The Media Are Going Easy On Trump and Russia is Going All In On Right-Wing Media
At a town hall event hosted by Fox, Donald Trump shared a number of falsehoods, and appeared to confuse who he was running against. On this week’s On the Media, how mainstream outlets fail to hold the Republican candidate accountable. Plus, meet the right-wing American pundits who’ve received payouts from the Kremlin.
[01:00] Host Brooke Gladstone speaks with Daniel Drezner, professor of International Politics at Tufts University. Drezner discusses how the political press continues to struggle to cover Trump, and his campaign against Vice President Kamala Harris.
[12:34] Host Brooke Gladstone interviews Dan Froomkin, editor of presswatchers.org. Froomkin explains why fact checkers at legacy outlets are too often adding to political confusion.
[20:49] Host Micah Loewinger speaks with Will Sommer, reporter for the Washington Post who writes about conservative media. They discuss a federal investigation into how the Russian-funded media network RT funded and influenced content of a conservative media company in the U.S., which appears to be the Tennessee-based Tenet Media.
[35:01 ] Host Micah Loewinger speaks with Dan Taberski, the host and creator of the podcast series “Hysterical,” about the ties between a medical mystery in Le Roy, New York in 2011, and the unending Havana Syndrome saga.
Further reading:
- “The Very Weird Media Coverage of the 2024 Presidential Race,” by Daniel Drezner
- “’Fact-checking’ does a (hopefully fatal) face plant,” by Dan Froomkin
- “Inside Tenet Media, the pro-Trump ‘supergroup’ allegedly funded by Russia” by Will Sommer
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, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
Related Knowledge Center: Democracy and politics
News organizations are scrambling to find a coverage approach that adequately informs the American public about the country’s slide from democracy to authoritarian rule.
Related Knowledge Center: Information integrity
In an increasingly fractured media landscape, truth has been a casualty in the public discussion. Coverage has been warped by the business needs of struggling news organizations, and a significant segment of the public relies on bad-faith outlets that are little more than propagandists. While fact-checking has become routine, some organizations are exploring other ways to combat the trends. And misinformation spewed by AI-driven chatbots has become more of a feature than simply a bug.
Fact-checking and its detractors