"Facebook’s Zuckerberg backs online political ad regulations forwarded by Sen. Amy Klobuchar," reported the Associated Press in 2018. "CEO Sam Bankman-Fried says crypto needs to embrace regulation," announced Business Insider in 2021. "AI leaders: Please regulate us," read an Axios headline in 2023.

In recent years, major U.S. companies, especially in the tech industry, have given new life to a longstanding corporate PR strategy: self-regulation. It's a common tactic. After a scandal — say, revelations about pollution, rampant scams, or large-scale invasions of privacy — corporations rebrand as repentant and disciplined, ready to pay their debts to society and embrace the public good. "No need for oppressive and overly burdensome regulation", they insist, "we can handle it ourselves."

This, of course, isn't the real intention. Historically, this corporate voluntarism has generated little more than a few cosmetic reforms, if that, and allowed the continuation of business as usual in every industry from slavery to oil to tobacco to crypto, save for the occasional sacrificial lamb. So why, and how, do media keep assuring their audiences that, This Time, It's Different? That this time corporate America has learned its lesson and can be trusted to regulate itself?

On this episode, we examine the centuries-old damage-control strategy of industry self-regulation, looking at how corporate claims of self-policing, aided by news media, buy time and goodwill while concealing an agenda of weakening pre-existing regulations, manipulating new laws to the benefit of the private sector, or, often, preventing regulation altogether. Our guest is the Revolving Door Project's assistant director Timi Iwayemi.

Episode 224: Corporate Self-Regulation and the Fine Art of 'Preempting" Public Outrage

Episode 225: How US Media Frames Democracy that Actually Helps People as "Buying Votes"

Ep 226: The Importance of 'Seriousness,' or Why Palestinians Can't Be Witness to Their Own Genocide (Part I)

"Exclusive Look at Life in War-Ravaged Gaza," reads the title for a CNN interview with correspondent Clarissa Ward. "'It's a Killing Field': IDF Soldiers Ordered to Shoot Deliberately at Unarmed Gazans Waiting for Humanitarian Aid," report Yaniv Kubovich and Bar Peleg for Ha'aretz. "I’m a Genocide Scholar. I Know It When I See It," argues Omer Bartov in The New York Times.

These stories have something in common: they’re vital pieces of journalism about Gaza, or Palestine more broadly, published in Western and Western-aligned outlets. This is, obviously, important. Reporting like this keeps Western audiences informed about Israel’s genocide in Gaza, fortifies sympathetic Westerners’ solidarity with Palestine, and serves as an essential counter to the pro-Israel PR machine powering so much other Western media coverage.

But while these pieces have made a splash among their audiences, in many cases, they’re building upon points that Palestinian journalists, writers, and activists had been making weeks, months, even years before. So why is the reporting of Palestinian journalists–especially their reporting on what’s happening within their own country and cities–so often ignored, only to be heeded after it gets the Western stamp of approval?

On this episode — our Season 8 finale and also the second part of our two-part series on “The Importance of Seriousness, or Why Palestinians Can’t Be Witness to Their Own Genocide” — we explore the discrepancies in the alleged credibility between Western and Israeli journalists and Palestinian and other Arab journalists, especially when it comes to reporting on Israel’s genocide in Gaza. We’ll look at how, by Western standards, journalists don’t build legitimacy by being correct, so much as by being in close proximity to the political and media establishments.

Our guest is writer and organizer Kaleem Hawa.

Ep 227: The Importance of 'Seriousness,' or Why Palestinians Can't Be Witness to Their Own Genocide (Part II)

Liv, Travis, and Jake discuss the continuing fallout from Charlie Kirk's assassination and new details from Tyler Robinson's charging document.

Thanks for subscribing to QAA on patreon.

Check out our new podcast series network Cursed Media and binge the entirety of our new show Science in Transition by Liv Agar and Spencer Barrows: https://cursedmedia.net

Editing by Corey Klotz. Theme by Nick Sena. Additional music by Pontus Berghe. Theme Vocals by THEY/LIVE (https://instagram.com/theyylivve / https://sptfy.com/QrDm). Cover Art by Pedro Correa: (https://pedrocorrea.com)

https://qaapodcast.com

QAA was known as the QAnon Anonymous podcast.

See You In Valhalla, Charlie (E341)

Ep 228 - Billionaires as Insta-Experts: How Our Media Conflates Extreme Wealth with Expertise

We’re joined by Jasper Craven to talk DoD Chief Peter Brian Hegseth, warfighting, women, mothers, fathers, alcoholism, infidelity, and more.

Check out Jaspers new article on Pete Hegseth's war on women in the Baffler: https://thebaffler.com/salvos/battle-of-the-sexes-craven

Hit the tip line: (646) 801-1129 | tips@trueanon.com

Discover more episodes at podcast.trueanon.com

Episode 491: One Bottle After Another

Catching up on the latest news after a brief hiatus: Charlie Kirk memorial and everything therein; Kamala's new book about the 2024 election; and debating whether or not democracy really can survive

Support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/trillbillyworkersparty

Episode 411: Awakening The Warrior Spirit

Like many things, there used to be a bipartisan consensus that in a disaster, you help as many people get through it as quickly and safely as possible. In the past 20+ years, though, we’ve seen a shift in how the right responds to climate catastrophes — including building out a robust selection of conspiracy theories from chemtrails to Flat Earth. Will Menaker from Chapo Trap House joins us to discuss right-wing conspiracy theories about the weather, the climate, and whether we’re living on a discworld.

Our guest is Will Menaker, host of Chapo Trap House. Their Movie Mindset series returns in October for spooky season, and you can also buy their new Year Zero comic book here: https://badegg.co/products/year-zero-1. 

Want even more Panic World content? Like ad-free episodes, bonus episodes, and access to our Discord? There’s still a week left to get your first month for just $0.50 by signing up for our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/PanicWorld. Enter “PANICYEAR” at checkout for 90% the first month.

And if you want to see this conversation on video, ⁠Panic World is now posting episodes to YouTube!

PANIC WORLD: The Big Dumb Weather Conspiracy with Chapo Trap House

What is National Security Presidential Memorandum‑7 (NSPM‑7)? And why is it causing major law firms to prepare their clients for possible politically motivated governmental probes? Our guest Ken Klippenstein explains the national security directive on “domestic terrorism” and how it serves to chill speech, harass Trump’s political opponents, and broaden the justifications for federal investigations. 

Plus we unpack Trump promoting medbeds, Kash Patel’s new challenge coin, and the Q Shaman’s multi trillion dollar lawsuit in which he declares himself the “first legal President of the New Constitutional Republic of the United States Of America.”

Subscribe for $5 a month to get all the premium episodes:
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Ken Klippenstein
https://x.com/kenklippenstein

Subscribe to Ken’s Newsletter
https://www.kenklippenstein.com/

Trump’s NSPM-7 Labels Common Beliefs As Terrorism “Indicators”
https://www.kenklippenstein.com/p/trumps-nspm-7-labels-common-beliefs


Check out our new podcast series network Cursed Media and binge the entirety of our new show Science in Transition by Liv Agar and Spencer Barrows: https://cursedmedia.net
Editing by Corey Klotz. Theme by Nick Sena. Additional music by Pontus Berghe. Theme Vocals by THEY/LIVE (https://instagram.com/theyylivve / https://sptfy.com/QrDm). Cover Art by Pedro Correa: (https://pedrocorrea.com)
https://qaapodcast.com
QAA was known as the QAnon Anonymous podcast.


Are You NSPM-7 Compliant, Citizen? (E343)

This episode isn’t just great—it’ll revolutionize what you think of AI. Ed Zitron is back in the trap to discuss his recent reporting on just how much money companies like OpenAI have (and how much they’re burning). We talk about the byzantine financing of generative AI and LLMs, the tech world’s dream of recreating the postwar boom with a technology primarily used to make the world’s least legal porn, and the proliferation of data centers across the country. Plus: Bill Ackman teaches you how to pick up girls.

Get your Ed at:
Better Offline podcast: https://linktr.ee/betteroffline
Where’s Your Ed At newsletter: https://www.wheresyoured.at/
Twitter/X: https://x.com/edzitron
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/edzitron.com 

987 - May I Meet You? feat. Ed Zitron (11/17/25)

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 228 - Billionaires as Insta-Experts: How Our Media Conflates Extreme Wealth with Expertise

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