Media stories, pressure-tested in public.
The Press Box is a brisk media-analysis show built around clips, headlines, profiles, and the stories behind the stories. It moves from NFL insider drama to Trump coverage, college basketball media, political messaging, and journalism nostalgia without pretending any institution is neutral.
PRESS PLAY
The Press Box is a media show with a useful bias toward specifics. It looks at the machinery behind public stories, then asks what the machinery is trying to hide, soften, sell, or normalize. The subject might be Diana Rossini leaving The Athletic after an NFL-media controversy. It might be a New York Times account of Donald Trump and Iran, a New Yorker story on Sam Altman, or a Vanity Fair cleanup after a celebrity quote causes trouble. Sports are a major lane, but not a sealed-off one. NFL draft coverage, college basketball media, and insider culture sit next to campaign messaging, journalism mythology, and arguments about who gets to define a public narrative. The show’s best mode is conversational skepticism. It takes a headline, a clip, or a glossy profile and worries at the details until the framing starts to show. That does not mean it is cold. A segment can open with a family road trip, a pancake machine at a Holiday Inn, or a producer callback and still get back to the media question. The looseness is part of the appeal. It lets the show sound like working media people thinking out loud rather than a finished column being read into a microphone. Guests widen the frame without turning the show into generic interview programming. Bomani Jones brings sharp cultural and media judgment to social platforms, AI use, and hip-hop media. Tate Frazier turns a Final Four preview into a conversation about college basketball coverage and old Ringer history. Senator Chris Murphy uses a political interview to talk about Iran, democratic messaging, economic power, and Andor. Sean Fennessy helps make All the President’s Men feel less like a sacred object and more like a constructed journalism myth with many fingerprints on it. The result is a show for listeners who like sports media, political media, and media people behaving strangely under pressure. It is funny, but the jokes usually serve the audit. It is skeptical, but not empty-snark cynical. It keeps asking the next obvious question, especially when the official version hopes nobody will.
Made for: For listeners who follow sports, politics, journalism, and culture as connected media ecosystems. It especially suits people who want sharp conversation about framing, access, and institutional behavior.
What sets it apart: The show treats sports media and political media as part of the same attention economy. Its edge comes from testing specific stories, clips, and profiles instead of floating above them with generic media takes.
The Ringer’s Bryan Curtis, David Shoemaker and Joel Anderson catch you up on the biggest media stories, from sports to politics and everything in between.
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
The Press Box makes sports media legible by examining the arguments, incentives, and storytelling choices surrounding the games.
The Press Box treats sports as part of the media machinery around it. Brian Curtis and Joel Anderson work through current arguments conversationally, testing how coverage, commentary, and public personalities shape the story beyond the game.
A baseball tournament becomes a geopolitical media story; your group chat may need a second thread.
Press play if you want
Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
Bomani Jones turns social media into a blunt discussion of Jay-Z, respect, success, and internet tribalism.
Bomani Jones anchors The Press Box in a conversation that moves from social media into Jay-Z, respect, success, and what the system means in public argument.
A Texas politics episode that keeps testing a polished candidate story against the wider media frame.
The March issue of The Press Box stays centered on James Talarico and Texas politics, returning to the familiar figure of his Baptist preacher grandfather in South Texas and the two commandments that keep coming back in public life.
A DHS funding fight opens into Iran, Democratic strategy, and one unexpectedly serious Yavin detour.
The Press Box uses Senator Chris Murphy's overnight exit from a Department of Homeland Security funding standoff as the entry point for a wider conversation about Trump, Iran, and the Democrats' hunt for a 2026 message.
A brisk media argument that keeps asking what the frame leaves out.
It opens with a useful argument about Jay-Z's GQ comments: podcasts can be highly reactive, while writing often starts from an idea and then tries to shape it differently.
A strange Iran post gives way to a pointed look at how cable news might survive its move toward podcasts.
The Press Box begins in the odd charge of a news morning shaped by Donald Trump's True Social post about U.S. and Iran conversations toward a complete and total resolution of hostilities in the Middle East.
Van Lathan turns a Democratic ranking into a sharp test of political composure.
The Press Box turns a ranked Democratic depth chart into a useful test of political bearing: who sounds direct, who stays composed under pressure, and who has enough spine to answer a provocation without ducking it.
A sharp media conversation linking Chavez reporting, manosphere television, and the World Baseball Classic to power.
The Press Box opens with the New York Times reporting on Cesar Chavez, then shifts to Louis Theroux's Netflix documentary Inside the Manosphere before turning the World Baseball Classic into a question about geopolitics and television.
Sports media careers, from first break to full-time.
Radio people, real-life tangents.
Sports media, argued from the inside.
Black conspiracy comedy with no brakes.
Van Lathan joins Bryan Curtis and Joel Anderson to assemble a 'Democratic depth chart' for the 2028 presidential election.
Bryan Curtis and Joel Anderson discuss a New York Times investigation revealing sexual assault allegations against labor leader Cesar Chavez.
The host discusses media reactions to Trump's Iran-related headlines, comparing news sources like CNN and Twitter while reflecting on political discourse.
The hosts react to the breaking news that sports journalist Dianna Russini has resigned from The Athletic, discussing the implications and their personal feelings about the situation.
This episode of Press Box discusses major journalism pieces including the New York Times story on Trump's approach to war with Iran and the New Yorker's story on Sam Altman, along with an upcoming interview with ESPN's Mel Kiper Jr.
This episode examines the 50th anniversary of the film 'All the President's Men,' exploring its complex legacy in journalism and filmmaking through an interview with Sean Fennessey.
The hosts share humorous anecdotes about a family spring break road trip, including memorable moments like a pancake machine at a Holiday Inn and taking Aleve with hot coffee.
The host opens by calling out a very special third weekly episode and brings on Bomani Jones, the host of The Right Time with Bomani Jones.
Joel Anderson hosts Tate Frazier to preview the men's and women's Final Four, discuss college basketball media coverage, and pick an all-time UNC starting five.
Brian Curtis opens the March issue of The Press Box with Joel Anderson and frames the month around politics and Texas.
Brian Curtis interviews Senator Chris Murphy in The Press Box bonus episode about DHS funding, Iran, prediction markets, and Democratic strategy for 2026.
The Press Box opens with Jay-Z’s GQ interview.
["Donald Trump's Iran post and Mohammad Bagher Galabaf's denial set up the episode's opening point that news can arrive already refuted.", "Brian Curtis and David Shoemaker then move to CNN's office-shot broadcasts, Jake Tapper's desk setup, and Dylan Byers's report about Mark Thompson's Murrow-inspired thinking.", "The hosts frame cable news as a medium chasing podcast aesthetics while still depending on immediacy, correspondents, and formal authority.", "The back half moves through the Pentagon's annex plan after the New York Times lawsuit, plus Chuck Norris, Bill Raftery at age 82, Bob Woodward's memoir, and sports-radio fights at WIP and WFAN."]
This episode discusses how the Cleveland Plain Dealer's use of AI in journalism is affecting hiring and reporting practices, as highlighted by editor Chris Quinn's column.
This episode humorously reviews the tenure of Will Lewis at the Washington Post, highlighting controversial moments like the Super Bowl attendance and the 'third newsroom' initiative.
Brian Curtis hosts a special edition of The Press Box podcast with Danny Heifetz and Danny Kelly from The Ringer Fantasy Football Show to discuss Super Bowl story lines and analysis.
The hosts discuss potential Democratic presidential candidates with guest Van Lathan in a lighthearted political analysis episode.