The Kicker

This week on The Kicker, Meg talks with John Biewen, audio program director at Duke’s Center for Documentary Studies, about how his podcast Seeing White examines America's deep history of white supremacy. Then Pete is joined by CJR’s Christie Chisholm and Jon Allsop to discuss the right-wing media response to Roy Moore, some good journalism from Fox News, and how to fix the way we cover mass shootings.

This week, Pete speaks with Jelani Cobb, staff writer at The New Yorker and professor at Columbia Journalism School, about the year following the election of President Donald Trump. Then Meg Dalton and Jon Allsop join Pete to discuss the media news of the week, including the narratives surrounding statewide election results, the question of giving airtime to Kellyanne Conway, and Ronan Farrow’s latest Harvey Weinstein bombshell.

The evolution of audio, Facebook’s political reckoning, and civil war at the WSJ by Columbia Journalism Review

Does Weinstein represent a sea change or just a moment? by Columbia Journalism Review

From climate change to Facebook by Columbia Journalism Review

Harvey Weinstein and the media's complicated relationship by Columbia Journalism Review

This week on The Kicker, we present a special episode recorded live from Atlanta. CJR Managing Editor Vanessa Gezari talks with The New York Times’s Glenn Thrush and The Guardian’s Ben Jacobs about covering the Trump White House. They discuss the emotional toll of the breakneck news cycle, what’s different about the new administration, and how to avoid getting caught up in a reality-TV presidency.

Fake news in a small town by Columbia Journalism Review

On a special episode of The Kicker, we present clips from a panel CJR convened this week in Charlottesville, Virginia. Titled “Race, Racism, and the News,” the event featured several journalists with personal ties to the Charlottesville area, and touched on issues of language, representation, and white supremacy. Associate Editor Brendan Fitzgerald, who directs CJR’s United States Project, leads the conversation, and we hear from Slate’s Jamelle Bouie, The New York Times Magazine’s Jenna Wortham, and The Nation Institute’s Collier Meyerson. Special thanks to With Good Reason, a great podcast based in Virginia, for providing the audio excerpts.

On the latest episode of The Kicker, Pete talks to retired marine sergeant Thomas Brennan and veteran conflict photographer Finbarr O’Reilly, who have written a joint memoir, Shooting Ghosts, about their time in Afghanistan and their struggles to deal with what they experienced there. Then, Pete, Meg, and Karen discuss the White House’s call for the firing of ESPN anchor Jemele Hill, and the issue of how journalists present themselves on social media. Finally, we get to some of our favorite light-hearted stories of the week.