On the Media

This summer the state of New Mexico sued the Justice department for access to unredacted files related to Jeffrey Epstein. On this week’s On the Media, an Epstein beat reporter shares her ongoing quest for accountability. Plus, an investigation into Tulsi Gabbard’s mysterious relationship with a guru, and how it may have shaped her politics. 

[01:00] Host Brooke Gladstone speaks with  Julie K. Brown, an investigative journalist at the Miami Herald, whose reporting in 2018 led to Jeffrey Epstein’s arrest. They discuss how the Epstein files that have been released reveal how prosecutors failed to bring the sex trafficker to justice for years. This conversation first aired earlier this year.

[19:08] Brooke sits down with Jon Swaine, a reporter at the Washington Post, to talk about his masterful long-form reporting on ex-Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. He investigates Gabbard’s mysterious relationship with her guru, and how it could account for Gabbard’s shapeshifting from Democrat to Bernie Sanders ally to top MAGA staffer.

[36:50] Brooke continues her conversation with Jon Swaine, and they dig into the nuts and bolts of his investigation into Tulsi Gabbard’s relationship with her guru Chris Butler.  

Further reading:

The Epstein Files by Julie K. Brown

“Tulsi Gabbard, her guru and the mysterious messages that helped shape her political career,” by Jon Swaine

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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Over the weekend we re-shared the first installment of American Emergency, our 4-part series all about the Federal Emergency Management Agency. OTM’s Senior Producer Eloise Blondiau and host Micah Loewinger spent nearly a year researching and reporting those episodes. And earlier in the summer, they put on a live event at WNYC, where Eloise and Micah gave a behind the scenes look at their process making the show, and why they wanted to tell a story about FEMA in the first place. 

The conversation was recorded live at The Greene Space in New York, and moderated by legendary reporter Nancy Solomon. We were joined by one of our sources, former top FEMA staffer MaryAnn Tierney, who now leads the control center for SEPTA – the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority. MaryAnn shared her expertise on how FEMA really works, as well as her experience working with Trump’s latest pick to lead the agency, Cameron Hamilton.

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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This month a federal watchdog raised the alarm over thousands of staffing cuts at the Federal Emergency Management Agency. On this week’s On the Media, an episode from our miniseries American Emergency, all about FEMA: the agency that steps in when large-scale catastrophes like wildfires, floods, and hurricanes strike. Despite its vital work, the agency is widely despised and mythologized – and it’s fighting to stay alive under the Trump administration.

In this episode, which first aired in the spring, OTM co-host Micah Loewinger tells the origin story of FEMA — which initially focused less on disaster relief and more on plans to save the government from nuclear attack. The agency’s secrecy inspired wild conspiracy theories and paranoia among far-right groups, including the fear that FEMA is building camps to detain citizens and stifle political dissent. The episode culminates with a never-before-told story of a plot to stalk FEMA’s top brass in the nineties.

Further reading:

Sound of Impact, by Adam Shaw

Raven Rock: The Story of the U.S. Government's Secret Plan to Save Itself--While the Rest of Us Die, by Garrett M. Graff

"FEMA and Disaster – a Look at What Worked and What Didn’t From a FEMA Insider," by Leo Bosner

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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The sports journalist Pablo Torre recently won the 2026 Pulitzer Prize for audio reporting for an investigation on his podcast, “Pablo Torre Finds Out.” Torre talks with the New Yorker Radio Hour's David Remnick about the challenge of investigative reporting in professional sports—where leagues, owners, players, and sometimes even fans don’t welcome hard questions. “As much as I am doing that and urging people to join me in the pool,” he says, “it kind of feels like I’m the guy who is the proverbial turd” in that pool. But as private equity invests massive sums in teams, he says, the work is even more necessary—and that fans do care when misdeeds are revealed.

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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President Trump has some of the worst approval ratings of any president in modern history, second only to Richard Nixon the week before he resigned. On this week’s On the Media, what the polls say about Americans’ perceptions of Trump and his policies. Plus, a look at the polarized propaganda being beamed into Iran. 

[01:00] Brooke Gladstone interviews G. Elliott Morris, journalist, statistician, and author of the data-driven news website Strength In Numbers, about public perceptions of President Trump and his policies, and what Trump’s historic unpopularity could mean for the upcoming midterm elections. 

[19:14] Micah Loewinger speaks with Nancy Scola, a reporter covering tech, policy, and politics, about her recent profile of Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr, tracing his trajectory from “spectrum nerd,” to MAGA insider. 

[36:23]  Micah sits down with Nahid Siamdoust, an assistant professor of media and Middle Eastern studies at the University of Texas at Austin, to discuss the state of the Iranian media landscape, and how a newer anti-regime channel, Iran International, is contributing to intense polarization among Iranians around the world. 

Further reading / watching:

“What's behind Donald Trump's record-low approval rating?” By G. Elliott Morris

“How Brendan Carr Became MAGA’s Media Watchdog,” by Nancy Scola

“Spreading Static,” by Nahid Siamdoust

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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