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On the Media: Daily Summaries Delivered
by 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游戏副本 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.
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- 5 days ago49 min
Place Your Bets!
With midterm elections around the corner, conspiracy theories have been planted to sow doubt in the results. On this week’s On the Media, a breakdown of what election rumors to expect on and after Election Day. Plus, how polling fraudsters are threatening trust in public opinion research. [00:00] Micah sits down with Kate Starbird, co-founder of the Center for An Informed Public at the University of Washington, to sort through the rumors swirling in the final week of midterm election campaigns. [16:16] Brooke chats with Mary Radcliffe, head of research at Fifty Plus One, about three fraudulent pollsters she helped catch this year, and how they muddy the waters for critical work that informs our democracy. [30:27] Brooke speaks with Koleman Strumpf, professor of economics at Wake Forest University, about the history of betting on elections and what lessons carry forward to today. Further reading / watching:“Spot the Lie: 6 Moves of “Rigged Election” Rumors,” by The Center for an Informed Public“What to Know About Election Forecasting and Prediction Markets This November,” by The Center for an Informed Public“A Tale of Two Sullivans: Rumors Around a Department of Justice Lawsuit in Alaska,” by The Center for an Informed Public“FiftyPlusOne just caught a pollster faking data — and they copped to it,” by Mary Radcliffe, G. Elliott Morris, Cooper Burton, and FiftyPlusOne“Historical Presidential Betting Markets,” by Paul Rhode and Koleman Strumpf 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.
- 1 weeks ago50 min
Help Is On the Way - A Conversation With Maria Ressa
Maria Ressa, journalist, professor at Columbia University, CEO of the press outlet Rappler, and the author of "Fight Back; A Citizen's Guide To Standing Up To Dictators," talks with WNYC host, Brian Lehrer about the role of the press and individuals in maintaining democracy, especially in this age of AI. 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.
- 1 weeks ago49 min
Midterm Madness
With control of Congress at stake, the 2026 midterm campaigns are on track to spend an all-time record sum on this election cycle. On this week’s On the Media, how political ads are resonating, and misfiring. Plus, a look at the changing relationships between public radio stations and universities after the defunding of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. [00:00] Micah speaks with Marisa Kabas, founder of the independent news site The Handbasket, about her scoop that revealed the identity of the man who attempted to heckle Democratic senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed at a campaign rally last week. She discusses how El-Sayed used this exchange for his own campaign’s gain. Plus, the aftermath of a viral, widely-panned ad deployed by Vivek Ramaswamy in the Ohio gubernatorial race.[00:00] Brooke and Micah analyze the flood of political campaign ads in the lead-up to the midterm elections, with the help of Washington Post data reporter Lydia Sidhom, who reviewed $1.6 billion of campaign ads from the highest profile congressional and gubernatorial races. They look at the five issues that candidates and PACs spent the most money highlighting—including the economy and corruption—and review what seems to be sticking for voters, and what doesn’t. [00:00] Brooke sits down with Lucy Schiller, journalist and assistant professor of nonfiction writing at Grinnell College, to talk about her recent article examining universities struggling to adhere to the Trump administration's policies while supporting their licensed public radio stations. Then, Brooke speaks with Will Dahlberg, former general manager at WBHM in Birmingham, Alabama, about what led him to leave his station. Further reading / watching:“'Tommy' from viral El-Sayed video is former Sen. Hawley staffer with Christian nationalist ties,” by Marisa Kabas“We reviewed $1.6 billion of campaign ads. Here are the takeaways,” by Luke Connors, Lydia Sidhom and Laura Beveridge“‘All They’re Going to Hear Is Capitulation’,” by Lucy Schiller 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.
- 2 weeks ago33 min
The Classroom/Technology Pipeline
OTM producer, Molly Rosen, has been on a mission to find out what technology her two-year-old kid will confront when he’s old enough to go to school. In a recent interview she did with a New Yorker staff writer, Jessica Winter, about how AI chatbots are infiltrating schools, Molly learned about the time Jessica's sixth grader had brought home a new Google Chromebook from school, pre-installed with Google’s Gemini suite of AI tools. JESSICA WINTER: If she opened up a Google Doc to write an essay, she would receive prompts asking her if she wanted some help. If she opened the app where she creates graphic design and posters, that now had prompts for “Beautify this slide” or “Make this look better.” I immediately thought, “Well, we’ll just turn them off,” but we couldn’t. We couldn’t turn them off. You needed administrative privileges to turn them off, so she just kept dismissing the prompts, and they kept coming up again.So that’s where we are today. But the reason that Google Chromebooks are in classrooms in the first place is part of a longer influencing campaign that started back in the 1980s. This week, Molly spoke to Natasha Singer who covered tech in schools for The New York Times for more than a decade. She lays out the history of how big tech got into schools in her new book, Coding Kids: Big Tech’s Battle to Remake Public Schools. 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.
- 2 weeks ago50 min
How to Live Forever (or Die Trying)
From ‘Blue Zones’ branded food to anti-aging peptides, the marketplace is flooded with products promising to help us live longer and better. On this week’s On the Media, a researcher calls into question the data behind some of the most popular ‘longevity science.’ Plus, why Silicon Valley billionaires are obsessed with the end of the world. [01:00] A new book titled Morbid: Debunking Modern Longevity Science, out this week, alleges that much of the research underpinning longevity science is hot air. Host Micah Loewinger explores the contours of this heated debate within the field, and speaks with the book’s author, Saul Newman, a research fellow at the Oxford Institute of Population Ageing, about the prevalence of fraudulent 100+ year olds, and his gripes with the popular “Blue Zones” research and the multimillion-dollar business that grew out of it. We also hear from New York Magazine writer Kerry Howley and one of the originators of Blue Zones, demographer Michel Poulain. Plus, the growing grift within the field, and the Silicon Valley tech giants spending millions to try to vanquish death.[31:39] Micah speaks to Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor, co-authors of End Times Fascism And the Fight for the Living World, about a new strain of apocalyptic fascism emerging in Silicon Valley and the White House that rejects the idea of a future on Earth, and how to fight back. Further reading / watching:“Demographers at War: Fake centenarians, faulty data, junk science, and contested “blue zones,” by Kerry Howley“Supercentenarians and the oldest-old are concentrated into regions with no birth certificates and short lifespans,” by Saul Newman“The validity of Blue Zones demography: a response to critiques,” by Steven Austad and Giovanni PesLive to 100: Secrets of the Blue Zones, NetflixStatement from Dan Buettner, founder of Blue Zones LLC:The Blue Zones findings are based on more than two decades of demographic and scientific research, with methods and conclusions documented in peer-reviewed literature and examined by independent researchers.Age validation and record-keeping have already been carefully investigated, and Newman’s theories were explicitly debunked in a recent peer-reviewed article published in The Gerontologist. Presenting conspiracy theories or allegations that have already been disproven as equivalent to a large, well-established body of evidence is misleading to the public.Email exchange with Dan Buettner:FROM OTM: Michel Poulain told us that there is “no proof” that Loma Linda, California is a blue zone because “we don’t have the same possibility of validation of age.” He said that “When I discussed with Dan Buettner, he admitted that he had to introduce this Loma Linda because National Geographic wanted to have a US taste in the system.” In response to those statements, we intend to paraphrase the statement you sent us via email about how Loma Linda likely no longer qualifies as a blue zone under a new formal definition you’re working on. DAN BUETTNER: Before I wrote about Blue Zones in National Geographic in 2005, it was not known to anyone by a roomful of demographers and the 50 or so readers of Experimental Gerontology. It was my idea to make it an international term and absent a clear criteria, I named Loma Linda a Blue Zone. We have not evaluated Loma Linda with the new criteria yet.FROM OTM: New York Magazine writer Kerry Howley told us that “Poulain says that Buettner went ahead and [trademarked] the term Blue Zones, the term Poulain had originated without his permission, without his even knowing.” Do you agree with this characteriza
- 3 weeks ago32 min
Micah's Conversation With Lilliana Mason LONG VERSION
A longer version of Micah's conversation with political scientist Lilliana Mason that aired on last week's show. They spoke about the most polarizing issue among Americans: who gets to decide who belongs in this country. Mason makes the case that while polarization is worrying, it is a symptom of a greater threat to democracy that demands our attention – the rise of ethno-nationalist politics. 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.
- 3 weeks ago50 min
Polarization Is Not Our Biggest Problem
During an I.C.E. operation in New York City, officers shot a man in a car while a child sat in the back seat. On this week’s On the Media, coverage of I.C.E. has decreased since the spring, while the agency’s operations have quietly surged. Plus, rightwing activists go after the H-1B visa program. [01:00] Micah Loewinger hears from data journalist G. Elliott Morris about how I.C.E. coverage has decreased since it exploded across our front pages earlier this year, following the killing of Alex Pretti and Renee Good. However, José Olivares makes the case that I.C.E.’s operations have actually surged in the ensuing months – the agency has just been working more quietly.[15:05] Micah interviews Christopher Mathias about how the once-fringe far-right thinker Chris Rufo (known for his critiques of DEI’ and ‘CRT’) is fomenting anti-Indian bigotry and advocating for extremist “remigration” policies.[31:02] Micah speaks to political scientist Lilliana Mason about the most polarizing issue among Americans: who belongs in this country. Mason makes the case that while polarization is worrying, it is a symptom of a greater threat to democracy that demands our attention – the rise of ethnonationalist politics.Further reading:“Gone in 90 seconds: an ‘invisibilized’ ICE is arresting more people than ever” by Maanvi Singh, Will Craft, Andrew Witherspoon and Julius Constantine Motal“Three deaths, three states, 24 hours: one day in ICE’s quiet but ‘gruesome’ surge,” by José Olivares“‘What they’re doing qualifies as torture’: new details of ICE force-feeding revealed” by José Olivares“Iran, prices, ICE, and Epstein are the biggest stories of 2026,” by G. Elliott Morris“Chris Rufo — Known For ‘DEI’ and ‘CRT’ Panics — Tries to Make ‘the Indian Question’ a Thing,” by Christopher Mathias“Polarization is Not the Problem,” by Lilliana Mason 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.
- 4 weeks ago21 min
Locked Up In Russia
In 2023, Evan Gershkovich was working as a young reporter in Moscow for the Wall Street Journal, when he was arrested by Russian authorities. He was eventually convicted on blatantly false charges of espionage and spent nearly five hundred days in imprisonment. Gershkovich recounts the experience in a new memoir, “This Cursed Beautiful Land,” and in an essay in The New Yorker. He spoke with David Remnick about life inside a Russian prison, the international prisoner swap that freed him, and why the difficult process of reacclimating to his former life complicated how he viewed his incarceration. 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.
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About On the Media
On the Media is a weekly show that uses the media as a lens to understand our world. On the Media listeners say the游戏副本 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.
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