 election, but polling shows that belief in the Big Lie is as strong as ever. On this week’s On the Media, hear journalists debate how to interview Americans convinced by this dangerous myth. Plus, find out why one political linguist isn’t sure the press can pull democracy back from the brink.
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Matthew Sitman [@MatthewSitman], host of the Know Your Enemy podcast, shares his tips for interviewing right-wing intellectuals. Listen.
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Bill Kristol [@BillKristol], editor-at-large of The Bulwark, reckons with 'Stop the Steal'-ers in his party. Listen.
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Astead Herndon [@AsteadWesley], national politics reporter at the The New York Times, on why he'd rather interview a 'Big Lie'-believing voter than a politician. Listen.
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George Lakoff [@GeorgeLakoff], linguist and cognitive scientist, reflects on the "truth sandwich." Listen.
Music:
Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered by Brad Mehldau
Cellar Door by Michael Andrews
Cello Song by Nick Drake
Boy Moves the Sun by Michael Andrews
I’m Not Following You by Michael Andrews
White Man Sleeps I by Kronos QuartetLove Angel by Marcos Ciscar
Traveling Music by Kronos Quartet
This week we are airing another episode from the show "La Brega"a podcast about life in Puerto Rico and hosted by former OTM producer Alana Casanova-Burgess.
During the early 1950s, the children of Puerto Rico were invited to an icy winter spectacle. Mayor Felisa Rincón de Gautier, the charismatic mayor of San Juan, arranged for Eastern Airlines to bring a plane-load of snow for a snowball fight in the city. It was a feat that has become legend for a whole generation. But while this winter wonderland came to San Juan free of charge, it wasn't without a cost.
In this special episode of La Brega, we learn how the snow was actually transported to San Juan from Hilda Jimenez, Doña Fela’s assistant. And we hear from some of the people who experienced it up-close. Ignacio Rivera (of the radio program Fuego Cruzado) was 8 years old and threw snowballs; the artist Antonio Martorell remembers that too, but also sees the event as part of Puerto Rico’s troubling colonial relationship with the United States. Seventy years later – when ice is at an even greater premium – journalist and author Ana Teresa Toro says Puerto Rico is still grappling with how to understand that special delivery.
To learn more about Doña Fela, we recommend a visit to the Casa Museo Felisa Rincón de Gautier.
You can learn more about Antonio Martorell in a recent documentary called El Accidente Feliz. His portrait of the mayor is here.
The snowball fight is also the subject of a piece by the artist Sofía Gallisá Muriente, called Lluvia con nieve, now part of Whitney's collection.
Ana Teresa Toro’s new book of poetry is “Flora animal.”
Since the insurrection on January 6, warnings of a second American Civil War have been sounded. This week, On the Media explores whether the civil war talk is an alarmist cry, or actually a sober assessment. Plus, hear how the myth of “the Dark Ages” paints an unfair portrait of medieval times.
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David Remnick, editor of The New Yorker and host of the New Yorker Radio Hour, on the risk of second civil war. Listen.
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Barbara Walter [@bfwalter], professor of International Relations at the University of California, San Diego, on the tell-tale signs that a country is headed for insurgence. Listen.
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Charlie Warzel [@cwarzel], journalist and contributing writer at The Atlantic, on when journalists should sound the alarm (and how loud we should ring it). Listen.
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David M. Perry [@Lollardfish] and Matthew Gabriele [@prof_gabriele], authors of The Bright Ages: A New History of Medieval Europe, on how the Dark Ages might have not been so dark. Listen.
Music:
Wade in the Water by Hank Jones and Charlie HadenThe Glass House - Marjane’s Inspiration by David BergeaudSeinfeld Theme - Jonathan WolffLowland’s Away by Gregory Blavenz - The Us Army Fife And Drum CorpsHarpsichord - Four TetAd summan missam: Santus II by Ensemble Aeolus
It’s been one year since the armed insurrection at the Capitol, what do we know now about how it happened? On this week’s On the Media, hear about the signs that reveal militia groups were preparing for that day — or something like it — long before January 6th. Plus, how the attack may have transformed the far-right in America.
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OTM reporter Micah Loewinger [@MicahLoewinger] on the efforts to shape the media narrative among gun rights activists at Virginia's Lobby Day. Listen.
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OTM reporter Micah Loewinger [@MicahLoewinger] and Militia Watch founder Hampton Stall [@HamptonStall] investigate how a walkie-talkie app called Zello is enabling armed white supremacist groups to gather and recruit. Featuring: Joan Donovan [@BostonJoan] Research Director of the Shorenstein Center at Harvard University, and Megan Squire [@MeganSquire0] Professor of Computer Science at Elon University. Listen.
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OTM reporter Micah Loewinger [@MicahLoewinger] on Zello's role in the January 6th insurrection, and what the app is finally doing about its militia members. Featuring: Marcy Wheeler [@emptywheel] national security reporter for Emptywheel, and Cynthia Miller-Idriss [@milleridriss] Director of Polarization and Extremism Research and Innovation Lab at American University, and Jared Holt [@JaredHolt] Resident Fellow at the Atlantic Council's Digital Forensic Research Lab. Listen.
Music:
Tick Of The Clock by Chromatics
Cyclic Bit by Raymond Scott
Genocide by Link Wray
Procession Of The Grand Moghul by Korla Pandit
Gormenghast by John Zorn
In 2013, 26-year-old software developer and political activist Aaron Swartz died by suicide. He had been indicted on federal charges after illegally downloading 4.8 million articles from JSTOR, a database of academic journals, and potentially faced a million dollar fine and decades in jail. While his death made headline news, Swartz had long been an Internet folk hero and a fierce advocate for the free exchange of information. In his book, The Idealist, writer Justin Peters places Swartz within the fraught, often colorful, history of copyright in America. Brooke talks with Peters about Swartz's legacy and the long line of "data moralists" who came before him.
Music in this podcast extra:
"Moss Garden" by David Bowie"Heroes" by David Bowie; performed by The Meridian String Quartet"Life On Mars?" by David Bowie; performed by The Meridian String Quartet.
This segment originally aired in our January 15, 2016 program, "Terms of Engagement."
Should we cancel the word “cancel”? On this week’s On the Media, find out who benefits from the newest culture scare, and a history of "cancellation." Plus, hear how three women reporters covered the Vietnam War against all odds.
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Michael Hobbes [@RottenInDenmark], co-host of Maintenance Phase, on the anecdotes that fuel "political correctness" and "cancel culture" panics. Listen.
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Erec Smith [@Rhetors_of_York], associate professor of rhetoric and composition at the York College of Pennsylvania, on his experience being "cancelled" within an academic context. Listen.
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Clyde McGrady [@CAMcGrady], features writer for The Washington Post, on the derivation and misappropriation of the word "cancelled." Listen.
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Elizabeth Becker [@Elizbeckerwrite], author of You Don't Belong Here, on how women journalists covered the Vietnam War in groundbreaking ways, and yet were forgotten by history. Listen.
Music:
Middlesex Times by Michael Andrews
Bubble Wrap by Thomas Newman
You Sexy Thing (Remix) by Hot Chocolate
John’s Book Of Alleged Dances by Kronos Quartet
Carmen Fantasy by Anderson & Row**
Basketball Hall of Famer Walt "Clyde" Frazier made a successful transition from NBA star to sports broadcaster on the MSG Network. With his cool rhymes and even cooler clothes, Frazier sat down with Brooke for a live event in 2013 to discuss basketball, broadcasting, and the art of being cool.
This segment originally aired in our March 29, 2013 program, "Culture and the Courts, The Legacy of Rand Paul's Filibuster, and More."
On this week’s On the Media, a look at the journalists and newspapers we lost in 2021, and hopes for the press in the year ahead. Plus, is the ever-popular genre of true crime good for us? And the mob gets a podcast.
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Micah Loewinger [@micahloewinger], tells Brooke about a year of newspaper closures, murdered journalists, and the end of the Trump Bump. Listen.
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Emma Berquist [@eeberquist], author of Devils Unto Dust, on how the true crime genre can rot our brains. Listen.
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Rachel Corbett [@RachelNCorbett], author of You Must Change Your Life: The Story of Rainer Maria Rilke and Auguste Rodin, on why the feds love podcasts by mobsters. Listen.
*Music:
After The Fact by John ScofieldThe Hammer of Los by John Zorn
Smooth Criminal by 2Cellos*
Merry Christmas, to those who celebrate! To those who don't (and, aw heck, to those who do too) we offer a very special end-of-year gift: fear. More specifically, Brooke's greatest fears, courtesy of our WNYC colleagues 10 Things That Scare Me. Fear is a subject — and experience — near and dear to our beloved Brooke, so we can assure you that this is not a conversation to skip.
Text messages obtained by the January 6 commission revealed the panic of Fox News hosts — even as they downplayed the insurrection on camera. On this week’s On the Media, how to hold the news station accountable. Plus, an investigation of the celebrity profile – from the biting to the banal.
- Angelo Carusone [@GoAngelo], President and CEO of Media Matters, explains what the new January 6th revelations say about the state of Fox News. Listen.
- Anne Helen-Peterson [@annehelen], writer and journalist, on why the profile of Jeremy Strong in The New Yorker struck a chord. Listen.
- Bobby Finger [@bobbyfinger] and Lindsey Weber [@lindseyweber], co-hosts of the podcast "Who? Weekly," talk about the scrappy, B-list celebrities do for fame. Listen.
Music:
Il Casanova di Federico Fellini by Nina Rota
Paperback Writer by Quartetto dell'Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi
The Art Of War by Richard Beddow
Investigations by Kevin MacLeod
Newsreel by Randy Newman
Hard Times by Leftover Salmon
Write a great book and you're a genius. Turn a book into a great film and you're a visionary. Turn a great film into a book...that's another story.
Novelizations of films are regular best-sellers with cult followings -- some are even more beloved than the films that spawned them -- but respected they are not. Instead, they're assumed to be the literary equivalent of merchandise: a way for the movie studios to make a few extra bucks, and a job for writers who aren't good enough to do anything else. But the people who write them beg to differ.
Back in 2016, former OTM producer Jesse Brenneman went inside the world of novelizations; featuring authors Max Allan Collins, Alan Dean Foster, Elizabeth Hand, and Lee Goldberg.
Songs:
"The Blue Danube Waltz" by Johann Strauss
"The Throne Room and End Title" by John Williams (from the film "Star Wars")
Correction: In the piece it is stated that the Star Wars* novelization begins, "Another time, another galaxy." In fact it begins, "Another galaxy, another time."
Amid the so-called Great Resignation, nearly 39 million Americans have left their jobs. On this week’s On The Media, hear why this trend is a logical response to the cult of work. Plus, when technology makes our jobs harder, maybe being a 'luddite' isn't such a bad thing.
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Sarah Jaffe [@sarahljaffe], journalist and author of Work Won't Love You Back: How Devotion to Our Jobs Keeps Us Exploited, Exhausted, and Alone, on how love and meaning became intertwined with our jobs. Listen.
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Anne Helen-Peterson [@annehelen], writer and journalist, and Charlie Warzel [@cwarzel], contributing writer at The Atlantic, on how technology is—or, dramatically is not — easing our lives at work. Listen.
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Gavin Mueller [@gavinmuellerphd], assistant professor of New Media and Digital Culture at the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands, on what modern lessons can be learned from the Luddite workers of 19th century England. Listen.
Music from this week's show:
Sign and Sigil by John Zorn
BROKE by Modest Mouse
Middlesex Times by Michael Andrews
Blues by La Dolce vita Dei Nobili
Liquid SpearWaltz by Michael Andrews
Stolen Moments by Ahmed Jamal Trio
Tonight at 7pm ET, join Brooke, the OTM staff, and other listeners from around the country for our first ever Zoom trivia night! Flex your knowledge of the show for a chance to win some sweet prizes including hats hand-crocheted by Brooke herself. All you gotta do to participate is become a sustaining member. Click this link. Or, text the letters O T M to 70101. That’s the money that powers our journalism and keeps the show pumping through your speakers each week.
If you're already a sustaining member, check your email. You've already received a Zoom link for the event. See you tonight!
By now, the new coronavirus variant has been detected in dozens of countries – including the U.S. On this week’s On the Media, hear what pigeons can tell us about how to react to the omicron variant. Plus, why we should know the names of the scientists in Botswana, South Africa, and Hong Kong who found the new strain. And what rights we do, and don't, have when it comes to when we die.
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Katherine J. Wu [@KatherineJWu], staff writer at The Atlantic covering science, on what we do (and mostly don't) know about the new omicron variant. Listen.
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Jeremy Kamil [@macroliter], associate professor of microbiology and immunology at Louisiana State University Health Shreveport, on the scientists who found omicron, and why we should know their names. Listen.
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Katie Engelhart [@katieengelhart], journalist and New America fellow, on the complicated right to die. Listen.
Music from this week's show:
Horizon 12.2 - Thomas Newman
Eye Surgery - Thomas Newman
Slow Pulse Conga - William Pasley
Cello Song - Nick Drake
Berceuse in D Flat Major, Op. 57 (Chopin) - Ivan Moravec
Time After Time (Cyndi Lauper) - Miles Davis
This week is Hanukkah, Judaism’s eight-day festival of lights. With its emphasis on present-giving, dreidel games and sweet treats, the holiday seems to be oriented towards kids. Even the story of Hanukkah has had its edges shaved down over time. Ostensibly, the holiday is a celebration of a victory against an oppressive Greek regime in Palestine over two thousand years ago, the miracle of oil that lit Jerusalem's holy temple for 8 days and nights, and the perseverance of the Jewish faith against all odds.
According to Rabbi James Ponet, Emeritus Howard M. Holtzmann Jewish Chaplain at Yale University, the kid-friendly Hanukkah mythology has obscured the thorny historical details that offer deeper truths about what it means to be a Jew. In his 2005 Slate piece, "Hanukkah as Jewish Civil War," Ponet looked at the often-overlooked Jew-on-Jew violence that under-girds the Hanukkah story. He and Brooke discuss how this civil war lives on in Jewish views on Israel, and how the tension between assimilation and tradition came to define the Jewish people.
(this is a rebroadcast of a story we first ran in 2018)
Cassette tapes mostly gather dust these days. But back in their heyday, they fundamentally changed how we communicate, in ways we’re still making sense of today. On this week’s On the Media, hear how the cassette tape fueled the Iranian revolution, helped pierce the Iron Curtain, and put human connection in the palm of our hands.
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Simon Goodwin on his innovation to broadcast computer software over the radio back in 1983. Listen.
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Computer programmer Fuxoft explains his role in 'Sneakernet,' which saw pirated material of all types smuggled into 1980s Czechoslovakia via cassette tape. Listen.
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The role of cassette tapes in the Iranian Revolution. Listen.
This episode was reported, produced, scored and sound designed for Radiolab by Simon Adler with original music throughout by Simon. Top tier reporting and production assistance was provided by Eli Cohen.
Last year at this time, 9 months into the pandemic, so many of us stayed separated from one another, missing out on all the gathering, yam-eating, relative-screaming, football-watching, insert-holiday-themed-cliche-here, of Thanksgiving. Not so this year. This year, vaxxed and tested and maybe even boosted, we gather once more. Like a bunch of gosh-darn superheroes.
And so, for this very special Thanksgiving-edition podcast extra, we’re re-airing the story of another lovable, dysfunctional family full of superheroes: The Incredibles.
Back in 2005, the Academy Award-winning animated Pixar film took the world by storm, with its campy 60s noir aesthetic, its nuanced portrayal of family gender roles, and its memorable cast of superheroes. And one of those superheroes, the gifted son named Dash, was played by a real-life kid, the former child actor Spencer Fox. The film would radically change Fox's life, for better and worse. Some 17 years later, Spencer speaks with OTM reporter Micah Loewinger about his complex relationship to the role and why he spent years refusing to watch its sequel.
This is segment originally aired as part of the April 23, 2021 program, Not Ready For That Conversation.
Politicians and pundits on the right are eager to pin rising rates of inflation on President Biden — but that misses the bigger picture. Plus, how scaremongering over 'critical race theory' is impacting elections, school boards and classrooms. And, how the stories we tell about our present shape what's possible for the future, from paid parental leave to immigration policy and beyond.
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John Cassidy [@JohnCassidy], staff writer at The New Yorker, on the real story behind the inflation numbers. Listen.
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Adam Harris [@AdamHSays], staff writer at The Atlantic, on what the elections can and can't tell us about the impact of 'critical race theory' scaremongering, and why the debate over race has landed in schools. Listen.
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Alan Jenkins [@Opportunity1], professor at Harvard Law School and co-founder of the Opportunity Agenda, on how powerful stories, effectively communicated, have shaped what's possible for the future. Listen.
The U.N. climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland concluded last weekend—the 26th “Conference of Parties.” After more than two decades of these promises, it’s worth wondering how much of this is all just hot air. According to the non-profit Climate Action Tracker, not a single country is on target to meet the COP21 pledge, also known as the Paris Climate Accords, and many aren’t even on target for their COP3 pledge, the Kyoto Protocol.
And yet, these summits are often still covered with breathless play-by-play analysis: all the juicy details about diplomatic attaches, late-night negotiation, and backroom deals. Which is not without value, but it’s worth asking: what are the stories being missed when all eyes are on the summit? To answer that, we called Nathaniel Rich, writer-at-large for the New York Times Magazine, who takes a markedly different approach.
Twenty months since the start of the pandemic, economic recovery has been uneven at best. This week, On the Media takes a look at one sector that’s been booming: cryptocurrency and, in particular, NFTs. Hear how a technology invented to give artists more control over their work has become a tool for speculators hoping to win big.
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Anil Dash [@anildash], CEO of Glitch, helps explain the origin of NFTs. Listen.
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OTM Correspondent Micah Loewinger [@MicahLoewinger] attends an NFT auction featuring Carlos Matos, one of crypto's most unlikely proponents. Listen.
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Anil Dash [@anildash] on his ambivalence of what has come from his creation. Listen.
*Music:
72 Degrees and Sunny by Thomas Newman
Eye Surgery by Thomas Newman
Horizon 12.2 by Thomas Newman
Okami by Nicola Cruz
Bitconnect Carlos Matos (What Is Love) by Psychol
Penguins by Michael Hurley
Solice by Scott Joplin
Carlos Matos (Take On Me) by Memeski
Bubblewrap by Thomas Newman
Vie En Rose by Toots Thielemans*
The satire site The Babylon Bee, a conservative Christian answer to The Onion, stirred controversy when some readers mistook its headlines for misinformation. In this episode of WNYC/The Atlantic's The Experiment, religion reporter Emma Green sits down with the editor-in-chief, Kyle Mann, to talk about where he draws the line between making a joke and doing harm, and to understand what humor can reveal about American politics.
Further reading: “Who Would Jesus Mock?”
For decades, Silicon Valley leaders have been borrowing ideas from science fiction — from the metaverse to the latest tech gadgets. On this week’s show, hear why they might need to start reading their source material more closely. Also, why the midterm election results tell us so little about what’s coming next in American politics. And a forgotten behemoth of American literature gets a closer look.
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Paul Waldman [@paulwaldman1], opinion columnist at the Washington Post and senior writer for The American Prospect, on why off-year elections need historical context. Listen.
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Jill Lepore, Harvard historian and New Yorker staff writer; Gene Seymour [@GeneSeymour], culture critic with work in Newsday, the Nation, the Baffler, and more; and Annalee Newitz [@Annaleen], science fiction author and science journalist, on the makings (and potential mishaps) of the metaverse. Listen.
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Paul Auster, acclaimed novelist and author of Burning Boy: The Life and Work of Stephen Crane, on the 19th century writer's forgotten legacy. Listen.
Music in this week's show:
Whistle While You Work - Artie Shaw and his New Music
You’re Getting to be a Habit with Me - Guy Lombardo
Do Nothin’ Till You Hear from Me - Ben Webster
Boy Moves the Sun - Michael Andrews
A Ride with Polly Jean - Jenny Scheinman
Gerry O'Beirne’s album “The Bog Bodies and other Stories: Music for Guitar"
700,000. That’s the latest COVID death count to dominate a headline in the United States. Over the last 19 months, we’ve seen a steady trickle of these morbid milestones in the news. They are one way to measure, and try to understand, the COVID-19 pandemic. In the world of journalism, death is a metric that’s important. It indicates significance, newsworthiness, and tragedy. But death is also an inevitable part of the human experience. This is a fact that journalist Katie Engelhart highlights in the title of her new book The Inevitable: Dispatches on the Right to Die. Brooke Gladstone spoke to Engelhart about the complicated ethics of physician-assisted deaths and the surprising parameters within which people can end their lives.
This week, On the Media takes a deep dive into the "No Compromise" gun rights movement. Its members see the NRA as too amenable to gun control measures. Follow reporters Lisa Hagen and Chris Haxel on their journey to understand how 3 brothers used a network of Facebook pages to grow their following with some startling results.
Part 1: A World Where The NRA Is Soft On Guns. Listen.
Part 2: The Facebook Flock. Listen.
Part 3: A One-Man Propaganda Band. Listen.
No Compromise is hosted by Chris Haxel and Lisa Hagen, produced by Graham Smith and edited by Robert Little and is a production of NPR, KCUR, WABE, and WAMU. To listen to all 6 episodes (and you should!) go to NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.
Music from this week's show:
Stormy Weather - Franck Pourcel
Washington’s March - Liberty Tree Wind Players
Country outro
All other music written and performed by Humpmuscle
True crime is incredibly popular. Whether it's books, movies, television shows, or podcasts, stories that play to our deepest fears and most sensational imaginations command large audiences. The genre, when done poorly, can also aggravate our misconceptions and biases about crime. But true crime, at its best, offers something most of us can’t turn down, despite our better instincts—the chance to understand a master criminal mind.
That’s what writer Rachel Corbett stumbled upon while working on an upcoming book about criminal profiling. The former FBI agents she called up kept talking about a new kind of podcast that they were listening to—where the mobsters of a bygone era were speaking for themselves. This week Corbett, author of a recent article in The New Yorker called “Why the FBI Loves Mob Podcasts,” sits down with Brooke to talk about these new shows and who's listening.
From boosters to breakthrough infections, pandemic vocabulary is still all over the news. On this week’s On the Media, why the terms we use to talk about the virus obscure as much as they reveal. And, why the history of medical progress is filled with so many twists and turns. Plus, why a preference for simple stories has made it so hard to keep track of the pandemic.
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Katherine J. Wu [@KatherineJWu], staff writer at The Atlantic, on the slippery definitions of our pandemic vocabulary. Listen.
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Dr. Paul Offit [@DrPaulOffit], professor of pediatrics at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, on why medical progress always carries risk. Listen.
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OTM correspondent Micah Loewinger [@MicahLoewinger] speaks with Soren Wheeler [@SorenWheeler] and Rachael Piltch-Loeb [@Rpiltchloeb] about why the narrative arc of the COVID-19 pandemic has been deeply unsatisfying. With some help from Kurt Vonnegut. Listen.
Music:
In the Bath - Randy Newman
Milestones - Bill Evans Trio
Paperback Writer - Quartetto d'Archi Dell'orchestra Sinfonica di Giuseppe Verdi
Quizas Quizas Quizas - Ramon Sole
Misterioso - Kronos Quartet
Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered - Brad Mehldau Trio
Colin Powell, former Secretary of State, Joint Chiefs chairman, and omnipresence in American foreign policy for the past 20 years, died on Monday from complications from COVID-19. He was 84-years-old and been sick for years with multiple myeloma, a rare blood cancer.
Colin Powell was many things to many people. A symbol of the American dream. The public voice — for a time — of the Iraq War. A so-called “RINO,” or Republican-in-name-only. A good soldier. Though widely remembered as a barrier-breaking hero by folks across the aisle, in his death, as in life, there are those who are using Colin Powell as an opportunity for scoring political points.
Looking back at the life of Colin Powell, it is worth recalling that he was once one of America's most popular public officials, polling favorably among 85 percent of Americans in a 2002 Gallup poll. But what Colin Powell is perhaps most remembered for is his 2003 presentation to the UN Security Council explaining the existence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. A little over a year later, Powell went on NBC's Meet the Press and essentially retracted his assertion, saying it "turned out that the sourcing was inaccurate and wrong and in some cases deliberately misleading." Brooke speaks with Fred Kaplan, a veteran reporter on foreign policy and national security, long-time writer of Slate’s "War Stories" column, and even longer-time husband of Brooke, about the life and legacy of Colin Powell.
Have you been wondering exactly what it means to Build Back Better? On this week’s On the Media, hear why political coverage seems to address everything about Joe Biden’s bill--except what’s in it. Plus, find out if social media really does turn nice people into trolls.
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Andrew Prokop [@awprokop], Senior Politics Correspondent at Vox, on the gap between political coverage of the Build Back Better Act, and what the bill actually says. Listen.
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Michael Bang Petersen [@M_B_Petersen], political science professor at Aarhus University, on the difference (or lack thereof) between on and offline behaviors, and how Facebook might not be affecting us in the ways we think. Listen.
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Meghan O’Gieblyn, writer and author of God, Human, Animal, Machine, on the ever-deeper entwining of humanity and technology, and what it might mean for our future. Listen.
Music from this week's show:
Passing Time - John Renbourn
Clap Hands - Tom Waits
Okami - Nicola Cruz
Carmen Fantasy - Anderson and Roe
Young at Heart - Brad Mehldau
For the Creator - Richard Souther
To watch the rise of viral content is always an interesting exercise. From "Charlie bit my finger" to the "Lulz That Broke Wall Street," the internet is capable of elevating any story, meme, joke, or idea through the ranks of digital fame. This week, we unpack one story, and one question, that took twitter by storm: "Who is the Bad Art Friend?".
The Robert Kolker piece from The New York Times Magazine proved digital catnip, but why? Brooke sits down with Michael Hobbes, journalist and host of the podcast Maintenance Phase, to discuss his review of the story, the Twitter storm, and why we're even talking about all this in the first place.
From a six hour service outage to a senate whistleblower hearing, the PR disasters keep mounting for Facebook. On this week’s show, hear how the tech giant might be following a well-worn pattern of decline. And, the so-called "Pandora Papers" reveal dirty financial secrets, dwarfing the Panama Papers in the size, scope, and reach. Plus, how a new data leak shows links between law enforcement and far-right militia groups.
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Makena Kelly [@kellymakena], policy reporter for The Verge, on the perils of focusing on politicians' flubs during tech regulation hearings. Listen.
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Kevin Roose [@kevinroose], tech columnist for The New York Times, on the harbingers of Facebook's demise. Listen.
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Gerard Ryle [@RyleGerard], director of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, on how the Pandora Papers unmask hidden owners of offshore companies. Plus, what the papers might mean for the future of cooperative journalism. Listen.
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OTM correspondent Micah Loewinger [@MicahLoewinger], on how he and Gothamist's George Joseph uncovered evidence that active police officers are connected to the Oath Keepers, a far-right militia group. Listen.
Music from this week's show:
Chicago Sunset - MusselwhiteTilliboyo - Kronos QuartetGormenghast - John ZornString Quartet No. 5 II Movement 2 -Phillip Glass - Kronos Quartet
While Democrats fight amongst themselves over getting their legislative agenda passed, Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer is locked in his own battle with minority leader Mitch McConnell over raising the country’s debt ceiling.
Democrats need ten Senate Republicans to join them in voting to raise the debt limit to avoid, as the Washington Post put it, “catapulting the country into an economic recession.” The Post also cited the potential for quote, “widespread financial havoc," while the New York Times noted widespread warnings of “global economic calamity”
If all of this sounds familiar, that's because... it is. For years, the media have treated the perennial debt ceiling debate like hurricane season. Is disaster heading to our shores? When will calamity strike? What's the projected damage? Often lost in the coverage is why we have to keep reliving this crisis in the first place.
Zachary Karabell is host of the podcast “What Could Go Right” and president of River Twice Capital. He’s also the author of The Leading Indicators: A Short History of the Numbers That Rule Our World. Brooke spoke to him in 2017 about this very subject.
Facebook and Instagram are harming young users, according to leaked research discussed in a Senate hearing this week. On this week’s On the Media, hear why lawmakers are chasing the white whale that is tech accountability. Also, how do we cover the tightly guarded, and complicated, news that comes from Guantanamo Bay? And, as the documentary industry booms, its ethics standards lag far behind.
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Brandy Zadrozny [@BrandyZadrozny], NBC senior reporter, unpacks the evolving responsibilities of social media companies for our health. Listen.
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Jess Bravin [@JessBravin], Supreme Court reporter for The Wall Street Journal, and Michel Paradis [@MDParadis], senior attorney for the Department of Defense, on the lasting difficulties of covering one of America's most notorious military prisons, Guantanamo Bay. Listen.
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Muira McCammon [@muira_mccammon], doctoral candidate at the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg School of Communications, on what the library at Guantamo Bay can tell us about the place and the media's coverage. Listen.
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Patricia Aufderheide [@paufder], University Professor of Communication Studies in the School of Communication at American University, on the tension between production and ethics in the world of documentaries. Listen.
Music from this week's show:
Nino Rota - Juliet of SpiritsNicola Cruz - Colibria Kronos - Flugufrelsarinn
Vijay Iyer - Human Nature
Merkabah - John Zorn
Booker T and The MG's - Slim Jenkins Place* Alex Wurman - Going Home for the First Time*
It was 13 years ago this month when news broke that the Wall Street investment firm Lehman Brothers collapsed, setting in motion the financial crisis that devastated the world’s economy.
For all the misery the financial meltdown caused, Americans have never balked at opportunities to relive the crisis through hundreds of films, books and even plays. But while greedy investment bankers have become a staple archetype of recent movies like The Wolf of Wall Street, The Big Short, and Margin Call, Hollywood hasn't always portrayed Wall Street with such cynicism. In 2018 Brooke spoke to Per Hansen, professor of business history at the Copenhagen Business School, about his study examining cinematic depictions of big business and financial institutions. Hansen sifted through 81 films to understand how America's volatile attitudes on capitalism have evolved through other periods of boom and bust. He and Brooke discussed how classics like Wall Street, It's a Wonderful Life, and The Apartment have reflected and actively shaped the way we feel about money.
This segment is from our September 14th, 2018 episode, Doomed to Repeat.
By now, we’re familiar with voter suppression tactics, from long voting lines to voter ID laws. On this week’s On the Media, hear how election subversion takes the anti-democratic playbook to the next level. Plus, how the Russian government is using bureaucracy to stifle elections — and the press.
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Dan Hirschhorn [@Inky_Dan], assistant managing editor at The Philadelphia Inquirer, on why his paper won't use the word "audit" to describe the wave of partisan "election reviews." Listen.
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Rick Hasen, [@rickhasen], professor of law and political science at the University of California Irvine, on why election subversion is such a dangerous threat to our democracy. Listen.
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Tanya Lokot [@tanyalokot], media scholar and associate professor at the Dublin City University School of Communications, on why Google and Apple caved to the Kremlin on fair election technology. Listen.
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OTM producer Molly Schwartz [@mollyfication] on the lives and trials of Russian journalists under siege, featuring: Sonya Groysman [@sonyagro], Russian journalist and podcaster; Joshua Yaffa [@yaffaesque] Moscow correspondent for The New Yorker; Tikhon Dzyadko [@tikhondzyadko], editor-in-chief of TV Rain; and Alexey Kovalyov [@Alexey__Kovalev], investigations editor at the news outlet Meduza. Listen.
Music from this week's show:
Chicago Sunset - Charlie Musselwhite
Time is Late ft. Joakim Johans
Unnamed Track - Mark Henry Philips
Unnamed Track - Mark Henry Philips
Baba O'Rilеy - The Who
From Russia With Love - Huma-Huma
Дальше действовать будем мы (“We will continue to act”) - Kino
In their new book "Peril," Bob Woodward and Robert Costa released a previously unpublished memo by a man named John Eastman, who served as an attorney advising President Trump during the 2020 election. That memo outlined an anti-democratic six-step plan for Vice President Pence to overturn the election results — stealing the election in favor of Trump — by refusing to tally votes from states with "multiple slates of electors," throwing the final decision to the House of Representatives. It was presented to Pence by Trump and Eastman in the Oval Office during the days leading up to January 6th, and offers a chilling look at the lengths to which Trump was prepared to go in order to maintain power.
It also offers a new opportunity to examine the activities of John Eastman, who entered the spotlight in 2020 when he published an op-ed in Newsweek making the false claim that Kamala Harris was ineligible for the Vice Presidency. Back then, Brooke spoke with Slate’s Mark Joseph Stern, who described the origins of this birtherism falsehood and how Eastman and his organization, the Claremont Institute, used the media to spread it.
Throughout the pandemic, religious rights advocates have protested some public health measures like bans on large gatherings. Now, some Americans are making the case for religious exemptions to President Biden's new workplace vaccine mandate. On this week’s On the Media, why religious protections are deliberately vague. Plus, hear how the current Supreme Court has been quietly bolstering the power of Christian interest groups. And, a look at climate coverage during storm season, and how the fossil fuel industry became so good at selling its own story.
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Winnifred Sullivan [@WinniSullivan], Indiana University Bloomington professor of law and religious studies, explains why the constitution doesn't define "religion." Listen.
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Linda Greenhouse, writer and clinical lecturer at Yale Law School, on the Supreme Court's recent rulings on religious liberties. Listen.
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Mark Hertsgaard [@markhertsgaard], executive director of Covering Climate Now, on why the press should remind us of climate change's impact on so-called "natural disasters." Listen.
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Amy Westervelt [@amywestervelt], climate writer and host of the podcast Drilled, on how fossil fuels companies advertised their way out of a public backlash. Listen.
Music from this week's show:
In the Hall of the Mountain King - Kevin MacLeod
Smells like Teen Spirit - The Bad Plus
Equinox - John Coltrane
Sacred Oracle - Bill Frisell
Roary’s Waltz - John Zorn
Cops or Criminals - The Departed Soundtrack
In 2014, Fortune magazine ran a cover story featuring Elizabeth Holmes: a blonde woman wearing a black turtleneck, staring deadpan at the camera, with the headline, “This CEO is out for blood.” A decade earlier, Holmes had founded Theranos, a company promising to “revolutionize” the blood testing industry, initially using a microfluidics approach — moving from deep vein draws to a single drop of blood. It promised easier, cheaper, more accessible lab tests — and a revolutionized healthcare experience.
But it turns out that all those lofty promises were empty. There was no revolutionary new way to test blood. And now, years later, Holmes is being charged with 10 counts of wire fraud and two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Two weeks into the trial, we're re-airing a conversation from 2018 between Brooke and John Carreyrou, host of the narrative podcast Bad Blood: The Final Chapter and the investigative journalist who exposed Holmes's alleged fraud.
Twenty years after the Twin Towers came down, we’re still wrestling over how to make sense of what happened. On this week’s On the Media, how the conspiracies birthed in the aftermath of 9/11 set the stage for the paranoia to come. Plus, how Afghanistan’s thriving new media scene hopes to survive Taliban rule. And, how Ivermectin became politicized.
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Tolo founder Saad Mohseni [@saadmohseni] on the mounting threat to journalism in Afghanistan. Listen.
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NYTimes television critic James Poniewozik [@poniewozik] on the documentary styles used to remember 9/11. Listen.
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OTM's Micah Loewinger [@MicahLoewinger] reports on the legacy of Loose Change. Listen.
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Mother Jones senior editor Kiera Butler [@kieraevebutler] on how Ivermectin became so politicized. Listen.
By way of introduction to the person who will be sitting in for Brooke for a few weeks, we are revisiting our interview about "Spotlight." The 2015 movie depicts the Boston Globe's Pulitzer Prize-winning investigation that uncovered the systemic sexual abuse and widespread cover up in the Catholic church. Brooke spoke with Walter Robinson, who headed the investigation and is played by Michael Keaton in the film, and Sacha Pfeiffer, who was one of the four reporters on the team and is played by Rachel McAdams and who is.....drumroll, going to guest-host OTM! You're in safe hands, listeners.
A debate has been raging among the librarians of the world, and it's all about order. The Dewey Decimal System became our way of managing information long ago, but it may be time to reassess. Plus, how one man’s obsession with ordering the natural world took a very dark turn.
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Lulu Miller [@lmillernpr], author of Why Fish Don't Exist and co-host of WNYC's Radiolab, charts the quest of taxonomist David Starr Jordan to categorize the world. Listen.
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On the Media producer Molly Scwartz [@mollyfication] takes a deep dive into one imposition of human order so commonplace most of us never notice: the library. But the famed Dewey Decimal System is not an unbiased ordering machine. Featuring: Jess deCourcy Hinds [@HindsJess] librarian at the Bard High School, Early College library in Queens, New York, Wayne A. Wiegand a library historian and author of Irrepressible Reformer: A Biography of Melvil Dewey, Caroline Saccucci, the former Dewey Program Manager at the Library of Congress, Emily Drabinski [@edrabinski] interim chief librarian of the Mina Rees Library at CUNY, and Dartmouth librarian Jill Baron [@jillebaron] from the documentary Change the Subject. Listen.
Music from this week's show:
Nocturne For Piano in B flat minor- Frédéric Chopin
Il Casanova di Federico Fellini
Tomorrow Never Knows - Quartetto D’archi dell Orchestra Sinfonica
Songs of War - US Army Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps
The Dewey Decimal System - Jason Munday
Algorithms are everywhere, making crucial decisions at almost every juncture of our lives. But, while we may believe in the objectivity of these mathematical models, they're made from and produce far more bias than we think. Mathematician and former Wall Street quant, Cathy O'Neil wants us to question our unexamined faith in predictive algorithms. Her book, Weapons of Math Destruction, calls out an urgent need to investigate these black box constructions that govern so much of our lives, from going to college and getting a job, to online advertising and criminal sentencing. She and Brooke discuss the science behind predictive algorithms and how they can go terribly wrong.
This segment originally aired on our November 22, 2019 program, The Disagreement is the Point.
“The right to throw a punch ends at the tip of someone’s nose.” It’s the idea that underlies American liberties — but does it still fit in 2021? We look back at our country’s radical — and radically inconsistent — tradition of free speech. Plus, a prophetic philosopher predicts America 75 years after Trump.
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Andrew Marantz [@andrewmarantz], author of Anti-Social: Online Extremists, Techno-Utopians, and the Hijacking of the American Conversation — and our guest host for this hour — explains what he sees as the problem with free speech absolutism. Listen.
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John Powell [@profjohnapowell], law professor at UC Berkeley, P.E. Moskowitz [@_pem_pem], author of The Case Against Free Speech: The First Amendment, Fascism, and the Future of Dissent, and Susan Benesch [@SusanBenesch], Director of the Dangerous Speech Project, on our complicated legal right to speak. Listen.
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Andrew and Brooke discuss the philosopher Richard Rorty, whose work can teach us much about where the present approach to speech might take us, as a nation. Listen.
Music from this week's show:
Jeopardy: Think Music - Malcolm Hamilton
Fallen Leaves - Marcos Ciscar
Time is Late - Marcos Ciscar
Nearly six decades ago, the Supreme Court made a decision in the case New York Times v. Sullivan that would forever alter the way journalists practiced journalism. Brooke spoke with Andrew Cohen, senior editor at The Marshall Project and fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice, about the decision's impact on the First Amendment.
Supreme Court audio courtesy of Oyez®, a multimedia judicial archive at IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law.
Cries to free Britney Spears from her conservatorship this summer have prompted a reevaluation of how the pop star was covered by the press decades ago. This week, On the Media looks at how the maligned women of the 90s and 2000s help us understand our media — and ourselves.
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Joshua Rofé [@joshua_rofe], filmmaker, and Lorena Gallo (FKA Lorena Bobbitt) on the documentary "Lorena." Listen.
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Sarah Marshall [@Remember_Sarah] and Michael Hobbes [@RottenInDenmark], hosts of the You're Wrong About podcast, on how coverage of maligned women in the 1990s fueled lasting and harmful myths. Listen.
Music:
Okami — Nicola CruzRiver Man — Brad Mehldaw Trio
Fellini’s Waltz — Nino Rota
La Vie En Rose — Toots Thielemans**
"Shrill" popped back up in the national lexicon in the coverage of Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential bid, and again, in a 2020 race filled with female candidates. "This spike in usage is hardly a revelation," writes University of Florida professor Tina Tallon, in a piece for The New Yorker. "Women who speak publicly and challenge authority have long been dismissed as 'shrill' or 'grating.'" But these slurs are not just the product of age-old misogynistic stereotypes. Biases against female voices were perniciously exacerbated by the broadcast technology that powers radio and audio recording technology. They're designed to thin higher frequency voices and enrich lower ones. In this interview from 2019, she and Brooke revisit the proliferation of radio in the 1920's and 1930's, when our ears were trained to prefer listening to men talk, and reflect on how societal gender standards have been shaped since.
Last week, the federal government, in a limited way, extended the eviction moratorium in place since the start of the pandemic. It's a temporary solution to a long-looming crisis — a crisis we explored in our series "The Scarlet E: Unmasking America’s Eviction Crisis" back in 2019. In this excerpt from that series, we catalog the long line of thefts and schemes — most of which were perfectly legal at the time — that led to where we are today: a system, purpose-built, that extracts what it can, turning black and brown renters into debtors and evictees.
Matthew Desmond [@just_shelter], founder of The Eviction Lab and our partner in this series, and Marty Wegbreit, director of litigation for the Central Virginia Legal Aid Society, point us toward the legal and historical developments that evolved into the present crisis. And WBEZ’s Natalie Moore [@natalieymoore], whose grandparents moved to Chicago during the Great Migration, shows us around a high-eviction area on Chicago’s South Side.
In September 1966, Gene Roddenberry dispatched the crew of the Starship Enterprise on its maiden voyage through space and time and into the American living room. In a vintage OTM piece, Brooke explores the various television incarnations of the franchise and the infinitely powerful engine behind it all: the fan.
With Delta Variant cases surging, public health officials are pleading with Americans to get vaccinated ASAP. This week, we examine at how some journalists are turning anti-vaxxer deaths into COVID-19 fables. Plus, we hear from the reporter who tracked down Jeffrey Epstein’s victims.
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Rebecca Onion [@rebeccaonion], historian and staff writer at Slate, on her latest article "The Fable of the Sick Anti-Vaxxer," and how stories of remorse may only appeal to the vaccinated. Plus, NBC senior reporter and OTM guest host Brandy Zadrozny [@BrandyZadrozny] traces the roots of anti-vaxx propaganda, from the 1980s to today. Listen.
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Lois Beckett [@loisbeckett], senior reporter at the Guardian, on how a viral anti-trans Instagram video led to a street brawl, and Julia Serano [@JuliaSerano], author of "Whipping Girl, A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity," on where the anti-trans movement gets its playbook. Listen.
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Julie K. Brown [@jkbjournalist], investigative reporter at the Miami Herald, on her new book, "Perversion of Justice: The Jeffrey Epstein Story," detailing what she saw missing in the decade of Epstein coverage before her own investigative series at the Herald which brought his victims' voices on the record for the first time. Listen.
In the wake of the assassination of Haiti’s President Jovenel Moïse on July 7th, international media rushed to cover Haiti’s latest political crisis—painting a familiar picture of a nation in turmoil, Haitians in need, and an international community offering rescue.
In this week's podcast extra, Nathalie Cerin, co-founder and lead editor of the online Haitian media project Woy Magazine, argues that news consumers just tuning in after the assassination after may miss the bigger picture. Haiti is a country with strong grassroots, pro-democracy movements. But it simultaneously remains plagued by a past (and present) of United States and United Nations' invasion, occupation, and election meddling.
To understand the whole story, guest host Brandy Zadrozny talks to Gina Athena Ulysse, Professor of Feminist Studies at UC Santa Cruz and author of Why Haiti Needs New Narratives, about how the international media too often spreads dehumanizing narratives of perpetual chaos — setting the stage for intervention — and then looks away.
This week, we consider whether information should ever be off-limits to journalists. It’s a thorny ethical question raised by FBI informants, hacked sources and shockingly intimate personal data. Plus, why a conservative Catholic publication’s outing of a gay priest has garnered criticism from all sides.
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Ken Bensinger [@kenbensinger], investigative reporter for Buzzfeed News, on what new evidence surrounding the plot to kidnap Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer says about the how the government defines, and attacks, domestic terrorism. Listen.
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OTM reporter Micah Loewinger [@MicahLoewinger] and guest host Brandy Zadrozny [@BrandyZadrozny] examine whether or not it's possible to ethically use information from data breaches. Featuring: Kevin Collier [@kevincollier], cybersecurity and privacy reporter for NBC News, Kim Zetter [@KimZetter], a journalist covering cybersecurity and the author of Countdown to Zero Day: Stuxnet and the Launch of the World's First Digital Weapon, and Lorax Horne [@bbhorne], writer with Distributed Denial of Secrets. Listen.
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Sara Morrison [@SaraMorrison], data and privacy reporter at Recode at Vox, discusses the dangers information for sale after a Catholic priest was outed by a newsletter that obtained his location data from an app. Listen.
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Mike O’Loughlin [@MikeOLoughlin], national correspondent at Catholic media organization America, reflects on how new methods are stoking old fights in the Catholic Church. Listen.
Music:
Invitation To A Suicide by John Zorn
Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien by François Plaf, Blue Radio Orchestra
How Strange by Nicola Cruz
Natural Light by Bill Frisell
Slow Pulse Conga by William Pasley
Wallpaper by Woo
A look at how journalism selectively judges objectivity and bias… Which produces better reporting: proximity to the community you cover? Or distance? Who gets to decide?
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Joel Simon [@Joelcpj], outgoing executive director of the The Committee to Protect Journalists, on why it's a dangerous time to be a journalist. Listen.
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Bruce Shapiro [@dartcenter], executive director of the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma at Columbia Journalism School, on why trauma shouldn't disqualify reporters from reporting on topics into which they have insight. Listen.
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Ernest Owens [@mrernestowens], Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists president, about the double-standards facing journalists who have identities or lived experiences that are different from editors who still determine what constitutes "objectivity." Listen.
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Steve Friess [@stevefriess], editor at Hour Detroit and contributor for Newsweek, looks back at how he covered gay marriage when his own marriage hung in the balance. Listen.
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Lewis Raven Wallace [@lewispants], author of The View from Somewhere, on why what we call "neutrality" so often reflects the ideological assumptions of the status quo. Listen.
Music from this week's show:
Frail As a Breeze — Erik Friedlander Night Thoughts — John Zorn
Fallen Leaves — Marcos Ciscar
Middlesex Times — Michael Andrews
Bubble Wrap — Thomas Newman
Transparence — Charlie Haden & Gonzalo Rubalcaba
Carmen Fantasy — Anderson + Row
Tribute to America — The O’Neill Brothers
In 2015, a tragedy gripped Romanian consciousness when a fire at a popular club in the country's capital killed 27 people, injured nearly 200 more, and sparked national protests about corruption. In the weeks following the fire, 37 of those injured died in hospitals — a statistic that authorities and doctors claimed was simply a result of their injuries.
But the victims' families and a small team of reporters at the Romanian daily paper the Sports Gazette had their doubts — doubts that were confirmed when the Gazette learned that a national supplier of medical disinfectants was diluting their products, nearly ten times over, to reap profits and pad the pockets of its CEO. The burn victims of the fire hadn't died from injuries; they died from preventable bacterial infections, a consequence of malpractice that stemmed from doctors, hospital managers and the highest officials in government.
In 2019, filmmaker Alexander Nanau wrote, produced and directed the film Collective, chronicling this saga. Last year, the film was released in the US, and in early 2021 it received two Academy Award nominations. In this podcast extra, recorded in March, Nanau speaks with Brooke about why he decided to follow the story, how the pieces fell into place, and how this single story changed Romania's relationship with the press — possibly for good.
Watch Collective here.
As numbers of the vaccinated rise, theaters around the country are once again opening. In celebration, this week’s show is all about Shakespeare, including how the quintessentially English Bard became an American icon, and what a production in Kabul, Afghanistan meant to the community that produced it.
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James Shapiro, Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University, explains how Shakespeare was absorbed into American culture and identity. Listen.
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Qais Akbar Omar, author of A Fort of Nine Towers, on how a production of Shakespeare resonated in Kabul, Afghanistan. Listen.
Music:
The Dancing Master: Maiden Lane (John Playford) - The Broadside Band & Jeremy Barlow
John’s Book of Alleged Dances (John Adams) - Kronos Quartet
Fife Feature: Lowland’s Away (Roy Watrous) - Gregory S. Balvanz & The US Army Fife and Drum Corps
Ballad No. 2 in F, Op. 38 (Chopin) - Ivan Moravec
Little Rose is Gone/Billy in the Lowground - Jim TaylorCollection
Frail As a Breeze - Erik Friedlander
The De Lesseps' Dance - Shakespeare in Love Soundtrack
Kiss Me Kate Overture - Kiss Me Kate Soundtrack
Brush Up Your Shakespeare - Kiss Me Kate Soundtrack
Love & the Rehearsal - Shakespeare in Love Soundtrack
Harpsichord - Four Tet
Timber Town - Derek and Brandon Fiechter**
Hilma af Klint was a Swedish painter born in 1862 who painted big, bold canvases suffused with rich, strange colors denoting masculine and feminine, the gush of life and the serenity of cosmic order. She found inspiration in unorthodox places, including the spirit realm. And she had a vision: that her work would one day be displayed in a spiral temple.
For decades after her death, her work was hidden away — at first by her request, and then because it couldn't find an audience. Now that it's on display in a building like the one she imagined, her work is a sensation that has invited a radical re-imagining of the history of abstract art. In 2019, Brooke walked through the exhibit with senior curator Tracey Bashkoff, who brought af Klint's work to the Guggenheim after discovering it in a catalogue.
Next, Brooke explores Spiritualism — a movement that shaped af Klint's life and work. Broadly defined as a religious movement based on the idea that the living can communicate with spirits dwelling in the afterlife — that we can talk to the dead — Spiritualism grew quickly. After all, the telegraph was allowing people to communicate across time and space; why not spiritual realms?
At the time, the ideal spirit medium was thought to be an adolescent girl, unencumbered by education and thoughts of her own. But a curious thing happened as women started speaking as spirit mediums: they became accustomed to speaking in public, and others became accustomed to hearing them. And on top of that, the spirits had some radically progressive ideas about individual self-sovereignty, abolition and women's rights. Brooke speaks with Ann Braude, director of the Women's Studies in Religion Program at Harvard Divinity School and author of Radical Spirits: Spiritualism and Women's Rights in Nineteenth-Century America, about this curious moment in American history, and how it helped bring women — and reformist ideas — into the public sphere.
Nearly a quarter of American adults reported drinking more at home to cope with their pandemic blues. This week, we take a deep dive into the ancient history of booze, how Americans normalized drinking alone, and how the media shaped the shifting reputation of red wine. Plus, can scientists cook up a synthetic alcohol with all its perks, and none of its dangers?
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Kate Julian [@katejulian], senior editor at the Atlantic, on America's long and fraught history with solitary drinking. Listen.
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Iain Gately, author of Drink: A Cultural History of Alcohol, on the ancient origins of our core beliefs about booze. Listen.
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Robert Taylor, managing editor at Wine Spectator Video, on red wine's constantly changing reputation as a healthy substance. Listen.
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David Nutt [@ProfDavidNutt], psychologist at Imperial College London, on his alcohol substitute, once called "alcosynth," now rebranded as "alcarelle." Listen.
Music:
When I Get Low I Get High - Ella Fitzgerald
Tomorrow Never Knows - Quartetto D/Archi Dell'Orchestra Sinfonica Di Milano
Il Casanova Di Federico Fellini - Solisti E Orchestre Del Cinema Italiano
Option with Variations - Kronos Quartet/composer Rhiannon Giddens
There are many Americas. Nowadays they barely speak to each other. But during the most perilous years of the last century, one young composer went in search of a sound that melded many of the nation's strains into something singular and new. He was a man of the left, though of no political party: gay, but neither closeted nor out; Jewish, but agnostic, unless you count music as a religion. This independence day (or near enough!), we revisit Sara Fishko's 2017 piece on the story of Aaron Copland.
This week marks six months since January 6th, the day a pro-Trump mob stormed the US Capitol. Over 500 rioters have since been arrested, but the legal consequences of what they did are only just beginning to roll in. In this hour, we revisit reporting by OTM's Micah Loewinger surrounding the organizing tactics, media narratives, and evolution of far-right militias.
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OTM reporter Micah Loewinger [@MicahLoewinger] on the efforts to shape the media narrative among gun rights activists at Virginia's Lobby Day. Listen.
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OTM reporter Micah Loewinger [@MicahLoewinger] and Militia Watch founder Hampton Stall [@HamptonStall] investigate how a walkie-talkie app called Zello is enabling armed white supremacist groups to gather and recruit. Featuring: Joan Donovan [@BostonJoan] Research Director of the Shorenstein Center at Harvard University, and Megan Squire [@MeganSquire0] Professor of Computer Science at Elon University. Listen.
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OTM reporter Micah Loewinger [@MicahLoewinger] on Zello's role in the January 6th insurrection, and what the app is finally doing about its militia members. Featuring: Marcy Wheeler [@emptywheel] national security reporter for Emptywheel, and Cynthia Miller-Idriss [@milleridriss] Director of Polarization and Extremism Research and Innovation Lab at American University. Listen.
Music:
Tick Of The Clock by Chromatics
Cyclic Bit by Raymond Scott
Genocide by Link Wray
Procession Of The Grand Moghul by Korla Pandit
Gormenghast by John Zorn
It's been noted that Trump’s Big Lie and the violence it produced is reminiscent of the Lost Cause of the Confederacy — a potent narrative of grievance after the Civil War recasting the South’s stand as heroic and patriotic. Undergirded by racism, the Lost Cause apologia would stymie Reconstruction, justify decades of lynching and throughout the South, and prove as impossible to uproot as Kudzu.
When it comes to art identified with the Lost Cause of the Confederacy, “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” by The Band may be pop culture’s most celebrated, and misunderstood, contribution. Despite its charged subject matter, the song is rock-and-roll canon, listed as one of the best of all time by Time Magazine and Rolling Stone.
On paper, its lyrics read as if lifted from the Lost Cause playbook: a nostalgic retelling of the end of the Civil War history seen through the eyes of a downtrodden Southern farmer, laden with grief but not a trace of white supremacy. But the song is not what it seems, or what it seemed when it was first loosed upon the world. The Band’s lead guitarist Robbie Robertson, a Canadian, hadn’t logged much time in the South when he penned “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” in 1969. But in the ensuing decades, some have claimed it as a Neo-Confederate anthem. This uncomfortable fact led Early James, a songwriter from Alabama, to alter the lyrics when he performed the song at an annual The Band tribute concert last summer. Inspired by last summer's racial reckoning, James sang about toppling Confederate monuments.
According to Jack Hamilton, Slate pop critic and author of Just Around Midnight: Rock and Roll and the Racial Imagination, the meaning behind the song is both more and less complex than many fans know.
June 28th marks the anniversary of a mass shooting that took place inside a newsroom in Annapolis, Maryland, killing five journalists. On this week's On the Media, an intimate portrait of the staff of the Capital Gazette in the immediate aftermath of the death of their colleagues — and then over the next several years as they contend with a corporate takeover, buyouts, and the loss of their newsroom. Reported by Chris Benderev of NPR's Embedded.
Part 1: The Attack. Listen.
Part 2: The Aftermath. Listen.
Part 3: The Layoffs. Listen.
Music in this week's show:
Time Is Late — Marcos Ciscar feat. Joakim Johansson
We Insist — Zoë Keating**
In the 1800s, New Bedford, Massachusetts was the world’s “center of whaling.” More than half of the world’s whaling ships in the 1840s came from New Bedford. The small city was so emblematic of a New England whaling town that it served as the setting for Herman Melville’s novel Moby Dick. According to the New York Times, it was then the richest city per capita on the continent. Now, more than a fifth of its approximately 95,000 citizens live in poverty.
But this exceptional historic town is representative of a phenomenon happening in small towns across the United States. It’s local daily newspaper, The Standard-Times, has been bought by Gannett, a hedge fund-backed news conglomerate and stripped down to barebones. It’s become what’s known as a “ghost newspaper," called such for its trimmed down staff and scant original reporting. The mayor of New Bedford was quoted in the New York Times saying: “It used to be that I couldn’t sneeze without having to explain myself. Now, I have to beg people to show up at my press conferences. Please, ask me questions!”
A year and a half ago, a small group of concerned community members gathered to try to address this dearth of local journalism. The result? A new, non-profit news outlet called The New Bedford Light. Brooke talks to Barbara Roessner, the founding editor of The New Bedford Light, about the challenges facing the fledgling outlet and the benefits that local journalism brings to the civic health of a community.
New reports show that the Trump Department of Justice spied on reporters. But that’s just a small part of a much longer story, going back decades. This week, we examine when and why the government surveils journalists. And, following their first meeting this week, is there a headline beyond “Putin and Biden talked to each other?” Plus, on the 50th anniversary of the Pentagon Papers, how the story’s biggest lessons were lost to time.
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Alexey Kovalev [@Alexey__Kovalev], investigative editor at Meduza, on what Russian and American media got right and wrong about Putin and Biden's first meeting. Listen.
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Matt Apuzzo [@mattapuzzo], New York Times reporter, on how the government seizes journalists’ records and chills speech under guise of protecting national security. Listen.
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Kurt Andersen [@KBAndersen], host of Nixon At War, saysWatergate might have been Nixon's downfall, but the Vietnam War was his real undoing. Listen.
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The late Les Gelb, the man who supervised the team that compiled the Pentagon Papers, explains how the media misinterpreted the documents. Listen.
Music:
Tymperturbably Blue by Duke Ellington
Fergus River Roundelay by Gerry O’Beirne
Whispers of a Heavenly Death by John Zorn
Trance Dance by John Zorn
Middlesex Times by Michael Andrews
Tribute to America (Medley) by The O’Neill Brothers Group
Over the last couple of weeks we’ve taken on some of the battles in the ongoing culture war. The granddaddy of them all is cancel culture. Michael Hobbes, co-host of the podcast You’re Wrong About, told us that there isn’t a situation that has been labeled a cancellation that couldn’t benefit from a more accurate word to describe what had happened. So and so was fired...such and such was met with disagreement on twitter. Cancel need not apply.
He also explained on his own podcast with Sarah Marshall that there were a few pivotal events along the way that led to the term cancel culture becoming the moral panic that it is today. One of them was the 2015 release of Jon Ronson’s book “So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed.” A series of case studies of people who were canceled before we started using that word.
Trump may be out of office, but the GOP's campaign to limit voting rights, free speech, and reproductive rights is still in full-swing. On this week’s On the Media, where do you focus your attention when there are little fires everywhere? Plus, a look at a chilling new look for America: the "authoritarian mullet" — culture war in the front, the destruction of democracy in the back. And, how critical race theory became a right-wing bogeyman.
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Jay Rosen [@jayrosen_nyu], professor of journalism at New York University and media critic for PressThink, on why journalists should still be in "emergency mode." Listen.
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Jake Grumbach [@JakeMGrumbach], assistant professor of political science at the University of Washington, on how Republican state lawmakers reduce "democratic performance" when they take power. Listen.
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Ryan P. Delaney [@rpatrickdelaney], education reporter for St. Louis Public Radio, on a Missouri school district's debate over Critical Race Theory, and Adam Harris [@AdamHSays], staff writer at The Atlantic, on how conservatives constructed the critical race theory boogeyman. Listen.
Music:
Little Motel - Modest Mouse
Auld Lang Syne - Salsa Celtica
L’Illusionista - Nino Rota
Paperback Writer - Quartetto d'Archi Dell'orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Guiseppe Verdi
Milestones - Bill Evans Trio
Going Home - Hank Jones & Charlie Haden (post at 2:24 or 3:07)
Quizás, Quizás, Quizás - Ramón Solé (back time this)
In the Bath - Randy Newman
Record numbers of journalists formed unions over the last few years, surpassing data even from the surges of labor organizing in the 1930s. And the pandemic didn't slow the trend. Just this week journalists at the Atlantic announced that they were forming a union affiliated with the News Guild.
But even with all the recent coverage, it's unlikely that you've heard of the very first person to lead a journalism unionization effort. Marvel Cooke was a crusading Black journalist who organized one of the first chapters of the Newspaper Guild...and she reported on labor and race until she was pushed out of journalism by redbaiting.
Lewis Raven Wallace is the creator of The View from Somewhere, a podcast about journalism with a purpose, and author of the book The View from Somewhere: Undoing the Myth of Journalistic Objectivity.
For years he’s been researching journalists in U.S. history whose stories haven’t been thoroughly told — because they were marginalized by a structure that didn’t see them as “real” “objective” reporters. And that’s what happened to Marvel Cooke...
After a young Associated Press journalist lost her job last month following online attacks, On the Media considers how bad faith campaigns against the media have become an effective weapon for the far right. Plus, should we cancel the word “cancel”? One journalist argues, yes, and one academic says, no. Plus, the origins of "cancelled" in Black culture.
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OTM reporter Micah Loewinger [@MicahLoewinger] on the A.P.'s firing of Emily Wilder, and how newsrooms can learn to respond to right-wing smears without firing valued journalists. Listen.
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Michael Hobbes [@RottenInDenmark], co-host of You're Wrong About, on the anecdotes that fuel "political correctness" and "cancel culture" panics. Listen.
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Erec Smith [@Rhetors_of_York], associate professor of rhetoric and composition at the York College of Pennsylvania, on his experience being "cancelled" within an academic context. Listen.
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Clyde McGrady [@CAMcGrady], features writer for The Washington Post, on the derivation and misappropriation of the word "cancelled." Listen.
Music from this week's show:
Main Title, Ragtime - Randy Newman
What’s that Sound? - Thomas Newman
Middlesex Times - Michael Andrews
Bubble Wrap - Thomas Newman
Blues: La Dolce Vita dei Nobili - Nino Rota
Bubble Wrap - Thomas Newman
You Sexy Thing - Hot Chocolate
On May 31, 1921, Tulsa, Oklahoma’s Greenwood District was a thriving Black residential and business community — a city within a city. By June 1, a white mob, with the support of law enforcement, had reduced it to ashes. And yet the truth about the attack remained a secret to many for nearly a century.
Chief Egunwale Amusan grew up in Tulsa — his grandfather survived the attack — and he’s dedicated his life to sharing the hidden history of what many called “Black Wall Street.” But Dr. Tiffany Crutcher, also a descendant of a survivor, didn’t learn about her family history or the massacre until she was an adult. Together, they’re trying to correct the historical record. As Greenwood struggles with the effects of white supremacy 100 years later, people there are asking: in this pivotal moment in American history, is it possible to break the cycle of white impunity and Black oppression? Our WNYC colleague KalaLea tells the story.
This podcast contains descriptions of graphic violence and racially offensive language. This is the first episode of Blindspot: Tulsa Burning, a new series from WNYC Studios and The HISTORY Channel.
COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. are falling and the number of the vaccinated continue to rise, but the pandemic’s harm to our mental health is still beyond measure. This week, On the Media explores how society is describing its pandemic state of mind. Plus, a look at the high-stakes fight to drag science out from behind paywalls.
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Roxanne Khamsi [@rkhamsi] speaks with Science Magazine staff writer Meredith Wadman [@meredithwadman] on the Global Initiative On Sharing All Influenza Data, known as GISAID. Listen.
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Roxanne Khamsi [@rkhamsi] speaks with Bloomberg's Justin Fox [@foxjust] and Josh Sommer [@sommerjo] about the movement to make science journals open access. Listen.
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Roxanne Khamsi [@rkhamsi] speaks with The Cut's Molly Fischer [@mollyhfischer] about the rise of therapy apps. Listen.
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OTM producer Eloise Blondiau [@eloiseblondiau]with Jerry Useem, Adam Grant [@AdamMGrant], Dr. Laurence Kirmayer, Anne Harrington and Dr. Monnica Williams [@DrMonnica] on naming and soothing our pandemic mental health woes. Listen.
Music from this week's show:
John Zorn — Prelude 4: Diatesseron
Jack Body/Kronos Quartet — Long-Ge
Unknown — Solo Cello Suite No. 1
John Zorn — Night Thoughts
Marcos Ciscar — Time Is Late
Kronos Quartet — Misteriosos
Franck Pourcel — Story Weather
We live in a time of sensory overload and overwhelm. A global pandemic, an ongoing climate catastrophe, and online discourse run amok. And a sense that we are powerless to do anything about any of it. In response, artist and writer Jenny Odell has a curious prescription: do nothing. In her 2019 book How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy, Odell advocates for occupying a space of "critical refusal": rejecting the terms of engagement as they're handed down to us and removing ourselves from the clamor and undue influence of public opinion. With lessons from ecology, art, history and beyond, Odell tells Brooke about her own journey toward more context and contemplation, and offers listeners an alternative way to think and be in relation to an overstimulating world.
This segment is from our July 12th, 2019 program, Uncomfortably Numb.
A year and a half into the pandemic, we still don’t know how it began. This week, a look at how investigating COVID-19’s origins became a political and scientific minefield. Plus, how a mistake of microns caused so much confusion about how COVID spreads. And, making sense of the "metaverse."
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Alina Chan [@Ayjchan], postdoctoral researcher at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, on the lack of investigation into COVID's origins. Listen.
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Megan Molteni [@MeganMolteni], science writer at Stat News, on the 60-year-old mix-up that helped COVID-10 kill. Listen.
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Gene Park [@GenePark], gaming reporter for The Washington Post, on what the "metaverse" really means. Listen.
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Margaret Atwood [@MargaretAtwood], novelist, on submitting a manuscript to a library of the future. Listen.
Music from this week's show:
Sacred Oracle - John Zorn
Eye Surgery - Thomas Newman
The Old House - Marcos Ciscar
Tomorrow Never Knows - Quartetto d’ Archi Dell'orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi
72 Degrees and Sunny - Thomas Newman
Viderunt Omnes - Kronos Quartet
Once in a Lifetime - Talking Heads
The old US Steel building in Pittsburgh, PA is a black monolith, symbol and fortress of industrial power, soaring above the confluence of three mighty rivers. But its vista has changed. Gone is the golden, sulfurous haze. Gone are the belching smokestacks, blazing furnaces and slag-lined river valleys snaking along Appalachian foothills. The industry that sustained a region, girded the world’s infrastructure and underwrote a now-vanished way of life has long since crossed oceans. Steel City is now Healthcare City, representing almost 1 in 4 jobs in the region. Some 92,000 of them work for just one employer, the sprawling, omnivorous University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, whose logo now adorns the black-skyscraper sentinel of the Three Rivers.
But this is not just a case of a clean economy displacing a filthy one. To Gabriel Winant, author of The Next Shift: The Fall of Industry and the Rise of Health Care in Rust Belt America, the story of economic transformation in the Rust Belt is the story of disparity — of wealth, income and political power — that didn't vanish when the smokestacks came down.
In this special hour, Winant tells Bob the real story behind the economic transformation that took place in the rust belt, and what it tells us about our economy, and our future, more broadly.
Music from this week's show:
Flugufrelsarinn — Kronos Quartet
Steel Mill Blues — Joe Glazer
Liquid Spear Waltz — Michael Andrews
Sacred Oracle — John Zorn (feat. Bill Frisell, Carol Emanuel & Kenny Wollesen)
Human Nature — Vijay Iyer
Pittsburgh—Joe Glazer
Last Friday, the Department of Labor released its monthly jobs report, and the numbers were...disappointing. Expectations had rested around adding approximately a million jobs, and April yielded a meager 266,000. In a rare moment of genuine surprise in Washington, some economists said they didn’t know the exact cause of the drop. But for weeks prior to the report, the press had offered stories across the country with a simple explanation: there are jobs, but no one wants them. The great labor shortage. And as anecdotes of fast food chains begging for workers and local restaurants limiting hours poured in, so did theories of an alleged culprit keeping potential employees away: covid-era unemployment benefits were depressing America’s work ethic. Bob spoke with Heidi Shierholz, director of policy at the Economic Policy Institute, and former chief economist for the Department of Labor during the Obama administration, to find out what the numbers can really tell us, and what they can't.
There’s a long history of campaigns to “save the children,” whether they need saving or not. This week, On the Media looks at the latest: an effort to block access to medical care for trans kids. Plus, how years of Hollywood representation — from The Crying Game to Transparent — have shaped the public’s ideas about trans people.
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Katelyn Burns [@transscribe], freelance journalist and co-host of the "Cancel Me, Daddy!" podcast, on the the politics and propaganda behind the recent wave of anti-trans legislation, and Jack Turban [@jack_turban], fellow in child and adolescent psychiatry at Stanford University School of Medicine, on what the science tells us about gender affirming care in adolescence. Listen.
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Jules Gill-Petersen [@gp_jls], professor of english and gender, sexuality, and women's studies at the University of Pittsburgh and author of Histories of the Transgender Child, on the long history of trans children.Listen.
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Imara Jones [@imarajones], creator of TransLash media and host of the TransLash podcast, on how trans visibility paves the way toward trans liberation. Listen.
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Sam Feder [@SamFederFilm], director of the Netflix documentary “Disclosure," on how Hollywood representations of trans lives have shaped the public understanding of who trans people are. Listen.
Music:
Prelude 7: Sign and Sigil - John Zorn
Totem Ancestor - John Cage
Blackbird - Brad Mehldau
Harpsichord - Four Tet
Peace Piece - Bill Evans - Kronos Quartet
Black Is the Color / Theme from "Spartacus" - Fred Hersch
After the Fact - John Scofield
Last Friday, remains of at least one victim of the infamous 1985 MOVE bombing were turned over to a Philadelphia funeral home, capping more than a week of confusion and re-opened wounds. MOVE members claim the remains were those of 14-year-old Tree Africa and 12-year-old Delisha Africa, among the five children and six adults killed 36 years ago this month after an anti-government, pro-environment, Black liberation group called MOVE defied arrest warrants and barricaded themselves in a West Philadelphia rowhouse. On May 13, 1985, C-4 explosives dropped on that home by Philadelphia police led to a fire that destroyed 61 homes in a predominantly Black neighborhood. Though consciousness of the bombing seems to have grown in recent years, when native Philadelphian and NPR correspondent Gene Demby reported on the 30th anniversary of the bombing back in 2015, he got a reaction he wasn't expecting: much of his audience hadn't heard of it before.
This week we take a close look at how the words we choose can unknowingly condemn people caught up in the criminal justice system. Plus, the costs and complications of working as a journalist while incarcerated. And, the overlooked, self-trained women journalists of the Vietnam War.
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Brooke tracks the evolution of language in the early days of Biden's presidency. Listen.
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Akiba Solomon [@akibasolomon], senior editor at The Marshall Project, explains how terms like "inmate" and "offender" can distract, dehumanize, and mislead, and why "people-first" language is more appropriate for journalists. Listen.
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John J. Lennon [@johnjlennon1], contributing writer at The Marshall Project and contributing editor Esquire, tells us what it's like to read and report the news while inside prison. Listen.
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Elizabeth Becker, author of You Don't Belong Here, on how women journalists covered the Vietnam War in groundbreaking ways, and yet were forgotten by history. Listen.
Music from this week's show:
Tilliboyo (“Sunset”) — Kronos Quartet
Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered — Brad Mehldau
The Butterfly — The Bothy Band
Clonycavan Man — Gerry O’Beirne
John’s Book Of Alleged Dances — Kronos Quartet
Carmen Fantasy — Anderson & Row
International Workers' Day is celebrated with rallies and protests all over the world on May 1, but it's not a big deal in the United States. Back in 2018 , Brooke spoke with Donna Haverty-Stacke of Hunter College, CUNY about the American origin of May Day — and about how it has come to be forgotten. The first national turnout for worker's rights in the U.S. was on May 1, 1886; contrary to what you may have heard elsewhere, it wasn't the same thing as the Haymarket Affair. Haverty-Stacke is also author of America’s Forgotten Holiday: May Day and Nationalism, 1867–1960, and she explains that the fight over May 1, or May Day, is also about the fight for American identity and what it means to be radical and patriotic at the same time.
The OTM crew (in 2018) sings "Into The Streets May First," a never-before-professionally-recorded 1935 Aaron Copland anthem:
A jury has found Derek Chauvin guilty in the case that sparked a historic wave of protests last summer. This week we examine how fears over those protests are being channeled into restrictive new legislation across the country. And, what it’s like to drive the Mars rover from your childhood bedroom. Plus, a former child actor grapples with how his character defined him.
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Tami Abdollah [@latams], national correspondent for USA Today, on how Republican-controlled legislatures across the country have been introducing bills to criminalize protests — or as they put it, to stop the rioting. Listen.
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Brendan Chamberlain-Simon, a robotics technologist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, explains what it's like to live on Mars Time, and the questions that led him to space. Avi Loeb, Frank B. Baird, Jr., Professor of Science at Harvard University, makes a compelling case for intelligent life beyond Earth. Listen.
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OTM Reporter Micah Loewinger [@micahloewinger] presents the case of Spencer Fox, the former child actor who played Dash in the first Incredibles film, but not the second. Listen.
Music from this week's show:
Equinox - John Coltrane
Night Thoughts - John Zorn
72 Degrees and Sunny - Thomas Newman
Horizon 12.2 - Thomas Newman
Eye Surgery - Thomas Newman
The Glory Days - Michael Giacchino
Evidence-based medicine requires just that: evidence. Access to the collective pool of knowledge produced by clinical trials is what allows researchers to safely and effectively design future studies. It's what allows doctors to make the most informed decisions for their patients.
Since 2007, researchers have been required by law to publish the findings of any clinical trial with human subjects within a year of the trial's conclusion. Over a decade later, even the country's most well-renown research institutions sport poor reporting records. This week, Bob spoke with Charles Piller, an investigative journalist at Science Magazine who's been documenting this dismal state of affairs since 2015. He recently published an op-ed in the New York Times urging President Biden to make good on his 2016 "promise" to start withholding funds to force compliance.
From the Johnson & Johnson pause to talk of “break-through cases” among the already-vaccinated, we’re facing an onslaught of dispiriting and confusing vaccine news. On this week’s On The Media, a guide to separating the facts from the noise. Plus, why pro-labor journalists got the story of an Amazon warehouse union drive so wrong. And, how media coverage of labor movements has morphed over the past century.
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Nsikan Akpan [@MoNscience], health and science editor at WNYC, and Kai Kupferschmidt [@kakape], contributing correspondent at Science Magazine, on how best to consume the non-stop vaccine news. Listen.
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Jane McAlevey [@rsgexp], labor organizer and senior policy fellow at the University of California at Berkeley’s Labor Center, on how the mood in Bessemer, Alabama turned from optimism to defeat. Listen.
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Chris Martin [@chrismartin100], professor of digital journalism at the University of Northern Iowa, on the historical devolution of the labor beat. Listen.
Music from this week's show:
Fallen Leaves - Marcos Ciscar
Let’s Face The Music & Dance - Harry Roy & His Orchestra
The past year most of us were awash in a news cycle driven by the pandemic. Daily we grappled with infection data, vaccine updates, social restrictions, and public officials trying to balance fatigue, facts, and safety. But there are some in the country cut off from the deluge, offered instead, merely a trickle.
Obviously the American prison system wasn’t built with a pandemic in mind — with inadequate spacing for quarantine, cleaning supplies, and access to healthcare, but the pandemic has focused a brighter light on decades-old issues surrounding incarceration. Including access to information about news and policies that could be matters of life and death. John J. Lennon has been especially concerned, he’s written about prison life under Covid in the New York Times Magazine and he’s contributing writer for the Marshall Project, contributing editor at Esquire, and an adviser to the Prison Journalism Project. He’s also serving an aggregate sentence of 28 years to life at Sullivan Correctional Facility in New York. That accounts for the quality of the phone line when he spoke to Brooke this week.
With Congress set to consider bills next week that could set the future of Puerto Rican self-determination, we consider how a 70-year-old promise to decolonize the island keeps getting broken. Plus, how Puerto Ricans notched a hugely symbolic victory over the U.S. — during the 2004 Olympics.
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Yarimar Bonilla [@yarimarbonilla], political anthropologist at Hunter College, examines the afterlife of Puerto Rico's political experiment. Listen.
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Julio Ricardo Varela [@julito77], co-host of In the Thick and editorial director at Futuro Media, on what the showdown between the Puerto Rican and U.S. Olympic basketball teams in 2004 meant to him then and now. Listen.
Music:
We Insist by Zoe Keating
YUMAVISION by ÌFÉ
Malphino by Ototoa
La Brega is a podcast series hosted by OTM producer/reporter Alana Casanova-Burgess. The series uses narrative storytelling and investigative journalism to reflect and reveal how la brega has defined so many aspects of life in Puerto Rico, and is available in English and Spanish.
For over four years, Reveal, an award-winning program from the Center for Investigative Reporting, was embroiled in a multimillion-dollar libel suit. Planet Aid, a non-profit known for clothing collection, had sued the podcast over an intensive two-year investigation that "tied the charity to an alleged cult and raised significant questions about whether the funds from the U.S. and other governments actually were reaching the people they were intended to help." Two weeks ago, a judge in California dismissed the case. Here's the judge's full ruling.
Despite being a fairly straightforward SLAPP case—the case required dozens of reporter hours that took away from crucial reporting work—the newsroom only managed to stay afloat long enough to fight the suit because of generous pro-bono support. This week, Bob spoke to Victoria Baranetsky, general counsel at Reveal, about what small newsrooms stand to lose in court battles with wealthy public figures and organizations.
EDITOR'S NOTE: After publication, we were contacted by a PR firm representing Planet Aid. They took issue with our characterization of Reveal’s reporting on “abuse of US Foreign Aid by the charity and its subcontractors.” Although the Reveal series reported on Planet Aid’s use of grant money, following a two-year investigation, and the judge dismissed Planet Aid’s lawsuit with prejudice under California’s anti-SLAPP statute, we acknowledge, at the request of Planet Aid, that the judge also held in the recent ruling (full decision available above) that Planet Aid had demonstrated that a number of specific factual assertions made by the Center of Investigative Reporting presented triable issues of fact. While Planet Aid failed to respond to Reveal's repeated requests for comment prior to publication, Planet Aid reached out to the Center of Investigative Reporting prior to filing its lawsuit asking for a retraction and correction.
La Brega is a seven-part podcast series hosted by OTM producer/reporter Alana Casanova-Burgess. The series uses narrative storytelling and investigative journalism to reflect and reveal how la brega has defined so many aspects of life in Puerto Rico, and is available in English and Spanish. This is episode seven.
Puerto Rico’s relationship with the United States has long been a subject of intense debate. In 1952, Puerto Rico adopted a new status that was meant to decolonize the island. In English, we call it a “Commonwealth.” In Spanish, it’s called “Estado Libre Asociado”, or ELA. Puerto Ricans were promised for decades that this unique status meant they had a special kind of sovereignty while maintaining ties to the US. Now, a series of recent crises on the island have led many to question that promise, and to use the word “colony” more and more. In this episode, political anthropologist and El Nuevo Día columnist Yarimar Bonilla looks for those who still believe in the ELA, and asks what happens when a political project dies.
You can get more resources for related issues at the Puerto Rico Syllabus website.
The trial of the former police officer charged in the death of George Floyd has been broadcasting live all this week. This week, we examine what effect the cameras in the court can have on the verdict and on us, watching from home. Plus, how striving for the appearance of journalistic “objectivity” can make newsrooms less diverse, and how trauma informs journalism.
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Steven Zeitchik [@ZeitchikWaPo], entertainment business reporter at the Washington Post, explains how Court TV became the world’s window into the Derek Chauvin trial. Listen.
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Ishena Robinson [@ishenarobinson], staff writer at The Root, about the mounting toll of watching Black people lose their lives on camera. Listen.
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Bruce Shapiro [@dartcenter], executive director of the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma at Columbia Journalism School, on why trauma shouldn't disqualify reporters from reporting on topics into which they have insight. Listen.
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Ernest Owens [@mrernestowens], Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists president, about the double-standards facing journalists who have identities or lived experiences that are different from editors who still determine what constitutes "objectivity." Listen.
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Steve Friess [@stevefriess], editor at Hour Detroit and contributor for Newsweek, looks back at how he covered gay marriage when his own marriage hung in the balance. Listen.
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Lewis Raven Wallace [@lewispants], author of The View from Somewhere, on why what we call "neutrality" so often reflects the ideological assumptions of the status quo. Listen.
Music from this week's show:
Frail As a Breeze — Erik FriedlanderThe Artifact and the Living — Michael Andrews
Night Thoughts — John Zorn
Fallen Leaves — Marcos Ciscar
Middlesex Times — Michael Andrews
Bubble Wrap — Thomas Newman
Carmen Fantasy — Anderson + Row
Tribute to America — The O’Neill Brothers
Before the Vietnam War there was a law that banned women from reporting on the frontlines of any war for the U.S. When President Johnson refused to officially declare a state of war in Vietnam, an opening appeared: no war, no ban. A handful of pioneering women bought one-way tickets into the battlefield. They had no editors, no health insurance and little or no formal training. This week, Brooke spoke about this time to reporter Elizabeth Becker, formerly a Washington Post war correspondent in Cambodia, NPR's foreign editor and then national security correspondent for the New York Times. Becker is the author of a new book: You Don't Belong Here: How Three Women Rewrote the Story of War.
La Brega is a seven-part podcast series hosted by OTM producer/reporter Alana Casanova-Burgess. The series uses narrative storytelling and investigative journalism to reflect and reveal how la brega has defined so many aspects of life in Puerto Rico, and is available in English and Spanish. This is episode six.
Luis J. Valentín Ortiz from the Centro de Periodismo Investigativo tells a hidden story from Puerto Rico’s debt crisis, that of the micro-creditors — thousands of low-income retirees and former public employees with claims that the government may never pay, ranging from hundreds to thousands of dollars. As a federal judge prepares to make a decision on whether they’ll get paid, this episode asks: how can the government settle its many debts — not just monetary — with its citizens?
You can read more about micro-creditors in this piece from CPI.
We also recommend this Radio Ambulante episode, produced by Luis Trelles, for more context about the debt crisis.
A so-called surge of migrants at the southern border has caught the attention of immigration reform advocates, conservative trolls, and TV news crews, but alarming headlines may not tell the full story. Plus, a #MeToo reckoning on YouTube has caused a new media empire to crumble. Then, a look at the controversy surrounding the newsletter site Substack, home to "sustainable journalism" and culture war punditry. And, the internet's most innovative observer on the cultivation of her misunderstood beat.
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Tom K. Wong [@TomWongPhD], founding director of the U.S. Immigration Policy Center, on misleading coverage about the southern border. Listen.
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Kat Tenbarge [@kattenbarge], digital culture reporter at Insider, and Taylor Lorenz [@TaylorLorenz], tech reporter for The New York Times, on the exploitation behind YouTube's viral prank culture. Listen.
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Peter Kakfa [@pkafka], senior correspondent at Recode, and Taylor Lorenz [@TaylorLorenz], tech reporter for The New York Times, on the promises and controversies at the heart of Substack. Listen.
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Taylor Lorenz [@TaylorLorenz], tech reporter for The New York Times, on how she keeps her finger on the internet's pulse. Listen.
Music from this week's show:
Whispers of a heavenly death — John Zorn
The Desert and Two Grey Hills — Gerry O’Beirne
Investigations — Kevin MacLeod
Il Casanova de Frederico Fellini — Nino Rota
String Quartet No. 5 - Philip Glass — Kronos Quartet
What’s that Sound — Michael Andrews
Trance Dance — John Zorn
In 2015, a tragedy gripped Romanian consciousness when a fire at a popular club in the country's capital killed 27 people, injured nearly 200 more, and sparked national protests about corruption. In the weeks following the fire, 37 of those injured died in hospitals — a statistic that authorities and doctors claimed was simply a result of their injuries.
But the victims' families and a small team of reporters at the Romanian daily paper the Sports Gazette had their doubts — doubts that were confirmed when the Gazette learned that a national supplier of medical disinfectants was diluting their products, nearly ten times over, to reap profits and pad the pockets of its CEO. The burn victims of the fire hadn't died from injuries; they died from preventable bacterial infections, a consequence of malpractice that stemmed from doctors, hospital managers and the highest officials in government.
In 2019, filmmaker Alexander Nanau wrote, produced and directed the film Collective, chronicling this saga. Last year, the film was released in the US, and, this month, it received two Academy Award nominations. In this podcast extra, Nanau speaks with Brooke about why he decided to follow the story, how the pieces fell into place, and how this single story changed Romania's relationship with the press — possibly for good.
Watch Collective here.
La Brega is a seven-part podcast series hosted by OTM producer/reporter Alana Casanova-Burgess. The series uses narrative storytelling and investigative journalism to reflect and reveal how la brega has defined so many aspects of life in Puerto Rico, and is available in English and Spanish. This is episode five.
In this episode: David and Goliath play basketball in Athens.
Despite being a U.S. colony, Puerto Rico competes in sports as its own country on the world stage. Since the 70s, Puerto Rico’s national basketball team has been a pride of the island, taking home trophy after trophy. But in the 2004 at the Athens Olympics, the team was up against the odds, with an opening game against a U.S. Dream Team stacked with players like Lebron James and Allen Iverson. Futuro Media’s Julio Ricardo Varela tells the story of a basketball game that Puerto Ricans will never forget, and why he thinks now, more than ever, is a crucial moment to remember it.
The documentary "Nuyorican Basquet" is here.
If you want to see the famous photo of Carlos Arroyo, click here.
To read more about sovereignty and sports, we recommend The Sovereign Colony: Olympic Sport, National Identity, and International Politics in Puerto Rico, by Antonio Sotomayor.
Police statements about the Atlanta shooter’s motives defined early media reports and earned swift derision. This week, we examine how bad habits in the press undermined coverage of the tragedy. Plus, how we equate presidential power with presidential willpower. And a behind-the-scenes look at a new radio play that interweaves Shakespeare’s English with its Spanish translation.
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Erika Lee [@prof_erikalee] Regents Professor of History and Asian American Studies at the University of Minnesota, on how Asian women have been targets of exclusion in the U.S ever since they first arrived in the United States. And Jason Oliver Chang [@chinotronic], Associate Professor of History and Asian/Asian American Studies at the University of Connecticut, explains how the model minority myth has cloaked patterns of brutality against Asian-Americans in the U.S. long before Tuesday's tragedy. Listen.
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Brendan Nyhan, [@brendannyhan] professor of government at Dartmouth College, on his "Green Lantern theory of the presidency," the limits on executive power, and the history of presidents who thought they could expand it. Listen.
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Saheem Ali, director of Romeo y Julieta from New York’s Public Theater and WNYC Studios, on the aim to both entertain and show that language need not divide us. Listen.
Music from this week's show:The Glass House — David BergeaudMisterioso (Thelonoius Monk) — Kronos QuartetSomeday My Prince Will Come — Fred HerschUluwati — John Zorn
The movement surrounding the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act introduced some ubiquitous elements of our public infrastructure, but many of the activists who were key players in lobbying for the law's passage met in an unlikely way: as campers at Camp Jened, or lovingly, "Crip Camp," a place of liberation for disabled kids and teenagers.
A Netflix documentary called Crip Camp, nominated for an Oscar on Monday, explores the history of the movement and its leaders, including Judy Heumann, a Jened camper turned lifelong disability rights activist. She served as Special Advisor for International Disability Rights for the Obama administration and wrote the book Being Heumann: An Unrepentant Memoir of a Disability Rights Activist. In July, on the anniversary of the ADA, Judy and Brooke discussed how the egalitarian values of Camp Jened helped inspire the ADA, and how social and political change takes shape.
This segment originally aired in our July 24th, 2020 program,If You Build It....
La Brega is a seven-part podcast series hosted by OTM producer/reporter Alana Casanova-Burgess. The series uses narrative storytelling and investigative journalism to reflect and reveal how la brega has defined so many aspects of life in Puerto Rico, and is available in English and Spanish. This is episode four.
Weeks after Hurricane Maria, the Government of Puerto Rico accepted an emphatic suggestion from officials of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), put it in writing as if it were its own decision, and celebrated it would be used to rebuild in a “resilient” way. On the island of Vieques — which has a very high rate of cancer — they were supposed to rebuild its only hospital, destroyed by the hurricane in 2017. Now, a young girl has died from lack of care, and a neglected community fights for their basic human right: access to quality medical services. Reporter Cristina del Mar Quiles from El Centro de Periodismo Investigativo explains how federal red tape has hindered hurricane recovery.
A guide to understanding the bureaucracy around "recovery" in Puerto Rico, including Section 428, is here.
You can read more about the lawsuit brought by the family of Jaideliz Moreno Ventura against the government of Puerto Rico here.
As Biden-era climate policy begins to take shape, many corporations assure the public that they’re all-in on going green. This week, On The Media considers whether pledges from energy utilities, plastics manufacturers, natural gas providers, and fake meat wunderkinds are all they’re cracked up to be.
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Alicia Kennedy [@aliciakennedy], food, drink, and climate writer, on the overly-ambitious promises of alt-meat. Listen.
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Leah Stokes [@leahstokes], energy policy expert at the University of California, Santa Barbara, on “The Dirty Truth About Climate Pledges,” specifically from energy companies. Listen.
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Rebecca Leber [@rebleber], reporter at Mother Jones, on empty promises of "clean natural gas" for the home. Listen.
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Laura Sullivan [@LauraSullivaNPR], NPR investigative correspondent, explains why plastic recycling rarely works. Listen.
Songs:In The Bath by Randy NewmanHarpsichord by Four TetCrow Of Homer by Gerry O’BeirneAccentuate The Positive by Syd Dale Double Dozen & Alex GouldYoung At Heart by Brad Mehldau
It's been a staple of local, nightly news for decades: while an anchor recites a vivid crime report, sometimes embellished with security footage or street interviews, a name and mugshot flash across the screen. Then, in the paper the next day, a column full of all the details a reporter could obtain on the alleged culprit appears. Beyond our own hometowns, national news often gives us the names of criminals before they give us anything else—sometimes that's all they've got. But is that right?
This week, Bob spoke with Romayne Smith Fullerton, a journalism professor at the University of Western Ontario, and Maggie Jones Patterson, a journalism professor at Duquesne University, to talk about their book “Murder in Our Midst: Comparing Crime Coverage Ethics in an Age of Globalized News.” Fullerton and Patterson spent a decade studying how ten different countries publicize criminals and crime. And what they found was a world of journalists unaware that everyone does it differently.
La Brega is a seven-part podcast series hosted by OTM producer/reporter Alana Casanova-Burgess. The series uses narrative storytelling and investigative journalism to reflect and reveal how la brega has defined so many aspects of life in Puerto Rico, and is available in English and Spanish. This is episode three.
Photographer Chris Gregory-Rivera examines the legacy of the surveillance files known in Puerto Rico as las carpetas — produced from a decades-long secret government program aimed at fracturing the pro-independence movement. Gregory-Rivera looks at las carpetasthrough the story of one activist family, the traitor they believed was close to them, and the betrayal that holds more mystery than they realize.
Chris' photographs and photos the police took as part of their surveillance are here.
If you're in the New York area, you can see his show at the Abrons Art Center until March 14, 2021.
The documentary "Las Carpetas" is here.
The Johnson and Johnson vaccine was approved this week, expanding the nation’s supply and moving us closer to the end of the pandemic. On this week’s On the Media, why unvaccinated people should resist the urge to comparison shop. And, how will we know when, if ever, the pandemic is over? Plus, how New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s TV persona has helped him skate past previous scandals in the past — and why it’s not working as well this time.
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Rachael Piltch-Loeb, preparedness fellow at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and associate research scientist at the NYU School of Global Public Health, on when the pandemic will be over, and what people can safely do now. Listen.
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Helen Branswell [@HelenBranswell], senior writer about infectious diseases at STAT, on why people should resist the impulse to "vaccine shop" for a seemingly superior vaccine. Listen.
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Derek Thompson [@DKThomp], staff writer at The Atlantic, on overcoming vaccine hesitancy. Listen.
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Alex Pareene [@pareene], staff writer at The New Republic, on how the recent reporting about New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has allowed television news consumers to see what close readers of newspaper coverage of the governor have been seeing for some time. Listen.
Music:
Prelude 7: Sign and Sigil - John Zorn
Tilliboyo (Sunset) - Kronos Quartet
Ain’t Misbehavin’ - Hank Jones
Tomorrow Never Knows - Quartetto d'Archi Dell’Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi
During the pandemic, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo transformed into a fully fledged TV star — propelled by his daily coronavirus briefings, which reassured an anxious, leaderless public. Comedians fawned over him. New fans declared their adoration in TikTok videos, memes, and... song. And the chummy treatment of the governor of course extended to news networks like CNN, where his brother asked him the tough questions.
But in the past few weeks, Cuomo’s television persona as the deeply principled, self-aware fatherly truth-talker has faltered. A report from the state attorney general and a court order found the official count of deaths of nursing home residents was nearly double the figure first reported by Cuomo’s administration. Plus, so far three women have accused the governor of sexual harassment, including two former aides. But for close readers of reporting on the governor in print media, this fall from grace is less surprising.
This week, Alex Pareene, staff writer at The New Republic, talks to Brooke about the collision of Cuomo’s “newspaper” and “television” personas in this moment.
This week, OTM presents stories from a new series hosted by our own Alana Casanova-Burgess, called "La Brega." Hear what that term means, how it's used, and what it represents. Also, how one of the most famous homebuilding teams in American history tried to export American suburbanism to Puerto Rico... as a bulwark against Cuban communism.
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Alana [@AlanaLlama] explores the full meaning(s) of la brega, which has different translations depending on who you ask. According to scholar and professor emeritus at Princeton, Arcadio Diaz Quiñonez, the closest English word is " to grapple." Alana also speaks to Cheo Santiago [@adoptaunhoyo], creator of "Adopta Un Hoyo" (Adopt a Pothole), which encourages people to paint around and photograph potholes to alert other drivers. Because the roads are rarely fixed properly, the challenges of potholes and what people do to get around them is a metaphorical and literal brega in Puerto Rico. Listen.
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Next, Alana turns to the boom and bust of Levittown, a suburb that was founded on the idea of bringing the American middle-class lifestyle to Puerto Rico during a time of great change on the island. Alana (herself the granddaughter of an early Levittown resident) explores what the presence of a Levittown in Puerto Rico tells us about the promises of the American Dream in Puerto Rico. Listen.
Created by a team of Puerto Rican journalists, producers, musicians, and artists from the island and diaspora, "La Brega" uses narrative storytelling and investigative journalism to reflect and reveal how la brega has defined so many aspects of life in Puerto Rico. All episodes are out now, and available in English and Spanish.
Listen to the full series: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | Google Podcasts
Music in this series comes from Balún and ÌFÉ
With the news this week that the Supreme Court gave the go-ahead for Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance to obtain key financial documents relating to Donald Trump, some news consumers may find themselves wrapped up in the delectable prospect of seeing a rule-breaking, tax-dodging, Constitution-shedding president on trial. They have been encouraged by commentators who claim that every little investigatory development is "very, very bad for Trump"; that the prosecution of Donald Trump "could go to trial sooner than you think"; and that Trump's post-election behavior "basically guarantees" criminal charges.
Writer, lawyer, and former federal prosecutor Ankush Khardori has his critiques of this genre of punditry — in August he described some of it as "insane" in the Wall Street Journal — but he has also published his own theory for prosecuting the president. In this interview, originally recorded in December, he and Brooke discuss what he sees as the "structural flaws" in most discussions of post-presidential prosecution.
This interview originally aired as part of our December 11th, 2020 program, Last Wish.
In a reversal of the past four years, President Biden has vowed to take on the violent threat posed by the far-right. But how? On this week’s On the Media, a look at the techniques and tactics used to undermine extremism, here and abroad.
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Brad Galloway [@bjgalloway1717], a former neo-Nazi and now case manager with Life After Hate and ExitUSA and coordinator at the Center on Hate, Bias and Extremism at Ontario Tech University, on how he and his colleagues work to get far-right extremists to accept responsibility for their choices and move beyond hate. Listen.
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Kurt Braddock [@KurtBraddock], professor of communications at American University, and the author of Weaponized Words: The Strategic Role of Persuasion in Violent Radicalization and Counter-Radicalization, on messaging campaigns designed to neutralize rightwing propaganda, conspiracy theories, and calls to action. Listen.
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Ross Frenett [@rossfrenett], co-founder of Moonshot CVE, on redirecting people away from extremist search results online. Listen.
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Stig Jarle Hansen [@stigjarlehansen], co-editor of the Routledge Handbook for Deradicalisation and Disengagement on the long, checkered history of global de-radicalization efforts, and Michael German [@rethinkintel], fellow with the Brennan Center for Justice’s Liberty & National Security Program, and author of Disrupt, Discredit, and Divide: How the New FBI Damages Democracy, on how the term "radical" has always swayed in the wind of power and the perils of the "de-radicalization" framing. Listen.
Music:
Schubert — Piano Trio No. 2 in E-Flat Major, Op. 100 Khaled Mouzanar — Cockroachman Marcos Ciscar — The Old House Tom Waits — Way Down in the Hole Chopin — Berceuse In D Flat Major, Op. 57
What more can we say: El Rushbo is dead.
He died Wednesday after a months-long bout of lung cancer, and following decades of racist invective, misogynistic bombast, and other assorted controversy. He had become the most listened-to voice on talk radio, wielding a towering, destructive influence on the American body politic. He was 70.
Early last year, President Donald Trump awarded Limbaugh the Presidential Medal of Freedom, inducting him into a gilded class of American history alongside Norman Rockwell, Maya Angelou, Thurgood Marshall, and Martin Luther King, Jr. We spoke then with Matt Gertz, a senior fellow at Media Matters for America, who explained how the award could be seen as the culmination of the GOP's transformation, precipitated by Limbaugh and solidified by Trump.
It’s been a week of legal battles, from Donald Trump’s second impeachment to Britney Spears’s fight for control over her finances and her career. On this week's On the Media, a look at the new documentary that’s put the pop star back in the spotlight. Plus, how revisiting stories of maligned women from the 90s can help us understand our media — and ourselves.
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Brooke considers the developments this week in the impeachment trial, and also its wild distortion in some corners of the media. Listen.
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Samantha Stark [@starksamantha], director of the New York Times documentary “Framing Britney Spears,” on the #FreeBritney movement and the #WeAreSorryBritney reckoning. Listen.
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Sarah Marshall [@Remember_Sarah] and Michael Hobbes [@RottenInDenmark], hosts of the You're Wrong About podcast, on how coverage of maligned women in the 1990s fueled lasting and harmful myths. Listen.
Music from this week's show:Equinox — John ColtraneInvitation to a Suicide — John Zorn Baby One More Time — Britney Spears Cello Song — Nick Drake Fellini’s Waltz — Nino RotaLa Vie En Rose — Toots Thielemans
Few clichés are as well-worn, and grounded in reality, as the dread many Americans feel towards doing their taxes and the loathing they have for the IRS. But as much as the process is despised, relatively little is known about how it could be improved. Pro Publica's Jessica Huseman said that's largely because tax prep companies keep it that way. Brooke spoke to Huseman in 2017 about what an improved system might look like and how tax prep companies work to thwart any such changes.
One of the primary roadblocks to change, said Huseman, is an organization called the Free File Alliance, a public-private partnership whereby private tax companies agree to provide a free service for most Americans in exchange for the IRS not offering any such service itself. Brooke spoke with Tim Hugo, Executive Director of the Free File Alliance, about whether it is really the best way to help American taxpayers.
Fox News has been stoking rage on the right for decades. As the former president faces an impeachment trial for his role in the invasion of the Capitol, some are asking whether Fox News also bears responsibility for the violence. On this week’s On the Media, a look at the arguments for and against the de-platforming of Fox News.
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Bob [@bobosphere] talks to Angelo Carusone [@GoAngelo], Nandini Jammi [@nandoodles], Jason Hirschhorn [@JasonHirschhorn] and Steven Barnett [@stevenjbarnett] about the ethics and efficacy of the "deplatform Fox" movement. Listen.
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Rod Smolla, dean and professor of law at the Delaware Law School of Widener University, on the free speech protections afforded by a classic first amendment case, Brandenburg v. Ohio. Listen.
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Nicole Hemmer [@pastpunditry], Columbia University research scholar, on why the Fairness Doctrine won't fix Fox News. Listen.
Music:
Mysterioso - Kronos Quartet
Oboe Mambo - Machito & His Afro-Cuban Orchestra
Stormy Weather - Franck Pourcel
Night Thoughts - John Zorn
This week, OTM presents the first episode of a new weekly show hosted by our WNYC colleague Julia Longoria: The Experiment.
When Mike Belderrain hunted down the biggest elk of his life, he didn’t know he’d stumbled into a “zone of death,” the remote home of a legal glitch that could short-circuit the Constitution—a place where, technically, you could get away with murder.
At a time when we’re surrounded by preventable deaths, The Experiment documents one journey to avert disaster.
• Mike Belderrain is a hunter and former outfitter in Montana.• C. J. Box is the author of more than 20 novels, including Free Fire, a thriller set in Yellowstone National Park. • Brian Kalt teaches law at Michigan State University. He wrote a 2005 research paper titled “The Perfect Crime.• Ed Yong is a staff writer for The Atlantic.
Here's the link to the episode at The Atlantic
Be part of The Experiment. Use the hashtag #TheExperimentPodcast or write to us at theexperiment@theatlantic.com. Listen and subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | Google Podcasts
This episode was produced by Julia Longoria and Alvin Melathe, with editing by Katherine Wells and sound design by David Herman.
On this week’s show, we look at what happens when scientists try to save the public...from itself. Plus, why vaccine distribution might be slowed down by intellectual property rights. And how, memers and righteous redditors used GameStop to upend Wall Street.
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Zeynep Tufecki [@zeynep], associate professor at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, explains why public health officials send mixed messages on everything from masks to variants. Listen.
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Dean Baker [@DeanBaker13], senior economist at the Center for Economic and Policy Research, on why intellectual property may be getting in the way of vaccine distribution. Listen.
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James Surowiecki [@JamesSurowiecki], unpacks what GameStop's wild week reveals about Wall Street, the economy, and memes. Listen.
Music:
Liquid Spear Waltz by Michael AndrewsLife on Mars (David Bowie) by Meridian String QuartetThe Artifact and Living by Michael AndrewsShoot the Piano Player by Georges DelerueUluwati by John Zorn
GameStop is a corporation that sells digital cartridges containing video games, and also video game consoles and other fun widgets, from brick-and-mortar stores to flesh-and-blood consumers. It is a thing of the natural world, and so must abide by its fundamental, physical laws.
GamesStop’s stock, on the other hand... well, for most of last year, the company was “worth” a pretty dismal 250 million dollars. But you may have heard that lately GameStop stock has soared upward into the exosphere, ballooning the company’s “worth” to somewhere in the ballpark of 20 billion dollars. That is, last we checked.
How this happened — how the very laws of gravity seemed to break this week on Wall Street — is best explained not by corporate actions or the current milieu of the actual American economy, but rather, as writer James Surowiecki explained this week in Marker, as a meme. In this podcast extra, Surowiecki explains how the on-going short squeeze originated on forums like r/WallStreetBets, and how it reminds us of the internet's ability to meme itself into reality.
CORRECTION: As Brooke said, she paid so little attention to her investment in GameStop that she misremembered the exact size of her holdings. She owned 42 shares of GameStop, not 65, and sold them for a total of $4,200, not $6,500. She deeply regrets the error.
On this week’s show, we take a deep breath. Plus, journalists reflect on the deep damage done to our information ecosystem and how we can begin to repair it. And, Brooke and Bob take a journey through 20 years of OTM.
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Brooke and Bob on the (short-lived) reprieve following the 45th president's departure, and McKay Coppins [@mckaycoppins], staff writer at The Atlantic, on how the environment for "elite" journalists has changed in the past four years. Listen.
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Yamiche Alcindor [@Yamiche], White House correspondent for the PBS NewsHour, Jay Rosen [@jayrosen_nyu], media critic and journalism professor at New York University, and Karen Attiah [@KarenAttiah], global opinions editor at the Washington Post, on what they've learned as journalists from the Trump era, and what comes next. Listen.
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Bob and Brooke reflect on more than a thousand shows together, and twenty years of On the Media. Listen.
Music from the show:Misterioso — Kronos Quartet Passing Time — John Renbourn Newsreel — Randy NewmanA Ride with Polly Jean — Jenny ScheinmanYou're Getting to be a Habit with Me — Bing Crosby & Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians
This story was co-published with ProPublica.
A birth certificate, a bar receipt, a newspaper ad, a board game, a Ziploc bag of shredded paper, a pair of museum tickets, some checks, and a USB drive. The series finale of Trump, Inc.
This episode was reported by Andrea Bernstein, Meg Cramer, Anjali Kamat, Ilya Marritz, Katherine Sullivan, Eric Umansky, and Heather Vogell. We assembled our time capsule at Donald J. Trump State Park; it will be stored until 2031 with WNYC's archives department.
This is the last episode of Trump, Inc. But it's not the end of our reporting: subscribe to our newsletter for updates on what we're doing next. Show your support with a donation to New York Public Radio.
Evidence shows that insurrectionists used the walkie-talkie app Zello to help organize the riot at the capitol. On this week’s On the Media, a look at how the platform has resisted oversight, despite warnings that it was enabling right-wing extremism. Plus, how to sniff out the real corporate boycotts from the PR facades. And, how to build social media that doesn't exploit users for profit.
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OTM reporter Micah Loewinger [@MicahLoewinger] on Zello's role in last week's insurrection, and what the app is finally doing about its militia members. Listen.
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Casey Newton [@CaseyNewton], writer for Platformer, on why this wave of social media scrubbing might not be such a bad thing. Listen.
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Siva Vaidhyanathan [@sivavaid], professor of media studies at the University of Virginia, and Americus Reed II [@amreed2], professor of marketing at the Wharton School of Business, on the true costs of corporate boycotts. Listen.
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Eli Pariser [@elipariser], co-director of Civic Signals, on how to build digital spaces that do not monetize our social activity or spy on us for profit. Listen.
Music from the show:Fallen Leaves — Marcos Ciscar The Hammer of Loss — John Zorn — A Vision in Blakelight Hard Times — Nashville Sessions — Songs of the Civil WarWhat’s that Sound? — Michael AndrewsIn the Bath — Randy NewmanBoy Moves the Sun — Michael AndrewsAin’t Misbehavin’ — Hank Jones
Over the past 10 months, debates have raged over how to keep the coronavirus in check. What to open? What to close? Where does the virus spread, and where are we relatively safe? Through it all, one kind of space in particular has been the subject of vigorous debate — and, starting a few months into the virus, a kind of unexpected conventional wisdom emerged: that schools were relatively safe. In the midst of the darkness, it brought some welcome light: kids are safe! They can go to school! While other institutions closed, countries around the world — particularly in Europe and the UK — kept their schools open.
And yet, in response to rising rates and a new, more contagious variant, many of those same countries have since closed their school doors. It turns out that, if you believe the epidemiologists, schools do, in fact, bring risk of transmission. How could we ever have thought otherwise? Rachel Cohen has been covering the debates around school closings and openings, most recently at The Intercept. In this week's podcast extra, she tells Brooke about how the school transmission narrative has evolved since the beginning of the pandemic, and how our understanding of the issue came to be so muddled.
On this week’s On The Media, journalists struggle to find the words to describe what happened at the capitol on Wednesday. Was it a riot? A mob? An insurrection? Plus, why supporters of the president’s baseless election fraud theories keep invoking the “lost cause” myth of the confederacy. And, taking a second look at "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down."
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Brooke [@OTMBrooke] and Bob [@bobosphere] on the events at the Capitol on Wednesday. Listen.
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Caroline Janney [@CarrieJanney], historian of the Civil War at University of Virginia, on the evolution of the post-Civil War Lost Cause mythology. Listen.
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Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw [@sandylocks], professor of law at UCLA and Columbia Law School, on how post-Civil War appeasement allowed for the perpetuation of white supremacy in the United States. Listen.
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Jack Hamilton [@jack_hamilton], associate professor of American studies and media studies at the University of Virginia, on the mixed and missed messages in the rock anthem "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" by The Band. Listen.
Music from this week's show:Invitation to a Suicide — John ZornSneaky Adventure — Kevin MacLeodGlass House/Curtains — David BergeaudThe Last Bird — Zoe KeatingLost, Night — Bill FrisellUsing the Apostate Tyrant as His Tool — Kronos QuartetThe Night They Drove Ol' Dixie Down — The BandThe Night They Drove Ol' Dixie Down — Richie Havens
With vaccinations underway, we’re edging closer and closer to the end of the pandemic. This week, On The Media looks at how the pandemic has shaped what’s possible for the future — from the built environment to the way we work to the way we learn.
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Sam Kling [@SamKling2], American Council of Learned Societies public fellow, on whether cities like New York were bound to become hubs for disease. Listen.
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Vanessa Chang [@vxchang], lecturer at California College of the Arts, explains how pandemics of the past have been instrumental in shaping architecture; Mik Scarlet [@MikScarlet] delineates the social model of disability; and Sara Hendren [@ablerism], author of What Can A Body Do?: How We Meet the Built World, describes how the wisdom of people with disabilities can inform the redesign our post-pandemic world. Listen.
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OTM reporter Micah Loewinger [@micahloewinger] tells the story of how distance learning saved his friend's life. Listen.
We spend our lives bound to a clock and calendar that tell us what to do and what to expect. But now, millions of Americans are newly jobless, untethered from structure and predictability. Hundreds of of thousands fight a virus that could cut their time on earth dramatically short. And all of us wait out a life-stoppage of unknown duration. And so, we may find ourselves outside of time. Passing it, but no longermarking it. Anthony F. Aveni, professor emeritus of astronomy, anthropology, and Native American studies at Colgate University, says that to understand our current time consciousness, we have to return to a land before time — or at least, time as we know it. Aveni and Bob talk about the history of timekeeping, and how we might find our orientation during this collective time-out.
This is a segment from our April 24th, 2020 program,On Matters of Time and Space.
The new year approaches, marking an end to a truly unexpected trip around the sun. This week, On the Media reflects on our 2020 coverage, from the pandemic to the global uprising to the rise of the anti-majoritarian right.
With excerpts from:
The Virality of Virality, January 31, 2020 Epidemic Voyeurs No More, February 28, 2020 Infectious Diseases Show Societies Who They Really Are, March 6, 2020 Why The Toilet Paper Shortage Makes More Sense Than You Think, April 10, 2020 Is The Pandemic Making Us Numb To One Another's Pain?, December 11, 2020 Is This 'Unrest' or an 'Uprising'?, June 5, 2020 Why Activists Are Demanding That Cities "Defund the Police", June 12, 2020 Movements, Sanitized In Hindsight, June 19, 2020 Imprecision 2020, November 5, 2020 They Prepared for War With Antifa. Antifa Never Came., June 12, 2020 With #SaveTheChildren Rallies, QAnon Sneaks Into The Offline World, August 26, 2020 The Ancient Heresy That Helps Us Understand QAnon, November 20, 2020 The Right's Long History of Ignoring the Will of the People, November 6, 2020 Against Democracy, October 9, 2020
In a time where monuments are being toppled, institutions and icons reconsidered, we turn to a portrait encountered by every American: "White Jesus." You know, that guy with sandy blond hair and upcast blue eyes. For On the Media, Eloise Blondiau traces the history of how the historically inaccurate image became canon, and why it matters.
In this segment, Eloise talks to Mbiyu Chui, pastor at the Shrine of the Black Madonna in Detroit, about unlearning Jesus's whiteness. She also hears from Edward Blum, author of The Color of Christ: The Son of God and the Saga of Race in America, about how the image came dominate in the U.S., and psychologist Simon Howard on how White Jesus has infiltrated our subconsciouses. Lastly, Eloise speaks to Rev. Kelly Brown Douglas, womanist theologian and Dean of the Episcopal Divinity School at Union Theological Seminary, about the theology of the Black Christ.
This is a segment from our October 1st, 2020 program, God Bless.