The Listening Post

As Brazilians head into national elections, there’s a familiar name on the ballot: Bolsonaro. Not former President Jair Bolsonaro. It’s his son Flavio, who is presenting himself to the electorate as a more moderate version of his father. Election coverage has been dominated by a major corruption scandal - the biggest banking fraud case in the country’s history. Brazilians are accustomed to corruption scandals involving political figures. The coverage tends to be framed as: they’re all equally corrupt. Contributors: Andrew Fishman – President & co-founder, Intercept Brasil David Nemer – Professor, University of Virginia Andre Pagliarini – Professor, Louisiana State University Natalia Portinari – Reporter, O Globo Presenter: Richard Gizbert Producers: Iraklis Taxiarchis, Monazza Farooqi and Kritika Jindal Editor: Sidney Sonnerberg On our radar: Donald Trump’s decision to bar three news outlets from the White House appears to have backfired after journalists organised a media boycott and a judge overturned the ban. Tariq Nafi has been tracking the latest duel between the US president and the media. Reporter: Tariq Nafi Producer: Elettra Scrivo Editor: Haim Litani Spain's neo-Nazis: spectacle vs reality A fringe neo-Nazi movement in Spain, Nucleo Nacional, has attracted a growing online following by packaging incendiary and slickly produced content. The mainstream media attention the group has received has made a marginal organisation appear far larger and more influential than it is. The Listening Post’s Elettra Scrivo travels to Madrid - where she comes face-to-face with Nucleo Nacional’s members - to look at the reality that lies behind the spectacle. Featuring: Miquel Ramos – Author, 'Antifascistas' Urszula Mrozowska – Digital researcher in hate speech and extremism Producer / Reporter: Elettra Scrivo Editor: Sidney Sonnerberg / ajlisteningpost / ajlisteningpost https://bsky.app/profile/ajlisteningp... https://x.com/ajlisteningpost https://www.threads.net/@ajlisteningpost #aljazeeraenglish #brazil #politics #breakingnews

As Brazilians head into national elections, there’s a familiar name on the ballot: Bolsonaro. Not former President Jair Bolsonaro. It’s his son Flavio, who is presenting himself to the electorate as a more moderate version of his father. Election coverage has been dominated by a major corruption scandal - the biggest banking fraud case in the country’s history. Brazilians are accustomed to corruption scandals involving political figures. The coverage tends to be framed as: they’re all equally corrupt. Contributors: Andrew Fishman – President & co-founder, Intercept Brasil David Nemer – Professor, University of Virginia Andre Pagliarini – Professor, Louisiana State University Natalia Portinari – Reporter, O Globo On our radar: Donald Trump’s decision to bar three news outlets from the White House appears to have backfired after journalists organised a media boycott and a judge overturned the ban. Tariq Nafi has been tracking the latest duel between the US president and the media. Spain's neo-Nazis: spectacle vs reality A fringe neo-Nazi movement in Spain, Nucleo Nacional, has attracted a growing online following by packaging incendiary and slickly produced content. The mainstream media attention the group has received has made a marginal organisation appear far larger and more influential than it is. The Listening Post’s Elettra Scrivo travels to Madrid - where she comes face-to-face with Nucleo Nacional’s members - to look at the reality that lies behind the spectacle. Featuring: Miquel Ramos – Author, 'Antifascistas' Urszula Mrozowska – Digital researcher in hate speech and extremism

AI’s existential threat to humanity is dominating headlines across the globe. But with so much attention on the fear of a future AI apocalypse, is the media ignoring the damage AI is already causing? And as AI CEOs join forces to call for regulations, is their motivation about public safety or to secure their grip on the technology’s future? Contributors:  Leo Schwartz – Reporter, The Information Sarah Myers West – Co-executive director, AI Now Aaron Mak – Technology reporter, Politico Cori Crider – Executive director, Future of Tech Institute On our radar NAZA, a documentary that lifts the lid on Israel’s calculated killing of Palestinians, has sparked outrage in Israel and accusations of treason against its Israeli filmmakers. They’ve faced threats from senior government and military officials, as well as journalists and online activists. Elettra Scrivo reports. Who gets to publish Africa? Cassava Republic Press and the politics of storytelling Literature can shape how people see themselves - and how they’re seen by the rest of the world. But before a story reaches a reader, someone - an editor - has to decide if it is worth publishing. For decades, much of African literature was published outside the continent. Twenty years ago, Cassava Republic Press set out to change that, by building a publishing house rooted in Africa. Tariq Nafi examines how the publisher has helped reshape the industry and whether control over African stories has really come home. Featuring: Bibi Bakare-Yusuf – Co-founder and publishing director, Cassava Republic Press Chika Unigwe – Author and professor of creative writing Tinashe Mushakavanhu – Assistant professor, Harvard University

With the US midterm elections just weeks away, Donald Trump’s administration is trying to put a positive spin on a war with Iran that shows no sign of letting up. Climbing fuel and grocery prices, the president’s provocative social media posts and the Pentagon’s combative relationship with the media are making that story harder to sell. Contributors:  Laicie Heeley – Editor-in-chief, Inkstick Mark Kimmitt – Former US Assistant Secretary of State Negar Mortazavi – Host, The Iran Podcast Samira Mohyeddin – Founder, On The Line Media On our radar Revelations from Israeli newspaper Haaretz about what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu knew before the October 7 attacks have ignited a firestorm in the country. Netanyahu calls the reporting fabricated and is threatening to sue. Ryan Kohls reports. How COVID coverage broke trust in the US Six years on from the start of the pandemic, COVID-19 is back in the headlines - and so are questions about how newsrooms covered it. The Listening Post's Nicholas Muirhead on how the pandemic broke trust in the US. Featuring:  Amesh Adalja – Infectious Disease Physician, Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security Frances E Lee – Co-author, In COVID’s Wake: How Our Politics Failed Us Jeanne Lenzer – Investigative Medical Journalist

Assal Rad built a reputation on social media as the “headline fixer” for her work correcting journalistic sins at major news outlets. The historian joins presenter Richard Gizbert to discuss her new book, ‘Don’t Say Palestine - How the Media Manufactured Consent for Genocide.’ In it, Rad traces the role mainstream media played in normalising the dehumanisation of Palestinians and whitewashing Israel’s genocidal campaign in Gaza. Contributor: Assal Rad – Author ‘Don’t say Palestine: How the media manufactured consent for genocide.’ Journalist Ameed Shehade: “I escaped death four times.” Over the past few weeks, Israel has intensified its efforts to make life unbearable in the Occupied West Bank, where settlers - protected by the army - have been besieging, attacking and killing Palestinians. Journalist Ameed Shehade, correspondent for Al Araby TV, speaks with us about what it is like to live - and work - with a target on his back. Featuring: Ameed Shehade – West Bank Correspondent, Al Araby TV

For decades, much of the United States media adopted Washington’s framing of US conflicts in the Middle East. But the US-Israel war against Iran is defying that trend. US news outlets are increasingly challenging President Donald Trump on his declarations of victory and absence of a clear strategy. Meanwhile, Iran’s military remains operational, Tehran retains control of the Strait of Hormuz and fears are mounting that the disruption to global energy supplies will drag on. Contributors:  Mohamad Elmasry - professor of media studies, Doha Institute for Graduate Studies Negar Mortazavi - host, Iran Podcast Maral Karimi - lecturer, Toronto Metropolitan University Sultan Barakat - senior professor in public policy, Hamad Bin Khalifa University On our radar Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s foreign trips are usually tightly choreographed affairs. But his trip to Norway did not go according to plan when a journalist named Helle Lyng asked him an unscripted question. Lyng was later criticised by Indian news outlets for that exchange. Norway’s news media also came under fire after the country’s largest newspaper published an orientalist caricature of Modi. Tariq Nafi has been following the story. The dark side of Kenya’s digital age Kenya is the tech hub of East Africa and has built a thriving digital economy. But alongside that growth has come an expanding surveillance apparatus. After antigovernment protests in 2024, President William Ruto’s administration is accused of intensifying its monitoring of civilians. Critics say the government is trying to quell online dissent before it reaches the streets. Nicholas Muirhead reports on how surveillance tools designed to combat "terrorism" are being turned on Kenya's citizens. Featuring: Victor Ndede - Amnesty International Nanjala Nyabola - author, Digital Democracy Thomas Mukhwana - investigative journalist, Africa Uncensored

As criticism of Israel mounts over its wars on Gaza, Lebanon and Iran, along with the escalating settler violence in the occupied West Bank, the country is ramping up its PR offensive. From a carefully managed appearance of Benjamin Netanyahu on CBS’s 60 Minutes to a major expansion of Israel’s Hasbara operation, the push includes pouring money into digital campaigns and media messaging. The goal is to reverse the collapse of public support for Israel, especially in the US, but no amount of spin can make audiences unsee what they have watched in real time. Contributors: Miriyam Aouragh - Professor of digital anthropology, University of Westminster Matt Lieb - Host, Bad Hasbara podcast Emily Schrader - Journalist, ILTV News Oren Ziv - Reporter, Local Call On our radar Israeli officials have dismissed a recent New York Times report on sexual violence against Palestinians as “blood libel”. But while the government denounces the allegations, many of the claims in the report have been openly discussed in the Israeli media. Nicholas Muirhead reports. Zaragoza Data Farms The generative AI boom is prompting a global race to build vast, energy-hungry data centres. In Spain’s Aragon region, authorities have welcomed tech giants and the jobs, investment and digital transformation they claim to bring. But behind the glossy narrative lies a different reality - one in which enormous facilities consume natural resources and exploit legal loopholes, often at the expense of the communities that live alongside them. Featuring: Alonso Llorente - Journalist, Arainfo Pablo Jimenez Arandia - Investigative reporter Mar Vaquero - Vice president, Aragon Minister of Economy, Employment & Industry

The information front has been central to the Iranian government’s war effort. For an external audience, there is an innovative online strategy that has consisted of AI Lego, memes and hip hop diss tracks directed at Donald Trump and the MAGA base. But this coexists with more brutal domestic tactics: crackdowns, arrests and internet blackouts. The result has been the Iranian authorities making use of the internet for PR internationally, while simultaneously preventing the Iranian people from openly accessing the net themselves. Contributors: Ali Hashem – Correspondent, Al Jazeera English Mehran Kamrava – Professor of Government, Georgetown University in Qatar Tara Kangarlou – Journalist & Author, The Heartbeat of Iran Maral Karimi – Lecturer, Toronto Metropolitan University On our radar The killing of Lebanese journalist Amal Khalil unfolded in the manner that so many Israeli assassinations of journalists in Gaza have - minute by minute, hour by hour, in a pattern that has become shockingly familiar. There's the surveillance, the strike, the obstruction of rescue and then, the denial - Israel's insistence that it does not target journalists, medics or rescue workers. Meenakshi Ravi reports. Pakistan’s peacemaker moment and the missing stories Pakistan has found itself at the centre of one of the world’s most consequential stories  - by hosting talks between the United States and Iran, brokering ceasefires, earning the very public praise of Donald Trump and making headlines around the world. But this PR moment is obscuring a great deal, including an undercover war with Afghanistan and a crushing cost-of-living crisis at home. We speak to Amber Rahim Shamsi about the domestic politics behind Pakistan’s diplomatic moment in the sun. Featuring: Amber Rahim Shamsi – Pakistan Editor, Nukta

A fragile ceasefire between the US and Iran holds - but the information war intensifies. At the centre: the Strait of Hormuz, where competing US and Iranian narratives have collided. During any truce, even when the bombs stop falling, the information war goes on.  Moments like this test journalism. Because the job is not just to report on the messaging coming from all sides - but to decode and debunk it if necessary. Contributors: Abeer Al Najjar – Professor of Media & Journalism, American University of Sharjah Andrew Arsan – Professor of Arab & Global History, University of Cambridge Alireza Doostdar – Associate Professor of Islamic Studies, University of Chicago Nazila Fathi – Former Tehran Correspondent, New York Times On our radar Israel’s relations with its European allies are fraying, with increasingly sharp rhetoric from both sides playing out across political and media platforms. Meenakshi Ravi reports. The Iranian diaspora in the media: Interview with Narges Bajoghli The Iranian diaspora contains a wide range of often conflicting views. But judging by its representation in mainstream Western media, one might assume the dominant position is support for the war. We speak to Narges Bajoghli about how diaspora voices are weaponised in coverage of Iran. Featuring: Narges Bajoghli – Associate Professor, Johns Hopkins University

The war on Iran has entered a much more damaging phase with more assassinations of the leadership in Tehran, the continued blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and major strikes on energy infrastructure across the region. As the war has escalated, pressure on news organisations in the United States, Israel and Iran is increasing. Contributors:  Branko Marcetic – Writer, Jacobin Arta Moeini – Institute for Peace and Diplomacy Mouin Rabbani – Co-editor, Jadaliyya Mairav Zonszein – Senior Analyst, International Crisis Group On our radar This week, three more senior Iranian political leaders were killed by Israel. Coverage followed a familiar pattern - awe at the Israeli intelligence operation’s "sophistication", and little scrutiny of the legality of the actions. Meenakshi Ravi reports on how these killings have been reported in Israeli and Western media. War in Lebanon: Interview with Jean Kassir Millions of people in Lebanon are enduring the consequences of the Iran war with little media attention. Israel has now begun ground operations there and is openly boasting it will turn the country into a new Gaza. The cofounder and managing editor of Lebanese news website Megaphone spoke to us about the toll this war is having on his country. Featuring: Jean Kassir – Managing Editor, Megaphone

One week into the United States and Israel’s war on Iran, and the messaging coming from the White House is consistently chaotic and contradictory. From regime change and nuclear threat to preemptive attack - the Trump administration is struggling to juggle its narrative. And while the mainstream media is working overtime to legitimise the Trump-Netanyahu war at home, Americans remain unconvinced. Contributors:  Negar Mortazavi – Host, The Iran Podcast Samira Mohyeddin – Host, On the Line Media Antony Loewenstein – Author, The Palestine Laboratory Borzou Daragahi – Writer, badlands, Substack On our radar Voices within the Iranian diaspora that support the US-Israeli bombing campaign are being given a disproportionate amount of airtime across Western mainstream media. One of the most prominent figures is Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of Iran’s former shah, who has presented himself as someone who could “lead the transition” to a new government in Tehran. Meenakshi Ravi looks at how the one-sided coverage lends credibility to the war. Reporting under fire in the West Bank With the eyes of the world focused on Gaza and now Iran, far too little attention has been paid to another territory where Israel exercises near-total control: the occupied West Bank. Israel has intensified its policy of fragmenting the territory, carving it up and expanding control over the land. Journalists in the occupied West Bank have seen their movement severely restricted by hundreds of new checkpoints and barriers. And they face the constant threat of soldiers who are more aggressive and settlers who - protected by the army - are more emboldened and violent than ever. One of those journalists is Ameed Shehade, a correspondent for Al Araby TV, whose unflinching reporting frequently places him directly in harm’s way. Featuring: Ameed Shehade – West Bank correspondent, Al Araby TV

As Washington escalates threats of military action against Iran, negotiations over Tehran’s nuclear programme continue behind the scenes. But while the Trump administration insists that the standoff is about security, Iran’s state media are pushing a very different narrative: that the crisis is a deliberate distraction from the Epstein scandal that continues to implicate the US president. Contributors: Dina Esfandiary – Middle East Lead, Bloomberg Economics Fereshteh Sadeghi – Iranian journalist Jamal Abdi – President, National Iranian American Council Sina Toossi – Senior Fellow, Centre for International Policy On our radar: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi travelled to Israel this past week in a carefully choreographed display of solidarity. While Modi’s trip was celebrated in the Israeli media, criticism by Indian journalists was blocked back home. Leaving the two leaders to sign arms deals that will boost an already significant military partnership. The Rise of Digital Micro-Bolsonaros Nearly two years after Jair Bolsonaro’s fall from power in Brazil, the movement he built is searching for a new figurehead. A rising generation of young, evangelical, and hyper-online politicians is stepping in. They are leveraging a sophisticated, decades-old religious media machine that evolved from radio and television into a powerful force on social media. Brazil’s political right is being reshaped for the digital age. Featuring: Anna Virginia Balloussier – Journalist, Folha de Sao Paulo Caro Evangelista – Executive Director, ISER Magali Cunha – Editor-in-Chief, Berreia Project

A series of warnings from artificial intelligence (AI) industry insiders shows how the debate around AI drives extreme news cycles, swinging between hype and alarm. The result is media coverage that overlooks the intricacies of this technology and its impact on everyday life. We examine the real risks, what’s being overstated, and what major tech companies stand to gain from all the fearmongering. Contributors: Rumman Chowdhury – Founder, Humane Intelligence Mutale Nkonde – Founder, AI for the People Chris Stokel-Walker – Author of the book How AI Ate the World On our radar Francesca Albanese, the United Nations' special rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories, has found herself in the middle of a political firestorm, all because of comments she never actually made. After a manipulated video of Albanese calling Israel the “enemy of humanity” went viral,  there were calls for her resignation across Europe. The UN has labelled these allegations part of a wider smear campaign to discredit Albanese and the UN itself. A curated view of Israel for African journalists For decades, the Israeli government and pro-Israel organisations have sponsored trips for politicians, celebrities and journalists, inviting them to visit and, as they put it, tell the “real story” about Israel. In the past, those invitations largely targeted figures from Western countries. But since October 7th, there has been a noticeable shift towards African journalists and social media influencers. The objective is clear: to shape coverage in African media and influence audiences across the continent. The Listening Post’s Nic Muirhead reports on the African journalists taking part in these fully funded, tightly managed visits to Israel. Featuring: Hassen Lorgat – Media critic and activist Makhudu Sefara – Editor, Sunday Times Timnit Gebru – Founder, the Distributed AI Research Institute (DAIR) Njahira Gitahi – Reporter, The Standard

The latest tranche of the Epstein files contains more than three million documents - the largest release of its kind. In what appears to be a clumsy attempt at a cover-up by the US Department of Justice, the sloppily redacted names of high-profile perpetrators have failed to conceal the intricate web of global elites spanning politics, royalty, Hollywood and tech. The fallout in Europe has resulted in a string of resignations, but in the US, there has been limited accountability for the politicians named in the files, including Donald Trump. Contributors: Mehdi Hasan - Editor-in-chief and CEO, Zeteo News Chris Hedges - Host, The Chris Hedges Report Nikki McCann Ramirez - Politics reporter at Rolling Stone Danielle Moodie - Host, The Danielle Moodie Show On our radar: It’s been a month since Iranian authorities imposed a total internet blackout during a violent crackdown on antigovernment protesters. Since then, the state has ramped up the targeted repression of journalists and progressive politicians in Iran. The limited information that has managed to make it out of the country, via Elon Musk’s Starlink, is now struggling against what experts say are internet filtering technologies from Chinese companies. Tariq Nafi reports on Iran’s nationwide internet shutdown. How the US military took over American football From choreographed flyovers to flags stretching the length of the field, no other sports league has marketed patriotism as aggressively or successfully as the United States’ National Football League, the NFL. Militarism is embedded in sports and entertainment in the US, but, under the Trump administration, more state institutions are trying to get in on the act. Ryan Kohls reports on the power and the spectacle of the Super Bowl. Featuring: Howard Bryant - Sports journalist and author Kavitha Davidson - Podcast host, Sportly Gregory Daddis - Professor of history, Texas A&M University; retired colonel, US Army

The Epstein files dump has led to days of intense media coverage, revealing how powerful elites around the world engaged in either illegal or morally reprehensible behaviour. But even as journalists sift through millions of documents, one of the most significant stories remains largely missing from the mainstream narrative. Contributor: Murtaza Hussain - National security and foreign affairs reporter, Drop Site News The farce of the ‘ceasefire’ coverage in Gaza More than 500 Palestinians have been killed since a US-brokered "ceasefire" was signed, which begs the question: Should journalists, in contextualising the story, really be calling this a “ceasefire”? As Israel signals it’s preparing to resume full-scale war, we examine how media silence, selective framing and restricted access help keep Gaza off the world’s screens. Featuring: Shaiel Ben-Ephraim - Senior analyst, Atlas Global Strategies Diana Buttu - Palestinian lawyer Muhammad Shehada - Visiting fellow, European Council on Foreign Relations Daniel Levy - President, U.S./Middle East Project

In Minneapolis, Minnesota, the fatal shooting of a protester by border control agents triggered mass demonstrations and presented the Trump administration with an unexpected test of its immigration strategy. Footage captured by onlookers has undercut official statements and intensified questions about the level of force and use of high-tech tools being used to crack down on dissent. Contributors: Julie Millican – Vice president, Media Matters Qasim Rashid – Human Rights lawyer and founder, Let's Address This Naureen Shah – Director of government affairs, ACLU Prem Thakkar – Reporter, Zeteo News On our radar Just days after ownership of TikTok in the US changed hands, with several of the investors linked to President Trump, users reported widespread censorship of content critical of the administration and its allies. Tariq Nafi reports on the allegations, the tech backlash and the rise of rival platforms. Bangladesh’s election and the media under threat Bangladesh’s first post-Hasina elections are approaching amid deep political turbulence and growing fear within the country. After major newsrooms were attacked and journalists targeted by disinformation-driven violence, the country’s media finds itself on the front line of a volatile transition. Mahfuz Anam, the editor of a large English daily, tells us what that’s like. Featuring: Mahfuz Anam – Editor, Daily Star

Donald Trump’s latest attempt to seize Greenland shows that the president is willing to use US force to determine international borders, even at the expense of sovereignty. Western allies - NATO countries included -  publicly formed a united front, but private messages have revealed a more deferential approach to dealing with Trump. This latest crisis may have been averted, but the question remains: Does the so-called rules-based international order apply to Trump? Contributors:  Louise Bokkenheuser - Writer and editor Branko Marcetic - Staff writer, Jacobin Anchal Vohra - Columnist, Foreign Policy Ulrich Bruckner - Professor for European studies, Stanford University On our radar: Donald Trump launched his highly-publicised "Board of Peace" initiative at the World Economic Forum in Davos this week. The signing ceremony followed a familiar pattern for this White House - a carefully staged event centred on Trump, his overblown claims of peacemaking, and speeches in praise of him. But the turnout appears to have fallen short of the hype. A conversation with Ellie Leonard Trump’s Justice Department was ordered to publish documents from the Epstein files more than a month ago. Only 1% of the heavily redacted material has been made public. While the Trump administration floods the zone with news that mainstream outlets have been chasing, an unconventional team of investigators is digging into the Epstein files to see what’s there. They are led by online investigator Ellie Leonard in New York City. Featuring:  Ellie Leonard - Contributing editor, Blue Amp Media

This past week, Iranian protesters were labelled “terrorists” and “saboteurs” by the state. That rhetoric was accompanied by an internet blackout and a surge in violence, with the death toll still unclear. Simultaneously, tensions between the United States and Iran escalated, raising the stakes in what has become one of the most serious political upheavals in the country in years. Contributors: Tohid Asadi – Correspondent, Al Jazeera English Narges Bajoghli – Assistant Professor, Johns Hopkins University Roxane Farmanfarmaian – Lecturer, University Of Cambridge Farzan Sabet – Managing Researcher, Global Governance Centre On our radar In the US, the shooting - in public - of a woman two weeks ago by immigration officers has spiralled into a case of outright lying that is remarkable even by the standards of the Trump administration. Ryan Kohls reports on how official accounts, allied media and even AI-generated spokespeople were deployed to defend the shooting. Cory Doctorow: The AI hype machine Artificial intelligence is routinely framed as unstoppable - a technology the world must adapt to, not question. But as companies invest hundreds of billions and the hype accelerates, scrutiny has fallen away. Cory Doctorow on who controls the story around AI and why past tech “revolutions” offer a warning. Featuring: Cory Doctorow – Author and activist

The horrific Bondi Beach attack in Australia was pulled into Israel’s global information war this past week. As blame was directed towards pro-Palestine politics, media narratives blurred Jewish identity and Israeli state policy - raising urgent questions about who is put at risk when Israel’s anti-Palestinian messaging travels beyond its borders. Contributors: Naama Blatman – Executive member, Jewish Council of Australia Ori Goldberg – Academic and political commentator Antony Loewenstein – Author, The Palestine Laboratory Ramia Sultan – Palestinian Australian lawyer On our radar The outspoken and irreverent Hong Kong media mogul - Jimmy Lai - was convicted this week of conspiring with foreign forces. Tariq Nafi reports on how the Chinese Communist Party is tightening its grip on Hong Kong through its media. The pervasiveness of Hindutva pop In India, Hindu nationalism, or "Hindutva", has spread into a variety of media platforms. Meenakshi Ravi explores its musical subgenre, Hindutva pop, and speaks to one of its biggest names. Featuring: Kanhiya Mittal – Musician Kunal Purohit – Author, The Secretive World of Hindutva Pop Stars Samriddhi Sakunia – Journalist and current affairs Instagrammer

For more than a century, Warner Bros has been one of Hollywood’s biggest players, a legacy studio that helped define the Golden Age of cinema with iconic blockbuster movies. Now, it’s at the centre of a contentious, billion-dollar bidding war between Netflix, the world's leading streaming platform, and Paramount Skydance, owned by the powerful Ellison family, which has close ties to President Trump. Whichever way this goes, the outcome isn’t looking great. Contributors: Matt Craig - Reporter, Forbes Daheli Hall - Writer and director Lee Hepner - Antitrust lawyer Dominic Patten - Executive editor, Deadline On our radar This week, Australia became the first country in the world to impose a social media ban for children less than the age of 16. The Australian government says it is taking on Big Tech and safeguarding children, but some young people were able to quickly bypass the new rules. Ryan Kohls reports. The Imran Khan rumour mill Despite being in jail for more than two years, Imran Khan continues to occupy airtime in Pakistan. After the army restricted access to Khan, rumours of his death ricocheted across social media.  Pressure from his supporters and family forced the military to lift the restrictions and grant Khan’s sisters access to speak to him. Meenakshi Ravi reports on the showdown between Imran Khan and powerful Field Marshal Asim Munir, and what it reveals about power, politics and narrative control in Pakistan. Featuring:  Amber Rahim Shamsi - Pakistan Editor, Nukta Moeed Pirzada - Political YouTuber Mohammed Hanif - Author and journalist

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is asking for a pardon over a range of corruption charges laid against him after repeatedly telling Israeli journalists that he would clear his name in court. The prime minister has long described the case against him as a witch-hunt led by the media and the judiciary. If he succeeds in sidestepping the courts, Israeli journalists and judges will wonder what he might have in store for them. Contributors: Daniel Levy – President, US/Middle East Project Dana Mills – Writer, Local Call & +972 Magazine Jonathan Ofir – Writer, Mondoweiss Dan Perry – Author, "Ask Questions Later" Substack On our radar: This week, former United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton insisted Israel’s PR problems have more to do with TikTok than with the genocide Israeli forces have inflicted on Gaza. Ryan Kohls looks at a persistent myth still making the rounds in American political circles. The phenomenon of Kim Ou-Joon Kim Ou-Joon is part journalist, part activist, part political performer. An outspoken and sometimes controversial voice who leans to the left ideologically, Kim leads South Korea’s biggest YouTube-based news network, primarily through a political podcast. The Listening Post’s Meenakshi Ravi reports on what Kim Ou-Joon - and others like him - reveal about the world of politics and media in South Korea. Featuring: Kim Ou-Joon – Founder and host, News Factory Jane Yeahin Pyo – Assistant professor, Tulane University Shreyas Reddy - Lead correspondent, NK News Subscribe to our channel: http://bit.ly/AJSubscribe Follow us on X : https://twitter.com/AJEnglish Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera Check our website: http://www.aljazeera.com/ Check out our Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/aljazeeraenglish/ Download AJE Mobile App: https://aje.io/AJEMobile #aljazeera #aljazeeraenglish #aljazeeranewslive

The United States’ deadly “counter-narcotics mission” off Venezuela’s coast hinges on an unproven drug-smuggling narrative - a familiar pretext for regime change, and one the mainstream media have been quick to echo. Meanwhile, Venezuelans face escalating repression at home. Contributors: Spencer Ackerman - Author, Reign of Terror and Waller vs Wildstorm Abby Martin - Journalist, The Empire Files Miguel Tinker Salas - Professor, Latin American history, Pomona College "Pablo" - Anonymous Venezuelan Journalist On our radar: New leaks, from a disputed 28-point peace proposal to a secretly recorded call between Trump’s envoy and a Russian official, have upended the delicate Russia-Ukraine negotiations. Meenakshi Ravi explores what these revelations mean for any future deal. Israel’s settlers: From margin to mainstream Israeli settler violence in the West Bank has surged to unprecedented levels, driven by a fringe movement whose far-right ideology has been amplified and normalised across Israeli news outlets. The Listening Post’s Nic Muirhead reports on the movement’s growing power and the media ecosystem enabling its rise. Featuring: Hilla Dayan - Sociologist, University of Amsterdam Nimrod Nir - Political psychologist, Hebrew University of Jerusalem / Director, AGAM Labs Oren Ziv - Photojournalist, +972 Magazine

In the West Bank, record levels of Israeli settler violence against Palestinians are unfolding with little mainstream coverage. The few journalists who try to report on it often face attacks themselves. When the violence is covered, the settlers are often framed as fringe actors, despite clear backing from the Israeli state. A de facto annexation is under way in the West Bank, and yet much of the international media continues to look away. Contributors: Ben Reiff – Senior editor, +972 Magazine Jasper Nathaniel – Journalist Leila Warah – Bethlehem-based journalist Mariam Barghouti – Ramallah-based journalist On our radar As the rhetoric coming out of the Trump administration calling for the removal of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro intensifies, much of the United States media is echoing that language. And with journalists branding Venezuela a “narco-state,” critics warn that the news media - much like in the lead-up to the Iraq War - is making the case for US military intervention. Defossilising the truth: Fighting fossil fuel disinformation As the COP30 climate summit in Belem wrapped up this week, we spoke with UN Special Rapporteur on climate change and human rights Elisa Morgera about a major barrier to real climate action: disinformation. Her latest report lays out how climate justice activists and policymakers are battling decades of coordinated greenwashing by some of the world’s biggest fossil fuel companies - efforts that continue to delay and undermine meaningful progress at this critical moment. Featuring: Elisa Morgera – UN Special Rapporteur on climate change and human rights

The BBC is in turmoil. A leaked dossier exposing a misedited speech of United States President Donald Trump and other editorial concerns has triggered resignations at the top - and a $1bn lawsuit threat from the US leader. Why the leak surfaced now, and who steps in next, are still open questions. Most importantly, will the BBC be able to recover from this moment? Contributors: Ben de Pear – Former editor, Channel 4 News Jane Martinson – Professor, University of London Karishma Patel – Former newsreader, BBC Tom Mills – Author, The BBC: Myth of a Public Service On our radar This week, Ahmed al-Sharaa became the first Syrian president ever to set foot in the White House. A landmark diplomatic trip filled with photo ops and political theatre, marking his transition from a US-designated terrorist to an ally. Meenakshi Ravi reports. AI slop tsunami: Is the internet now a junkyard? Elettra Scrivo explores how social media platforms are rapidly changing with the surge of AI content. Low-quality, mass-produced, artificially generated content, otherwise known as AI slop, is designed to trigger the algorithms and generate revenue for Big Tech companies. Featuring: Drew Harwell – Technology reporter, The Washington Post Mark Lawrence Garilao – AI video content creator Myojung Chung – Associate professor, Northeastern University

The Israeli government is facing what it calls a “public relations disaster” after a video surfaced showing soldiers torturing and sexually assaulting a Palestinian prisoner - a clear war crime under any legal system. Public outrage in Israel has focused less on the abuse itself and more on the leak. And the military’s chief prosecutor, who admitted leaking the footage, has been arrested and branded a traitor. The saga is yet another example of Israeli society’s unwillingness to confront what it has become. Contributors: Chris Doyle - Director, Council for Arab-British Understanding Mairav Zonszien - Senior Israel analyst, International Crisis Group Ori Goldberg - Academic and political commentator Yara Hawari - Co-director, Al-Shabaka On our radar: After an 18-month siege, the Sudanese city of el-Fasher has fallen to the RSF, triggering mass atrocities under a near-total media blackout. With journalists killed, captured, or missing, satellite imagery has become one of the few remaining windows into the violence. Ryan Kohls reports on the city’s fall and the growing evidence of a potential genocide in Darfur. Kenya’s most nicknamed president In Kenya, political satire often takes the form of sharp, witty nicknames - and President William Ruto has earned plenty. As his popularity wanes, young Kenyans online are using these nicknames to mock and challenge his leadership in ways that traditional media cannot. The Listening Post’s Nic Muirhead reports on Ruto’s long, growing and politically problematic list of nicknames. Featuring: Paul Kelemba (Maddo) - Cartoonist Nanjala Nyabola - Political analyst and writer Wandia Njoya - Professor of literature, Daystar University Producers: Soumayya El Filali & Nicholas Muirhead Subscribe to our channel: http://bit.ly/AJSubscribe Follow us on X : https://twitter.com/AJEnglish Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera Check our website: http://www.aljazeera.com/ Check out our Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/aljazeeraenglish/ Download AJE Mobile App: https://aje.io/AJEMobile #aljazeera #aljazeeraenglish #aljazeeranewslive

In this special episode of The Listening Post, we examine the rise of New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani. A democratic socialist and outspoken critic of Israel’s genocide in Gaza, Mamdani has faced a barrage of hostility from US mainstream media, the political donor class and the democratic establishment alike. The press has been particularly relentless, questioning not only Mamdani’s progressive policies but also his identity as a Muslim and an immigrant. But Mamdani is a digital native with an international following and a double-digit lead in the polls. His victory would reverberate far beyond New York City, shaking up the Democratic Party nationwide. This episode exposes how the media and the wealthy political class attempted to discredit Mamdani and how, against all odds, he turned their attacks into the foundation of a movement. Contributors: Kate de Gruyter - Senior director of communications, Third Way Adam Johnson - Podcast co-host, Citations Needed Briahna Joy Gray - Podcast host, Bad Faith Jon Paul Lupo - Consultant, Vocable Communications Presenter: Richard Gizbert Produced by: Elettra Scrivo, Ella Willis & Meenakshi Ravi

El-Fasher, Sudan: a city besieged, starving and largely unseen. As journalists come under fire in Sudan, a lack of international media interest is helping to conceal one of the world's worst humanitarian crises. Contributors: Hassan Berkia – Journalist Kholood Khair – Director, Confluence Advisory Khalid Medani – Associate Professor, McGill Institute of Islamic Studies On our radar: In the occupied West Bank, American journalist Jasper Nathaniel filmed Israeli settlers – backed by soldiers – attacking Palestinians during the olive harvest. Ryan Kohls speaks to Nathaniel about what he witnessed and what it reveals about Israel’s culture of impunity. Why India’s media faces scepticism beyond its borders India’s news channels were once symbols of a vibrant democracy. Today, they’re seen by many of India’s neighbours as propaganda tools - exporting jingoism, sensationalism and Hindutva politics across borders. Meenakshi Ravi reports on rising anti-India sentiment in the region and a crisis of credibility that no longer stops at home. Featuring: Roman Gautam – Editor, Himal Southasian Deepak Kumar Goswami – Filmmaker & actor Smita Sharma – Journalist

As Donald Trump tries to take credit for a ceasefire in Gaza, Israel continues to kill Palestinians. And as both Israeli and Palestinian captives are released, the glaring double standards in coverage lay bare how this genocide was allowed to go on for so long. Contributors:  Tahani Mustafa – Visiting Fellow, European Council on Foreign Relations Mouin Rabbani – Co-editor, Jadaliyya Kenneth Roth – Former Executive Director, Human Rights Watch Oren Ziv – Journalist, +972 Magazine On our radar This year’s Nobel Peace Prize winner, Maria Corina Machado, chose to dedicate her award to Donald Trump. Meenakshi Ravi reports on what motivated the Venezuelan opposition leader to pander to the United States president. All the president’s women: the rise of the ‘womanosphere’ For years, the right-wing media space has been dominated by men. But the 2024 election shone a light on a rising parallel force within Donald Trump’s MAGA movement: the so-called "womanosphere". Across YouTube channels, social media and podcasts, conservative women are rebranding right-wing politics for a female audience. Featuring:  Annie Kelly – UK Correspondent, QAA Podcast Nicole Kiprilov – Republican Party strategist Eviane Leidig – Author, The Women of the Far Right

For the past couple of months, the billionaire father-son duo of Larry and David Ellison have been making deals involving major media brands. Having acquired Paramount, the parent company of CBS News, they appointed Bari Weiss - an outspoken supporter of Israel - as the network’s editor-in-chief. The moves by the Ellisons are not just about growing their media empire, but about shaping the narrative around Israel in the US, where public support continues to decline. Contributors:  David Klion - Columnist, The Nation Danielle Moodie - Host, The Danielle Moodie Show Ryan Grim - Reporter, Drop Site News On our radar: Israel and Hamas have agreed to the first phase of a Gaza ceasefire, ending two years of genocide. It’s a moment that brought relief to Palestinians in Gaza. But for Donald Trump, it was an opportunity for self-congratulation - with both he and his allies emphasising how pivotal he was in making things happen. Tariq Nafi has been following the story. Chega: How Portugal's media gave populism a megaphone In Portugal, the far-right party Chega, once on the fringes, is leading the polls, and its leader, Andre Ventura, has become one of the country’s most recognisable political figures. Ventura’s rise has been spurred by his television background and carefully crafted media persona. The onetime football pundit has become a political showman. And he’s been amplified by the country’s mainstream media, who have been chasing ratings over accountability.  Ryan Kohls reports. Featuring: Miguel Carvalho - Journalist Ines Narciso - Disinformation researcher, Iscte-Iul Anabela Neves - Journalist, CNN Portugal

In this special episode, we examine the systematic targeting of Palestinian journalists in Gaza during two years of Israeli genocide. With international media barred from freely reporting in the Strip, local journalists have risked their lives to document the unprecedented killing, destruction and displacement around them. Since October 7, 2023, more media workers have been killed in Gaza than in any modern conflict. Families have been torn apart, homes and offices destroyed, and reporters have been wounded, seen their families killed or have been killed themselves. This episode reveals the extraordinary playbook employed by Israel to threaten, intimidate, smear and target Palestinian journalists. Contributors: Wael Dahdouh – Gaza Bureau Chief, Al Jazeera Jodie Ginsberg – Chief Executive, Committee to Protect Journalists Sharif Abdel Kouddous – Journalist & Editor, Drop Site News Rachel Shabi – Journalist and author Presenter: Richard Gizbert Produced by: Soumaya El Filali, Monazza Farooqi, Ella Willis, Tariq Nafi, Meenakshi Ravi

After almost 2 years of Israel’s genocide in Gaza, Western powers have issued synchronised declarations recognising Palestinian statehood - a diplomatic move seemingly born out of the immense public pressure they face. What’s missing from the story is the concrete measures those governments could take to stop the slaughter in Gaza, as well as their complicity by continuing to supply weapons to Israel. Contributors: Ines Abdel Razek – Co-director, Palestine Institute for Public Diplomacy Michael Lynk – Former UN special rapporteur, occupied Palestinian territory Michael Omer-Man – Director Israel-Palestine, DAWN Seamus Malekafzali - Journalist On our radar: Three years into a civil war, Sudan is one of the most underreported stories in the world. Meenakshi Ravi reports on the near-collapse of the country’s media industry and the journalists trying to break the information blockade. How Palantir got techno-militiarism trending Silicon Valley CEOs are increasingly making the case that their technologies can transform the way that wars are fought. And of all the companies involved in this military-tech boom, one stands out: Palantir. Branding itself as America First, the data analytics firm has won billions of dollars in contracts and makes no apologies for the need to kill people - if that's what it takes to protect Western interests. Tariq Nafi reports on how the company sells a sleek, one-click solution to warfare. Featuring: Juan Sebastian Pinto – Former Palantir employee Matt Mahmoudi – Researcher, Amnesty Tech Elke Schwarz – Author, Death Machines: The Ethics of Violent Technologies

It’s been just more than a week since the assassination of Charlie Kirk, and in death, as in life, the far-right podcaster is proving divisive. While his supporters mourn, many critics have seized the moment to call out his polarising legacy - a legacy now being weaponised by far-right leaders from DC to Tel Aviv. Contributors: Jeffrey Sharlet - Professor, Dartmouth College Jude Russo - Managing editor, The American Conservative Kyle Spencer - CEO, The Pro-Democracy Information Lab Meredith Clark - UNC Hussman School of Journalism & Media On our radar: This week, the UN formally declared what Palestinians have long been saying: That Israel is committing a genocide in Gaza. In English, Israeli officials are indignant at the charge. But in Hebrew, they continue to provide more evidence of their genocidal intent. Ryan Kohls reports. Russia, Ukraine and The Trump Effect Donald Trump’s second term has injected unpredictability into the Russia-Ukraine war: Unsettling Kyiv, emboldening Moscow and forcing media on both sides to recalibrate. The Listening Post hears from an exiled Russian journalist and a Ukrainian media scholar on how the conflict is being framed - and what both sides fear will come next. Featuring: Dariya Orlova - Associate professor, Mohyla School of Journalism Mikhail Fishman - Journalist, TV Rain

Israel’s rampage through the Middle East continues, with an attack on United States ally, Qatar. As Arab nations evaluate the value of a US security guarantee, we examine the fallout in the region and beyond. Contributors: Elham Fakhro – Research Fellow, Harvard Kennedy School Laleh Khalili – Professor of Gulf Studies, University of Exeter Yossi Mekelberg – Senior Fellow, Chatham House Yousef Munayyer – Senior Fellow, Arab Center Washington DC On our radar: A youth-led social media movement over the luxurious lifestyles of Nepal’s "nepo kids" culminated this week in the ouster of the country’s prime minister and days of violent unrest. Meenakshi Ravi examines the government’s unsuccessful effort to control the narrative. Covering corruption in South Africa Thirty years after the end of apartheid in South Africa, the African National Congress’s rampant corruption has widened inequality. Those trying to expose that corruption - whistleblowers - are paying the ultimate price - with their lives. Featuring:  Devoshum Moodley-Veera – Whistleblower activist Pieter-Louis Myburgh – Investigative Journalist, Daily Maverick Songezo Zibi – Leader, Rise Mzansi

Israel’s renewed offensive in Gaza City - the largest Palestinian population centre - is being framed as an assault on Hamas’s “final stronghold”. But behind that narrative lies a campaign of expulsion and erasure that bears all the hallmarks of an endgame. Contributors:  Dana Mills - Writer, Local Call & +972 Magazine Muhammad Shehada - Journalist Saree Makdisi - Professor of English & Comparative Literature, UCLA Tahani Mustafa - Visiting fellow, ECFR On our radar: A new AI-generated website unveiled by an Israeli minister claims to “uncover the hidden ties” between Palestinian journalists and Hamas. And despite its amateurish feel, it follows a pattern of dangerous smears against Palestinians. Post’s Tariq Nafi reports. The sci-fi obsessions of the tech elite Silicon Valley’s tech titans often say they are shaping a better tomorrow. This is a clique of men - names like Musk, Zuckerberg, Thiel and Altman - who all say they’ve been heavily influenced by science fiction. But those imagined sci-fi futures often come with a dystopian side, warnings that tech billionaires have seemingly failed to understand. Featuring:  Alex Hanna - Director, Distributed AI Research Institute Max Read - Senior editor, New York magazine Tim Maughan - Author and Journalist

India is expelling Bengali Muslims - stripping citizenship, detaining and deporting them to Bangladesh. The crackdown has spread nationwide, prompted by years of BJP propaganda and a news media all too willing to sell the story of a Muslim "enemy within". Contributors:  Shoaib Daniyal - Political editor, Scroll Fatima Khan - Political journalist Vaishna Roy - Editor, Frontline magazine Paranjoy Guha Thakurta - Journalist and filmmaker On our radar: The images of starving Palestinians in Gaza have provoked global outrage. Israel has launched a PR campaign to deflect blame. Ryan Kohls reports. An interview with Alex Shephard Alex Shephard of The New Republic explains how Donald Trump is putting unprecedented pressure on US media outlets. After CBS was forced to settle out of court with the president, Trump is now suing the Wall Street Journal and its owner - Rupert Murdoch - as well as politicising the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Featuring: Alex Shephard - Senior editor, The New Republic

The Epstein saga has flipped the script within the MAGA movement. Having spent years accusing the Democrats of an establishment cover-up, many right-wing influencers are now turning against their idol, President Trump, as he resists calls to release the files. Contributors: Joan Donovan - Director, CriticalNet Mehdi Hasan - Editor-in-chief, Zeteo News Miles Klee - Culture writer, Rolling Stone Danielle Moodie - Host, The Danielle Moodie Show On our radar: For 21 months, mainstream media outlets have avoided calling Israel’s assault on Gaza a genocide. But this past week has seen a notable shift - prompted not by Palestinian voices, but by an Israeli scholar. Tariq Nafi reports on The New York Times, the breaking of a media taboo, and why, for many, it’s too little, too late. Palestinians are being erased in German media Mass surveillance, a crackdown on protest, and a media unwilling to question power: In Germany, pro-Palestinian voices are being silenced. Nicholas Muirhead reports from Berlin on the mounting assault on free expression. Featuring: Wael Eskander - Berlin-based journalist Martin Gak - Former Deutsche Welle journalist Sabine Schiffer - Director, Media Responsibility Institute

As Netanyahu courts Trump with peace prizes and platitudes, divisions over Israel in the MAGA media space are deepening. Contributors: Laura Albast – Fellow, Institute for Palestine Studies Mitchell Plitnick – Author, Except for Palestine Mouin Rabbani – Co-editor, Jadaliyya Jude Russo – Managing editor, The American Conservative On our radar: Since the US-Israeli GHF took over the distribution of aid, more than 800 Palestinians have been killed while attempting to collect it. New reporting uncovers the foundation’s links to plans for Gaza’s ethnic cleansing. Meenakshi Ravi reports. Georgia under fire: The crackdown on protests and the press Mass protests, a tightening grip on media and a creeping authoritarianism; eight months on, the struggle over Georgia's democracy is intensifying. Elettra Scrivo reports from Tbilisi on the mounting crackdown on journalists and independent voices. Featuring: Irakli Rukhadze – Owner, Imedi TV Nestan Tsetkhladze – Editor, Netgazeti Nino Zautashvili – Former host, Real Space

At Glastonbury, Britain’s biggest music festival, two artists called out Israel’s genocide in Gaza and accused the British government of complicity. On-stage remarks by one of them - Bob Vylan - plunged the country's public broadcaster, the BBC, which livestreamed the performance, into yet another Gaza-shaped row. Contributors: Des Freedman – Author, The Media Manifesto Peter Oborne – Journalist and broadcaster Karishma Patel – Former newsreader, BBC Justin Schlosberg – Professor of Media and Communications, University Of Westminster On our radar: In the United States, Zohran Mamdani has secured the Democratic nomination for New York mayor, despite relentless media attacks that focus less on his policies and more on his outspoken stance against Israel’s war on Gaza. Tariq Nafi reports. Palestinians are seen as some sort of existential threat, just for being there While debates rage in international media over phrases like “from the river to the sea” and “death to the IDF,” far less scrutiny falls on the anti-Palestinian abuse that has become normal inside Israel - from pop songs to viral chants. Palestinian analyst Abdaljawad Omar joins us from Ramallah to unpack this everyday Israeli racism. Featuring: Abdaljawad Omar – Lecturer, Birzeit University

From negotiating with Iran to bombing its nuclear facilities and then brokering a ceasefire, Trump’s erratic pivots appear to be driven more by optics than coherent diplomacy. Mainstream Western news outlets, however, are making the job easier - painting Iran as an existential threat while downplaying Israel’s illegal actions. Contributors:  Roxane Farmanfarmaian – Senior fellow, European Leadership Network Seamus Malekafzali – Journalist Mohsen Milani – Author, Iran’s Rise and Rivalry with the US Samira Mohyeddin – Journalist, On the Line Media On our radar Few atrocities compare to the massacres Israel is perpetrating, repeatedly, against starving refugees in Gaza - yet they are receiving minimal attention in mainstream media. Nic Muirhead reports on the latest developments at the aid distribution sites that have turned into death traps. Assal Rad: "It's really important to get headlines right" Over the past 20 months, historian Assal Rad has been correcting misleading mainstream news headlines on Israel’s genocide in Gaza. She talks us through the unmistakable parallels she has noticed with the coverage of Israel’s 12-day war with Iran. Featuring: Assal Rad – Non-resident fellow, Arab Center Washington DC

Israel's war on Iran was one that many have expected, and yet with nuclear talks between the United States and Iran ongoing, few saw it coming. Propaganda from the Netanyahu government and credulous reporting in the Western media have played a major part in how we got here. Contributors: Narges Bajoghli – Author, Iran Reframed Matt Duss – Executive Vice President, Center for International Policy Assal Rad – Non-Resident Fellow, Arab Center Washington DC Mohammad Ali Shabani – Editor, Amwaj Media On our radar As Israeli media cheerlead for the war on Iran, military censors are tightening their grip on local and foreign media outlets alike. Ryan Kohls reports. Chris Hedges on the media coverage of Israel’s war on Iran The war on Iran feels eerily familiar – from justifications that hold no water to the uncritical reporting in the media. Chris Hedges joins us to unpack the unsettling parallels with the 2003 Iraq War. Featuring: Chris Hedges – Former Middle East Bureau Chief, The New York Times

Israel has launched an unprovoked assault on Iran, including strikes on nuclear facilities and assassinations of several senior military commanders and scientists. In front of the world’s media, however, the Netanyahu government is spinning the attack as “preemptive”. Contributor: Negar Mortazavi – Host, The Iran Podcast On our radar: This past week, phone and internet services virtually collapsed across Gaza, as Israel repeatedly bombed transmission stations and communication towers. Meenakshi Ravi explains how Gaza now risks digital isolation. Showdown in LA: A very Trumpian spectacle President Trump has turned Los Angeles into an ideological battleground amid protests against anti-immigration raids. His mobilisation of the National Guard and marines - without the approval of California's state government - has produced made-for-TV images of the kind likely to appeal to the MAGA faithful. For many others, it is yet another sign of a dangerous turn away from civil liberties under his presidency. Featuring: Branko Marcetic – Staff writer, Jacobin Sarah Mehta – Senior policy counsel, ACLU Jose Olivares – Investigative journalist Will Swaim – Podcast host, Radio Free California

Throughout the various ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas, western news outlets have repeatedly blamed their failure on Hamas. This week, we hear a perspective that rarely features in the coverage - the group's own - on the negotiations and the media narratives that surround them. Contributors:  Tahani Mustafa – Senior Palestine Analyst, International Crisis Group Basem Naim – Politburo member, Hamas Julie Norman – Associate Professor, University College London Abdaljawad Omar – Lecturer, Birzeit University On our radar: Ukrainian drone strikes on multiple Russian airfields have further escalated the conflict, as peace talks come up short. Tariq Nafi reports on the messaging on the airwaves both sides of the border. Is logging off the cure for ‘brain rot’? After decades of increased connectivity, screen time and addictive algorithms, more and more young people are logging off. The Listening Post’s Ryan Kohls looks at the community-based movements reevaluating their relationships with digital technology. Featuring: Monique Golay – Barcelona Chapter Leader, Offline Club Hussein Kesvani – Technology and culture journalist Adele Walton - Author, Logging Off

More than 600 days into its genocidal war in Gaza, some of Israel's closest allies have begun to condemn its actions. Alongside the changing global narrative, growing opposition in Israel to the Netanyahu government's war methods has seeped into the media coverage - fracturing a consensus that dates back to October 7, 2023. Contributors:  Yara Hawari – Co-Director, Al-Shabaka Natasha Lennard – Contributing writer, The Intercept Orly Noy – Editor, Local Call Muhammad Shehada – Visiting fellow, European Council on Foreign Relations On our radar: Over the past couple of weeks, dispatches coming out of Gaza’s hospitals have grown more and more desperate. Meenakshi Ravi reports on the healthcare workers getting the story out and filling the vacuum in the news coverage. Gaza Humanitarian Foundation: 'Aid washing' in the Gaza Strip Formed a matter of months ago, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation is a United States-Israeli coalition of private military contractors that includes former CIA and military personnel. We speak with Jeremy Scahill, co-founder of Drop Site News, who has investigated the GHF, together with Palestinian journalists on the ground. Featuring: Jeremy Scahill – Co-Founder, Drop Site News

The images coming out of Gaza are apocalyptic, depicting the latest - and perhaps final - chapter in a genocide. Under an operation called Gideon’s Chariots, the Israeli military is forcing Palestinians into tiny corners of the besieged enclave. Its next phase: another full-scale invasion aimed at taking complete control of the territory. Contributors: Hani M Abuishaiba – Gaza correspondent, Al Jazeera English Sari Bashi – Israeli human rights lawyer Gideon Levy – Columnist, Haaretz Yousef Munayyer – Senior fellow, Arab Center Washington DC On our radar: When a documentary about Palestinian medics is commissioned by the BBC, made for the BBC, but never makes it to air, it begs the question: what is stopping the United Kingdom’s publicly-funded network from broadcasting it? Ryan Kohls reports. Pakistan’s military rides a wave of nationalism In the wake of its weeklong conflict with India, Pakistan's military is riding a wave of patriotic fervour. Waging a war of memes, music and messaging, the armed forces have had a brand refresh - and reminded the country who is really in charge. Featuring: Farieha Aziz – Podcast host, Dawn News English Wajahat S Khan – Journalist and author Maria Rashid – Author, Dying to Serve

United States President Donald Trump's tour of the Middle East this week is his first international trip since he started his second term. Conspicuously absent from his itinerary, however, was Washington’s closest ally in the region: Israel. In the US and Israeli media, the apparent snub has fuelled talk of a growing rift between Trump and his Israeli counterpart, Benjamin Netanyahu. Contributors: Diana Buttu – Human rights lawyer and analyst Dana Mills – Writer, +972 magazine and Local Call Jeremy Scahill – Cofounder, Drop Site News On our radar: Tariq Nafi reports on the killing this week of one of Gaza’s best-known journalists - and why it represents a new low in Israel’s unparalleled war on the press. Are India’s news channels helping or harming? The tit-for-tat conflict between India and Pakistan lasted only a week before a ceasefire deal was reached, but it was long enough to provide an insight into the role the media might play in a longer war. We speak with Indian journalist Hartosh Singh Bal about mainstream media under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government - from misinformation to hate speech - and the alternative news outlets trying to provide the antidote. Featuring: Hartosh Singh Bal – Executive editor, The Caravan magazine

One might think that images of starving children, as political leaders withhold aid and openly call for ethnic cleansing, would be topping news agendas everywhere. In the case of Gaza, the failure of many in the international media to meet the moment has made them part of the story. Lead contributors: Chris Doyle – Director, Council for Arab-British Understanding Daniel Levy – President, US/Middle East Project Muhammad Shehada – Visiting fellow, ECFR Sarah Leah Whitson – Director, DAWN On our radar: As India and Pakistan go toe-to-toe in their most intense fighting for decades, a flood of disinformation is fuelling the sense of panic on both sides. Meenakshi Ravi reports. Seeking justice on Ghana's courtroom shows If you are dealing with something personal and painful - a broken marriage or a family dispute - you might turn to a friend. For something as serious as sexual assault, it might go to trial. But in Ghana, more and more people are turning somewhere else: live radio. The so-called "justice-style" shows promise swift, public resolutions. But they are also controversial, with critics accusing them of turning private pain into primetime theatre. Featuring: George Sarpong – Executive secretary, National Media Commission Menenaba – Ghanaian writer Oheneni Adazoa – Host, Sompa Nkomo Show Zakaria Tanko Musah – Lecturer in media law and ethics, Journalism Institute

A deadly attack in Indian-administered Kashmir shattered a narrative Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has spent years constructing - that Kashmir was safe, open for business, and back to “normal”. In response, Indian officials have launched a sweeping crackdown and spurred nationalist rhetoric. Much of the media is echoing the government line. Too busy demanding revenge to ask the most basic of questions: How did this happen? Contributors: Anuradha Bhasin – Managing editor, Kashmir Times Sreenivasan Jain - Journalist and author Swasti Rao - Associate professor, Jindal Global University; consulting editor, The Print Nirupama Subramanian - Journalist On our radar In Pakistan, the media narrative on what happened in Kashmir has been dominated by powerful military and intelligence figures. But on social media, users are pushing back with satire and scepticism. Ryan Kohls reports. The White House and the memefication of cruelty Donald Trump has completed the chaotic first 100 days of his second term, marked by aggressive policies, talk of annexing neighbouring countries, and declarations of war against the mainstream media, universities and law firms. His administration’s online presence, filled with brash language and often cruel memes, reflects and amplifies his confrontational political style. Meenakshi Ravi reports. Featuring:  Meredith Clark – UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media Jon Roozenbeek – Professor of psychology and security, King’s College London Jude Russo – Managing editor, The American Conservative

As tech billionaires infiltrate the White House, the question looms, “Who really rules us, the government or Silicon Valley?" This film examines the influence and ideology of technocrats over the last century, and asks whether they pose a threat to democracy. Contributors: Gil Duran – Tech journalist Siva Vaidhyanathan – Professor of Media Studies, University of Virginia Payal Arora – Digital anthropologist Cori Crider – Senior Fellow, Open Markets and the Future of Tech Institute

The renewal of Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza has unleashed yet more death, destruction and displacement, but Palestinians remain determined to make the world witness their plight. Contributors: Shahd Abusalama – Palestinian scholar and artist Omer Bartov – Professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Brown University Abdaljawad Omar – Lecturer, Birzeit University; writer and analyst The art of the political podcast interview The 2024 United States presidential race was the first "podcast" election - and given the millions of views and votes a podcast appearance can bring, it won’t be the last. Ryan Kohls reports on the allure of - and the problems with - the political podcast interview. Featuring: Susie Banikarim – Media strategist and consultant Max Tani – Media editor, Semafor Cenk Uygur – Creator and host, The Young Turks

Over the past month, hundreds of international students in the US have either been detained, deported, or stripped of their visas for protesting Israel’s war on Gaza. The Trump administration’s crackdown is being described as an assault on political dissent - one that has been enabled by mainstream news outlets and pro-Zionist pressure groups. This story is about more than just visas. It’s about who gets to speak in Trump’s America. Contributors: Adolfo Franco – Republican strategist and lawyer Eric Lee – Immigration lawyer Yumna Patel – Editor-in-chief, Mondoweiss Prem Thakker – Reporter, Zeteo News On our radar: The German government is attempting to deport four foreign students - none of whom have been charged with a crime - over their pro-Palestinian activism. Ryan Kohls reports. The media outlets in the Serbian president’s corner For the past five months, Serbia has been in the grip of historic protests against President Aleksandar Vucic's government. Young people have led the way, demanding political reform. But in doing so they've faced a powerful adversary - not only in government, but in its collection of loyalists in the media. Meenakshi Ravi reports from Belgrade on the narrative they have been spinning and the pushback they are getting from Serbian citizens. Featuring: Snjezana Milivojevic – Professor, University of Belgrade Vesna Radojevic – Reporter, KRIK Suzana Vasiljevic – Media adviser to the president of Serbia

Turkiye is witnessing its largest protests in more than a decade. Millions have taken to the streets after the arrest of Istanbul’s mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu - who is seen as the biggest challenge to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s presidency. Nearly 2,000 people have been detained so far, including journalists. But despite myriad official efforts to suppress news coverage, protesters keep pouring onto the streets. Contributors: Mehmet Celik – Editorial Coordinator, Daily Sabah Onur Erim – Political Adviser and President, Dragoman Strategies Ece Temelkuran – Author and Journalist Amberin Zaman – Chief Correspondent, Al-Monitor On our radar: Israel this week killed another two journalists in Gaza - Al Jazeera Mubaser's Hossam Shabat and Mohammed Mansour from the newspaper Palestine Today. The death toll of Palestinian media workers since October 7 now stands at more than 230. Tariq Nafi reports. Milei vs the media: the war on Argentina’s press freedom One year into Javier Milei’s presidency, Argentina is reeling from his radical economic policies and his escalating war on the press. Milei has targeted journalists, shut down the state news agency, and bypassed traditional media in favor of online platforms. As his government tightens its grip on information, Argentina’s media landscape is shifting. We hear from two journalists on opposite ends of the political spectrum about what Milei’s crackdown means for press freedom in Argentina. Featuring: Marcelo Longobardi – Journalist Julia Mengolini – Founder and presenter, Futurock

The ceasefire brokered by President Donald Trump in January barely lived up to its name. Despite the deal, Israel continued its attacks on Gaza, killing more than 150 Palestinians in just eight weeks. The last remnants of hope were shattered as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched one of the deadliest bombing campaigns since the genocide began - followed by a ground invasion. Israeli outlets have largely ignored the human toll while Western journalists, despite mounting criticism, remain stuck in familiar patterns of reporting. Contributors: Dalal Iriqat – Associate professor, Arab American University Palestine Haggai Matar – Executive director, +972 Magazine Assal Rad – Middle East scholar and author Nathan Thrall – Jerusalem-based writer On our radar The arrest of Istanbul’s mayor and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's strongest challenger, Ekrem Imamoglu, has set off a political firestorm in Turkiye. As mass demonstrations erupt nationwide and social media platforms are throttled, Meenakshi Ravi reports on one of the biggest protest waves Turkiye has seen in a decade and how it's testing the limits of the government’s control. Israel’s settlers: from margin to mainstream From rampaging through the occupied West Bank to setting their sights on colonising Gaza, Israel's settlers wield more power now than ever before. Once unthinkable to many Israelis, their calls to re-establish settlements in the Gaza Strip have entered the mainstream media discussion. The Listening Post’s Nic Muirhead reports on how the Israeli media have helped catapult the settlers from the margins to the mainstream. Featuring: Hilla Dayan – Sociologist, University of Amsterdam Nimrod Nir – Political psychologist, Hebrew University of Jerusalem Oren Ziv – Photojournalist, +972 Magazine

Just months after the fall of President Bashar al-Assad, Syria has been rocked by an eruption of violence. Coastal towns have turned into killing fields, with forces aligned with the government accused of massacring hundreds of civilians from religious minorities. The Syrian online space is also littered with misinformation - part of an information war that is inciting sectarian fear and deepening divisions, in a country still raw from years of civil war and decades under a brutal regime. Lead contributors: Zaina Erhaim – Journalist Ahmad Primo – Founder, Verify Syria Ola Suliman – Campaigns lead, The Syria Campaign Rim Turkmani – Syria research programme director, LSE On our radar: The Trump White House is waging an unprecedented crackdown on pro-Palestine activism on university campuses. Meenakshi Ravi reports on Mahmoud Khalil - a Columbia graduate and, in theory, permanent US resident, who now faces deportation. ICE’s PR blitz: Immigration raids as entertainment In Trump’s America, immigration enforcement isn’t just policy - it’s a spectacle. With ICE raids increasingly staged for the cameras, and journalists given front-row access to capture dramatic arrests, is it law and order or a made-for-TV performance? The Listening Post’s Tariq Nafi explores the media’s role in shaping the immigration debate. Featuring: Patrick Bet-David – Host, PBD podcast Michelle Garcia – Journalist and author Abraham Paulos – Deputy director, Black Alliance for Just Immigration

Seven weeks into the Gaza ceasefire deal, Israel openly resumes its war crimes in Gaza - blocking humanitarian aid - with the tacit support of the international mainstream media. Lead contributors: Daniel Levy – President, US/Middle East Project Saree Makdisi – Professor of English and comparative literature, UCLA Samira Mohyeddin – Founder, On the Line Media Mouin Rabbani – Co-editor, Jadaliyya On our radar: The LA Times' new AI "bias meter" - which offers a counterpoint to the paper's opinion pieces, has stirred controversy. Tariq Nafi explores its role in a changing media landscape that's cosying up to Donald Trump. Are the ADL's anti-Semitism stats credible? The Anti-Defamation League is one of the most influential and well-funded NGOs in the US - and it's getting more media attention than ever. The Listening Post’s Meenakshi Ravi reports on the organisation, its high-profile CEO, and its troubling stance: Conflating anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism. Featuring: Omar Baddar – Political and media analyst Eva Borgwardt – National spokesperson, If Not Now Emmaia Gelman – Director, The Institute for the Critical Study of Zionism

With international media’s attention on the captive exchange, the Israeli military and settlers are forcibly displacing tens of thousands of Palestinians in the West Bank. Meanwhile, Israeli journalists are parroting military talking points of security operations. Contributors: Abdaljawad Omar - Assistant professor, Birzeit University Jehad Abusalim - Co-editor, Light in Gaza: Writings Born of Fire Ori Goldberg - Academic and political commentator Samira Mohyeddin - Founder, On the Line Media On our radar: This week, the return of the Bibas family bodies dominated Israeli media coverage. Tariq Nafi reports on how their deaths have been used for "hasbara", after the family accused Netanyahu’s government of exploiting their grief for political purposes. The Kenyan ‘Manosphere’ Populated by loudmouths, shock artists and unapologetic chauvinists, the Kenyan "manosphere" is promoting an influential - and at times dangerous - take on modern masculinity. Featuring:  Audrey Mugeni - Co-founder, Femicide Count Kenya Awino Okech - Professor of feminist and security studies, SOAS Onyango Otieno - Mental health coach and writer

The far-right AfD threatens to breach the political "firewall" that has long kept it out of power, as election disinformation from both the US and Russia disrupts the German media’s election coverage. Contributors: Olaf Böhnke - Berlin director, Alliance of Democracies Foundation Ulrich Brückner - Political analyst Michaela Küfner - Chief political editor, DW On our radar: This week, US President Donald Trump blamed Ukraine for starting the war with Russia, kicking off an exchange of barbs with his counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Meenakshi Ravi reports on the diplomatic fallout and the Russian media’s gleeful response. Bukele's media machine: Controlling the narrative in El Salvador Mass arrests, silencing dissent, and prisons for hire; six years on, President Nayib Bukele’s unique brand of populism remains wildly popular in El Salvador. The Listening Post’s Elettra Scrivo reports on the price some journalists have had to pay for it. Featuring: Sergio Arauz - President, the Journalist Association of El Salvador Jessica Ávalos - Investigative journalist Víctor Barahona - Community journalist Andrés Guzman - Presidential commissioner, human rights and freedom of expression

It’s an alarming moment in US politics. Developments have been fast and furious, with Donald Trump flooding the news space at a rate journalists find hard to handle. His plan for an American takeover of the Gaza Strip, the reshaping of federal agencies and the unchecked power handed to Musk all beg a question: Who is really running the country? Contributors: Danielle Moodie – Host, The Danielle Moodie Show Jon Allsop – Journalist, Columbia Journalism Review Max Tani – Media editor, Semafor Mehdi Hasan – Editor-in-chief, Zeteo News On our radar As Syria’s new leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, embarks on a global PR blitz, Syrians wonder if meaningful change will follow. Tariq Nafi reports. Cameroon: The red lines around the world’s oldest leader As Cameroon’s 92-year-old president nears another birthday, his prolonged absences from office have prompted rumours. Rather than quashing them, Biya has simply banned Cameroon’s media from reporting on his health. Featuring: Ana Aremeyaw Anas – Head, Network of African Investigative Reporters and Editors Eugene Ndi – Journalist Kah Walla – Politician and social activist Paul Chouta – Exiled journalist

The return of more than half a million displaced Palestinians to northern Gaza, having survived war, siege and starvation, is a historic moment. For right-wing media outlets in Israel, however, it's a humiliation. Contributors: Abdullah Al-Arian – Associate Professor, Georgetown University in Qatar Jehad Abusalim – Executive Director, Institute for Palestine Studies Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man – Director of Israel-Palestine Research, DAWN Yara Hawari – Co-Director, Al-Shabaka: The Palestinian Policy Network On our radar The new White House press secretary gives the media briefing a Trumpian makeover. Ryan Kohl reports. Black Myth: Wukong - China’s journey to the west Merging traditional Chinese folklore with modern technology, the video game Black Myth: Wukong is revolutionising China’s gaming industry - and politicians in Beijing are reaping the rewards. Featuring: Daniel Camilo – China Gaming Consultant Lizzi Lee – Host, The China Project Tingting Liu – Research Fellow, University of Technology Sydney

A year into the civil war in Sudan, the humanitarian costs have been staggering - but the news coverage has been minimal.

A conflict on this scale should top the news agenda but it has been relegated to the back pages – in part – because of what is happening in Gaza and Ukraine. And it is increasingly difficult to deny that the lack of media interest in this war comes down to where it is being fought and how it is understood.

Contributors:

Hager Ali – Research fellow, German Institute for Global and Area Studies (GIGA)

Kholood Khair – Founding director, Confluence Advisory

Matthew Benson – Sudan research director, London School of Economics

Yassmin Abdel-Magied – Editor, Eyes on Sudan

On our radar:

Silencing the voices of dissent at United States universities over Israel and Gaza. Producer Tariq Nafi reports on what that says about freedom of speech in the US.

Poland’s media revolution

Restoring the independence of state-owned news outlets in Poland has not exactly gone according to plan. Producer Ryan Kohls on Donald Tusk’s media overhaul in the country.

Featuring:

Daniel Tilles – Editor-in-chief, Notes from Poland

Dorota Nygren – Journalist

Maciej Czajkowski – Deputy director, TVP

Michal Adamczyk – Former head, TVP

The algorithms that Big Tech designed - and the genocide they assisted. The Listening Post explores how Israel’s killing campaign of Palestinians has relied on artificial intelligence to choose its targets. A dystopian nightmare serves as a marketing campaign for technology flawed by design, and deepens the global digital divide.

Contributors:
Sophia Goodfriend – Researcher, Duke University
Mona Shtaya – Digital rights scholar
Matthew Mahmoudi – Researcher, Amnesty Tech
Sebastian Ben Daniel – Journalist, +972 Magazine

On our radar:

Nicaragua put Germany in the dock at the International Court of Justice, accusing it of facilitating genocide in Gaza. Germany is the second largest weapons supplier to Israel.

Meenakshi Ravi dissects the reaction from Berlin and the German media to the case.

Truth to power in wartime Ukraine

Three years into Ukraine’s war with Russia, journalists are feeling the pressure. Where once investigative outlet Bihus.info was relied on to expose Russian war crimes, they’re now undergoing Soviet-style surveillance by security services for exposing corruption in Ukraine.

Featuring:
Yaroslav Yurchyshyn – Ukrainian Member of Parliament and chair, Freedom of Speech Committee
Natalia Ligachova – Editor-in-Chief, Detector Media
Maria Zemlyanska – Investigative journalist, Bihus.Info
Denys Bihus – Founder, Bihus.Info

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It is election season in India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi seems set to win a third successive term in the national elections — for good reason, say his supporters. They claim 10 years of the Modi government have transformed India, from lifting millions out of poverty to elevating India’s global status, but his critics say Modi’s record is far from perfect.

In this episode of The India Report, we analyse how India has fared in the past decade on the foreign policy and economic policy fronts.

Featuring:
Jayati Ghosh - Professor of economics, University of Massachusetts
Anand Gurumurthy - BJP spokesperson  and economist
Suhasini Haider - Diplomatic affairs editor, The Hindu
Raghuram Rajan - Former governor, Reserve Bank of India
Veena Sikri - Former external affairs diplomat for India

With international reporters locked out, Palestinian journalists have made huge sacrifices to keep the world informed of the unprecedented killing and destruction in Gaza.

More media workers have been killed by Israel since October 7 than in any other conflict in modern history.

Like the rest of the population, Gaza's journalists have also been maimed, arrested or threatened, have seen their homes and offices destroyed and are grieving over the loss of those close to them.

The Listening Post spent time with three Al Jazeera journalists between February and March 2024.

Contributors:

Anas al-Sharif – Reporter, Al Jazeera Arabic
Hind Khoudary – Reporter, Al Jazeera English
Marah Elwadiya – Journalist, Al Jazeera Digital

A Listening Post/Ain Media co-production.

Tariq Nafi – Senior Producer
Shrouq Aila – Gaza-based Producer
Ahmed Madi – Producer
Kit Harwood – Editor
Meenakshi Ravi – Executive Producer

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Six months into Israel’s devastating war on Gaza, the United Nations Security Council has finally passed a resolution demanding a ceasefire. The United States’s abstention marks a pivotal moment in Israel’s increasing international isolation.

In the Israeli media, the opposition to the UN vote is near-unanimous and unsurprising. More striking is the lack of interest from American news outlets. The implications this story raises are perhaps a little uncomfortable for them - they hit too close to home.

Contributors:
Ramzy Baroud - Editor, The Palestine Chronicle
Ardi Imseis  - Former UNRWA official
Daniel Levy - President, US-Middle East Project
Sarah Leah Whitson - Executive Director, DAWN

On our radar:

A New York Times piece has revealed more information about the mass surveillance Israel has deployed on Palestinians in Gaza. Producer Tariq Nafi reports on how facial recognition is being used to collect and catalogue the faces of Palestinians, “without their knowledge or consent".

Modi’s messaging machine

In a few weeks, India will launch a six-week-long process of voting for the next national government - and Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to win an historic third term in office. Producer Meenakshi Ravi explores the all-encompassing information ecosystem that is likely to help put Modi back in the prime minister’s office.

Featuring :
Neerja Chowdhury - Contributing editor, Indian Express
Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay - Author, Narenda Modi: The man, the times
Saba Naqvi - Author, The Saffron Storm

With India amid a national election campaign, its news media is in sharp focus. Until recently it was believed that the sheer diversity of outlets ensured a range of perspectives, but now, India’s mainstream media has largely been co-opted by the Bharatiya Janata Party and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Just how did the media in India get to this point and what does it mean for the upcoming elections?

Featuring:

Ravish Kumar - Former Host, NDTV
Shashi Shekhar Vempati - Former CEO, Prasar Bharati
Pramod Raman - Chief Editor, MediaOne
Amy Kazmin - Former South Asia Bureau Chief, Financial Times
Meena Kotwal - Founder, The Mooknayak

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The threat to ban TikTok in the United States has prompted an online backlash. Critics question the premise that Chinese ownership poses a security risk and suggest the real reason may be the surge in pro-Palestinian content since October 7.

Contributors:

Julia Angwin - Tech Policy Writer, New York Times; Founder, Proof News
Russel Brandom - Tech Editor, Rest Of The World
Marwa Fatafta - MENA Policy and Advocacy Director, Access Now
Evan Greer – Director, Fight for the Future

On our radar:

In yet another deadly raid on Gaza’s al-Shifa Hospital, Israel abducted Palestinian journalists covering the story – including one of Al Jazeera’s own. Producer Nicholas Muirhead reports.

Why Russia has looted Ukraine’s art

Following Vladimir Putin’s expected re-election this week, we’re revisiting a story about the Russian military’s targeting of Ukraine’s heritage. Producer Tariq Nafi explores how Russia’s war on Ukrainian culture is designed to rewrite history and weaken the country’s resistance.

Featuring:

Milena Chorna - Head of International Exhibitions, War Museum in Ukraine
Alina Dotsenko - Director, Kherson Regional Art Museum
Ihor Poshyvailo - General Director, Maidan Museum

Elections are weeks away in India and opposition parties are attempting to take on the seemingly unstoppable juggernaut of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is seeking a third consecutive term.

The opposition claims that Modi’s success rate has very little to do with his governance – but more because scores of his political rivals have been arrested or charged on questionable grounds. They say it has kneecapped the opposition and gamed the political arena in favour of the governing party.

In this episode of The India Report, Sreenivasan Jain examines whether these actions are – as the Prime Minister claims – part of his crusade against high-level corruption, or an unprecedented campaign against of the opposition which is deeply dangerous to India’s democracy.

Featuring:

Derek O’Brien - Member of Indian Parliament

Adish Aggarwala - President, Supreme Court Bar Association

Anjali Bhardwaj - Founder, Satark Nagrik Sangathan

Priyanka Kakkar - Chief Spokesperson, AAP

Maya Tudor - Professor, Blavatnik School of Government

With the global media’s attention trained on Gaza since October 7, things have worsened for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, and near impossible for journalists to cover.

With their movement severely restricted, dozens of Palestinian journalists have been arrested, often held without trial or charge.

Contributors:
Anan Quzmar - Journalist

Assal Rad - Middle East Scholar and Author

Mariam Barghouti - Writer and Journalist

Oren Ziv - Journalist, +972 Magazine

On our radar:

Ahead of an upcoming election in India, there has been a slew of movie releases built around key Modi government talking points. Producer Tariq Nafi discusses Bollywood’s role in electioneering.

George Soros - Financier, philanthropist Or bogeyman?

Hungarian-American billionaire financier and philanthropist George Soros has been at the centre of countless conspiracy theories. Flo Phillips sifts through fact and fiction to understand how the crusade against Soros became one of the most destructive smear campaigns of the 21st century and a blueprint for others.

Featuring:

Emily Tamkin - Author, The Influence Of Soros

Hannes Grassegger - Reporter and Founder, Polaris News

Marius Dragomir - Director, Center For Media, Data and Society (CMDS)

Credits: George Soros images courtesy of the Open Society Foundations

The politics of Hindu nationalism have played a central role in the dramatic rise of the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. As the elections have neared, the Modi regime has turbocharged its Hindu-first agenda - best exemplified in the inauguration of the Ram Temple in the city of Ayodhya.

Veteran journalist Sreenivasan Jain explains how the opening of this temple - and the whitewashing of its controversial past - illustrates how Modi and his party have made their brand of Hindu supremacism not only acceptable, but a key part of Narendra Modi’s appeal to Indians.

Featuring:

Asaduddin Owaisi - Member of the Indian Parliament

Uma Bharti - Former Vice-President, Bharatiya Janata Party

Hartosh Singh Bal - Political Editor, The Caravan

The United States' airdrops of aid into Gaza are a textbook case of cognitive dissonance on the part of the US administration - dropping food while continuing to send Israel bombs with which to pulverise Gaza. And the gulf between what’s happening on the ground and the mainstream media’s reportage continues to widen.

Contributors:

Laura Albast - Fellow, Institute for Palestine Studies

Mohamad Bazzi - Professor, New York University

Antony Loewenstein - Author, The Palestine Laboratory

Mouin Rabbani - Co-editor, Jadaliyya

On our radar:

Since Israel launched its assault on Gaza, the war has been a delicate subject for Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. The war has led to censorship of news coverage and suppression of public protest. Meenakshi Ravi reports.

Israel's cultural annihilation in Gaza

The Listening Post has covered Israel’s war on Gaza through the prism of the media, including the unprecedented killing of Palestinian journalists. But there’s another level to what’s unfolding in Gaza: the genocidal assault on Palestinian history, existence and culture.

Featuring:

Jehad Abusalim - Executive Director, The Jerusalem Fund

In December 2023, The New York Times published an explosive article - now widely discredited - that detailed Hamas’s agenda to weaponise rape and sexual violence on October 7. We reveal the controversies surrounding the article along with the broader issue of Western media outlets’ pro-Israeli/anti-Palestinian bias.

Lead contributors:
Ali Abunimah - Director, Electronic Intifada
Chris Hedges - Former Middle East Bureau Chief, The New York Times
Yumna Patel - Palestine News Director, Mondoweiss

On our radar:

After they won an award at the Berlinale film festival, the reaction to a speech by filmmakers Yuval Abraham and Basel Adra has become the latest example of Germany’s toxic debate on Gaza.  Meenakshi Ravi reports.

Genocide in Gaza through the eyes of Israeli soldiers

For months, Israeli soldiers in Gaza have been documenting their own war crimes against Palestinians and sharing them on social media.

The Listening Post collected and reviewed hundreds of items. We asked three experts on human rights and torture to examine the material.

Featuring:
Basil Farraj - Assistant Professor, Birzeit University
Lisa Hajjar - Professor of Sociology, UC Santa Barbara
Sarah Leah Whitson - Executive Director of Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN)

Producers: Tariq Nafi and Elettra Scrivo

With thanks to: Younis Tiwari and Tali Shapiro


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With Alexey Navalny’s death and Julian Assange’s extradition appeal happening within a week of each other, we look at the selective treatment of the two dissenters in the Western media.

Lead contributors:

Chip Gibbons - Policy Director, Defending Rights & Dissent

Matt Kennard - Chief Investigator, Declassified UK

Branko Marcetic - Writer, Jacobin

Rebecca Vincent - Director of Campaigns, Reporters Without Borders (RSF)

On our radar:

Usually silent in the face of the suffering in Gaza, Israeli TV channels broadcast segments on the abuse of Palestinian captives - with a positive spin. Tariq Nafi reports.

Namibia’s (mis)remembered genocide

Germany’s genocide in Namibia early in the 20th century has long been a misremembered episode in colonial history. Despite efforts to correct that record, many are yet to hear the testimonies of the victimised communities: the Herero and Nama peoples.

Featuring:

Christina Haritos - Communications Scholar

Suzie Ndaundika Shefeni - Researcher and Journalist

Jephta Nguherimo - Herero Activist and Poet

More than a million Palestinians have been crammed into the city of Rafah -  which is being bombed by Israel with the imminent threat of a ground invasion. Western media, however, has once again failed to communicate the severity of this moment.

Contributors:
Laura Albast - Media Analyst, Institute for Palestine Studies-USA
Nabih Bulos - Middle East Bureau Chief, LA Times
Adel Iskandar - Professor of Global Communication, Simon Fraser University
Jacob Magid - US Bureau Chief, The Times of Israel

On our radar:

Haaretz newspaper published an article about Israeli soldiers cooking food in Palestinian homes– the same homes these soldiers chased them out of, all while Palestinians themselves are being starved by Israel. Nic Muirhead on the mocking of Palestinian suffering.


The Kremlin’s youth militarisation push

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Kremlin has invested considerably in managing domestic perceptions of the war - including among younger citizens.

With the war dragging on, the government’s youth propaganda has escalated. Educational institutions have become part of an orchestrated effort to shape loyal militarised nationalists and passive media consumers.

Contributors:
Alexander Borodikhin - Editor, Mediazona
Ekaterina Kotrikadze - Anchor, TV Rain
Ian Garner - Professor, Queen’s University Centre for International and Defence Policy

This past week’s elections in Pakistan were meant to be a formality, the outcome - a win for the PMLN - predetermined by the Pakistani military and intelligence apparatus.

But despite their attempt to manage the narrative and meddle with politics, former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his party, the PTI, had an unexpected pull with the people.

Contributors:

Amber Shamsi - Director, Centre for Excellence in Journalism
Asma Shirazi - Anchor, HUM News
Fahd Husain - President, AIK News
Moeed Pirzada - Journalist and YouTuber

On our radar:

Two weeks after the International Court of Justice concluded Israel may be committing genocide in Gaza, Israeli soldiers continue to film and upload evidence of their own war crimes. Tariq Nafi examines the material being posted online.

John Kirby: US messenger on the Gaza War

For Israel’s primary backer in its war on Gaza, the United States, getting the messaging right has not been easy. The face of the White House’s policy is US National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby.

Despite some uncomfortable exchanges with reporters, Kirby has maintained an aggressive approach in his delivery. Whether audiences are buying it is another matter.

Meenakshi Ravi explores the figure of the spokesperson and the challenges of being President Biden’s messenger on Gaza.

Featuring:
John Nichols - National affairs correspondent, The Nation
Kristian Denny - Associate professor, Columbia University
Prem Thakker - Politics reporter, The Intercept

Israeli intelligence accuses a UN refugee agency of collusion with Hamas – and the media take it at face value.
Israel has for years been claiming that the United Nations refugee agency (UNRWA) is in cahoots with Hamas. The latest allegations – which coincided with the International Court of Justice’s order for Israel to prevent genocide – bear the hallmarks of a distraction tactic. So far, the media have taken the bait.

Contributors:
Diana Buttu – Palestinian lawyer
Tal Mimran – Former Israeli government adviser
Abdaljawad Omar – Academic, Birzeit University
Kenneth Roth – Former executive director, Human Rights Watch

On our radar
Last month, a New York Times investigation carried Israeli allegations of sexual violence by Hamas during its October 7 attacks. Meenakshi Ravi explains why that story is being called into question.

Germany’s ‘Palestine exception’ to free speech
Historical guilt and the stifling of pro-Palestinian dissent in Germany.

Contributors:
Hebh Jamal – Palestinian journalist
Hanno Hauenstein – Journalist and former editor, Berliner Zeitung
Wieland Hoban – Chair, Jewish Voice for Peace

Part 1: What does the ICJ ruling mean for Israel?

Judgement day at the International Court of Justice. The court has ruled the people of Gaza must be protected from genocidal acts carried out by Israel.

Richard Gizbert is joined by producer Tariq Nafi to discuss the impact this ruling could have on how the media discuss the war in Gaza.

Part 2: Mohammed el-Kurd on Palestinian resistance

Writer and journalist Mohammed el-Kurd in a video essay on Palestinian resistance and the Western media’s warped coverage of Palestine.

Contributor:
Mohammed el-Kurd - Writer and journalist

Part 3: India: Temple opening or election campaign kickoff?

A long-anticipated – and deeply contentious - consecration of a Hindu temple in India this past week featured Prime Minister Narendra Modi front and centre.

The country's mainstream media enthusiastically played along, giving Modi valuable airtime in what is an election year.

Contributors:
Apoorvanand - Professor, Delhi University
Seema Chishti - Editor, The Wire
Pamela Philipose - Author, Media's Shifting Terrain
Sreemoy Talukdar - Deputy executive editor, Firstpost

The ICJ hearings have drawn scorn as well as shock from Israel’s media punditry. In the West, however, the case has emboldened journalists to ask tougher questions of the Israeli narrative.

Lead contributors:
Oren Ziv - Reporter, +972 Magazine
Mouin Rabbani - Co-editor, Jadaliyya
Selma Carmey - Human rights lawyer
Gideon Levy - Columnist, Haaretz
Daniel Levy - President, US/Middle East Project; Former Israeli political adviser

On our radar:

Australia’s public broadcaster- ABC - fired a radio host after she shared a report on Gaza’s humanitarian crisis to her social media. Meenakshi Ravi reports on a leak showing a pro-Israel pressure group may have been involved.

Feature: Top marks for Finland

Finland’s educational drive around media literacy offers a model for educators, broadcasters and countries around the world.

Feature contributors:
Leo Pekkala - Deputy director, National Audiovisual Institute
Mari Vesanummi - Media education producer, YLE
Valtteri Kela - Finnish language teacher, Helsinki French Finnish School
Valentina Uitto - History teacher, Helsinki French Finnish School

With the International Court of Justice deliberating over South Africa’s genocide case against Israel, we look at how the proceedings could affect reporting on the war.

Contributors:
Qaanitah Hunter - Journalist, News24
Nimer Sultany - Editor-in-Chief, The Palestine Yearbook of International Law
Daniel Levy - President, US/Middle East Project
Tony Leon - Political commentator

On our radar:

In Ecuador, masked gang members break into the studio of the state broadcaster, firing at staff and taking hostages. Tariq Nafi explains the country’s gang violence crisis and why the media has become a target.

Feature - Sudan: 2023’s Forgotten War

Thousands killed, millions displaced - the crisis in Sudan continues unabated and underreported. Two Sudanese journalists reflect on the coverage of Sudan’s civil war.

Contributors:
Yassmin Abdel-Magied - Editor, Eyes on Sudan
Isma’il Kushkush - Sudanese-American journalist

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After three months of destruction, displacement and the killing of Palestinians, we take a deep dive into the way the Gaza story has been covered.

Since the attacks on October 7, The Listening Post has interviewed a range of experts on the news coverage – what’s missing in it, and how it has helped enable the crimes being waged on Palestinians in Gaza.

In this special edition, we’ve compiled three interviews – with one journalist, one expert on human rights and another on digital rights. They talk us through the way the media – through their news coverage – have helped pave the way to a genocide.

Contributors:
Francesca Albanese – United Nations Special Rapporteur for the Occupied Palestinian Territories
Marwa Fatafta – MENA Policy and Advocacy Director, Access Now
Mariam Barghouti – Writer and journalist

In 17 years of The Listening Post, we have never seen a story anything like Israel’s war on Gaza.

It has been a turning point for the world order as we know it and its media ecosystem – which is why, since October 7, we have covered nothing else.

In this special edition, we compiled our reporting on the Gaza war over the past 12 weeks. The extent of the brutality, a genocide unfolding in plain sight; the sheer volume of disinformation, designed to defend the indefensible; and the complicity of so many Western news outlets – repeatedly exposed for failing to question Israeli propaganda, then spreading it.

Contributors:
Ariella Aïsha Azoulay - Professor of Modern Culture & Media, Brown University
Azad Essa - Author, Hostile Homelands
Daniel Levy - President, US/Middle East Project
Orly Noy - Journalist, Human Rights Advocate
Omar Al-Ghazzi - Associate Professor of Media & Communications, London School of Economics
Rami Younis - Journalist; Former host On the Other Hand, Makan 33
Ramzy Baroud - Editor-in-Chief, Palestine Chronicle
Sarah Leah Whitson - Executive Director, DAWN
Swasti Rao - Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies & Analyses
Yara Eid - Palestinian Journalist in Gaza
Yumna Patel - Palestine News Director, Mondoweiss

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According to Gaza’s government media office, Israel’s military has now killed 97 journalists in the Strip. Israel has barred international media from entering Gaza, firsthand reporting on the onslaught there has been left to Palestinians already locked into the occupied territory - documenting their own genocide.

Contributors:
Amahl Bishara - Professor of anthropology, Tufts University
Arwa Damon - Former senior international correspondent, CNN
Sari Bashi - Program director, Human Rights Watch
Wael Dahdouh - Gaza bureau chief, Al Jazeera Arabic

On our radar:
The settler movement - which has placed 700,000 Israelis on the West Bank in complete contravention of international law - now has its eyes on Gaza. Producer Flo Phillips on Israeli developers' plans in post-war Gaza.

The war in Gaza & the end times - the Christian Zionist view:
Evangelicals in the United States - many of whom call themselves Christian Zionists - are some of the biggest supporters of Israel in the US, and they broadcast their support on TV and radio networks that have huge audiences.

Contributors:
Chrissy Stroop - Senior correspondent, Religion Dispatches
Melani McAlister - Author, The Kingdom of God Has No Borders
Sarah Posner - Journalist and author, Unholy

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Israel’s ethnic cleansing of Gaza is being witnessed in real time, with Palestinian civilians broadcasting their own bombardment; Israeli soldiers streaming sadistic acts of humiliation - proof of an historic crime. The question Palestinians are asking - urgently - is whether it will make any difference.

Contributors:
Ariella Aisha Azoulay - Professor of Modern Culture & Media, Brown University
Omar Al-Ghazzi - Associate Professor of Media & Communications, LSE
Ramzy Baroud - Editor-in-Chief, Palestine Chronicle
Yumna Patel - Palestine News Director, Mondoweiss

On our radar:
Eighty-nine journalists have been killed in Gaza since October 7. Producer Tariq Nafi on the targeting of journalists, and their families, in Gaza.

Silenced and surveilled: Palestinian citizens of Israel:
Hundreds of Palestinian citizens of Israel have been arrested for social media posts criticising Israel’s assault on Gaza. Rami Younis talks about the clampdown on Israel’s Palestinian citizens.

Contributor:
Rami Younis - Journalist, Former host of ‘On the Other Hand’, Makan 33

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More than 60 days into the Israel-Gaza war, two Israeli news outlets - +972 magazine and Local Call - published a report on The Gospel, a new artificial intelligence system deployed in Gaza.

The AI helps generate new targets at an unprecedented rate, allowing the Israeli military to loosen its already permissive constraints on the killing of civilians.

Contributors:
Marwa Fatafta - MENA Policy and Advocacy Director, Access Now
Omar Shakir - Israel and Palestine Director, Human Rights Watch
Sophia Goodfriend - Journalist
Tal Mimran - Former legal adviser, Israeli Ministry of Justice and Israeli military

On our radar:
The exchange of hostages between Israel and Hamas late last month created some challenges for the Netanyahu government - and its messaging. Producer Meenakshi Ravi looks at how Israeli media has been reporting on the story.

Mariam Barghouti: “The media is complicit in the Gaza war”:
As the world is focused on the events unfolding in Gaza, Israel has also escalated its attacks on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, where Hamas has no authority or military presence. Journalist Mariam Barghouti joins us to discuss the intensification of surveillance technologies, the clamp down on speech and the rise of violence in the West Bank.

Contributor:
Mariam Barghouti - Palestinian Writer and Journalist

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If the United States has aided and abetted Israel’s campaign of ethnic cleansing in Gaza, the European Union’s role has been one of quiet complicity.

In a special edition of The Listening Post, we examine the discourse around the conflict in three EU countries: Germany, where shows of support for the Palestinians have been heavily suppressed; France, where television news channels have distorted the debate to suit their own agendas; and the outlier that is Ireland, where there has been probing criticism of Israel’s actions - from politicians and in the media.

Segment 1: Germany
Contributors:
Hanno Hauenstein - Journalist and former editor Berliner Zeitung
Wieland Hoban - Chair, Jewish Voice for Peace
Hebh Jamal - Palestinian journalist

Segment 2: France
Contributors:
Rima Hassan - International Lawyer and President, Refugee Camps Observatory
Thomas Legrand - Radio Host, France Inter
Daniel Schneidermann - Founder & Columnist, Arrêt Sur Images and Columnist, Libération

Segment 3: Ireland
Contributors:
Brendan Ciarán Browne - Assistant Professor of Conflict Resolution and Fellow of Trinity College Dublin
Una Mullally - Columnist, The Irish Times
Shona Murray - Europe Correspondent, Euronews

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Forty-eight days of bloodshed later, a truce lasting 96 hours - between Israel and Hamas - has come into effect, giving Palestinians in Gaza some temporary room to breathe. But in the information war, there is no ceasefire in sight.

Contributors:
Abboud Omar Hamayel – Academic, Birzeit University
Hussein Ibish – Arab Gulf States Institute
Mia Bloom – Professor, Georgia State University
Shashank Joshi – Defence Editor, Economist

On our radar:
This past week has been one of the most devastating for journalists in Gaza. This, in a war that has already been described as the “deadliest period on record” for the media. Meenakshi Ravi has the details.

Francesca Albanese: Western media living in ‘alternative reality’:
In recent weeks, there has been an alarmingly small number of official voices calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. One exception has been Francesca Albanese - the United Nation’s Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian territories. She joins us for an interview on terminology, context and the blindspots of mainstream media.

Contributor:
Francesca Albanese - UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Territories

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The evidence provided by Israeli forces to justify their attacks on Gaza's hospitals has come up short - and so has the news coverage.

Contributors:
Alice Rothchild - Health Advisory Council, Jewish Voice for Peace
Diana Buttu - Palestinian Lawyer
Meron Rapoport - Editor, Local Call
Yumna Patel - Palestine News Director, Mondoweiss

On our radar:
Israeli politicians are calling for the transfer of Palestinians from Gaza. Producer Tariq Nafi reports on how they’re using the media to transmit the message loud and clear.

The Israeli anti-war Left: Where to next, after October 7?:
A special interview with journalist and human rights activist Orly Noy on the pain and loneliness of the Israeli anti-war Left, post-October 7th.

Contributor:
Orly Noy - Chair, B’Tselem

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Freedom of expression is under the gun in the Land of the Free. We look at what media in the United States is missing in Israel’s war on Gaza - and why it matters.

Contributors:
Noura Erakat - Associate Professor, Rutgers University
Abdallah Fayyad - Journalist; Former Member, Boston Globe Editorial Board
Alex Kane - Senior Reporter, Jewish Currents
Jack Mirkinson - Acting Senior Editor, The Nation

On our radar:
The vast majority of mainstream outlets in the US are corporate-owned. Nic Muirhead reports on how publicly-funded broadcasters in the Anglosphere are taking heat over their coverage of the Gaza story.

‘India Stands With Israel’:
Indo-Israeli relations have been on the upswing for the past few years. And in this war, Indians have been showing their support through posts online, and rants on TV with some disinformation thrown in, to skew how this conflict is understood. Meenakshi Ravi reports.

Contributors:
Azad Essa - Author, Hostile Homelands; Journalist, Middle East Eye
Pooja Chaudhuri - Researcher and Trainer, Bellingcat
Swasti Rao - Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses

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After three weeks of a punishing Israeli bombardment of Gaza, Israel is still refusing to allow international journalists in.

News outlets and audiences are entirely reliant on local Palestinian reporters, who risk their lives to provide a window into the war.

Contributors:
Tal Schneider - political and diplomatic correspondent, Times of Israel
Nathan Thrall - author of A Day in the Life of Abed Salama: A Palestine Story
Joshua Leifer - journalist, Dissent Magazine
Omar Baddar - deputy director, Arab American Institute

On our radar:

The ethnic cleansing of the occupied West Bank intensifies. Meenakshi Ravi reports on how Israelis are documenting and sharing the evidence online.

Israel's automated occupation: Hebron

Tariq Nafi examines Israel’s use of AI-powered surveillance in Hebron, which has entrenched the Israeli government’s control over Palestinians.

Contributers:
Izzat Karaki - activist and volunteer, Youth Against Settlements
Sophia Goodfriend - researcher, Duke University
Matt Mahmoudi - researcher and adviser, Amnesty International

After three weeks of punishing Israeli bombardment of Gaza, Israel is still refusing to allow international journalists in. News outlets and audiences are entirely reliant on local Palestinian reporters, who risk their lives to provide a window into the war.

Contributors:
Mouin Rabbani - Co-editor, Jadaliyya
Omar Shakir - Human Rights Watch, Israel and Palestine director
Yara Eid - Gazan journalist

On our radar:
The online space has been a significant arena of battle throughout this war. Flo Phillips reports on the power that social media companies wield when it comes to what can and cannot be seen from Gaza.

Ghassan Kanafani and the era of Palestinian revolutionary media:
Silencing Palestinian voices is not new for Israel. We take you 50 years back for a historical case in point - Ghassan Kanafani. Reporter Tariq Nafi explores Kanafani’s work as a journalist and the era of Palestinian revolutionary media.

Contributors:
As’ad Abukhalil - Professor of political science, California State University
Elias Khoury - Novelist and literary critic
Refqa Abu-Remaileh - Professor of modern Arabic literature and film, Free University Berlin

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Two weeks into Israel’s war on Gaza, what the world is witnessing - from Israeli leaders' racist and genocidal rhetoric to the mass killing of Palestinian civilians - bears the hallmarks of a historic crime. This episode looks at how the media are responding - in Israel and beyond.

Contributors:
Neve Gordon - professor of international law and human rights, Queen Mary University
Tariq Kenney-Shawa - US policy fellow, Al-Shabaka
Antony Loewenstein - Author of books such as The Palestine Laboratory
Yousef Munayyer - senior fellow, Arab Center Washington, DC
Sherine Tadros - deputy director of advocacy & UN representative, Amnesty International

From disinformation to 'shadow banning': Marwa Fatafta on the digital front line

With journalists locked out of the Gaza Strip, social platforms have become a vital means of finding and sharing information as well as another front in the propaganda war. Marwa Fatafta, a Palestinian digital rights analyst, talks us through the online dimension of this conflict - including disinformation, hate speech and the censorship of Palestinian voices.

Contributor:
Marwa Fatafta - MENA policy manager, Access Now

What we are seeing in the occupied Gaza Strip and Israel has no precedent - the
barbarism, the talk of vengeance, the war crimes. And the signs, all too familiar ones, of journalists succumbing to the pressures under the powers that be.

In this special episode, we delve into the news coverage of the war in Palestine and Israel. We examine the narratives that have emerged since Hamas’s surprise attack - a seismic news event that is destined to take ownership of the date on which it happened - October 7, 2023.

Contributors:
Mariam Barghouti - Writer and Journalist
Daniel Levy - President, US/Middle East Project
Mouin Rabbani - Co-editor, Jadaliyya
Meron Rapoport - Editor, Local Call
Sarah Leah Whitson - Executive Director, DAWN

With a week to go until elections in Poland, the ruling Law and Justice Party has used its control of the public broadcaster to drown out opposition voices and push its anti-European Union, anti-migrant messaging.

Contributors:
Jan Cienski - Senior Policy Editor, Politico Europe
Paulina Lenik - Assistant Professor, Kozminski University
Anita Prazmowska - Professor in International History, LSE
Wojciech Przybylski - Editor-in-Chief, Visegrad Insight

On our radar:
Police in Delhi raided the offices of news website NewsClick, detaining journalists over accusations of spreading Chinese propaganda. Johanna Hoes reports on the climate of tense Sino-Indian relations behind the arrests, and the unlikely source of the tip-off.

Why Russia is looting Ukraine’s art:
From the moment the Russian invasion began, museum workers in Ukraine knew they were coming for their collections. Tariq Nafi looks into the war being waged against Ukraine’s heritage and history.

Contributors:
Milena Chorna  - Head of the International Exhibitions Department, National Museum of the History of Ukraine in the Second World War
Alina Dotsenko - Director, Kherson Regional Art Museum
Ihor Poshyvailo - General Director, Maidan Museum

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The resignation of 92-year-old media magnate Rupert Murdoch has set in motion the long-awaited succession of his empire. What effect will his son Lachlan’s leadership have on media - and politics - worldwide?

Contributors:
Kerry Flynn - Media Reporter, Axios
Des Freedman - Professor, Goldsmiths, University of London
Matt Gertz - Senior Fellow, Media Matters for America
Paddy Manning - Author, The Successor

On our radar:
With a general election just two weeks away, a Polish film telling the story of Syrian and Afghan refugees has drawn the ire of the country’s ruling party. Meenakshi Ravi reports on the campaign targeting the film’s director.

The Mafia’s TikTok takeover:
Elements of the Italian underworld are surfacing … online. Flo Phillips reports, from Rome, on the Mafia’s new stomping ground - TikTok.

Contributors:
Alessandra Dolci  - Deputy Prosecutor, Milan Anti-Mafia Directorate
Nico Falco  - Journalist, Fanpage
Marcello Ravveduto  - Professor of Public and Digital History, University of Salerno

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As the residents of the city of Derna count their dead, authorities in eastern Libya expel news crews from the city and evade scrutiny of their role in the disaster.

Contributors:
Elham Saudi - Co-founder & director, Lawyers for Justice in Libya
Sami Zaptia - Editor-in-chief, Libya Herald
Anas El Gomati - Director, Sadeq Institute

On our radar:
Media tycoon Rupert Murdoch announced his resignation this week aged 92, handing over the reins of his empire to his son. Reporter Johanna Hoes explains the implications of the long-awaited move.

Archiving Nigeria’s past in print:
Fu’ad Lawal is a Nigerian journalist on a mission; to make a free online archive of the country’s newspapers since 1960. Meenakshi Ravi reports on the ambitious project aiming to bring Nigeria’s past to life.

Contributors:
Fu’ad Lawal - Founder, Archivi.Ng
Ruth Zakari - Editor-in-chief, Zikoko
Toyin Falola - Author, Decolonizing African Studies, Professor, University of Texas at Austin

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Saudi Arabia’s massive spending on sport is part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s strategy to diversify the petrostate’s economy and re-shape its brand.

Contributors:
Abdullah Al-Arian - Author, Football in the Middle East
Gregg Carlstrom - Middle East Correspondent, The Economist
Kristin Diwan - Senior Research Scholar, The Arab Gulf States Institute
Rayhan Uddin - Journalist, Middle East Eye

On our radar:
This week saw the launch of the biggest antitrust trial of the century against tech behemoth, Google. Flo Phillips explains what’s at stake, and why governments in the US and Europe are taking big tech to task.

God and atheism on YouTube:
Religious evangelists of all stripes have long enjoyed large platforms on social media - now, atheism is growing online. The Listening Post’s Ryan Kohls reports from the US on the country's Godless apostles on YouTube.

Contributors:
Seth Andrews - YouTuber, @TheThinkingAtheist
Drew McCoy - YouTuber, @GeneticallyModifiedSkeptic
Chrissy Stroop - Senior Correspondent, Religion Dispatches

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Politicians have long had a tendency to frame the past in a way that suits their political agenda in the present and the Holocaust is no different.

In this special episode of The Listening Post, Johanna Hoes reports on historical revisionism in Poland; the governing right-wing Law and Justice party’s attempts to portray all Polish people as heroes or victims while concealing an uncomfortable truth: that some Poles collaborated with the Nazis and were complicit in crimes against Jews.

Contributors:
Nelly Ben-Or - Holocaust Survivor & Pianist
Mindu Hornick - Auschwitz Survivor
Pawel Sawicki - Press Officer, Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum
Jan Grabowski - Professor of History, University of Ottawa
Katia Patin - Multimedia Editor, Coda Story

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A military takeover in Niger as the Kremlin and Russian mercenaries lurk on the sidelines and the airwaves. But would Russia be any less exploitative than Niger’s old colonial masters?

Contributors:
Alexis Akwagyiram - Managing editor, Semafor Africa
Mathieu Oliver - Journalist, Jeune Afrique
Aanu Adeoye - West Africa correspondent, Financial Times
Delina Goxho - Security analyst

On our radar:
China wants its citizens to be on the lookout - online - for spies. Johanna Hoes looks at their tips and tricks for spotting the difference between work and espionage.

India’s media whistleblower:
"India’s media is one of its biggest problems right now," says veteran Indian journalist Ravish Kumar, offering a sobering temperature check on the country's news media ahead of an upcoming election.

Contributor:
Ravish Kumar - Former host, NDTV India

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A viral video revealing a shocking case of sexual assault has put the northeastern Indian state of Manipur on the radar and shed light on a place that the mainstream media has paid scant attention to.

Contributors:
Anubha Bhonsle - founder, Newsworthy
Samrat Choudhury - journalist and author, Northeast India: A Political History
Patricia Mukhim - editor, The Shillong Times
Sushant Singh - consulting editor, The Caravan; senior fellow, Centre for Policy Research

On our radar:
Israelis are describing the fight over judicial reform as a looming civil war. Producer Tariq Nafi looks at how the Israeli media has covered the story.

Satellite imagery: the final frontier for news?:
Satellites have entered the newsroom, but are they the all-seeing eye their makers claim them to be? Producer Ahmed Madi reports on the stories they are telling - and the stories they aren't.

Contributors:
Michael Cruickshank - geospatial analyst and open-source journalist
Chris Quilty - satellite and space industry analyst; CEO, Quilty Analytics
Lisa Parks - director, Global Media Technologies & Cultures Lab; author, Cultures in Orbit: Satellites and the Televisual

For the first time in 63 years, Hollywood actors have joined writers in a double strike against studio powerhouses, demanding better pay, fairer working conditions, and protections from present and future AI threats.

Contributors:
Miranda Banks - Media professor, Loyola Marymount University's School of Film and Television
Daheli Hall - Writer and actor
Meg James - Senior entertainment writer, Los Angeles Times
Sharon Waxman - CEO and founder, The Wrap

On our radar:
Israeli President Isaac Herzog visited the United States this past week in an attempt to smooth over some diplomatic tensions. Meenakshi Ravi reports on the ceremonies and spectacle of the visit.

The politics behind football’s greatest rivalry:
Spanish voters head to the polls in a general election that could result in the strongest showing for the far right since the days of the Franco dictatorship. Flo Phillips explores the role football has played, and still plays, in Spanish politics and propaganda.

Contributors:
Guillem Balague - Football journalist and commentator
Sid Lowe - Author of Fear and Loathing in La Liga
Alejandro Quiroga - Reader in Spanish history, Newcastle University

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The United States-China relationship is a complex one. Beneath the diplomatic niceties lies deep mutual suspicion - two governments fully engaged in a bigger battle of narratives.

Contributors:
Jiayang Fan - staff writer, The New Yorker
Brian Hioe - editor, New Bloom Magazine
James Palmer - deputy editor, Foreign Policy

On our radar:
In the United Kingdom, the BBC is in a state of turmoil after a Rupert Murdoch-owned tabloid alleged sexual misconduct involving one of the broadcaster’s most famous faces. Producer Flo Phillips reports on the saga that has seduced the British media.

Kenya’s deadly televangelist:
The politics of prayer: Producer Nicholas Muihead travels to Kenya to ask how the authorities there plan to regulate the power of televangelism and prevent another "Shakahola Massacre".

Contributors:
Ezra Chiloba - director general, Communications Authority of Kenya
Reuben Kigake - broadcast journalist and musician
Lee Scharnick-Udemans - senior researcher, Desmond Tutu Centre
Rodgers Shibutse - victim’s son
Joseph Yeri - journalist

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