The Kicker - Columbia Journalism Review

The Kicker is a podcast on the media and the world today. It comes out twice a month, hosted by Megan Greenwell for the Columbia Journalism Review. It is available wherever you get your podcasts, including Apple Podcasts and Spotify, as well as on YouTube.
A student reflects on leaving the law to pursue his writing dreams.
Preeya Goenka on Beehiiv’s growing media portfolio.
How Matt Pearce, a journalist turned policymaker, helped create a landmark new law.
Alison Gerber, a longtime editor at the Chattanooga Times Free Press, on losing her job after twenty-three years.
Ruth Ann Harnisch on life as the fairy godmother of newsletters, podcasts, and blogs.
Anna Sproul-Latimer, a literary agent, on what a shrinking market means for journalists.
Kenya Hunter took a terrifying leap out of journalism. She couldn’t be happier.
Smitten Kitchen’s Deb Perelman has never needed AI to check a recipe.
A first-time editor in chief reflects on a startup that didn’t work.
And now for something completely different—a site with personality big enough for the city it covers.
Local reporters are struggling to get answers from the politicians they cover.
In a sea of tech coverage that reads like advertorials, Tim Marchman and Wired bare real teeth.
Sports Illustrated’s Emma Baccellieri on covering the changing world of women’s basketball.
How Documented is reinventing immigration coverage.
The Globe’s Emily Sweeney breaks out of Boston.
“We’re sports people. We like to score.”
Eric Gustafson on fighting for journalistic integrity at every level.
Chatting with the New York Times’ trust editor.
“I wouldn’t be getting this experience at a national publication, to be extensively following the hottest news story in the country.”
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.
Experts discuss the risks posed to journalism as the courts test the limits of press freedom law.
“We didn’t go on strike to put the paper out of business. We went on strike to keep it good.”
Worker ownership is exciting. It’s also not, he says, a “panacea.”
The Kicker returns with our former host, Josh Hersh, and our new one, Megan Greenwell, in conversation.
The Columbia professor talks about her new series about how the challenges facing journalists have evolved with the times.
The independent digital startup has been on the ground covering ICE’s surge and the attacks on journalists.
The CNN correspondent, who specializes in fringe and internet subcultures, on how to make sense of the killing.
The author and historian on political coverage in unprecedented times.
“We’re responsible for what our industry stands for,” the documentary news reporter says.
Mother Jones’s Anna Merlan on how the Epstein files are tearing MAGA media apart.
Former Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger on the challenges facing the venerable British institution.
Conversations from the Zeg Storytelling Festival.
The Times’ David Fahrenthold on the value of investigative reporting in a time of shamelessness.
Nashville’s Phil Williams on local investigative reporting.
NPR’s Katherine Maher on the fight to save public media.
A reporter who covered the gang crackdown on why budding authoritarians like what they see.
The Marketplace host on Trump’s economic policies, and telling it like it is.
Prosecutors weren’t notified in advance, witnesses are in shock—and Watson’s family celebrates his freedom.
The researcher and newsletter writer on one of DC’s must-know topics.