News

Producer and reporter Micah Loewinger has been named co-host of Wnyc’s On the Media, the Peabody Award-winning weekly public radio show and podcast that analyzes how the media shapes our worldview.

Loewinger assumes the role following eight years on the On the Media staff, first as a producer, then as the show’s first-ever reporter, and, most recently, as a regular guest host. He will now officially co-host alongside Brooke Gladstone, host of On the Media for over 20 years.

Loewinger’s work has largely focused on digital media’s influence on politics and political movements. His award-winning investigation into the walkie-talkie app Zello revealed the way right-wing militias were using it to recruit new members, and his sustained tracking of these groups on the app led him to uncover their ties to local police departments and discover one group’s plan to storm the Capitol. He interviewed Tasha Adams,...

In her first major gig since TBS canceled “Full Frontal with Samantha Bee,” comedian Samantha Bee will host the New York Public Radio’s annual gala later this fall. The event, which takes place Wednesday, November 9 at The Plaza Hotel, will honor Wnyc’s “On the Media” host and managing editor Brooke Gladstone. The evening will also include a musical performance from Kronos Quartet.

Nypr’s annual gala is its largest fundraising event of the year, celebrating the vital work produced across New York Public Radio.

Also in today’s television news:

Dates

Adult Swim animated series “Yolo: Silver Destiny” has set a premiere date of Sunday, January 15 at midnight Et on the network, with streaming availability following the next day on HBO Max. The new season is set to have a two-episode premiere, with new episodes premiering weekly after.

The animated series comes from Michael Cusack, who co-created “Smiling Friends.

Bob Garfield, longtime co-host of Wnyc’s On the Media, has been fired by the station’s parent entity New York Public Radio for violating its anti-bullying policy, one of a series of measures instituted after a storm of harassment and abuse accusations several years ago that led to high profile exits of on-air personalities and managers.

Garfield, who has hosted the weekly hourlong show with Brooke Gladstone for 20 years, was fired after two separate investigations found he had violated Nypr policy. He had also been disciplined and warned after an inquiry in 2020. Gladstone will continue to host On the Media, the Peabody Award-winning show with millions of listeners broadcast by over 400 public radio stations. It offers deep-dive and witty analyses of pressing issues of the times from politics and race to climate and Covid through the lens of media and media coverage.

Garfield took to Twitter on Tuesday to plead his case,...

William F. Buckley Jr. and Gore Vidal in Robert Gordon and Morgan Neville's Best of Enemies: "They got into each other's craw. It's like a hook that sunk into the other person."

Two determined men all set to do battle, William F. Buckley Jr., the conservative trailblazer, and Gore Vidal, renowned author and iconoclast of the left, clash in Morgan Neville and Robert Gordon's high-spirited and illuminating Best Of Enemies. "One must have a mind of winter", to take the cue from Wallace Stevens' poem, The Snow Man, to not be irresistibly drawn in by their bigger-than-life personalities. Dick Cavett, Noam Chomsky, Christopher Hitchens, Matt Tyrnauer, Brooke Gladstone, Ginia Bellafante, Reid Buckley and Sam Tanenhaus give their take on this polarised pair in Best Of Enemies.

At Le Cirque in New York following a dinner honoring the filmmakers, I spoke with Robert Gordon, who is also...

Best Of Enemies dinner at Le Cirque celebrating directors Morgan Neville and Robert Gordon Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

An invited screening of Morgan Neville and Robert Gordon's Best Of Enemies on William F. Buckley Jr. and Gore Vidal, hosted by Participant Media and Magnolia Pictures was followed by a dinner organised beautifully by Peggy Siegal at Le Cirque. I caught up with the Oscar winning director of 20 Feet From Stardom over wild mushroom risotto for a conversation on his latest documentary, Christopher Hitchens, Myra Breckinridge, Caligula, waltzes, and fact checking. Best Of Enemies features the off-camera voices of John Lithgow as Vidal and Kelsey Grammer as Buckley, with interviews of Dick Cavett, Noam Chomsky, Matt Tyrnauer, Brooke Gladstone, Sam Tanenhaus and Ginia Bellafante.

Morgan, when he heard the news on Albert Maysles, sent a tribute from the True/False Documentary Film Festival where he was presenting Best Of Enemies last month.