Hi Patreon supporters!
Thank you as always for your support making this show possible. We are extremely grateful.
We will be holding our next one-hour live audio and text AMA Thursday, April 22 at 10pm ET / 7pm PT. So save the date, postpone your other Zoom calls, and prep your questions for us! They could be about media, politics, our hot takes, or how we build our episodes! Adam and Nima, as well as Citations Needed producer Florence and associate producer Julianne, will be on ...
2021-04-17 18:22:39 +0000 UTC
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"Yemen war: Joe Biden ends support for operations in foreign policy reset," reports the BBC. "Trump: US will be out of Afghanistan by Christmas 2020," cheered Military Times. "Trump Orders Withdrawal of U.S. Troops From Northern Syria," the New York Times told us.
For decades, the United States has very often appeared to have "ended" wars that do not, in fact, end at all. Open-ended jargon like "residual counter terror forces," "Vietnamization," "military advisors," along with ...
2021-04-14 15:31:30 +0000 UTC
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In this News Brief, we break down the PR campaign against activists who want intellectual property rules suspended so that poor countries can manufacture their own generic vaccines.
Our guest is Peter Maybarduk, a human rights lawyer and Director of the Global Access to Medicines program at Public Citizen.
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Show Notes
2021-04-10 22:48:20 +0000 UTC
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In this Patron News Brief, we discuss Chuck Lorre's new three camera sitcom United States of Al and the three acceptable Muslim characters: terrorists, victims and––as CBS carefully crafts for Thursday primetime viewing––the Trustworthy Native Informant.
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United States of Al Tests the Limits of Good Representation - Roxana Hadadi, Roge...
2021-04-02 23:47:38 +0000 UTC
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In this Patron-only News Brief we discuss The Washington Post editorial board's disinformation about election fraud in Bolivia and detail its 70 year history of covering for, supporting, and trafficking in racist pathologizing to justify US meddling in Latin America.
2021-03-26 03:26:17 +0000 UTC
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In this public News Brief, we catch up with Austin activists Seneca Savoie and Chris Harris as they fight far right demagoguery, rich liberal NIMBY fence-sitting, and stigmatizing local media coverage of Travis County's unhoused population.
2021-03-24 15:59:00 +0000 UTC
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On this News Brief, we discuss the ubiquitous weaponization of the term "taxpayer" in media and politics and how it deliberately smuggles right-wing, transactional and deeply racialized notions of people's relationship with government into our cultural understanding of taxation, public spending and social services.
Our guest is Raúl Carrillo, Associate Research Scholar at Yale Law School.
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Guest
2021-03-03 15:13:19 +0000 UTC
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"Elon Musk sent a thank-you note to Tesla's workers returning to work," Business Insider squeals. Walmart teams up with UPS to air an ad "thanking essential workers." "Jeff Bezos Just Posted an Open Letter to Amazon Employees About the Coronavirus. Every Smart Business Leader Needs to Read It," insists an article in Inc.
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, corporate leaders, politicians and celebrities have been quick to paint "essential workers," and those often describ...
2021-02-17 15:10:12 +0000 UTC
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Hello, dearest patrons!
Here is the latest newsletter with some recent articles we've been enjoying. Stay tuned for a new episode coming your way tomorrow and, as always, endless thanks and gratitude for your continued support of Citations Needed.
- Nima, Julianne, Florence, Marco and Adam.
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How the Media Cracks Down on Critics...
2021-02-16 20:15:02 +0000 UTC
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In this public News Brief, we discuss how American media's lack of coverage and general. indifference to the Covid pandemic ravaging prisons and jails makes "riots" inevitable. Our guest, Patrice Daniels, is an activist currently incarcerated in Illinois state prison in Joliet, IL.
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Guest
Patrice Daniels, activist and revolutionary who has been in Illinois state prison since he was 18.
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Show Notes
2021-02-10 17:31:57 +0000 UTC
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"Withholding," "misusing," "used to subsidized" - in this Patreon News Brief, we break down the legal and linguistic contortions required to make sure rich people are never accused of "stealing."
Show Notes
Wage Theft is a Much Bigger Problem Than Other Forms of Theft—But Workers Remain Mostly Unprotected
Brady Meixell and Ross Eis...
2021-02-06 21:09:50 +0000 UTC
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“We need a president whose vision was shaped by the American Heartland rather than the ineffective Washington politics,” declares presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg. “AOC Kills Jobs Middle America Would Love to Have,” proclaims The Washington Examiner. Amy Klobuchar insists she’s a “voice from the heartland,” while The Washington Post’s Jennifer Rubin tells us, “[Bernie Sanders] is not going to sell in Middle America. You have to WIN Middle America.”
Everywh...
2021-02-03 16:24:33 +0000 UTC
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In this News Brief we break down L'Affaire GameStop and the CNBC set's goofy, reverse-engineered moral justifications for being outraged by #GME. With guest Jacob Silverman of The New Republic.
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Guest
Jacob Silverman is a journalist and writer. He is a regular contributor to The...
2021-01-28 15:21:35 +0000 UTC
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“The COVID-19 vaccine is ripe for the blackmarket,” warns an NBC News opinion piece. “Iran-linked hackers recently targeted coronavirus drugmaker Gilead,” reports Reuters. “Hackers ‘try to steal COVID vaccine secrets in intellectual property war,’” blares a Guardian headline. As the COVID-19 pandemic raged and pharmaceutical companies raced to develop a vaccine, Western media routinely asserted without question or criticism the premise that vaccine ...
2021-01-27 16:02:37 +0000 UTC
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"Biden Calls For Hope And Healing In Speech," NPR reports. "Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot calls for return to Sept. 11 unity," writes The Chicago Tribune. Following the 2014 Ferguson protests, a CNN headline read, "Obama: Now is the time for peace, healing." "Filmmaker Ken Burns aims for healing with new documentary about Vietnam War," the San Diego Union-Tribune has told us. Everywhere we turn columnists, celebrities, pundits, and politicians are insisting ...
2021-01-20 16:43:00 +0000 UTC
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Following mob violence at the US capitol building, we breakdown how, once again, American media would rather ignore homegrown currents of white supremacist vigilantism and their buddy buddy relationship with law enforcement and focus instead on how an anomalous President Trump makes us like those horrible poor people of the Global South.
2021-01-07 07:19:26 +0000 UTC
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In this Patron-only News Brief we examine the curious phrase "must pass bill," which almost always applies to mindlessly bloating the US military budget.
2021-01-04 02:47:25 +0000 UTC
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In this Patron-only News Brief, we review the holiday season's biggest (and only?) major release, Wonder Woman, and breakdown its bizarre, half assed anti-Muslim racism.
2020-12-29 21:35:06 +0000 UTC
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Hi all,
Hope your holidays are going well as they can. Once again, thank you for your support.
In addition to this fortnight's newsletter (below), we have complied a reading list of all the books written by our guests over the years if you're so inclined.
You can check it out here:
For...
2020-12-22 21:42:28 +0000 UTC
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"Sen. Mark Warner said progressives' calls to 'defund the police' were in part to blame for Democratic losses in the House in a cycle when the party was expected to gain seats," The Hill tells us. "How ’defund the police' sabotaged Democrats on Election Day," Clarence Page of the Chicago Tribune writes."'Defund the police’ is killing our party, and we’ve got to stop it," said South Carolina Representative Jim Clyburn. In the wake of the Democrats’ disappointing Congr...
2020-12-16 17:22:55 +0000 UTC
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This is the second installment of our scoldy, buzz kill, two-part episode on Obama-era media failures we should be on the look out for as the Biden administration takes office. On this episode, we examine five more tropes that, sadly, are already being resurrected.
Our guest is Roberto Lovato, author of Unforgetting: A Memoir of Family, Migration, Gangs and Revolution in the Americas.
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Guest
2020-12-09 18:15:19 +0000 UTC
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Hi all,
Thank you so much as always for your continued support. We really really are very appreciative.
Here is this fortnight's newsletter. Hope you enjoy!
-- Florence, Adam, Julianne, Nima, and Marco
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The Coming Wave of Evictions Will Significantly Wor...
2020-12-08 20:46:39 +0000 UTC
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In light of John Kerry's new "national security" climate role, we follow up on Episode 122 by reading policy papers published by John Kerry's think tank. Hint: they want more money for the Pentagon, ICE, and Border Patrol.
Show Notes
Framing Climate Change as a “National Security Priorit...
2020-12-08 14:51:49 +0000 UTC
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President-elect Joe Biden has promised what he calls a return to "decency" and "unity," and American media has broadly characterized his victory over Donald Trump as, in the words of New York Times columnist Charles Blow, "The Third Term of the Obama Presidency." Many of the same holdovers — Samantha Power, Antony Blinken, Michèle Flournoy, Bob McDonald, Jake Sullivan, Susan Rice, Sally Yates, John Kerry and many in the revolving think tank, consulting outfits, marketing firms...
2020-12-02 17:01:35 +0000 UTC
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A CNN headline from this past summer read: “Mental health during coronavirus: Tips for processing your feelings.” Psychology Today gave us an article on “Coping With Loneliness During a Pandemic,” while the Washington Post presents, “A guide to taking care of yourself during the pandemic.” Everywhere we’ve turned over the past 9 months, American media has been covering the mental health downside of the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdown and ...
2020-11-25 19:11:38 +0000 UTC
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In this News Brief, we talk with journalist Ashoka Jegroo about Giuliani's long history of racism, white liberal New Yorkers providing cover for his carceral sociopathy because they liked the results, and the pathetic, inevitable final chapter of the former New York mayor.
You can find a full transcript of this episode her...
2020-11-20 19:12:13 +0000 UTC
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"Joe Biden Calls For ‘Immediate, Full And Transparent Investigation’ Into Jacob Blake Shooting," Forbes reports. "Obama Fraud Task Force Takes on the Big Banks," Bloomberg News proclaims. "Democratic lawmakers call for vote on bill to study reparations," announces CNN.
It seems that every time there’s a movement toward righting a historical or current wrong, whether police violence, corporate abuses, or climate. change, policymakers muster the same tepid “solut...
2020-11-18 16:48:15 +0000 UTC
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In this Sight Unseen film review, we recap the ideological currents and industry backers of J.D. Vance's White Trash Whisperer shtick and how it blames everyone for Appalachian poverty but corporate America and Republicans.
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Guests
Tom Sexton and Tarence Ray are co-hosts of the podcast Trillbilly Worker's Party, based out of Whitesburg, Kentucky.
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Show Notes
2020-11-11 16:36:15 +0000 UTC
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Hi all!
Thanks as always for your support and for those that showed up to the Election Night Discord hang. It was a lot of fun!
-- Florence, Marco, Julianne, Adam, and Nima
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This Democrat Is Vying for a Powerful Foreign Affairs Role. His Ties To Right-Wing Groups in Colombia Could Hau...
2020-11-10 20:22:33 +0000 UTC
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