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On the Media is a weekly show that uses the media as a lens to understand our world. On the Media listeners say the show is an essential companion, helping...
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On the Media is a weekly show that uses the media as a lens to understand our world. On the Media listeners say the show is an essential companion, helping them survive the firehose of media coming at them 24/7. Hosted by Brooke Gladstone and Micah Loewinger, the show does not do ‘hot takes’, instead offering listeners context, historical parallels, media analysis and often a much appreciated deep exhale. On the Media hosts have an eye on the nuances and details regularly missed by other outlets which helps listeners understand where they should be paying attention (and what they can afford to ignore). Our media diets have untruths woven in, and inconvenient truths left out. These are the bits explored every week at On the Media.
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10 JUN 2026 · 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 https://spia.uga.edu/faculty-member/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 https://www.instagram.com/onthemedia/?hl=en, https://bsky.app/profile/onthemedia.bsky.social, https://www.tiktok.com/@onthemedia and https://www.facebook.com/OnTheMedia @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
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5 JUN 2026 · 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 https://www.bloodinthemachine.com/, 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 https://www.vauhinivara.com/, 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 https://trumpsonian.us/ 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:
- “https://www.bloodinthemachine.com/p/how-anthropic-used-its-ai-ethicslop,” by Brian Merchant
- “https://www.theatlantic.com/books/2026/05/granta-ai-fiction-book-scandal-changes-everything/687243/,” by Vauhini Vara
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on https://www.instagram.com/onthemedia/?hl=en, https://bsky.app/profile/onthemedia.bsky.social, https://www.tiktok.com/@onthemedia and https://www.facebook.com/OnTheMedia @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
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3 JUN 2026 · For a second week, reports of inhumane conditions at Delaney Hall in New Jersey are drawing protesters and camera crews. A handful ofhttps://jerseyvindicator.org/2026/06/01/journalists-swept-up-in-delaney-hall-crackdown-as-press-freedom-concerns-mount/ and dozens 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 https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2025/12/31/ice-wartime-recruitment-push/ On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on https://www.instagram.com/onthemedia/?hl=en, https://bsky.app/profile/onthemedia.bsky.social, https://www.tiktok.com/@onthemedia and https://www.facebook.com/OnTheMedia @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
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29 MAY 2026 · 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 https://bsky.app/profile/annabower.bsky.social, senior editor at https://www.lawfaremedia.org/, 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 https://bsky.app/profile/abradschwartz.bsky.social 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:
- “https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/the-president-who-sued-himself,” by Anna Bower and Eric Columbus
- “https://www.cjr.org/feature/cbs-news-radio-eyewitness-otto-deacon-gardner-edward-r-murrow.php,” 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 https://www.instagram.com/onthemedia/?hl=en, https://bsky.app/profile/onthemedia.bsky.social, https://www.tiktok.com/@onthemedia and https://www.facebook.com/OnTheMedia @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
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27 MAY 2026 · 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 https://wwnorton.com/books/how-to-survive-authoritarianism, 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 https://www.instagram.com/onthemedia/?hl=en, https://bsky.app/profile/onthemedia.bsky.social, https://www.tiktok.com/@onthemedia and https://www.facebook.com/OnTheMedia @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
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22 MAY 2026 · 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. [00:00] 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. [00:00] 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 https://altfemanewsletter.substack.com/, 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.” [00:00] 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, https://grist.org/author/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 https://www.instagram.com/onthemedia/?hl=en, https://bsky.app/profile/onthemedia.bsky.social, https://www.tiktok.com/@onthemedia and https://www.facebook.com/OnTheMedia @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
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20 MAY 2026 · 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 https://bsky.app/profile/carolyneholmes.bsky.social, 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. On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on https://www.instagram.com/onthemedia/?hl=en, https://bsky.app/profile/onthemedia.bsky.social, https://www.tiktok.com/@onthemedia and https://www.facebook.com/OnTheMedia @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
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15 MAY 2026 · Louisiana’s state senate has passed a new congressional map, eliminating one of two majority-Black districts in the state. On this week’s On the Media, hear why the Supreme Court’s blessing of that move rests on a basic statistical error. Plus, how an unprecedented storm of conspiracy theories beset FEMA during Hurricane Helene. [01:00] Host Brooke Gladstone sits down with G. Elliott Morris, journalist, statistician, and author of the data-driven news website Strength in Numbers, to talk about the statistical error he found in the Supreme Court’s Louisiana v. Callais ruling, and the widespread consequences for our democracy. [15:38] 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:
- “https://www.gelliottmorris.com/p/2026-05-08-simple-math-error-scotus-callais-vra,” by G. Elliot Morris
- “https://www.gelliottmorris.com/p/2026-05-12-uncompetitive-seats,” by G. Elliot Morris
- https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2024/12/15/some-nc-residents-distrust-fema-so-much-theyre-hesitant-apply-hurricane-aid/by Brianna Sacks
- https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2024/10/23/how-conspiracy-fueled-militia-got-foothold-this-hurricane-battered-town/ by Brianna Sacks
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on https://www.instagram.com/onthemedia/?hl=en, https://bsky.app/profile/onthemedia.bsky.social, https://www.tiktok.com/@onthemedia and https://www.facebook.com/OnTheMedia @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Transcribed
13 MAY 2026 · 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 https://www.vox.com/authors/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 https://www.instagram.com/onthemedia/?hl=en, https://bsky.app/profile/onthemedia.bsky.social, https://www.tiktok.com/@onthemedia and https://www.facebook.com/OnTheMedia @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
8 MAY 2026 · This week, the S&P 500 hit an all-time high, despite a deepening global energy crisis. On this week’s On the Media, the mismatch between the stock market and reality. Plus, to understand how FEMA became so distrusted, we look at its response to Hurricane Katrina – and how it stained the agency’s reputation forever. [01:00] Host Brooke Gladstone sits down with https://www.vox.com/authors/bryan-walsh, senior editorial director at Vox overseeing the Future Perfect and climate teams, about the phenomenon of “economic blindness,” which explains why the stock market hit an all-time high this week despite the oil crisis unspooling across the globe due to Iran’s effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Plus, how human evolution may play a role in this cognitive dissonance. [13:38] 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:
- “https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/487190/iran-strait-of-hormuz-energy-oil-covid-coronavirus-stock-market,” by Bryan Walsh
- https://www.powells.com/book/disaster-hurricane-katrina-and-the-failure-of-homeland-security-9780805086508, by Christopher Cooper and Robert Block
- https://www.hulu.com/series/hurricane-katrina-race-against-time-7bd9aa12-33e1-42e5-bc01-3e9d88cd659f on Hulu
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on https://www.instagram.com/onthemedia/?hl=en, https://bsky.app/profile/onthemedia.bsky.social, https://www.tiktok.com/@onthemedia and https://www.facebook.com/OnTheMedia @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
On the Media is a weekly show that uses the media as a lens to understand our world. On the Media listeners say the show is an essential companion, helping...
show more
On the Media is a weekly show that uses the media as a lens to understand our world. On the Media listeners say the show is an essential companion, helping them survive the firehose of media coming at them 24/7. Hosted by Brooke Gladstone and Micah Loewinger, the show does not do ‘hot takes’, instead offering listeners context, historical parallels, media analysis and often a much appreciated deep exhale. On the Media hosts have an eye on the nuances and details regularly missed by other outlets which helps listeners understand where they should be paying attention (and what they can afford to ignore). Our media diets have untruths woven in, and inconvenient truths left out. These are the bits explored every week at On the Media.
show less
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