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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

Defense secretary Pete Hegseth is demanding what he calls “more patriotic” coverage of his cabinet. On this week’s On the Media, hear how the Pentagon is cracking down on its publication, Stars and Stripes. Plus, an investigation reveals that some online content creators have taken money to endorse politicians.

[01:00] Brooke Gladstone interviews Max Lederer, the publisher of Stars and Stripes, the independent, award-winning military news outlet within the Defense Department, about the Pentagon’s terminations of himself, the editor-in-chief, and the Middle East reporter, and the agency’s continued attacks on the paper’s congressionally mandated editorial independence. 

[13:38] Brooke speaks with Paul Waldman, writer of the Substack newsletter, The Cross Section, about how the media attention on Trump’s aide Natalie Harp, also known as “the human printer,” exploded. Plus, how she went from Fox News guest in 2019 to primary shaper of the president’s media consumption. 

[27:24] Micah sits down with Ken Bensinger, a New York Times media and politics reporter, to talk about his recent investigation into how hundreds of social media content creators are being paid to boost politicians ahead of elections, and not always disclosing it. Plus, Dave Jorgenson, former video producer at the Washington Post and founder of Local News International, speaks to the necessity of adopting standards around things political endorsements and AI use on social media, and how he’s using short-form videos to combat misinformation on the platforms where it flourishes. 

Further reading / watching:

 • “
USS Abraham Lincoln families press Navy leaders over sailors’ mental health • ,” by Alison Bath
 • “
Yes, We Absolutely Should Talk About Natalie Harp • ,” by Paul Waldman
 • “
Influencers Have a Lot to Say About Politics. Many Are Quietly Paid for It • ,” by Ken Bensinger and Stuart A. Thompson

 

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 Pentagon is Waging War on Its Own Paper

Next Friday will be the 25th anniversary of the attacks of 9/11. On the 20th anniversary we broadcast a piece Micah reported called “9/11 broke our brains” — at that time podcast maven Dan Taberski had just released a series called "9/12" about what changed in America the day after the Twin Towers fell.

Included was an interview Taberski did with a documentary filmmaker named Dylan Avery, whose 2005 film Loose Change helped embolden the 9/11 Truther Movement. Micah spoke to Taberski and other guests about why conspiracies theories about the events of 9/11 were (are) so pervasive. 

 

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 Look Back at *The* 9/11 Truther Movie

Nowadays, scrappy pirate broadcasters rule over shortwave radio. On this week’s On the Media, an unlikely group of finance bros have plans to take over the frequencies for their own gain. 

In recent years, creative, often music-focused pirate broadcasting has been thriving on shortwave radio. But 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. This week we share an episode of The Divided Dial, which first aired last year. Reporter Katie Thornton asks: What do we lose when we give up our public airwaves? 

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.

Finance Bros Are Coming for the Public Airwaves

The introduction of AI tools and chatbots in classrooms across the United States has prompted an outcry among concerned parents, teachers, and students. OTM producer and new parent Molly Rosen speaks with Jessica Winter, staff writer at The New Yorker and author of the article “What Will It Take to Get A.I. Out of Schools?,” about how Google Chromebooks have infiltrated schools and what the research says about the impact of AI use on cognitive development.

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 AI Chatbots are Infiltrating Classrooms

This summer the state of New Mexico sued the Justice department for access to unredacted files related to Jeffrey Epstein. On this week’s On the Media, an Epstein beat reporter shares her ongoing quest for accountability. Plus, an investigation into Tulsi Gabbard’s mysterious relationship with a guru, and how it may have shaped her politics. 

[01:00] Host Brooke Gladstone speaks with Julie K. Brown, an investigative journalist at the Miami Herald, whose reporting in 2018 led to Jeffrey Epstein’s arrest. They discuss how the Epstein files that have been released reveal how prosecutors failed to bring the sex trafficker to justice for years. This conversation first aired earlier this year.

[19:08] Brooke sits down with Jon Swaine, a reporter at the Washington Post, to talk about his masterful long-form reporting on ex-Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. He investigates Gabbard’s mysterious relationship with her guru, and how it could account for Gabbard’s shapeshifting from Democrat to Bernie Sanders ally to top MAGA staffer.

[36:50] Brooke continues her conversation with Jon Swaine, and they dig into the nuts and bolts of his investigation into Tulsi Gabbard’s relationship with her guru Chris Butler. 

Further reading:

 The Epstein Files by Julie K. Brown
 “Tulsi Gabbard, her guru and the mysterious messages that helped shape her political career,” • by Jon Swaine

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.

Long Live the Art of Shoe-Leather Reporting!

Over the weekend we re-shared the first installment of American Emergency, our 4-part series all about the Federal Emergency Management Agency. OTM’s Senior Producer Eloise Blondiau and host Micah Loewinger spent nearly a year researching and reporting those episodes. And earlier in the summer, they put on a live event at WNYC, where Eloise and Micah gave a behind the scenes look at their process making the show, and why they wanted to tell a story about FEMA in the first place. 

The conversation was recorded live at The Greene Space in New York, and moderated by legendary reporter Nancy Solomon. We were joined by one of our sources, former top FEMA staffer MaryAnn Tierney, who now leads the control center for SEPTA – the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority. MaryAnn shared her expertise on how FEMA really works, as well as her experience working with Trump’s latest pick to lead the agency, Cameron Hamilton.

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.

Behind the Scenes of 'American Emergency'

This month a federal watchdog raised the alarm over thousands of staffing cuts at the Federal Emergency Management Agency. On this week’s On the Media, an episode from our miniseries American Emergency, all about FEMA: the agency that steps in when large-scale catastrophes like wildfires, floods, and hurricanes strike. Despite its vital work, the agency is widely despised and mythologized – and it’s fighting to stay alive under the Trump administration.

In this episode, which first aired in the spring, 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.

How the U.S. Government Built an Underground City, and Other State Secrets

The sports journalist Pablo Torre recently won the 2026 Pulitzer Prize for audio reporting for an investigation on his podcast, “Pablo Torre Finds Out.” Torre talks with the New Yorker Radio Hour's David Remnick about the challenge of investigative reporting in professional sports—where leagues, owners, players, and sometimes even fans don’t welcome hard questions. “As much as I am doing that and urging people to join me in the pool,” he says, “it kind of feels like I’m the guy who is the proverbial turd” in that pool. But as private equity invests massive sums in teams, he says, the work is even more necessary—and that fans do care when misdeeds are revealed.

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.

Pablo Torre Is Changing Sports

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

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 Story Behind Trump’s Terrible Approval Rating

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. 

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 Has Forever Changed America's Place in the World

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.

1. 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. 

2. Max Read [@readmaxread], journalist and writer of the "Read Max" newsletter, on why internal theatrics at OpenAI's made so many headlines. Listen. 

3. 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, 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.

Word Watch: “Genocide,” and Do We Have to Care About OpenAI?

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