271 episodes

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

The Kicker Columbia Journalism Review

    • News
    • 4.5 • 62 Ratings

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

    Kamala Harris steps up: Politico’s Eugene Daniels on a wild month of news

    Kamala Harris steps up: Politico’s Eugene Daniels on a wild month of news

    Eugene Daniels is a White House reporter for Politico, with a special focus on Kamala Harris. That’s put him front and center for a month of news that few people in politics saw coming.On this episode of The Kicker, Daniels shares what he’s learned from nearly four years of covering the vice president, how her relationship with the press will differ from the president’s, and why you can’t blame the media for Biden’s decision to drop out of the race.Produced by Emily RussellHosted by Josh Hersh

    • 31 min
    Spanish-speaking journalism…in Iowa: A conversation with Lorena Lopez

    Spanish-speaking journalism…in Iowa: A conversation with Lorena Lopez

    Lorena Lopez came to the United States from her home country of Nicaragua, where she was an investigative reporter, in 1992. But it wasn’t until 2016 that she managed to return to her passion, as the founding editor of La Prensa, a Spanish-language newspaper serving Western Iowa.On this week’s Kicker, Lopez talks about her long journey back to journalism, why reliable, trusted information available for Spanish-speaking Americans is so hard to come by—and why so many of her readers are leaning...

    • 30 min
    What did we know and when? Alex Thompson on investigating Biden’s mental decline

    What did we know and when? Alex Thompson on investigating Biden’s mental decline

    Alex Thompson, a national political correspondent for Axios, first reported that President Biden had started wearing special sneakers, in part to reduce the risk of tripping, last fall.But until the debate last week, he was still one of a small handful of reporters who was aggressively pursuing direct evidence that Biden’s age – regular fodder for political talk shows – was actually having an impact.He joins the Kicker to talk about what it’s like to do that kind of journalism, how the White ...

    • 24 min
    Not even a ‘no comment’: Paul Farhi on the media’s historic struggles with relevance

    Not even a ‘no comment’: Paul Farhi on the media’s historic struggles with relevance

    Paul Farhi was a media reporter for the Washington Post until the end of last year. But instead of retiring, he’s been busier than ever, chronicling the seemingly endless stream of bad news stories about the media business, for outlets like The Atlantic and here at CJR.He joins The Kicker to talk about traditional journalism’s struggles to stay relevant amid the boundless other means companies and high-profile individuals have to communicate with the public—and the growing number of people wh...

    • 34 min
    Staying “scrupulously neutral”: Steve Herman on covering the White House in the age of Trump

    Staying “scrupulously neutral”: Steve Herman on covering the White House in the age of Trump

    Steve Herman was the White House correspondent for Voice of America during the Trump administration. He joins The Kicker to talk about his new book on what it was like to cover a deeply unpredictable president—and why he believes it’s essential, even under extreme circumstances, for reporters to stay out of the political fray.This podcast is part of “Covering the Election,” CJR’s spring special issue on news and politics in 2024. Read the whole issue here.You can find Herman’s Behind the Whit...

    • 36 min
    How Israeli Journalists Cover Their Own Country

    How Israeli Journalists Cover Their Own Country

    Haaretz is one of Israel’s most respected newspapers. It’s also one of the few willing to openly criticize the government for its treatment of Palestinians. The Kicker speaks with Hagar Shezaf and Omer Benjakob, two journalists with the paper, about what it’s like to do accountability journalism in Israel these days—especially in the aftermath of the devastating Hamas attacks of October 7th. Read more:Hagar Shezaf on violence against Palestinians in the West Bank since October 7And on th...

    • 41 min

Customer Reviews

4.5 out of 5
62 Ratings

62 Ratings

JoProcter ,

Deep on the Steele Beat

So, the Steele dossier was done for Hillary Clinton. Then, why did our government get involved way-back-when? Did we spend the same time and money worrying about research Donald Trump bought? Why are we still talking about this? Wemple lays out a totally confusing report; Wheeler says, the Republicans were right. Really?

JCASEA ,

Still? Really? Zero stars deserved.

2nd UPDATE: Hello?? Hello? I give up. Deleting this show. You should listen to listeners. Sometimes the crowd has worthy advice. But anyway, I don’t care. I’m out of here.

1st UPDATE: I wrote my original review (see below: MY OLD POST STILL STANDS) a long time ago — and noticed someone wrote basically the same a year ago.

Get a mike. Stop mumbling. Ditch “like” from your vocabulary. Speak like an adult, with clarity and confidence if you’re going to continue doing this podcast.Otherwise, find someone else with the skills.

The podcast is a good idea, with interesting topics. But I’m nearly done…

MY OLD POST STILL STANDS:
Audio

Jodeshab ,

Get a mic

Decent content, but the audio quality of the host is so poor, really unprofessional. It sounds like he's recording into a laptop microphone from like three feet away, almost unintelligible.

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