President Donald Trump’s countless executive orders and mounting deportations are testing America’s democratic institutions. On this week’s On the Media, what we can learn from Hungary’s recent backslide into autocracy. Plus, why resistance movements throughout history have succeeded with 3.5 percent of the population, or less, behind them.

[01:36] Host Micah Loewinger speaks with Andrew Marantz, a staff writer at The New Yorker, about his recent piece, “Is the U.S. Becoming an Autocracy?” and what we can learn from Hungary’s recent backsliding into authoritarianism.

[16:17] Micah speaks with Márton Gulyás, founder of Partizán, Hungary’s leading independent news show, about what lessons journalists in the US might take away from his experience.

[37:53] Micah sits down with Maria J. Stephan, political scientist and co-author of Why Civil Resistance Works, to dissect the 3.5% rule, a statistic that’s been making its rounds on social media, which is a measurement of the power of collective action. Stephan and her co-researcher Erica Chenoweth first coined the term in 2010. 

Further reading:

• “Is the U.S. Becoming an Autocracy?” by Andrew Marantz
• “Big Tents and Collective Action Can Defeat Authoritarianism,” by Maria J. Stephan
• Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict, by Erica Chenoweth and Maria J. Stephan

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, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.

This past weekend, OTM co-host Micah Loewinger went to Seattle to sit down with an all-time favourite guest of the show: tech activist and writer Cory Doctorow. We recorded the following conversation in front of a live audience at the Cascade PBS Ideas festival. The topic was “Enshittification” – Cory’s theory of how everything on the internet got worse. 

We first discussed this idea on the show a couple years ago – and this was an opportunity to talk about what enshittification looks like right now: the latest attempts by tech companies to take advantage of users and workers, and the surge of lawsuits attempting to hold these companies to account.

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, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.

To mark his first hundred days in office, President Trump signed three executive orders related to immigration. On this week’s On the Media, the powerful database that can help I.C.E. track down and deport people. Plus, the dramatic fight for power over Rupert Murdoch’s media empire.

[01:00] Host Brooke Gladstone talks with Jason Koebler, co-founder of 404 Media, about how a surveillance company is supplying ICE with a powerful database to identify and deport people with minor infractions or certain characteristics.

[20:57] Host Micah Loewinger speaks with Jason Leopold, a senior investigative reporter at Bloomberg and writer of the newsletter “FOIA Files,” about the Trump administration’s attacks on Freedom of Information Act offices at the CDC and FDA, and what they mean for the future of government transparency.

[31:50] Brooke talks with McKay Coppins, a staff writer at The Atlantic, about the remarkable, extensive interviews he conducted with members of the Murdoch family — particularly James Murdoch and his wife Kathryn. (Rupert and his eldest son, Lachlan, declined to participate.) Plus, how the HBO show “Succession” influenced the family’s fight over the future of their own media empire.

Further reading:

• Inside a Powerful Database ICE Uses to Identify and Deport People, by Jason Koebler
• Trump Filed a FOIA Request. We FOIAed His FOIA, by Jason Leopold
• Growing Up Murdoch: James Murdoch on mind games, sibling rivalry, and the war for the family media empire, by McKay Coppins

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, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.

Why does every social media platform seem to get worse over time? This week’s On the Media explores an expansive theory on how we lost a better version of the internet, and the systems that insulate Big Digital from competition. Plus, some solutions for fixing the world wide web.

[01:00] Host Brooke Gladstone interviews Cory Doctorow, journalist, activist, and the author of Red Team Blues, on his theory surrounding the slow, steady descent of the internet. 

[15:59] Brooke asks Cory if the troubles that plague some corners of the internet are specific to Big Digital, rather than the economy at large—and how our legal systems enabled it all. Doctorow explains how the antitrust practices of the early 1900s went awry, and what exactly he means by “twiddling.” 

[31:29] Cory and Brooke discuss possible solutions to save the world wide web.  Among them: better enforcement of privacy laws, interoperability, and the ever elusive "right-to-exit." Plus, hear about the one industry that so far has been mostly immune to the forces of "enshittification." 

This episode originally aired on our September 1, 2023 program, How Big Tech Went to Sh*t.

Further reading:

• “The ‘Enshittification’ of TikTok” by Cory Doctorow
  “Too big to care,”  by Cory Doctorow

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, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.

The launch of a collaboration between On the Media and Nate Silver’s 538 to track the push and pull between polling, media coverage, and public interest in candidates. Plus: a look at the long history of savvy political candidates campaigning as Washington "outsiders"; debunking the supposed "Ferguson effect"; and Spotlight, a new movie about the Boston Globe's investigation into the Catholic Church sex scandal, celebrates the power of the press. 

Discuss on Twitter: #OTMRubio, #OTM_538, #OTMOutsiders, #OTMFerguson, #OTMSpotlight

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, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.

A farewell to coverage of Joe Biden's non-existent presidential campaign. Plus: clarifying the misleading language of drone warfare and what it says about policy; a new film examines Dan Rather's downfall at CBS; the Lockerbie bombing investigation gets leads from a documentary; and a story about the Benghazi attack that you didn't hear at the committee hearing this week. 

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, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.

Playboy has announced it will soon stop publishing full nudes. We look at the history of men's magazines and what it means that sex doesn't sell in print for the magazine anymore. Plus: "who won the debate?"; Bernie Sanders versus the media; a new privacy win in Europe; and more. 

Discuss on Twitter: #OTMdebate, #OTMbernie, #OTMgallup, #OTMprivacy, #OTMplayboy

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, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.

OTM digs into the Supreme Court, an institution as secretive as it is powerful -- and how we understand it through the media. Plus: how regular people become poster children for thorny legal issues, potential press influence on the court, and cameras in the courtroom: now set to music.

Discuss on Twitter: #OTMSCOTUS

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, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.

Over the last 2,500 years, cancer has shifted from a disease in the shadows to one at the center of scientific research and public discussion. On the Media dives deep into the way we talk about cancer: in the news, in the hospital, and in our private lives.

This episode is the first of a two-part series: find our second hour on cancer here. 

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, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.

With Pope Francis in the US this week, we examine why pundits try so hard to assess the pontiff’s remarks through the lens of 2016 politics. Plus: why the AP is scrapping the term “climate change denier” – and a new collection of fiction gives voices to figures sidelined by history. 

Discuss on Twitter: #OTMpope, #OTMclimate, #OTMpolling, #OTMhoax, #OTMnarrative

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, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.

Unless you've been hiding under a rock, you've probably heard that Pope Francis is in the U.S. this week. To celebrate His Holiness's arrival, we thought we'd give you a pope primer. Back in December of 2013, when Pope Francis first became a media darling, Brooke examined what makes his messaging so viral-friendly.

If you like what we do, please rate us on iTunes! And as always, follow us on Twitter @onthemedia. 

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, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.

This week’s GOP presidential debate was full of barbs, zingers, and over talk but was severely lacking in the fact-checking department. We consider the role of journalists when they play debate moderator. Plus, as the European refugee crisis continues, a debunking of the viral images that are channeling hatred and xenophobia. And, exposing Exxon's flip floppery on climate change.

Discuss on Twitter:

#OTMdebate

#OTMexxon

#OTMrefugees

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, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.

On the language debate surrounding the Mediterranean crisis, debunking migration myths both foreign and domestic, and a visit to the 9/11 museum. 

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, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.

The rhetoric of ads on the Iran nuclear agreement, the ongoing fall out of the Ashley Madison hack, and the end of an iconic Spanish language variety show.

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, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.

Over the past few months, The Washington Post has weathered a slate of unfavorable news. In May, publisher and CEO Will Lewis revealed the Post lost 77 million dollars last year. Lewis also announced a big restructuring and, as reported by Semafor’s Max Tani, the paper’s chief technology officer should have "AI everywhere in our newsroom." 

But then things started changing at the top of the news organization. Sally Buzbee, who had served as the executive editor for the Post over the last three years, resigned. And in the wake of her departure CEO Will Lewis, and his chosen replacement for Buzbee, Robert Winnett, became the center of multiple investigations. Allegations of paying sources, using informants who secured scoops via deception, and even approving destruction of evidence have now made headlines. This week, Micah sits down with NPR media correspondent,  David Folkenflik to make sense of the news, and what it all might mean for one of America’s most storied papers. 

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, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.

Each week through Labor Day, we'll be pulling an OTM gem from our vast archives for you to enjoy on the beach, in a park... or on a sticky subway, while imagining you're on a beach.

For the last episode of our summer listening series, we present our first and only effort at full-fledged radio theatre: Pledge This! 

To hear more of our summer listening, don't forget to subscribe to our podcast on iTunes, or wherever you get your podcasts, and leave a review while you're there! And as always, follow us on twitter @OnTheMedia.

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, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.

The push for a female libido pill reveals misunderstandings about female sexuality. Plus: Jorge Ramos' confrontation with the GOP front-runner; a guide to parsing stock market coverage; and an Instagram star is revealed as a joke-thief.

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, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.

Each week through Labor Day, we'll be pulling an OTM gem from our vast archives for you to enjoy on the beach, in a park... or on a sticky subway, while imagining you're on a beach.

For the eighth episode of our summer listening series, former producer-at-large Mike Pesca (now host of the Gist) takes a look at the sweetest part of America's favorite pastime.

To hear more of our summer listening, don't forget to subscribe to our podcast on iTunes, or wherever you get your podcasts, and leave a review while you're there! And as always, follow us on twitter @OnTheMedia.

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, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.

A decade after Hurricane Katrina, the story of two nursing home owners who became media scapegoats for the tragedy in New Orleans. Plus, a bit of indulgent speculation about a Trump presidency, the NSA's "house philosopher," and activists protesting new surveillance technologies with a tool of the past: faxes. 

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, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.

On January 20, 2017, Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th President of the United States. Impossible? Sure. But it happened anyway.

From the not too distant future, we relive the shock and confusion of those early days and trace the path, tragically predictable but not without surprises, of the next four years. How could such a thing happen? What did it mean? And is it possible that it wasn't all bad? 

Adapted from the article by Jon Lovett for The Atlantic.

Narration by Andy Lanset

Trump impersonation by Ed Kelly

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, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.

Each week through Labor Day, we'll be pulling an OTM gem from our vast archives for you to enjoy on the beach, in a park... or on a sticky subway, while imagining you're on a beach.

For the seventh episode of our summer listening series, one man heads on a quixotic quest to become a TV pundit. Some television talking heads seem born for the job; others needs a little more help, as you'll soon see.

To hear more of our summer listening, don't forget to subscribe to our podcast on iTunes, or wherever you get your podcasts, and leave a review while you're there! And as always, follow us on twitter @OnTheMedia.

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, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.

After Donald Trump insulted Fox News' Megyn Kelly, the network made a strange deal with the GOP front runner. We hear what it says about media relationships with candidates in this election cycle. Plus, an anniversary in Ferguson, and writer David Lipsky on his interviews with the late David Foster Wallace. 

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, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.

Brooke sat down with writer David Lipsky, whose "reporter tennis" interviews with author David Foster Wallace are dramatized in the film The End of The Tour. With the movie out in wide release this week, he and Brooke listen back to the original tapes Lipsky made over five days in 1996, and which formed the basis of his book Although Of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself: A Road Trip with David Foster Wallace. They discuss the delicate bond the writers formed, and what it's like to hear his interview tapes acted out by Jesse Eisenberg (Lipsky) and Jason Segal (Wallace). Plus, their takes on Baywatch, success, and (yes) women. 

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, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.

Each week through Labor Day, we'll be pulling an OTM gem from our vast archives for you to enjoy on the beach, in a park... or on a sticky subway, while imagining you're on a beach.

For the sixth episode of our summer listening series, we take a deep dive into the world of television pitchmen and the fine art of the infomercial. All we can say here is, you won't believe it does that. 

To hear more of our summer listening, don't forget to subscribe to our podcast on iTunes, or wherever you get your podcasts, and leave a review while you're there! And as always, follow us on twitter @OnTheMedia.

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, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.

A special hour on the enthralling genre of true crime. 

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, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.

Over the past two decades, 900 British postal workers were wrongfully prosecuted for fraud. On this week’s On the Media, hear how a TV show about the Post Office Scandal sparked a political reckoning in the U.K. Plus, meet the Redstones – the complicated family behind Paramount Global.

[00:00] Host Brooke Gladstone interviews Jonathan Freedland, columnist at the Guardian and host of the Politics Weekly America podcast, about how coinciding election campaigns in the US and the UK this year are influencing each other from across the pond.

[00:00] Brooke explores how a recent British TV drama about the "Post Office Scandal" sparked a long overdue political reckoning in the U.K., and shone a light on the stories of British postal workers wrongfully prosecuted for fraud. Brooke interviews reporter Rebecca Thomson, who first broke the story in 2009; reporter Nick Wallis, author of The Great Post Office Scandal and consultant for the television drama; and Lee Castleton, a former subpostmaster in East Yorkshire.

[00:00] Lastly, Brooke interviews Rachel Abrams, senior producer and reporter for The New York Times Presents and co-author of Unscripted:​​ The Epic Battle for a Media Empire and the Redstone Family Legacy. They discuss the Redstones, the family behind the media empire Paramount Global.

Further reading:

• The Great Post Office Scandal by Nick Wallis
• Mr. Bates vs The Post Office, PBS
• Unscripted:​​ The Epic Battle for a Media Empire and the Redstone Family Legacy by Rachel Abrams and James B. Stewart

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, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.

Each week through Labor Day, we'll be pulling an OTM gem from our vast archives for you to enjoy on the beach, in a park... or on a sticky subway, while imagining you're on a beach.

For the fifth episode of our summer listening series, we offer an exploration of the fear-inducing "uncanny valley," to help you pinpoint what's so creepy about some of your favorite summer blockbusters.

To hear more of our summer listening, don't forget to subscribe to our podcast on iTunes, or wherever you get your podcasts, and leave a review while you're there! And as always, follow us on twitter @OnTheMedia.

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, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.

On this week's show, we feature a segment on the rampant exaggerations, deceptions, and outright lies flourishing across the health media landscape. Take our quiz and find out how smart a health news consumer you really are.

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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, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.

The booms and busts of political reporting, a skeptical look into health and diet news, and an indie throwback film gets the red carpet treatment. 

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, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.

Each week through Labor Day, we'll be pulling an OTM gem from our vast archives for you to enjoy on the beach, in a park... or on a sticky subway, while imagining you're on a beach.

For the fourth episode of our summer listening series, a look at corporate anthems: what are they, and who are they for? Plus, an earworm of an anthem you won't be able to shake. 

To hear more of our summer listening, don't forget to subscribe to our podcast on iTunes, or wherever you get your podcasts, and leave a review while you're there! And as always, follow us on twitter @OnTheMedia.

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, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.

Revisiting the Elián González story as the US embassy reopens in Havana. Plus: Paul Ford examines the various issues raised by the Ashley Madison hack, and Jon Ronson on public shaming.

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, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.

Each week through Labor Day, we'll be pulling an OTM gem from our vast archives for you to enjoy on the beach, in a park... or on a sticky subway, while imagining you're on a beach.

For the third episode of our summer listening series, Brooke shadows a former New York Post reporter with a singular beat. If you've seen the movie Nightcrawler, this one's for you. 

To hear more of our summer listening, don't forget to subscribe to our podcast on iTunes, or wherever you get your podcasts, and leave a review while you're there! And as always, follow us on twitter @OnTheMedia.

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, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.

Listening in on the national conversation about race, two years after the launch of the #BlackLivesMatter movement. Plus, the LA Times hires a reporter to cover #BlackTwitter, and the re-release of a satirical novel about bi-racial identity.

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, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.

Welcome to our new summer series!

Each week through Labor Day, we'll be pulling an OTM gem from our vast archives for you to enjoy on the beach, in a park... or on a sticky subway, while imagining you're on a beach. 

For our second installment of our summer listening series, the story of an actor who's appeared in Raiders of the Lost Ark, Star Wars, and Toy Story, to name a few. Well, not quite an actor, but a star nonetheless. 

To hear more of our summer listening, don't forget to subscribe to our podcast on iTunes, or wherever you get your podcasts, and leave a review while you're there! And as always, follow us on twitter @OnTheMedia. 

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, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.

Bob dissects the media's sloppy and disingenuous use of polls to fill air time and manufacture conflict. Plus: how the Dominican press is covering a a looming humanitarian crisis there; blocking ad-blockers; DuckDuckGo; and more.

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, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.

Welcome to our new summer series!

Each week through Labor Day, we'll be pulling an OTM gem from our vast archives for you to enjoy on the beach, in a park... or on a sticky subway, while imagining you're on a beach. 

For our first installation, a very classic and very special piece from one of our favorite contributors, John Solomon. If you've ever wondered about the inner workings of On the Media, you'll be sure to enjoy this one. 

In 2010, John passed away from complications with leukemia, but his witty, incisive voice can be heard in many of his OTM pieces, like this one called "Playing One on TV" and many more. 

To hear more of our summer listening, don't forget to subscribe to our podcast on iTunes, or wherever you get your podcasts, and leave a review while you're there! And as always, follow us on twitter @OnTheMedia. 

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, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.

This week's midweek podcast comes from our colleagues at the New Yorker Radio Hour:

On the Netflix reality-TV dating show “Love Is Blind,” contestants are alone in windowless, octagonal pods with no access to their phones or the Internet. They talk to each other through the walls. There’s intrigue, romance, heartbreak, and, in some cases, sight-unseen engagements. According to several lawsuits, there’s also lack of sleep, lack of food and water, twenty-hour work days, and alleged physical and emotional abuse. New Yorker staff writer Emily Nussbaum has been reporting on what these lawsuits reveal about the culture on the set of “Love Is Blind,” and a push for a new union to give reality-TV stars employee protections and rights. “The people who are on reality shows are a vulnerable class of people who are mistreated by the industry in ways that are made invisible to people, including to fans who love the shows,” Nussbaum tells NYRH host, David Remnick. Nussbaum’s forthcoming book is “Cue the Sun! The Invention of Reality TV.” 

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, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.

On the popular misconceptions surrounding the Greek debt crisis, women whose lives were mistold by the media, and humor, both robotic and Soviet.

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, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.

On this week’s episode of On the Media, we’re engaging in some chillingly informed speculation: what would happen if we, as a species, lost access to our electronic records? What if, either by the slow creep of  technological obsolescence or sudden cosmic disaster, we no longer could draw from the well of of knowledge accrued through the ages? What if we fell into...a digital dark age?

One scenario we explore isn’t speculative: it’s real. In the 1990’s, NASA experienced its own version of a digital dark age, when more than a million reels of data -- including the 1969 Apollo Moonwalk video and Earthrise, the iconic picture of our planet floating above the surface of the moon -- were either destroyed or rendered unreadable. We hear from Keith Cowing, a former NASA employee and co-founder of an initiative to rescue images and readings from the Lunar Orbiter missions, including that 1966 Earthrise photo: the first view of Earth from the moon.

Earth taken from Lunar Orbiter 1 in 1966. This is the poor-quality image originally shown to the public.
(wikimedia commons)

Internet pioneer and Google’s Chief Internet Evangelist Vint Cerf says we’ve grown complacent in our approach to media storage. If we don’t take action now, he warns, we may find ourselves lost in a future where we can’t access important media documents, scientific data, or treasured family photos. He tells us about combating the phenomenon he calls “bit rot,” as well as the role he thinks Google ought to play in the fight.

Vint Cerf, one of the Internet's many fathers. (flickr)

Meanwhile, in outer space, we look at the possibility of digital disruption from an unexpected source: the sun. Earlier this week, a solar flare caused auroras in the night sky as far south as Georgia. And in 1859, a huge flare caused telegraph machines to spontaneously catch fire. Astronomer Lucianne Walkowicz tells us that story, and explains the science behind it.

A solar flare! (wikimedia commons)

If we’ve gotten you sufficiently concerned about your personal histories falling victim to defunct hard drives and ephemeral cloud storage, never fear, DNA is here! We hear from Dr. Nick Goldman, a genome scientist who thinks coding information inside DNA is the best way to apocalypse-proof the world’s data.

Plus, Margaret Atwood, chronicler of all things dystopian, tells us about her latest work… which won’t be published for 99 years.

A specially planted forest in Norway will eventually supply the paper for Atwood’s book.
(Shutterstock)

We also have a resource guide to help you protect (or recover) your media from obsolescence. 

Subscribe to the On the Media podcast on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts, or listen on our website.

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, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.

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, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.

In the wake of another mass shooting tragedy, Brooke looks back at a history of racially-motivated hate crimes. Plus, the strength and responsibility of comedy in the face of extremism, misconceptions about the future of the Affordable Care Act, and the climate change deniers' "I'm not a scientist" defense.

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, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.

As videos of police violence continue to make headlines, a guide to filming the police as a bystander. Plus, making sense of data breaches, a lesson in coding, and a trip into the future of storytelling, where virtual reality makes journalism a bodily experience.

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, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.

Two newspapers' quests to count every person killed by police in 2015, how librarians shaped the original debate over the Patriot Act, and more.

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, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.

Congress is locked in a battle over the future of the Patriot Act. This special hour of OTM reveals the origins of the act in a post-9/11 climate of fear... and considers whether it really is at the heart of the nation's struggle between security and privacy.

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, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.

A surprisingly difficult -- and misleading -- question about the Iraq War, the police bombing that no one remembers, and the struggle of ownership in the age of the "Internet of Things."

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, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.

Seymour Hersh talks about his article claiming that the White House version of how Osama Bin Laden was killed is a lie. Plus, how a New York City nail salon expose went viral, and Liberia is finally declared Ebola-free. 

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, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.

This week legendary investigative journalist Seymour Hersh published an account of the killing of Osama bin Laden that directly contradicts the official narrative. Hersh’s use of anonymous sources have led many to cast doubt on the assertions in the article; CNN’s Peter Bergen called his story a “farrago of nonsense”. Bob talks with Hersh about the swirling controversy in this On the Media special podcast. 

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, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.

This week, the Department of Justice accused one of the most influential right wing outlets of laundering tens of millions of dollars. On this week’s On the Media, a former reporter on his progression from defining the disinformation beat to running one of the most famous fake news outlets, The Onion. Plus, a satirical movement about birds illuminates the inner workings of conspiracies.

[01:09] Host Micah Loewinger interviews Ben Collins, newly minted shareholder and CEO of the satirical site The Onion, about how his background in disinformation reporting led him to his latest gig. 

[18:03] Host Brooke Gladstone speaks with Ian Beacock about Birds Aren’t Real, a prank conspiracy theory that is itself a case study in how misinformation spreads.

[34:41] Lastly, Brooke interviews Annalee Newitz about their latest book, Stories Are Weapons: Psychological Warfare and the American Mind. They discuss how stories have long been spun as a means of controlling people — from the 18th century to today’s culture wars. 

Further reading:

• “Trump, QAnon and an impending judgment day: Behind the Facebook-fueled rise of The Epoch Times,” by Brandy Zadrozny and Ben Collins
• “Birds Aren’t Real: The Prank That Turned Misinformation on Its Head,” by Ian Beacock
• Stories Are Weapons: Psychological Warfare and the American Mind by Annalee Newitz

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, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.

What the media get wrong about earthquakes, surveillance the public loves and hates, and the creator of HBO's Veep.

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, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.

The deep historical roots of the Baltimore protests, shedding light on drone strikes, and combating sex worker stereotypes. 

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, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.