In August of 2023, police raided a small local newspaper in rural Kansas, seizing computers and cellphones. Later, the paper’s publisher would discover there was no legal basis for the search. On this week’s On the Media, find out who was behind the raid, and what the saga reveals about the plight of local journalism today.

[01:00] On a Friday morning in a small, rural town in Kansas, the publisher of the local newspaper opens his door to see the police. They have a search warrant in hand, and within minutes, they’re searching his home. He finds out that at the same time, officers are combing through his newsroom, seizing computers and cellphones. All of this comes as a massive surprise – no warning, no subpoena, and, as he later finds out, no legal right.

This week, we’re airing an episode of KCRW’s Question Everything, hosted by Brian Reed, which digs into why this violent raid occurred, who’s behind it, and the long-lasting, tragic ramifications.

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In Texas, a judge sentenced a group of anti-ICE demonstrators to decades in prison. On this week’s On the Media, how leftist zines were used to convict a group of protesters accused of ties to antifa. Plus, as we approach the nation’s 250th birthday, we reflect on America’s inability to reckon with the darkest parts of its past.

[01:00] Micah interviews Lex McMenamin, movement building reporter at The Guardian US, about how leftist zines were used to sentence anti-ICE protesters to decades in prison this week.

[12:55] Brooke sits down with Eddie Glaude, professor of African American Studies at Princeton University, to talk about his latest book, “America, U.S.A.: How Race Shadows the Nation's Anniversaries,” and why, at every major milestone, the United States has struggled to reconcile a “double-consciousness.”

Further reading:

• “‘This is injustice’: how leftist zines were used to sentence anti-ICE protesters to decades in prison,” by Lex McMenamin
• America, U.S.A.: How Race Shadows the Nation's Anniversaries by Eddie S. Glaude Jr.

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 week we’re sharing a segment from our friends at the New Yorker Radio Hour. David Remnick sits down with the hosts of the hit podcast, The Rest is History, who turned their childhood love of history into a blockbuster show. They discuss how Brits remember the Declaration of Independence and the Revolutionary War.

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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Top voices on the far right are currently facing the consequences of their own actions. Ben Shapiro is complaining about the rise of a podcaster he made a star; Joe Rogan is upset about the spread of conspiracy theories; and Christopher Rufo is complaining about bigotry in the Republican party. This week, Micah talks to Vox Senior Correspondent Zack Beauchamp about what he calls the 'hot dog men' of the right, and what the phenomenon signals about the future of the Republican party.

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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Donald Trump has signed a preliminary agreement to end the war in Iran. On this week’s On the Media, hear how J.D. Vance has been positioned to suffer the political fallout from the conflict – and from the much criticized deal. Plus, the theological tensions dividing the MAGA coalition.

[01:34] Host Micah Loewinger speaks with Joe Perticone, national political reporter at The Bulwark, about how J.D. Vance is being set up as the Iran deal “fall guy.”

[18:26] Micah talks to Oren Persico, staff writer for The Seventh Eye, an independent Israeli website devoted to journalism and freedom of the press, about the Israeli media coverage of the Iran deal as a ‘catastrophic capitulation,’ the fracturing relationship between President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu and what it may portend for Israel’s political future.

[34:14] Host Brooke Gladstone sits down with Matthew D. Taylor, visiting scholar at Georgetown University's Center on Faith and Justice, to discuss how the growing factions in the Republican party over Israel and the Iran war are part-policy, part-divergent Christian theologies.

Further reading:

• “JD Vance Is Being Set Up as the Iran Deal Fall Guy,” by Joe Perticone
• “How Christian Zionism and Christian Antisemitism Are Tearing MAGA Apart,” by Matthew D. Taylor
• The Violent Take It by Force: The Christian Movement That Is Threatening Our Democracy, by Matthew D. Taylor

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 week JD Vance has been doing a lot of press; partly to sell the quote-unquote peace deal with Iran that he had a hand in brokering. But he’s also on a book tour! Communion, out this week, is Vance’s follow-up to his 2016 best seller hillbilly elegy.

Some of the excerpts being circulated are making their own headlines, like this one, quote; “One of the dumbest things I ever said came when I argued that ‘childless cat ladies’ across the Democrat Party were running our country into the ground,”

He first made his cat lady quip when he was running for office in Ohio and it came up again when he was on the campaign trail with Donald Trump in 2024.

So while Vance is attempting to claw his way back into the good books with said women, we are taking this opportunity to rerun a fabulous conversation Brooke had in 2024 with Kathryn Hughes, author of the book Catland: Louis Wain and the Great Cat Mania. In it, she traces the many meanings ascribed to cats and their guardians, because cruelty to cats has a long tradition. Early on, Hughes described the notorious case in 1730 of the Great Cat Massacre in Paris.

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 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, 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, founder of Status and co-host of 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, 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,” by David Gilbert
• “Elon Musk and America’s Far Right Stoke Anger Over Murder of UK Teen,” by David Gilbert
• “Bari in the Bunker and Ellison at the Gates,” by Oliver Darcy
• “Pelley’s ‘60 Minutes’ Revolt,” by Oliver Darcy
• How to Survive Authoritarianism: A Russian's Phrasebook for Everyday Life in America 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). 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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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, 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). 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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