On the Media

President Obama began the year with a plea for "common sense" gun safety but admitted that it won't be easy. We examine the myths and messages that surround, and often obscure, the national conversation on gun safety. Plus, do most Americans really support reform? And, if so, does it matter?

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On December 10, the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Nevada’s largest daily paper, was purchased by an unidentified buyer for a $140 million - far more than it sold for less than a year earlier. The smart money was on Sheldon Adelson, the casino magnate and Republican mega-donor, but not even the paper’s reporters could say who their new boss was. After a week filled with speculation - and a Republican debate hosted at his Las Vegas casino - Adelson confirmed the purchase. But that was just the beginning of an odd, ongoing saga at the paper. Erik Sass, a reporter at MediaPost, joins Bob to explain the drama. 

What if, either by the slow creep of technological obsolescence or sudden cosmic disaster, we were cut off from our electronic records? 

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 [email protected].

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A special hour on the dodgy world of health news, from scary studies and so-called “medical breakthroughs” to celebrity-endorsed miracle cures and people who fake illness online.

What you hear about the Paris climate agreement depends on whom you ask. We sort through the competing messages about what was achieved. Plus, how to spot an accurate election poll as the primaries edge closer; and what the GOP presidential candidates' war on "political correctness" really means. 

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 [email protected].

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When diseases like Swine Flu and Ebola infect cable news, panic takes over. We put together a template to help the discerning news consumer see through the media's over-the-top coverage.

Breaking News Consumer's Handbook: Infectious Disease Edition

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 [email protected].

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

A special hour on the dodgy world of health news, from scary studies and so-called “medical breakthroughs” to celebrity-endorsed miracle cures and people who fake illness online.

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 [email protected].

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

This is Bob Mankoff’s time. The cartoon editor of the New Yorker has just published a memoir: “How About Never. Is Never Good for You?”  He’s a regular on WNYC’s The New Yorker Radio Hour. And he was featured in the documentary  “Very Semi-Serious,” which debuted on HBO last week. Recently our Bob sat down with their Bob to talk about art, life, cartoons, and much, much more. 

Some of Donald Trump's opponents have labeled him a demagogue - but are they right? And, if so, what is there to be done? Plus: Bob reflects on the media feeding frenzy in the house of the San Bernardino shooters; and the life, and self-documented death, of New York Times reporter and AIDS victim Jeffrey Schmalz.

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 [email protected].

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We often hear that individuals who come to symbolize major Supreme Court decisions "took their case all the way to the Supreme Court." But sometimes, such plaintiffs are taken by hand. Bob explores how shopping for the perfect plaintiff to serve as the poster child for an issue is a strategy employed by public-interest law across the political spectrum, and dates back to 19th-century civil rights litigation.