On the Media

Late last month, Reuters reported that DOGE had “disbanded,” that the group was no longer a centralized government entity. But according to Wired Reporter Vittoria Elliott, while DOGE is no longer moving across the government "in a move-fast-and-break-things blitz,” it is far from dead and gone. One source, at the USDA, told Wired that DOGE operatives had “burrowed into the agencies like ticks.” Elliott tells Brooke about how DOGE ...

A new feature on X, formerly known as Twitter, has revealed that some prominent MAGA accounts are based in South Asia and Eastern Europe. On this week’s On the Media, how foreign actors funnel political rage-bait into social media feeds. Plus, a school librarian in Louisiana shares how she’s been targeted by book-banning activists.

[01:00] Host Micah Loewinger sits down with Charlie Warzel, staff writer at The Atlantic and author of...

This month marks 25 years of Bullseye, a public radio show and podcast founded, hosted, and produced by Jesse Thorn. The show began as an offbeat college radio show at UC Santa Cruz, as a way for Thorn and his friends to hone their comedian sensibilities over the airwaves during their daily 7:30am slot. Today, it’s a show where artists open up about how and why they pursue their art. And it goes out on NPR. Earlier this month, host...

Progressive and centrist Democratic candidates had big wins in the 2025 elections. On this week’s On the Media, a data scientist fact-checks the claim that Democrats need moderate voters to win. Plus, an Arizona state senator shares how she’s reaching her constituents on TikTok and on the ground.

[01:00] Host Brooke Gladstone sits down with G. Elliot Morris, a journalist, statistician, and author of the data-driven news website Stre...

If you’ve ever donated to a Democratic candidate, you’ve probably been rewarded with a never-ending stream of pleas for more money in your inbox. And we’re not talking about polite reminders. Demands are often in ALL CAPS. Attached to names of celebrities like GEORGE CLOONEY or TAYLOR SWIFT. And warnings that something awful is about to happen.

Adam Bonica is a political scientist at Stanford University who writes a Substack newslet...

The Trump administration is asking universities to sign an agreement in exchange for preferential access to federal funding. On this week’s On the Media, how the arrangement would radically alter the relationship between the government and higher education. Plus, how university leaders are navigating the fight over academic freedom.

[00:00] Universities were not always so vulnerable to the whims of politics. The whole system of taxp...

Back in October, Nick Fuentes, the Gen Z white nationalist influencer, was trending in the news after a leaked Young Republicans chat revealed how his ideas were taking hold in some conservative circles. Then, just a week or so later, Fuentes sat down for an interview with Tucker Carlson. That 2-hour interview triggered a crisis amongst the GOP’s top brass that pitted major conservative influencers against each other, and garnered ...

Millions of dollars in federal grants have been terminated, throwing cutting-edge research at American universities into crisis. On this week’s On the Media, meet the two men at the center of the fight over the future of academia.

[0:00] Harvard president Alan Garber and National Institutes of Health director Jay Bhattacharya are at the heart of the national fight over the future of academia. Alan Garber has been cast as the defende...

Zohran Mamdani has won the 2025 New York City mayoral race, with a higher turnout of voters than New York has seen in decades. This despite the fact that New York’s senators — Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand — did not back Mamdani, and House Democrat Leader Hakeem Jeffries waited until the day before early voting began to endorse the Democratic nominee.

Mamdani’s divided party support reflects an intensifying argument over whet...

President Trump is compelling universities across the country to adopt a more conservative agenda in exchange for access to federal funds. On this week’s On the Media, how this pressure campaign is playing out at the oldest and richest university in America: Harvard.

[0:00] Our latest collaboration with the Boston Globe is Season Two of The Harvard Plan, in which reporter Ilya Marritz explores what has unfolded at Harvard University...

The Harvard Plan - our collaboration with the Boston Globe, is back! In episode one, we hear what unfolded at Harvard from Donald Trump’s inauguration to convocation 2025. Three main characters, inside Harvard, tell the story from their perspective: politics professor Ryan Enos, genetics professor and cancer researcher Kamila Naxerova and campus conservative Kit Parker, lieutenant colonel in the United States Army Reserve and Profe...

The federal government shutdown has entered its fourth week. On this week’s On the Media, hear about the man who is laying off four thousand federal workers this month, whom some call a “shadow president.” Plus, a white nationalist influencer reveals how fast the Republican party is shifting right. 

[02:21]  Host Brooke Gladstone sits down with Andy Kroll, a reporter covering justice and the rule of law at ProPublica, to discuss Rus...

This summer, Republicans clawed back over a billion dollars that had been pledged to public media. But it wasn’t until this month that the corporation for public broadcasting – longtime distributor of that money – started to wind down operations, and those federal funds finally ran out. 

Now, many stations are weighing whether to spend their shrinking budgets on national programming from the likes of NPR, or to fund journalism on th...

Tech giants Apple and Google have been quietly removing ways for citizens to document The United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s activities. On this week’s On the Media, one group’s efforts to make sure citizens can see what ICE is doing. Plus, the online right-wing campaign that led a historian to flee the country.  

[01:00]  Host Micah Loewinger speaks with Joseph Cox, co-founder of 404 Media, about the Trump administ...

For decades, the United States backed efforts to achieve a two-state solution—in which Israel would exist side by side with the Palestinian state, with both states recognizing each other’s claim to contested territory. The veteran negotiators Hussein Agha, representing Palestine, and Robert Malley, an American diplomat, played instrumental roles in that long effort, including the critical Camp David summit of 2000. But, in their ne...

The Supreme Court has returned to the bench and is poised to hear major cases on tariffs and federal firings. On this week’s On the Media, how a century-old legal theory may help us understand how the highest court handles Trump’s second administration. Plus, meet the Ellisons, who are buying up American media like the Vanderbilts collected railroads.

[02:26]  Host Brooke Gladstone speaks with Greg Sargent, a staff writer at The New...

This week, “Monster: The Ed Gein Story” is the most watched show on Netflix. It’s a dramatized retelling of the life of the serial killer who inspired “Psycho” and “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.” The “Monster” franchise, which includes two earlier seasons about Jeffrey Dahmer and Lyle and Erik Menendez, is one of Netflix’s splashiest hits – the Dahmer season is still the fourth-most viewed English language show in the history of the...

This week, President Trump said he plans to use the military against America's "enemy within." On this week’s On the Media, how Trump’s rhetoric can obscure the real limits to his powers. Plus, how Humphrey Bogart betrayed the ideals of his most celebrated film.

[01:00]  Host Micah Loewinger sits down for an extended conversation with Jamelle Bouie, columnist at The New York Times. They unpack the unprecedented Quantico meeting, the...

This week in Uganda, the pop star-turned-politician Bobi Wine released his election manifesto to win the presidency in 2026. The current leader, Yoweri Museveni, has held power in Uganda since 1986 and is seeking his seventh term.

Last year, Brooke spoke with Bobi Wine and Moses Bwayo, a co-director of the Oscar-nominated documentary Bobi Wine: The People's President. They discussed Bobi’s first bid for the presidency, the brutal ba...