Media

Researcher Elizabeth Currid-Halkett says celebrity can be boiled down to a simple formula.

Arts

Never Go To Vegas, And Other Unspoken Rules Of Being An A-Lister

9:00pm December 18, 2017

It can seem arbitrary the way certain people fascinate us. But researcher Elizabeth Currid-Halkett says celebrity has a formula. So does being part of any social group — perhaps even your own.

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John Skipper in 2015. Skipper is stepping down as CEO of ESPN, citing substance addiction.

John Skipper Steps Down As CEO Of ESPN, Citing Substance Addiction

2:22pm December 18, 2017

by Emily Sullivan

"I come to this public disclosure with embarrassment, trepidation and a feeling of having let others I care about down," Skipper said in a statement.

Twitter's official account on a smartphone. The platform has announced it will enforce a new set of rules aiming to curb abuse and harassment.

Twitter Says It Will Ban Threatening Accounts, Starting Today

1:37pm December 18, 2017

by Emily Sullivan

In the wake of several controversies about its response to online harassment, the social media platform says it will enforce new rules that prohibit threats of violence towards individuals or groups.

Trump To Unveil National Security Strategy For Military, Foreign Policy

8:11am December 18, 2017

Steve Inskeep talks to David Sanger of The New York Times about President Trump's goals which he'll outline in a speech Monday afternoon at the Ronald Reagan building in Washington, D.C.

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National

A Look At RT's 'Redacted Tonight'

7:48am December 16, 2017

by Scott Simon

The satirical program Redacted Tonight would be at home on Comedy Central, but it airs on RT America, produced by a company the Trump administration required last month to register as a foreign agent.

Former 'Post' Executive Editor Ben Bradlee On Publishing The Pentagon Papers

1:39pm December 15, 2017

Bradlee served as executive editor of The Washington Post from 1968 to 1991. In 1995, he told Fresh Air about his decision to publish the top secret documents related to U.S. policy making in Vietnam.

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How Katharine Graham Defied A Federal Judge To Publish The Pentagon Papers

1:39pm December 15, 2017

Graham, who died in 2001, held the title of publisher at The Washington Post from 1969 until 1979. She spoke to Fresh Air in 1997 about her 1971 decision to publish the top-secret documents.

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'The Atlantic': What Putin Really Wants

6:27am December 15, 2017

Rachel Martin talks to journalist Julia Ioffe, who in a piece for The Atlantic, says Putin has many Americans convinced of his manipulative genius, but he's really just a gambler who won big.

Books

A Look At The Man Who Started 21st Century Fox

9:45pm December 14, 2017

NPR's Robert Siegel talks to Vanda Krefft, author of The Man Who Made the Movies: The Meteoric Rise and Tragic Fall of William Fox about the origins of the studio, 21st Century Fox, that was sold today. Born in Hungary, Wilhelm Fuchs came to the U.S. where officials changed the family name to Fox. As a teenager, Fox was inspired to buy a peepshow theatre and got into the movie business.

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The rapper Vic Mensa performs during a SoundCloud event on Nov. 16, 2016 in New York.

Music & Culture

SoundCloud's New Leader Is Focused On The Fundamentals

6:11pm December 14, 2017

by Andrew Flanagan

Kerry Trainor, who replaced co-founder Alex Ljung as CEO in August, tells NPR that SoundCloud is not trying to compete with Spotify, saying creators are his main focus.