Media Guide

Here is a guide to some of my favorite sources of information about the world around us including the contemporary media landscape. Is there a resource you think should be on this list? Let me know via the contact form. — David Tamés

Podcasts

• On The Media is a weekly radio show and podcast hosted by Brooke Gladstone who investigates how the media shapes our worldview. Whether you are a student of the media, a practitioner, or simply curious, On The Media should be at the top of your media list. The Pulling back the curtain episode (May 25, 2007) is brilliant.
• Throughline is a podcast that each week uses the perspective of history to help us understand our present, hosted by Rund Abdelfatah and Ramtin Arablouei, charismatic producers who are transforming NPR for the better.
• Code Switch, hosted by Shereen Marisol Meraji, tackles the subject of race with humor, empathy, and sophistication from a wide range of perspectives including politics, pop culture, social practice, history, and more. The conversational style of the podcast is one of many ingredients that go into making this one of the best podcasts in the NPR lineup.
• Radiolab is a show about science, philosophy, and human experience created by Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich. The show is unique in the way it uses storytelling and sound design to investigate the world around us with curiosity and imagination. Ira Glass wrote in Radiolab: An Appreciation “I marvel at Radiolab when I hear it. I feel jealous. Its co-creators Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich have digested all the storytelling and production tricks of everyone in the public radio before them, invented some slick moves of their own, and ended up creating the rarest thing you can create in any medium: a new aesthetic.” The show continues to evolve and has been a favorite since the show joined the NPR lineup.

Video

• Field of Vision is a filmmaker-driven documentary unit that commissions and creates original short-form nonfiction films about developing and ongoing stories around the globe. They showcase cinematic work that tells the stories of our world from new perspectives. Many of their films involve pairing a filmmaker and journalists. They provide selected filmmakers with the support and resources to create their films. Field of Vision films are distributed through their website, news organizations, film festivals, online platforms, and broadcast.

Magazines/websites

• MediaShift is a leading source of insight and analysis at the intersection of media and technology. MediaShift covers the dynamic media ecosystem, especially in terms of how we get our news and information. Mark Glaser is the Executive Editor and Publisher.
• AlterNet is a news magazine and online community with a progressive and independent perspective that produces original journalism and amplifies the best of other independent media sources.

Live Streams

• The NPR Program Stream airs recordings of recent NPR programs after they air live on NPR Member stations, and NPR may interrupt the stream’s schedule for news events. If you want to hear live broadcasts, then listen to the stream of a local NPR station, however,  to catch recent NPR programs you might have missed life, for example, if you want to listen to Morning Edition at 12 noon, the NPR program stream offers that.