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WNYC Studios

The Peabody Award-winning On the Media podcast is your guide to examining how the media sausage is made. Hosts Brooke Gladstone and Micah Loewinger examine 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.

On the Media

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.

Enron is Back, and Birds Aren't Real

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.

A Cold-Blooded Killing Ignites a National Conversation. Plus, Part Two of The Harvard Plan.

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.

How to Plan for Inevitable Disaster

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.

The Harvard Plan: The Universities Are The Enemy

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.

A New Film Unearths the Depths of Netanyahu's Corruption

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.

How AI and Algorithms Are Transforming Music

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.

Do Sex Scandals Matter Anymore in Politics?

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

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.

America’s Empire State of Mind

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.

FTC chair Lina Khan is Kicking A** and Taking Names

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.

1. 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.

2. Drew Harwell [@drewharwell], tech reporter for The Washington Post, on TikTok's place in the Israel-Hamas war. Listen.

3. 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.

Do Sex Scandals Matter Anymore in Politics?

Do Sex Scandals Matter Anymore in Politics?

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