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WNYC Studios

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.

On the Media

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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Trump Sued Himself … and ‘Settled’ for a $1.8 Billion Fund

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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A Russian Phrasebook for Surviving Authoritarianism

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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Episode 4 of American Emergency: The Movement to Kill FEMA

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.

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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Trump's Refugee Program Is Reserved for Whites Only

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

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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Episode 3 of American Emergency; The Movement To Kill FEMA

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.

 
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

How "Economic Blindness" Is Obscuring Our Financial Reality

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 Time • 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 Instagram, Bluesky, TikTok and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.

 
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Episode 2 of American Emergency; The Movement To Kill FEMA

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. 

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.

 
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Trump's Glitzy Library Grift

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

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.

 
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

American Emergency: The Movement to Kill FEMA

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. 

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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How a Prison Fire Helped Create CBS News

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. 

1. Philip Bump [@pbump], national correspondent at The Washington Post, on debunking election myths made for the silver screen. Listen.

2. Nina Jankowicz [@wiczipedia], former head of the Disinformation Governance Board, on the lessons learned from government-led attempts to counter disinformation. Listen.

3. 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

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.

 
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The Conspiracy Machine

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