On a related note, I see a lot of "independent" journalism that end up being state-funded and acting as attack dogs for certain governments (e.g. Bellingcat).

this stuff needs to be made public.. fuck I hate NPR.

Larry O'Hara claimed in 1996 that "Searchlight" magazine in the UK seemed to be a front for MI5: http://www.searchlight.org.uk/o-hara/

They say this yet have never had an episode on the obvious lies the media spreads about China...

We lick our wounds after being snubbed for an important award, talk about how Gayle Manchin is trying to whack Sleepy Joe, and make a brief-but-aborted attempt at understanding the coming "vibe shift"

Patreon link: www.patreon.com/trillbillyworkersparty

Episode 237: Got Some Nice Dresses For You

“Among these central ranges of continental mountains and these great companion parks…lies the pleasure-ground and health-home of the nation,” wrote journalist Samuel Bowles in 1869. “Mountain parks and reservations are useful not only as fountains of timber and irrigating rivers, but as fountains of life,” mused naturalist John Muir in 1901. “National parks are the best idea we ever had. Absolutely American, absolutely democratic, they reflect us at our best rather than our worst,” opined writer Wallace Stegner in 1983.

North American and European traditions of conservationism, especially those in the U.S., are endlessly celebrated in Western media, with figures like Teddy Roosevelt and John James Audubon placed at the forefront. They’re not without their merits, especially at a time when some of the world’s most powerful countries refuse to take action on climate change. What often goes underexamined or ignored, though, is the deeply racist, settler-colonial history–and very much still the present– that has informed the “conservationist” movement in the US and much of the North Atlantic.

What have been and still are the ecological and human costs, particularly for Indigenous and Black people in the US, of this settler-colonial ‘conservation’ movement? Why, in the American collective memory, is the ‘conservation movement’ often credited to powerful white figures of the 19th and early 20th centuries, despite the extreme environmental and social destruction that they helped caused? And why should there be a need for a settler-driven conservation movement when the original inhabitants of, what we now know as the US and Canada already very often already had systems of ‘conservationism’ in place?

On this episode, we study the racist origins of Western conservation movements, primarily in the United States; how the conservation movement and romanticization of nature have served the settler-colonial project; how these histories continue to inform certain currents of the mainstream climate activism of the present; and what an inclusive, decolonial understanding of environmental conservation can look like.

Our guest is UConn professor Prakash Kashwan.

Ep 155: How the American Settler-Colonial Project Shaped Popular Notions of 'Conservation'

"Investigative journalism." It’s a term that conjures imagery of committed, industrious newsrooms like those in the Oscar-winning films All the President’s Men or Spotlight, filled with intrepid reporters dutifully scouring documents, scrutinizing photographs and taking secretive yet explosive phone calls at all hours of the night. It’s a rallying cry for TED Talkers and Brookings Institute essayists, many of whom extol the virtues of scrappy and scrupulous reportage that succeeds in taking down a crooked politician, exposing a company’s abusive policy, or otherwise changing the course of history.

It’s common to think of investigative journalism as an honorable line of work - after all, investigative reports have exposed powerful misdeeds, labor abuses, air and water pollution, and racism in healthcare. But this isn’t the only form of investigative reporting in the United States. Too often, stories characterized as well-meaning investigative reports - local news pieces alerting viewers to the “dangers” of bail reform, or New York Times scoops on government “leaks” demanding billions more for military spending--end up reinforcing the very power structures they’re supposed to be challenging.

While the title of “investigative journalist” is so often used as a catch-all term for a noble tireless, truth-seeking, deep-digging reporter who, like a determined fictional detective, follows a twisted trail of breadcrumbs to their blockbuster end, why should we assign valor to what can often merely be the lazy practice of government and corporate stenography? Or laundering intelligence or pro-police propaganda?

On this episode, we discuss the ways in which investigative journalism is portrayed as an inherent good even when it serves powerful interests, how professional norms in the journalism industry seek to remove power dynamics in deciding what leaks are important and who is leaking them, and why investigative reporting without politics isn’t an inherently subversive or moral enterprise.

Our guest is Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting's Jim Naureckas.

Ep 156: How the "Investigative Journalism" Aesthetic Can Be Used to Launder Power-Serving Narratives

"Let the Culture Wars Begin. Again," The New York Times announces. "How the ‘Culture War’ Could Break Democracy," warns Politico. "As The Culture Wars Shift, President Trump Struggles To Adapt," NPR tells us. "Will Democrats Go on the Offensive in the Culture Wars?" Vanity Fair wonders.

Over and over, we’re reminded that so-called culture wars are being waged between a simplified Left and Right. Depending on who you ask, they tend to encompass issues under very broad categories: “LGBTQ rights,” “abortion,” “funding for the arts,” “policing,” “immigration,” “family values.” While there is some validity to the label of “culture war issue” – say, Republican opposition to an art installation, or tantrums over the gender of M&Ms – most of the time, the term is woefully misapplied.

Despite what much of the media claims, LGBTQ rights, police violence, abortion, and so many other issues aren’t just “culture war” fluff in the same league as the latest Fox News meltdown about a cartoon character. Nor are they both-sides-able matters of debate. They’re matters of real, material consequence, often with life-and-death stakes. So why is it that these are placed under the “culture war” umbrella? And what are the dangers of characterizing them that way?

On this episode, we discuss the vague nature of the term “culture war”; how this lack of clarity is weaponized to gloss over and minimize life-and-death issues like police violence and gender-affirming healthcare; and how the only consistent criterion for a “culture war” seems to be issues that impact someone other than the media’s default audience, i.e., a white professional-class man.

Our guest is The Real News Network Editor-in-Chief Max Alvarez.

Episode 157: How the "Culture War" Label Is Used to Trivialize Life-and-Death Economic Issues

In this News Brief, we examine the convoluted, vague rhetorical labor involved in making purging unhoused populations with cops seem humane and anodyne.

NewsBrief: The Squishy Liberal Euphemisms Big City Dem Mayors Use to Sell Criminalizing Homelessness

We sit down with the congresswoman from New York, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, for a wide-ranging interview focusing on the triumphs and failures of the post-Bernie left, the transformative potential of a truly inclusive Green New Deal, and what it might look like to take up space to take on power. And just maybe a little bit of chat on Building 7 :)

Episode 218: AOC

This week we touch on a really strange article about cancel culture in The Atlantic. It doesn't go down well. Also, this episode contains discussion of sexual violence, blackout drinking, and consent. Listener discretion advised.

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Episode 242: Bad Boys of American Letters

Jorge from Everybody Loves Communism comes on for another jaw dropping reading series. Imperialism. What is it? In what ways is it like the enemies from the Final Fantasy franchise?

Imperialism, The Highest Stage of Capitalism w/ @LineGoesDown

In this Citations Needed Live Interview with Luke Savage from 3/22, we discuss his upcoming collection of essays, "The Dead Center: Reflections on Liberalism and Democracy After the End of History," the abandoned hopes of the Obama era, the rise of Trumpism and the inability—or unwillingness—of Liberalism to offer a moral and more just vision for the world.

Live Interview: What Happened to Our Politics After the End of History? with Luke Savage

While reading about a focus group of conservative voters, the boys decide America might be better off if we bring back town dunces and fools.

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Chapo Trap House

619 Teaser - Bring Back Fools

This is the article we discussed on today's show: https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2022/04/inside-the-new-right-where-peter-thiel-is-placing-his-biggest-bets

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Episode 245: Righteous Gangsterismo With Insane Characteristics

Citations Needed is a podcast about the media, power, PR, and the history of bullshit. It is hosted by Nima Shirazi and Adam Johnson, and produced by Florence Barrau-Adams.

Ep 156: How the "Investigative Journalism" Aesthetic Can Be Used to Launder Power-Serving Narratives

Citations Needed Podcast

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