The Kicker

Columbia Journalism Review
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The Kicker is a podcast on the media and the world today. It comes out twice a month, hosted by Megan Greenwell and produced by Amanda Darrach for the Columbia Journalism Review. It is available wherever you get your podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube.

  1. How Elon Musk is colonizing the future.

    2D AGO

    How Elon Musk is colonizing the future.

    Before Elon Musk, there was Henry Ford: an attention-seeking car manufacturer, newspaper owner, and media celebrity who pushed reactionary views on the public and transformed society around his business interests. “Fordism” was more than a mode of production, it was a way of organizing society, involving large factories, nuclear families, stable employment, and affordable cars, refrigerators, and televisions. In a new book, Muskism, Ben Tarnoff, a technology writer, and Quinn Slobodian, a historian at Boston University, analyze Musk in similar terms, as a maverick businessman who stands for a new type of society and a new social contract. They find that “Muskism” provides a far more dystopian package than Fordism’s offering. It is a world of strict and unforgiving hierarchies where governments exist in symbiotic relationship with Silicon Valley, social welfare erodes, and Musk is a self-appointed “techno-king.” Want safety or stability? Buy a Cybertruck.  In this episode of the Journalism 2050 podcast, Tarnoff and Slobodian join cohosts Emily Bell and Heather Chaplin to discuss Muskism’s vision of society, where it came from, and what the implications for journalism are. What does Muskism offer the public besides dystopia? How did Musk’s purchase of Twitter fit into his plans? What does journalism free from Muskism look like? Producer: Amanda Darrach Production Coordinator: Hana Joy Research: Samuel Earle Art Director: Katie Kosma Illustrator: Aaron Fernandez Music: Henry Crooks

    1h 4m

  2. APR 23

    Taking Back Saturday: “We’re sports people. We like to score.”

    I have a galaxy-brained theory that the most effective fundraisers in the country aren’t politicians or the heads of major foundations, but a pair of Atlanta-based college football bloggers. Two decades ago, Spencer Hall—best known as the creator of Every Day Should Be Saturday, a site covering college football with a mix of analytical skills and many inside jokes—decided to raise money for refugees in the Atlanta area. Hall had worked for a refugee services organization before pivoting to writing, so he put out the call to his readers and raised a few thousand dollars. After a couple of years of this, he and Holly Anderson, his fellow blogger, had an idea: Why not use college football rivalries to raise even more money? There’s nothing fans love more than destroying their most hated opponent, they figured, so they’d make the fundraiser a competition. Fans began donating in honor of their favorite team, often choosing the amount based on a significant number, like the score of a big game. The Charitbundi Bowl was born. The fundraiser continued after Vox Media bought Every Day Should Be Saturday, and after Hall and Anderson left the company, in 2020. To say their plan worked would be a comic understatement. Last year, Hall and Anderson—who now run a subscription-based college football site called Channel 6—raised more than 1.3 million dollars for New American Pathways, becoming its largest nongovernmental source of funds. The 2026 event, which runs through this weekend, crossed the million-dollar mark Wednesday evening. (You can donate to support your favorite team—real or fictional—here and see the leaderboard here.) I talked to Hall about his career from independent blogger to SB Nation editorial director and back again, being dismissed by Vox Media as “too niche,” and what it takes for a publication’s readership to become a real community. Listen below, or wherever you get your podcasts. Show notes: How we got here. Spencer Hall, Channel 6 EDSBS Charity Bowl FAQ New American Pathways 2026 EDSBS Charity Bowl Bluesky Feed Megan Greenwell, host Amanda Darrach, producer

    49 min

  3. APR 9

    Student, Teacher: Eric Gustafson on fighting for journalistic integrity at every level.

    I’ve spent my entire professional career in journalism, but student publications are still my favorite news outlets. I broke the biggest story of my life for my high school newspaper, and I find something so infectious about the energy of students who aren’t yet jaded about the industry or the job market, who just want to write about topics that matter to their peers. Us pros can learn a lot from them. Eric Gustafson is one of the few people I’ve ever spoken to whose passion for student journalism rivals my own. A longtime journalist, he took over the journalism program at Lowell High, a prestigious San Francisco public school, in 2017. Last year, after a couple of controversial stories about student drug use, teacher sexual harassment, and AI grading—including one that the student paper, The Lowell, never even published—he was removed from the role. California, Gustafson knew, has one of the strongest laws in the country protecting the independence of student journalists and their advisers. He sued his employer, and he won: his reassignment was illegal, a state superior court found.  In this episode, I talk to Gustafson about The Lowell’s steady stream of major stories, his decision to sue, the backlash from his colleagues, and why student journalism matters. Listen below—or wherever you get your podcasts. Show notes: Obtainable and addictive. Isadore Diamond and Clarabelle Fields, The Lowell Invasive and inappropriate. Ramona Jacobson, Serena Miller, and Dakota Colussi, The Lowell Know your student press rights. The Student Press Law Center Final judgment, Eric Gustafson v. San Francisco Unified School District. Superior Court for California for the County of San Francisco Judge rules that Lowell High School journalism teacher’s reassignment was illegal. Jill Tucker, San Francisco Chronicle Lowell students open up about experiences with math teacher Tom Chan. Milena Garrone and Amálie Cimala, The Lowell Megan Greenwell, host Amanda Darrach, producer

    51 min

  4. MAR 26

    The Inside Look: Chatting with the New York Times’ trust editor.

    I must confess that initially I was a bit skeptical of the concept. The New York Times was promoting a Q&A with two technology reporters, Mike Isaac and Sheera Frankel, and their editor, Pui-Wing Tam. The headline, in 2014 BuzzFeed style, was “Reporters Seek Comment. What Happens Next May Surprise You.” Over the course of several hundred words, Isaac, Frankel, and Tam explained how they ask sources for answers, especially those who might not be inclined to respond. Who is this for? I wondered. Who is this going to convince? So I called up Mike Abrams, the Times’ deputy trust editor, who conducted that Q&A, part of a series that runs under the “Times Insider” vertical. I wanted to know why he thinks trust in media is so low and why, after twenty-two years at the Times, this was the problem he wanted to work on. We talked about how all those front-facing videos that reporters are doing relate to trust, and how his role differs from that of the outlet’s PR staff biting back at criticism on X and Bluesky. And we got into the critiques of specific storylines: Trump, Gaza, trans medical care. Listen here—or wherever you get your podcasts. Show notes: Reporters seek comment. What happens next may surprise you. Mike Abrams, New York TimesTrust in Media at New Low of 28% in U.S. Megan Brenan, GallupSeen but not heard: The New York Times failed to quote trans people in two-thirds of stories on anti-trans legislation in a one-year period. Vesper Henry and Ari Drennan, Media Matters and GLAAD Megan Greenwell, host Amanda Darrach, producer

    53 min

  5. MAR 12

    Lessons from an Early-Career Journalist

    When I took over the Kicker host chair, one of the things I was most excited to do was to interview early-career journalists, who see the changes to our industry from an entirely different perspective from those of us who’ve been around since the days when Twitter was king, or before social media existed. I’ve always loved working with young people—among my many freelance gigs, I help run a program for high school journalists—because I feel like I get smarter (and hopefully even marginally more relevant?) every time I talk to them. For going on seven years now, Sofia Barnett has been one of my favorite young journalists to talk to. From the first time I met her, when she was a high school junior outside Dallas, she’s been uncommonly driven: toward a career in journalism, toward telling the stories of Indigenous Americans like herself, toward seeing the world and writing about all of it. Now, at twenty-three, she’s covered more big stories than many people do in a full career. She wound up at the Minnesota Star Tribune fresh out of college, moving to Minneapolis just in time for perhaps the newsiest year in the city’s history. As an intern, she was the first reporter on the scene of the Annunciation Catholic Church school shooting last August. Then, while formally assigned to cover the suburbs, she was named to the five-person team covering the Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids on the city. In this episode, Barnett and I talk about all of that, plus about how she thinks about a career in this tumultuous time for journalism. Listen below—or wherever you get your podcasts. Show notes: He couldn’t run. So they covered him instead. Sofia Barnett, Minnesota Star Tribune‘Just another Native’: Minneapolis Indigenous women demand emergency response to violence. Sofia Barnett, Minnesota Star TribuneTexas ranks almost dead last in the nation for women’s health care, research shows. Sofia Barnett, Dallas Morning NewsThe Princeton Summer Journalism Program Megan Greenwell, host Amanda Darrach, producer

    48 min

  6. FEB 26

    A Look Back at Covering Gaza for the Post

    Since October 7, 2023, Miriam Berger has been on assignment in Jerusalem, covering Israel, Palestine, and war. A few weeks ago, she learned she and hundreds of colleagues were being laid off. One perk of hosting an interview podcast is having the opportunity to talk to journalists whose work I’ve admired for years but might never have met otherwise. Miriam Berger is one such journalist. She’s written some of the best articles I’ve read from Israel and Palestine: rich, textured narratives that tell stories of complicated human realities. A Philadelphia native, she’s spent a significant chunk of her career in the Middle East, working in both Arabic and Hebrew and becoming a go-to authority on the war. Though it was a thrill to get to speak with Berger, the peg for our conversation was a brutal one: She was one of three hundred–plus journalists who learned early this month that they would be laid off by the Washington Post, a dismantling that all but eliminated the publication’s international desk. Berger was on leave when the cuts were announced, working on a book about Israel’s starvation of Gaza. In this week’s episode of The Kicker, she and I talked about how media coverage of the region has evolved since October 7, 2023; how she reported stories from Gaza despite Israel banning reporters from entering; and the outdated distinctions Western media outlets draw between journalists sent from HQ and “local reporters” like the Palestinians she worked with. Listen below—or wherever you get your podcasts. Show notes:  Palestinian paramedics said Israel gave them safe passage to save a 6-year-old girl in Gaza. They were all killed. Meg Kelly, Hajar Harb, Louisa Loveluck, Miriam Berger, and Cate Brown, Washington Post Thousands of Gazans have gone missing. No one is accounting for them. Miriam Berger and Hajar Harb, Washington Post Support for Washington Post international employees, GoFundMe Megan Greenwell, host Amanda Darrach, producer

    32 min
  7. Profit or Nonprofit? A Debate over Journalism’s Future

    FEB 19

    Profit or Nonprofit? A Debate over Journalism’s Future

    While the newspaper industry continues to contract, nonprofit news outlets have proliferated over the past decade. But dismissing profitable models for journalism is premature.  How can journalism survive? Perhaps the question would once have sounded unduly panicked, but it has only grown more pressing over the past twenty years. Between 2004 and 2019, newspapers lost an astonishing 77 percent of their jobs—more than any other industry on record, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In early February, the industry suffered another historic blow, as the Washington Post announced it was laying off nearly half its staff. When even a legacy media outlet like the Post struggles—when even ownership by Jeff Bezos, who has a net worth of two hundred and fifty billion dollars, cannot guarantee stability—it is easy to wonder what hope there is. Is journalism slowly, or not so slowly, going kaput?  Not so fast.  In this episode of Journalism 2050, we’re joined by two guests who show—in different yet equally promising ways—what the future of journalism can look like. Vanan Murugesan is the executive director of Sahan Journal, a widely acclaimed local news organization in Minneapolis that was set up in 2019 to cover immigrants and people of color. Joshi Herrmann is the founder of Mill Media, which launched in Manchester in 2020 and now provides high-quality local journalism across six different cities in the UK.  Sahan Journal is one of a growing number of nonprofit news organizations that rely on philanthropic grants. (The Institute for Nonprofit News now counts over four hundred members.) Mill Media’s success is based on subscriptions. Both are thriving, and both provide models that others can follow. What are the risks and rewards of each approach? Have we been too quick to accept that journalism cannot be profitable in the digital age? And what changes when, with rising authoritarianism, the pressures confronting a free press become political as well as economic?  Suggested Reading: “Straight to your inbox: meet the journalists shaking up local UK news,” The Guardian, July 2024“Sahan Journal Is Built for When the National Media Leaves,” CJR, December 2025 Hosts: Emily Bell and Heather Chaplin Producer: Amanda Darrach Production Coordinator: Hana Joy Research: Samuel Earle Art Director: Katie Kosma Illustrator: Aaron Fernandez Music: Henry Crooks

    1h 14m

  8. FEB 12

    The Letter of the Law, and the Law in Practice

    Experts discuss the risks posed to journalism as the courts test the limits of press freedom law. If I recall correctly, the original news peg for a live Kicker recording about threats to the free press was a raid on the home of Hannah Natanson, a Washington Post reporter. By the time Amanda Darrach, The Kicker’s producer, and I were finalizing logistics for the event, which took place in CJR’s office, two independent journalists—Don Lemon and Georgia Fort—had been arrested for covering a protest in Minneapolis. A few days before we recorded, the Post eliminated three hundred–plus jobs. Suffice it to say, I had plenty to talk about.  I also had dream guests with whom to talk about it all. David Enrich, a deputy investigations editor at the New York Times, wrote the excellent 2025 book Murder the Truth about efforts to overturn the media law precedent set by New York Times v. Sullivan in 1964. Jameel Jaffer, the executive director of Columbia’s Knight First Amendment Institute, has been involved in litigating dozens of crucial cases on press freedom. In wrapping up the interview, I said I had about seven hundred more questions for them; in retrospect, that may have been an undercount. Recording live also meant the rare chance to take questions from other smart people, including Fabio Bertoni, the general counsel for The New Yorker, and Tsehai Alfred, the editor in chief of the Columbia Daily Spectator.  SHOW NOTES Q&A: David Enrich on the Right-Wing Plot to ‘Murder’ Libel Protections, Jon Allsop, CJR Barnard suspends WKCR and Spectator reporters who covered Butler Library protest, Isha Banerjee, Columbia Spectator Can the Media’s Right to Pursue the Powerful Survive Trump’s Second Term? David Enrich, the New York Times Magazine  Megan Greenwell, host Amanda Darrach, producer Jim Bittel, assistant dean of broadcast and multimedia technology, adjunct professor, and multimedia facility consultant  A.J. Mangone, assistant director, broadcast and multimedia technology  Pedro Florentin, videographer Jamal Jones, videographer Katie Kosma, art director

    1h 3m
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About

The Kicker is a podcast on the media and the world today. It comes out twice a month, hosted by Megan Greenwell and produced by Amanda Darrach for the Columbia Journalism Review. It is available wherever you get your podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube.

Information

  • Creator
    Columbia Journalism Review
  • Years Active
    2016 - 2026
  • Episodes
    325
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Columbia Journalism Review
  • Show Website
    The Kicker

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