"Moderate Dems get tougher on Netanyahu," proclaims Politico. "Democrats Pull Away From AIPAC, Reflecting a Broader Shift," reports The New York Times. "House Democrats to send letter to Trump…urging US to recognize Palestinian statehood," announces The Guardian.
Throughout the last year as support for Israel’s so-called “War in Gaza” has tipped tow les than 8 percent with Democratic voters, and over two-thirds calling it as genocide, Democrati...
2025-11-26 18:51:08 +0000 UTC
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"Some Biden Aides are Shifting Their Tune on Israel," declares Politico. "'We didn't do enough': How U.S. policy failed Palestinians in Gaza," reports NPR. "'It Weighs On Me Every Day.' President Biden's National Security Advisor on Oct. 7 and Gaza," announces Bloomberg News.
Over the last two years, and particularly since Joe Biden left office in January 2025, officials from the Biden administration have been making a concerted effort to absolve themselves of their responsibility for I...
2025-11-19 16:25:39 +0000 UTC
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Join us today, Wednesday, Nov. 5 at 5:30 pm ET / 4:30 pm CT as we stream live on YouTube to detail the media reaction (i.e., meltdown) to the NYC mayoral election and Zohran Mamdani's victory. Will there be executions in Central Park? Will the MSNBC/Pod Saves set successfully Obama-fy him? Find out!
2025-11-05 16:31:10 +0000 UTC
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In this Citations Needed Beg-A-Thon, "The Granola-to-Fascist Pipeline: MAHA, TikTok and Health in an Era of Cynicism," recorded live on Monday, October 13, we are joined by social epidemiologist Justin Feldman to discuss the rise of Trump and RFK, Jr.'s Make America Healthy Again grift, the transparent fraud of the so-called "health freedom" movement, and how corporate-written food policies and for-profit medical system fuel an industry of digital influencer hucksterism.
Originally stre...
2025-10-31 15:01:17 +0000 UTC
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In this News Brief, we detail how the AP, Atlantic, Washington Post and New York Times are accepting Trump's framing that his attacks on Venezuela and Colombia are about "going after drug cartels" when it's clear they are—based on Trump's own words—about controlling Venezuela's oil.
**
Show Notes
News Brief: Venezuela and the NYT's Long History...
2025-10-29 15:51:06 +0000 UTC
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In this News Brief, we discuss how "embedded reports" on ICE raids--as seen in the New York Times, NBC, Fox News, CBS, and ABC--prime the public for brutal crackdowns on undocumented immigrants.
**
Guest
Matthew Cunningham-Cook is a writer, researcher and reporter. His work can be found in The American Prospect, Rolling Stone, Labor Notes, The Nation, The Intercept, and elsewhere. He is current...
2025-10-22 16:54:00 +0000 UTC
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Dear patrons,
Pardon the slight delay! We hope you were able to join us for our Beg-a-thon livestream on Monday, Oct. 13, where we talked all (deeply unfortunate) things MAHA with Justin Feldman. If not, you can watch on YouTube, and we'll release the recording in the coming weeks.
Below are some stories and articles we've been reading lately. Have a look if you'd like, and feel ...
2025-10-16 15:34:09 +0000 UTC
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See you tonight on our YouTube channel (link forthcoming)!
2025-10-13 22:57:35 +0000 UTC
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In this News Brief, we detail the major factions seeking to rewrite the history of the 2024 election as "woke" gone too far, downplay Gaza, and prevent economic populism at all costs.
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Show Notes
Your guide to the billionaire-backed groups working to push Dems right in 2026
Adam Johnson | September 24, 2025...
2025-10-13 18:28:14 +0000 UTC
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Join us on Monday, Oct. 13, for a Beg-A-Thon live show on YouTube @ 9:30ET/8:30CT! We will be joined by Justin Feldman, social epidemiologist and Principal Research Scientist at Yale's Center for Policing Equity, to discuss the rise of MAHA, the broader Granola-to-Fascist Pipeline, and how corporate-written food policies and our shitty for-profit medical system fuel hucksterism. We hope to see y...
2025-10-10 19:16:34 +0000 UTC
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In this patron-only News Brief, we discuss the Ellison family's recent purchase of Paramount, CBS News, the TikTok algorithm, and potentially CNN and HBO; their installation of Bari Weiss as pro-Israel ideological enforcer at CBS; the retconning of Free Press as a scrappy upstart; and how all this means U.S. media's already horrible coverage of Palestinians is set to get much worse.
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Show Notes
2025-10-08 13:07:25 +0000 UTC
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Dear patrons,
Season 9 is underway and, if you haven't yet listened to the first two episodes (or desperately want to revisit them), here they are:
Episode 228: Billionaires as Insta-Experts - How Our Media Conflates Extreme Wealth with Expertise (Sept. 24, 2025) with guest Rob Larson
2025-10-03 02:21:59 +0000 UTC
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"What Liberals Can Learn from Ron DeSantis," opines New York Times columnist Pamela Paul. "I've had my disagreements with [Netanyahu], but he's handled this remarkably well," declares CNN’s Fareed Zakaria. "President Trump, in terms of raw accomplishments, crushed his first six months in historic ways," argue Axios founders Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen.
There's a recurring mode of punditry in elite media: extolling the so-called tactics, accomplishments,...
2025-10-01 16:41:14 +0000 UTC
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Citations Needed is back! Today, we begin our ninth season, which is both hard to believe and easily attributable to the ongoing support of this amazing community — especially those who go beyond listening and sharing to become patrons. Your generosity is so appreciated!
Thanks for sticking with us through our short summer break. And now, onto the show.
*
"Tesla just got snubbed by Biden’s electric vehicle summit," lamented CNN in 2021. "Bill Gates is o...
2025-09-24 19:18:26 +0000 UTC
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Dear patrons,
Summer in the northern hemisphere is now officially over... and what a time to be alive. Here's a bit of good news, though: Citations Needed returns this week with our Season 9 premiere.
In the meantime, below are some stories and articles we're been reading.
Thanks again for your ongoing support of the show. We're excited to be back.
— The Citations Needed Team
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2025-09-22 18:19:01 +0000 UTC
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Dear patrons,
Yes, Citations Needed is currently on a short break between seasons — we'll be back later this month — but that doesn't mean we're staying silent.
In case you missed it, we released a News Brief last week on how major Western media outlets like the BBC and New York Times are readily caving to pressure from genocide apologists, such as The Free Pr...
2025-09-04 13:00:15 +0000 UTC
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In this News Brief, we detail recent eugenics-inspired "updates," "clarifications" and "added context" pro-Israel crybullies pressure Western media outlets to make (some more willingly than others) that give readers the distinct impression emaciated children in Gaza aren't really an urgent humanitarian crisis if they have rickets, cancer, or cerebral palsy.
We are joined by Death Panel's Beatrice Adler-Bolton.
***
Guest
2025-08-27 15:24:45 +0000 UTC
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Hello dear patrons!
This month, we wrapped up Season 8 of Citations Needed with a two-part episode entitled, "The Importance of Seriousness; or, Why Palestinians Can’t Be Witness to Their Own Genocide." If you haven't listened already, you can find Part I, with guest Moureen Kaki, here and 2025-08-26 00:55:35 +0000 UTC
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"Exclusive Look at Life in War-Ravaged Gaza," reads the title for a CNN interview with correspondent Clarissa Ward. "'It's a Killing Field': IDF Soldiers Ordered to Shoot Deliberately at Unarmed Gazans Waiting for Humanitarian Aid," report Yaniv Kubovich and Bar Peleg for Ha'aretz. "I’m a Genocide Scholar. I Know It When I See It," argues Omer Bartov in The New York Times.
These stories have something in common: they’re vital pieces of journalism about Gaza, or Pal...
2025-08-13 20:19:57 +0000 UTC
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“12 UN Relief Works Agency staff members are accused of involvement in Hamas' attack against Israel,” reports NPR. “Details Emerge on U.N. Workers Accused of Aiding Hamas Raid,” announces The New York Times. “Hamas Military Compound Found Beneath U.N. Agency Headquarters in Gaza,” claims The Wall Street Journal.
In January 2024—literally on the same day the International Court of Justice deemed Israel was committing “plausible genocide”—a number of ...
2025-08-06 16:22:21 +0000 UTC
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"Student loan forgiveness is a bribe for young voters," shouted Newsweek in 2022. "Harris's call for price controls on groceries is more pandering than policy," declared The Hill in 2024. "Free for all: Democratic socialist’s policy pitches face tough fiscal reality in New York," warned Politico this year.
Every time an elected official or political candidate proposes a policy with even the slightest hint of actual populism, U.S. pundits, analysts and alleged experts line up to tell u...
2025-07-23 13:51:35 +0000 UTC
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"Facebook’s Zuckerberg backs online political ad regulations forwarded by Sen. Amy Klobuchar," reported the Associated Press in 2018. "CEO S
"Facebook’s Zuckerberg backs online political ad regulations forwarded by Sen. Amy Klobuchar," reported the Associated Press in 2018. "CEO Sam Bankman-Fried says crypto needs to embrace regulation," announced Business Insider in 2021. "AI leaders: Please regulate us," read an Axios headline in 2023.
In recent years, major U.S. companies, ...
2025-07-16 15:52:28 +0000 UTC
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In this News Brief, we break down recent bad faith attacks on Zohran Mamdani, the ADL's DO YOU CONDEMN extortion racket, and the broader "antisemitism scandal" playbook to derail moderate social democratic policies and any meaningful criticism of Israel.
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Transcript
For a full transcript of this News Brief, go
2025-07-01 22:56:59 +0000 UTC
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Hi all, hope you are well. We grateful for your support as always. Here is this fortnight's newsletter!
-- Adam, Nima, Juliane, Trendel, and Florence.
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ICE Raids in Los Angeles Are a Declaration of War, and Angelenos Are Primed for Battle Tina Vásquez, In These Times (June 12, 202...
2025-06-27 13:41:14 +0000 UTC
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In this Patreon News Brief, we break down the last ditch media smear campaign against New York City Mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani and how it shows the old playbook of racist innuendo, stoking sectarianism, and crybullying isn't working like it used to.
2025-06-25 13:48:42 +0000 UTC
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In this News Brief, we are joined by Ashley Bohrer and Ben Teller of Jewish Voice for Peace Chicago to discuss media indifference to the US and Israel-imposed starvation of Palestinians, how sectarianism is central to the ADL's strategy, and why six JVP activists have decided to hunger strike to draw more attention to the Israeli and US-made famine in Gaza.
**
Transcript
For a full transcript of this News Brief, go 2025-06-19 19:23:56 +0000 UTC
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In this News Brief, we break down the insta-talking points to sell war w/ Iran––from Ticking Time Bomb '24' plots to cherrypicked anecdotes of Iranians supposedly begging to be bombed.
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Transcript
For a full transcript of this News Brief, go here. You can also find transcripts of pas...
2025-06-18 00:03:52 +0000 UTC
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In this News Brief, we detail how US media reinforces every faulty premise of Israel's attack and how top Dems either ignore Trump and Israel's massive escalation or openly support it, showing once again the scope of debate ranges all the way from A to B.
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Transcript
For a full transcript of this News Brief, go 2025-06-14 19:30:12 +0000 UTC
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