I will no longer post on this site. May lurk a bit for reporting. Will return if it improves substantially. If you wanna keep up w/ my work or ~interact~ please follow me on
Bluesky:
@micahloewinger
.bsky.social
Threads/IG: micah_loewinger
Mastodon:
@micahloewinger
@journa
.host
✌️
Tonight the January 6th committee played a snippet of the recordings I captured during the insurrection of Oath Keeper Jessica Watkins and other far right activists. You can hear the full recordings here:
I've been working on this week's
@onthemedia
for over 3 years... Part 1 is about how I was subpoenaed and testified as a federal witness in the Stewart Rhodes / Jessica Watkins Oath Keepers trial because of my Jan 6 reporting.
Today was bring your kids to work day at
@WNYC
and I agreed to let a few of them interview me. What they produced is defamation.. these children will be hearing from lawyer.
Pre-pandemic podcasts and public radio sounded much better. There was a budget for booking studios and freelance producers to record high-fidelity audio of interviewees. Now, much of what we hear is recorded on Zoom and the like. The quality can be grating and it's a shame
I'm in DC watching the Oath Keepers trial. The government is now presenting the audio from our Zello as evidence. An FBI agent is on the stand responding to the tape.
For
@onthemedia
I spoke with
@paulisci
about his research into modern moral panics ("nobody wants to work anymore," "men are too feminine, women too masculine," etc), which he shows actually crop up in the press EVERY decade:
For this week's
@onthemedia
, I spoke with
@paulisci
about his incredible archival research, which illustrates how Americans have recycled moral panics about work, gender, and "the end of comedy" for a century plus.
Made my first All Things Considered piece! It's about my experience as a federal witness in the Stewart Rhodes / Jessica Watkins Oath Keepers case, and my complicated feelings about seeing my journalism help lock people up. Thanks to
@eloiseblondiau
🙏
Alana taught me so much about how to write, edit, pitch, and think about radio. She’s been a mentor for many others. This is an incalculable loss for WNYC and our listeners.
So, I got laid off from NYPR yesterday.
I did a lot in 14 years: the live radio tightrope w/
@BrianLehrer
, the weekly trapeze act of
@onthemedia
, the duPont-worthy Blindspot: Tulsa Burning…
And innovative La Brega, which opened doors for more projects that move across language.
This weekend
@onthemedia
is re-airing my piece about Kurt Vonnegut’s theory of storytelling and what it might tell us about why so many of us have given up on trying to follow COVID news (feat
@SorenWheeler
):
WNYC hosted a gala on Wednesday to celebrate
@OTMBrooke
's extraordinary career. Anyone who's worked with her will tell you she's not just a brilliant media critic/journalist, she's also a genuinely great person. <3
My piece for
@onthemedia
was a finalist for
@ThirdCoastFest
best news feature award! Alongside
@GwynneFitz
💪 We didn't win but still an honor! Thank you Third Coast :) Listen to the piece:
I went to my brother’s bio statistics PhD dissertation defense today. Been a minute since I listened to someone speak English for an hour without understanding anything
Tonight the January 6th committee played a snippet of the recordings I captured during the insurrection of Oath Keeper Jessica Watkins and other far right activists. You can hear the full recordings here:
The third part is a collaboration with
@annasale
and the
@deathsexmoney
team. Anna and I went to Montana to interview
@That_Girl_Tasha
, ex-wife of Stewart Rhodes. We tell the story of the origins of the Oath Keepers and her family's escape from Rhodes .
The Select Committee has obtained a recording of communications over a walkie-talkie app among Oath Keepers who were inside the Capitol and others who were sharing intelligence from elsewhere.
Listen to how they reacted to President Trump’s 2:38 tweet in real-time.
Happy 110th Birthday to the late Studs Terkel, one of the creators of this whole podcasting thing. I love this bit from the introduction to his incredible 1974 oral history "Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do"
2 + years ago
@HamptonStall
and I wrote this Guardian piece. Today Jessica Watkins, the woman we identified in the story, will be sentenced. Complex feelings about seeing our reporting used by the criminal justice system. I wrote about it for
@onthemedia
this weekend. TUNE IN 😬
Also, beginning at 1:48pm, as she approached the Capitol, Watkins was caught on a Zello (walkie-talkie app), recorded by
@MicahLoewinger
, single-mindedly narrating her attack on the Capitol & its purpose as others on the line encouraged her. ...
/5
I was VERY nervous about publishing my
@onthemedia
piece about being a witness in the Stewart Rhodes trial but the responses were exactly what I expected: MAGA accounts called me a fed, resistance accounts called me a baby, and other journalists sympathized with the dilemma
Requiring reporters to testify in criminal cases can undermine their independence and chill sources from talking to them, as this reporter explains. Journalists work for the public, not the government, and prosecutors shouldn’t be relying on reporters to make their cases.
I'm hosting
@onthemedia
this week! We dug into 3 mysteries about sound: Havana Syndrome, the "hum" that tells time, and why thousands of racing pigeons went missing in the late 90s. Great producing by
@cwango_
& sound design by
@jaredjaredpaul
. Listen!
This week on
@onthemedia
I'm making the case that the New York Times has become a tech company, set on occupying our every second. Plus, I went to the
@Defector
vs
@HellGateNY
softball game to learn about worker-owned media. It's a good show! Should be online in a couple hours
@onthemedia
The man who is speaking at the beginning of the recordings is a guy who goes by the name 1% Watchdog. I began speaking with him in late 2019 but I never learned his real name. If you recognize his voice or anyone else in these recordings DM me.
My employer New York Public Radio is planning to eliminate 12% of our company next week. Please consider signing this petition to help encourage leadership to explore alternatives to mass layoffs
Sen Ron Wyden just introduced a federal shield law, which "ensures reporters cannot be compelled by the government to disclose their confidential sources... and also protects their data held by third parties like phone and internet companies from being secretly seized..."
I can't believe this trial is finally over. As some of you know, I was a witness in the case after being subpoenaed by the DOJ. Hope to share some thoughts about the experience on
@onthemedia
soon.
Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes has been convicted of seditious conspiracy for a violent plot to overturn Democrat Joe Biden’s presidential win, handing the Justice Department a victory in its massive prosecution of the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.
@annasale
@deathsexmoney
@That_Girl_Tasha
Thank you to everyone who spoke with me for this. Big thanks to
@hamptonstall
my reporting partner on the original Zello pieces. And big thanks to the OTM team for helping me refine and put this together ❤️
Soon there will be no local news and no national outlets and no documentary shops and no public media, just The New York Times in a massive skyscraper where all the remaining journalists must pitch a successful new word game each month to keep their jobs
People are wrong for saying he’s not listening since the headphones aren’t on his ears… he’s using bone conduction headphones. He’s a mf audiophile duh
Earl was among the first Black reporters at the New York Times. He was also the only reporter on the scene when MLK was assassinated –– he can be seen in some of the earliest photos after King was shot.
Part 2 is about reporter Earl Caldwell, who had a much worse brush with the DOJ. He resisted the FBI's attempt to turn him into a spy, eventually fighting the government in the Supreme Court (Branzburg v Hayes).
I’m co-hosting
@onthemedia
this week w
@OTMBrooke
! Listen to my interview with former infowars cameraman
@JoshuaHOwens
about making amends with harm caused by his work:
I'm used to my Twitter timeline being dominated by far-right stuff since I follow this stuff for work. But since Elon took over, I'm getting the sense this has become far more present on everyone's timelines. Does that jibe with your experience?
For the latest episode of
@onthemedia
I spoke with
@froomkin
about the meek coverage of Donald Trump's plans to lockup political opponents if he's re-elected:
Over the weekend I learned that Anne Dover, the conservative GA county elections director who stood up to election fraud conspiracy theorists, has been getting fan mail from
@onthemedia
listeners across the county, including a Xmas card 🥹
Big Day For MY Team! Introducing New York Times Audio, a new iOS app for news subscribers. You'll find features podcasts, narrated articles and bite-size stories for busy days, including a new Headlines show. Plus, lots of
@ThisAmerLife
and more
Don’t miss
@doctorow
with Brooke on
@onthemedia
talking about “enshitification,” or how Amazon, Facebook, and the like get our business and then get bad. It’s really smart and fun
For this week's episode of
@onthemedia
I'm working on a part 2 of the story I did about
@bobuubi
, the Ukrainian Twitch streamer whose devoted online community and video game skills helped his family survive the war. Can't wait for y'all to hear the follow up :)
I had brief stint hanging out with Adrien Grenier (OTM fan). Went to his apt for dinner. He came to mine for a couple parties. A couple years later, after we’d lost touch he texted me: “are you free on Wednesday?” Then 5 mins later: “sorry wrong number”
It is with a heavy heart that I must announce this Friday will mark the end of Let's Get That Ched, my daily crypto podcast. I wish we could continue but my staff of (ungrateful) interns have decided to unionize. I have no choice but to sunset this beloved program 1/3
Here's my first piece for
@washingtonpost
/
@LauncherWP
, about
@bobuubi
, a Polish-Ukrainian Twitch streamer, known for playing the Russian FPS Escape From Tarkov, who safely navigated the war zone with help from his devoted online community:
Today, we announce our intent to unionize a new group of New York Public Radio employees with
@sagaftra
. For years, some
@WNYC
@WQXR
@TheGreeneSpace
@WNYCStudios
workers have been union members, while others were excluded. We’re excited to come together as one union!
#wemakeNYPR
Reading reports of hateful posts on Twitter, I'm reminded of this prescient 2020 piece by
@broderick
on why MAGA has never been satisfied with right-wing social media sites:
In Fall 2021 Katie Thornton, a freelance journalist based in Minneapolis, reached out to our show with the idea for The Divided Dial. Today she won a Peabody! 💪 Check out her other work:
We won a Peabody for The Divided Dial! Congrats to OTM Executive Producer Katya Rogers, Sound Designer
@jaredjaredpaul
, Technical Director
@munsonmuth
, Producer Max Balton, and host Katie Thornton who reported and pitched the series.
Hello from the other side! 👋After working there for 29 years 👵,
@WNYC
laid me off 🪓
I wasn’t alone. So, so many talented hosts, producers and editors were laid off, too!
It was fun while it lasted! Send cat pics. (And job offers.)
COMING TMRW!
He’s arguably the most influential conservative of the last 30 yrs.
His biggest accomplishment: Helping to create the Supreme Ct supermajority.
You don’t know the half of it.
A new podcast from
@propublica
&
@onthemedia
.
Spread the word & listen!
ICYMI: I hosted the latest
@onthemedia
. We dug into 3 mysteries about ~sound~ : Havana Syndrome, why law enforcement are listening to the "hum" all around us, and why thousands of racing pigeons went missing in the late 90s. Listen!
An FBI agent gave me this fidget toy to keep me occupied with while I waited to testify in the Stewart Rhodes case last year. Listen to my story about how I ended up as a federal witness in the big Oath Keepers case
I've been working on this week's
@onthemedia
for over 3 years... Part 1 is about how I was subpoenaed and testified as a federal witness in the Stewart Rhodes / Jessica Watkins Oath Keepers trial because of my Jan 6 reporting.
I’m on vacation in Morocco and I recently visited the home of Mouloud El Meskaoui, a famous Saharan musician. He played us some beautiful music on the oud. I later learned his brother had passed away earlier in the day. ❤️
ICYMI:
@annasale
and I went to Montana to speak with
@That_Girl_Tasha
the estranged wife of Stewart Rhodes, founder of the Oath Keepers, who will be sentenced for seditious conspiracy in a couple weeks for his part in January 6th. Part 2 for
@onthemedia
drops at the end of May:
Tasha Adams (
@that_girl_tasha
) had been separated from Stewart Rhodes for about three years when she watched the Oath Keepers storm the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. And when she reflects on the attacks, she still feels guilty. More from Tasha here:
Wow, end of an era. I interned for Bob when I was a high school student in 2011. Before podcasting had its Serial moment, I pursued this line of work because I wanted to be like him. What an impact he's had on public radio and music journalism
After 35 years, I am leaving NPR. I've had the thrill of creating Tiny Desk Concerts, All Songs Considered, directing All Things Considered for 18 years and so much more. I love the people I've worked with, but it's time to find new challenges. thank you for listening/watching.