The Ellisons Prepare to Expand Their Media Empire

Netflix is backing out of a bid to acquire Warner Brothers Discovery, clearing the way for Paramount to take over. On this week’s On the Media, what happens to journalism and democracy when a tiny group of billionaires are calling the shots. Plus, four years since Russia’s war on Ukraine began, a look at the legacy of the first American reporter who was killed there.

[01:00] Host Micah Loewinger speaks with  Victor Pickard, professor of media policy and political economy at the University of Pennsylvania, to discuss why what’s happening at CBS, The Washington Post, and Paramount is simply the latest stage of a phenomena called "media capture," and what we can do to free ourselves from its binds.

[17:58] Micah first sits down with Miriam Berger, a Pulitzer-finalist who spent two years reporting from Israel on the war in Gaza for The Washington Post, to talk about what we’ve lost with the termination of the paper’s Middle East bureau, and then Jodie Ginsberg, CEO of the Committee to Protect Journalists, on why her organization labeled 2025 the most deadly year for the press since it began collecting data–largely due to Israeli forces in Gaza. 

[35:49] Micah talks to filmmaker Craig Renaud about his Oscar-nominated documentary, “Armed Only With a Camera,” which is part tribute to his brother, Brent Renaud, the first American journalist to be killed by Russian soldiers while covering the war in Ukraine, and part salute to war journalists who are still reporting and risking their lives. 

 Further reading / watching:

• “The American Media Polycrisis: Cascading Layers of Capture,” by Victor Pickard
• “Lack of tents, food and warm clothes leaves Gazans exposed ahead of winter,” by Miriam Berger
• “Record 129 press members killed in 2025; Israel responsible for 2/3 of deaths,” by CPJ Staff
• Armed Only with a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud, directed by Craig Renaud and Brent Renaud

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