On the Media

The rise of AI tools that write about you when you die Families and funeral directors are using AI obituary generators to more efficiently memorialize the dead. What happens when they get it wrong?

New: A few weeks ago, when my father-in-law died, the funeral home asked if we wanted to use AI to write his obituary. So I dug into it and found that it's the biggest new trend in "death care." Tens of thousands of AI obits have been made already. Often the families don't even know wapo.st/4okuxIg

No it doesn’t.
www.pbump.net/o/allow-me-t...

Thanks so much Pete 🙏

While I will say NPR has largely failed to meet this moment, there are still independent shows under the umbrella worth supporting directly.

PRX programs tend to be really good if you’re looking

I highly recommend @onthemedia.bsky.social

I’ve been listening to @onthemedia.bsky.social for almost 2 decades and have been supporting WNYC monthly for years. Their coverage of the intersection of media and politics is outstanding. Now is the time to help if you can.

Seems like a good time to remind those angry about the state of the country that while news orgs like the NYT were using weasel words to avoid offending Trump, shows like @marketplace.org and @onthemedia.bsky.social haven't been afraid to call out the administration.

On The Media is the one podcast I never miss. Also, if you have the ability, consider donating to OTM to keep them going. Our financial support—and their critical coverage—is needed now more than ever.

Images of Mass Starvation Shift Gaza Coverage. Plus, the Forgotten History of the First Sitcom. Podcast Episode · On the Media · 08/01/2025 · 51m

Once again, @onthemedia.bsky.social has served up some critically important and poignant interviews. It’s a must listen this weekend. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/o...

@onthemedia.bsky.social another great show 🙏🏼 www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm...

The Forgotten Inventor of the Sitcom Gertrude Berg’s “The Goldbergs” was a bold, beloved portrait of a Jewish family. Then the blacklist obliterated her legacy.

A fascinating, timely story. There’s also a great interview with the author at @onthemedia.bsky.social
www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

Heavy show this week @onthemedia.bsky.social:

- Adel Al Salman, AFP editor, describes works with starving photojournalists documenting starvation

- Diana Buttu, human rights lawyer, shares a heart-wrenching story about a 12-year-old Gazan

- Oren Persico skewers the Israeli media

In addition to the crisis in Gaza, Brooke Gladstone talks with Emily Nussbaum [29:44], TV critic for The New Yorker, about the forgotten story of Gertrude Berg, the woman behind the television sitcom, and the anti-communism campaign that clouded her legacy.

www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm...

Always worth a listen. www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm...

This story is no less relevant in America today, given the capitulation of the media to the Trump administration/MAGA regime.

The interview you didn’t know you wanted but actually you really need: @brookegladstone.bsky.social and @emilynussbaum.bsky.social on the lost history of Gertrude Berg, the inventor of the sitcom: the tragedy of the red scare has eery echoes with today. LISTEN!
www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm...

📻V. INTENSE NEW EP ft. @afp.com Adel Al Salman about the role photos of starving children may have played in the change in tone of Gaza coverage. Plus Palestinian lawyer and journalist @dianabuttu.bsky.social and Israeli media watchdog Oren Persico. LISTEN NOW:
www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm...

The interview you didn’t know you wanted but actually you really need: @brookegladstone.bsky.social and @emilynussbaum.bsky.social on the lost history of Gertrude Berg, the inventor of the sitcom: the tragedy of the red scare has eery echoes with today. LISTEN!
www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm...

📻V. INTENSE NEW EP ft. @afp.com Adel Al Salman about the role photos of starving children may have played in the change in tone of Gaza coverage. Plus Palestinian lawyer and journalist @dianabuttu.bsky.social and Israeli media watchdog Oren Persico. LISTEN NOW:
www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm...

Alden Global Capital is miffed that The Dallas Morning News won’t offer itself up for disembowelment The hedge fund threatens to shift their takeover bid to shareholders — while trying to sweet-talk the only shareholder that matters.

Great lede here from @joshuabenton.com: "Alden Global Capital just can’t understand. Why would any newspaper not want to be the next to pass through its digestive tract?" www.niemanlab.org/2025/08/alde...

THANK YOU 🙏

*gulp*

Fox News since Monday: 85 minutes talking about Sydney Sweeney, 3 minutes talking about Epstein Since Monday, Fox News has spent an hour and 25 minutes covering an American Eagle commercial in which Sydney Sweeney talks about her “good jeans,” devoting over 20 segments to the story. In compariso...

Since Monday, Fox News has spent an hour and 25 minutes covering an American Eagle commercial in which Sydney Sweeney talks about her “good jeans,” and just 3 minutes of coverage to developments in the administration’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein saga.

Just read the Brown University agreement and this really jumped out.

"The University will not perform gender reassignment surgery or prescribe puberty blockers or hormones to any minor child for the purpose of aligning the child's appearance with an identity that differs from his or her sex."

Thanks to Mike and the NeverPost team for having me on to ~very briefly~ explain whats at risk following funding cuts to public media.

🆕 Never Post! Rescuing Public Datasets the U.S. Gov't Deletes Also! Brainrot, and the future of public media in the US...

A new @neverpo.st! Hans talks w/ 4 librarians *tactically archiving* datasets removed by the US Gov't. I talk w/ researcher Emilie Owens and the internet's own @ryanhatesthis.bsky.social about brain rot. ALSO @micahloewinger.bsky.social, expert, drops by to talk about the future of public media.

Today's Financial Times has some striking quotes from a "person close to David Ellison" about his beliefs re: CBS and the news biz. The source spoke about CBS News and Stephen Colbert seemingly in the same breath 🤨 and said "the news lost its way."

Luke Farritor. Portrait of a Young DOGE Coder Dismantling America’s Institutions

NEW investigation: DOGE-Pilled

The full story on the transformation of 23 year-old Luke Farritor and how he ended up at the Department of Government Efficiency--slashing, dismantling, undoing--wielding a résumé that "didn’t pass muster”

NO PAYWALL!

www.bloomberg.com/features/202...

🙄🙄🙄

Trump lawsuit against Murdoch and 'Wall Street Journal' turns personal Trump says he personally told his "very good friend Rupert Murdoch" that he had not sent a racy birthday greeting two decades ago to Jeffrey Epstein. Murdoch's Journal reported it anyway.

Trump defamation lawsuit against Rupert Murdoch and WSJ takes personal turn

My story for NPR

www.npr.org/2025/07/29/n...

ICE Agents Invade a Manhattan Little League Field Youman Wilder has coached local kids for twenty-one years—including four who have gone pro. When masked agents tried to interrogate his players, he told them, “You don’t have more rights than they do....

When ICE agents questioned a group of 11- to 14-year-olds who’d just finished batting practice, their coach, Youman Wilder, stepped in. “I’m willing to die to make sure these kids can get home,” he recounted afterward.