On the Media
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 show 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.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Feb 5, 2015 • 17min
The Case for Boredom
Meet our friends from down the hall. The podcast New Tech City about technology and human behavior has kicked off a fascinating project that anyone can join in on. And, we want you to know about it.
This episode of New Tech City kicks off the Bored and Brilliant Project. The goal is to get you rethinking your relationship with technology and to start thinking more creatively by testing your tech habits in a series of challenges. Since the spread of smartphones began, boredom has become an endangered species. Spare moments where daydreaming used to manifest have become extra email checks or candies crushed. That might be a problem, because, as you will hear in the audio, boredom can in fact beget creativity.
You can join the Bored and Brilliant Project, take the challenges, and even track your phone usage as you go through the process 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.
Jan 30, 2015 • 56min
Naming the Shooter, the Law of the Internet, and More
Whether to name the perpetrators of mass shootings, the myth of defensive gun ownership, and the "Ebola Doctor" Craig Spencer.
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.
Jan 23, 2015 • 52min
Japanese Captives, the diary of a Guantanamo Bay inmate, and more
A video threat from ISIS to Japan, debunking conventional wisdom in Congress, and a newly published memoir from a Guantanamo Bay inmate.
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.
Jan 16, 2015 • 54min
Terror Reporting and Technological Paranoia
On the narratives we expect after a terrorist event, double standards for free speech in France, and the eerie technology of Black Mirror's not-so-distant future.
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.
Jan 9, 2015 • 52min
The Attack on Charlie Hebdo, Reckoning with Free Speech, and More
After the massacre at the French weekly Charlie Hebdo, a look at the symbolic weight of French satire and true freedom of speech.
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.
Jan 2, 2015 • 51min
True Crime
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.
Dec 26, 2014 • 51min
Deadbeats
OTM looks at the great decline in beat reporting.
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.
Dec 19, 2014 • 51min
Hacks, Cats, & Colbert
The ethics of publicly exposing private emails, the demise of Cat Fancy magazine, and a farewell to the Colbert Report.
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.
Dec 12, 2014 • 51min
OTM goes to Liberia
A special hour from Liberia, where Ebola figures into every issue, in ways both painful and profound. Brooke and OTM producer Meara Sharma shadow reporters at FrontPage Africa, the country's finest paper, to see how Liberia's story is reported by Liberians themselves.
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.
Dec 5, 2014 • 51min
Cameras, Conservatives, Con Men, and More
On police body cameras, the conservative reaction to events in Ferguson, and the con men who charm the media. 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.
