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EPISODE · Feb 25, 2026 · 21 MIN

The Century-Long Capture of U.S. Media

from On the Media · host micah loewinger, Victor Pickard

As media empires, from The Washington Post to CBS News, continue to be dealt significant blows, uncertainties abound about the remaining strength of a once robust American press landscape—but media scholars have long questioned how strong our system was to begin with. For this week's podcast extra, Micah sits down with Victor Pickard, professor of media policy and political economy at the University of Pennsylvania, to discuss why what we're seeing now is simply the latest stage of a phenomena called, "media capture," and what we can do to free ourselves from the downward slide.  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, Bluesky, TikTok and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing [email protected]. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Episode metadata supplied by the publisher feed · Published Feb 25, 2026

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