Shari Redstone's Road to Power at Paramount Global

The Redstone family is a controlling shareholder of Paramount Global — one of the biggest entertainment companies out there. (Think CBS Entertainment, MTV, Nickelodeon.) The family is also one of the inspirations for HBO's Succession, which makes sense the more you get to know them. Shari Redstone currently has the controlling stake in Paramount Global. Company leadership was carefully criticized in a recent on-air "rebuke" by 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley, who said the show was receiving new kinds of oversight amid the Trump presidency. The drama has unfolded as Redstone seeks FCC approval for a lucrative merger, and the Trump administration is suing Paramount Global for billions of dollars. This week we revisit Redstone's backstory by re-airing a conversation with Rachel Abrams, a senior producer and reporter for The New York Times Presents, and the co-author with James B. Stewart of Unscripted:​​ The Epic Battle for a Media Empire and the Redstone Family Legacy.  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 [email protected].

The Federal Communications Commission is currently investigating CBS for “intentional news distortion” for its editing of an interview with Kamala Harris. On this week’s On the Media, what the new chairman of the FCC has been up to, and what led a top CBS producer to quit. Plus, what a growing effort to rewrite the history of Watergate tells us about the American right.[01:00] The Federal Communications Commission is currently investigating CBS for “intentional news distortion” for its editing of an interview with Kamala Harris. Host Brooke Gladstone talks with Max Tani, Semafor’s Media Editor and co-host of the podcast Mixed Signals, about Brendan Carr’s busy first three months as Chairman of the FCC and the impacts that these kinds of investigations could have on press freedoms.[15:37] Host Micah Loewinger speaks with Michael Koncewicz, political historian at New York University, about the fight over who gets to tell the story of Watergate and the years-long conservative movement to rehabilitate Richard Nixon’s image.[29:26] Brooke sits down with Bryan Stevenson, public interest lawyer and founder of the Equal Justice Initiative, a human rights organization based in Montgomery, Alabama, to talk about the Trump Administration's war on museums, especially those that deal with our nation's history of racism.  Further reading:How Nexstar dodged a Trump lawsuit, by Max TaniShari Redstone kept tabs on ‘60 Minutes’ segments on Trump, by Max TaniThe Alarming Effort To Rewrite the History of Watergate, by Michael KoncewiczThe Worst Thing We’ve Ever Done, On the Media (2018) 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 [email protected].

**EXTENDED VERSION**Micah spoke to left-wing YouTuber, David Pakman for last week's show. This is the long version of that conversation. 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 [email protected].

Conservative influencers have captured a massive audience on the internet, boasting nearly five times more followers than their progressive competitors. On this week’s On the Media, the hosts spend twelve hours immersed in right wing media and report back on what they saw. Plus, why Democrats are struggling to compete for audiences online. [00:00] According to a new study from Media Matters for America, right-leaning shows dominate on social media. Hosts Brooke Gladstone and Micah Loewinger immerse themselves in right-wing podcasts and Rumble shows to hear how these creators are covering the news of the week. [20:26] Brooke and Micah continue their journey into the right-wing online ecosystem, where they encounter how celebrity gossip can be a gateway to controversial political takes. [32:41] Host Micah Loewinger chats with left-leaning news content creators Brian Tyler Cohen and David Pakman about why Democrats are struggling to reach younger and working class audiences, and how the rise of independent media has left progressives in the dust. Further reading:“The right dominates the online media ecosystem, seeping into sports, comedy, and other supposedly nonpolitical spaces,” by Kayla GogartyThe Echo Machine: How Right-Wing Extremism Created a Post-Truth America by David Pakman 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 [email protected].

Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, has been edged out of the headlines this past week, or so, by the administration’s current flirtation with a constitutional crisis. But the DOGE team is still busy. One project on the office's agenda, originally reported by WIRED late last month, is to rewrite the Social Security Administration's code base—in other words, the agency's computer programs, which handle millions of Americans’ personal and financial data. Brooke sits down with Clive Thompson, author of Coders: The Making of a New Tribe and the Remaking of the World, contributing writer to New York Times Magazine, and monthly columnist for Wired, to discuss the coding language under DOGE's microscope.    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 [email protected].

The president’s on-again, off-again tariffs are wreaking havoc on the economy. On this week’s On the Media, how the press is struggling to keep up with covering the chaos. Plus, the CEO of Bluesky, an alternative to Twitter, shares her vision for a better internet.[00:00] Host Micah Loewinger breaks down a wild week in the economy–why the press can’t keep up, and what we can learn from the rollercoaster of tariffs the Trump administration has implemented.[00:00] Host Micah Loewinger speaks with Jay Graber, the CEO of Bluesky, a competitor to Twitter/X that’s seen massive growth recently, about how Bluesky is structured in a fundamentally different way than other social media platforms, and why that might make it “billionaire-proof.” Plus, TechDirt founder and editor Mike Masnick documents the surprising role that his wonky paper played in the founding of Bluesky.[00:00] Host Brooke Gladstone sits down with Douglas Rushkoff, whose many books probe the practice and philosophy of digital technology, about whether the apocalypse survival fantasies of tech billionaires are actually viable.Further reading/listening:Protocols, Not Platforms: A Technological Approach to Free Speech, by Mike MasnickSurvival of the Richest: Escape Fantasies of the Tech Billionaires, by Douglas Rushkoff 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 [email protected].

This week we’re bringing you an interview from our friends at the New Yorker Radio Hour. It's a conversation between host David Remnick and Democratic congressman Chris Murphy. Murphy is the junior senator from Connecticut and a vehement critic of leaders in his party who’ve taken a “business as usual” approach in dealing with the Trump administration. He opposed Chuck Schumer’s negotiation to pass the Republican budget and keep the government running and Murphy advocated for the democrats to skip the president’s joint address to congress en masse. He believes that his party has a winning formula if they stick to a populist anti-big-money agenda and he despairs that some in his party aren’t responding appropriately to what he sees as a crisis. 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 [email protected].

The Trump administration has pulled funding for universities like Columbia and the University of Pennsylvania, and is threatening to withhold federal dollars from public schools with diversity, equity and inclusion programs. Harvard is also fighting to retain its funding. On this week’s On the Media, hear how the distinctly American idea of “diversity” has fallen out of favor—from higher education to the Supreme Court.Reporter Ilya Marritz explains how the Trump administration is cracking down on universities by pulling funding. Plus. how the history of Harvard and the concept of “diversity” is the hidden subtext for the Trump administration’s education policies. In the past half-century, the academy (and the business world) embraced the idea of diversity as a social good–an idea developed at Harvard and endorsed by the Supreme Court, until the latter ended race-based affirmative action in 2023. You can find earlier installments of Ilya’s reporting for The Harvard Plan, a collaboration with The Boston Globe, here.Further reading/listening:The Harvard Plan: Part OneThe Harvard Plan: Part TwoUniversity presidents aren’t capitulating to Trump, they say. They’re ‘adapting.’ by Hilary BurnsTrump is threatening Harvard with funding cuts in the billions. But what does he want the university to do? by Hilary Burns 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 [email protected].

According to the American Gaming Association, bets on March Madness basketball games could amount to as much as $3.1 billion. Almost every national sports outlet — ESPN, The Athletic, Bleacher Report, NBC, CBS, The Ringer — has partnered with a major sports betting company. Big money is changing hands. What does that mean for sports journalism? On the Media producer Rebecca Clark-Callender reports in a piece that first aired a year ago. 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 [email protected].

When a journalist was accidentally added to a Signal chat that disclosed sensitive war plans, a controversy erupted about our national security. On this week’s On the Media, a look at how right-wing media is processing “Signalgate.” Plus, why Donald Trump is calling himself the crypto president.[01:00] Host Micah Loewinger speaks with Will Sommer, a senior reporter at the Bulwark, about the controversy surrounding “Signalgate,” or when The Atlantic’s Editor-in-Chief got added to a Signal group chat in which Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shared detailed plans for bombing Houthi militants. They discuss the response from the Trump administration, and how rightwing media have been covering the scandal. [17:24] Host Brooke Gladstone sits down with Jennifer Berkshire, co-author of The Education Wars, to explore President Trump’s plan to dismantle the Department of Education. Plus, why MAGA-backed school voucher programs have been met with fierce opposition from conservatives in red states.[33:32] Host Micah Loewinger chats with Jacob Silverman, who covers tech, crypto, politics, and corruption, and co-authored Easy Money: Cryptocurrency, Casino Capitalism, and the Golden Age of Fraud, about President Trump’s seismic shift from criticizing crypto to naming himself the “Crypto President” and launching a $TRUMP memecoin. Further reading:“Cruel to Your School,” by Jennifer Berkshire“The Strange Bedfellows Fighting School Vouchers,” by Jennifer Berkshire“In Red States, Rural Voters Are Leading the Resistance to School Vouchers.” by Jennifer Berkshire“The President Took A $75 Million Bribe And We All Saw It,” by Jacob SilvermanEasy Money: Cryptocurrency, Casino Capitalism, and the Golden Age of Fraud by Jacob Silverman 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 [email protected].