On the Media

By WNYC Studios

History Social Sciences

What's On the Media about?

The Peabody Award-winning On the Media podcast is your guide to examining how the media sausage is made. Hosts Brooke Gladstone and Bob Garfield 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.
WNYC Studios is a listener-supported producer of other leading podcasts including Radiolab, Snap Judgment, Death, Sex & Money, Nancy and Here’s the Thing with Alec Baldwin.
© WNYC Studios

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Corporations Were Always Pe...

02.19.2020

No discussion of money and politics is complete without a tip of the hat to Citizens United, the landmark Supreme Court ruling of 10 years ago that recognized corporations as people and their money as speech. That ruling was followed ...

On the Media episodes:

02.19.2020 Corporations Were Always People No discussion of money and politics is complete without a tip of the hat to Citizens United, the landmark Supreme Court ruling of 10 years ago that recognized corporations as people and their money as speech. That ruling was followed ...
02.14.2020 Norm! Attorney General Bill Barr appeared to spar with Donald Trump in the latest chapter of the Roger Stone case. On this week’s On the Media, why the apparent interference in the Justice Department’s work should cause concern. Plus, Customs and ...
02.12.2020 OTM Presents: U.S. of Anxiety's "40 Acres in Mississippi" Elbert Lester has lived his full 94 years in Quitman County, Mississippi, on land he and his family own. That’s exceptional for black people in this area, and some family members even say the land came to them through “40 ...
02.07.2020 Picture-Perfect Democracy The sloppy roll-out of Iowa results prompted disinformation and confusion over the mechanics of the caucus system. This week, On the Media looks at the origins of the nomination process to explain how we got here. Plus, local reporters in ...
02.06.2020 How Rush Limbaugh Paved The Way For Trump A lot was reported about Tuesday night's State of the Union address. President Trump's characteristic self-congratulation, the fact-checking of his error-filled speech, and Nancy Pelosi's sensational paper rip stunt. Tuesday night also solidified Rush Limbaugh's ascent to Republican royalty. By ...
01.31.2020 Cancel This! As the coronavirus continues to spread, the World Health Organization has declared a state of emergency. This week, On the Media looks at how panic and misinformation are going viral, too. Plus, a controversial endorsement for Bernie Sanders puts the ...
01.29.2020 OTM presents: Here's the Thing with Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor Our colleagues at "Here's the Thing" produced a great episode this week that we think you'll enjoy: Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey are the New York Times reporters who broke the Harvey Weinstein story. For five months -- perpetually in ...
01.24.2020 Optical Delusion A gathering of thousands of armed protesters in Virginia last weekend prompted fears of mass violence. On this episode of On the Media, how some militia groups are spinning the lack of bloodshed as victory. Plus, fresh demands for accountability ...
01.22.2020 The Alleged Crimes of Greenwald The Brazilian federal government on Tuesday revealed charges of cybercrimes against Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Glenn Greenwald, for his alleged role in the leaking of explosive messages written by high-ranking law enforcement officials. Press freedom advocates immediately decried the charges as ...
01.17.2020 Family Feud A pre-debate news drop from CNN threatened the relative peace between Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. On this week’s On the Media, why the feud is more distracting than illuminating. Plus, why paying close attention to political news is no ...
01.15.2020 Climate Change, News Corp, and the Australian Fires For years, climate change experts have said that hotter and drier summers would exacerbate the threat of bushfires in Australia. Fires have been raging since September and a prolonged drought and record-breaking temperatures mean the blazes won't stop for weeks ...
01.10.2020 Hurtling Toward Catastrophe After the US military assassinated an Iranian military general, war propaganda kicked into overdrive. On this week’s On the Media, how news consumers can cut through the misleading claims and dangerous frames. Plus, how Generation Z is interpreting the geopolitical ...
01.08.2020 The Weinstein Trial Begins In New York this week, jury selection began in the trial of former Hollywood titan Harvey Weinstein. News of his alleged sexual predations launched the #MeToo movement in October 2017, through investigative reporting from both The New York Times and ...
01.03.2020 Can Restorative Justice Save The Internet? As prison populations soar, advocates on both side of the spectrum agree that the law-and-order approach to criminal justice is not making us safer. On this week's On the Media, we look at restorative justice, an alternative to prison that ...
01.01.2020 Ken Kesey's Acid Quest Happy New Year! In this pod extra, we're celebrating what might be your first hangover of 2020 — whether it's fueled by alcohol or just the thought of the year ahead. So, we thought we'd bring you the story of ...
12.27.2019 Hindsight Is 2019 2019 started on a note of fakery, as we made sense of the conspiracies and simulacra that distort our information field. It's ending with a similar air of surreality, with impeachment proceedings bringing the dynamics of the Trump presidency into ...
12.25.2019 The Hidden Truths of Hanukkah Today is Christmas, but it's also Hanukkah — the Jewish 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 ...
12.20.2019 Let The Record Show For only the third time in U.S. history, the American press is covering a presidential impeachment. On this week’s On the Media, a look at a few of the coverage missteps made along the way. And, the reporting process behind ...
12.18.2019 Sons of the Soil Last week, India’s ruling party (the BJP) passed the Citizenship Amendment Act. The legislation grants a clear path to Indian citizenship to non-Muslim refugees from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Opponents pointed out flaws in the law almost as soon as ...
12.13.2019 Body of Law: Beyond Roe A majority of Americans polled by CSPAN last year couldn't name a Supreme Court case. Of those who could, Roe v. Wade was by far the most familiar, with 40 percent able to name it. (Only five percent could name ...
12.11.2019 The "Pentagon Papers" Of Our Time On Monday, the Washington Post released the fruits of a three-year investigative effort: the "Afghanistan Papers," a once-secret internal government history of a deadly, costly, and ultimately futile entanglement. The hundreds of frank, explosive interviews — along with a new ...
12.06.2019 The Dead Consensus As House leaders begin drafting articles of impeachment, examples from the Nixon and Clinton eras abound. This week, On the Media rewinds to the 19th century — and the turbulent impeachment of Andrew Johnson. Plus, what a debate between two ...
12.04.2019 Tribalism, Anger and the State of Our Politics If solidarity and the recognition of mutual self-interest are the keys to moving past our fractious moment, it can be hard to see how we'll get there. Anger and tribalism appear to be at an all-time high, creating political and ...
11.29.2019 We Need To Talk About Poland With the US deep in questions of impeachment, what lessons can we learn from divided societies abroad? This week, On the Media travels to Poland, where conspiracy, xenophobia and the rise of illiberalism have the country in an existential fight ...
11.26.2019 PURPLE EPISODE 4: Media to the Rescue? As part of a month-long campaign called the Purple Project for Democracy, (a strictly non-partisan, apolitical effort that a number of other large news organizations have also contributed to) we are featuring a series of conversations about an alarming loss ...
11.25.2019 PURPLE EPISODE 3: Let’s Not Discount Reality As part of a month-long campaign called the Purple Project for Democracy, OTM is using its podcast feed for a series of conversations about an alarming loss of trust, faith and devotion by Americans for American democracy — and what ...
11.24.2019 PURPLE EPISODE 2: “Low Information, High Misinformation Voters" As part of a month-long campaign called the Purple Project for Democracy, (a strictly non-partisan, apolitical effort that a number of other large news organizations have also contributed to) we are featuring a series of conversations about an alarming loss ...
11.23.2019 PURPLE EPISODE 1: “Is Democracy up for grabs?” As part of a month-long campaign called the Purple Project for Democracy, (a strictly non-partisan, apolitical effort that a number of other large news organizations have also contributed to) we are featuring a series of conversations about an alarming loss ...
11.22.2019 The Disagreement Is The Point In hearings this week, House Democrats sought to highlight an emerging set of facts concerning the President’s conduct. On this week’s On the Media, a look at why muddying the waters remains a viable strategy for Trump’s defenders. Plus, even ...
11.19.2019 We Made a Lipstick For You! 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 ...
11.15.2019 Designed to Intimidate Millions tuned into impeachment hearings this week — the first two of five already scheduled. On this week’s show, why shifts in public opinion may not necessarily sway the GOP. Plus, what we can learn from the predatory tactics that ...
11.13.2019 OTM presents: Shell Shock 1919: How the Great War Changed Culture You really have a feeling that here is a building that looks fantastically beautiful, and it’s got its whole façade simply blown off by this war. -Philipp Blom World War I presented civilization with unprecedented violence and destruction. The shock ...
11.08.2019 Curiouser and Curiouser President Trump’s concerns about corruption in Ukraine began, in part, with a series of articles in a publication called The Hill. On this week’s On the Media, a close-up on the columnist whose dubious tales may lead to an impeachment. ...
11.06.2019 Can We Govern Ourselves? As Americans battle for control of the future of the United States, it seems that we're always going back to founding documents and core principles: relying on them and reinterpreting them, in what seems to be an increasingly arduous effort ...
11.01.2019 Band-Aid On A Bulletwound As wildfires tear through California, our decades-old infrastructure comes back to bite us. On this week’s On the Media, how we can understand this latest climate catastrophe through a metaphor from the computer world. Plus, the on-going struggle over the ...
10.30.2019 OTM presents Trump Inc: All the President's Memes President Trump's Doral resort has been in the news a lot lately. His chief of staff announced from the White House that America would host the next G-7 summit there. Then, Trump backed off. We're looking at a conference that ...
10.25.2019 When They Come For You There’s a growing movement on the left and right for prison reform. On this week’s On the Media, a deep dive into the strange bedfellows coalition working to close prisons down. Also, in speeches, testimony, and leaked audio, Mark Zuckerberg ...
10.23.2019 OTM presents: Impeachment Pod, the Taylor Testimony This week's OTM pod extra is another episode from the new podcast hosted by WNYC's Brian Lehrer: Where are we on impeachment today?Yesterday evening, the public got the chance to read the opening statement of U.S. emissary to Ukraine William ...
10.18.2019 Hanging In The Balance In covering President Trump’s decision to stop protecting Kurdish fighters in Syria, press reports have focused on the Kurds as US allies and tools in fighting ISIS. This week, On the Media looks at a different aspect of Kurdish life: ...
10.16.2019 Introducing... Impeachment: A Daily Podcast The pace of impeachment-related revelations is breathtaking, and it isn't slowing yet. With each day comes yet another executive branch staffer defying the White House by testifying behind closed doors on Capitol Hill — new names, fresh allegations, and ever ...
10.11.2019 Sticks and Stones “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 2019? This week, On the Media looks back at our country’s radical — ...
10.09.2019 "The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee" This coming Monday, some states and cities will celebrate Indigenous People’s Day, renamed from Columbus Day to honor the lives and history lost due to centuries of colonialism. Meanwhile, the few American Indian stories most Americans learn in school, like ...
10.04.2019 A Likely Story The talk from the Trump team is becoming increasingly hard to follow. This week, On the Media takes a look at the conspiracy thinking that’s taken over the executive branch. Plus, leaders at Fox News search for a path forward ...
10.02.2019 Go and Get Yourself a Whistle and Blow Ever present in the Snowden and Manning era, the word "whistleblower" is again dominating the airwaves. But where exactly did the word come from? Who gets to decide who qualifies as a whistleblower? Back in 2015, Brooke spoke to language ...
09.27.2019 Nice Democracy You've Got There... The impeachment inquiry into President Trump is tangled up in Ukrainian politics, but few Washington reporters understand the dynamics at play. This week, On the Media looks at what we all need to know to make sense of the news. ...
09.25.2019 Live Streaming Truth and Reconciliation It's been two years since the brutal and bloody 22-year reign of Gambian leader Yahya Jammeh ended and the country is now embroiled in a uniquely transparent truth and reconciliation process. Officials are interviewing killers and victims about the deaths ...
09.20.2019 Too Hot For School Roosevelt’s New Deal remade American society, and now climate activists are pushing for a Green New Deal to do it again. This week, On the Media looks at the attacks from conservatives against both projects, and why congress underestimates support ...
09.18.2019 OTM presents Trump Inc: The Family Business Trump, Inc. takes a step back to make sense of the seemingly endless scandals swirling around the White House. They're not random. They fit a pattern and that has a precedent. It turns out, Trump is running the government a ...
09.13.2019 A Very Bitter Joke Good riddance, John Bolton! By dismissing his third National Security Advisor, President Trump prompted renewed concern over White House instability. This week, On the Media makes the case that John Bolton’s outster is good news for the republic. Plus, after ...
09.11.2019 Why Many Afghans Don't Understand 9/11 This weekend in a series of tweets, President Trump both disclosed and scrapped secret talks with the Taliban in Camp David. Of course, the Taliban did not perpetrate 9/11. But they did offer safe haven in Afghanistan to Al Qaeda, ...

Older episodes

On the Media

What's On the Media about?

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On the Media episodes:

Corporations Were Always People

Norm!

OTM Presents: U.S. of Anxiety's "40 Acres in Mississippi"

Picture-Perfect Democracy

How Rush Limbaugh Paved The Way For Trump

Cancel This!

OTM presents: Here's the Thing with Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor

Optical Delusion

The Alleged Crimes of Greenwald

Family Feud

Climate Change, News Corp, and the Australian Fires

Hurtling Toward Catastrophe

The Weinstein Trial Begins

Can Restorative Justice Save The Internet?

Ken Kesey's Acid Quest

Hindsight Is 2019

The Hidden Truths of Hanukkah

Let The Record Show

Sons of the Soil

Body of Law: Beyond Roe

The "Pentagon Papers" Of Our Time

The Dead Consensus

Tribalism, Anger and the State of Our Politics

We Need To Talk About Poland

PURPLE EPISODE 4: Media to the Rescue?

PURPLE EPISODE 3: Let’s Not Discount Reality

PURPLE EPISODE 2: “Low Information, High Misinformation Voters"

PURPLE EPISODE 1: “Is Democracy up for grabs?”

The Disagreement Is The Point

We Made a Lipstick For You!

Designed to Intimidate

OTM presents: Shell Shock 1919: How the Great War Changed Culture

Curiouser and Curiouser

Can We Govern Ourselves?

Band-Aid On A Bulletwound

OTM presents Trump Inc: All the President's Memes

When They Come For You

OTM presents: Impeachment Pod, the Taylor Testimony

Hanging In The Balance

Introducing... Impeachment: A Daily Podcast

Sticks and Stones

"The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee"

A Likely Story

Go and Get Yourself a Whistle and Blow

Nice Democracy You've Got There...

Live Streaming Truth and Reconciliation

Too Hot For School

OTM presents Trump Inc: The Family Business

A Very Bitter Joke

Why Many Afghans Don't Understand 9/11

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