YouTube video by LastWeekTonight Public Media: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

Was thrilled to help consult for this fantastic John Oliver segment on the tragic plight of U.S. public media and why, if we hope to be a democracy, we still need public media for so many things that commercial media will never provide. Deserves a wide viewership. www.youtube.com/watch?v=yknM...

YouTube video by LastWeekTonight Public Media: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

"NBC Nightly News can show you pictures of devastating flooding, but they don't tell locals where to get fresh water."

They did an excellent job with this one. I’m always impressed with how LWT communicates the wonkiest things in an engaging way (like how local station funding allocations work, and how this has hurt local rural stations far more than NPR the national org and better funded, usu larger city stations)

Had a great time consulting with the “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” team over the past couple months, and they kindly gave my book a shoutout during the episode.

Funding cuts may make public radio more reliant on old, rich, white donors After years of interviews, research, and writing, Laura Garbes submitted the final draft of her book on public radio in December 2024. By the time Listeners Like Who? Exclusion and Resistance in the…

"More relevant than ever": Read @sarahscire.com's full review of @lauragarbes.bsky.social's new book Listeners Like Who?: Exclusion and Resistance in the Public Radio Industry in @niemanlab.org: www.niemanlab.org/2025/11/fund....

Funding cuts may make public radio more reliant on old, rich, white donors After years of interviews, research, and writing, Laura Garbes submitted the final draft of her book on public radio in December 2024. By the time Listeners Like Who? Exclusion and Resistance in the P...

the listener-member model that public radio has turned to after decades of government underfunding conflicts with its goal to reflect and serve all Americans. spoke with @lauragarbes.bsky.social about her book LISTENERS LIKE WHO? www.niemanlab.org/2025/11/fund...

Funding cuts may make public radio more reliant on old, rich, white donors After years of interviews, research, and writing, Laura Garbes submitted the final draft of her book on public radio in December 2024. By the time Listeners Like Who? Exclusion and Resistance in the…

"Listeners Like Who?" chronicles a contradiction at the core of public radio: the listener-member model that public radio has turned to after decades of government underfunding conflicts with its stated goal to reflect and serve all Americans. www.niemanlab.org/2025/11/fund...

Opinion | Public media’s ‘elitism’ is a result of funding failures "Ironically, any elitism that Republicans charge public radio with is a result of their own attacks on the system," Laura Garbes writes.

ICYMI: Why is Public media’s "elitism" a result of funding failures? Read this op-ed by Listeners Like Who? author @lauragarbes.bsky.social in the @startribune.com ($): www.startribune.com/trump-admini....

How universities created NPR and PBS with Josh Shepperd - American Campus Podcast How public universities gave rise to public mediaReferences and suggested readings:Josh Shepperd. 2023. Shadow of the New Deal: The Victory of Public Broadcasting. University of Illinois Press.Laura G...

Thanks to American Campus, the podcast about the history of higher education, for featuring my book. We talk about how NPR and PBS emerged from equal access to education discourses. And how Media Studies originated as a strategy of public media activism.

Listeners Like Who? Exclusion and Resistance in the Public Radio Industry by Laura Garbes

How public radio has perpetuated racial inequality since its founding—and how journalists of color are challenging white dominance in the workplace and on the public airwaves.

@lauragarbes.bsky.social's Listeners Like Who? is out now. Explore a free sample: press.princeton.edu/books/paperb...

How Can We Live Together? - Boston Review Ezra Klein is wrong: shame is essential.

"Common decency stigmatizes people that do not participate in it—removes them from voluntary association. We indeed have to live with one another, but terms and conditions apply."

me on why Ezra Klein should be ashamed / why shame is Good Actually

www.bostonreview.net/articles/how...

Civic media is URGENT. 🚨

Free Press' Arin Anderson is with Executive Director of @outliermedia.org, Orlando Bailey, discussing why local news is a public good.

Outlier Media is a shining example of how local newsrooms fill information gaps to meet community needs.

this is, hands down, the best video I've seen on men's influencer content and it's not close either

Listen! @lauragarbes.bsky.social talks to @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social about one of the books of the year “Listeners Like Who? Exclusion and Resistance in the Public Radio Industry” newbooksnetwork.com/listeners-li...

Thanks for inviting me on! It was great to get to talk with you about the project

Penn State to shutter WPSU, board declines transfer to WHYY In voting down a proposal to transfer the station to WHYY, trustees expressed concern over a $17 million subsidy and wanted a commitment to hire staff.

WPSU in Pennsylvania becomes the first public media outlet to shut down as a result of the rescission of federal funding.

WPSU TV and radio serves one of the largest geographic coverage areas in the nation, stretching across 24 counties of central Pennsylvania.

This is all making me think of India Walton’s advice to Zohran: “Moderating is what got us here… I pivoted fairly quickly… to try and integrate myself into the party, because I thought that was the way to build a broad-based coalition… It sort of ate away from our message from the inside out.”

🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽 (made measurably better through our conversations and writing group time)

Listeners Like Who? Exclusion and Resistance in the Public Radio Industry by Laura Garbes

How public radio has perpetuated racial inequality since its founding—and how journalists of color are challenging white dominance in the workplace and on the public airwaves.

Laura Garbes' Listeners Like Who? is out now. Learn more: press.princeton.edu/books/paperb...

Thanks so much!!

How journalists of color are expanding radio’s definition of a ‘good talker’ Voice standards can shift to ensure clear, dynamic speech without excluding guests who lack training and experience in institutional spaces.

"The vague and subjective criteria of having a story that includes 'good talkers' ... end up favoring experts and guests with experience within and connections to white institutional spaces," writes @lauragarbes.bsky.social. current.org/2025/09/how-...

Listeners Like Who? How public radio has perpetuated racial inequality since its founding—and how journalists of color are challenging white dominance in the workplace and on the public airwaves

Many congratulations to Laura Garbes (University of Minnesota) on the publication of her pathbreaking sociology of the culture, idealism, and contradictions of public media. Out today on Princeton University Press.

In it I argue that public radio should be a public good that gets robust government funding so that it does not need to rely on donors and philanthropists to get by. I also write about how an increasing number of journalists of color in public radio have greatly expanded who the airwaves are for.

A dedication that reads “To the squeaky wheels of public radio”

A book cover of a book entitled “Listeners like Who?” On a wooden table

It’s publication day for Listeners Like Who? @princetonupress.bsky.social.

I’m grateful to the journalists that shared their stories with me, the colleagues and friends that read copious drafts, and the early readers of the book. press.princeton.edu/books/paperb...

Decolonizing the Global: Contested Cosmopolitanisms in Global Queer Activism In the last decade, the “decolonial turn” has gained prominence across academic disciplines, challenging inherent Eurocentric knowledge paradigms. Extending these conversations, this paper critically....

My new open-access article in the British Journal of Sociology explores how Korean queer activists envision and enact social change by rethinking “the global”—shifting from UN human rights frameworks to regional solidarities across Asia.

Opinion | Public media’s ‘elitism’ is a result of funding failures "Ironically, any elitism that Republicans charge public radio with is a result of their own attacks on the system," Laura Garbes writes.

www.startribune.com/trump-admini...

We must protect public media and keep fighting to fund it publicly. I make the case in the @startribune.com that fully publicly funding public media is a racial and economic justice issue.

If there was ever a time for bold new public infrastructure to support local news and informed communities, this is it.

This is too important to miss.

Join us w/ @reprabb.bsky.social @victorpickard.bsky.social @abigailhiggins.bsky.social @mikerispoli.bsky.social next week.

RSVP: bit.ly/fpabbsoc9

My friend @lauragarbes.bsky.social is brilliant and wrote this amazing book about race, racism, and NPR. You should read it! press.princeton.edu/books/paperb...

Showing how inequality persists even in a “woke” public institution - one that is also being torn apart these days

Support public radio!

Friends! Inherited Inequality makes its debut Sept 16 🎉

Join me for an open & honest conversation about the power & limits of the two-parent family for improving child outcomes & addressing one of America’s most intractable problems: racial inequality

Hope to see you there!

Listeners Like Who? How public radio has perpetuated racial inequality since its founding—and how journalists of color are challenging white dominance in the workplace and on the public airwaves

2025 book publication!

Assistant Professor Laura Garbes authored a recent book titled "Listeners Like Who? Exclusion and Resistance in the Public Radio Industry."

Check it out!