On the Media

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Deep Fakes, Data Centers, and AI Slop — Are We Cooked? Dec 20, 2025

Show notes

Donald Trump has signed an executive order limiting state regulation on artificial intelligence. On this week’s On the Media, Republicans spar over AI, and what deregulating the industry means for the rest of us. Plus, how AI fakery got better in 2025.

[01:00] Host Brooke Gladstone sits down with Maria Curi, tech policy reporter for Axios and author of the Axios Pro: Tech Policy newsletter, to chat about the massive bets that Silicon Valley and the White House are making on artificial intelligence.

[13:10] Host Micah Loewinger talks with Stephen Witt, author of the book The Thinking Machine, about the massive infrastructure project, and potential problem, that is AI.

[28:54] Brooke speaks with Craig Silverman, cofounder of Indicator, about why Big Tech embraced fakeness in 2025, and what that means for 2026 and beyond.

Further reading / watching:

“States defiant in face of Trump's AI executive order,” by Maria Curi
“MAGA scrambles to influence Trump's AI executive order,” Maria Curi
“Inside the Data Centers That Train A.I. and Drain the Electrical Grid,” by Stephen Witt
“2025: The year tech embraced fakeness,” by Craig Silverman & Alexios Mantzarlis

On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Bluesky, TikTok and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.

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Big Tech Embraced Fakeness in 2025 Dec 17, 2025

Show notes

This year, Silicon Valley poured its collective resources in AI. Billions and billions of dollars. But behind the snazzy ads and glowing endorsements, some users and journalists are warning of bigger issues with the largely unregulated industry. Host Brooke Gladstone sits down with Craig Silverman, cofounder of Indicator, a publication dedicated to understanding and investigating digital deception, to discuss his article arguing that this is the year Big Tech embraced fakeness.

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Trump Guns for the FTC. Plus, Are We the Losers in the Paramount v Netflix Battle? Dec 13, 2025

Show notes

The Supreme Court appears ready to let Donald Trump fire Federal Trade Commission members at will. On this week’s On the Media, why the court’s expansion of presidential powers would impact the entire government. Plus, how two Hollywood giants are squaring off over a massive merger.

[02:47] Host Brooke Gladstone sits down with Noah Rosenblum, associate professor of law at New York University, to discuss how the Supreme Court’s pending decision in Trump v. Slaughter could radically expand the president’s power, and the history behind the case.

[23:02] Host Micah Loewinger talks with Oliver Darcy, lead author of the newsletter Status and co-host of the podcast Power Lines, about the moguls at Netflix and Paramount Skydance battling over Warner Brothers Discovery, and what this means for the future of CNN, which is owned by Warner Brothers Discovery, and Hollywood.

[37:41] Micah speaks with Joel Simon, founding director of the Journalism Protection Initiative at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism, about what happened with Blake Lively’s legal team subpoenaed Perez Hilton, the gossip blogger, and why expanding the legal framework of journalistic protections is essential.

Further reading / watching:

The Supreme Court Is About to Hand Trump a Cudgel in the Paramount-Netflix Fight, by Mark Joseph Stern
The CNN Sacrifice, by Oliver Darcy
The O.G. News Influencer, by Joel Simon

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How a Gossip Blogger (almost) Became the Poster Child for First Amendment Rights Dec 10, 2025

Show notes

Last summer, Perez Hilton, the gossip blogger who rose to fame for his scoopy and sometimes vicious takes in the early 2000s, was served a subpoena by Blake Lively's legal team. Perez Hilton decided to resist the subpoena under the argument that he is a journalist who is entitled to protect his sources. Micah speaks with Joel Simon, the longtime former head of the Committee to Protect Journalist and founding director of the Newmark School's Journalism Protection Initiative, about who gets included under the umbrella of journalism and why expanding the legal framework of journalistic protections is so important in today's media landscape.

Further reading / watching:

“Hegseth order on first Caribbean boat strike, officials say: Kill them all,” by Alex Horton and Ellen Nakashima
“‘Signalgate’ report contradicts Hegseth’s claim of ‘total exoneration’,”by Dan Lamothe
“Meet the New Pentagon Press Corps,” by Anna Merlan
Cover-Up, directed and produced by Laura Poitras and Mark Obenhaus

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No, DOGE Isn't Dead Dec 03, 2025

Show notes

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

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Tell Your Uncle He's Fighting Twitter Bots in Bangladesh Nov 28, 2025

Show notes

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

[01:00] Host Micah Loewinger sits down with Charlie Warzel, staff writer at The Atlantic and author of its newsletter Galaxy Brain, to discuss the recent X update that revealed many high profile, pro-MAGA accounts might be based in foreign countries.

[16:37] Host Brooke Gladstone talks with Amanda Jones, school librarian in Livingston Parish, Louisiana and former School Librarian of the Year, to discuss her experience as a target of book-banning activists. Plus, why protecting libraries is as crucial as ever.

[32:44] Brooke Gladstone talks to Elyse Graham, professor of sociology at Stony Brook University and author of Book and Dagger: How Scholars and Librarians Became the Unlikely Spies of World War II. They discuss the role that academics, archivists, and librarians played in WWII intelligence gathering activities, and why the CIA invested in storytelling as a result.

Further reading / watching:

Elon Musk’s Worthless, Poisoned Hall of Mirrors, by Charlie Warzel
The Librarians film
That Librarian: The Fight Against Book Banning in America, by Amanda Jones
Book and Dagger: How Scholars and Librarians Became the Unlikely Spies of World War II, by Elyse Graham

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Bullseye's Jesse Thorn on Surviving in the Podcasting Industry Nov 26, 2025

Show notes

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

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The Battle for the Future of the Democratic Party Nov 21, 2025

Show notes

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

[01:00] Host Brooke Gladstone sits down with G. Elliot Morris, a journalist, statistician, and author of the data-driven news website Strength in Numbers, to hash out what the data says about whether becoming more moderate is really the key to Democratic candidates winning more elections.

[20:09] Brooke chats with Matt Bennett, co-founder of Third Way, a center-left think tank, about his view that Zohran Mamdani’s win in New York City poses a “serious political problem” for the Democrats.

[36:06] Finally, Brooke calls up Analise Ortiz, state senator for Arizona’s 24th district, to discuss how TikTok, old-fashioned door-knocking, and making tangible differences in peoples’ lives is the way for the Democrats to start winning again.

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