Ryan Benk

PBS head lays out how bleak this is all about to get PBS head lays out how bleak this is all about to get

CEO Paula Kerger also pushed back on the idea that PBS would begin altering content to appease the White House: "They’ve already taken away our funding."
www.avclub.com/pbs-ceo-stat...

“When they rob us of art and emotion, that leads us towards the aesthetics of fascism. In this film, all the sets are real, the decor is human-sized, there are painstakingly created miniatures... It’s there to remind us that art is not only necessary, it is urgent. And AI can go fuck itself!”

Good morn

My fondest Susan Stamberg story When the TV critic collided with a founding mother of NPR

Decided to take a moment from all the doom and gloom of the modern news cycle to offer a heartwarming memory of a friend gone too soon: Here's my favorite Susan Stamberg story. loom.ly/OOPMMDE

From Venezuela to America: Trump wants to bring the war home By linking "Antifa" to foreign drug cartels, U.S. officials are building the case for a domestic war on terror.

Trump is deliberately killing civilians in his "war on drugs" — and getting away with it. Now, with DHS claiming "Antifa" is collaborating with cartels, it's not impossible to imagine that war coming home.

I asked experts what that could look like and how to resist. www.salon.com/2025/10/16/f...

Rocky Horror exemplifies the musical form. Each number unlocks a dream world where we access our emotions and the most honest, sincere aspects of ourselves.

This week I’m chatting about 50 years of Rocky Horror Picture Show with @butwhytho.net.

Listen here: butwhytho.captivate.fm/episode/epis...

“You know that U2 album you didn’t want? Yeah, that’s our entire business model now.”

Extremely excited about this series TPM is doing in concert with our 25th Anniversary, reflecting on 25 years of digital journalism .. the good, the bad, the awful, and where we are now.

Our first two essays are out. We’ll be publishing 25 over the next month.

What Made Blogging Different? Whether I like it or not, the first line of my obituary...

A great privilege of my life has been working for and learning from both @joshtpm.bsky.social and @espiers.bsky.social.

When these two write about internet media - as they both have for TPM's 25th anniversary festivities - you should absolutely tune in. talkingpointsmemo.com/tpm-25

"Just yesterday, an NPR host I once interned for sent me a message intended to break my spirit."

Lol oh I want to know this tea so bad

NBC News’ 150 Layoffs Gut Black, Latino, Asian American and LGBTQ+ Diversity Teams The cuts affected teams across the NBC News operation and came as the network no longer needed to support two different news operations. MSNBC has begun growing its own newsroom, hiring swaths of tale...

This should be very concerning.

www.thewrap.com/nbc-news-lay...

"I think that if that essay had been submitted to editorial review, it would have been punted back, because there are a lot of factual errors in it. So I take Uri’s essay with a grain of salt, frankly. "

Hell yeah, Tommy.

broooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Happy happy happy!

Damn

Why slasher movies still have us watching through our fingers As Halloween approaches slasher movies draw their biggest audiences as All Things Considered host Andrew Limbong talks with NPR's Brianna Scott and Ryan Benk about what keeps the genre alive and why i...

Rounded out the weekend by contradicting Roger Ebert's view of slashers. Listen, they cut a lot deeper than people think!

Why slasher movies still have us watching through our fingers www.npr.org/2025/10/12/n...

Ratio me. It’s a badge of honor. Oooooo yes I like it when you ratio me. Ooh now ratio me harder yessss. Now ratio me while the neighbors watch. Ok now wearing that costume. Yessss.

Drafting in the CMS

Nobel Prize winner Machado says Venezuela is in 'chaos' under current regime The far-right leader of Venezuela's opposition party said that the current president is illegitimate and called for his removal.

Loved how @ayesharascoe.bsky.social interviewed María Corina Machado on @npr.org this weekend. Reflects the complexities of Venezuela and also Machado's support of American interventionism. Machado didn't condemn Trump actions.

I feel like if Bret Easton Ellis says a movie is bad, then it's probably good actually

Joey Arias has plenty of art left to give: 'I want to live to be at least 200 years old' Decades of metamorphosis and drag performer Joey Arias is far from his final form.

Decades of metamorphosis and drag performer Joey Arias is far from his final form. n.pr/48UrvoM

I was looking for a job and then I found a job and heaven knows I'm miserable now -Karl Marx (1867)

Thank you! Was such a blast putting it together and getting to know Joey!

Quentin Tarantino's Stephen King Criticisms Literally Don't Make Sense - SlashFilm

Quentin Tarantino's comments about Stephen King's It are a lesson in why parroting the opinions of others about something you've never read is a bad look.

Promoing during my host shift!

Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ❤️❤️❤️❤️

Joey Arias has plenty of art left to give: 'I want to live to be at least 200 years' Decades of metamorphosis and drag performer Joey Arias is far from his final form.

At 76, cabaret artist Joey Arias’s resume reads like the movie Big Fish. The tales are almost too tall to believe, but he’s really done them all.

What an honor to help tell this legend's story.

www.npr.org/2025/10/11/n...

Vegan to vampire lover:

I would do anything for love but I won't eat bat