The Legal War on Journalism
Over the past several months, Donald Trump has mounted a series of legal attacks against the media, including a libel case against ABC, an FCC investigation into CBS, and a lawsuit accusing an Iowa pollster (and the newspaper that publishes her) of “election interference.” The sometimes far-fetched claims in these cases notwithstanding, the maneuvers are having an effect. The parent company of ABC settled the libel case, over the objections of many news staffers, and CBS has turned over inter...
12 Mars 25min
The Kicker, the Masseuses, and the Price of Doing Sports Journalism
In January, the Baltimore Banner released an investigation into the star kicker of the Baltimore Ravens, in which multiple women accused him of sexually inappropriate behavior during massages, dating back years. (The player denies the accusations.) It was an example of a rare kind of journalism these days: hard-hitting accountability reporting on sports. Over the past several years, numerous investigative sports outlets have folded, replaced largely by soft-focused content produced by players...
27 Feb 27min
A Warning from a Hungarian Journalist: ‘Brace Yourself for the Worst’
András Pethő is a Hungarian journalist and a cofounder of Direkt36, an independent investigative news outlet. Over the past decade, he’s watched as the government of Viktor Orbán—the world leader whom Steve Bannon once praised as “Trump before Trump”—has systematically eroded the freedom of the press in his country, in ways that may feel familiar to Americans watching corporate news leaders succumb to pressure from the administration. Pethő joins The Kicker to explain why he believes journali...
13 Feb 26min
CJR’s Jon Allsop on the Return of the Trump Whirlwind
Jon Allsop writes and edits The Media Today, CJR’s daily newsletter. There, he’s closely watched as the American press has struggled to respond to, and cover, the barrage of news that pours out of Donald Trump. As a frenetic new term begins, Jon joins The Kicker to share his thoughts on what the media gets wrong—and how the political press might begin to chart a new relationship with the presidency and the public. Read More: *Jon’s latest newsletter, on Trump’s first week back in office *Jon’...
31 Jan 32min
Coda’s Natalia Antelava on Meta, Trump, and How Journalism Can Survive 2025
Natalia Antelava spent many years as a correspondent for the BBC, before starting her own media company, Coda Story, in 2016. She’s covered wars in the Middle East and the rise of authoritarianism across Eastern Europe and the Caucasus. For the past year, she was a Knight Fellow at Stanford, where she examined how journalism might survive in an era of AI and tech supremacy. Antelava joins The Kicker to talk about Meta’s decision to do away with fact-checking, preparing for a second Trump admi...
14 Jan 30min
The Unraveling of Ozy Media: Episode 3: The Verdict and the Pain
In the finale, Carlos Watson takes the stand—and the jury reaches a verdict.“The Unraveling of Ozy Media” is a special three-part series of The Kicker, on the trial of Carlos Watson and the excesses of the digital media age, presented by the Columbia Journalism Review.Hosted and coproduced by Josh Hersh and Susie BanikarimProduced and edited by Amanda Darrach
12 Dec 20241h 3min
The Unraveling of Ozy Media: Episode 2: Built on a Bluff
How inflating traffic data went mainstream in digital media—and a key witness takes the stand. “The Unraveling of Ozy Media” is a special three-part series of The Kicker, on the trial of Carlos Watson and the excesses of the digital media age, presented by the Columbia Journalism Review. Hosted and coproduced by Josh Hersh and Susie Banikarim Produced and edited by Amanda Darrach
10 Dec 202453min
