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(Airs 10/25/24 & 10/27/24 @ 6 p.m.) The Media Project is an inside look at media coverage of current events with former Times Union Editor, current Upstate American, Substack columnist Rex Smith, Judy Patrick, former Editor of the Daily Gazette and Vice President for Editorial Development for the New York Press Association, Barbara Lombardo, Adjunct Professor at the University at Albany and former Editor of the Saratogian, and Daily Gazette Editor Miles Reed. On this week’s Media Project, Rex, Judy, Barbara, and Miles talk about how journalists should be interviewing the candidates for election, how media publish audience opinion without spreading misinformation, and much more.

On the latest 51%, we speak with sociologist Gretchen Sisson about her book Relinquished: The Politics of Adoption and the Privilege of American Motherhood. Sisson studies the relationship between abortion and adoption in the U.S., and is part of a team of researchers for "The Turnaway Study" at the University of California, San Francisco. In Relinquished, Sisson compiles a decade's worth of interviews with women who gave their newborns up for adoption through a private adoption agency. In unpacking how some agencies pressure (and rely on) struggling moms to relinquish their children, Sisson pushes back on the idea that adoption is an ethical alternative to abortion, and questions whether it's really a choice at all.

On this week’s 51%, we speak with Carol Cleaveland and Michele Waslin, author of Private Violence: Latin American Women and the Struggle for Asylum. As President Trump effectively shuts down processing at the southern border and ramps up deportations, asylum seekers in the U.S. are left in a precarious position, especially women fleeing domestic and gender-based violence. Through interviews and eyewitness accounts of closed court proceedings, Cleaveland and Waslin demonstrate how difficult it is for these women to seek shelter in the U.S., and why “gender-based violence” is still not considered grounds for asylum — even before the second Trump Administration.

On this week’s 51%, we speak with journalism Becky Aikman about her new book, Spitfires: The American Women Who Flew in the Face of Danger During World War II. Desperate for pilots in 1942, Great Britain recruited 25 American women to ferry bombers, fighter planes, and damaged craft between air bases. Drawing from diaries, letters, and personal interviews, Aikman tells the story of the first American women to ever command military aircraft, and how they still struggled to find piloting work in the U.S. after the war. We also speak with former CIA intelligence officer Christina Hillsberg about her book, Agents of Change, and why she feels women make better spies.

(Airs 11/07/25 @ 3 p.m. & 11/09/25 @ 6 p.m.) The Media Project is an inside look at media coverage of current events Judy Patrick, former Editor of the Daily Gazette and former Vice President for Editorial Development for the New York Press Association, and Barbara Lombardo, former Editor of the Saratogian and Adjunct Professor at the University at Albany, and David Guistina, Media Project Producer, Morning Edition Anchor, and Adjunct Professor at the University at Albany. On this week’s Media Project, Judy, Barbara and David talk about coverage of Zohran Mamdami in the New York City Mayoral race, new restrictions for the White House Press Core limiting access to the West Wing, the 60 Minutes interview with President Trump, and more.

(Airs 01/16/26 @ 3 p.m. & 01/18/26 @ 6 p.m.) The Media Project is an inside look at media coverage of current events with former Times Union Editor, current Upstate American, Substack columnist Rex Smith, Judy Patrick, former Editor of The Daily Gazette and former Vice President for Editorial Development for the New York Press Association, and Barbara Lombardo, Adjunct Professor at the University at Albany and former Editor of The Saratogian. On this week’s Media Project, Rex, Judy, and Barbara talk about the FBI raiding a Washington Post journalist’s home, when interviewing the President doesn’t reveal much news, and much more.

(Airs 06/12/26 @ 3 p.m. & 06/14/26 @ 6 p.m.) The Media Project is an inside look at media coverage of current events with former Times Union Editor, current Upstate American, Substack columnist Rex Smith, Judy Patrick, former Editor of The Daily Gazette and former Vice President for Editorial Development for the New York Press Association, and Barbara Lombardo, Adjunct Professor at the University at Albany and former Editor of The Saratogian. On this week’s Media Project, Rex, Judy, and Barbara talk about Scott Pelley’s comments about being fired from 60 Minutes and CBS News, President Trump walking out of the Meet the Press interview with Kristen Welker, and searching for news versus passively receiving it, and more.

On the latest 51%, we speak with sociologist Gretchen Sisson about her book Relinquished: The Politics of Adoption and the Privilege of American Motherhood. Sisson studies the relationship between abortion and adoption in the U.S., and is part of a team of researchers for "The Turnaway Study" at the University of California, San Francisco. In Relinquished, Sisson compiles a decade's worth of interviews with women who gave their newborns up for adoption through a private adoption agency. In unpacking how some agencies pressure (and rely on) struggling moms to relinquish their children, Sisson pushes back on the idea that adoption is an ethical alternative to abortion, and questions whether it's really a choice at all.Encore Episode.

In 2016, amid an epidemic of police shootings of African Americans, the celebrated NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick began a series of quiet protests on the field, refusing to stand during the U.S. national anthem. By “taking a knee,” Kaepernick bravely joined a long tradition of American athletes making powerful political statements. This time, however, Kaepernick’s simple act spread like wildfire throughout American society, becoming the preeminent symbol of resistance to America’s persistent racial inequality. Critically acclaimed sports journalist and author of "A People’s History of Sports in the United States," Dave Zirin chronicles “the Kaepernick effect” for the first time, through interviews with a broad cross-section of professional athletes across many different sports, college stars and high-powered athletic directors, and high school athletes and coaches.