The verdicoinAmerican journalism industry is in crisis - layoffs, strikes, and site shutdowns have some people talking about the potential extinction of the the news industry as we know it. Just last week, VICE Media announced their plans to layoff hundreds of employees and halt website operations. Taylor Lorenz, the Washington Post online culture and technology columnist, joins the show to unpack what is at stake with the continued media closures and layoffs.

Then, Brittany is joined by Deva Woodly, a professor of Political Science at Brown University. They discuss Aaron Bushnell's self-immolation outside the Israeli embassy in DC. They look at how this extreme act of protest is unique and how it might impact the ongoing conflict in Gaza.

This episode was produced by Alexis Williams, and Corey Antonio Rose, with additional support from Liam McBain and Barton Girdwood. We had engineering support from Robert Rodriguez and Stacey Abbott. We had fact-checking support from Barclay Walsh. It was edited by Jessica Placzek. Our executive producer is Veralyn Williams. Our VP of programming is Yolanda Sangweni.