<p>This past week’s coverage of Hurricane Florence has had all the trappings of a terrible storm: the satellite images, the sandbags and empty grocery stores, the newscasters dressed in flood gear.  One recurring side character we seem to have avoided this time around, though, is the doctored image of a shark swimming on a flooded highway.</p> <p><span>It’s a preposterous hoax that succeeds, occasionally, on the merits of some kernel of truth; for instance, whole swathes of interstate highway in North Carolina <em>are</em>, as of this moment, covered with water. That kernel of truth is what hoaxers and jokers build their handiwork upon — as did the veteran hoaxer Alan Abel, who <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/17/obituaries/alan-abel-dies.html">passed away late last week at the age of 94</a>.<br></span></p> <p><span>Abel made a name for himself inventing characters and causes and turning the joke on the media; in 1980 he staged his own death and got himself an obituary in the New York Times.</span></p> <p><span>Brooke spoke to Abel — and his daughter, Jenny Abel, the director of the documentary, "<a href="https://vimeo.com/262687089">Abel Raises Cain</a>" — in 2008.</span></p>

<p>The anniversary of a disaster gives us a moment to reflect on whether we have learned the right lessons — or any at all. This week, we examine the narratives that have solidified ten years after the financial crisis, and one year after Hurricane Maria. </p> <p>1. Political anthropologist Yarimar Bonilla [<a href="https://twitter.com/yarimarbonilla?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor" target="_blank">@yarimarbonilla</a>] on how we can focus our attention on Puerto Rico's structural challenges even as the president spouts falsities about the "unsung success" of the federal response to Hurricane Maria. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/puerto-rico-news-wrong-reasons/">Listen.</a></p> <p>2. Dean Starkman [<a href="https://twitter.com/deanstarkman" target="_blank">@deanstarkman</a><span>], author of <em>The Watchdog That Didn't Bark: The Financial Crisis and the Disappearance of Investigative Journalism</em>,</span> on how the signs of the financial crisis had been visible leading up to it but many journalists were looking elsewhere. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/why-business-press-didnt-warn-us">Listen.</a></p> <p>3. Brown University professor Mark Blyth [<a href="https://twitter.com/mkblyth?lang=en" target="_blank">@MkBlyth</a><span>]</span> takes on the most popular narratives of the financial crash. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/one-financial-crisis-many-explanations/">Listen.</a></p> <p>4. Copenhagen Business School business historian Per Hansen on Hollywood's depiction of the board room and Wall Street from 1928 to 2015. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/boom-bust-big-screen/">Listen.</a></p> <p><em>Songs:</em></p> <p><em>Marjane's Inspiration by David Bergeaud</em><br><em>Glass House by Bonobo</em><br><em>Dinner Music For A Pack of Hungry Cannibals by Raymond Scott</em><br><em>With Plenty Of Money And You by Hal Kemp<br>Coffee Cold by Galt MacDermot<br>Modern Times OST by Charlie Chaplin</em></p>

<p>On Wednesday, as Florence swirled ominously off the coast of the Carolinas, and states prepared for imminent disaster, Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR) thought it would be a good time to draw everyone’s attention to the shifting priorities of this administration. Specifically, he released a budget that showed the Department of Homeland Security had transferred nearly 10 million dollars from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to Immigration and Customs Enforcement to pay for detention and removal operations.</p> <p>FEMA officials maintain that the smaller budget won’t hinder their operations, but as wildfires rage and hurricanes make landfall, they have a lot on their plate. We don't think about FEMA much, until that's all we think about. Historian Garrett Graff says the agency’s, quote, “under-the-radar nature” was originally a feature, not a bug. Graff wrote about "<a href="https://www.wired.com/story/the-secret-history-of-fema/">The Secret History of FEMA</a>" for <em>Wired </em>last September and he spoke to Bob about the agency's Cold War origins as civil defense in the event of a nuclear attack and how it transitioned to "natural" disaster response. Plus, they discuss the limitations to FEMA's capabilities and why it has such a spotty record. Graff is also author of <em><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Raven-Rock-Government%E2%80%99s-Secret-Itself--While/dp/1476735409/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1473424644&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=raven+rock&amp;linkCode=sl1&amp;tag=garrettgraffc-20&amp;linkId=66578ce9bad0c75ff5c14e91ca6a0948">Raven Rock: The Story of the U.S. Government's Secret Plan to Save Itself -- While The Rest of Us Die</a></em>.</p>

<p>Between the Kavanaugh confirmation hearings on Capitol Hill and an anonymous op-ed from within the Trump White House, a wave of rule-bending and -breaking has crashed on Washington. This week, we explore how political decorum and popular dissent have evolved since the early days of our republic — and how the legal protections for those core freedoms could transform our future.</p> <p>1. Brooke and Bob on how best to cover <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/05/opinion/trump-white-house-anonymous-resistance.html">the anonymous op/ed written by a "senior official in the Trump administration."</a> <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/adults-room">Listen.</a></p> <p>2. Geoffrey Stone, professor of law at University of Chicago, on our evolving — and occasionally faulty — interpretations of the first amendment. And, Laura Weinrib, professor of law at University of Chicago, on how early-20th century labor struggles gave birth to our modern ideas about freedom of speech. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/one-hundred-years-free-speech/">Listen.</a></p> <p>3. Tim Wu [<a href="https://twitter.com/superwuster">@superwuster</a>], professor of law at Columbia University, on how the first amendment could inform new regulations for Silicon Valley. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/1st-amendment-obsolete/">Listen.</a></p> <p><em>Music:</em></p> <p><em>John Renbourn - Passing Time<br></em><em>Puck - John Zorn<br>Joeira - Kurup<br></em><em>Mulatu Astatke - Tezeta</em></p> <p> </p>

<p>Six weeks ago, <a data-cke-saved-href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/26/politics/michael-cohen-donald-trump-june-2016-meeting-knowledge/index.html" href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/26/politics/michael-cohen-donald-trump-june-2016-meeting-knowledge/index.html" target="_blank">CNN broke a blockbuster story</a>: According to several anonymous sources, President Trump had advance knowledge of the infamous Trump Tower meeting. It was a potential smoking gun, until one of those sources — Lanny Davis, attorney for Michael Cohen — recanted.</p> <p>Beyond that headache for CNN, there was another. The original article had claimed, "Contacted by CNN, one of Cohen's attorneys, Lanny Davis, declined to comment." Depending on how you understand the word "comment," and depending your general disposition, that claim could be technically true or woefully, mendaciously disingenuous. Bob spoke with <a data-cke-saved-href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/cnn-said-a-source-declined-to-comment-except-he-actually-did-is-that-a-problem/2018/08/31/16de0d2c-ac77-11e8-8a0c-70b618c98d3c_story.html" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/cnn-said-a-source-declined-to-comment-except-he-actually-did-is-that-a-problem/2018/08/31/16de0d2c-ac77-11e8-8a0c-70b618c98d3c_story.html" target="_blank">Washington Post media reporter Paul Farhi</a> about the implications — and dangers — of this latest media mishap. </p>

<p>For more than a year, Lois Beckett [<a href="https://twitter.com/loisbeckett">@loisbeckett</a>], senior reporter at <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us">The Guardian US</a>, has been showing up at white nationalist rallies, taking their pictures, writing down what they say. And she finds herself thinking: How did we get here? How did her beat as a political reporter come to include interviewing Nazis? And what are the consequences of giving these groups this much coverage?</p> <p>In this week's program, we revisit this deep dive into what the news media often get wrong about white supremacists, and what those errors expose about the broader challenge of confronting racism in America.</p> <p>1. Elle Reeve [<a href="https://twitter.com/elspethreeve">@elspethreeve</a>], correspondent for <a href="https://www.hbo.com/vice">VICE News</a>, Anna Merlan [<a href="https://twitter.com/annamerlan">@annamerlan</a>], reporter for <a href="https://gizmodo.com/">Gizmodo Media</a>’s special projects desk, Vegas Tenold [<a href="https://twitter.com/Vegastenold">@Vegastenold</a>], journalist and author of <a href="https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/vegas-tenold/everything-you-love-will-burn/9781568589954/">Everything You Love Will Burn</a>, and Al Letson [<a href="https://twitter.com/al_letson">@Al_Letson</a>], host of <a href="https://www.revealnews.org/">Reveal</a>, from The Center for Investigative Reporting, on the pitfalls and perils of covering white supremacist groups. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/perils-alt-right/">Listen</a>.</p> <p>2. Felix Harcourt [<a href="https://twitter.com/FelixHistory">@FelixHistory</a>], professor of history at Austin College and author of "<a href="http://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/K/bo23720308.html">Ku Klux Kulture</a>," on the history of the Ku Klux Klan in the press in the 1920s. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/media-and-klan-history/">Listen</a>.</p> <p>3. Anna Merlan, Elle Reeve, Al Letson, Gary Younge [<a href="https://twitter.com/garyyounge">@garyyounge</a>], editor-at-large for The Guardian, and Josh Harkinson [<a href="https://twitter.com/joshharkinson">@joshharkinson</a>], former senior writer at Mother Jones, on how individual identity impacts reporting on discriminatory movements. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/why-get-far-right-wrong-identity/">Listen</a>.</p> <p>4. Ibram X. Kendi [<a href="https://twitter.com/DrIbram">@DrIbram</a>], professor of history and international relations at American University and author of "<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Stamped-Beginning-Definitive-History-National/dp/1568585985">Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America</a>," on the enduring myths surrounding the perpetuation of racist ideas and whose interests these misconceptions serve. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/racist-ideas-backwards/">Listen</a>.</p> <p><em>Songs:</em></p> <p><em>Lost, Night by Bill Frisell</em></p> <p><em>Disfarmer Theme by Bill Frisell</em></p> <p><em>I Am Not a Farmer by Bill Frisell</em></p> <p><em>Gone Tomorrow by Lambchop</em></p>

<p><span>After an earthquake struck Nepal in April of 2015, the post-disaster media coverage followed a trajectory we'd seen repeated after other earth-shaking events. We put together a template to help a discerning news consumer look for the real story. It's our Breaking News Consumer's Handbook: Tectonic Edition. Brooke spoke to <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Big-Truck-That-Went/dp/1137278978" target="_blank">Jonathan M. Katz</a>, who wrote "<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/28/magazine/how-not-to-report-on-an-earthquake.html" target="_blank">How Not to Report on an Earthquake</a>" for the<em> New York Times Magazine</em>. </span></p> <div class="embedded-image"><img class="mcePuppyImage is-loaded" src="https://media2.wnyc.org/i/620/620/l/80/1/OTM_Consumer_Handbook_TectonicEdition.png" alt=""></div>

<p><span>End-of-times narratives themselves are nothing new; only the means have changed. While once a few horsemen and a river of blood were enough to signal the dusk of man, apocalypse now requires the imaginations of entire atomic laboratories — or roving squads of special effects crews. This week we look through a few recent highlights from the genre: from a 1980's made-for-TV spectacle, to a new piece of speculative fiction documenting a hypothetical nuclear conflict with North Korea.</span></p> <p>1. Jeffrey Lewis [<a href="https://twitter.com/ArmsControlWonk">@ArmsControlWonk</a>], author of "The 2020 Commission Report," on what we might say to ourselves after a devastating war with North Korea. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/how-nuclear-war-could-happen/">Listen.</a></p> <p>2. Marsha Gordon [<a href="https://twitter.com/MarshaGGordon">@MarshaGGordon</a>], film studies professor at North Carolina State University, on the 1983 film "The Day After," which imagines a massive nuclear strike in the Midwestern U.S. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/day-after-today-1/">Listen.</a></p> <p>3. Anne Washburn, playwright, on "Mr. Burns: A Post-Electric Play," in which she imagines American cultural life after a devastating nuclear event. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/what-simpsons-can-teach-us-about-nuclear-apocalypse-1/">Listen.</a></p> <p>4. Andrew Fitzgerald [<a href="https://twitter.com/magicandrew">@magicandrew</a>], chief digital content officer at Hearst TV, on what journalists, seven years ago, thought about the prospect of covering the end of the world. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/covering-apocalypse/">Listen</a>.</p>

<div class="story__details"> <div id="ember885" class="ember-view"> <div id="ember894" class="article-tabs ivy-tabs nypr-tabs ember-view"> <div aria-hidden="false" id="ember914" role="tabpanel" class="ivy-tabs-tabpanel active ember-view" aria-labelledby="ember908" tabindex="0"> <div class="story__body"> <div id="ember931" class="ember-view"> <div class="django-content"> <div> <p>When a commercial plane goes down, media speculation ensues. With the help of <em>The Atlantic</em>'s <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/james-fallows/">James Fallows</a>, we give you some tips that can help you comb through the coverage.</p> <div class="embedded-image"><img class="mcePuppyImage is-loaded" src="https://www.wnyc.org/i/620/620/l/80/1/OTM_Consumer_Handbook_AirplaneEdition_web.png" alt=""> <div class="image-caption"></div> </div> <p> </p> <p> </p> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div>

<p><a href="https://www.twitch.tv/">Twitch</a><a href="https://www.twitch.tv/">.tv</a><a href="https://www.twitch.tv/"></a> is a video streaming platform where tens of thousands people broadcast their lives and video game game-play in real-time. It's like unedited, <em>real</em>, reality TV. This week, On the Media digs into why so many people want to share so much on Twitch, and why the site draws more viewers than HBO and Netflix. First, a look at a couple of the biggest streamers of the platform, Ninja and Dr. Disrespect, who command devoted audiences and giant paychecks. Then, Bob dives into the inaugural season of the Overwatch League, the most expensive and highly produced pro gaming venture to date. Finally, Brooke speaks with Radiolab's Jad Abumrad about the life of a homeless streamer who's life was saved by Twitch.</p> <p>1. Julia Alexander [<a class="ProfileHeaderCard-screennameLink u-linkComplex js-nav" href="https://twitter.com/loudmouthjulia"><span>@loudmouthjulia</span></a>] and Allegra Frank [<a class="ProfileHeaderCard-screennameLink u-linkComplex js-nav" href="https://twitter.com/LegsFrank"><span>@LegsFrank</span></a>], two writers with <a href="https://www.polygon.com/">Polygon</a>, on the pitfalls and para-social allure of Twitch. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/what-twitch/">Listen.</a></p> <p>2. Cecilia D'Anastasio [<a class="ProfileHeaderCard-screennameLink u-linkComplex js-nav" href="https://twitter.com/cecianasta"><span>@cecianasta</span></a>] a reporter with Kotaku, Saebyeolbe [<a class="ProfileHeaderCard-screennameLink u-linkComplex js-nav" href="https://twitter.com/saebyeolbe"><span>@saebyeolbe</span></a>] and Pine [<a class="ProfileHeaderCard-screennameLink u-linkComplex js-nav" href="https://twitter.com/tf2pine"><span>@tf2pine</span></a>], two pro gamers, and Farzam Kamel, a venture capitalist with Sterling VC, on the inaugural season of the Overwatch League. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/video-game-champions-and-their-funders/">Listen.</a></p> <p>3. Jad Abumrad [<a class="ProfileHeaderCard-screennameLink u-linkComplex js-nav" href="https://twitter.com/JadAbumrad"><span>@JadAbumrad</span></a>] of Radiolab and VP Gloves, a homeless Twitch streamer, on the murky ethics of Twitch's IRL (in real life) section. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/streaming-while-homeless/">Listen.</a></p>

<p>Back in the summer of 2016, Turkish putschists shut down highways, attacked government buildings and took broadcasters hostage, world media outlets struggled to provide sober reports of the coup. During the chaos, some listeners told us on Twitter that they’d appreciate an OTM Breaking News Consumer's Handbook: Coup Edition. Coups are especially tricky to report on because they're mainly about perception and narrative. Plotters and the government are both trying to establish dominance, and misreporting can determine whether the attempt succeeds or not. </p> <p><a href="https://twitter.com/naunihalpublic?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor">Naunihal Singh</a>, author of <a href="https://jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu/content/seizing-power">Seizing Power: The Strategic Logic of Military Coups</a>, says the first step for a successful military coup is to take control of radio and tv broadcasters. From there, they can literally and figuratively control the narrative. </p> <p>Brooke spoke to Singh about how to understand coups through the media, and how to understand whether an attempt will succeed or fail. </p> <p>Song:</p> <p><em>"Cops or Criminals" by Howard Shore</em></p> <div class="embedded-image"><img class="mcePuppyImage is-loaded" src="https://media2.wnyc.org/i/800/800/l/80/1/OTM_Consumer_Handbook_MilitaryCoupEdition_1400X1400.png" alt=""> <div class="image-metadata"> <div class="image-caption">Breaking News Consumer's Handbook: Military Coup Edition</div> <div class="image-credit">(On The Media/WNYC)</div> </div> </div>

<p><span>People like neo-nazi Andrew Anglin and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones have long tested the limits of permissible speech. On this week’s On the Media, hear from a lawyer who defends the First Amendment rights of society’s worst actors. Plus, a lawyer suing in defense of government transparency, a fire historian weighs in on the coverage of the California wildfires, and a Texas journalist who has reported on hundreds of executions. </span></p> <p>1. Marc Randazza [<a href="https://twitter.com/marcorandazza">@marcorandazza</a>], first amendment lawyer, on Alex Jones, the Unite the Right rally, and free speech. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/defending-indefensible/">Listen. </a></p> <p>2. Mark Pedroli [@MarkPedroli], attorney, on <a href="https://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article188405944.html">the technology used by former Missouri governor Eric Greitens to skirt transparency laws</a>. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/private-app-public-officials/">Listen. </a></p> <p>3. Stephen Pyne, fire historian and professor at Arizona State University, on <a href="http://mjr.jour.umt.edu/how-journalists-fan-the-flames-of-wildfire-in-the-west/">the tropes, faults, and failings of wildfire coverage</a>. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/not-all-fires-are-equal/">Listen. </a></p> <p>4. Michael Graczyk, recently retired A.P. reporter, on <a href="https://www.apnews.com/358b0f8331e9487d8dd8c85c6137f217">his experience covering more than 400 executions in Texas</a>. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/reporting-death-chamber/">Listen.</a></p> <p> </p> <p><em>Frail as a Breeze, Erik Friedlander</em></p> <p><em>Solace, The Sting Soundtrack</em></p> <p><em>Mulatu Astatke, Tezeta (Nostalgia)</em></p> <p><em>Kokoroke, Abusey Junction, We Out Here</em></p>

<p>For media professionals, hurricanes offer the very best kind of bad news because the story arc is predictable and invariably compelling. In this summer series revisiting some of our Breaking News Consumer’s Handbooks, we examine the myths, misleading language, and tired media narratives that clog up news coverage at a time when clarity can be a matter of life and death.</p> <p>Brooke speaks with <a href="https://www.usgs.gov/staff-profiles/robert-holmes?qt-staff_profile_science_products=3#qt-staff_profile_science_products">Dr. Robert Holmes</a>, National Flood Hazard Coordinator for the U.S. Geological Survey; <a href="https://twitter.com/WxComm?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor">Gina Eosco</a>, a risk communication consultant; and <a href="http://drexel.edu/coas/faculty-research/faculty-directory/ScottGKnowles/">Scott Gabriel Knowles of Drexel University,</a> author of <a href="http://www.upenn.edu/pennpress/book/14925.html">The Disaster Experts: Mastering Risk in Modern America</a>.</p> <div class="embedded-image"><img class="mcePuppyImage is-loaded" src="https://media2.wnyc.org/i/800/800/l/80/1/OTM_Consumer_Handbook_StormEdition_800.png" alt=""> <div class="image-metadata"></div> </div> <p> </p>

<p><span>At a rally in Tampa, Florida, Trump supporters attacked CNN reporter Jim Acosta, prompting the president to double down on his anti-press "Enemy of the People" rhetoric. A look at how and why the president incites his base — and where it all might lead. And, as the regulatory battle surrounding 3D gun blueprints rages on, we dive into the worldview of Cody Wilson, the man who started the controversy. Plus, why we’re still living in the aftermath of Trayvon Martin’s killing, six years later.</span></p> <p>1. Greg Sargent [<a href="https://twitter.com/ThePlumLineGS?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor">@ThePlumLineGS</a>], columnist at <em>the</em> <em>Washington Post</em>, on the president's dangerous anti-press rhetoric. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/sake-people-room/">Listen.</a></p> <p>2. Andy Greenberg [<a class="ProfileHeaderCard-screennameLink u-linkComplex js-nav" href="https://twitter.com/a_greenberg?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor"><span>@a_greenberg</span></a>], reporter for <em>Wired</em>, on the regulatory battles surrounding 3D gun blueprints. And, Cody Wilson [<a class="ProfileHeaderCard-screennameLink u-linkComplex js-nav" href="https://twitter.com/Radomysisky"><span>@Radomysisky</span></a>], founder of Defense Distributed, speaking on his vision for an open source library for gun schematics. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/battle-over-3-d-guns/">Listen.</a></p> <p>3. Benjamin Crump [<a class="ProfileHeaderCard-screennameLink u-linkComplex js-nav" href="https://twitter.com/AttorneyCrump"><span>@AttorneyCrump</span></a>], civil rights attorney, and Jenner Furst, one of the filmmakers behind the docu-series "Rest in Power: The Trayvon Martin Story," on Trayvon Martin's legacy. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/how-trayvon-shapes-us-still/">Listen.</a></p> <p><em>Songs:</em></p> <p><em>Sacred Oracle by John Zorn (feat. Bill Frisell)<br>String Quartet No. 5 (II) by Kronos Quartet &amp; Philip Glass<br>Fallen Leaves by Marcos Ciscar<br></em><em>Cellar Door by Michael Andrews<br></em><em>Walking By Flashlight by Maria Schneider<br></em><em>Melancolia by Marcos Ciscar</em></p>

<p>This summer, in a project designed by <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/about-the-immigrant-children-shelter-map" target="_blank">ProPublica</a>, 10 news organizations are sharing information to flesh out the hidden details of families separated by the Trump administration's zero tolerance immigration policy. Bob speaks with Selymar Colón, digital managing editor at <a href="https://www.univision.com/noticias/inmigracion/interactivo-donde-estan-los-ninos" target="_blank">Univision News</a>, one of the organizations involved in the collaboration, about how the consortium has investigated and reported on some of the 200 tips it has received —and about the four families that were reunited after their stories were published.</p>

<p>Socialism is having a moment in the sunlight — that is, on daytime television. Yet at the same time that the left earns a closer look from political pundits, Democrats and Republicans still fail to understand each other with nuance. Plus, after newspaper layoffs and a White House lockout this week, we assess the press’s appetite for solidarity. </p> <p>1. Nathan Robinson [<a href="https://twitter.com/NathanJRobinson">@NathanJRobinson</a>], editor-in-chief at Current Affairs, on <a href="https://www.currentaffairs.org/2018/07/just-stop-worrying-and-embrace-the-left">socialism's renewed place in mainstream political discourse</a>. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/socialism-air/">Listen</a>.</p> <p>2. Perry Bacon Jr. [<a href="https://twitter.com/perrybaconjr">@perrybaconjr</a>], political writer at FiveThirtyEight, on <a href="https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/democrats-are-wrong-about-republicans-republicans-are-wrong-about-democrats/">the misconceptions Democrats and Republicans have about each other</a>. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/who-do-we-think-we-are/">Listen.</a></p> <p>3. Pete Vernon [<a href="https://twitter.com/byPeteVernon">@byPeteVernon</a>], writer at the Columbia Journalism Review, on <a href="https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/white-house-bans-cnn-reporter.php">the White House's decision this week to bar a CNN reporter from a press event</a>. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/white-house-press-corps-get-formation/">Listen</a>.</p> <p>4. <span>Chelsia Rose Marcius [<a href="https://twitter.com/chelsiamarcius">@chelsiamarchius</a>], former staff reporter at the New York Daily News, Tom Laforgia [<a href="https://twitter.com/thomaslaforgia">@thomaslaforgia</a>], former editor at the NYDN, and Molly Crane-Newman [<a href="https://twitter.com/molcranenewman">@molcranenewman</a>], reporter at the NYDN, on <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/23/business/media/tronc-daily-news-layoffs.html">the layoffs at the tabloid earlier this week</a>. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/what-comes-next-daily-news/">Listen.</a></span></p> <p>5. Felix Salmon [<a href="https://twitter.com/felixsalmon">@felixsalmon</a>], financial journalist, on <a href="https://slate.com/business/2018/07/why-tronc-is-gutting-the-new-york-daily-news.html">the motivations — and, he says, incompetence — behind tronc's business decisions</a>. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/youre-tronc-dying-day/">Listen.</a></p> <p>Songs:</p> <p><em>Carnival of Souls by Verne Langdon<br>Uluwati by John Zorn<br>Going Home for the First Time by Alex Wurman<br>Frail as a Breeze, Pt. 2 by Erik Friedlander<br>Fellini's Waltz by Enrico Pieranunzi &amp; the Charlie Haden<br>Do Nothin' Till You Hear From Me by Ben Webster<br><br></em></p>

<p>This week On the Media recommends a new podcast from our colleagues at WNYC. Check it out.</p> <p>Prodigy and Havoc begin laying down rhymes together in high school. When their first album flops, they come up with a new sound that's directly influenced by P's sickle cell, and it helps define a generation of hip hop. Plus: Big Twins talks about the sickle cell attack he’ll never forget.</p> <p> LANGUAGE WARNING: <em>The Realness</em> contains strong language that some listeners may find offensive. </p> <p><em>WNYC’s health coverage and The Realness by Only Human is supported in part by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Jane and Gerald Katcher and the Katcher Family Foundation, Science Sandbox, an initiative of the Simons Foundation, and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. </em></p> <p>Audio of Prodigy on <em>Questlove Supreme</em> is provided by Pandora, which also has a recording of Mobb Deep's classic hit "<a href="https://www.pandora.com/artist/nas/sounds-like-you-nyc-2017-explicit/shook-ones-pt-2-live-from-nyc/TRPXgfgPtf2XKl6">Shook Ones (Part II)</a>" performed by Nas.</p>

<p><span>In a matter of months, we've moved from bipartisan immigration talks to calls to abolish ICE. On this week’s On the Media, a look at how leftists are employing a right-wing communications strategy in order to change the national debate. Plus, thirty years into the conversation on global warming, what have we really learned? And in the days following the Trump-Putin summit, what did we miss? </span></p> <p>1. Brooke on this week's coverage of the Trump-Putin summit, and on a new metaphor for the Trump era: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVWTQcZbLgY">the Shepard tone</a>. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/fever-pitch-again/">Listen.</a> </p> <p>2. <a href="https://www.mackinac.org/bio.aspx?ID=1">Joseph Lehman</a>, president of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy; Laura Marsh [<a href="https://twitter.com/lmlauramarsh">@lmlauramarsh</a><span>], literary editor at The New Republic; and Sean McElwee [<a href="https://twitter.com/SeanMcElwee">@SeanMcElwee</a>], activist and contributor at The Nation, on <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/138003/flaws-overton-window-theory">the Overton Window</a>. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/how-fringe-ideas-become-policy">Listen.</a> </span></p> <p>3. Andrew Revkin [<a href="https://twitter.com/Revkin?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor">@Revkin</a>] of the National Geographic Society on <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/next/earth/thirty-years-ago-today-global-warming-first-made-headline-news/">thirty years of global warming coverage</a>. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/30-years-talking-and-talking-and-talking-about-climate-change/">Listen.</a> </p> <p><em>Music from this week's program:</em></p> <p><em>Whispers of Heavenly Death — John Zorn</em><br><em>String Quartet No. 5 — Philip Glass</em><br><em>The Mole — Hans Zimmer</em><br><em>Flugufrelsarinn — Kronos Quartet</em><br><em>Long Ge — Kronos Quartet</em><br><em>A Ride With Polly Jean — Jenny Scheinman</em></p> <p> </p>

<p>Four years ago this week, on July 17, 2014, Eric Garner died in Staten Island at the hands of a New York City police officer. We probably wouldn't have known if it hadn't been for a cellphone video that captured his arrest, the excessive force that killed him, and his final words. The national media couldn’t look away, until they did look away.</p> <p><span><a href="https://twitter.com/mtaibbi?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor">Matt Taibbi</a> is a journalist and author of the book, <em><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Cant-Breathe-Killing-Bay-Street/dp/0735288135">I Can't Breathe: A Killing on Bay Street</a></em>, an exploration of Eric Garner’s life and death in the media — and of his real life, too. Brooke spoke to him last year.</span></p>

<p><span>Reporting on the Russia investigation is not for the faint of heart. This week, a look at how a journalist became entangled in the investigation when she turned her source over to the FBI. Plus, how another reporter avoided common journalistic mistakes during the Iraq War and a conversation with the director of the new documentary <em>The Other Side of Everything</em> about the end of Yugoslavia.</span></p> <p>1. Tom Nichols [<a href="https://twitter.com/RadioFreeTom">@RadioFreeTom</a>], professor of national security at the Naval War College, on <a href="https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/07/10/trump-russia-jonathan-chait-218966">separating the signal from the noise in stories about Trump's relations with Russia</a>. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/navigating-trump-russia-connection/">Listen.</a></p> <p>2. Marcy Wheeler [<a href="https://twitter.com/emptywheel">@emptywheel</a>], national security blogger, on <a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/2018/07/03/putting-a-face-mine-to-the-risks-posed-by-gop-games-on-mueller-investigation/">her decision to out a source to the FBI</a>. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/why-reporter-turned-in-source/">Listen.</a></p> <p>3. Jonathan Landay [<a href="https://twitter.com/JonathanLanday?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor">@JonathanLanday</a>], national security correspondent at Reuters, on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVdHJuVydb4">his reporting at the outset of the Iraq War</a>. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/who-was-reporting-truth-why-we-went-war-iraq">Listen.</a></p> <p>4. <span>Mila Turajlić, director of "The Other Side of Everything," on <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-front-row/the-other-side-of-everything-reviewed-a-daughter-documents-yugoslavias-nationalistic-nightmare">her mother's dissent against the former Yugoslavian government</a>. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/other-side-everything/">Listen.</a></span></p>

<p><span>With President Trump's nomination of federal judge Brett Kavanaugh, the Supreme Court will likely be locked up by the political right for a generation. This is in large part thanks to a historic decision made in 2010 by the court’s then-shakier conservative majority: the <em>Citizens United</em> ruling, which fundamentally reshaped the political landscape of the United States by unleashing floods of political spending, particularly in the form of untraceable "dark money." </span></p> <p>For the state of Montana, the post-<em>Citizens United</em> world has brought back old memories: over a century ago, copper kings like William A. Clark used their vast wealth to control the state and buy up political power. In 1912, the state responded by passing one of the first campaign finance laws in the nation, banning corporate political spending entirely. That law was struck down by the Supreme Court in 2012, but Montanans have continued to push back against corporate political spending using other means.</p> <p>A new documentary, <a href="http://www.darkmoneyfilm.com/"><em>Dark Mone</em><em>y</em></a>, uses Montana as a microcosm to explain the reality of campaign finance in the United States today. Bob speaks with director <a href="https://twitter.com/_kimreed?lang=en">Kimberly Reed</a> about the documentary and why she's hopeful that, despite the unbalanced playing field, positive change is possible.</p>

<p>This week, we devote an entire hour to what one important scholar deemed “the cause of and solution to all of life’s problems.” From its earliest role as a source of nourishment to its depictions in ancient literature, we examine the roots of mankind’s everlasting drinking problems. Plus, how a bizarre 60 Minutes piece spread the idea that red wine has medicinal effects. Then, a look at how popular culture has incorrectly framed Alcoholics Anonymous as the best and only option for addiction recovery. And, a scientist cooks up a synthetic substitute for booze.</p> <p>1. Iain Gately, author of <em>Drink: A Cultural History of Alcohol, </em>on the ancient origins of our core beliefs about booze. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/alcohol-ancient-times">Listen</a>.</p> <p>2. Robert Taylor, assistant managing editor at <em>Wine Spectator</em>, on red wine's constantly changing reputation as a healthy substance. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/red-wine">Listen</a>.</p> <p>3. Gabrielle Glaser [<a href="https://twitter.com/GabrielleGlaser">@GabrielleGlaser</a>], author of <em>Her Best-Kept Secret: Why Women Drink - And How They Can Regain Control</em>, on the history and P.R. methods of Alcoholics Anonymous. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/alcoholics-anonymous-goes">Listen</a>.</p> <p>4. David Nutt [<a href="https://twitter.com/ProfDavidNutt">@ProfDavidNutt</a>], psychologist at Imperial College London, on his new alcohol substitute, "alcosynth." <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/can-we-replace-alcohol">Listen</a>.</p> <p><em>Songs:</em></p> <p><em>When I Get Low I Get High by Ella Fitzgerald</em></p> <p><em>Tomorrow Never Knows by Quartetto D/Archi Dell'Orchestra Sinfonica Di Milano</em></p> <p><em>Il Casanova Di Federico Fellini by Solisti E Orchestre Del Cinema Italiano</em></p> <p><em>Option with Variations by Kronos Quartet/composer Rhiannon Giddens</em></p>

<p>Following a string of landmark Supreme Court rulings and a surprise retirement, this week On the Media examines the conservative culture on the bench and wonders what we can expect from the court going forward. Plus, is civility really dead or only sleeping? And what is the view from small-town America?</p> <p>1. Adam Serwer [<a href="https://twitter.com/AdamSerwer">@AdamSerwer</a>], senior editor at <em>The Atlantic</em>, on <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/06/the-supreme-courts-green-light-to-discriminate/563756/">the Supreme Court's decision to uphold the Trump administration's travel ban decision</a>. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/what-discrimination/">Listen</a>.</p> <p>2. Teresa Bejan [<a href="https://twitter.com/tmbejan">@tmbejan</a>], professor of political theory at the University of Oxford, on the historical origins of our "crisis of civility." <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/virtue-mutual-contempt/">Listen</a>.</p> <p>3. Keith Bybee, professor of judiciary studies at Syracuse University, on <a href="https://www.amazon.com/How-Civility-Works-Keith-Bybee/dp/1503601544">the oft-repeated deaths of American civility</a> — and how notions of civility can be a tool of oppression. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/problem-with-civility/">Listen</a>.</p> <p>4. Deborah Fallows, author and linguist, and James Fallows [<a href="https://twitter.com/JamesFallows">@JamesFallows</a>], national correspondent at <em>The Atlantic</em>, on <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Our-Towns-000-Mile-Journey-America/dp/1101871849">the societies thriving outside the media lens</a>. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/what-does-does-civic-success-look/">Listen</a>.</p>

<p>There’s a reason why Supreme Court reporters know to <em>never</em> to take a vacation in June.</p> <p>The end of this season’s term brought us a head-spinning drumbeat of huge 5-4 decisions, from upholding the Muslim travel ban to dealing a huge blow to organized labor to siding with anti-abortion pregnancy centers. </p> <p>Understanding the Supreme Court is difficult for myriad reasons. So, with the expertise of seasoned SCOTUS reporters, in 2015 we put together a handy guide for the discerning news consumer to make sense of the court, its decisions, and its coverage. We're revisiting it this week. </p> <div class="embedded-image" style="max-width: 800px;"><img class="mcePuppyImage" src="https://media.wnyc.org/i/800/800/l/80/1/OTM_Consumer_Handbook_SCOTUSEdition.png" alt=""> <div class="image-metadata"> <div class="image-caption">Add Caption Here</div> <div class="image-credit">(Breaking News Consumer's Handbook: SCOTUS Edition/WNYC)</div> </div> </div> <p> </p>

<p>Family separation, a re-framed immigration debate and Trump's misleading executive order: why news fatigue about the border isn’t an option. This week, we explore multiple sides of the asylum policy — including the view from Central America. Plus, a look back at US repatriation policy in the 1930's, and six decades of American culture wars. </p> <p>1. Dara Lind [<a href="https://twitter.com/DLind?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor">@DLind</a>] and Dahlia Lithwick [<a href="https://twitter.com/dahlialithwick?lang=en">@Dahlialithwick</a>] on how Trump's family separation policy attempts to re-frame the immigration debate, and why news fatigue isn't an option. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/borderline-madness/">Listen</a>.</p> <p>2. Carlos Dada [<a href="https://twitter.com/CarlosDada?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor">@CarlosDada</a>] on the way the family separation and zero-tolerance asylum policy are changing the way Central Americans see the United States. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/view-central-america/">Listen</a>.</p> <p>3. <span>Francisco Balderrama on the mass expulsion of Mexican immigrants and their American-born children from the United States during the Great Depression. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/revisiting-our-mass-deportation-past/">Listen</a>.</span></p> <p>4. Brian Lehrer [<a href="https://twitter.com/BrianLehrer?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor">@BrianLehrer</a>] on six decades of culture wars in the United States. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/history-american-resentment/">Listen</a>.</p> <p><em>Songs:</em></p> <p><em>Texas Polka by Bonnie Lou</em><br><em>Marjane’s Inspiration by David Bergeaud</em><br><em>The Invisibles by John Zorn</em><br><em>Maria Christina by Los Lobos</em><br><em>Blackbird by Brad Mehldau</em></p>

<p>In 2014, <em>Fortune</em> magazine ran a cover story featuring Elizabeth Holmes: a blonde woman wearing a black turtleneck, staring deadpan at the camera, with the headline, “<a href="http://fortune.com/2014/06/12/theranos-blood-holmes/">This CEO’s out for blood</a>.”</p> <p>A decade earlier, Holmes had founded Theranos, a company promising to “revolutionize” the blood testing industry, initially using a microfluidics approach — moving from deep vein draws to a single drop of blood. It promised easier, cheaper, more accessible lab tests — and a revolutionized healthcare experience.</p> <p>But it turns out that all those lofty promises were empty. There was no revolutionary new way to test blood. <span>This past spring, Holmes settled a lawsuit with the Securities and Exchange Commissio, though admitted no wrongdoing. La</span>st Friday, another nail in the coffin for Theranos came in the form of federal charges of wire fraud, filed against Holmes and the company's former president, Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani. </p> <p>The alleged fraud was uncovered by the dogged reporting of <a href="https://twitter.com/JohnCarreyrou?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor">John Carreyrou</a>, an investigative journalist at the <em>Wall Street Journal</em> and author of "<em><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Bad-Blood-Secrets-Silicon-Startup/dp/152473165X">Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup</a></em>." </p> <p> </p>

<p><span>More than two thousand reporters went to Singapore to cover the summit between President Trump and Kim Jong-un. This week, we examine how so much coverage can lead to so little understanding. Plus, at long last, Justin Trudeau is subjected to media scrutiny in the US. And, the latest threat to American newspapers, the trouble with a new bill meant to battle anti-Semitism, and Jeff Session's fraught theology. </span></p> <p>1. Noah Bierman [<a href="https://twitter.com/Noahbierman">@Noahbierman</a>], White House correspondent for the Los Angeles Times, on <a href="http://www.latimes.com/world/asia/la-fg-summit-witness-20180611-story.html">his experience reporting from Singapore</a>. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/empty-handed-singapore/">Listen</a>.</p> <p>2. Margaret Sullivan [<a href="https://twitter.com/Sulliview">@Sulliview</a>], media columnist for the Washington Post, on <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/the-north-korea-summit-was-a-triumph-of-trumpian-stagecraft-and-the-media-fell-for-it/2018/06/12/0ebe2488-6e42-11e8-bd50-b80389a4e569_story.html">American media falling for Trumpian stagecraft at the summit</a>. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/beyond-hype/">Listen</a>.</p> <p>3. Jesse Brown [<a href="https://twitter.com/JesseBrown">@JesseBrown</a>], host of the <a href="http://www.canadalandshow.com/">CANADALAND</a> podcast, on <a href="http://www.canadalandshow.com/">U.S. media's renewed interest in Justin Trudeau</a>. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/honeymoon-ends/">Listen</a>.</p> <p>4. Erin Arvedlund [<a href="https://twitter.com/erinarvedlund">@erinarvedlund</a>], reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer, on <a href="http://www.philly.com/philly/business/trump-commerce-paper-mill-newsprint-tariffs-20180612.html">the dangers of a tariff on Canadian newsprint</a>. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/price-paper-too-damn-high/">Listen</a>.</p> <p>5. Michael Lieberman [<a href="https://twitter.com/ADLWashCounsel">@ADLWashCounsel</a>], Washington counsel for the Anti-Defamation League, and Kenneth Stern, executive director of the Justus &amp; Karin Rosenberg Foundation, on <a href="https://www.adl.org/blog/what-is-the-anti-semitism-awareness-act-really-all-about">the proposed Anti-Semitism Awareness Act</a>; Brooke on <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/bible-verse-jeff-sessions-used-defend-immigration-crackdown-once-also-ncna883676">Jeff Sessions biblical defense of the Trump administration's immigration policies</a>. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/anti-zionist-speech-anti-semitic/">Listen</a>.</p> <p>Songs:</p> <p><em>Puck by John Zorn (feat. Bill Frisell, Carol Emanuel &amp; Kenny Wollesen)</em><br><em>Dinner Music for a Pack of Hungry by Raymond Scott</em><br><em>The Party's Over by Dick Hyman<br>Paperback Writer by Quartetto d'Archi Dell'Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Guiseppe Verdi</em><br><em>Tilliboyo by Kronos Quartet</em></p>

<p>For decades, Seymour Hersh has been an icon of muckraking, investigative reporting: his work exposed such atrocities as the massacre of Vietnamese civilians in <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1972/01/22/i-coverup">My Lai</a> and the torture of Iraqis in <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2004/05/10/torture-at-abu-ghraib">Abu Ghraib</a>. He also documented the US's development of <a href="http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/White%20%20Files/Dead%20Ends/Dead%20Ends%20130.pdf">chemical weapons</a> in the 60s, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1974/12/22/archives/huge-cia-operation-reported-in-u-s-against-antiwar-forces-other.html">CIA domestic spying</a> in the 70s, wrote a highly critical piece on <a href="https://www.lrb.co.uk/v37/n10/seymour-m-hersh/the-killing-of-osama-bin-laden">the raid that killed Osama bin Laden</a> in 2015 and did a whole lot more. Hersh speaks with Brooke about his latest book, <em><a href="http://knopfdoubleday.com/2018/05/14/reporter-by-seymour-hersh/">Reporter: A</a><a href="http://knopfdoubleday.com/2018/05/14/reporter-by-seymour-hersh/"> Memoir</a></em>, which chronicles his half century of reporting and the various obstacles he's encountered along the way.</p> <p><em>We spoke to Hersh in 2008 about his My Lai reporting. <a href="https://www.wnyc.org/story/131080-40-years-later-hersh-on-my-lai/">Listen here.</a></em></p> <p><em>We spoke to Hersh in 2015 about his bin Laden reporting. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/podcast-extra-seymour-hersh/">Listen here.</a></em></p> <p><em>This segment is from our June 8th, 2018 program, "<a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/on-the-media-2018-06-08/">Perps Walk</a>."</em></p>

<p><span>Justice for whom? President Trump’s controversial pardoning spree has benefited political allies and nonviolent drug offenders alike. This week, we look at whether the President’s unorthodox use of clemency might not be such a bad thing. Plus, why the Justice Department curbed prosecution of white collar crime, and Seymour Hersh revisits highlights from his storied investigative reporting career.</span></p> <p>1. Mark Osler [<a href="https://twitter.com/Oslerguy">@Oslerguy</a>], Professor of Law at the University of St. Thomas, on why President Trump's unorthodox approach to clemency might not be such a bad thing. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/rethinking-presidential-pardon/">Listen.</a></p> <p>2. Jesse Eisenger [<span><a href="https://twitter.com/eisingerj"><strong>@</strong>eisingerj</a></span>], senior reporter at <a href="https://www.propublica.org/">ProPublica</a>, on why federal prosecutors have adopted such a lenient approach to white collar crime. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/inside-chickenshit-club/">Listen.</a></p> <p>3. Seymour Hersh, investigative journalist, on some of the personal experiences and incredible stories that have defined his half-century-long reporting career. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/seymour-hersh-looks-back/">Listen.</a></p> <p><em> Music:</em></p> <p><em>"Going Home for the First Time" by Alex Wurman</em></p> <p><em>"Tymperturbably Blue" by Duke Ellington</em></p> <p><em>"Let's Face the Music and Dance" by Duke Ellington</em></p> <p><em>"Purple Haze" by Kronos Quartet</em></p> <p> </p> <p> </p>

<p>Puerto Rico was (briefly) back in the news this week when a Harvard study shed more light on many people died in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria. The study has a wide range of estimated deaths, but the mid-point is stunning: 4,645 people died as a result of the storm, the researchers found. </p> <p>Meanwhile, a judge on the island ruled that the Puerto Rican government has seven days to release death certificates and data related to the death toll of Hurricane Maria. The ruling was in response to a lawsuit filed by CNN and the Puerto Rican-based <a href="http://periodismoinvestigativo.com/">Center for Investigative Journalism</a>, or CPI. Both organizations have been investigating the death toll following the storm and question the government’s official tally of 64. CPI's estimate is that 1,065 more people than usual died in the weeks after the storm. We take this opportunity to revisit our reporting from the island in the aftermath of that devastating storm.</p> <p>Hurricane Maria's category-five winds and torrential rain stripped away much of the island's lush vegetation, leaving behind a strange and alien landscape. But more was exposed than barren tree branches. The storm also called attention to, and exacerbated, the island's high poverty rate. Further-flung regions, outside of metropolitan San Juan, found themselves in the spotlight. And longstanding questions of identity and relationship to the mainland U.S. were brought to the fore.</p> <p>In the three months since Hurricane Maria, those who have remained on the island have faced a choice. They could face Puerto Rico as Maria left it—stripped away of vegetation, infrastructure, and assumptions—and rebuild the island and its society anew. Or they could become <em>acostumbrados</em>: accustomed to a frustrating new normal. </p> <p>Alana Casanova-Burgess looks at what the storms have exposed and at a path forward through a thicket of fear, adaptation, and hope, featuring:</p> <ul> <li>Benjamin Torres Gotay [<a href="https://twitter.com/TorresGotay">@TorresGotay</a>], columnist for the newspaper <a href="https://www.elnuevodia.com/">El Nuevo Día</a></li> <li>Walter Ronald Gonzalez Gonzalez, director of Art, Culture and Tourism for the region of Utuado</li> <li>Yarimar Bonilla [<a href="https://twitter.com/yarimarbonilla">@yarimarbonilla</a>], anthropologist at Rutgers University</li> <li>Alfredo Corrasquillo [<a href="https://twitter.com/alcarrpr">@alcarrpr</a>], psychoanalyst and expert on leadership at the University of the Sacred Heart in San Juan</li> <li>Sandra Rodriguez Cotto [<a href="https://twitter.com/srcsandra">@srcsandra</a>], host at WAPA Radio</li> </ul>

<p><span>After World War II, Germany and the Allied powers took pains to make sure that its citizens would never forget the country’s dark history. But in America, much of our past remains hidden or rewritten. This week, Brooke visits Montgomery, Alabama, home to <a href="https://eji.org/legacy-museum">The Legacy Museum</a> and the <a href="https://eji.org/national-lynching-memorial">National Memorial for Peace and Justice</a>, a new museum and memorial created by the <a href="https://eji.org/">Equal Justice Initiative</a> that aim to bring America’s history of segregation and racial terror to the forefront.</span></p> <p><span>1. Brooke talks to the Equal Justice Initiative's [<a href="https://twitter.com/eji_org?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor">@eji_org</a>] Bryan Stevenson about what inspired him to create The Legacy Museum and memorial and to historian Sir Richard Evans [<a href="https://twitter.com/RichardEvans36?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor">@RichardEvans36</a>] about the denazification process in Germany after World War II. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/how-germany-can-help-america-remember-slavery/">Listen.</a></span></p> <p><span>2. Brooke visits The Legacy Museum and National Memorial for Peace and Justice. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/we-looked-and-and/">Listen.</a></span></p> <p><span>3. Brooke speaks again with Bryan Stevenson about his own history and America's ongoing struggle to confront our racist past and present. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/always-going-to-be-what-happened/">Listen.</a></span></p>

<p>We talk a lot about right wing news outlets picking up out-of-context facts and amplifying them in their outrage machine, so as to infuriate and validate their angry audiences. But this phenomenon is not solely the province of the political right, as we saw last week when <a href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/05/immigrant-children-separated-from-families-are-not-the-ones-supposedly-lost.html">two separate stories about immigration policy in the Trump era morphed</a> into one outrage-inspiring tale.</p> <p><span><span><a href="https://www.nyclu.org/en/biographies/paige-austin">Paige Austin</a> is an immigration lawyer for the New York Civil Liberties Union. She explains to Bob how liberals came to believe that the Trump administration had torn nearly 1,500 children from their parents' arms, and then lost them — and how this conflation presents potential dangers for the very population that she hopes to defend. </span></span></p>

<p><span>Rudy Giuliani has been warning the press that the president may not testify in the Russia investigation, but Trump has signaled otherwise. This week, we untangle the White House’s mixed-up messaging on the Russia investigation. Plus, after reports that companies like Amazon and Google are seeking, or have received, massive contracts with the Pentagon, we take a look at the internet’s forgotten military origins. And, a new book re-imagines major moments in athletics history. </span></p> <p>1. Dahlia Lithwick [<a href="https://twitter.com/dahlialithwick">@Dahlialithwick</a>], legal correspondent at Slate, on <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/in-reversal-giuliani-now-says-trump-should-do-interview-with-mueller-team/2018/05/23/82f8fa24-5eb8-11e8-9ee3-49d6d4814c4c_story.html">Giuliani's claim of a Mueller "perjury trap."</a> <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/truth-relative/">Listen.</a></p> <p>2. Kate Conger [<a href="https://twitter.com/kateconger">@kateconger</a>], senior reporter at Gizmodo, on <a href="https://gizmodo.com/google-employees-resign-in-protest-against-pentagon-con-1825729300">partnerships between tech titans and the US military</a>. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/google-enlists/">Listen.</a></p> <p>3. Yasha Levine [<a href="https://twitter.com/yashalevine">@yashalevine</a>], investigative journalist, on <a href="https://thebaffler.com/latest/oakland-surveillance-levine">the internet's forgotten military origins</a>. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/surveillance-valley/">Listen.</a></p> <p>4. Mike Pesca [<a href="https://twitter.com/pescami">@pescami</a>], host of Slate's <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/podcasts/gist.html">The Gist</a>, on his new book, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Upon-Further-Review-Greatest-What-Ifs/dp/1455540366">Upon Further Review: The Greatest What-Ifs in Sports History</a>. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/greatest-what-ifs-sports-history/">Listen.</a></p>

<p>In November 2016, Bob spoke to Blaze bloviator Glenn Beck to hear about how he was a changed man. More compassionate, a better listener and very opposed to Donald Trump. This weekend, Beck proudly donned a MAGA hat. Why the turnaround? According to Beck, it was in reaction to the <em>media's</em> reaction to something Trump said about immigrants.</p> <p>So the old Beck is back. But to Bob, he'd been there all along. Enjoy.</p>

<p>Just outside of Mobile, Alabama, sits the small community of Africatown, a town established by the last known slaves brought to America, illegally, in 1860. Decades after that last slave ship, <em>The</em> <em>Clotilde</em>, burned in the waters outside Mobile, Africatown residents are pushing back against the forces of industrial destruction and national amnesia. Local struggles over environmental justice, land ownership, and development could determine whether Africatown becomes an historical destination, a living monument to a lingering past — or whether shadows cast by highway overpasses and gasoline tanks will erase our country's hard-learned lessons. </p> <p>Brooke spoke with <a href="https://www.npr.org/2018/05/08/608205763/barracoon-brings-a-lost-slave-story-to-light">Deborah G. Plant</a>, editor of a new book by Zora Neale Hurston's about a founder of Africatown, <a href="http://bridgethegulfproject.org/users/joe-womack">Joe Womack</a>, environmental activist and Africatown resident, <a href="https://twitter.com/vickiihowell?lang=en">Vickii Howell</a>, president and CEO of the <a href="https://www.movegulfcoastcdc.org/">MOVE Gulf Coast Community Development Corporation</a>, Charles Torrey, research historian for the <a href="http://www.museumofmobile.com/">History Museum of Mobile</a>, and others about the past, present, and future of Africatown, Alabama. </p> <p>Songs:</p> <p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0O7_-_iA1cc">Traditional African Nigerian Music of the Yoruba Tribe</a><br>Death Have Mercy by Regina Carter<br>Sacred Oracle by John Zorn and Bill Frisell<br>Passing Time by John Renbourn<br>The Thompson Fields by Maria Schneider Jazz Orchestra</p>

<p><a href="http://www.studsterkel.org/" target="_blank">Studs Terkel</a><span>, born 106 years ago on this date, May 16</span><span>, spent the majority of his life documenting the lives of others – very often everyday, working-class people he believed were “uncelebrated and unsung.” From coal miners and sharecroppers to gangsters and prostitutes, every American had a story to tell and Terkel wanted to hear it. After Terkel died in 2008, publisher </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Political-Education-Coming-Paris-York/dp/1933633158/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books&amp;qid=1226078953&amp;sr=1-3" target="_blank">Andre Schiffrin</a>, who edited Terkel's writing for more than four decades,<span> spoke with Bob about Terkel's singular gift for oral history.</span></p>

<p><span>Today, more than 45 million Americans live in poverty. The problem has been addressed countless times since the nation’s founding, but it persists, and for the poorest among us, it gets worse. America has not been able to find its way to a sustainable solution, because most of its citizens see the problem of poverty from a distance, through a distorted lens. So in 2016, we presented <a href="https://www.wnyc.org/series/busted-americas-poverty-myths" target="_blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&amp;q=https://www.wnyc.org/series/busted-americas-poverty-myths&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1526063139701000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFfM8lSf6ZD4Z8qED90F4JVicNS-A">"Busted: America's Poverty Myths,"</a> a series exploring how our understanding of poverty is shaped not by facts, but by private presumptions, media narratives, and the tales of the American Dream. This week we're revisiting part of that series. </span></p> <p><span>1. Matthew Desmond [<a href="https://twitter.com/just_shelter">@just_shelter</a>], author of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Evicted-Poverty-Profit-American-City/dp/0553447459">"<em>Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City</em>,"</a><em> </em>on the myriad factors that perpetuate wealth inequality and Jack Frech [<a href="https://twitter.com/FrechJack">@FrechJack</a>], former Athens County Ohio Welfare Director, on how the media's short attention span for covering inequality stymies our discourse around poverty. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/poverty-tour-2/?utm_medium=social&amp;utm_source=tw&amp;utm_content=otm">Listen.</a></span></p> <p><span>2. Jill Lepore, historian and staff writer for the <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/contributors/jill-lepore"><em>New Yorker</em></a>, on the long history of America's beloved "rags to riches" narrative and Natasha Boyer, a Ohio woman whose eviction was initially prevented thanks to a generous surprise from strangers, on the reality of living in poverty and the limitations of "random acts of kindness." <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/rags-riches-revisited/?utm_medium=social&amp;utm_source=tw&amp;utm_content=otm">Listen.</a></span></p> <p><span>3. Brooke considers the myth of meritocracy and how it obscures the reality: that one's economic success is more due to luck than motivation. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/myth-meritocracy/?utm_medium=social&amp;utm_source=tw&amp;utm_content=otm">Listen.</a></span></p> <p><span><em><a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/series/busted-americas-poverty-myths">“Busted: America’s Poverty Myths”</a> is produced by Meara Sharma and Eve Claxton, with special thanks to Nina Chaudry. This series is produced in collaboration with WNET in New York as part of <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wnet/chasing-the-dream/">“Chasing the Dream: Poverty and Opportunity in America.”</a> Major funding for “Chasing the Dream” is provided by the JPB Foundation, with additional funding from the Ford Foundation.</em></span></p>

<p><span>Back in the early 1980s, thousands of followers of the Indian guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh descended upon a 64,000 acre piece of land in central Oregon to found their utopia. The Rajneeshees had millions of dollars at their disposal and an ideology based on meditation, raising consciousness and free love — one that Bhagwan’s young American and European followers found seemingly irresistible. And one that the local people in the adjacent town of Antelope, Oregon, population 40, saw as an evil threat.</span></p> <p>Cult or utopian project? Menace or marvel? Brothers MacLain and Chapman Way, directors of the new Netflix documentary series <em><a href="https://www.netflix.com/title/80145240">Wild Wild Country</a></em>, leave it to their viewers to decide, presenting the story in a way that illuminates how the conventions of documentary shape our perceptions. In this expanded version of the interview, Bob speaks with the Way brothers about the challenges they faced and choices they made in presenting wildly conflicting narratives about this truly bizarre chapter in Oregonian history.</p>

<p>After last month’s terrorist attack in Toronto, the media attempted to make sense of the term “incel,” or involuntary celibate. We situate the subculture within the complex ecosystem of aggrieved men online. Plus, a conversation with the directors of the new Netflix documentary series "<em>Wild Wild Country</em>," about their experience revisiting a forgotten utopian project. And, a look at how the press has responded to repeated attacks from President Trump. </p> <p>1. Jay Rosen [<a href="https://twitter.com/jayrosen_nyu">@jayrosen_nyu</a>], professor of journalism at New York University, on <a href="http://www.nybooks.com/daily/2018/04/25/why-trump-is-winning-and-the-press-is-losing/">the media losing the battle for the freedom of the press</a>. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/how-journalists-hurt-journalism-age-trump/">Listen</a>.</p> <p>2. Will Sommer [<a href="https://twitter.com/willsommer">@willsommer</a>], editor at The Hill and author of Right Richter, on the complex ecosystem of aggrieved men online. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/making-sense-manosphere/">Listen</a>.</p> <p>3. Michael Kimmel [<a href="https://twitter.com/MichaelS_Kimmel">@MichaelS_Kimmel</a>], professor of sociology and gender studies at Stony Brook University, on <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/24/books/review/angry-white-men-by-michael-kimmel.html">the roots of masculine frustration</a>. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/what-men-with-pain/">Listen</a>.</p> <p>4. MacLain Way and Chapman Way, directors of the new Netflix documentary series "Wild Wild Country," on <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/16/arts/television/wild-wild-country-netflix-review-guns-sex-and-a-guru.html">the brief and infamous story of the Rajneesh commune</a>. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/trip-through-wild-wild-country/">Listen</a>.</p> <p><span> </span></p>

<p>International Workers' Day is celebrated with rallies and protests all over the world on May 1st, but it's not a big deal in the United States. In this podcast extra, Brooke speaks to <a href="http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/history/faculty/donna-haverty-stacke">Donna Haverty-Stacke of Hunter College, CUNY</a> about the U.S. origin of May Day and how it has come to be forgotten. The first national turnout for worker's rights in the U.S. was on May 1, 1886 -- and contrary to what you've heard elsewhere, it wasn't the same thing as the Haymarket Affair. Haverty-Stacke is also author of <a href="https://nyupress.org/books/9780814737057/">America’s Forgotten Holiday: May Day and Nationalism, 1867–1960</a>, and she explains that the fight over May 1st, or May Day, is also about the fight for American identity and what it means to be radical and patriotic at the same time. </p> <p><em>The OTM crew sings "Into The Streets May First," a never-before-professionally-recorded 1935 Aaron Copland anthem in honor of May Day:</em></p> <p><div class="user-embedded-video"><div id="videoplayer_idm140026442140560c80a0c8e-87de-4a49-bc9a-10f6b64210f6"><iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/267689369?wmode=transparent&amp;autohide=1&amp;rel=0&amp;showinfo=0&amp;app_id=122963&amp;enablejsapi=1" width="620" height="349" frameborder="0" title='"Into The Streets May First"' webkitallowfullscreen="webkitallowfullscreen" mozallowfullscreen="mozallowfullscreen" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" id="a-7930612447340339129" class="youtube_video" data-original-url="https://vimeo.com/267689369"></iframe></div></div>  </p>

<p>This week, we explore the ways white Americans — in the voting booth, and on T.V. — deal with a changing society. A new study finds that many white voters supported Donald Trump out of a fear of losing their place in the world. "Roseanne" gets a reboot, and "The Simpsons" reacts poorly under pressure. Plus, a closer look at the company Trump kept and the deals he sought before his presidency, with the hosts of the WNYC podcast "Trump, Inc."</p> <p>1. Thomas Frank [<a href="https://twitter.com/thomasfrank_?lang=en">@thomasfrank_</a>], author of <em>Listen, Liberal</em>, on <a href="https://harpers.org/archive/2018/04/four-more-years-2/">the economic factors that could lead to a second term of Trump</a>. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/strong-economy-trump-second-term" target="_blank">Listen</a>.</p> <p>2. <a href="https://www.sas.upenn.edu/polisci/people/standing-faculty/diana-mutz">Diana Mutz</a>, political science professor at the University of Pennsylvania, on <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/24/us/politics/trump-economic-anxiety.html">the fears and anxieties that motivated Trump voters</a>. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/trump-voter-re-explained">Listen</a>.</p> <p>3. Willa Paskin [<a href="https://twitter.com/willapaskin?lang=en">@willapaskin</a>], T.V. critic at Slate, on <a href="https://slate.com/culture/2018/03/the-roseanne-reboot-reviewed.html">the Roseanne reboot</a>. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/trump-voter-through-roseanne-lens">Listen</a>. </p> <p>4. Hari Kondabolu [<a href="https://twitter.com/harikondabolu?lang=en">@harikondabolu</a>], comedian, on <a href="http://www.trutv.com/shows/the-problem-with-apu/index.html">sloppy cultural representation in "The Simpsons."</a> <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/problem-apu-changes-mind">Listen</a>. </p> <p>5. Ilya Marritz [<a href="https://twitter.com/ilyamarritz?lang=en">@ilyamarritz</a>] and Andrea Bernstein [<a href="https://twitter.com/AndreaWNYC?lang=en">@AndreaWNYC</a>], reporters at WNYC, and Eric Umansky [<a href="https://twitter.com/ericuman?lang=en">@ericuman</a>], deputy managing editor at ProPublica, on <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/shows/trumpinc">the company Trump kept and the business deals he sought before his presidency</a>. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/what-happens-trump-tower-does-not-stay-trump-tower">Listen</a>. </p> <p><em>Music:</em></p> <p><em>Puck (feat. Bill Frisell, Carol Emanuel &amp; Kenny Wollesen) by John Zorn</em></p> <p><em>Baba O'Riley by The Who</em></p> <p><em>Life on Mars? by Meridian String Quartet</em></p> <p><em>Roseanne Theme Song by Dan Foliart and Howard Pearl</em></p> <p><em>Apu's Theme from The Simpsons: Hit and Run by Marc Baril, Allan Levy, and Jeff Tymoschuk</em></p> <p><em>Here It Comes by Modest Mouse</em></p> <p><em>Cops or Criminals by Howard Shore</em></p>

<p>This week we want to introduce you to some friends of ours at WNYC. Nancy is a podcast hosted by best friends Tobin Low and Kathy Tu and its about all things LGBTQ. </p> <p>This week’s episode has Kathy solving a mystery on behalf of our WNYC colleague Kai Wright. As a young, black, gay man living in Washington DC around 2000, Kai saw a film called Punks. It was a movie about gay life but it wasn’t just about white people and it wasn’t rooted in tragedy. It was a romantic comedy about men like him – something he’d never seen before. But when he tried to track down the film almost 20 years later, he couldn’t find it anywhere. This episode has Kathy on the case to track down the film, and find out how a piece of media can essentially disappear.</p> <p>Want to see Punks? <a href="https://web.ovationtix.com/trs/pe.c/10280635/?sf87528431=1">Claim tickets now</a> for the one-night-only screening, featuring a Q&amp;A with director Patrik-Ian Polk. You can also join Tobin and Kathy for <a href="https://web.ovationtix.com/trs/pe.c/10281123">a special pre-screening reception</a>.</p> <p>Special thanks to the <a href="https://one.usc.edu/" target="_blank" title="ONE National Gay &amp; Lesbian Archives">ONE National Gay &amp; Lesbian Archives</a> at USC. Original music by Jeremy Bloom with additional music by Ultracat (<a href="http://freemusicarchive.org/music/UltraCat/Disco_High/ultracat_-_03_-_unexpected_little_happenings">"Little Happenings"</a>). Theme by Alex Overington.</p> <p><em>Support our work! Become a Nancy member today at <a href="https://pledge3.wnyc.org/donate/nancy-it/onestep/?utm_source=wnyc&amp;utm_medium=nancy-redirect&amp;utm_campaign=pledge&amp;utm_content=show-notes" target="_blank" title="Pledge">Nancypodcast.org/donate</a>.</em></p>

<p>Alex Jones built his Infowars brand on conspiratorial thinking and table-pounding rage. This week, we look at the three lawsuits testing whether Jones can sustain his business on lies alone. After the LGBT-rights advocate David Buckel committed suicide in Brooklyn's Prospect Park this past weekend, we review the difficult history of self-immolation and we zoom in on one such incident, in Texas in 2014. Plus, an LSD retrospective, featuring never-before-heard audio from author Ken Kesey's acid-fueled hijinks. </p> <p>1. <span>Lyrissa Lidsky [<a href="https://twitter.com/LidskyLidsky">@LidskyLidsky</a>], professor at University of Missouri's School of Law, on <a href="https://www.texasmonthly.com/news/is-alex-jones-empire-in-trouble/">the legal threats to Alex Jones' conspiratorial media business</a>. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/age-defamation/">Listen</a>. </span></p> <p>2. Andrew Poe, professor of political science at Amherst College, on the history of self-immolation. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/self-immolation-past-and-present/">Listen</a>. </p> <p>3. Michael Hall [<a href="https://twitter.com/@mikehalltexas">@mikehalltexas</a>], executive editor at Texas Monthly, on <a href="https://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/man-on-fire/">the life and death of pastor Charles Moore</a>. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/life-sacrifice/">Listen</a>. </p> <p>4. <a href="https://www.riverdonaghey.com/">River Donaghey</a> and Tom Wolfe, author of <a href="http://www.tomwolfe.com/koolaid.html"><em>The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test</em></a>, on <a href="https://www.npr.org/2011/08/12/139383916/tom-wolfe-chronicling-countercultures-acid-test">the legacy of author and LSD evangelist Ken Kesey</a>. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/ken-keseys-acid-quest/">Listen</a>. </p> <p><em>Music:</em></p> <p><em>Lost, Night by Bill Frisell</em></p> <p><em>Coffee Cold by Galt MacDermot</em></p> <p><em>Whispers of Heavenly Death by John Zorn</em></p> <p><em>Unaccompanied Cello Suite No.4 in E-Flat Major by Yo-Yo Ma</em></p> <p><em>Walking by Flashlight by Maria Schneider</em></p> <p><em>Tomorrow Never Knows by Quartetto D'Archi Dell'Orchestra Sinfonica Di Milano</em></p>

<p>This week the venerable Carl Kasell, legendary newscaster and <em>Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me</em> scorekeeper, died aged 84, from complications related to Alzheimer's. Brooke sat down with Carl back in 2014 on the occasion of his retirement to commemorate a distinguished, and deeply baritone, public radio career.</p> <p> </p>

<p>After Mark Zuckerberg's two-day testimony before Congress, we consider whether a reckoning for the social media giant might finally be on the horizon. A new documentary looks at how the state of Montana has been fighting back against dark money ever since the Supreme Court's <em>Citizens United</em> decision, and a legal scholar explains the unlikely history of corporations' rights. Plus, a second look at two infamous, misunderstood crimes: the Pulse Nightclub shooting and the Steubenville rape case. </p> <p>1. Bob on Mark Zuckerberg's testimony this week, with anti-trust expert Matt Stoller [<a href="https://twitter.com/matthewstoller">@matthewstoller</a>]. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/zuckerberg-hearings">Listen</a>.</p> <p>2. Kimberly Reed [<a href="https://twitter.com/_kimreed?lang=en">@_kimreed</a>], filmmaker, on her new documentary, <a href="http://www.darkmoneyfilm.com/">Dark Money</a>. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/montana-takes-dark-money">Listen</a>.</p> <p>3. Adam Winkler [<a href="https://twitter.com/adamwinkler">@adamwinkler</a>], professor of law at UCLA, on <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/23/business/dealbook/review-we-the-corporations.html">the history of corporations' legal rights</a>. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/how-corporations-got-rights">Listen</a>.</p> <p>4. Melissa Jeltsen [<a href="https://twitter.com/quasimado">@quasimado</a>], senior reporter at the Huffington Post, on <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/noor-salman-pulse-massacre-wrong_us_5ac29ebae4b04646b6454dc2">the mistaken narratives that followed the Pulse Nightclub shooting</a>. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/correcting-record-pulse-massacre">Listen</a>.</p> <p>5. Derek L. John [<a href="https://twitter.com/DerekLJohn">@DerekLJohn</a>], radio producer and reporter, on <a href="https://www.audible.com/pd/Radio-TV/Ep-3-Steubenville-Part-1-Justice-for-Jane-Gamebreaker-Audiobook/B07B8VKTFR">what internet vigilantes got wrong about the Steubenville rape case</a>. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/crowdsourcing-justice-truth-behind-steubenville-rape-case">Listen</a>.</p>

<p>From our colleagues in the WNYC newsroom who produce Trump Inc.:</p> <p>This week, we’re doing a couple of  things differently on Trump, Inc. Instead of focusing on President Trump’s businesses, we’re looking more broadly at business interests in the Trump administration. We’re also giving you, our listeners, homework.</p> <p>Last month, ProPublica published the first comprehensive and searchable <a href="https://projects.propublica.org/trump-town/" target="_blank">database of Trump’s 2,685 political appointees</a>, along with their federal lobbying and financial records. It’s the result of a year spent filing Freedom of Information Act requests, collecting staffing lists and publishing financial disclosure reports.</p> <p>We’ve found plenty in the documents. We know there are lots of lobbyists <a href="https://twitter.com/ProPublica/status/971834744186068992" target="_blank">now working at agencies they once lobbied</a> (including one involving an herbicide that could affect the sexual development of frogs). We know there are dozens of officials who’ve <a href="https://projects.propublica.org/trump-town/agencies/white-house-office/waivers" target="_blank">received ethics waivers</a> from the White House. We know there are “special-government employees” who are working in the private sector and the government at the same time.</p> <p>But there’s so much more to do. Remember, we have multiple documents for nearly 2,700 appointees. And we need your help. For example, you can help us unmask who is actually behind LLCs listed in officials’ financial disclosures. (A reader did that last year and turned us on to<a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/after-a-sweet-deal-with-dad-eric-trump-assembles-a-valuable-penthouse" target="_blank"> an interesting below-market condo sale</a> the president made to his son, Eric Trump.)  </p> <p><a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/how-you-can-use-trump-town" target="_blank">Here’s step-by-step-instructions on how you can dig in</a>.</p> <p><strong>You can also contact us</strong> via Signal, WhatsApp or voicemail at 347-244-2134. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/shows/trumpinc/send-us-tips" target="_blank">Here’s more</a> about how you can contact us securely.</p> <p>You can always email us at <a href="mailto:tips@trumpincpodcast.org" target="_blank">tips@trumpincpodcast.org</a>.</p> <p> </p>

<p><span>With a caravan of activists making its way through Mexico, President Trump signed a proclamation to send troops to defend the border. This week we examine that caravan’s unintended consequences, as well as the unintended consequences of a bill, recently passed by Congress, to combat online sex trafficking. Sounds like a no-brainer, right? Maybe. Plus, we take a judicious look back at Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy. </span></p> <p>1. Carrie Kahn [<a href="https://twitter.com/ckahn">@ckahn</a>], international correspondent for NPR, Alberto Xicotencatl [<a href="https://twitter.com/BETTOXICO">@BETTOXICO</a>], director of Saltillo Migrant House, and Alex Mensing [<a href="https://twitter.com/alex_mensing">@alex_mensing</a>], organizer for Pueblo Sin Fronteras, on the stories and faulty narratives coming out of Mexico over the past week. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/how-trump-learned-about-caravan/">Listen.</a></p> <p>2. Carolyn Maloney [<a href="https://twitter.com/RepMaloney">@RepMaloney</a>], congresswoman from New York's 12th district, Elliot Harmon [<a href="https://twitter.com/elliotharmon">@elliotharmon</a>], from the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and Kate D'Adamo [<a href="https://twitter.com/KateDAdamo">@KateDAdamo</a>], sex worker rights advocate, on the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/21/business/sex-trafficking-bill-senate.html">Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act</a>, which currently awaits President Trump's signature. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/why-anti-sex-trafficking-bill-isnt-no-brainer" target="_blank">Listen.</a> </p> <p>3. Mychal Denzel Smith [<a href="https://twitter.com/mychalsmith">@mychalsmith</a>], writer, on <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2018/04/mlk-revered-man/556832/">how Martin Luther King Jr.'s masculinity impacts young black Americans today</a>. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/dr-kings-bad-advice">Listen.</a> </p> <p> </p>

<p>Did you see the video that was making the rounds this weekend? It features a seemingly endless parade of Sinclair Broadcast Group TV news anchors — those smiley folks so trusted by their local audiences — speaking from the heart.</p> <p>OK, not from the heart, necessarily, but from the TelePrompter, all with the same script. The video was put together by <a href="https://theconcourse.deadspin.com/how-americas-largest-local-tv-owner-turned-its-news-anc-1824233490">Timothy Burke at Deadspin</a>, and to date it’s been viewed over 7.5 million times. And it has put the spotlight back on Sinclair's political activism.</p> <p>Its 2016 election coverage fawned over Trump and its ongoing White House coverage still does. Meanwhile, Sinclair is in negotiations with the FCC and the Department of Justice over its purchase of Tribune Media, a deal that would expand its reach to 72% of US households, and with it a vast platform — over public airwaves — for its conservative message.</p> <p>Last summer Bob spoke to Felix Gillette, <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2017-07-20/the-sinclair-revolution-will-be-televised-it-ll-just-have-low-production-values">who profiled Sinclair for Bloomberg News</a>, about the company's focus on profit above all. </p>

<p>In March of 2003, U.S.–led coalition forces invaded Iraq, sparking a seemingly endless conflagration that claimed tens of thousands of lives and continues to shape events both international and domestic. Fifteen years later, what have we forgotten? What lessons can we carry forward? And what, if anything, of life in pre-invasion Iraq remains? </p> <p>1. Max Fischer [<a href="https://twitter.com/Max_Fisher">@Max_Fisher</a>], editor and writer at the <em>New York Times</em>, on <a href="https://www.vox.com/2016/2/16/11022104/iraq-war-neoconservatives">the ideologies that led the U.S. to invade Iraq in 2003</a>. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/how-neoconservatism-led-us-iraq/">Listen.</a> </p> <p>2. Deb Amos [<a href="https://twitter.com/deborahamos">@deborahamos</a>], international correspondent for NPR, and John Burnett [<a href="https://twitter.com/radiobigtex">@radiobigtex</a>], Southwest correspondent for NPR, on <a href="https://www.wnyc.org/story/129975-the-embed-experiment/">their experiences reporting on the early months of the Iraq War</a>. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/reporting-quagmire/" target="_blank">Listen.</a></p> <p>3. Sinan Antoon [<a href="https://twitter.com/sinanantoon">@sinanantoon</a>], writer and New York University professor, on <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/19/opinion/iraq-war-anniversary-.html">watching from afar as the Iraq War destroyed his home country</a>. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/if-death-postman/" target="_blank">Listen.</a></p> <p>4. Corey Robin [<a href="https://twitter.com/CoreyRobin">@CoreyRobin</a>], political science professor at Brooklyn College, on <a href="https://harpers.org/archive/2018/04/forget-about-it/">Americans' flawed historical memories</a>. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/united-states-amnesia/">Listen.</a></p> <p><em>Music:</em></p> <p><em>Lost, Night by Bill Frisell</em></p> <p><em>Berotim by John Zorn featuring Bill Frisell, Carol Emanuel, and Kenny Wollesen</em></p> <p><em>Long-Ge by Kronos Quartet</em></p> <p><em>Frail As A Breeze, Part 2 by Erik Friedlander</em></p> <p><em>Whispers of Heavenly Death by John Zorn</em></p> <p><em>Purple Haze by Kronos Quartet</em></p>

<p>Last week marked the fifteenth anniversary of the night of “Shock and Awe” exploding across the night sky over Baghdad, the opening salvo in an ongoing war.</p> <p>It was a deadly conflict to cover and foreign reporters increasingly relied on Iraqis to take the risks on the ground. Back in 2006, Brooke spoke to three Iraqis who were pulled into journalism by a trick of fate and caught up in the wave of correspondents pouring in from the West. Then, we caught up with them years later. </p>

<p>Cambridge Analytica claims that, with the help of 50 million Facebook users' data, it was able to target ads so specifically and so effectively that it helped swing the election for Donald Trump. The media have been more than happy to boost the claim, but many experts are skeptical. This week, a look at what exactly went on with Cambridge Analytica and whether we shouldn't be focusing more on Facebook. Plus, how social media works to undermine free will and what the future might hold for Facebook.</p> <p>1. <a href="https://twitter.com/antoniogm">Antonio </a><span><a href="https://twitter.com/antoniogm">García Martínez</a>, columnist at WIRED and former tech entrepreneur, on <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/the-noisy-fallacies-of-psychographic-targeting/">Cambridge Analytica's "psychographic" techniques</a>. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/how-facebook-helped-trump-without-cambridge-analytica/">Listen</a>.</span></p> <p>2. <a href="https://twitter.com/sivavaid">Siva Vaidhyanathan</a>, director of University of Virginia's Center for Media and Citizenship, on <a href="https://slate.com/technology/2018/03/facebooks-data-practices-were-letting-down-users-years-before-cambridge-analytica.html">past regulatory efforts to reign in Facebook</a>. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/facebook-alarm-bells-have-been-ringing-years/">Listen</a>.</p> <p>3. <a href="https://twitter.com/FranklinFoer">Franklin Foer</a>, staff writer at The Atlantic, on what he sees as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/sep/19/facebooks-war-on-free-will">Facebook's war on free will</a>. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/fight-free-will/">Listen</a>.</p> <p>4.<a href="https://twitter.com/cshirky"> </a><span><a href="https://twitter.com/cshirky">Clay Shirky</a>, author, educator and tech writer, on what real change for Facebook might look like and why he is still an optimist when it comes to the internet. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/where-facebook-goes-from-here/">Listen</a>.</span></p> <p><em>Music:</em></p> <p><em>Tomorrow Never Knows by Quartetto D'Archi Dell'Orchestra Sinfonica Di Milano</em></p> <p><em>Slow Pulse Conga by William Pasley</em></p> <p><em>Passing Time by John Renbourn</em></p> <p><em>Transparence (Instrumental) by Charlie Haden</em></p>

<p>Five years ago, two high school football players in Steubenville, Ohio were found responsible in juvenile court for the rape of a 16-year-old girl.  For much of the national media, that was the end of  the story — but for those in Steubenville who lived through it, the truth never caught up to the lies that spread online and the vigilante terror that resulted. A new, three-part audio documentary from Audible examines the case and the danger of crowd-sourcing justice to online activists. Bob spoke to producer <a href="https://twitter.com/derekljohn?lang=en">Derek John</a> who, along with <a href="https://twitter.com/anderskelto?lang=en">Anders Kelto</a>, reported the series for Audible’s new podcast, “<a href="https://www.audible.com/pd/Radio-TV/Ep-3-Steubenville-Part-1-Justice-for-Jane-Gamebreaker-Audiobook/B07B8VKTFR">Gamebreaker</a>.” </p>

<p>This week, we look at how selective coverage shapes our view of foreign borders, conflicts and historical figures — from Syria to Winston Churchill. Plus, a conversation with the editor-in-chief of National Geographic about their latest issue unpacking tricky issues of race, <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2018/04/from-the-editor-race-racism-history/">starting with the magazine's troubled past</a>.</p> <p>1. Thalia Beaty [<a href="https://twitter.com/tkbeaty">@tkbeaty</a>], reporter for Storyful, on the latest coverage of the war in Syria. </p> <p>2. Miranda Bogen [<a href="https://twitter.com/mbogen">@mbogen</a>], policy analyst at Upturn, on <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/googles-place-geopolitics-493769">the perilous geopolitics of Google Maps</a>. </p> <p>3. Susan Goldberg [<a href="https://twitter.com/susanbgoldberg">@susanbgoldberg</a>], editor-in-chief of <em>National Geographic</em>, on how the magazine is reckoning with racist coverage in its past. </p> <p>4. Madhusree Mukerjee [<a href="https://twitter.com/Madhusree1984">@Madhusree1984</a>], author of Churchill's Secret War, on <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/global-opinions/wp/2018/03/10/in-winston-churchill-hollywood-rewards-a-mass-murderer/?utm_term=.f82529c63114">the ruthless legacy of Winston Churchill</a> you didn't see in his latest Hollywood treatment. </p> <p><em>Songs:</em></p> <p><em>Psalom by NYYD Quartet and Paul Hillier</em></p> <p><em>Collected Songs Where Every Verse Is Filled With Grief by Kronos Quartet</em></p> <p><em>Mazen Dha Nahar El Youm by Abdeslam Khaloufi</em></p> <p><em>Her Averah by Norfolk &amp; Western</em></p> <p><em>Auf Einer Burg by<span> Robert Schumann</span></em></p> <p><em>Flugufrelsarinn by Kronos Quartet</em></p>

<p>Last week we spoke with <em>New York Times</em> tech columnist <a href="https://twitter.com/fmanjoo">Farhad Manjoo</a> after he published an article titled, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/07/technology/two-months-news-newspapers.html">“For two months, I got my news from print newspapers. Here’s what I learned.”</a> He wrote that, earlier this year, "after the breaking-newsiest year in recent memory, I decided to travel back in time. I turned off my digital news notifications, unplugged from Twitter and other social networks, and subscribed to home delivery of three print newspapers.” It was a crash diet.  Lots of healthy analog, and just a little digital — podcasts, email newsletters — for dessert.</p> <p>Farhad found the experience so uplifting and liberating that he was moved to evangelize. He told Bob during their conversation, <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/turning-fire-hose">which you can still listen to</a>, "I boiled it down into three <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/28/magazine/28nutritionism.t.html">Michael Pollan-esque</a> prescriptions: Get news, not too quick, avoid social."</p> <p>The only problem was, according to analysis by <a href="https://www.cjr.org/analysis/farhad-manjoo-nyt-unplug.php">Dan Mitchell in the Columbia Journalism Review</a> and <a href="http://www.niemanlab.org/2018/03/the-%E2%9D%A4%EF%B8%8F-of-the-matter-here-are-too-many-words-about-farhad-manjoos-twitter-habits-and-some-cool-charts/">Joshua Benton of Harvard’s Nieman Lab</a>, Farhad spent most of his 48-day diet sneaking into the fridge. In the time that he was supposedly “unplugged” from Twitter news, he had tweeted hundreds and hundreds of times. Not the crime of the century — but still, oops.</p> <p>And so Farhad spoke with Bob once more, to explain his rather involved definition of the word "unplugged," and to admit that old habits die hard.</p> <p> </p> <p> </p>

<p>In an age of constant breaking news, it can be hard to tell what matters and what’s just noise. This week, a look at what we’ve learned from recent coverage of the Russia investigation, and what we’ve missed everywhere else — particularly in West Virginia, where a recent teachers' strike made history. Plus, a dive into the complicated history of country music and why we so often get it wrong.</p> <p>1. Marcy Wheeler [<a href="https://twitter.com/emptywheel">@emptywheel</a>], independent investigative reporter, on decontextualized Mueller scooplets. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/o-mueller-where-art-thou/">Listen</a>.</p> <p>2. Sarah Jaffe [<a href="https://twitter.com/sarahljaffe">@sarahljaffe</a>], journalist and co-host of the podcast Belabored, on <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/05/opinion/west-virginia-teacher-strike.html">the teachers' strike in West Virginia</a>, and Elizabeth Catte [<a href="https://twitter.com/elizabethcatte">@elizabethcatte</a>], historian and writer, on the news media's narratives regarding Appalachia. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/new-strides-west-virginia/">Listen</a>.</p> <p>3. J. Lester Feder [<a href="https://twitter.com/jlfeder">@jlfeder</a>], world correspondent for Buzzfeed News, on the political history of country music. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/political-history-country-music/">Listen</a>.</p> <p>4. Nadine Hubbs [<a href="https://twitter.com/nadinehubbs">@nadinehubbs</a>], author of <em>Rednecks, Queers and Country Music</em>, on our assumptions about the working class. <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/country-music-lens-class/">Listen</a>.</p> <p>**Note: This program originally contained an interview with the New York Times' Farhad Manjoo discussing an experiment in which he got his news only from print journalism and "unplugged from Twitter and other social networks" for two months. That interview was pulled after <a href="https://www.cjr.org/analysis/farhad-manjoo-nyt-unplug.php">further reporting</a> revealed that he did no such thing.**</p> <p><em>Music:</em></p> <p><em>"Tipico" by Miguel Zenon</em></p> <p><em>"Susan (The Sage)" by The Chico Hamilton Quintet</em></p> <p><em>"Death Have Mercy / Breakaway" by Regina Carter</em></p> <p><em>"Dinner Music for a Pack" of Hungry Cannibals by Raymond Scott</em></p> <p><em>"Okie from Muskogee" by Merle Haggard</em></p> <p><em>"Fightin' Side of Me" by Merle Haggard</em></p> <p><em>"The Pill" by Loretta Lynn</em></p> <p><em>"Watching You" by Rodney Atkins</em></p> <p><em>"Pictures from Life's Other Side" by Hank Williams, Sr.</em></p> <p><em>"Friends In Low Places" by Garth Brooks</em></p> <p><em>"Redneck Woman" by Gretchen Wilson</em></p> <p><em>"Take This Job and Shove It" by Johnny Paycheck</em></p> <p><em>"F— Aneta Briant" by David Allan Coe</em></p> <p><em>"Irma Jackson" by Merle Haggard</em></p> <p><em>"They Don't Know" by Jason Aldean</em></p> <p><em>"Wild Mountain Thyme" by Buddy Emmons</em></p>

<p>Last week, we put out <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/on-the-media-2018-03-02">a special show </a>hosted by <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news">The Guardian US</a>’s <a href="https://twitter.com/loisbeckett?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor">Lois Beckett</a>, devoted to how reporters should approach the alt-right, and white supremacy, in America, called <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/on-the-media-2018-03-02">"Face the Racist Nation."</a></p> <p>As a bonus, we're putting out a full interview with one of the voices in that show: Norwegian journalist <a href="https://twitter.com/Vegastenold?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor">Vegas Tenold</a>, whose new book, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Everything-You-Love-Will-Burn/dp/1568589948">“Everything You Love Will Burn”</a> chronicles his time covering the far right, up close and personal, for close to a decade. Lois talks to Vegas about how he has seen the far right evolve, the mistakes he sees journalists making and his relationship with the co-founder of the racist Traditionalist Worker Party, Matthew Heimbach.</p> <p>In addition to listening to the <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/on-the-media-2018-03-02">full show</a>, make sure to go to our <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/on-the-media-2018-03-02">website </a>to check out the special quizzes we made that delve further into the sticky issues in this hour.</p>

<p>For the past year, Lois Beckett [<a href="https://twitter.com/loisbeckett">@loisbeckett</a>], senior reporter at <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us">The Guardian US</a>, has been showing up at white nationalist rallies, taking their pictures, writing down what they say. And she finds herself thinking: How did we get here? How did her beat as a political reporter come to include interviewing Nazis? And what are the consequences of giving these groups this much coverage?</p> <p>In this week's program — the culmination of a months-long collaboration between On the Media and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us">The Guardian US</a> — we take a deep dive into what the news media often get wrong <span>about white supremacists, and what those errors expose about the broader challenge of confronting racism in America.</span></p> <p>1. Elle Reeve [<a href="https://twitter.com/elspethreeve">@elspethreeve</a>], correspondent for <a href="https://www.hbo.com/vice">VICE News</a>, Anna Merlan [<a href="https://twitter.com/annamerlan">@annamerlan</a>], <span>reporter for <a href="https://gizmodo.com/">Gizmodo Media</a>’s special projects desk</span>, Vegas Tenold [<a href="https://twitter.com/Vegastenold">@Vegastenold</a>], journalist and author of <a href="https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/vegas-tenold/everything-you-love-will-burn/9781568589954/">Everything You Love Will Burn</a>, and Al Letson [<a href="https://twitter.com/al_letson">@Al_Letson</a>], host of <a href="https://www.revealnews.org/">Reveal</a>, from The Center for Investigative Reporting, on the pitfalls and perils of covering white supremacist groups. </p> <p>2. Felix Harcourt [<a href="https://twitter.com/FelixHistory">@FelixHistory</a>], professor of history at Austin College and author of "<a href="http://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/K/bo23720308.html">Ku Klux Kulture</a>," on the history of the Ku Klux Klan in the press in the 1920s. </p> <p>3. Anna Merlan, Elle Reeve, Al Letson, Gary Younge [<a href="https://twitter.com/garyyounge">@garyyounge</a>], editor-at-large for The Guardian, and Josh Harkinson [<a href="https://twitter.com/joshharkinson">@joshharkinson</a>], former senior writer at Mother Jones, on how individual identity impacts reporting on discriminatory movements. </p> <p>4. Ibram X. Kendi [<a href="https://twitter.com/DrIbram">@DrIbram</a>], professor of history and international relations at American University and author of "<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Stamped-Beginning-Definitive-History-National/dp/1568585985">Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America</a>," on the enduring myths surrounding the perpetuation of racist ideas and whose interests these misconceptions serve.</p> <p><em>Songs:</em></p> <p><em>Lost, Night by Bill Frisell</em></p> <p><em>Disfarmer Theme by Bill Frisell</em></p> <p><em>I Am Not a Farmer by Bill Frisell</em></p> <p><em>Gone Tomorrow by Lambchop</em></p> <p> </p> <hr> <p> </p> <p>One crucial question during the Trump presidency has been whether racist rhetoric has influenced public policy. And so we put together a quiz! Is it just a germ of a garbage idea? Or is it wriggling its way into our laws? Click "Start" below to, you know, start. </p> <div class="typeform-widget" data-url="https://wnyc.typeform.com/to/y4FwyP" style="width: 100%; height: 750px;"></div> <p> </p> <p>And if you're really hoping to lose faith in our historical figures, you're in luck — we made a second quiz! Who said it: An elder statesman? Or a reviled white supremacist? </p> <div class="typeform-widget" data-url="https://wnyc.typeform.com/to/OrLADc" style="width: 100%; height: 750px;"></div> <script>// <![CDATA[ (function() { var qs,js,q,s,d=document, gi=d.getElementById, ce=d.createElement, gt=d.getElementsByTagName, id="typef_orm", b="https://embed.typeform.com/"; if(!gi.call(d,id)) { js=ce.call(d,"script"); js.id=id; js.src=b+"embed.js"; q=gt.call(d,"script")[0]; q.parentNode.insertBefore(js,q) } })() // ]]></script>

<p><a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/shows/trumpinc">The podcast Trump Inc.</a> is a collaboration between WNYC Studios and ProPublica. A team of investigative reporters is examining whether and how the Trump family is profiting from the presidency, and they've organized the show around an "open investigation" so listeners and tipsters can contribute and follow along. We featured the first episode on our podcast feed a few weeks ago, and this week we're checking back with Episode 4. <a href="https://twitter.com/ilyamarritz?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor">Ilya Marritz of WNYC</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/ericuman?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor">Eric Umansky of ProPublica</a> speak with <a href="https://twitter.com/Fahrenthold?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor">David Farenthold of <em>The Washington Post</em> </a>about what he's been able to learn about President Trump's business dealings, and take calls from listeners with questions about possible profits and motives. </p>

<p><span>Since the Parkland school shooting, the student-led #NeverAgain movement has kept gun control in the headlines. This week, we look at how the movement began — and how pro-gun internet trolls have tried to undermine its message. Plus, how the world of Black Panther taps into a long history of black liberation struggles, and why Black History Month, in the Trump era, can feel both righteous and corporate, dignified and farcical. </span></p> <p>1. Emily Witt [<a href="https://twitter.com/embot">@embot</a>], writer and reporter at <em>the New Yorker</em>, on <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/how-the-survivors-of-parkland-began-the-never-again-movement">the genesis of the #NeverAgain movement</a>. </p> <p>2. <span>Jason Koebler [<a href="https://twitter.com/jason_koebler">@jason_koebler</a>], editor-in-chief at Motherboard, on <a href="https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/pammy8/what-is-a-crisis-actor-conspiracy-theory-explanation-parkland-shooting-sandy-hook">the "crisis actor" conspiracy</a>. </span></p> <p><span>3. Adam Fletcher [<a href="https://twitter.com/bicyclingfish">@bicyclingfish</a>], co-founder of the Freechild Project, on the history of student-led movements. </span></p> <p><span>4. Doreen St. Félix [<a href="https://twitter.com/dstfelix">@dstfelix</a>], staff writer at <em>the New Yorker</em>, on <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/the-farce-and-the-grandeur-of-black-history-month-under-trump">the commercialization of Black History Month</a>.</span></p> <p><span>5. Nathan Connolly [<a href="https://twitter.com/ndbconnolly">@ndbconnolly</a>], history professor at John Hopkins University, on <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/black-panther-taps-500-years-history-1085334">the origins of "Black Panther"'s Wakanda</a>. </span></p> <p><em>Songs:</em></p> <p><em>The Glass House - End Title by David Bergeaud</em></p> <p><em>The Stone by The Chieftains</em></p> <p><em>Trance Dance by John Zorn</em></p> <p><em>Smells Like Teen Spirit by The Bad Plus</em></p> <p><em>Rescue Me by Fontella Bass</em></p> <p><em>Mai Nozipo by Kronos Quartet</em></p>

<p><span>In the wake of the school shooting in Florida we are recycling two interviews that we recorded following two <em>other</em> mass shooting tragedies. The first is about a chapter in the NRA's history that not many people know about. We’ve become accustomed in the past 20 years to seeing the issue of guns in America broken down into two camps: gun control advocates — led by police chiefs and Sarah Brady — and the all-powerful National Rifle Association. In an interview that originally aired after Sandy Hook in 2012, Bob talks to Adam Winkler, author of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Gunfight-Battle-Over-Right-America/dp/0393345831">Gunfight: The Battle Over the Right to Bear Arms In America</a></span><span>, who says </span><a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/09/the-secret-history-of-guns/308608/" target="_blank">there was a time</a><span>, relatively recently, in fact, when the NRA supported gun control legislation, and the staunchest defenders of so-called "gun rights" were on the radical left.</span></p> <p>The second interview we thought deserved another airing is about the dearth of research into these events. Hours before the 2015 mass shooting in San Bernardino, California, a group of physicians petitioned Congress to end the so-called Dickey Amendment, a nearly twenty-year-old ban that effectively prevents the CDC from researching gun violence. Brooke spoke to <a href="https://twitter.com/toddzwillich?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor">Todd Zwillich</a><span>, acting host of </span><a href="http://www.thetakeaway.org/">The Takeaway</a><span>, about the history of the ban and its current political state.</span></p>

<p>This week, we dive headfirst into the uncomfortable and the untrue — on the international stage, in the White House, and in your local newspaper. How claims from Immigration and Customs Enforcement [ICE] press releases sometimes end up, almost verbatim, in local reporting on deportations; why a New York City immigration advocate's history muddies the waters around his advocacy; what Poland's new Holocaust law really means for the country; and how personal stakes can shape our understanding of the plight of the Rohingya in Myanmar. </p> <p>Featuring: </p> <p>1. Bob, on the Trump White House getting caught up in lies once again. </p> <p>2. Gaby Del Valle [<a href="https://twitter.com/gabydvj">@gabydvj</a>], staff writer for The Outline, on how ICE press releases <a href="https://theoutline.com/post/1448/the-media-is-spreading-immigration-propaganda?zd=1&amp;zi=bhhxtwpm">make their way into local news reporting</a>. </p> <p>3. Errol Louis [<a href="https://twitter.com/errollouis">@errollouis</a>], host of Inside City Hall on NY1, on <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/financial-crimes-convict-ravi-ragbir-ill-chosen-immigrant-icon-article-1.3816462">the press's coverage of immigration advocate Ravi Ragbir</a>.</p> <p>4. Geneviève Zubrzycki, sociology professor at the University of Michigan, on <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/06/world/europe/poland-holocaust-law.html?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FPoland&amp;action=click&amp;contentCollection=world&amp;region=stream&amp;module=stream_unit&amp;version=latest&amp;contentPlacement=4&amp;pgtype=collection">Poland's new law</a> regarding the Holocaust. </p> <p>5. Hannah Beech [<a href="https://twitter.com/hkbeech">@hkbeech</a>], Southeast Asia Bureau Chief for the <em>New York Times</em>, on her experience <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/01/world/asia/rohingya-myanmar-camps.html">reporting on the Rohingya crisis</a> in Myanmar. </p> <p> </p> <p><em>Songs:</em></p> <p><em>The Street by Elmer Bernstein</em></p> <p><em>Susan the Stage by Chico Hamilton</em></p> <p><em>III. White Man Sleeps by Kronos Quartet</em></p> <p><em>Totem Ancestor by Kronos Quartet</em></p> <p><em>Slow Pulse Conga by William Pasley</em></p> <p><em>The Glass House - Mitra's Sadness by David Bergeaud</em></p>

<p>On Monday, Donald Trump released the second budget proposal of his presidency. There’s lots in it — more money for defense, veterans and border security and some tax changes too. But what really jumps out is the proposal to cut funding for federal assistance programs including a 20 percent cut to Section 8 housing, a 22 percent cut to Medicaid and a brutal 27 percent cut to SNAP (the benefit formerly known as food stamps). Bobby Kogan, who on Twitter identifies himself as “chief number cruncher for the Senate budget committee”, points out that SNAP benefits are already small at just $1.40 per meal, and that “cutting the program by a quarter is extremely cruel.”</p> <p>The proposed cuts did trigger outrage from advocates for the poor, who have also noted that the social safety net has big holes and vulnerable people have been falling through them for years.</p> <p>In the fall of 2016, Brooke reported a series we called “Busted: America’s Poverty Myths.” Over five episodes she explored the central myths of poverty as we see them: that the poor deserve to be poor, that you can pull yourself up by your bootstraps and (the one we are re-airing now), that the safety net can catch you. </p> <p>With the help of <a href="https://twitter.com/KillerMartinis">Linda Tirado</a>, author of <em><a href="http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/316951/hand-to-mouth-by-linda-tirado/9780425277973/">Hand to Mouth: Living in Bootstrap America</a></em>, and <a href="https://twitter.com/just_shelter">Matthew Desmond</a>, author of <em><a href="http://www.evictedbook.com/bios/matthew-desmond">Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City</a></em>, we consider how anti-poverty programs can actually keep people poor and offer little hope for a way out.</p> <p>Also, Brooke meets Margaret Smith, a Columbus woman made homeless after a violent crime derailed the life she'd carefully built with her six children. And we visit an Athens County food pantry that provides not just meals to the community, but also school supplies, clothing, furniture, job training, home repairs, disaster relief... even burial plots. </p>

<p><span>This week, we devote an entire hour to what one important scholar deemed “the cause of and solution to all of life’s problems.” From its earliest role as a source of nourishment to its depictions in ancient literature, we examine the roots of mankind’s everlasting drinking problems. Plus, how a bizarre 60 Minutes piece spread the idea that red wine has medicinal effects. Then, a look at how popular culture has incorrectly framed Alcoholics Anonymous as the best and only option for addiction recovery. And, a scientist cooks up a synthetic substitute for booze.</span></p> <p>1. Iain Gately, author of <em>Drink: A Cultural History of Alcohol, </em>on the ancient origins of our core beliefs about booze. </p> <p>2. Robert Taylor, assistant managing editor at Wine Spectator, on red wine's constantly changing reputation as a healthy substance.</p> <p>3. Gabrielle Glaser [<a href="https://twitter.com/GabrielleGlaser">@GabrielleGlaser</a>], author of <em>Her Best-Kept Secret: Why Women Drink - And How They Can Regain Control</em>, on the history and P.R. methods of Alcoholics Anonymous.</p> <p>4. David Nutt [<a href="https://twitter.com/ProfDavidNutt">@ProfDavidNutt</a>], psychologist at Imperial College London, on his new alcohol substitute, "alcosynth."</p> <p><em>Songs:</em></p> <p><em>When I Get Low I Get High by Ella Fitzgerald</em></p> <p><em>Tomorrow Never Knows by Quartetto D/Archi Dell'Orchestra Sinfonica Di Milano</em></p> <p><em>Il Casanova Di Federico Fellini by Solisti E Orchestre Del Cinema Italiano</em></p> <p><em>Option with Variations by Kronos Quartet/composer Rhiannon Giddens</em></p>

<p>Back in January last year,  Donald Trump, newly elected, not yet sworn in, tried to quell concerns about his many conflicts of interest by declaring he would turn over the day-to-day running of his company to his sons. Did he follow through on that?  Has he leveraged the presidency to enrich himself? Who are his partners? Who does he take money from? Trump has rejected the advice of ethics experts to<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/01/12/us/politics/ethics-experts-trumps-conflicts-of-interest.html"> divest himself</a> from his enterprises. He’s also refused to release details about his finances (including, of course, his tax records).</p> <p>Our colleagues in the WNYC newsroom.  Ilya Marritz and Andrea Bernstein together with Pro Publica’s Eric Umansky, experienced investigative journalists all, were researching these questions when they slammed into a wall: The documents with the answers were not available.</p> <p>Their solution? A new weekly podcast of course, called: Trump Inc. They’re calling it an “open investigation” because they’ll be laying out what they know and what they don’t. And they’re inviting everyone — fellow reports, experts, tipsters and<em> listeners</em> — to join them in the quest for answers.</p> <p>Check out the <a href="https://www.wnyc.org/story/trump-inc/">website</a>...and listen to the <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/shows/trumpinc">podcast</a>.</p>

<p>It was yet another week of will-he-won't-he: Will President Donald Trump authorize the release of the House Intelligence Committee's "memo," in spite of senior FBI and Justice Dept. officials' warnings not to do so? (Spoiler alert: He did.) Will he continue to edge the U.S. closer to a devastating military encounter with North Korea — as he did for the first year of his presidency, and as he did during his State of the Union address earlier this week? And if the United States finds itself engaged in the unimaginable — nuclear conflict — what lessons will we learn from those who have already tried to imagine just that? </p> <p>1. Steven Aftergood [<a href="https://twitter.com/saftergood">@saftergood</a>], transparency advocate, on the House Intelligence Committee's notorious "memo."</p> <p>2. Lawrence Krauss [<a href="https://twitter.com/LKrauss1">@LKrauss1</a>], theoretical physicist and <span>chair of the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists’ Board of Sponsors, on the Doomsday Clock's latest move toward midnight. </span></p> <p>3. Marsha Gordon [<a href="https://twitter.com/MarshaGGordon">@MarshaGGordon</a>], film studies professor at North Carolina State University, on the 1983 film "The Day After," which imagines a massive nuclear strike in the Midwestern U.S.</p> <p>4. Anne Washburn, playwright, on "Mr. Burns: A Post-Electric Play," in which she imagines American cultural life after a devastating nuclear event. </p> <p><em>Songs:</em></p> <p><em>Liquid Spear Waltz by Michael Andrews</em></p> <p><em>White Man Sleeps by Kronos Quartet</em></p> <p><em>String Quartet No. 5 by Kronos Quartet</em></p> <p><em>The Glass House - Marjane's Inspiration by David Bergeaud</em></p> <p><em>German Lullaby by The Kiboomers</em></p>

<p>In his State of the Union speech this week the president announced - to rapturous applause from congressional Republicans, that he had just signed an order to keep open the detention facilities in Guantanamo Bay. When Mohamedou Ould Slahi was released from the prison in 2016, after 14 years behind bars, he was finally able to read <em><a href="http://guantanamodiary.com/">Guantanamo Diary</a>, </em>the bestselling book he had written while imprisoned. And for the first time, he saw the thousands of black bars the FBI had placed over much of his account of capture, torture, and interrogation. Late last year, Slahi and his original editor, writer and activist Larry Siems, set to work unredacting his work<em>. </em>Bob<em> </em>spoke to Siems last fall about their efforts to finally release the full <em>Guantanamo Diary. </em>He also spoke to Slahi via Skype from his home in Mauritania to discuss his book, his experience behind bars and what he wants people to learn about the American political and justice systems.</p>

<p>A year into the Trump Administration, thousands continue to take to the streets but has the press lost interest? This week we look at the nature of protest in an era of never-ending distraction. We also take a deep dive into the world of right-wing conspiracies, as well as meme culture as a whole. Plus, we remember Ursula Le Guin, the monumental science fiction author who passed away earlier this week. </p> <p>1. Will Sommer [<a href="https://twitter.com/willsommer">@willsommer</a>], author of of the <a href="https://tinyletter.com/rightrichter">Right Richter newsletter</a> and editor at The Hill, on the latest right-wing conspiracies. </p> <p>2. Amanda Hess [<a href="https://twitter.com/amandahess">@amandahess</a>], internet critic at the New York Times, on the dynamics and politics of meme culture.</p> <p>3. Zeynep Tufekci [<a href="https://twitter.com/zeynep">@zeynep</a>], professor at the University of North Carolina, on coverage of protest movements like the Women's March.</p> <p>4. David S. Meyer [<a href="https://twitter.com/davidsmeyer1">@davidsmeyer1</a>], sociology professor at the University of California at Irvine, on tropes and faults to look out for in coverage of protests. </p> <p>5. <span>Julie Phillips [<a href="https://twitter.com/jcfphillips">@jcfphillips</a>], biographer and critic, on the life and writings of author Ursula K. Le Guin. </span></p> <p><em>Songs:</em></p> <p><em>Fallen Leaves by Marcos Ciscar</em></p> <p><em>Berotim by John Zorn</em></p> <p><em>Uluwati by John Zorn</em></p> <p><em>Tilliboyo by Kronos Quartet</em></p> <p><em>Love Theme from Spartacus by Yusef Lateef</em></p>

<p>Over these last few months, WNYC reporter Matt Katz has been reporting the story of a congolese man named Andre and his wife, Lisette. They were living in a Malawi refugee camp, but then Andre was given the chance to be resettled in Elizabeth New Jersey. And he had to leave Lisette behind.</p> <p>When Matt started researching this story he was struck by the fact that in the last 3 years the largest number of refugees to the US were not from Syria or any of the other majority Muslim countries named in Trump’s “extreme vetting” list but from the Democratic Republic of Congo.</p> <p>President Trump came into office promising a wholesale remaking of U.S. immigration policy - there was the travel ban and, of course, the border wall. But what's gotten less attention is the dramatic shift in refugee policy, like slashing the number of refugees allowed into the country and changing security procedures.</p> <p>Luckily for Andre, he made it to New Jersey right before things started to change. </p> <p><a href="https://www.wnyc.org/story/unsettled-refugee-crisis-new-jersey-trump-africa">Click here to see photos of Andre and Lisette and learn more about their story. </a></p> <p> </p> <p> </p>

<p><span>Recent accusations of sexual misconduct have led some to claim that the #MeToo movement has gone too far. We break down the arguments and look back at a 1994 conversation about feminism to explore where the movement might be headed next. Plus, a change to Facebook's News Feed algorithm has those in the media worried: a newspaper editor voices her frustration over what it means for the spread of information and a Serbian reporter discusses how the social network is marginalizing journalism in his country. Then, radio giant Joe Frank died this week. How his bizarre style influenced important voices you know today, including Radiolab's Jad Abumrad.</span></p> <p><span>1. Caroline Framke [<a href="http://www.wnycstudios.org/@carolineframke">@carolineframke</a>] of Vox examines the various arguments and conversations taking place around a report of sexually inappropriate behavior by the comedian Aziz Ansari.</span></p> <p><span>2. Rebecca Walker [<a href="http://www.wnycstudios.org/@rebeccawalker">@rebeccawalker</a>] talks to Brooke about how Third Wave Feminism intersects with the #MeToo movement, and reflects on the conversations about consent and pleasure taking place in the early 1990s when she coined the phrase 'Third Wave.'</span></p> <p><span>3. Audrey Cooper [<a href="http://www.wnycstudios.org/@audreycoopersf">@audreycoopersf</a>], Editor-in-Chief of The San Francisco Chronicle, voices her frustration over Facebook's algorithmic decisions and what they mean for media outlets. </span>Stevan Dojčinović [@<a href="https://twitter.com/stevanoccrp?lang=en">StevanOCCRP</a>], Editor-in-Chief of the Serbian website KRIK [<a href="https://twitter.com/KRIKrs" class="tweet-url twitter-atreply pretty-link" dir="ltr" data-mentioned-user-id="0" rel="nofollow">@KRIKrs</a>], an independent nonprofit news organization in Belgrade, talks to Bob about how Facebook's decision to move Serbian news into a separate feed called Explore has marginalized independent journalism there.</p> <p><span>4. Jad Abumrad [<a class="ProfileHeaderCard-screennameLink u-linkComplex js-nav" href="https://twitter.com/JadAbumrad">@JadAbumrad</a>] of Radiolab [<a class="ProfileHeaderCard-screennameLink u-linkComplex js-nav" href="https://twitter.com/Radiolab">@Radiolab</a>] reflects on how Joe Frank's late-night shows influenced his work. </span>Then, Mark Oppenheimer, host of Tablet's <a href="http://www.tabletmag.com/tag/unorthodox">Unorthodox </a>podcast, discusses his recent interview with Frank and his piece for Slate [<a class="ProfileHeaderCard-screennameLink u-linkComplex js-nav" href="https://twitter.com/Slate">@Slate</a>].</p>

<p>During his career as a national security reporter for <em>The New York Times</em>, James Risen reported several major scoops about the CIA. Risen exposed the Bush administration's phone surveillance program and misrepresentations of weapons of mass destruction in the Iraq War. He also published big revelations about botched national security operations in <em><a href="http://www.simonandschuster.com/books/State-of-War/James-Risen/9780743270670" target="_blank">The State of War: The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration</a></em>. </p> <p>Risen recently reflected <a href="https://theintercept.com/2018/01/03/my-life-as-a-new-york-times-reporter-in-the-shadow-of-the-war-on-terror/">on his career for The Intercept</a>. He talks to Bob about how difficult it was to get important stories into the Times in the lead up to the Iraq War, and why his editors sat on an important piece about warrantless wiretapping for 13 months -- and what it all says about the relationship between the press and the government. </p>

<p>The book that took D.C. by storm; evaluating our first year under President Trump; the story of the Pentagon Papers, from someone who helped write them; and the latest scholarly research on "fake news" — that is, using the original, vintage meaning of the term. Plus, a live report from the Fake News Awards. </p> <p>1. Michael Wolff [<a href="https://twitter.com/MichaelWolffNYC">@MichaelWolffNYC</a>], columnist and author, on his latest book <em>Fire &amp; Fury</em> and the dysfunctional Trump White House from whence it came. </p> <p>2. Masha Gessen [<a href="https://twitter.com/mashagessen">@mashagessen</a>], journalist and <em>The New Yorker</em> contributor, on her <a href="http://www.nybooks.com/daily/2016/11/10/trump-election-autocracy-rules-for-survival/">rules for surviving autocracies</a>, one year into the Trump presidency. </p> <p>3. Les Gelb, former columnist and former Defense Department official, on his experience leading the team that wrote the Pentagon Papers, subject of the new Hollywood drama, "The Post." </p> <p>4. Brendan Nyhan [<a href="https://twitter.com/BrendanNyhan">@BrendanNyhan</a>], professor of government at Dartmouth College, on his <a href="http://www.dartmouth.edu/~nyhan/fake-news-2016.pdf">latest research on fake news consumption in 2016</a>. </p> <p>5. Bob Garfield [<a href="https://twitter.com/Bobosphere">@Bobosphere</a>], OTM's glamour correspondent, reports live from the red carpet at the 2017 Fake News Awards and, folks, the stars are as stunning as the stories are shoddy. </p>

<p>Leslie Gelb, the man who supervised the team that compiled the Pentagon Papers, wasn't a character in the new Hollywood drama, "The Post." He is rarely called for comment in documentaries and films about the Pentagon Papers leak. Back in 1971, Gelb was against the publication of the Papers by both the New York Times and the Washington Post, but he came to see that they demonstrated the major flaws of the Vietnam War effort. In this podcast extra, Brooke talks to Gelb about what the Pentagon Papers were trying to achieve in the first place, how they're understood by the public, and what stories "The Post" missed in its interpretation. </p>

<p>The surprising political history of abortion in America; how the language of the abortion debate impacts us all; state lawmakers are tightening the rules around how doctors communicate with their patients about abortion; and more.</p> <p>1. Jill Lepore, staff writer at the New Yorker and professor of American history at Harvard, on how the American debate about abortion became so politicized.</p> <p>2. Sherri Chessen, former star of the 1960s hit children's show Romper Room, on the story of her own abortion and the media firestorm that surrounded it.</p> <p>3. WNYC's Mary Harris [<a href="https://www.wnyc.org/people/mary-harris/">@marysdesk</a>] with Utah-based OB-GYN Dr. Leah Torres [<a href="https://twitter.com/leahntorres?lang=en" target="_blank">@LeahNTorres</a>] and others on the state rules that determine what medical professionals can and can't say to patients seeking abortions.</p> <p>4. Sociologist Dorothy Roberts [<a href="https://twitter.com/dorothyeroberts?lang=en">@DorothyERoberts</a>] on how the term "pro-choice" has limited the abortion rights movement and created problems for those looking to advance women's health.</p>

<p>When the British TV show <em>Black Mirror </em>first arrived in the US in late 2014, it was applauded for imagining dystopian, technology-centric scenarios that did not seem terribly far off. Now, as the show launches its fourth season, real life seems to be working hard to surpass the strangeness, and sense of dread, that the show continues to inspire.</p> <p>In January of 2015, Brooke spoke with the creator of <em>Black Mirror</em>, Charlie Brooker, about how the show came about and what it seeks to show us about our technological future...and present.</p> <p>Songs:</p> <p>"Auld Lang Syne"</p> <p>"15 Million Merits" by Stephen McKeon</p> <p>"Bing Abi" by Stephen McKeon</p> <p> </p>

<p>Father Time — his 2017 sash bloodied and muddied, no doubt — will soon hand off the baton to Baby New Year and, like the reluctant old fellow reaching the end of his tenure, we have some feelings about it. It's been a weird one, and we're obviously not holding our breaths hoping for a respite in the next calendar year. So in anticipation of emotions of all kinds, we present The Feelings Show: three interviews from that past that helped us deal with, you know —  things.</p> <p>1. Rebecca Solnit, writer and historian, on her impatience with despair and her insistence that the future is unknowable — and therefore full of potential.</p> <p>2. Robert Wright [<a href="https://twitter.com/robertwrighter">@robertwrighter</a>], writer and theologian, on how adopting basic mindfulness techniques could improve our lives and help us avoid outrage fatigue.</p> <p>3. Jad Abumrad [<a href="https://twitter.com/JadAbumrad">@JadAbumrad</a>], host of WNYC's <em>Radiolab</em>, and Eugene Thacker, professor of media studies at The New School, on nihilism's powerful grip on our culture.</p>

<p>When it comes to fighting fire with fire, common knowledge would have us leave the pyrotechnics to the trained professionals. This week, though, we take a look at those taking matters into their own hands, no matter the heat. With far-right internet trolls publishing the phone numbers and addresses of their "antifa" enemies, leftists are weighing the merits of returning the favor. CNN gets caught up in the frenetic energy of the Twitter presidency and the Russia investigations — and completely misfires. Plus, how Detroit's "chief storyteller" plans to counter incomplete narratives with more genuine — and government-funded — stories of his own. </p> <p>1. Brooke on Fox News's and congressional Republicans' recent attacks on the FBI and special counsel Robert Mueller. </p> <p>2. Glenn Greenwald [<a href="https://twitter.com/ggreenwald">@ggreenwald</a>], editor at The Intercept, on CNN's mistaken reporting on Wikileaks and Donald Trump, Jr. last week, and the media's seeming frenzy to get the goods on President Trump.</p> <p>3. Bob examines the ethics of doxxing with Decca Muldowney [<a href="https://twitter.com/deccamuldowney">@deccamuldowney</a>], reporter at ProPublica, Elie Mystal [<a href="https://twitter.com/ElieNYC?lang=en">@ElieNYC</a>], legal editor for WNYC's More Perfect, and Jessica Nocero,<span> non-profit healthcare administrator and antifa militant.</span></p> <p>4. Aaron Foley [<a href="https://twitter.com/aaronkfoley?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor">@aaronkfoley</a>], Detroit's Chief Storyteller, on his new responsibility to transform his city's narrative. </p> <p>5. Sara Fishko [<a href="https://twitter.com/fishkofiles?lang=en">@FishkoFiles</a>], host of <em>WNYC</em>'s Fishko Files, looks back on a time in film history when lies and misdirection were a forgivable delight. </p>

<p>In selling their new tax bill to the public, Republicans have leaned heavily on the theme of simplification. According to them, one of the primary benefits of overhauling our<span> mammoth tax code is that it would make the dreaded filing process easier for Americans. But in reality the new tax bill does little to address the confusion that plagues the tax filing process...or the tax preparation companies like H&amp;R Block that make millions off of that confusion. Last April, Brooke spoke with <a href="https://www.propublica.org/people/jessica-huseman" target="_blank">ProPublica's</a> Senior Reporting Fellow <a href="https://twitter.com/JessicaHuseman" target="_blank">Jessica Huseman</a> about the role the tax preparation lobby has played in keeping our code so complicated and why it doesn't have to be that way. With the passage of the Republican tax bill, we're re-airing that interview.</span></p>

<p>Three months after Hurricane Maria, Puerto Rico's recovery story is far from over and far from simple. For some, it's a story of resilience. Others, resignation. For all, it is a story of frustration. Where some adapt, or become <em>acostumbrados</em>, and others demand political solutions. Where tragedy and privation is relieved not just by clean tap water or dependable electricity, but by jokes, music and defiance. This week, we look at the on-the-ground reality of Puerto Rico's recovery and explore all that has been exposed by the storm and its aftermath.</p> <p>1. Sandra Rodriguez Cotto [<a href="https://twitter.com/srcsandra">@srcsandra</a>], host at WAPA Radio, on community radio's role in supporting Puerto Rico's recovery. Omaya Sosa Pascual [<a href="https://twitter.com/omayasosa">@omayasosa</a>], investigative journalist and co-founder of the Center for Investigative Journalism, on Maria's death count and understanding who is really in charge of Puerto Rico. </p> <p>2. OTM producer Alana Casanova-Burgess [<a href="https://twitter.com/AlanaLlama">@alanallama</a>] speaks with Benjamin Torres Gotay [<a href="https://twitter.com/TorresGotay">@TorresGotay</a>], columnist for the newspaper <a href="https://www.elnuevodia.com/">El Nuevo D<span>í</span>a;</a> Walter Ronald Gonzalez Gonzalez, director of Art, Culture, and Tourism for the region of Utuado; Yarimar Bonilla [<a href="https://twitter.com/yarimarbonilla">@yarimarbonilla</a>], anthropologist at Rutgers University; psychoanalyst Alfredo Carrasquillo [<a href="https://twitter.com/alcarrpr">@alcarrpr</a>]; and Sandra Rodriguez Cotto [<a href="https://twitter.com/srcsandra">@srcsandra</a>], host at WAPA Radio, about what was exposed by the storm.</p> <p>3. Lucienne Hernandez [<a href="https://twitter.com/lucibreve">@lucibreve</a>], performer with the <a href="https://twitter.com/teatrobreve">Teatro Breve</a> comedy group in San Juan, on processing the disaster through humor. </p> <p>4. Alana considers what might come next for the island and on the fact that Puerto Rico's problems, before and after Hurricane Maria, are America's problems writ large: inequality, addiction, and the growing dangers of climate change. </p> <p>Support our work with your donation today at <a href="https://pledge3.wnyc.org/donate/otm-it/onestep/" target="_blank" title="Donate">OntheMedia.org/donate</a>.</p>

<p><span>From Capitol Hill to the workplace to the darkest corners of the internet, it can feel like our world is increasingly being manipulated by threats and intimidation. This week we look at the role of bullies in our lives and how we should and shouldn’t respond. Plus, as the GOP tax bill moves through Congress, a look back at the historical struggle over taxation in America. And finally, the story of an MSNBC contributor fired and rehired within the past two weeks and the far-right troll who was responsible. </span></p> <p>1. Brooke on WNYC's own revelations of sexual misconduct and bullying and Dahlia Lithwick [<a href="https://twitter.com/Dahlialithwick">@Dahlialithwick</a>], writer for Slate and host of the <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/podcasts/amicus.html">Amicus </a>podcast, on the potential danger for Democrats when they take the "moral high ground" on sexual misconduct. </p> <p>2.<span> Molly Michelmore [<a href="https://twitter.com/MollyMichelmore">@MollyMichelmore</a>], historian at Washington &amp; Lee University, on the history and evolution of political rhetoric surrounding American tax policy. </span></p> <p>3. Sam Seder [<a href="https://twitter.com/SamSeder?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor">@SamSeder</a>], MSNBC contributor and host of the <a href="https://twitter.com/majorityfm?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor">Majority Report</a> podcast, on his temporary firing from the network, and Mike Cernovich, "mens-rights" activist and far-right conspiracy theorist, on his reasons for trolling MSNBC—that is, until he hung up on us. </p> <p>4. Emily Bazelon [<a href="https://twitter.com/emilybazelon?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor">@emilybazelon</a>], staff writer for the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/section/magazine">New York Times Magazine</a>, on what schoolyard dynamics can teach us about adult bullies and how to confront them. </p>

<p><em>Update: On Wednesday, following the release of this pod extra, New York Public Radio announced that Jonathan Schwartz and Leonard Lopate had been <a href="http://www.wnyc.org/story/lopate-schwartz-suspended-wnyc/">placed on indefinite leave</a> as the station investigates "<span>accusations of inappropriate conduct" filed against the two long-time hosts.</span></em></p> <p>This weekend,<a href="https://www.thecut.com/2017/12/public-radio-icon-john-hockenberry-accused-of-harassment.html" target="_blank"> New York Magazine published</a> investigative reporter Suki Kim's personal experiences and reporting on sexual harassment by John Hockenberry, former host of the WNYC program, "The Takeaway." The article alleges that over the past decade, Hockenberry sexually harassed interns, producers, and a guest on "The Takeaway." It also details a culture of bullying; in particular Hockenberry's behavior towards three female co-hosts, none of whom remained on the show. </p> <p><span>In August 2017, John Hockenberry retired from WNYC as a highly regarded, award-winning broadcast and radio journalist.</span> Most staff members at WNYC were unaware of his alleged behavior until we read Suki Kim's article. </p> <p>This podcast is a tick-tock of a station reckoning with its own sexual harassment allegations; the on-air conversations between hosts, reporters, listeners and WNYC management.</p> <p> </p>

<p>It was yet another week of outrageous and consequential stories piling on top of one another at a head-spinning pace. A failed attempt to discredit the Washington Post. A bombshell plea from a former Trump official. A secret button. Poison in the Hague. A computer glitch that could ruin Christmas. And the FCC's upcoming vote on "net neutrality," a bureaucratic thicket with potentially catastrophic consequences. All of this, plus radical transparency in journalism, bots bringing down public comment and the history of America's love of hoaxes. </p> <p>1. Brooke leads us through a week that was, as she says, a "<span>ceaseless and accelerating volume of crazy"—coming both from the news at large and the Oval Office. </span></p> <p>2. Margaret Sullivan [<a href="https://twitter.com/Sulliview">@Sulliview</a>], columnist for the <em>Washington Post</em>, on how her colleagues' adroit response to the failed Project Veritas "sting" could help rehabilitate the public's faith in news organizations. </p> <p>3. Tom Wheeler [<a href="https://twitter.com/tewheels">@tewheels</a>], former Chairman of the FCC, and Nick Gillespie [<a href="https://twitter.com/nickgillespie">@nickgillespie</a>], Editor-in-Chief of Reason.com, debate the FCC's upcoming vote on whether to repeal Obama-era regulations for internet service providers known as net neutrality.</p> <p>4. Issie Lapowsky [<a href="https://twitter.com/issielapowsky">@issielapowsky</a>], Senior Writer for Wired, on how networks of bots and bad actors have thrown the federal government's public comment process into jeopardy.</p> <p>5. Kevin Young [<a href="https://twitter.com/Deardarkness">@Deardarkness</a>], director of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture and author of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Bunk-Hoaxes-Plagiarists-Phonies-Post-Facts-ebook/dp/B01N1P19ID">Bunk</a>, on A<span>merican hoaxes have long played on deep divisions in our society.</span></p> <p> </p>

<p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/25/us/ohio-hovater-white-nationalist.html?_r=0">The New York Times' profile of Tony Hovater</a>, a white nationalist and Nazi sympathizer, set Twitter on fire last weekend — and not in a good way. Bob speaks with Charlie Warzel, senior technology writer at Buzzfeed, about what the story got wrong.  As Warzel wrote earlier this week, in a piece titled "<a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/charliewarzel/the-new-york-times-cant-figure-out-where-nazis-come-from-in?utm_term=.ytBdv9Xzb#.ac4ga9mBk">The New York Times Can't Figure Out Where Nazis Come From in 2017. Pepe Has an Answer</a>": </p> <blockquote> <p><span>"Save for a passing mention of 4chan and some description of Hovater's more contentious Facebook posts, the Times piece does little to describe the </span><a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/josephbernstein/in-2015-the-dark-forces-of-the-internet-became-a-countercult?utm_term=.mfeOXmX4ML#.ql3W6D69N2" data-skimlinks-tracking="4689534">online ecosystem</a><span> that has helped white nationalists, neo-Nazis, and the alt-right organize, amplify its message, and thrive in recent years. And, simply put, any attempt to answer what exactly led Hovater to "gravitate toward the furthest extremes of American political discourse" is incomplete without it."</span></p> </blockquote>

<p>Science fiction has always been an outlet for our greatest anxieties. This week, we delve into how the genre is exploring the reality of climate change. Plus: new words to describe the indescribable.</p> <p>1. Jeff VanderMeer [<a class="ProfileHeaderCard-screennameLink u-linkComplex js-nav" href="https://twitter.com/jeffvandermeer">@jeffvandermeer</a>], author of the <em>Southern Reach Trilogy</em> and <em>Borne</em>, on writing about the relationships between people and nature.</p> <p>2. Claire Vaye Watkins [<a href="https://twitter.com/clairevaye" class="ProfileCardMini-screennameLink u-linkComplex js-nav u-dir" dir="ltr">@clairevaye</a>] talks about <em>Gold Fame Citrus</em>, her work of speculative fiction in which an enormous sand dune threatens to engulf the southwest. </p> <p>3. Kim Stanley Robinson discusses his latest work, <em>New York 2140</em>. The seas have risen 50 feet and lower Manhattan is submerged. And yet, there's hope.</p> <p>4. British writer Robert Macfarlane [<a class="ProfileHeaderCard-screennameLink u-linkComplex js-nav" href="https://twitter.com/RobGMacfarlane">@RobGMacfarlane</a>] on new language for our changing world. </p> <p>Throughout the show: listeners offer their own new vocabulary for the Anthropocene era. Many thanks to everyone who left us voice memos!   </p> <p> </p>

<p>If you find yourself fuming at the Thanksgiving table this week when the conversation turns political, rather than losing your cool in front of your friends and family, consider pausing and taking a <em>deep breath</em>. According to <a href="https://twitter.com/robertwrighter?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor">Robert Wright</a>, author of <a href="https://smile.amazon.com/Why-Buddhism-True-Philosophy-Enlightenment/dp/1439195455/ref=smi_www_rco2_go_smi_g2609328962?_encoding=UTF8&amp;%2AVersion%2A=1&amp;%2Aentries%2A=0&amp;ie=UTF8"><em>Why Buddhism is True: The Science and Philosophy of Meditation and Enlightenment</em></a>, so much of the tribalism and animosity that fuels our political moment could be mitigated if more Americans adopted mindfulness techniques. In this podcast extra, Brooke speaks with Wright about how living a mindful life can make us savvier, saner news consumers and help us avoid outrage fatigue.</p>

<p>As allegations of sexual misconduct continue to dominate the news, a look at how we are dealing with high-profile offenders and who is being ignored. Plus, a critical reexamination of Bill Clinton's reputation, the difficulty of processing good art made by bad people, and how to brace ourselves for the potential backlash.</p> <p>1. Rebecca Traister [<a href="https://twitter.com/rtraister?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor">@rtraister</a>], writer-at-large for <a href="http://nymag.com/author/rebecca%20traister/" target="_blank">New York Magazine</a>, on how sexual harassment stories at the national level resonate with our own familiar relationships to power and gender. </p> <p>2. Michelle Goldberg [<a href="https://twitter.com/michelleinbklyn">@michelleinbklyn</a>], columnist for <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/column/michelle-goldberg" target="_blank">The New York Times</a>, on the claims of sexual misconduct made against Bill Clinton. </p> <p>3. Sarah Smarsh [<a href="https://twitter.com/Sarah_Smarsh">@Sarah_Smarsh</a>], writer and reporter, on the sexual harassment accusations that won't make the news, especially those of the working poor. </p> <p>4. Lily Loofbourow [<a href="https://twitter.com/Millicentsomer">@Millicentsomer</a>], culture critic for <a href="https://theweek.com/authors/lili-loofbourow" target="_blank">The Week</a>, on preparing for a public backlash against the post-Weinstein moment. </p> <p>5. Kathryn VanArendonk [<a href="https://twitter.com/kvanaren">@kvanaren</a>], TV critic for <a href="http://nymag.com/author/Kathryn%20VanArendonk/" target="_blank">Vulture</a>, on how to parse the fraught relationship between artists and their art, particularly when those artists are accused of violence or abuse. </p>

<p>New York Magazine writer <a href="https://twitter.com/rtraister?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor" target="_blank">Rebecca Traister</a> says that every new revelation about sexual harassment confirms what women have always known. In her <a href="https://www.thecut.com/2017/11/rebecca-traister-on-the-post-weinstein-reckoning.html" target="_blank">most recent article</a> she asks "a<span>s stories about abuse, assault, and complicity come flooding out, how do we think about the culprits in our lives? Including, sometimes, ourselves." </span></p> <p><span>Brooke spoke with Rebecca on Tuesday; it was a long and impassioned interview, a shorter version of which will be in this week's show (a full hour about the "#metoo" moment), but in the meantime, here is a *lightly* edited version of their conversation. </span></p>

<p>Another massive data leak has cast scrutiny on the world of the ultra-wealthy, but some doubt whether much will change. A look inside the Paradise Papers and at the secretive industry of "wealth management" that makes sure the wealthy remain rich and hidden. Also, in the wake of the shuttering of Gothamist and DNAinfo, how journalism is contending with its "billionaire problem," and a look at the recent standoff between Disney and journalists. Finally, the story of how a Syrian man's journey to the West found him experiencing America's Wild West in Sweden.</p> <p>1. Marina Walker Guevara [<a href="https://twitter.com/MarinaWalkerG?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor">@MarinaWalkerG</a>], Deputy Director at <a href="https://www.icij.org/" target="_blank">The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists</a>, on how the group reported the <a href="https://www.icij.org/investigations/paradise-papers/">Paradise Papers</a>.</p> <p>2. <a href="https://works.bepress.com/brooke_harrington/">Brooke Harrington</a>, author of <a href="http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674743809&amp;content=bios"><em>Capital without Borders</em>,</a> on the secretive industry of "wealth management" and the real threat of offshore wealth.</p> <p>3. Julia Wick [<a href="https://twitter.com/sherlyholmes?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor">@sherlyholmes</a>], former editor-in-chief of <a href="https://twitter.com/LAist">LAist</a>, on the perilous position in which many small news sites find themselves due to billionaire influence.</p> <p>4. Bob [<a href="https://twitter.com/Bobosphere">@bobosphere</a>] on the recent showdown between Disney, the <em>LA Times</em> and a collection of film journalists.</p> <p>5. Micah Loewinger [<a href="https://twitter.com/MicahLoewinger">@MicahLoewinger</a>], OTM producer, on how a <a href="http://www.highchaparral.se/en/">Wild West theme park in Sweden</a> became a haven for refugees, and what it tells us about America's own Wild West fixation.</p>

<p>It's now a year since Election Day 2016, and a year since we gathered in our office the day <em>after</em> Election Day to figure out what exactly had happened. The mood was tense, and our Executive Producer Katya Rogers seized the opportunity to offer listeners some <em>ultra</em> transparency, documenting a moment when Brooke and Bob were at their most doubting. The result: a raw <a href="http://www.wnyc.org/story/now-what/">podcast extra</a>, in which the hosts argued about what had gone down and how the show should cover the Trump administration.</p> <p>Flash forward to this summer, when Bob and Brooke re-listened to their November conversation and then turned on the mics to reflect on their thoughts and speculations from eight months earlier.</p> <p>Both conversations are collected here for this weeks podcast extra.</p>

<p>Following the announcement of the first indictments in Robert Mueller's special investigation, the media were scrambling to put together the pieces...or else ignoring the news completely. How to make sense of the details, and the silences, in Mueller's first public release and in some of the media's apparent apathy. Also, how the NPR newsroom responded when one of its own was brought down for sexual harassment. And a former Guantanamo Bay prisoner talks about unredacting the bestseller he wrote behind bars and what he's learned about America's opaque military and justice systems.</p> <p>1. Bob looks at how Rupert Murdoch's media empire spins all things Trump. And Sarah Ellison [<a href="https://twitter.com/Sarahlellison?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor">@sarahlellison</a>], special correspondent for <em>Vanity Fair</em>, helps to explain the mogul's long game.</p> <p>2. Marcy Wheeler [<a href="https://twitter.com/emptywheel?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor">@emptywheel</a>], <a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/">independent investigative journalist</a>, breaks down what we know from the first Mueller indictments, what we can surmise and what the media need to be careful of.</p> <p>3. David Folkenflik [<a href="https://twitter.com/davidfolkenflik">@davidfolkenflik</a>], NPR's media correspondent, about how the network handled the accusations against, and eventual resignation of, NPR's head of news, Michael Oreskes.</p> <p>4. Larry Siems [<a href="https://twitter.com/larrysiems?lang=en">@LarrySiems</a>], editor of<em> <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Guant%C3%A1namo-Diary-Mohamedou-Ould-Slahi/dp/0316517887/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8">Guantanamo Diary</a></em>, about his experience helping the newly freed Mohamedou Ould Slahi create an unredacted version of his bestseller.</p> <p>5. Mohamedou Ould Slahi, author of <em>Guantanamo Diary</em>, about the unredacting process and what he took away from his nightmarish experience behind bars.</p>

<p>Speaking this week on Fox News, White House Chief of Staff John Kelly warned against the removal of Confederate monuments on the grounds that it would erase important history. But the statues in question have never been about preserving a neutral version of history but rather about perpetuating a series of narratives and myths about slavery and the Civil War. Earlier this year we spoke to Malcolm Suber, historian and co-founder of the group <a href="http://takeemdownnola.org/">Take 'Em Down NOLA</a>, about the significance of removing monuments to white supremacy. And we spoke to Bryan Stevenson, director of the <a href="https://eji.org/">Equal Justice Initiative</a>, about his work documenting the thousands of lynchings that took place in the South from 1877 to 1950, and the significance of remember and reckoning with the realities of our shameful past.</p>

<p><span>Since the news about Harvey Weinstein’s sexual predations, allegations have surfaced against other powerful men. We look back at the early days in the fight against sexual harassment with the woman who coined the term. Plus: journalist Matt Taibbi examines the life, death and legacy of Eric Garner; and the release of new JFK files brings the mother of all conspiracy theories back into the spotlight. </span></p> <p><span>1. Lin Farley, author of <em><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Sexual-Shakedown-Harassment-Women-Job/dp/0070199574">The Sexual Shakedown: The Sexual Harassment of Women On the Job</a></em>, talks about the term she coined in the mid-70s: 'sexual harassment'. </span></p> <p><span>2. Matt Taibbi [<a class="ProfileHeaderCard-screennameLink u-linkComplex js-nav" href="https://twitter.com/mtaibbi">@mtaibbi</a>], journalist and author of<em> <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Cant-Breathe-Killing-Bay-Street/dp/0735288135">I Can't Breathe: A Killing on Bay Street</a></em>, discusses his exploration of Eric Garner's life and death in the media.</span></p> <p><span>3. Ron Rosenbaum [<a class="ProfileHeaderCard-screennameLink u-linkComplex js-nav" href="https://twitter.com/RonRosenbaum1">@RonRosenbaum1</a>] talks about his long-time interest in the JFK assassination and how the conspiracy theories changed "the landscape of the American mind." </span></p> <p><span>4. Sara Fishko [<a class="ProfileHeaderCard-screennameLink u-linkComplex js-nav" href="https://twitter.com/FishkoFiles">@FishkoFiles</a>] reports on how TV anchors used the new medium to cover the JFK assassination, the president's funeral, and the attack on Lee Harvey Oswald in real time.</span></p>

<p>The days are getting shorter, the leaves are changing and Halloween is on its way. And with these annual rites comes another yearly tradition: the coming of the clowns. Last year at this time, to believe the reporting, the country was overrun with so-called “evil clowns,” terrorizing communities across the United States. At the time, Bob spoke with <a href="http://benjaminradford.com/">Benjamin Radford</a>, author of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Bad-Clowns-Benjamin-Radford/dp/0826356664"><em>Bad Clowns</em></a> and a research fellow with the <a href="http://www.csicop.org/">Committee for Skeptical Inquiry</a> about our historic and cultural relationship with clown sightings. With clowns again making their resurgence, we’re sharing that interview as this week's podcast extra.</p> <p> </p> <p><em> </em></p>

<p><span>As the opioid crisis in America rages, the government struggles to react. A look at how a 2016 bill weakened the Drug Enforcement Agency and why nobody noticed. Also, how painkillers took off in America, thanks to industry-sponsored junk science; the power of addict death notices to spread understanding about the depths of the crisis; and inside a new report exposing the exploitation faced by many senior citizens.</span></p> <p><span>1. Lenny Bernstein [<a href="https://twitter.com/LennyMBernstein?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor" target="_blank">@LennyMBernstein</a>], health and medicine reporter for <em>The Washington Post</em>, on <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2017/investigations/dea-drug-industry-congress/?utm_term=.07cf97ec3539" target="_blank">a new report</a> exposing how the drug industry helped push through a 2016 bill that undercut the DEA's ability to fight against opioid abuse.</span></p> <p><span>2. Barry Meier [<a href="https://twitter.com/BarryMeier" target="_blank">@BarryMeier</a>], New York Times reporter and author of "<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Pain-Killer-Wonder-Drugs-Addiction/dp/1579546382" target="_blank">Pain Killer: A 'Wonder' Drug's Trail of Addiction and Death</a>," on how pharmaceutical companies like Purdue pushed painkillers as "wonder" drugs, based on junk science.</span></p> <p><span>3. Anna Clark [<a href="https://twitter.com/annaleighclark" target="_blank">@annaleighclark</a>], Detroit-based journalist, on how obituaries and death notices for addicts are providing some of the most valuable insight into the epidemic and helping to reduce stigma.</span></p> <p><span>4. Rachel Aviv [<a href="https://twitter.com/rachelaviv?lang=en" target="_blank">@rachelaviv</a>], staff writer for <em>The New Yorker, </em>on how she reported <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/10/09/how-the-elderly-lose-their-rights" target="_blank">her recent story</a> on the way a system of guardianship is leaving many elderly people exploited. </span></p>

<p>News came this week that the US backed Syrian Democratic Forces had finally liberated the city of Raqqa from the grip of ISIS. For the past three years the people trapped inside the oppressive ISIS regime suffered daily. Yet, reports of torture and assassination in the terrorized city did not come from traditional outlets. Rather, <a href="https://twitter.com/MattHeineman?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor">Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently</a>, a band of citizen journalists led by <a href="https://twitter.com/3z0ooz?lang=en">Abdel Aziz al-Hamza</a>, risked their lives to report the egregious conditions in a place that was notoriously difficult to enter or escape. <a href="https://twitter.com/MattHeineman?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor">Matthew Heineman</a> followed this group in his new documentary, <em><a href="http://cityofghosts.com/">City of Ghosts</a></em>. Bob speaks with Heineman and al-Hamza about their experiences in Raqqa and how these journalists found inspiration to continue their work.</p> <p>Also, Iraq’s nine-month operation to push ISIS out of Mosul yielded bittersweet news this summer: the liberation of a starved and terrorized city. Over the previous three years, ISIS sought to completely isolate the people of Mosul by shutting off access to the internet and outside media. Radio Al-Ghad, a community radio station, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/a-talk-radio-station-broadcasts-emotional-calls-from-iraqis-trapped-in-mosul/2016/11/17/c772c492-a522-11e6-ba46-53db57f0e351_story.html?tid=a_inl&amp;utm_term=.f3e1b77b9e79">defied the media blackout</a> and risked death to give a voice to the civilian population. Brooke speaks to Al-Ghad’s founder <a href="https://twitter.com/algahdfm?lang=en">Mohammed Al-Musali</a> about how his heroic team managed to shine a light into Mosul, win over ISIS supporters, and save countless lives.</p>

<p>The President is once again threatening the press, but it's unclear whether he will be able to follow through. A look at which threats to the First Amendment we should be taking seriously. Also, looking beyond the "adults in the room" trope; reporting on the worsening situation in Puerto Rico; the role of gossip and whisper networks in protecting women; and the story of one of the original godfathers of gossip.</p> <p>1.<a href="https://firstamendmentcoalition.org/2016/11/david-snyder-journalist-first-amendment-lawyer-named-head-fac/"> David Snyder</a>, executive director of the First Amendment Coalition, on threats to the First Amendment under the Trump Administration.</p> <p>2. <a href="https://twitter.com/byjamesmann?lang=en">James Mann</a>, author of <a href="http://james-mann.com/reviews/rise-of-the-vulcans/">"Rise of the Vulcans: The History of Bush's War Cabinet,"</a> on why we should be wary of the military personnel who are increasingly in charge of our government.</p> <p>3. <a href="https://twitter.com/DavidBegnaud?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor">David Begnaud</a>, CBS news correspondent, on the work of covering Puerto Rico and the deteriorating situation on the ground.</p> <p>4.<a href="https://twitter.com/annehelen"> Anne Helen Petersen</a>, Buzzfeed senior culture writer, on the history of gossip and its essential role in the saga of Harvey Weinstein.</p> <p>5. Neal Gabler, author of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Winchell-Gossip-Power-Culture-Celebrity/dp/0679764399">"Winchell: Gossip, Power and the Culture of Celebrity"</a> on the story of Walter Winchell, one of the godfathers of gossip journalism.</p>

<p><a href="https://twitter.com/DavidBegnaud?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor">David Begnaud of CBS</a> was in Puerto Rico before Hurricane Maria hit on September 20. Then, he and his team reported for two weeks straight, posting videos on Twitter and sending dispatches to the network. He tracked the logjam of aid stuck in ports, the snaking lines for water, the utter chaos at the San Juan airport. In response, Puerto Ricans of the diaspora have begun nominating him for <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BZtQKUmgVfw/?taken-by=captainanabanana">honorary status as one of their own</a>. After a short break, he's back on the island and still reporting. Begnaud speaks to Bob about how a recent rainstorm has made conditions even worse than they were before he left, and how he is serving as a conduit between Puerto Rican officials and FEMA.  </p>

<p>The news has been awash in reports of the rising death tolls for the Las Vegas shooting and the ongoing devastation in Puerto Rico. This week, why the media's emphasis on the numbers distorts our understanding of tragedies. Also, a case for using the word "terrorism" more cautiously; what we get wrong when we make assumptions about country music; and a look what it means to be human in the context of Blade Runner.</p> <p>1. Bob ruminates on the media's knee-jerk attempts to quantify a crisis. And <a href="https://twitter.com/omayasosa?lang=en">Omaya Sosa Pascual</a>, a journalist with the Center for Investigative Journalism in Puerto Rico, discusses the scale of devastation on the island.</p> <p>2. <em>New Yorker</em> columnist Masha Gessen explains why the media should apply the term "terrorism" with care.</p> <p>3. <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/lesterfeder">Buzzfeed News's</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/jlfeder">world correspondent J. Lester Feder</a> on how country music went conservative. </p> <p>4. <a href="https://sites.lsa.umich.edu/nhubbs/">Historian Nadine Hubbs</a> examines generic assumptions about country music, and how they betray an underlying discomfort with the working class in America.</p> <p>5. <a href="https://historyarthistory.gmu.edu/people/alandsb1">Historian Alison Landsberg</a> speaks with Brooke about Blade Runner and human memory.</p>

<p>On Sunday night, a gunman opened fire on an outdoor music festival in Las Vegas, NV. Since then, reports of deaths and injuries have been mounting, making for what's being called "the deadliest mass shooting" in modern American history. Amid the tragedy, we're seeing a spate of familiar media tropes: from offers of "thoughts and prayers" and tussles over the appropriate time to talk about gun control to mis-identification of perpetrators and publication of unconfirmed reports. Brooke recalls some points from On the Media's <a href="https://www.wnyc.org/story/breakingnews-consumers-handbook/" target="_blank">Breaking News Consumer's Handbook: Active Shooter Edition</a> to remind us that, while this latest tragedy might feel unique, the media is recycling a playbook that we've seen all-too-many times before.</p>

<p>Last week Brooke was at the Texas Tribune Festival, an annual event that gathers hundred of speakers and thousands of citizens to discuss big issues of the day, ranging from education to climate change to politics. She moderated a couple of sessions: One with two great journalists from two very different places with two very different briefs. One of those journalists was Amy Chozick, a national political reporter for the New York Times, the other was Evan Smith, the  co-founder and CEO of the Texas Tribune.</p> <p>The question at issue turned on President Trumps continuous attacks on the press, and on truth, basic facts.</p> <p>Does it affect the way they practice journalism? And if so, how? </p> <p> </p>

<p>As Puerto Rico rations resources and seeks help from the US government, the mainland media has mostly been preoccupied with Donald Trump's provocations towards the NFL. This week, what's actually happening on the island (and with the NFL). Also, a look at the radical history of the Star-Spangled Banner; how the Catalan independence referendum is being suppressed by the Spanish government; decoding the FBI's new crime statistics; and a look back at Hugh Hefner's impact on American culture.</p> <p>1. Puerto Rican columnist Sandra Rodriguez Cotto [<span><a href="https://twitter.com/SRCSandra" class="ProfileCard-screennameLink u-linkComplex js-nav" data-aria-label-part="" target="_blank">@SRCSandra</a>] talks about how the local press are handling the wreckage following Hurricane Maria.</span></p> <p><span>2. Brooke examines this week's NFL news frenzy.</span></p> <p><span>3. University of Maryland assistant professor of musicology Will Robin [<a class="ProfileHeaderCard-screennameLink u-linkComplex js-nav" href="https://twitter.com/seatedovation" target="_blank">@seatedovation</a>] reveals the national anthem's long history of musical defiance and radicalism. </span></p> <p>4. Thomas Abt [<span><a class="ProfileHeaderCard-screennameLink u-linkComplex js-nav" href="https://twitter.com/Abt_Thomas" target="_blank">@Abt_Thomas</a>],</span> a senior fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School and Harvard Law School and a former deputy secretary for public safety for New York State, talks about the politicization of violent crime data. </p> <p>5. <span>Vicent Partal [<a class="ProfileHeaderCard-screennameLink u-linkComplex js-nav" href="https://twitter.com/vpartal" target="_blank">@vpartal</a>], founder and editor of VilaWeb, a Catalan news outlet based in Barcelona, explains the modern Catalan separatist movement and the Spanish government's efforts to suppress this weekend's referendum.  </span></p> <p>6. <span>A look back on Hugh Hefner's legacy through two interviews with and about him.</span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p>

<p>In Central Mexico, rescuers continue to sift through piles of rubble left by last week's 7.1 magnitude earthquake. Hundreds of volunteers have joined the rescue effort. One of the most widely reported stories from the earthquake reveals how the people in Mexico are coping with the earthquake. In the first couple days after it struck, media in Mexico and around the world focused on the story of a 12-year-old girl. She was trapped in the rubble of school building, communicating with rescuers, wiggling her fingers, and asking rescuers for water. She said her name was Frida Sofia, and she didn't exist at all. </p> <p>Brooke talks with <a href="https://twitter.com/rodcervantes?lang=en">Rodrigo Cervantes</a>, the Mexico City bureau chief for KJZZ, about his reporting from rescue sites in the city, the mystery of Frida Sofia, and what the confusion reveals about distrust in media and the government.</p> <p> </p>

<p>When Brooke was at the Texas Tribune festival in Austin last week, she moderated two sessions, one with reporters and one with couple of US Representatives from Texas. Democrat Beto O’Rourke of El Paso, and Republican Will Hurd of Helotes. The two - who didn’t much know each other a year ago -  made headlines in their state when, stranded by a snowstorm, they found themselves sharing a rented Chevy Impala for the sixteen-hundred mile drive from San Antonio to Washington. Brooke asked them roughly the same question she asked the reporters; how do the constant attacks by the President on journalism, on facts, influence how you do your job and how you deal with the press? Does it affect your point of view? </p> <p>**Correction: At one point, Representative Will Hurd refers to a recent missile launch by Iran as an example real news that is worth reporting. In fact, <a href="https://www.vox.com/world/2017/9/26/16366018/trump-iran-missile-test-nuclear-deal-tweet">it was the opposite.</a>**</p> <p> </p>

<p>Facebook is under fire for allowing Russian propagandists to buy ads during the 2016 election. This week, how we do and don't hold tech giants accountable.</p> <p>1. Max Seddon [<span><a class="ProfileHeaderCard-screennameLink u-linkComplex js-nav" href="https://twitter.com/maxseddon">@maxseddon</a>], Moscow correspondent for <a href="https://www.ft.com/">The Financial Times</a>, on <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/russian-news-agency-rt-now-scrutiny-foreign-agent-234326460.html">the push by the US government</a> to register RT and Sputnik under the Foreign Agents Relations Act and why the effort to "do something" about Russian propaganda is misguided.</span></p> <p><span>2. Julia Angwin [<a href="https://twitter.com/JuliaAngwin?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor">@juliaangwin</a>], investigative journalist for <a href="https://www.propublica.org/">ProPublica</a>, on <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/help-us-monitor-political-ads-online">their new crowdsourcing project</a> that aims to monitor otherwise inscrutable Facebook political advertisements.</span></p> <p><span>3. Matt Stoller [<a href="https://twitter.com/matthewstoller?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor">@matthewstoller</a>], Fellow at the <a href="https://openmarketsinstitute.org/">Open Markets Institute</a>, on understanding Silicon Valley's behavior through the lens of monopoly and why he believes Americans can, and must, demand more.</span></p> <p><span>4. Utsav Sanduja [<a href="https://gab.ai/u">@u</a>], Chief Operating Officer of the alt-right-favored social media network <a href="https://gab.ai/">Gab</a>, on their antitrust lawsuit against Google and why they see a need for a pro-free speech social media platform.</span></p> <p><span>5. Paul Ford [<a href="https://twitter.com/ftrain?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor">@ftrain</a>], tech author and commentator, on the difficult ethical questions that surround massive tech platforms.</span></p>

<p>Following Hurricane Maria’s landfall on Wednesday morning, we have only scarce images and reports from which to comprehend the scale of devastation in Puerto Rico right now. Perhaps due to disaster fatigue, perhaps due to the territory’s second-class status, the media coverage has been perfunctory.</p> <p>While the coverage to date has focused on the flooding and widespread power outages on the ravaged island, <a href="http://anthro.rutgers.edu/fac/487-yarimar-bonilla">Rutgers professor</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/yarimarbonilla">Yarimar Bonilla</a> says there's an important context to the problems with the electric grid. She and Bob discuss how the damage from Maria is related to the debt crisis, and how it may provide an excuse to justify another wave of privatization on the island.</p>

<p>Alt-right provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos recently released a list of speakers for his upcoming <a href="http://freespeechweek.com/">"Free Speech Week"</a> at University of California Berkeley, a four-day event featuring Steve Bannon, Ann Coulter, and a host of other conservative voices. Yet, according to Berkeley officials, the Berkeley Patriot, the on-campus student publication that invited Yiannopoulos in the first place, has flubbed basic logistical planning and put "Free Speech Week" in jeopardy.</p> <p>And if it falls apart, says <a href="https://studentactivism.net/">historian Angus Johnston</a>, then it will look like Berkeley had planned to censor the event all along. He and Brooke speak about why news consumers should focus less on the issue of campus free speech and more on Yiannopoulos’s PR strategy.</p>

<p>A week after President Trump cut a surprise deal with Democrats, and 100 years after it was created, is the debt ceiling still serving its intended purpose? Plus, inside the alt-right idolization of Taylor Swift and medieval history and how some are trying to fight back. Finally, a new book argues that we may need less technology, even--or especially--if it means we become more bored.</p> <p>1. <a href="https://twitter.com/zacharykarabell?lang=en">Zachary Karabell</a>, author of <a href="https://zachkarabell.squarespace.com/books/the-leading-indicators">"The Leading Indicators: A Short History of the Numbers that Rule Our World,"</a> discusses the debt ceiling's history and frequent use as political football.</p> <p>2. <a href="https://twitter.com/mitchsunderland?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor">Mitchell Sunderland</a>, Senior Staff Writer at <a href="https://www.vice.com/en_us/contributor/mitchell-sunderland">Vice</a>, on <a href="https://broadly.vice.com/en_us/article/ae5x8a/cant-shake-it-off-how-taylor-swift-became-a-nazi-idol">Taylor Swift's fascist following</a>. </p> <p>2. Historian <a href="https://twitter.com/Lollardfish?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor">David M. Perry</a> on <a href="https://psmag.com/education/nazis-love-taylor-swift-and-also-the-crusades">how medieval historians should respond</a> to white supremacist affection for their field.</p> <p>4. <a href="https://twitter.com/manoushz?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor">Manoush Zomorodi</a>, host of the WNYC's <a href="https://www.wnyc.org/shows/notetoself/">Note to Self</a>, on her new book, <a href="https://www.manoushz.com/book/?utm_content=buffer4ba0f&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_source=twitter.com&amp;utm_campaign=buffer">"Bored and Brilliant,"</a> and the dire need to disengage from technology.</p>

<p>President George W. Bush, speaking at a mosque on Sept. 17, 2001: "The face of terror is not the true faith of Islam. That’s not what Islam is all about. Islam is peace."</p> <p>Donald Trump, campaigning for president on March 9, 2016: "I think Islam hates us."</p> <p>David Yerushalmi was living in an Israeli settlement near Jerusalem speaking on the phone with his father when the planes hit the towers on Sept. 11, 2001. "We got it wrong," Yerushalmi remembers telling his father. Before Sept. 11th, Yerushalmi thought terrorism was about nationalism, a fight over land. Afterward, he decided terrorism committed by Muslim extremists was driven by Islam itself -- and underpinned by Islamic Shariah law.  </p> <div class="embedded-image"><img class="mcePuppyImage" src="https://media2.wnyc.org/i/640/480/l/80/1/david-yerushalmi-pamela-geller-640x480.jpg" alt=""> <div class="image-metadata"> <div class="image-caption">Pamela Geller and David Yerulshami</div> <div class="image-credit">(Pamela Geller)</div> </div> </div> <p>So he packed up his family and moved to New York to become part of a fledgling community of conservatives who would come to be known as counter-jihadists. They had an uphill battle to fight: In the aftermath of Sept. 11, President Bush and most Americans, according to polls, did not equate Islam with terrorism. </p> <p>But 16 years later, even though there hasn't been another large-scale terrorist attack on American soil committed by a Muslim, America's perspective on Islam has changed -- evidenced most notably by the election of a president who believes the religion itself hates the country.</p> <p>Yerushalmi is a big reason for this change of heart. He's a behind-the-scenes leader of the counter-jihad movement, filing lawsuits pushing back against the encroachment of Islam in the public sphere and crafting a series of anti-Sharia laws that Muslims and civil rights groups decry as Islamophobic.</p> <p>"Do I think that the United States is weak enough to collapse either from a kinetic Jihad, meaning war, or even a civilizational Jihad that the Muslim Brotherhood talks about? No. At least not in my lifetime. But do I think it's an existential threat that allows for sleeper cells and the Internet-grown Jihadist that we see day in and day out wreaking so much havoc here and in Europe? Yes. Do I see it as a threat to our freedoms and liberties incrementally through their so-called civilizational Jihad where they use our laws and our freedoms to undermine our laws and our freedoms? Absolutely."</p> <p>WNYC reporter Matt Katz speaks to Yerulshami about what he thinks is the creeping threat of Sharia law for the podcast "The United States of Anxiety" produced by New York Public Radio. </p> <p> </p>

<p>The Trump administration has announced the end of the DACA program. We examine the rhetoric used to justify the decision. Plus: the Southern Poverty Law Center faces questions from across the political spectrum about its messaging and fundraising; and the surprising history of FEMA's Cold War origins and what it means for emergency response today. </p> <p>1. Mark Joseph Stern [<span><a class="ProfileHeaderCard-screennameLink u-linkComplex js-nav" href="https://twitter.com/mjs_DC">@mjs_DC</a>] of <em>Slate</em> dissects the rhetoric used by the Trump administration to justify ending the DACA program. </span></p> <p><span>2. Peter Beinart [<a class="ProfileHeaderCard-screennameLink u-linkComplex js-nav" href="https://twitter.com/PeterBeinart">@PeterBeinart</a>] of <em>The Atlantic</em> on how Democrats frame immigration and what gets ignored in the discussion. </span></p> <p><span>3. The Southern Poverty Law Center has faced criticism from the left and the right. Ben Schreckinger [<a class="ProfileHeaderCard-screennameLink u-linkComplex js-nav" href="https://twitter.com/SchreckReports">@SchreckReports</a>] of Politico breaks down concerns surrounding the group's messaging and fundraising. Then, SPLC President Richard Cohen [<a class="ProfileHeaderCard-screennameLink u-linkComplex js-nav" href="https://twitter.com/splcenter">@splcenter</a>] responds to the criticism and rebuts recent, dubious accusations from right-leaning media outlets. </span></p> <p><span>4. Garrett Graff [<a class="ProfileHeaderCard-screennameLink u-linkComplex js-nav" href="https://twitter.com/vermontgmg">@vermontgmg</a>] wrote about "The Secret History of FEMA" for Wired this week. He explains FEMA's origins as a Cold War civil defense agency and how its mission has evolved.</span></p>

<p>Hurricane Harvey makes landfall, bringing with it a familiar set of reporting tropes. We unpack the language of storm reporting and why it falls short, and why these disasters expose a society's priorities. Plus: why there's no such thing as a "natural" disaster; and a conservative commentator on what would really bring a "breaking point" to Trump's relationship with Republicans. </p> <p>1. <a href="https://twitter.com/neenareports?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor">Neena Satija</a> of <em>The Texas Tribune</em> and Reveal discusses last year's investigative report, "<a href="https://projects.propublica.org/houston-cypress/">Boomtown, Flood Town</a>," about Houston's risk for flooding. </p> <p>2. The American Storm Edition of the Breaking News Consumer's Handbook, with: <a href="https://www.usgs.gov/staff-profiles/robert-holmes?qt-staff_profile_science_products=3#qt-staff_profile_science_products">Robert Holmes</a>, national flood hazard specialist and coordinator for the U.S.G.S.; risk communication consultant <a href="https://twitter.com/WxComm?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor">Gina Eosco</a>; and disaster historian <a href="https://twitter.com/USofDisaster?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor">Scott Knowles</a>. </p> <p>3. One of the most widely misreported stories of Hurricane Katrina involved deaths at St. Rita's nursing home in a New Orleans suburb. <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Flood-Lies-Ritas-Nursing-Tragedy/dp/1455621307">James Cobb</a>, their lawyer, talked to Brooke about media scapegoating in disasters. </p> <p>4. <a href="https://twitter.com/NoahCRothman?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor">Noah Rothman</a> of Commentary Magazine on why the Republican party isn't distancing itself more from President Trump. </p> <p> </p>

<p>For the month of August, we’ve been running a series of interviews Bob has done with documentary filmmakers. We’ve been calling it “Bob’s Docs," and each we’ve week we’ve gone through some of the themes of documentary filmmaking — from the personal journey to the gift of extraordinary access. We have one more bonus episode of “Bob’s Docs," and this one is about what happens when documentaries dig into conflicting narratives.</p> <p><span>In 1977, a former beauty queen with a 168 IQ named Joyce McKinney became British tabloid fodder when she supposedly kidnapped her Mormon boyfriend at gunpoint and, for four days, kept him as her sex slave. Documentary filmmaker Errol Morris' 2011 documentary <em>Tabloid</em> looked into the claims and the tabloid coverage. <a href="http://www.wnyc.org/story/171954-errol-morris-tabloid">Brooke spoke with Morris six years ago</a> about what he learned about sensational reporting and the trouble of getting to the bottom of a he-said, she-said.</span></p>

<p>Attorney General Jeff Sessions has signaled that he'd like to revamp the war on drugs. We take a look at the history of the battle, and how sensational media depictions of crack, heroin, and meth have helped fuel it. Plus: our Breaking News Consumer’s Handbook: Drugs Edition. Then, a look at how America’s first drug czar used racist propaganda to outlaw marijuana. And why the debate between treatment and law enforcement is blurrier than you might think.</p> <p>1. Our Breaking News Consumer's Handbook: Drugs Edition: a critical look at what the press gets wrong about drugs and drug addiction, featuring <a href="http://nationalrxdrugabusesummit.org/biographies/dr-deborah-dowell/">Dr. Debbie Dowell</a> of the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/">Centers for Disease Control and Prevention</a>, <a href="http://drcarlhart.com/about-carl-hart/">Dr. Carl Hart</a> of <a href="https://psychology.columbia.edu/content/carl-hart">Columbia University</a>, and <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Unbroken-Brain-Revolutionary-Understanding-Addiction/dp/1531889778">author</a> <a href="http://maiasz.com/bio/">Maia Szalavitz</a>.</p> <p>2. <a href="http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/A/bo20582764.html">Historian</a> <a href="http://www.alexandrachasin.us/about/">Alexandra Chasin</a> and <a href="http://chasingthescream.com/">author</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/johannhari101?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor">Johann Hari</a> tell the story of Harry Anslinger, the man who set our seeming eternal drug war in motion, and his ruthless pursuit of jazz singer Billie Holiday.</p> <p>3. <a href="http://sociology.ucsc.edu/faculty/singleton.php?&amp;singleton=true&amp;cruz_id=craigr">University of California Santa Cruz</a>'s <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Crack-America-Demon-Social-Justice/dp/0520202422">Dr. Craig Reinarman</a> examines how American presidents encouraged and harnessed hysteria around drugs for political gain.</p> <p>4. <a href="http://www.samquinones.com/books/dreamland/">Journalist</a> <a href="http://www.samquinones.com/about/">Sam Quinones</a> argues for the importance of aggressive policing in the effort to end America's opioid crisis.</p>

<p>For the month of August we've been running a series of interviews Bob has done over the years with documentary filmmakers. In the OTM office, the producers have been referring to the collection as "Bob's Docs." Over the past few weeks, we've gone through some of the themes of documentary film-making, from prurience to access to manipulation. This week we conclude with the personal journey. </p> <p>This episode features two interviews, and the first is actually a guest spot from Brooke Gladstone. Last year, <a href="http://www.wnyc.org/story/resurrecting-kitty-genovese-love-story/">Brooke spoke with James Solomon about his documentary, "The Witness", about the story of Kitty Genovese</a> -- a young woman who was famously murdered on a New York City street in 1964. Her murder came to symbolize urban apathy and the "bystander effect". Solomon documents Kitty's brother Bill Genovese's lengthy pursuit to discover the truth behind her life and murder. </p> <p>Then, <a href="http://www.wnyc.org/story/lockerbie-revisited/">Bob speaks with filmmaker Ken Dornstein about his three-part series on PBS's Frontline called "My Brother's Bomber"</a> about his investigation into the 1988 Lockerbie airplane bombing. Dornstein's brother died in the attack, and Dornstein spent years trying to locate other figures who were suspects. </p> <p> </p>

<p>In the 1960s, pollution was a visible, visceral problem, and public pressure led a Republican president to create the Environmental Protection Agency. Now, the GOP wants to slash the agency's budget and roll back "burdensome" environmental regulations. The story of how the environment went from bipartisan issue to political battleground.</p> <p>Also, journalists and politicians have long avoided drawing a straight line between natural disasters and climate change. How that's changing, thanks to new "extreme weather attribution" science. And, the myth of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a useful — yet misleading — container for our collective anxieties about the planet. </p> <p>1. Sinclair Broadcasting is poised to expand to more households. <a href="https://twitter.com/felixgillette?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor">Felix Gillette</a> <span>of Bloomberg discusses the company's frugal — and right-wing — approach to local news.</span></p> <p>2. <a href="http://richardandrews.web.unc.edu/">Richard Andrews</a>, Professor Emeritus of Environmental Policy at UNC Chapel Hill, and <a href="http://richardandrews.web.unc.edu/">William Ruckelshaus</a>, former EPA administrator, help us understand the history of the EPA and how the environment became a political battleground.</p> <p>3. <a href="https://twitter.com/HeidiCullen?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor">Heidi Cullen</a>, chief scientist at <a href="http://www.climatecentral.org/">Climate Central</a>, explains how climate attribution science can help us better describe global warming’s role in extreme weather events.</p> <p>4. <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/the_next_20/2016/09/the_great_pacific_garbage_patch_was_the_myth_we_needed_to_save_our_oceans.html">Slate columnist Dan Engber</a> explores how the idea of a great garbage patch in the Pacific has helped us make sense of a changing climate that can be hard to visualize.</p>

<p>For the month of August we’ll be running a series of interviews Bob has done over the years with documentary filmmakers. In the OTM office, the producers have been referring to the collection as “Bob’s docs.” Over the next few weeks we’ll go through some themes of documentary film-making, from prurience to access to the personal journey. This week's theme is prurience. </p> <p><a href="http://www.wnyc.org/story/rise-fall-redemption-anthony-weiner/">This episode features Bob's interview about the documentary "Weiner"</a>, about the disgraced former Congressman Anthony Weiner's attempt at redemption with an attempt at running for mayor of New York City. Weiner had agreed to let a pair of documentary filmmakers record his campaign (and his entire life) in the hopes that they would capture his triumph. Instead, the cameras were rolling as he faced yet another slew of sexting allegations. Elyse Steinberg is a writer and documentary film director. Josh Kriegman is a director and former political political consultant. Together, they produced and directed "Weiner". </p> <p>Since this interview, Weiner has pled guilty to a felony obscenity charge for sending pictures and messages to a 15-year-old girl. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for September. </p>

<p>After a week of fury and fire, On the Media takes a chill pill. We look at chilling warnings and opaque impediments, from reporters working with whistleblowers or trying to cover immigration courts, to media organizations reckoning with their future in the post-Gawker era. </p> <p>1. <a href="https://www.whistleblower.org/dana-gold" target="_blank">Dana Gold</a> of the <a href="https://www.whistleblower.org/" target="_blank">Government Accountability Project</a> speaks with us about the incomplete patchwork of legal protections for journalists in light of the government’s newfound zeal for cracking down on “leakers.”</p> <p>2. Immigration reporter <a href="https://twitter.com/juliaprestonnow?lang=en" target="_blank">Julia Preston</a> of the <a href="https://www.themarshallproject.org/staff/julia-preston#.weVCL0WfT" target="_blank">Marshall Project</a> discusses the challenges journalists face covering immigration courts. Then, Judge Dana Leigh Marks, President of the <a href="https://www.naij-usa.org/about" target="_blank">National Association of Immigration Judges</a>, describes the unique challenges facing judges in the immigration court system. </p> <p>3. <a href="http://www.insightcrime.org/about-us" target="_blank">InSight Crime</a>’s <a href="http://www.stevendudley.com/" target="_blank">Steven Dudley</a> debunks some of the myths around the notorious MS-13 and explains why it’s not all that the Trump administration describes.</p> <p><span>4. <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0460534/" target="_blank">Brian Knappenberger</a>, producer and director of <em><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt6333064/" target="_blank">Nobody Speak: The Trials of the Free Press</a></em>, gives us a behind-the-scenes look at his film, and describes the role of big money and morality in commanding the free press. </span></p>

<p>For the month of August we’ll be running a series of interviews Bob has done over the years with documentary filmmakers. In the OTM office, the producers have been referring to the collection as “Bob’s docs.” Over the next few weeks we’ll go through some themes of documentary film-making, from prurience to access to the personal journey. This episode is about the gift of access. </p> <p>This episode features <a href="http://www.wnyc.org/story/130589-terror-in-moscow/">Bob's interview with the filmmaker Dan Reed about his 2003 documentary "Terror in Moscow"</a>, about the 2002 attack by Chechen terrorists on a Moscow Theater. Reed had access to remarkable footage filmed by the terrorists themselves and used it to present an extraordinary view of the crisis. </p> <p>Then, Bob <a href="http://www.wnyc.org/story/cartel-land-blurs-borders-good-and-evil/">revisits his interview with Matthew Heineman about his documentary "Cartel Land" in 2015</a>. Heineman's relationship with his subjects allowed him to capture moments of violence, corruption, and even adultery -- all recorded with the subjects' full participation. </p>

<p>The surprising political history of abortion in America; how the language of the abortion debate impacts us all; state lawmakers are tightening the rules around how doctors communicate with their patients about abortion; and more.</p> <p>Support On the Media by becoming a member today at <a href="https://pledge3.wnyc.org/donate/otm-it/onestep/?utm_source=wnyc&amp;utm_medium=otm-redirect&amp;utm_campaign=pledge&amp;utm_content=show-notes" target="_blank" title="Pledge">OntheMedia.org/donate</a>.    </p>

<p>For the month of August we’ll be running a series of interviews Bob has done over the years with documentary filmmakers. In the OTM office, the producers have been referring to the collection as “Bob’s Docs.” Over the next few weeks we’ll go through some tropes of documentary film-making, from prurience to access to the personal journey. Episode one is about the deadly sin of manipulation.</p> <p>Documentaries are supposed to represent the truth. But who decides what the truth is exactly? Patricia Aufderheide, professor and documentarian, who looked into some suspicious instances of manipulation in wildlife docs, explained her effort to interview documentary film-makers anonymously about their ethical lapses.</p> <p>This episode also features an interview about the timeline manipulating HBO series, "The Jinx," directed by Andrew Jarecki. Bob spoke with documentary film-maker Joe Berlinger, co-creator of the "Paradise Lost" trilogy, about modern film-making, the responsibility of the artist, and different interpretations of "truth."</p>

<p>The battle over Republican Senators' most recent attempt at repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act dominated the media this week, and seemingly at all hours of the day. We take a look at a few players in the saga, from the putative maverick who brought the process to a halt with a quick thumbs-down, to a reporter trying to follow a process somewhat devoid of transparency, to the war of words that could determine the future of the American health care system. Plus, a retrospective view on the media's role in Charlie Gard's life. </p> <p>1. <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/author/james-fallows/">The Atlantic</a>'s <a href="https://twitter.com/JamesFallows">James Fallows</a> explores Senator John McCain's long history in the media spotlight — a story of dualities, cozy jokes, and the occasional, genuine maverick choice. </p> <p>2. <a href="http://www.wnycstudios.org/khn.org/news/author/julie-rovner/">Kaiser Health News</a>'s <a href="https://twitter.com/jrovner">Julie Rovner</a> describes the opaque and convoluted experience of covering the GOP process to repeal and replace Obamacare. </p> <p>3. <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/author/sam-stein">The Daily Beast</a>'s <a href="https://twitter.com/samstein">Sam Stein</a> examines the new anti-Obamacare propaganda coming from within the Trump Administration. </p> <p>4. <a href="https://www.fsu.edu/profiles/quadagno/">Florida State University</a>'s <a href="https://www.fsu.edu/profiles/quadagno/">Jill Quadagno</a> leads us through the hundred-year messaging war over universal healthcare in the U.S., including a recent rise in public support for a single-payer system. </p> <p>5. <a href="http://www.melaniephillips.com/">The Times of London</a>'s <a href="https://twitter.com/MelanieLatest">Melanie Phillips</a> discusses the role the American right-wing media played in the media storm surrounding Charlie Gard's tragic, short life. </p> <p>Support On the Media by becoming a member today at <a href="https://pledge3.wnyc.org/donate/otm-it/onestep/?utm_source=wnyc&amp;utm_medium=otm-redirect&amp;utm_campaign=pledge&amp;utm_content=show-notes" target="_blank" title="Pledge">OntheMedia.org/donate</a>.    </p>

<p>In March, the American Psychoanalytic Association emailed its 3500 members giving them the go ahead to bring their <em>professional </em>judgement to bear in commenting publicly about the president’s words and deeds.</p> <p>But Tuesday, the much larger American Psychiatric Association was obliged to reiterate its so-called Goldwater Rule, it’s ethics policy forbidding members to diagnose or speculate on anyone who they haven’t examined. The rule sprang from a Fact Magazine article claiming that 1189 psychiatrists found hawkish 1964 presidential candidate Barry Goldwater psychologically unfit to be president.</p> <p>Last summer Bob spoke to Paul Appelbaum, a professor of Psychiatry, Medicine and Law at Columbia University, who explained that he <em>is</em> a strong proponent of mental health experts staying out of the pundit business.</p> <p>And to Bill Doherty, a therapist and Psychology professor at the University of Minnesota, who believes the integrity of the profession depends precisely on speaking out. He’s the creator of the online manifesto, Citizen Therapists Against Trumpism, which garnered thousands of signatures from mental health specialists.</p> <p> </p>