On the Media

When a journalist was accidentally added to a Signal chat that disclosed sensitive war plans, a controversy erupted about our national security. On this week’s On the Media, a look at how right-wing media is processing “Signalgate.” Plus, why Donald Trump is calling himself the crypto president.[01:00] Host Micah Loewinger speaks with Will Sommer, a senior reporter at the Bulwark, about the...

President Trump's appointee at the Environmental Protection Agency, Lee Zeldin, is making a lot of changes at the EPA. Including cutting 31 environmental rules regarding climate change pollution, electric vehicles, and power plants. Environmentalists say this is a gutting of regulation. GOP lawmakers deem the EPA a job killer that does nothing but burden businesses with regulations. In the eyes...

The Trump administration has cut funding for Voice of America, the 80-year-old state media network. On this week’s On the Media, how pulling federal funds from VOA’s parent organization will imperil press freedom abroad. Plus, a Radio Free Europe journalist describes being detained for nine months in Russia until she was released alongside Evan Gershkovich.[01:00] Host Micah Loewinger speaks with...

This week's midweek podcast is a segment from Tuesdays episode of the Brian Lehrer show -- the legendary live call-in show that airs every weekday morning on our producing station, WNYC. The segment features Derek Thompson, staff writer at The Atlantic, author of the "Work in Progress" newsletter and host of the podcast "Plain English," and Ezra Klein, New York Times opinion columnist and host of...

A Columbia University graduate who led protests last year has been detained by I.C.E. Even though he is a green card holder. On this week’s On the Media, hear why the case has conjured comparisons to the Red Scare of the forties and fifties. Plus, a look at the years-long campaign to dismantle press freedoms in the United States.[01:00] Host Brooke Gladstone speaks with Corey Robin, distinguished...

Last January the hedge fund Alden Global Capital sold The Baltimore Sun to David Smith, an executive at Sinclair Broadcast Group. Smith once told Trump that Sinclair was "here to deliver your message.” He is also known to support conservative causes like Moms for Liberty. It's been a year and with the release of new circulation numbers, its clear that whatever Smith is doing at the Sun, isn't...

President Trump’s on-again, off-again tariff announcements sent stock markets plunging. On this week’s On the Media, how to make sense of the ever-changing news about the economy. Plus, the policy behind the ‘Make America Healthy Again’ rhetoric.[01:00] Host Micah Loewinger speaks with Gordon Hanson, an economist at Harvard University’s Kennedy School, about President Trump’s “America First”...

Since Kash Patel was announced as the director for the FBI, pundits have warned of a return to the era of J. Edgar Hoover, who ran the bureau for 48 years. But according to Beverly Gage, the author of G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century, under Patel, the FBI could be politicized in ways that even its notorious first director would have rejected. This week, Micah and...

Breaking from a century of tradition, the White House says it will seize control of the press pool covering the president. On this week’s On the Media, the new administration is prioritizing access for an array of far-right influencers and news outlets. Plus, what President Trump’s pivot toward Russia means for Ukraine after three years of war.[00:00] Host Brooke Gladstone sits down with Anna...

Days before Russia invaded Ukraine 3 years ago, Russian president Vladimir Putin read an essay he’d written in 2021, “On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians,” wherein he claimed that Ukraine is a fake country that was invented by Lenin. This version of Russian history, which is full of inaccuracies amplified on Russian state media, has been used by the Russian state to justify their...