In this public News Brief, we detail how uncritical acceptance by centrist––and even liberal––media that the US is seeing an unprecedented "labor shortage" is helping justify repealing child labor protections in roughly a dozen states.
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Show Notes
Media Continue to Blame Pro-Child Labor Bills on “Labor Shortage” Rather than Routine Corporate Greed
2023-04-12 14:28:13 +0000 UTC
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Hello, Citations Needed Patrons!
Tonight, Thursday, April 6, at 8:30PM EDT, we'll be hosting a virtual live interview, available to Skeptic- and Critic-level supporters.
Nima and Adam will be joined by Nell McShane Wulfhart, journalist and autho...
2023-04-06 20:55:39 +0000 UTC
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In this public News Brief, we break down Johnson's "surprise" win and how it undermines every lazy media trope involving local Democratic politics pushed over the last two years.
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Transcript
For a full transcript of this News Brief, go here. You can find tran...
2023-04-05 15:45:22 +0000 UTC
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Hello, Citations Needed Patrons!
We're excited to announce that we'll be hosting a virtual live interview, available to Skeptic- and Critic-level supporters, on Thursday, April 6, at 8:30PM EDT.
Nima and Adam will be joined by Nell McShane Wulfhart, journa...
2023-04-01 13:22:27 +0000 UTC
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"Parents fighting schools to protect their kids are heroes, not book-banners," Fox News tells us. Are Privatized Public Libraries So Bad?" asks CityLab. "Huntsville Public Library could be privatized in aftermath of pride display dispute," reports Houston Public Media.
For decades, public libraries have been under attack. Repeatedly, influential rightwing and centrist individuals, corporations, and governments––from Phyllis Schlafly to Ron DeSantis––have coord...
2023-03-29 14:17:35 +0000 UTC
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"Our progress has been part of the living history of America," President Jimmy Carter declared in a 1979 speech. "America is a nation of progress, of moving forward," Senator Chuck Grassley stated in 2022 on the Senate floor. "The story of America is a story of progress and resilience, of always moving forward, of never, ever giving up. It's a story unique among all nations," President Joe Biden announced in his 2023 State of the Union.
For decades - even centuries - policymakers, and m...
2023-03-22 16:15:09 +0000 UTC
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"Unions used to make sense but are obsolete in today's economy!" Unions are an "outside force" or "third party." "I'm a strong worker. Unionization will harm me personally and only help the weak and lazy workers." "Unions are rigid, old fashioned hierarchies."
We’ve all no doubt heard these talking points at some point, if not often, from news shows, opinion pieces, TV dramas, members of our families, our co-workers and, probably most of all, our bosses.
What’s remarkable is h...
2023-03-15 15:07:05 +0000 UTC
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In this News Brief, we discuss the initial lack of coverage of the devastating February 3rd train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio; the coverage of the lack of coverage; the GOP's "white genocide" exploitation; Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg's defensiveness; and the real human stakes of decades of bipartisan deregulation and union-busting.
Our guest is journalist Matthew Cunningham-Cook.
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Guest
2023-03-01 16:24:06 +0000 UTC
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In this News Brief, we break down the recent controversy over the open letter sent by 1200+ NYT contributors pushing back on The Times' salacious coverage of "trans issues," and how the Paper of Record's response has proved to be thin skinned, sanctimonious, and hypocritical.
Our guests are Eric Thurm and Julia Carmel.
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Guests
Eric Thurm is the campaigns coordinator for the Nation...
2023-02-24 16:21:05 +0000 UTC
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In this follow up interview to episodes 172 and 158, we interview UCLA Associate Professor Benjamin Madley about his book "An American Genocide: The United States and the California Indian Catastrophe," and discuss how newspapers, tracts, and paperbacks were an essential element in assisting and priming the public for the genocide of California's native population.
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Guest
Benjamin...
2023-02-15 16:08:49 +0000 UTC
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"Surrounded by children, DeSantis signs the 'Parental Rights in Education' bill," ABC13 reports. "Biden partnered with organization which questioned parents' rights to be notified about their kids' transition" Fox News tells us. "Parental rights isn't a partisan issue. It's what's best for our children," an opinion column in The Washington Times warns. We've heard these cries for over a century from reactionary forces: we’re just a bunch of scrappy "parents" protecting our kids from s...
2023-02-08 23:10:17 +0000 UTC
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"History will cast a shadow over Biden’s decision to withdraw from Afghanistan," the Washington Post’s David Ignatius warned in April of 2021. "Biden's Betrayal of Afghans Will Live in Infamy," George Packer cautioned in The Atlantic magazine in August of that year. "The Cost of Betrayal in Afghanistan," wrote The Atlantic Council’s Ariel Cohen in Newsweek shortly thereafter.
When news broke in April of 2021 tha...
2023-02-01 17:50:18 +0000 UTC
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On a Very Special Episode of "Home Improvement," Tim and Jill lecture their son about the dangers of marijuana after he’s caught smoking a joint. On a powerful episode of ABC’s "Sports Night," written by Aaron Sorkin, sportscaster Dan Rydell delivers a four-minute monologue on how dope killed his younger brother. On a devastating episode of CBS's "Chicago Hope," a dozen teenagers are rushed to the emergency room after taking a new psychedelic drug at a rave.
We’ve all seen these "...
2023-01-25 16:57:16 +0000 UTC
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In this News Brief, we talk with Josie Duffy Rice about her new podcast, "Unreformed: The Story of the Alabama Industrial School for Negro Children,” incarceration as racial disciplining mechanism, and what has––and hasn't––changed in our so-called "juvenile justice system."
2023-01-18 16:23:56 +0000 UTC
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"The city has had 125 daily interactions," New York Mayor Eric Adams tells the Daily News. "We’re working to solve the homelessness crisis, with innovative mental health interventions," San Francisco Mayor London Breed tells reporters. The city needs to "clean up homeless encampments," countless city officials tell us. Everywhere we turn, our elected –– largely Democratic –– governors and mayors are talking about quote "solving the homelessness crisis" without specifying what, exact...
2022-12-21 14:40:39 +0000 UTC
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Soldiers from the US Cavalry defeat the Plains Indians, securing new territory for their burgeoning empire. A group of settlers fends off an armed Indigenous tribe on horseback in their intrepid effort to conquer new lands. A Civil War hero decides to head for the frontier in its waning days, forging an undying friendship with the Native people there.
Each of these summaries describes a film made within the l...
2022-12-14 15:45:50 +0000 UTC
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In this News Brief, we are joined by the Real News Network's Mel Buer and Max Alvarez to discuss the media campaign to obscure Biden and Congressional Dems selling out rail workers.
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Guests
Mel Buer (@mel_buer) is a researcher, educator, journalist and an editor at The Real News Network, Mel is currently writing a book on radical media for OR Books.
2022-11-30 20:41:12 +0000 UTC
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Five days before the midterm elections, the long-running NBC staple removed all subtly and character work and explicitly lobbied against bail reform in a ham-fisted, boring slog of an episode. With guest Juwan J. Holmes.
Our guest is Juwan J. Holmes, a Brooklyn-born journalist and writer, specializing in digital media, culture and art criticism. You can follow him on Twitter @JuwantheWriter.
<...
2022-11-24 00:13:16 +0000 UTC
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"How The Left Created Trump," revealed Rob Hoffman in Politico in November 2016. "Blame liberals for the rise of Donald Trump," insisted S.E. Cupp in The Chicago Tribune the year before. "How the left enabled fascism," explained David Winner in The New Statesman in 2018.
For decades, we’ve been fed a narrative that the rise of any right-wing tendency is the fault of leftists and liberal scolds. The electoral appeal and success of fa...
2022-11-16 16:13:40 +0000 UTC
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"Clinton Says He's Not Leaning Left but Taking a New 'Third Way,'" reported The New York Times in 1992. "It's not left. It’s not right. It’s forward!" proclaimed former presidential candidate Andrew Yang during a 2019 Democratic debate. "Neither left nor right," reads the slogan of far-right French political party Front National.
Every few years we hear about a new, trailblazing political vision that transcends traditional party lines, leaning not to the right or the left, but strai...
2022-11-09 15:35:54 +0000 UTC
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Hi Patrons!
Join Nima and Adam tonight, Tuesday, November 8 on a Patreon livestream from 10 to 11pm EST as we react to the real time media spin of tonight's midterm election.
We will assemble the worst self-serving ass covering, most phoned-in left-punching, slimiest GOP white-washing, and dullest navel-gazing.
As always thanks for your support!
- Florence, Nima, Adam and Julianne
2022-11-08 17:11:46 +0000 UTC
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"Yes, undocumented immigrants take jobs from Americans. Here’s the proof," an opinion piece in The Washington Post tells us. "Save our truckers, not affluent students seeking a free ride," pleads longtime Republican consultant Douglas MacKinnon in The Hill. "Biden's Student Debt Cancellation Robs Hard-Working Americans, Will Make Inflation Even Worse," proclaims a so-called Expert Statement from the Heritage Foundation.
There’s a warning we hear again and again, particularl...
2022-11-02 14:53:38 +0000 UTC
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In this Halloween-themed News Brief, we debunk the idea drug dealers are handing out fentanyl candy to our children. But we also examine why these copaganda panics are able to take hold: namely the failure of liberals to provide an alternative, non-carceral vision for how to handle the very real and urgent overdose crisis.
Our guest is Citations Needed Senior Drug Correspondent Zach Siegel.
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Guest
2022-10-28 15:29:51 +0000 UTC
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Dear Citations Needed supporters,
We have to start off by thanking you all again. We are so grateful to you - the relatively small, yet incredibly mighty, segment of our listeners who support the show financially - for making it possible for us to produce this show. We will never take any of your support for granted. That goes for all of you: those who have been with us for years or just a few months and all of you who signed up to support us just this past week.
Thank you...
2022-10-26 18:00:07 +0000 UTC
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In this Live Show Beg-a-Thon, recorded 10/20, we discuss the morality politics of Star Trek and Pro Wrestling with guests are Robert Greene II and Brandi Collins-Dexter.
For our Patreon supporters, we'll announce the winners of our swag giveaway later today, Wednesday, October 26. Keep your fingers crossed and your eyes on your email!
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Guests
2022-10-26 15:15:26 +0000 UTC
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Dear Patrons,
Citations Needed is now in its sixth season. Over the past five years, we've dropped 170 episodes and over 125 news briefs. We've been joined by hundreds of amazing guests. We've done live shows, AMAs, newsletters and special interviews. Our small team does all the research, writing, recording, editing, pre-production, production, post-production, transcription, promotion and distribution. We love doing the show and we have more great episodes on the way.
Since we st...
2022-10-22 16:25:48 +0000 UTC
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Hey everyone!
Please join us for a livestream tomorrow, THURSDAY EVENING at 8:30pm ET.
We'll be taking on two major pop culture phenomena (Adam and Nima's favorites!): first STAR TREK w/ guest@RobGreeneII, then PRO WRESTLING w/@BrandingBrandi
2022-10-19 22:20:42 +0000 UTC
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In this public News Brief, we discuss local TV news, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal's breathless coverage of so-called "fare evasion" and how our media decides which theft to care about and which to ignore.
2022-10-19 20:42:08 +0000 UTC
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In this News Brief, we discuss the nominally progressive news network's lies and omissions when covering efforts to reduce the US's unprecedented jail and prison population.
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Show Notes
The Young Turks’ Embrace Of ‘Tough On Crime’ Demagoguery
Adam Johnson | August 25, 2022 | The Real News Network
2022-10-05 17:07:57 +0000 UTC
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"Increasing Numbers of US Students Look for a ‘Real’ World," read a 1965 headline from the magazine Moderator. "Academics: Get Real!," the Harvard Business Review implored in 2009. "‘Defund the police’ runs into reality," the Washington Post warned in 2021. "As Latin America Shifts Left, Leaders Face a Short Honeymoon," the New York Times declared in 2022.
We're often reminded that anyone who espouses some degree of le...
2022-09-28 14:42:46 +0000 UTC
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