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

A weekly programme that examines and dissects the world's media, how they operate and the stories they cover.

The Listening Post

How the media manufactured consent for genocide | The Listening Post

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

Selling the war: Purges, polygraphs and propaganda | The Listening Post

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

Trump’s war loop: Escalate, retreat, repeat | The Listening Post

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

How the media manufactured consent for genocide | The Listening Post

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