25 Jul

Posted at 23:35h in Uncategorized
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Iran, Iraq, and the New York Times’ Master Class in Reality Inversion.A recent New York Times presents a Manichean worldview wherein the United States’ invasion of Iraq was noble and just, while Iran’s relationship with its neighbor is nefarious and dangerous. The article was written by Baghdad bureau chief Tim Arango (right).Welcome to Episode 4 of our new media criticism podcast, Citations Needed.The show is hosted by Adam Johnson and Nima Shirazi, media analysts working to call bullshit on (usually corporate) media’s ubiquitous reliance on and regurgitation of false and destructive narratives, tropes and stereotypes.On Episode 4, we talk about a recent New York Times article — and the broader media habit of painting the United States as benevolent democracy-seeker, while Iran and other Official Enemies™ are presented only ever as cynical imperialists.In this episode, we dissect the true history of what caused chaos in Iraq, who’s to blame and what the real motives were behind the Bush, Obama and Trump administrations’ designs for the country. All this in the context of a battle for control over remaining ISIS territory in Syria; and...

21 Jul

Posted at 00:26h in Uncategorized
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The great gang hype is upon us.Welcome to Episode 3 of our new media criticism podcast, Citations Needed.The show is hosted by Adam Johnson and Nima Shirazi, media analysts working to call bullshit on (usually corporate) media’s ubiquitous reliance on and regurgitation of false and destructive narratives, tropes and stereotypes.Episode 3 is about the media narrative surrounding the rise of so-called “gang raids” that have exploded over the past three years. These high-stakes, headline-grabbing spectacles target, almost exclusively, black and brown people and are carried out by hundreds of local, state, and federal officials.[embed]https://soundcloud.com/citationsneeded/ep-03-the-rise-of-superpredator-20[/embed]Emails obtained by Atlantic City Lab’s George Joseph (now at Demos.org) make clear that media perception is, at least, one major criteria for these raids. Joseph wrote in February:As one ICE officer excitedly wrote, the operation “has more media interest than I can catalogue and the story was picked up worldwide.”Another internal email by an ICE official insisted, “the operation has more media interest than I can catalogue and the story was picked up worldwide.”That which the government frames as a media operation should be dissected as...

20 Jul

Posted at 04:51h in Uncategorized
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Forgotten war crimes, broken promises, and the making of an official enemyThis is the video game-style image that accompanied a new cover article in The Atlantic entitled, “How to Deal With North Korea.”Welcome to Episode 2 of the new media criticism podcast, Citations Needed.The show is hosted by Adam Johnson and Nima Shirazi, political commentators and media analysts working to call bullshit on (usually corporate) media’s ubiquitous reliance on and regurgitation of false and destructive narratives, tropes and stereotypes.Episode 2 features our first foray into the realm of the Official Enemy™, a staple of United States foreign policy discourse.[embed]https://soundcloud.com/citationsneeded/episode-02-the-north-korea-memory-hole[/embed]The past few months have seen a significant increase in media coverage of North Korea, mainly — if not, exclusively—focused on its nuclear and missile programs. Emblematic of the tone of nearly all reports and commentary is a new cover story in The Atlantic, entitled “How to Deal With North Korea,” written by the magazine’s national correspondent Mark Bowden. In typically alarmist fashion, the piece opens with a horror story:Thirty minutes. That’s about how long it would take a nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) launched...

11 Jul

Posted at 15:00h in Uncategorized
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including show notes!Welcome to Episode 1 of the new media criticism podcast, Citations Needed.The show is hosted by Adam Johnson and Nima Shirazi, political commentators and media analysts with years of experience calling bullshit on (usually corporate) media’s ubiquitous reliance on and regurgitation of false and destructive narratives, tropes and stereotypes.Episode 1 features a discussion about charter schools and, basically, why they’re awful. We look into the agenda behind the pro-charter film Waiting for Superman, the ongoing demonization of teachers and their unions, the fudging, inflation and wholesale manufacturing of test scores that demonstrate “success”, and also try to find some silver linings among the dark clouds. For instance, the fact that everyone hates Betsy DeVos is helping.We are joined by the incomparable Jennifer Berkshire, journalist, podcaster, and education editor at Alternet.[embed]https://soundcloud.com/citationsneeded/citations-needed-episode-01-the-charter-school-scam[/embed]Jennifer Berkshire’s writing and interviews regularly gain national attention and have appeared in The New York Times, Washington Post, The Baffler, Salon, Alternet, Jacobin, The Progressive, Huffington Post and plenty of other places.Check out her own podcast, Have You Heard.Show NotesHere’s some stuff mentioned or referenced during the show,...