CounterSpin

  https://media.blubrry.com/counterspin/content.blubrry.com/counterspin/CounterSpin241018.mp3 Right-click here to download this episode (“Save link as…”).   Gaza First Amendment Alert (10/16/24) The official death toll in Gaza is now roughly 43,000 people, very conservatively. As the Lancet and others remind, armed conflicts have indirect health implications beyond the direct harm from violence, including deaths from causes such as reproductive, communicable and non-communicable diseases. In Palestine, the death toll is exacerbated by displacement; destroyed healthcare infrastructure; severe shortages of food, water and shelter; the inability to flee to safe places; and the loss of funding to the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNWRWA), one of very few humanitarian organizations working in the region. A real accounting will also include not just those we don’t yet know are dead, but the maimed, the orphaned, the starved, the homeless.  Democracy Now! recently spoke with a doctor from Gaza who said that he wishes that “Americans could see more of what it looks like when a child is shot in the head, when a child is flayed open by bombs. I think it would make us think a little bit more about what we do in the world.” The New York Times has deemed such images too graphic to print. Too horrific, in other words, to run alongside reporting that suggests, implies or outright states that those deaths are justified, make sense or, minimally, are not worth stopping eating your buttered toast about. As media critics, we look to Palestinians to represent Palestinian views, but it’s crucial that we not see the present moment as something happening to Other People, Somewhere Else. The repression of simple anti-genocide calls, the censorship, the firings, the disinformation, the malforming of concepts like “antisemitism”—these are problems for all of us, about all of us, that will influence all of us forever. Defending Rights & Dissent has started a project called the Gaza First Amendment Alert, which is going to come out every other Wednesday. Chip Gibbons is policy director at Defending Rights & Dissent, a journalist, a researcher and a longtime activist.  He led a successful campaign to defeat a proposed unconstitutional anti-boycott bill in Maryland. Transcript: ‘We’re Witnessing This Global Tidal Wave of Repression’

  https://media.blubrry.com/counterspin/content.blubrry.com/counterspin/CounterSpin241011.mp3   Right-click here to download this episode (“Save link as…”).   UC Press (2024) This week on CounterSpin: For many people and for media, the idea of “racial discrimination in housing” invokes an image of individual landlords refusing to rent or sell homes to Black and brown people. But that understanding is so incomplete as to be harmful. A new book doesn’t just illuminate the thicket of effects of systemic racism as it affects where people live; it reframes the understanding of the role of housing—connecting housing injustice with health inequities and wealth disparities, as well as lifting up work that connects those “mutually constitutive” elements of what the author calls an “unjust, destructive and even deadly racial order.” George Lipsitz is research professor emeritus of Black studies and sociology at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He’s author of The Possessive Investment in Whiteness and How Racism Takes Place, among other titles. He joins us to talk about his new book: The Danger Zone Is Everywhere: How Housing Discrimination Harms Health and Steals Wealth. Transcript: ‘Housing Discrimination Is Collective, Cumulative, Continuing’ https://media.blubrry.com/counterspin/content.blubrry.com/counterspin/CounterSpin241011Lipsitz.mp3   Plus Janine Jackson takes a quick look at recent coverage of the port strike. https://media.blubrry.com/counterspin/content.blubrry.com/counterspin/CounterSpin241011Banter.mp3  

  https://media.blubrry.com/counterspin/content.blubrry.com/counterspin/CounterSpin241004.mp3 Download this episode   Newsweek (9/27/24) This week on CounterSpin: “How Hurricane Helene Could Impact Florida’s Home Insurance Crisis” was a recent Newsweek headline, on a story with a source saying smaller insurers were “especially in danger.” A layperson might wonder why events we pay insurance for should present a crisis for the industry we pay it to. The unceasing effects of climate disruption will only throw that question into more relief. Writer and historian Derek Seidman joins us to help understand what’s happening and how folks are resisting. Transcript: ‘The Insurance Industry Is the Fossil Fuel Industry’ https://media.blubrry.com/counterspin/content.blubrry.com/counterspin/CounterSpin241004Seidman.mp3   Vera Institute (3/21/24) Also on the show: If it comes to issues that many unaffected people are told to care strongly about, immigration from the southern border is high on the list. But how seriously should we attend to a public conversation where believing that your Haitian neighbors want to eat your pets is not a bar to entry? We’ll talk about building a humane dialog on immigration and asylum policy with Insha Rahman,  vice president of advocacy and partnerships at the Vera Institute of Justice and the director of Vera Action. Transcript: ‘Americans Understand That Immigration Is a Fundamental Part of Our Society’ https://media.blubrry.com/counterspin/content.blubrry.com/counterspin/CounterSpin241004Rahman.mp3   Plus Janine Jackson takes a quick look back at media coverage of the TikTok ban. https://media.blubrry.com/counterspin/content.blubrry.com/counterspin/CounterSpin241004Banter.mp3  

  https://media.blubrry.com/counterspin/content.blubrry.com/counterspin/CounterSpin240927.mp3   Al Jazeera (9/20/24) This week on CounterSpin: On September 17, thousands of handheld pagers exploded simultaneously across Lebanon and Syria. The next day, it was hundreds of walkie-talkies—part of an Israeli attack, intended for Hezbollah, that Israel’s defense minister called “the start of a new phase in the war.” Media dutifully reported the emerging toll of dead and wounded, including many civilians, including children. Harder to capture is the life-altering impact of such a terror attack on those it doesn’t kill. As every day brings news of new carnage, US citizens have a duty not to look away, given our government’s critical role in arming Israel and ignoring its crimes, and in misleading us about what they know and intend. Mohamad Bazzi is director of the Hagop Kevorkian Center for Near Eastern Studies and journalism professor at New York University, and former Middle East bureau chief at Newsday. He joins us to talk about the latest events and media response. Transcript: ‘Western Press Obscured the Sheer Terror of What Israel Had Carried Out’ https://media.blubrry.com/counterspin/content.blubrry.com/counterspin/CounterSpin240927Bazzi.mp3   Plus Janine Jackson takes a quick look at recent press coverage of Rashida Tlaib, banned books and deportation. https://media.blubrry.com/counterspin/content.blubrry.com/counterspin/CounterSpin240927Banter.mp3  

  https://media.blubrry.com/counterspin/content.blubrry.com/counterspin/CounterSpin240920.mp3   The Brainwashing of My Dad (2016) This week on CounterSpin: Springfield, Ohio, schools are facing bomb threats because some people believe that Haitian immigrants are stealing and eating dogs and cats. According to candidates for the country’s highest offices, and the KKK flyers showing up around town, this means that these legal immigrants should be pushed out of the country—or, no doubt, in the minds of inspired vigilantes, much worse. We spoke with filmmaker, activist and author Jen Senko in April 2023. The Brainwashing of My Dad—Jen Senko’s film and the book based on it—are an effort to engage the effects of that yelling, punching down, reactionary media. We’ll hear our conversation with her this week on CounterSpin. Transcript: ‘This Media Is Meant to Change People, and It Does’ https://media.blubrry.com/counterspin/content.blubrry.com/counterspin/CounterSpin240920Senko.mp3   Plus Janine Jackson takes a quick look at recent coverage of Donald Trump’s threat to democracy. https://media.blubrry.com/counterspin/content.blubrry.com/counterspin/CounterSpin240920Banter.mp3  

  https://media.blubrry.com/counterspin/content.blubrry.com/counterspin/CounterSpin240913.mp3   New York Times (9/10/24) This week on CounterSpin: Corporate US news media continue to report things like Israel’s recent strike on the Gaza Strip that killed at least 19 people in an area designated a “refuge” for Palestinians, and to include warnings of a possible wider war in the region—but there’s little sense of urgency, of something horrible happening that US citizens could have a role in preventing. We’ll talk about that with media critic, activist and teacher Gregory Shupak. Transcript: ‘Genocide Can and Should Never Be Just a Normal Story’ https://media.blubrry.com/counterspin/content.blubrry.com/counterspin/CounterSpin240913Shupak.mp3   Fox 5 Atlanta (9/12/24) Also on the show: US corporate media have a similar “another day, another tragedy” outlook on gun violence. It happens, we’re told, but all reporters need to do is quote people saying it’s bad yet oddly unavoidable, and they’re done. We’ll hear from Robert Spitzer, a historian of gun regulation and gun rights, about some spurious reasons behind the impasse on gun violence. Transcript: ‘There Are More Guns Than Americans, But Most of Them Are Owned by a Minority’ https://media.blubrry.com/counterspin/content.blubrry.com/counterspin/CounterSpin240913Spitzer.mp3   That studied lack of urgent concern about human life—is that journalism? Why do the press corps need a constitutional amendment to protect their ability to speak if all they’re going to say is, “oh well”?

  https://media.blubrry.com/counterspin/content.blubrry.com/counterspin/CounterSpin240906.mp3   CEPR (8/26/24) This week on CounterSpin: Corporate economic news can be so abstract that it’s disinforming even when it’s true. The big idea is that there’s something called “the US economy” that can be doing well or poorly, which obscures the reality that we are differently situated, and good news for the stock market, say, may mean nothing, or worse, for me. A people-centered press corps would spell out the meaning of economic “indicators,” not just in terms of their impact on different communities, but in relation to where we want to go as a society that has yet to address deep historical and structural harms. A new report on the current state of the Black economy takes up these questions. We’ll hear from its co-authors: Dedrick Asante-Muhammad is president of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies; and Algernon Austin is director of the Race and Economic Justice program at the Center for Economic and Policy Research. Transcript: ‘We’re Hitting Record Highs, But Still Leaving African Americans in Economic Insecurity’

  https://media.blubrry.com/counterspin/content.blubrry.com/counterspin/CounterSpin240830.mp3   Lever (8/26/24) This week on CounterSpin: The country’s largest and second-largest grocery store chains want to merge and, surprising no one, they claim that giving them that tremendous market power will lead to lower prices, better quality food and better conditions for workers. The FTC says, hold on a second, how does that square with on-the-record statements that Kroger is currently raising the prices of things like eggs and milk above inflation rates, simply because they can get away with it—a practice known as price-gouging? The response, dutifully reported in corporate news media is: We won’t do that anymore! And also: If you try to stop us, that’s illegal! It could hardly be clearer that the public—consumers and workers—needs advocates willing to go behind talking points to enforceable law. Freddy Brewster is a writer and journalist; his report on the possible Kroger/Albertsons megamerger, its implications, and the behind the scenes shenanigans attendant to it, appears on LeverNews.com. We hear about that this week on CounterSpin. Transcript: ‘They See These Price Hikes as a Good Thing’ https://media.blubrry.com/counterspin/content.blubrry.com/counterspin/CounterSpin240830Brewster.mp3   Plus Janine Jackson takes a quick look back at recent press coverage of the Golan Heights bombing. https://media.blubrry.com/counterspin/content.blubrry.com/counterspin/CounterSpin240830Banter.mp3  

  https://media.blubrry.com/counterspin/content.blubrry.com/counterspin/CounterSpin240823.mp3   This week on CounterSpin: One of many things wrong with corporate news media is the way they hammer home the idea that the current system is the only system. If you don’t see yourself and your interests reflected in either of the two dominant parties, the problem is you. Part of the value of independent media is that the people they listen to give us new questions to ask. For example: How do we acknowledge the fact that many people’s opinions are shaped by messages that are created and paid for by folks who work hard to hide their identity and their interests? If we’re in an open debate about what’s best for all of us, why can’t we see who pays you? We’ll talk about “dark money” with Steve Macek. He’s professor and chair of communication and media studies at North Central College in Illinois. His recent piece, “Dark Money Uncovered,” appeared on TheProgressive.org. Transcript: ‘They’re Trying to Pass Laws to Make Dark Money Even Darker’ https://media.blubrry.com/counterspin/content.blubrry.com/counterspin/CounterSpin240823Macek.mp3   Plus Janine Jackson takes a quick look back at recent press coverage of Phil Donahue. https://media.blubrry.com/counterspin/content.blubrry.com/counterspin/CounterSpin240823Banter.mp3  

  https://media.blubrry.com/counterspin/content.blubrry.com/counterspin/CounterSpin240816.mp3   ExxonKnews (6/17/24) This week on CounterSpin: Climate disruption is outpacing many scientists’ understanding of it, and it’s undeniably driving many harms we are facing: extreme heat, extreme cold, devastating hurricanes and tornadoes. News media are giving up pretending that these extreme weather events are just weird, and not provably driven by the continued use of fossil fuels. But fossil fuel companies are among the most powerful players in terms of telling lawmakers how to make the laws they want to see, public interest be damned. So the crickets you’re hearing about efforts to eviscerate the right to protest the impacts of climate disruption? That’s all intentional.  We’ll hear about what you are very definitely not supposed to hear from reporter Emily Sanders from ExxonKnews. Transcript: ‘This Is a Push to Pass Laws Criminalizing Protest of Fossil Fuel Infrastructure’ https://media.blubrry.com/counterspin/content.blubrry.com/counterspin/CounterSpin240816Sanders.mp3   Inside Climate News (7/8/24) Also and related: Not everyone is lying down and accepting that, OK, we’re going to die from a climate crisis that is avoidable, but since companies don’t want to talk about it, let’s not. A county in Oregon is saying, deaths from high heat are in fact directly connected to conscious corporate decision-making, and we’ll address it that way. We’ll hear about that potentially emblematic story from Victoria St. Martin, longtime journalist and journalism educator, now reporting on health and environmental justice at Inside Climate News. Transcript: ‘This Was Not Caused by God, But Caused by Climate Change’ https://media.blubrry.com/counterspin/content.blubrry.com/counterspin/CounterSpin240816Martin.mp3   Employing the law to silence dissent on life or death concerns, or using the law to engage those concerns head on—that’s this week on CounterSpin!