On the Media

The UK’s Violent Riots Were Stoked by Elon Musk and a Global Far-Right Network

This week, a mob attacked immigrant communities in Northern Ireland after Elon Musk fomented anger on X. On this week’s On the Media, hear how a group linked with a global neo-Nazi movement organized the riots. Plus, what the recent upheaval at 60 Minutes tells us about the state of TV news. [01:34]  Micah speaks with David Gilbert [https://www.wired.com/author/david-gilbert/], a reporter at WIRED covering disinformation and online extremism, about the anti-immigrant riots that exploded across the UK and more recently Northern Ireland, and how Elon Musk stoked violence on X. Plus, the racist ideology behind the attacks.  [17:29] Micah sits down with Oliver Darcy [https://bsky.app/profile/oliverdarcy.bsky.social], founder of Status [https://www.status.news/]and co-host of Power Lines [https://www.status.news/power-lines], to discuss the turmoil at 60 Minutes since Bari Weiss fired about half a dozen staffers.  [32:52] Brooke talks with Maria Kuznetsova and Dan Storyev, the authors of the upcoming book How to Survive Authoritarianism: A Russian's Phrasebook for Everyday Life in America [https://wwnorton.com/books/how-to-survive-authoritarianism], about how Russian words and phrases can help Americans understand what's happening in their country today. Further reading: * “A White Supremacist Youth Group Helped Orchestrate the Belfast Riots,” [https://www.wired.com/story/a-white-supremacist-youth-group-helped-orchestrate-the-belfast-riots/]by David Gilbert * “Elon Musk and America’s Far Right Stoke Anger Over Murder of UK Teen, [https://www.wired.com/story/elon-musk-and-americas-far-right-stoke-anger-over-murder-of-uk-teen/]” by David Gilbert * “Bari in the Bunker and Ellison at the Gates,” [https://www.status.news/p/bari-weiss-david-ellison-lesley-stahl-60-minutes]by Oliver Darcy * “Pelley’s ‘60 Minutes’ Revolt,” [https://www.status.news/p/scott-pelley-60-minutes-nick-bilton-bari-weiss] by Oliver Darcy * How to Survive Authoritarianism: A Russian's Phrasebook for Everyday Life in America [https://wwnorton.com/books/how-to-survive-authoritarianism] by Maria Kuznetsova and Dan Storyev On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm [https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm]). Follow our show on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/onthemedia/?hl=en], Bluesky [https://bsky.app/profile/onthemedia.bsky.social], TikTok [https://www.tiktok.com/@onthemedia] and Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/OnTheMedia] @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com [https://pcm.adswizz.com] for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

"Making China Great Again" One Web-Novel At A Time

China is home to over one billion internet users, and about half are consumers of internet literature. While the industry started as a group of hobby writers, it's now a multimillion dollar industry that has spawned adaptations to TV shows, films, and games. One of the most successful genres has become a phenomenon in and of itself. It's called "alt-history" fiction, which typically follows a contemporary man traveling back in time to save ancient China from a crisis. Brooke sits down with Rongbin Han [https://spia.uga.edu/faculty-member/rongbin-han/], a Chinese cyberpolitics expert at the University of Georgia, about why this particular genre of web novel has grabbed so many readers' attention, what it can teach us about how Chinese people are imagining China's rise on a global stage, and how it's an illustration of a state and its people co-producing, or negotiating, a shared vision of an ideal, powerful China.     On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm [https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm]). Follow our show on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/onthemedia/?hl=en], Bluesky [https://bsky.app/profile/onthemedia.bsky.social], TikTok [https://www.tiktok.com/@onthemedia] and Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/OnTheMedia] @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com [https://pcm.adswizz.com] for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

How Anthropic Became Holier Than Thou

This week, Anthropic filed for an IPO following a valuation of nearly $1 trillion, which would make it one of the largest IPOs in history. On this week’s On the Media, the company’s marketing campaign to position it as the “good guy” of AI. Plus, what a literary AI scandal reveals about our vanishing ability to tell what’s human and what’s not.  [01:00]  Micah speaks with Brian Merchant [https://www.bloodinthemachine.com/], a tech journalist and author of the book and newsletter Blood in the Machine, about Anthropic’s successful positioning of itself as the “ethical AI company,” even gaining themselves a seat at the table when the Pope debuted his encyclical on AI, and how fostering this image seems to be paying off in the form of a massive valuation and upcoming IPO. [16:18] Micah sits down with Vauhini Vara [https://www.vauhinivara.com/], a contributing writer for The Atlantic and the author of Searches: Selfhood in the Digital Age, on the infiltration of AI into literature, and how publishing and journalism have entered a new era of trying to keep AI writing at bay.  [27:51] Brooke talks with David Garrett, founder of the new non-profit the Institute for Primary Facts, about the pop-up exhibit [https://trumpsonian.us/] he organized in New York City that displayed over 3,400 printed volumes of the Epstein files, and how he intends it to be a “pressure campaign” for accountability. Plus, Andrea Sterling, an online content creator and a survivor of Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse, on the impact of seeing the files in real life. Further reading: * “How Anthropic used AI ethics slop to play the pope and eclipse OpenAI [https://www.bloodinthemachine.com/p/how-anthropic-used-its-ai-ethicslop],” by Brian Merchant * “This Literary AI Scandal Changes Everything [https://www.theatlantic.com/books/2026/05/granta-ai-fiction-book-scandal-changes-everything/687243/],” by Vauhini Vara On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm [https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm]). Follow our show on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/onthemedia/?hl=en], Bluesky [https://bsky.app/profile/onthemedia.bsky.social], TikTok [https://www.tiktok.com/@onthemedia] and Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/OnTheMedia] @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com [https://pcm.adswizz.com] for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

I.C.E.'s "Wartime Recruitment" Campaign

For a second week, reports of inhumane conditions at Delaney Hall in New Jersey are drawing protesters and camera crews. A handful of journalists [https://jerseyvindicator.org/2026/06/01/journalists-swept-up-in-delaney-hall-crackdown-as-press-freedom-concerns-mount/] and dozens of protesters have been arrested. Under this Trump administration, I.C.E.’s operations have ballooned, making it the highest-funded U.S. law enforcement agency. This week we're sharing an interview Micah did with Drew Harwell, a technology reporter for The Washington Post, from earlier this year. They discuss how I.C.E. is trying to enlist new agents through a "wartime recruitment push." [https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2025/12/31/ice-wartime-recruitment-push/] On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm [https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm]). Follow our show on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/onthemedia/?hl=en], Bluesky [https://bsky.app/profile/onthemedia.bsky.social], TikTok [https://www.tiktok.com/@onthemedia] and Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/OnTheMedia] @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com [https://pcm.adswizz.com] for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Trump Sued Himself … and ‘Settled’ for a $1.8 Billion Fund

The Department of Justice is trying to create a nearly $1.8 billion fund to compensate Donald Trump’s political supporters who claim they were unfairly targeted by the government. On this week’s On the Media, how Trump is using the federal legal system to reward his allies and go after his perceived enemies. Plus, how a prison fire in 1930 changed the course of history for CBS News. [01:00]  Micah speaks with Anna Bower [https://bsky.app/profile/annabower.bsky.social], senior editor at Lawfare [https://www.lawfaremedia.org/], about President Trump’s effort to sue himself and how the Department of Justice is trying to reward him, and his political allies, with a nearly $1.8 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund.”  [17:14] Brooke speaks with historian A. Brad Schwartz [https://bsky.app/profile/abradschwartz.bsky.social] about how a horrific prison fire in 1930 changed the trajectory of CBS News. CBS aired on-the-spot coverage of the event, with Otto "Deacon" Gardner, an inmate in the prison, at the microphone. Gardner's gripping broadcast captured the attention of audiences across the country and started CBS on the path to creating the hard-hitting news that would define the network for nearly a century.  [35:53] Brooke continues her conversation with historian A. Brad Schwartz about how the prison fire showed executives at CBS that there was an audience for vivid, on-the-spot news coverage.  Further reading: * “The President Who Sued Himself [https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/the-president-who-sued-himself],” by Anna Bower and Eric Columbus * “The Eyewitness [https://www.cjr.org/feature/cbs-news-radio-eyewitness-otto-deacon-gardner-edward-r-murrow.php],” by A. Brad Schwartz On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm [https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm]). Follow our show on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/onthemedia/?hl=en], Bluesky [https://bsky.app/profile/onthemedia.bsky.social], TikTok [https://www.tiktok.com/@onthemedia] and Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/OnTheMedia] @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com [https://pcm.adswizz.com] for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.