After a U.S. citizen was shot and killed by an immigration agent, the Department of Homeland Security is sending even more forces to Minneapolis. On this week’s On the Media, how the Trump administration is spinning the narrative around the shooting. Plus, an exiled Venezuelan journalist explains the state of the press in his home country.[01:00] Host Micah Loewinger speaks with <a href="https://www.startribune.com/author/jeffrey-meitrodt/6370443">Jeffrey Meitrodt</a>, a senior investigative reporter for the Minnesota Star Tribune, to examine the veracity of conservative content creator Nick Shirley’s viral video claiming to uncover evidence of widespread fraud at Somali-run daycares in Minnesota.  [21:32] Micah talks with <a href="https://www.caracaschronicles.com/author/rafael-osio-cabrices/">Rafael Osio Cabrices</a>, editor-in-chief at Caracas Chronicles, about Venezuela’s evolving media landscape. Plus, what foreign news outlets are missing in their coverage of the US raid and capture of Nicolás Maduro. [36:15] Host Brooke Gladstone sits down with <a href="https://gufaculty360.georgetown.edu/s/contact/00336000014RcmSAAS/abraham-l-newman">Abe Newman</a>, a political scientist and Georgetown professor, to discuss “neo-royalism.” Newman coined the term, with his co-author Stacie Goddard, to explain the logic of the Trump administration’s foreign policy, from Greenland to Venezuela.   Further reading / watching:<ul><li>“<a href="https://www.startribune.com/day-care-fraud-minnesota-video/601554760">We went to the day cares Nick Shirley did. Here’s what we found</a>,” by Deena Winter and Jeffrey Medtroit</li><li>“<a href="https://www.caracaschronicles.com/2025/10/31/how-foreign-media-and-analysts-are-misreporting-venezuela/">How Foreign Media and Analysts are Misreporting Venezuela</a>,” by Rafael Osio Cabrices</li><li><a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-organization/article/further-back-to-the-future-neoroyalism-the-trump-administration-and-the-emerging-international-system/ABB12906CA345BBCA5049B544363D391">“Further Back to the Future: Neo-Royalism, the Trump Administration, and the Emerging International System,”</a> by Stacie E. Goddard and Abraham Newman</li></ul>
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Debunking Minnesota claims; why Trump keeps threatening global takeovers.

A Deadly ICE Shooting in Minnesota. Plus, Trump Plays King in Venezuela.

Host Brooke Gladstone talks with <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/contributors/emily-nussbaum">Emily Nussbaum</a>, television critic for The New Yorker, about the forgotten story of Gertrude Berg, the woman behind the television sitcom, and the anti-communism campaign that clouded her legacy. 
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Who is Gertrude Berg?

The Forgotten History of the First Sitcom

Political debates are taking over the internet. On this week’s On the Media, hear how one viral Youtube channel is reshaping political discourse. Plus, why the Trump administration is pressuring museums, monuments, and even parks to rewrite history.[01:00] Host Micah Loewinger delves into the meteoric rise of the YouTube channel Jubilee with technology and online culture journalist <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/taylorlorenz.bsky.social">Taylor Lorenz</a>, and the channel’s mission of fostering “radical empathy” by hosting political debates between wildly opposing groups. He speaks with <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/mehdirhasan.bsky.social">Mehdi Hasan</a>, editor-in-chief of Zeteo, about his recent Jubilee debate with far right conservatives and how the channel is transforming the meaning of political debate. Plus, Stassia Underwood, a participant of one Jubilee debate, opens up about her experience on set.[25:17] Host Brooke Gladstone sits down with <a href="https://eji.org/bryan-stevenson/">Bryan Stevenson</a>, public interest lawyer and founder of the <a href="https://eji.org/">Equal Justice Initiative</a>, a human rights organization based in Montgomery, Alabama, to talk about the Trump Administration's war on museums, especially those that deal with our nation's history of racism.  Further reading / watching:<ul><li>“<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBoFwaTWm70&t=3634s&ab_channel=Jubilee">1 Conservative vs 25 LGBTQ+ Activists (feat. Michael Knowles)</a>” (Jubilee)</li><li>“<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S-WJN3L5eo&t=423s&ab_channel=Jubilee">1 Progressive vs 20 Far-Right Conservatives (ft. Mehdi Hasan)</a>” (Jubilee)</li><li><a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm/episodes/on-the-media-2018-06-01">The Worst Thing We’ve Ever Done</a>, On the Media (2018)</li></ul>
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Our hosts’ favorite segments of 2025

How Debate Took Over the Internet. Plus, a Case for Confronting the Past.

This year, Bari Weiss became the new editor in chief of CBS News. The network’s owner, Paramount, also acquired Weiss’ online publication, The Free Press, for an estimated $150 million. And unconventionally for a news executive, Weiss appeared in front of the camera in December when she hosted a town hall with Erika Kirk. This week, we’re revisiting a conversation with Peter Shamshiri, co-host of the podcast If Books Could Kill, about Weiss's rapid rise.
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How Bari Weiss got here.

The Rapid Rise of Bari Weiss

And just like that, 2025 is coming to a close. On this week’s On the Media, hear a tour of a 12-month news blitz, from AI to the Pentagon press room to the reshaping of legacy outlets. Plus, what we can expect from the year to come.[02:33] This week, Brooke and Micah review how legacy outlets made big changes  in the wake of Donald Trump’s inauguration this year. Featuring: <a href="http://@oliverdarcy.bsky.social">Oliver Darcy</a>, author of the newsletter Status.[11:53] Brooke and Micah take stock of the administration’s embrace of far right online personalities – in the White House and in the press room. Plus, a review of the wreckage DOGE has left in its wake, and Trump’s crackdown on free speech.Featuring: <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/telliotter.bsky.social">Vittoria Elliott</a>, senior reporter at Wired, <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/ryanjreilly.com">Ryan J. Reilly</a>, senior justice reporter for NBC News, <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/brandyzadrozny.bsky.social">Brandy Zadrozny</a>, senior reporter at MS NOW, Anna Merlan, senior reporter for Mother Jones, Corey Robin, professor of political science at Brooklyn College.[37:38] Brooke and Micah review how the press covered the deployment of the national guard; the aftermath of Charlie Kirk’s murder; and the ongoing turmoil at CBS. Plus, how to steel ourselves for the year ahead.Featuring: <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/jamisonfoser.bsky.social">Jamison Foser</a>, media critic and author of the newsletter Finding Gravity, and <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/jamellebouie.net">Jamelle Bouie</a>, columnist for The New York Times. 
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Onward and upward

Is it Over Yet? 2025 in Review

The New Yorker turned a hundred this year. And marking the occasion is a new documentary film on Netflix titled: <a href="https://www.netflix.com/title/81770824">“The New Yorker at 100</a>”. But with some 5000 print issues, and ten decades worth of reporting, illustrating, and editing… where does one even begin? That’s a question staff writer Jelani Cobb brought to the film’s director, Marshall Curry, and executive producer, Judd Apatow, on an edition of The New Yorker Radio Hour that we're sharing this week.
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How the Netflix documentary got made.

A Hundred Years of The New Yorker

Donald Trump has signed an executive order limiting state regulation on artificial intelligence. On this week’s On the Media, Republicans spar over AI, and what deregulating the industry means for the rest of us. Plus, how AI fakery got better in 2025.[01:00] Host Brooke Gladstone sits down with <a href="https://www.axios.com/authors/mcuri">Maria Curi</a>, tech policy reporter for Axios and author of the Axios Pro: Tech Policy newsletter, to chat about the massive bets that Silicon Valley and the White House are making on artificial intelligence. [13:10] Host Micah Loewinger talks with Stephen Witt, author of the book <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/757558/the-thinking-machine-by-stephen-witt/">The Thinking Machine</a>, about the massive infrastructure project, and potential problem, that is AI.[28:54] Brooke speaks with <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:hsuuj4l5wpufzsxodcc5cuaz">Craig Silverman</a>, cofounder of <a href="https://indicator.media/">Indicator</a>, about why Big Tech embraced fakeness in 2025, and what that means for 2026 and beyond. Further reading / watching:<ul><li>“<a href="https://www.axios.com/2025/12/12/trump-states-defiant-ai-executive-order">States defiant in face of Trump's AI executive order</a>,” by Maria Curi</li><li>“<a href="https://www.axios.com/2025/12/11/maga-scrambles-trump-ai-executive-order">MAGA scrambles to influence Trump's AI executive order</a>,” Maria Curi</li><li>“<a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/11/03/inside-the-data-centers-that-train-ai-and-drain-the-electrical-grid">Inside the Data Centers That Train A.I. and Drain the Electrical Grid</a>,” by Stephen Witt</li><li>“<a href="https://indicator.media/p/2025-the-year-tech-embraced-fakeness">2025: The year tech embraced fakeness</a>,” by Craig Silverman & Alexios Mantzarlis</li></ul>
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AI–everything everywhere all at once

Deep Fakes, Data Centers, and AI Slop — Are We Cooked?

This year, Silicon Valley poured its collective resources in AI. Billions  and billions of dollars. But behind the snazzy ads and glowing endorsements, some users and journalists are warning of bigger issues with the largely unregulated industry. Host Brooke Gladstone sits down with Craig Silverman, cofounder of Indicator, a publication dedicated to understanding and investigating digital deception, to discuss <a href="https://indicator.media/p/2025-the-year-tech-embraced-fakeness">his article</a> arguing that this is the year Big Tech embraced fakeness.
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AI slop anyone?

Big Tech Embraced Fakeness in 2025

The Supreme Court appears ready to let Donald Trump fire Federal Trade Commission members at will. On this week’s On the Media, why the court’s expansion of presidential powers would impact the entire government. Plus, how two Hollywood giants are squaring off over a massive merger. [02:47] Host Brooke Gladstone sits down with <a href="https://its.law.nyu.edu/facultyprofiles/index.cfm?fuseaction=profile.overview&personid=51122">Noah Rosenblum</a>, associate professor of law at New York University, to discuss how the Supreme Court’s pending decision in Trump v. Slaughter could radically expand the president’s power, and the history behind the case. [23:02] Host Micah Loewinger talks with Oliver Darcy, lead author of the newsletter <a href="https://www.status.news/">Status</a> and co-host of the podcast <a href="https://www.status.news/power-lines">Power Lines</a>, about the moguls at Netflix and Paramount Skydance battling over Warner Brothers Discovery, and what this means for the future of CNN, which is owned by Warner Brothers Discovery, and Hollywood. [37:41] Micah speaks with <a href="https://www.journalism.cuny.edu/faculty/joel-simon/">Joel Simon</a>, founding director of the Journalism Protection Initiative at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism, about what happened with Blake Lively’s legal team subpoenaed Perez Hilton, the gossip blogger, and why expanding the legal framework of journalistic protections is essential.  Further reading / watching:<ul><li><a href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2025/12/paramount-netflix-fight-supreme-court-trump.html">The Supreme Court Is About to Hand Trump a Cudgel in the Paramount-Netflix Fight</a>, by Mark Joseph Stern</li><li><a href="https://www.status.news/p/cnn-paramount-david-ellison-warner-bros-discovery">The CNN Sacrifice</a>, by Oliver Darcy</li><li><a href="https://www.cjr.org/feature/perez-hilton-og-original-news-influencer-blake-lively-shield-law-subpoena.php">The O.G. News Influencer</a>, by Joel Simon</li></ul>    
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The Supreme Court debates presidential power; Hollywood in existential crisis.

Trump Guns for the FTC. Plus, Are We the Losers in the Paramount v Netflix Battle?

Last summer, Perez Hilton, the gossip blogger who rose to fame for his scoopy and sometimes vicious takes in the early 2000s, was served a subpoena by Blake Lively's legal team. Perez Hilton decided to resist the subpoena under the argument that he is a journalist who is entitled to protect his sources. Micah speaks with Joel Simon, the longtime former head of the Committee to Protect Journalist and founding director of the Newmark School's Journalism Protection Initiative, about who gets included under the umbrella of journalism and why expanding the legal framework of journalistic protections is so important in today's media landscape. Further reading: <a href="https://www.cjr.org/feature/perez-hilton-og-original-news-influencer-blake-lively-shield-law-subpoena.php">"The O.G. News Influencer</a>," by Joel Simon 
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Perez Hilton at the edge of journalism

How a Gossip Blogger (almost) Became the Poster Child for First Amendment Rights

The New York Times has sued the Pentagon for restricting access to journalists. On this week’s On the Media, meet the new cast of right wing influencers and conspiracy theorists replacing the press corps in the Pentagon. Plus, a new documentary examines the life and work of investigative journalist Seymour Hersh. [01:00] Host Micah Loewinger sits down with <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/people/dan-lamothe/">Dan Lamothe</a>, who covers the US military and Pentagon for the Washington Post, to talk about the Trump administration’s shifting narrative around a second strike that killed two survivors on a boat in the Caribbean. Lamothe used to have a desk in the Pentagon as part of the press corps, but left alongside reporters from major news outlets after they refused to sign onto stringent new rules on how they could do their reporting. [16:58] Micah talks with <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/author/anna-merlan/">Anna Merlan</a>, senior reporter at Mother Jones,  about the cast of right wing influencers and conspiracists now staffing the Pentagon press corps. Plus, Micah interviews Cam Higby, a member of the new press corps, about why he agreed to the Pentagon’s restrictions on access.[30:15] Micah spoke to another of the new Pentagon press corps; Cam Higby, who reports for his independent online outlet Fearless Media. He has over 750,000 followers on TikTok and over 400,000 on Instagram.[43:18] Micah speaks with Laura Poitras, a journalist and filmmaker whose past works include CitizenFour, All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, and Risk, to discuss her newest documentary. Poitras shares the process of making Cover-Up, coming soon to Netflix, which chronicles the life of investigative journalist Seymour Hersh. Poitras describes Hersh's ferocious drive to uncover government wrongdoing, and what today’s press corps can learn from him. Further reading / watching:<ul><li>“<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/11/28/hegseth-kill-them-all-survivors-boat-strike/">Hegseth order on first Caribbean boat strike, officials say: Kill them all</a>,” by Alex Horton and Ellen Nakashima</li><li>“<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/12/04/signal-pete-hegseth-inspector-general/">‘Signalgate’ report contradicts Hegseth’s claim of ‘total exoneration’</a>,”by Dan Lamothe</li><li>“<a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/10/pete-hegseth-pentago

Meet the new Pentagon press corps

Covering the Pentagon, from Sy Hersh to Laura Loomer

Late last month, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/doge-doesnt-exist-with-eight-months-left-its-charter-2025-11-23/">Reuters reported that DOGE</a> had “disbanded,” that the group was no longer a centralized government entity. But according to Wired Reporter <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/what-is-doge-doing-now/">Vittoria Elliott</a>, 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 is continuing to shape the government, and what she's learned from talking to federal workers.
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One source said DOGE operatives had “burrowed into the agencies like ticks.”

No, DOGE Isn't Dead

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 <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/author/charlie-warzel/">Charlie Warzel</a>, staff writer at The Atlantic and author of its newsletter Galaxy Brain, to discuss the recent X update that revealed many high profile, pro-MAGA accounts might be based in foreign countries.[16:37] Host Brooke Gladstone talks with <a href="https://sites.google.com/view/thatlibrarian/home">Amanda Jones</a>, school librarian in Livingston Parish, Louisiana and former School Librarian of the Year, to discuss her experience as a target of book-banning activists. Plus, why protecting libraries is as crucial as ever. [32:44] Brooke Gladstone talks to Elyse Graham, professor of sociology at Stony Brook University and author of <a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/products/book-and-dagger-elyse-graham?variant=41324874104866">Book and Dagger: How Scholars and Librarians Became the Unlikely Spies of World War II</a>. They discuss the role that academics, archivists, and librarians played in WWII intelligence gathering activities, and why the CIA invested in storytelling as a result. Further reading / watching:<ul><li><a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/2025/11/x-about-this-account/685042/">Elon Musk’s Worthless, Poisoned Hall of Mirrors</a>, by Charlie Warzel</li><li><a href="https://thelibrariansfilm.com/">The Librarians</a> film</li><li><a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/that-librarian-9781639733545/">That Librarian: The Fight Against Book Banning in America</a>, by Amanda Jones</li><li><a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/products/book-and-dagger-elyse-graham?variant=41324874104866">Book and Dagger: How Scholars and Librarians Became the Unlikely Spies of World War II</a>, by Elyse Graham</li></ul>
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X is full of overseas bots, and a documentary about librarians

Tell Your Uncle He's Fighting Twitter Bots in Bangladesh

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 Brooke Gladstone called Jesse up to ask him how his show survived every new iteration of podcasting, and how it all began.
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This month marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of Bullseye.

Bullseye's Jesse Thorn on Surviving in the Podcasting Industry

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 <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/gelliottmorris.com">G. Elliot Morris</a>, a journalist, statistician, and author of the data-driven news website Strength in Numbers, to hash out what the data says about whether becoming more moderate is really the key to Democratic candidates winning more elections.[20:09] Brooke chats with <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/thirdwaymattb.bsky.social">Matt Bennett</a>, co-founder of Third Way, a center-left think tank<a href="http://democrats.he">, about his view that</a> Zohran Mamdani’s win in New York City poses a “serious political problem” for the Democrats.[36:06] Finally, Brooke calls up <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/senanaliseortiz.bsky.social">Analise Ortiz</a>, state senator for Arizona’s 24th district, to discuss how TikTok, old-fashioned door-knocking, and making tangible differences in peoples’ lives is the way for the Democrats to start winning again. Further reading:<ul><li><a href="https://www.gelliottmorris.com/p/moderation-is-overrated">Moderation is not a silver bullet</a>, by G. Elliott Morris</li><li><a href="https://www.gelliottmorris.com/p/seven-data-driven-takeaways-from">Seven data-driven lessons from the 2025 elections</a>, by G. Elliott Morris</li><li><a href="https://www.thirdway.org/memo/was-it-something-i-said">Was It Something I Said?</a> by Third Way</li><li><a href="https://www.thirdway.org/memo/debunking-myths-about-the-democratic-party">Debunking Myths About the Democratic Party, </a>by Third Way</li></ul>
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (<a href="https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm">https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm</a>). Follow our show on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/onthemedia/?hl=en">Instagram</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/onthemedia">Twitter</a> and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/OnTheMedia">Facebook</a> @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.

The Democrats’ identity crisis, explained.

The Battle for the Future of the Democratic Party

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 newsletter called <a href="https://data4democracy.substack.com/">On Data and Democracy</a>. He reached his breaking point with Democratic Party spam last year, and decided to investigate why they landed on this strategy, and how effective it really is.
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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.

The Democratic Party's Spam Machine

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 taxpayer-funded, university-led scientific research came about at the end of World War II, and was the brainchild of a man named Vannevar Bush. He felt the partnership of government and academics had to be equal in order to yield breakthroughs. Today, the Trump administration is proposing a new “compact” that would make the President the dominant partner. We speak with one of the authors of the Trump compact, May Mailman.  
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (<a href="https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm">https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm</a>). Follow our show on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/onthemedia/?hl=en">Instagram</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/onthemedia">Twitter</a> and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/OnTheMedia">Facebook</a> @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.

Inside the fight over the future of academic freedom.

S2 - Episode 3: The Harvard Plan

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 headlines declaring the start of a Republican “civil war.” For this midweek podcast extra, host Micah Loewinger called up Zack Beauchamp, senior correspondent for Vox, to wade through the fallout around Fuentes and Carlson, and break down what this tells us about antisemitism in American politics. 
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (<a href="https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm">https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm</a>). Follow our show on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/onthemedia/?hl=en">Instagram</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/onthemedia">Twitter</a> and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/OnTheMedia">Facebook</a> @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.

A fight over anti-semitism has rocked the GOP

The Republican Party's 'Civil War'

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 defender of academic freedom and democracy; Jay Bhattacharya is Donald Trump’s pick to lead the NIH, the agency withholding billions of dollars in research grants from Harvard. Oddly enough, the two men go way back: Garber was Bhattacharya’s undergraduate thesis adviser and mentor in the late 1980s. This episode tells the story of how the two men found themselves adversaries — and what it means for the future of science. 
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (<a href="https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm">https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm</a>). Follow our show on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/onthemedia/?hl=en">Instagram</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/onthemedia">Twitter</a> and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/OnTheMedia">Facebook</a> @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.

This week, it gets personal…

S2 - Episode 2: The Harvard Plan

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 whether Democratic candidates must move closer to the political center  - or further away - in order to win. Brooke speaks with Elliott Morris, a journalist, statistician, and author of the data-driven news website <a href="https://www.gelliottmorris.com/">Strength in Numbers,</a> about what the numbers say around moderation and why it might not be the silver bullet Democratic strategists seemed to crave.Further reading:<ul><li><a href="https://www.gelliottmorris.com/p/moderation-is-overrated">Moderation is not a silver bullet</a>, by Elliott Morris</li><li><a href="https://www.gelliottmorris.com/p/the-strategists-fallacy">The Strategist’s Fallacy in American politics</a>, by Elliott Morris</li></ul> 
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (<a href="https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm">https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm</a>). Follow our show on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/onthemedia/?hl=en">Instagram</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/onthemedia">Twitter</a> and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/OnTheMedia">Facebook</a> @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.

The discourse around 'moderate vs. progressive' Democrats has gotten out of hand.

Do Moderates Win More Elections?

WNYC Studios

The Peabody Award-winning On the Media podcast is your guide to examining how the media sausage is made. Hosts Brooke Gladstone and Micah Loewinger examine threats to free speech and government transparency, cast a skeptical eye on media coverage of the week’s big stories and unravel hidden political narratives in everything we read, watch and hear.

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