On the Media

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The Social Media Addiction Trials Begin Feb 14, 2026

Show notes

In a landmark trial in California, Meta and Google are being accused of addicting children to social media. On this week’s On the Media, hear how the dramatic proceedings are playing out, and how measures to protect kids online can backfire. Plus, why are betting companies showing up in newsrooms?

[01:00] Host Brooke Gladstone speaks with Madlin Mekelburg, a legal reporter at Bloomberg, about the landmark lawsuit against Google and Meta that went to trial this week. The social media giants are being accused of deliberately designing their platforms in a way that is addictive and harmful to children’s brains, and the verdict of this case will influence the outcomes of thousands of similar cases across the country. Plus, neuroscience researcher Ian Anderson explains why the ‘addiction’ framework misses the complexity of what social media does to our brains.

[20:00] Brooke interviews Julia Angwin, investigative journalist and founder of Proof News, a nonprofit journalism studio. They discuss the tools that users can employ to protect themselves against doomscrolling, and how social media bans across the world can sometimes do more harm than good.

[34:41] Host Micah Loewinger speaks with Judd Legum, the author of the accountability newsletter Popular Information, about the explosive rise of prediction markets, and the implications of their growing partnerships with newsrooms.

Further reading / watching:

“Social Networks Face Big Tobacco Moment Over Addiction Cases,” by Madlin Mekelburg
“Overestimates of social media addiction are common but costly,” by Ian Anderson and Wendy Wood
“I Killed Color on My Phone. The Result Shocked Me,” by Julia Angwin
“Social Media Use and Well-Being Across Adolescent Development,” by Ben Singh, Mason Zhou, Rachel Curtis, et al
“Evidence for link between digital technology use and teenage mental health problems is weak, our large study suggests,” by Qiqi Cheng and Neil Humphrey
“The casino-fication of news,” by Judd Legum

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An Internet Blackout Hides A Regime's Excesses Feb 11, 2026

Show notes

At the end of December, familiar scenes of protest in Tehran were being documented and shared across the world. But on January 8th, the images stopped coming after the Iranian regime cut off the internet in an attempt by the authorities to prevent protestors from organizing and posting videos online for the outside world to see. Under the cover of darkness the regime is reported to have killed up to 30,000 people.

Brooke spoke to Mahsa Alimardani, the Associate Director of the Technology Threats & Opportunities program at WITNESS, where she works on distinguishing visual truths in the AI age. She says that the internet has started flickering back on after a nearly three-week-long national blackout–the longest the country has ever seen–but that a thick fog of disinformation still covers Iran.

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How the Justice Department Failed Epstein’s Victims Feb 06, 2026

Show notes

In the latest batch of Epstein files, hundreds of pages are redacted, shielding the names of prosecutors and possible co-conspirators. On this week’s On the Media, what the files say about how the criminal justice system failed Epstein’s victims. Plus, the toppling of a statue raises questions about who represents Puerto Rican culture.

[01:00] Host Brooke Gladstone speaks with Julie K. Brown, investigative journalist for The Miami Herald, whose reporting back in 2018 led to sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein’s arrest. Brown is pouring through the Epstein files and finding new information about how prosecutors failed to bring Epstein to justice for so many years. She is documenting what she finds in her substack newsletter, The Epstein Files by Julie K. Brown.

[19:24] We’re celebrating the launch of Season 3 of La Brega from Alana Casanova-Burgess and Futuro Media by featuring episode one: about the toppling of the statue of a Spanish colonizer in San Juan a few years ago, what that reveals about Puerto Rico’s champions, and who deserves that pedestal.

Further reading / watching:

“What I found today in The Epstein Files,” by Julie K. Brown
“Did the FBI investigate Trump and Epstein?” by Julie K. Brown
Season 3 of La Brega

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"Armed Only With A Camera" Feb 04, 2026

Show notes

In 2022 Brent Renaud became the first American journalist to be killed by Russian soldiers while covering the war in Ukraine. Brent’s collaborator for many years was his brother Craig. When word got back to Craig that Brent had been shot, he did what he and his brother had always done. He kept filming.

Craig and his producer Juan Arredondo used that footage along with material from their archive to make the Oscar nominated short documentary “Armed Only With a Camera.”

The film is part tribute to his brother, part salute to war journalists who are still out there, risking their lives. Micah spoke to Craig about how the brothers got started in the journalism business.

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Videos of ICE Violence Are Plentiful. Accountability.… Not So Much. Jan 31, 2026

Show notes

The Trump administration called Alex Pretti, who was shot and killed by federal officers, a “domestic terrorist.” And then bystander footage flooded the internet. On this week’s On the Media, how the real-time verification of video evidence is transforming public discourse. Plus, what the anti-ICE protests in Minneapolis have in common with the Boston Massacre.

[01:00] Host Brooke Gladstone speaks with Brandy Zadrozny, senior enterprise reporter at MS Now, about the informal network of far-right content creators traveling to anti-ICE protests in Minneapolis, and why the right-wing narrative is losing power in the face of an outpouring of bystander footage.

[17:45] Host Micah Loewinger talks with Radley Balko, author of The Rise of the Warrior Cop: The Militarization of America's Police Forces, about similarities between the conditions that led to the Boston Massacre in 1770 and what we’re seeing today in Minneapolis and other cities targeted by ICE operations today.

[31:43] Brooke sits down with Eliot Higgins, the founder of Bellingcat, to discuss his framework for the essential functions of democracy— verification, deliberation, and accountability—which have broken down into hollow performances or simulations in the United States today.

Further reading / watching:

“In Minneapolis, far-right influencers frame ICE resistance as terrorism,” by Brandy Zadrozny
“Two cities under siege,” by Radley Balko
“Verification, Deliberation, Accountability: A new framework for tackling epistemic collapse and renewing democracy,” by Eliot Higgins and Natalie Martin

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Stars and Stripes in Peril Jan 28, 2026

Show notes

Stars and Stripes, the venerated, independent award-winning newspaper that has served the armed services for roughly a century, may be getting an uninvited makeover, courtesy of Pete Hegseth’s Defense Department.

In a statement posted on X earlier this month, Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said that Stars and Stripes would no longer be carrying wire reports from the Associated Press, and that it would steer away from all that is woke or might sap morale. Parnell said the defense department would be bringing the newspaper “into the 21st century.”

Brooke spoke to Erik Slavin, Editor-in-Chief of Stars and Stripes.

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Trump's Plan to Tank America Jan 24, 2026

Show notes

Children as young as five have been detained by immigration agents in Minnesota. On this week’s On the Media, how I.C.E. uses technology to surveil the public and recruit more members. Plus, following Trump’s threats against Greenland, ties between the United States and its closest allies are fraying.

[01:00] Host Brooke Gladstone speaks with Garrett M. Graff, journalist, historian, and author of the newsletter Doomsday Scenario, about Trump’s damage to the United States’ standing as a world power following his campaign for Greenland and his dismantling of core pillars of American policy.

[19:14] Host Micah Loewinger talks with Joseph Cox, investigative reporter and co-founder at 404 Media, about his detailed reporting into ICE’s quietly widening arsenal of surveillance tools.

[37:01] Micah sits down with Drew Harwell, technology reporter for The Washington Post, to discuss ICE’s elaborate “wartime recruitment” strategy, and what it means for immigration policy in the United States.

Further reading / watching:

“We Are Witnessing the Self-Immolation of a Superpower,” by Garrett M. Graff
“‘ELITE’: The Palantir App ICE Uses to Find Neighborhoods to Raid,” by Joseph Cox
“ICE’s Facial Recognition App Misidentified a Woman. Twice,” by Joseph Cox
“Inside ICE’s Tool to Monitor Phones in Entire Neighborhoods,” by Joseph Cox
“New Legislation Would Rein In ICE’s Facial Recognition App,” by Joseph Cox
“ICE plans $100 million ‘wartime recruitment’ push targeting gun shows, military fans for hires,” by Drew Harwell and Joyce Sohyun Lee

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Trump's War On the Fed [EXTENDED VERSION] Jan 21, 2026

Show notes

EXTENDED VERSION! Brooke spoke to Mark Blyth, professor of International Economics and Public Affairs at Brown University, to talk about what the headlines are missing in the Department of Justice’s investigation into Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell, and why we need to know the trending politics of central banks around the globe.

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Trump's War on the Fed, Explained. Plus, How One School Teacher Stood Up to Putin. Jan 17, 2026

Show notes

The Justice Department has launched a criminal investigation against the Federal Reserve and its chairman. On this week’s On the Media, hear how the Trump administration’s pressure campaign plays into a larger trend chipping away at central banks. Plus, how a teacher in Russia stood up to Putin’s propaganda.

[01:00] Host Brooke Gladstone sits down with Mark Blyth, professor of International Economics and Public Affairs at Brown University, to talk about what the headlines are missing in the Department of Justice’s investigation into Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell, and why we need to know the trending politics of central banks around the globe.

[16:50] Brooke Gladstone talks with Pasha Talankin, star and co-creator of the new documentary Mr. Nobody Against Putin. Pasha is a high school teacher who made an incredibly vivid and detailed account of Putin’s efforts to indoctrinate schoolchildren in Russia.

[36:51] Brooke continues her conversation about Mr. Nobody Against Putin with David Borenstein, the film’s co-director.

Further reading / watching:

Mr Nobody is screening on Jan 21 at the Independent Film Center in New York before expanding to select theaters in the U.S. and Canada.

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Who is Russell Vought? Jan 14, 2026

Show notes

This week, we revisit a conversation with Andy Kroll, a reporter covering justice and the rule of law at ProPublica, about the profile he wrote of Russell Vought, the director of a little-known, but powerful office inside the White House. Donald Trump calls him "Darth Vader," and Vought is behind thousands of federal layoffs. Hear why Kroll calls him Trump's "shadow president," and about Vought's goal to put federal workers "in trauma."

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