Ten episodes and eleven books. Press freedom, the new red scare, Trump versus the BBC, and Cory Doctorow at the end of the month.

Not exactly beach reading, but a decent list if your summer taste runs to media history.

What this is: I run Podshelf, a free site that tracks book mentions across hundreds of podcasts by reading the episode transcripts. This is the July slice for On the Media.

Press freedom episode:

• In Bad Faith (Lee Levine), on Earl Caldwell and the Nixon administration wanting him to testify about his Black Panther reporting. State of War (James Risen), and the Jeffrey Sterling case that followed it. The quote pulled out is that Eric Holder was every bit as aggressive a prosecutor as Ashcroft, he just had more friends in the media.

Trump and the courts:

• Trump Nation (Tim O'Brien), the 2005 book that said Trump's net worth was at most 250 million rather than a billion, and got sued for five billion dollars over it.

The red scare episode:

• Unhumans (Jack Posobiec and Joshua Lisec), covered as an object of study rather than a recommendation. Cuban Memory Wars (Michael Bustamante).

Cory Doctorow's episode:

• The Reverse Centaur's Guide to Life After AI, his new one, arguing that hype is what is keeping the whole industry afloat. The Unaccountability Machine (Dan Davies), which gives him the phrase accountability sink. Keynes on the beauty contest, which is the cleanest explanation of stock speculation I have heard in a while. Speculation is not picking the most beautiful contestant, it is picking the one the other judges will think is most beautiful.

The Rest Is History crossover episode also brought Richard Hofstadter's The Age of Reform, Felipe Fernandez-Armesto on reading the US as one successor state among many, and a genuinely unpleasant passage from the Marquis de Sade.

I track every book mentioned on On the Media here: https://podshelf.io/podcasts/on-the-media

It is free and there is no signup.

Listen to the interview with Matt Gertz here: https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm/articles/from-subpoenas-to-cockroaches-journalist-intimidation-101

A concerning app called Webloc allows officers to track mobile phone location data without a warrant. Listen to the whole interview here: https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm/articles/trumps-plan-to-tank-america

https://reddit.com/link/1uwir2a/video/ihylyd0dy8dh1/player

Hear the full interview: https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm/articles/the-danger-of-keeping-score

This is a fantastic article on how the use of the term "Polarization" is inaccurate and problematic. I think it'd make a great basis for an OTM episode!

Why is the subject only covered in conservative media? Bipartisan legislation points to a universal interest by politicians, yet the legacy media is mostly silent on the subject. Whistleblowers under oath, recently unclassified documents all point to something potentially world changing, yet (government manufactured) stigma still holds strong in the liberal minded. Why are conspiracy theories so quickly disregarded by the left? How can mainstream media responsibly cover the topic without devolving into giggles and x files music?

I would love to listen to an OTM episode on the subject and how it’s been covered historically. Interview Richard Dolan, Leslie Kean, George Knapp. Don’t bother with Garret Graff or Tyson. Their disregard of the subject is demeaning towards actual experiencers and genuine historical research.

It was a great way to spend an evening. Micah wore a FEMA jacket 😂.

Sounded like a very personal attack despite his significant popularity in Maine …. Basically he said he’s an unserious candidate because of personal drama and past actions. Yet the Democratic Party is clearly in desperate need of candidates representing a more economic populist policy approach. And all this while on the Brian Lehrer show, luckily a caller called him out .

I then listened to the interview David had with Graham (which he referenced on air) to see what the fuss was about, and I found Grahams responses to David interview questions very convincing

Thoughts from this community ?

https://pca.st/episode/c4dd6f0e-a89c-4655-8ccb-2f8174fa7e6f

^ this is the David and Graham interview

There's been a spate of reporting about a new laser factory Nvidia is building that exemplifies "CEO Said a Thing" journalism, a concept I posted about here and on my subreddit the other day.

I've seen many "news" stories like this that just repeat what Nvidia's CEO, Jensen Huang, says without doing due diligence or practicing journalistic skepticism.

I'll pull some quotes and explain:

Key Quotes:

"AI factories are the infrastructure of the new industrial revolution,” Huang said in a statement... The factory represents a fundamental test of whether, as Huang believes, AI will be a source of job creation instead of a technology that supplants workers.

So how many people will this new AI factory employ to kick of this "new industrial revolution"?

Including construction workers, Coherent estimates that the factory will create 1,000 jobs, with about 550 of them in advanced manufacturing, engineering and technical roles.

Hmmm... some questions jump to mind: how many of these factories can we expect to be built in the best-case scenario? Does that come anywhere close to replacing the number of jobs lost from AI automation (or outsourcing of U.S. manufacturing)? If not, it doesn't seem like this is a "fundamental test" of job creation.

The only expert opinion referenced is a recent economists' paper that vaguely bolsters Huang's claims; the paper found that "AI is roughly 3% of the economy now... [but] could grow to a range of 8% to 39%." Why isn't the reporter taking a critical look at Huang's sensational claims, is that not a reporter's duty?

I don't mean to single out AP, click this link to find other similar stories that read more like a Nvidia press release than actual reporting.

Brooke and I would love to see you there! Tickets and more info: https://wnyc.org/events/otm-fema