@lauragarbes.bsky.social
Sociologist @ UMN. I study public media, race, voice, and orgs.
Order “Listeners Like Who?” here: https://press.Princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691257426/listeners-like-who with discount code P327
Order “Listeners Like Who?” here: https://press.Princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691257426/listeners-like-who with discount code P327
Pinned
Copy of my book just arrived in the mail today! Feels unreal. You can preorder it here: press.princeton.edu/books/paperb...
Reposted
Was thrilled to help consult for this fantastic John Oliver segment on the tragic plight of U.S. public media and why, if we hope to be a democracy, we still need public media for so many things that commercial media will never provide. Deserves a wide viewership. www.youtube.com/watch?v=yknM...
Public Media: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
YouTube video by LastWeekTonight
www.youtube.com
November 17, 2025 at 4:09 PM
Was thrilled to help consult for this fantastic John Oliver segment on the tragic plight of U.S. public media and why, if we hope to be a democracy, we still need public media for so many things that commercial media will never provide. Deserves a wide viewership. www.youtube.com/watch?v=yknM...
Reposted
"NBC Nightly News can show you pictures of devastating flooding, but they don't tell locals where to get fresh water."
Public Media: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
YouTube video by LastWeekTonight
www.youtube.com
November 17, 2025 at 4:56 PM
"NBC Nightly News can show you pictures of devastating flooding, but they don't tell locals where to get fresh water."
They did an excellent job with this one. I’m always impressed with how LWT communicates the wonkiest things in an engaging way (like how local station funding allocations work, and how this has hurt local rural stations far more than NPR the national org and better funded, usu larger city stations)
Here’s last night’s story about public media, who it serves, what we can do to counteract the Trump administration’s budget cuts to it, and why the answer is “sell Russell Crowe’s jock strap.” You’ll see. youtu.be/yknMJOgy2pA
Public Media: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
YouTube video by LastWeekTonight
youtu.be
November 17, 2025 at 4:04 PM
They did an excellent job with this one. I’m always impressed with how LWT communicates the wonkiest things in an engaging way (like how local station funding allocations work, and how this has hurt local rural stations far more than NPR the national org and better funded, usu larger city stations)
Reposted
Had a great time consulting with the “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” team over the past couple months, and they kindly gave my book a shoutout during the episode.
November 17, 2025 at 4:33 AM
Had a great time consulting with the “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” team over the past couple months, and they kindly gave my book a shoutout during the episode.
Reposted
"More relevant than ever": Read @sarahscire.com's full review of @lauragarbes.bsky.social's new book Listeners Like Who?: Exclusion and Resistance in the Public Radio Industry in @niemanlab.org: www.niemanlab.org/2025/11/fund....
Funding cuts may make public radio more reliant on old, rich, white donors
After years of interviews, research, and writing, Laura Garbes submitted the final draft of her book on public radio in December 2024. By the time Listeners Like Who? Exclusion and Resistance in the…
www.niemanlab.org
November 12, 2025 at 9:21 PM
"More relevant than ever": Read @sarahscire.com's full review of @lauragarbes.bsky.social's new book Listeners Like Who?: Exclusion and Resistance in the Public Radio Industry in @niemanlab.org: www.niemanlab.org/2025/11/fund....
Reposted
the listener-member model that public radio has turned to after decades of government underfunding conflicts with its goal to reflect and serve all Americans. spoke with @lauragarbes.bsky.social about her book LISTENERS LIKE WHO? www.niemanlab.org/2025/11/fund...
Funding cuts may make public radio more reliant on old, rich, white donors
After years of interviews, research, and writing, Laura Garbes submitted the final draft of her book on public radio in December 2024. By the time Listeners Like Who? Exclusion and Resistance in the P...
www.niemanlab.org
November 10, 2025 at 11:15 PM
the listener-member model that public radio has turned to after decades of government underfunding conflicts with its goal to reflect and serve all Americans. spoke with @lauragarbes.bsky.social about her book LISTENERS LIKE WHO? www.niemanlab.org/2025/11/fund...
Reposted
"Listeners Like Who?" chronicles a contradiction at the core of public radio: the listener-member model that public radio has turned to after decades of government underfunding conflicts with its stated goal to reflect and serve all Americans. www.niemanlab.org/2025/11/fund...
Funding cuts may make public radio more reliant on old, rich, white donors
After years of interviews, research, and writing, Laura Garbes submitted the final draft of her book on public radio in December 2024. By the time Listeners Like Who? Exclusion and Resistance in the…
www.niemanlab.org
November 10, 2025 at 7:41 PM
"Listeners Like Who?" chronicles a contradiction at the core of public radio: the listener-member model that public radio has turned to after decades of government underfunding conflicts with its stated goal to reflect and serve all Americans. www.niemanlab.org/2025/11/fund...
Reposted
ICYMI: Why is Public media’s "elitism" a result of funding failures? Read this op-ed by Listeners Like Who? author @lauragarbes.bsky.social in the @startribune.com ($): www.startribune.com/trump-admini....
Opinion | Public media’s ‘elitism’ is a result of funding failures
"Ironically, any elitism that Republicans charge public radio with is a result of their own attacks on the system," Laura Garbes writes.
www.startribune.com
October 29, 2025 at 8:48 PM
ICYMI: Why is Public media’s "elitism" a result of funding failures? Read this op-ed by Listeners Like Who? author @lauragarbes.bsky.social in the @startribune.com ($): www.startribune.com/trump-admini....
Reposted
Thanks to American Campus, the podcast about the history of higher education, for featuring my book. We talk about how NPR and PBS emerged from equal access to education discourses. And how Media Studies originated as a strategy of public media activism.
How universities created NPR and PBS with Josh Shepperd - American Campus Podcast
How public universities gave rise to public mediaReferences and suggested readings:Josh Shepperd. 2023. Shadow of the New Deal: The Victory of Public Broadcasting. University of Illinois Press.Laura G...
americancampuspodcast.buzzsprout.com
October 13, 2025 at 2:26 PM
Thanks to American Campus, the podcast about the history of higher education, for featuring my book. We talk about how NPR and PBS emerged from equal access to education discourses. And how Media Studies originated as a strategy of public media activism.
Reposted
How public radio has perpetuated racial inequality since its founding—and how journalists of color are challenging white dominance in the workplace and on the public airwaves.
@lauragarbes.bsky.social's Listeners Like Who? is out now. Explore a free sample: press.princeton.edu/books/paperb...
@lauragarbes.bsky.social's Listeners Like Who? is out now. Explore a free sample: press.princeton.edu/books/paperb...
October 3, 2025 at 2:09 PM
How public radio has perpetuated racial inequality since its founding—and how journalists of color are challenging white dominance in the workplace and on the public airwaves.
@lauragarbes.bsky.social's Listeners Like Who? is out now. Explore a free sample: press.princeton.edu/books/paperb...
@lauragarbes.bsky.social's Listeners Like Who? is out now. Explore a free sample: press.princeton.edu/books/paperb...
Reposted
"Common decency stigmatizes people that do not participate in it—removes them from voluntary association. We indeed have to live with one another, but terms and conditions apply."
me on why Ezra Klein should be ashamed / why shame is Good Actually
www.bostonreview.net/articles/how...
me on why Ezra Klein should be ashamed / why shame is Good Actually
www.bostonreview.net/articles/how...
How Can We Live Together? - Boston Review
Ezra Klein is wrong: shame is essential.
www.bostonreview.net
September 23, 2025 at 5:09 PM
"Common decency stigmatizes people that do not participate in it—removes them from voluntary association. We indeed have to live with one another, but terms and conditions apply."
me on why Ezra Klein should be ashamed / why shame is Good Actually
www.bostonreview.net/articles/how...
me on why Ezra Klein should be ashamed / why shame is Good Actually
www.bostonreview.net/articles/how...
Reposted
Civic media is URGENT. 🚨
Free Press' Arin Anderson is with Executive Director of @outliermedia.org, Orlando Bailey, discussing why local news is a public good.
Outlier Media is a shining example of how local newsrooms fill information gaps to meet community needs.
Free Press' Arin Anderson is with Executive Director of @outliermedia.org, Orlando Bailey, discussing why local news is a public good.
Outlier Media is a shining example of how local newsrooms fill information gaps to meet community needs.
September 16, 2025 at 1:54 PM
Civic media is URGENT. 🚨
Free Press' Arin Anderson is with Executive Director of @outliermedia.org, Orlando Bailey, discussing why local news is a public good.
Outlier Media is a shining example of how local newsrooms fill information gaps to meet community needs.
Free Press' Arin Anderson is with Executive Director of @outliermedia.org, Orlando Bailey, discussing why local news is a public good.
Outlier Media is a shining example of how local newsrooms fill information gaps to meet community needs.
Reposted
this is, hands down, the best video I've seen on men's influencer content and it's not close either
September 14, 2025 at 1:50 AM
this is, hands down, the best video I've seen on men's influencer content and it's not close either
Reposted
Listen! @lauragarbes.bsky.social talks to @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social about one of the books of the year “Listeners Like Who? Exclusion and Resistance in the Public Radio Industry” newbooksnetwork.com/listeners-li...
Laura Garbes, "Listeners Like Who?: Exclusion and Resistance in the Public Radio Industry" (Princeton UP, 2025) - New Books Network
newbooksnetwork.com
September 13, 2025 at 9:15 AM
Listen! @lauragarbes.bsky.social talks to @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social about one of the books of the year “Listeners Like Who? Exclusion and Resistance in the Public Radio Industry” newbooksnetwork.com/listeners-li...
Reposted
WPSU in Pennsylvania becomes the first public media outlet to shut down as a result of the rescission of federal funding.
WPSU TV and radio serves one of the largest geographic coverage areas in the nation, stretching across 24 counties of central Pennsylvania.
WPSU TV and radio serves one of the largest geographic coverage areas in the nation, stretching across 24 counties of central Pennsylvania.
Penn State to shutter WPSU, board declines transfer to WHYY
In voting down a proposal to transfer the station to WHYY, trustees expressed concern over a $17 million subsidy and wanted a commitment to hire staff.
whyy.org
September 12, 2025 at 3:22 PM
WPSU in Pennsylvania becomes the first public media outlet to shut down as a result of the rescission of federal funding.
WPSU TV and radio serves one of the largest geographic coverage areas in the nation, stretching across 24 counties of central Pennsylvania.
WPSU TV and radio serves one of the largest geographic coverage areas in the nation, stretching across 24 counties of central Pennsylvania.
Reposted
This is all making me think of India Walton’s advice to Zohran: “Moderating is what got us here… I pivoted fairly quickly… to try and integrate myself into the party, because I thought that was the way to build a broad-based coalition… It sort of ate away from our message from the inside out.”
September 12, 2025 at 12:47 AM
This is all making me think of India Walton’s advice to Zohran: “Moderating is what got us here… I pivoted fairly quickly… to try and integrate myself into the party, because I thought that was the way to build a broad-based coalition… It sort of ate away from our message from the inside out.”
Reposted
How public radio has perpetuated racial inequality since its founding—and how journalists of color are challenging white dominance in the workplace and on the public airwaves.
Laura Garbes' Listeners Like Who? is out now. Learn more: press.princeton.edu/books/paperb...
Laura Garbes' Listeners Like Who? is out now. Learn more: press.princeton.edu/books/paperb...
September 10, 2025 at 6:04 PM
How public radio has perpetuated racial inequality since its founding—and how journalists of color are challenging white dominance in the workplace and on the public airwaves.
Laura Garbes' Listeners Like Who? is out now. Learn more: press.princeton.edu/books/paperb...
Laura Garbes' Listeners Like Who? is out now. Learn more: press.princeton.edu/books/paperb...
Reposted
"The vague and subjective criteria of having a story that includes 'good talkers' ... end up favoring experts and guests with experience within and connections to white institutional spaces," writes @lauragarbes.bsky.social. current.org/2025/09/how-...
How journalists of color are expanding radio’s definition of a ‘good talker’
Voice standards can shift to ensure clear, dynamic speech without excluding guests who lack training and experience in institutional spaces.
current.org
September 9, 2025 at 2:18 PM
"The vague and subjective criteria of having a story that includes 'good talkers' ... end up favoring experts and guests with experience within and connections to white institutional spaces," writes @lauragarbes.bsky.social. current.org/2025/09/how-...
Reposted
Many congratulations to Laura Garbes (University of Minnesota) on the publication of her pathbreaking sociology of the culture, idealism, and contradictions of public media. Out today on Princeton University Press.
Listeners Like Who?
How public radio has perpetuated racial inequality since its founding—and how journalists of color are challenging white dominance in the workplace and on the public airwaves
press.princeton.edu
September 9, 2025 at 2:22 PM
Many congratulations to Laura Garbes (University of Minnesota) on the publication of her pathbreaking sociology of the culture, idealism, and contradictions of public media. Out today on Princeton University Press.
It’s publication day for Listeners Like Who? @princetonupress.bsky.social.
I’m grateful to the journalists that shared their stories with me, the colleagues and friends that read copious drafts, and the early readers of the book. press.princeton.edu/books/paperb...
I’m grateful to the journalists that shared their stories with me, the colleagues and friends that read copious drafts, and the early readers of the book. press.princeton.edu/books/paperb...
September 9, 2025 at 12:23 PM
It’s publication day for Listeners Like Who? @princetonupress.bsky.social.
I’m grateful to the journalists that shared their stories with me, the colleagues and friends that read copious drafts, and the early readers of the book. press.princeton.edu/books/paperb...
I’m grateful to the journalists that shared their stories with me, the colleagues and friends that read copious drafts, and the early readers of the book. press.princeton.edu/books/paperb...
Reposted
My new open-access article in the British Journal of Sociology explores how Korean queer activists envision and enact social change by rethinking “the global”—shifting from UN human rights frameworks to regional solidarities across Asia.
Decolonizing the Global: Contested Cosmopolitanisms in Global Queer Activism
In the last decade, the “decolonial turn” has gained prominence across academic disciplines, challenging inherent Eurocentric knowledge paradigms. Extending these conversations, this paper critically....
doi.org
September 8, 2025 at 1:52 AM
My new open-access article in the British Journal of Sociology explores how Korean queer activists envision and enact social change by rethinking “the global”—shifting from UN human rights frameworks to regional solidarities across Asia.
www.startribune.com/trump-admini...
We must protect public media and keep fighting to fund it publicly. I make the case in the @startribune.com that fully publicly funding public media is a racial and economic justice issue.
We must protect public media and keep fighting to fund it publicly. I make the case in the @startribune.com that fully publicly funding public media is a racial and economic justice issue.
Opinion | Public media’s ‘elitism’ is a result of funding failures
"Ironically, any elitism that Republicans charge public radio with is a result of their own attacks on the system," Laura Garbes writes.
www.startribune.com
September 7, 2025 at 11:57 PM
www.startribune.com/trump-admini...
We must protect public media and keep fighting to fund it publicly. I make the case in the @startribune.com that fully publicly funding public media is a racial and economic justice issue.
We must protect public media and keep fighting to fund it publicly. I make the case in the @startribune.com that fully publicly funding public media is a racial and economic justice issue.
Reposted
If there was ever a time for bold new public infrastructure to support local news and informed communities, this is it.
This is too important to miss.
Join us w/ @reprabb.bsky.social @victorpickard.bsky.social @abigailhiggins.bsky.social @mikerispoli.bsky.social next week.
RSVP: bit.ly/fpabbsoc9
This is too important to miss.
Join us w/ @reprabb.bsky.social @victorpickard.bsky.social @abigailhiggins.bsky.social @mikerispoli.bsky.social next week.
RSVP: bit.ly/fpabbsoc9
September 4, 2025 at 7:28 PM
If there was ever a time for bold new public infrastructure to support local news and informed communities, this is it.
This is too important to miss.
Join us w/ @reprabb.bsky.social @victorpickard.bsky.social @abigailhiggins.bsky.social @mikerispoli.bsky.social next week.
RSVP: bit.ly/fpabbsoc9
This is too important to miss.
Join us w/ @reprabb.bsky.social @victorpickard.bsky.social @abigailhiggins.bsky.social @mikerispoli.bsky.social next week.
RSVP: bit.ly/fpabbsoc9
Reposted
My friend @lauragarbes.bsky.social is brilliant and wrote this amazing book about race, racism, and NPR. You should read it! press.princeton.edu/books/paperb...
Showing how inequality persists even in a “woke” public institution - one that is also being torn apart these days
Support public radio!
Showing how inequality persists even in a “woke” public institution - one that is also being torn apart these days
Support public radio!
September 1, 2025 at 5:30 PM
My friend @lauragarbes.bsky.social is brilliant and wrote this amazing book about race, racism, and NPR. You should read it! press.princeton.edu/books/paperb...
Showing how inequality persists even in a “woke” public institution - one that is also being torn apart these days
Support public radio!
Showing how inequality persists even in a “woke” public institution - one that is also being torn apart these days
Support public radio!
Reposted
Friends! Inherited Inequality makes its debut Sept 16 🎉
Join me for an open & honest conversation about the power & limits of the two-parent family for improving child outcomes & addressing one of America’s most intractable problems: racial inequality
Hope to see you there!
Join me for an open & honest conversation about the power & limits of the two-parent family for improving child outcomes & addressing one of America’s most intractable problems: racial inequality
Hope to see you there!
August 29, 2025 at 3:09 PM
Friends! Inherited Inequality makes its debut Sept 16 🎉
Join me for an open & honest conversation about the power & limits of the two-parent family for improving child outcomes & addressing one of America’s most intractable problems: racial inequality
Hope to see you there!
Join me for an open & honest conversation about the power & limits of the two-parent family for improving child outcomes & addressing one of America’s most intractable problems: racial inequality
Hope to see you there!