Conservative activist Charlie Kirk was shot and killed in front of a crowd of students at Utah Valley University. On this week’s On the Media, how the murder of a MAGA media powerhouse is driving both calls for unity, and more violence. Plus, CBS cracks under pressure from the Trump administration.

[01:00] Hosts Brooke Gladstone and Micah Loewinger analyze the media coverage of the assassination of conservative youth leader and media personality Charlie Kirk at a university event on Wednesday.

[13:34] Brooke speaks with Oliver Darcy, media reporter and author of the newsletter Status, about CBS News’ recent concessions to the Trump administration and how the network is signaling a move to the right under new leadership.

[30:43] Micah talks to Peter Shamshiri, co-host of the podcast If Books Could Kill, about what the writings of Bari Weiss reveal about the ideological underpinnings of her media empire, The Free Press.

Further reading / listening:

• “The Weiss Price,” by Oliver Darcy
• “CBS’ Conservative Cop,” by Oliver Darcy
• Pundit Portrait: Bari Weiss, If Books Could Kill podcast

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, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.

Brooke chats with Dorian Lynskey, cultural journalist and author of the recent book, Everything Must Go: The Stories We Tell About the End of the World, to examine our centuries-long obsession with telling end-of-the-world stories and what they reveal about our shifting fears through history. Plus, the evolution of the apocalyptic story, from the Book of Revelation to On the Beach to Station Eleven.

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, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.

President Trump is preparing to send the National Guard to cities across the country. On this week’s On the Media, what the press is missing about the president’s so-called “crackdown” on crime. Plus, in the aftermath of a Russian attack, a Ukrainian town asks journalists to record the atrocities.

[01:00] Host Micah Loewinger speaks with Jamison Foser, media critic and author of the newsletter Finding Gravity, about President Trump’s plans to send troops into American cities, and how mainstream outlets are missing the mark in their coverage.

[14:08] Host Brooke Gladstone sits down with Zack Beauchamp, senior correspondent at Vox, about a telling conversation between four leading MAGA tastemakers, and what it reveals about how the right is thinking about authoritarianism in relation to US democracy.

[31:41] Veteran NPR reporter Deb Amos visited Ukraine to report on how Ukrainians are telling the story of the atrocities committed by Russian troops in Bucha – to themselves and the world.

Support for this reporting was provided by the International Women’s Media Foundation’s Women on the Ground: Reporting from Ukraine’s Unseen Frontlines Initiative in partnership with the Howard G. Buffett Foundation.

Further reading / watching:

• “Trump’s military occupation of American cities is unpopular. The media is trying to manufacture consent for it.” by Jamison Foser
• “The right debates just how weird their authoritarianism should be,” by Zack Beauchamp
• Bucha

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, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.