If you find yourself avoiding the news, you’re not alone. But what’s turning you off is likely not the news itself—it’s the noise surrounding it. News Over Noise explores the challenge of separating spin and click-bait from good journalism and why it matters. This podcast empowers our citizenry by giving listeners the tools they need to balance staying informed while protecting their well-being and the public good.
Publisher
Penn State News Literacy Initiative, Matt Jordan, Leah Dajches
Crowdsourcing Reality: How Participatory Disinformation Is Shaping the News
Misinformation is often described as something that’s created and then spread, but increasingly, it’s shaped in real time through participation. In this episode of News Over Noise, Matt Jordan and Cory Barker talk with Kate Starbird about participatory disinformation and how online audiences help produce, remix, and amplify information as it moves, blurring the line between observer and actor. Drawing on her research, Starbird examines how these dynamics play out across politics, crises, and everyday online life, and what they reveal about the growing challenge of building a shared reality in a platform-driven media environment.
23 Apr 2026
Ghosts in the Machine: How the Cold War Broke the News
In the early years of the Cold War, American journalism helped construct a world defined by enemies, uncertainty, and invisible threats. That framework didn’t disappear; it became embedded in how news is produced, interpreted, and trusted. In this episode of News Over Noise, Matt Jordan and Cory Barker talk with Barbie Zelizer about her book How the Cold War Broke the News and the enduring influence of Cold War logic on contemporary journalism. Drawing on decades of research, Zelizer examines how ideas like objectivity, balance, and access were shaped in a moment of geopolitical tension and how those same assumptions continue to structure coverage today.
9 Apr 2026
Hollowing Out the Fourth Estate: Requiem for the Post-Gazette
Local newspapers have long played a central role in how communities understand themselves, but that role is becoming harder to sustain. In this episode of News Over Noise, Matt Jordan and Cory Barker talk with journalist Tony Norman about the unraveling of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and what its decline reveals about the broader transformation of American journalism. Drawing on more than three decades in the newsroom, Norman reflects on the loss of local reporting capacity, the erosion of editorial independence, and the structural pressures reshaping the industry. The conversation explores what happens when institutions built to hold power accountable lose the resources and vision to do so, and why the future of local news remains uncertain, contested, and critically important.
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
Apple Podcasts (US)
4.8 / 5
18 ratings
Spotify
5.0 / 5
3 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 49 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
68
Social presence
0
YouTube
0
Engagement
77
Contact News Over Noise
Guest appearances
Books guests
Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.
Host of News Over Noise?
Claim your podcast to manage its listing and keep your show details accurate.
Pod Engine is an independent podcast discovery and analytics service and is not affiliated with or endorsed by this podcast. Artwork and show content belong to their owners. Full legal notice.
Explore this show Podcast research with Pod Engine
