Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting

Janine Jackson interviewed Free Press’s Craig Aaron about the net neutrality setback for the October 4, 2019, episode of CounterSpin. This is a lightly edited transcript. Play Stop pop out X MP3 Link Janine Jackson: A federal appeals court has ruled that it was OK for the FCC, over the overwhelming, openly stated will of … Read more‘The Public Is Clearly on the Side of Net Neutrality’

Play Stop pop out X MP3 Link   (image: UAW) This week on CounterSpin: One of the ways corporate media coverage of the now more than three-week-old GM strike is like coverage of every strike is the use, so common as to be invisible, of constructions like “GM strike leaves thousands of outside workers without … Read moreMike Elk on GM Strike, Trinity Tran on Public Banking

Janine Jackson interview the Government Accountability Project’s Dana Gold about whistleblower protection for the October 4, 2019, episode of CounterSpin. This is a lightly edited transcript. Play Stop pop out X MP3 Link New York Times (9/26/19) Janine Jackson: The New York Times stands by its decision to publish identifying details about the whistleblower at … Read more‘Political Interference in the Whistleblower Disclosure Process Is Horrifying’ – CounterSpin interview with Dana Gold on whistleblower protection

Play Stop pop out X MP3 Link Trump threatens a whistleblower. (image: AP via VOA) This week on CounterSpin: Who knows what will have happened by the time you hear this show, as Donald Trump seems to think nothing goes better after evidence that you tried to strongarm a country into digging up dirt on … Read moreDana Gold on Whistleblower Protections, Craig Aaron on Net Neutrality Setback

The September 27, 2019, episode of CounterSpin rebroadcast a portion of an interview Janine Jackson conducted with Frances Fox Piven about poverty and Occupy Wall Street, originally aired November 11, 2011. This is a lightly edited transcript. Play Stop pop out X MP3 Link Janine Jackson: In November of 2011, a New York Times headline … Read more‘Poverty Is Not Just a Measure of How Much Cabbage and Potatoes You Need to Live On’ – CounterSpin interview with Frances Fox Piven about poverty and Occupy Wall Street

Janine Jackson interviewed the Kairos Center’s Shailly Gupta Barnes about defining and ending poverty for the September 27, 2019, episode of CounterSpin. This is a lightly edited transcript. Play Stop pop out X MP3 Link Washington Post (6/20/19) Janine Jackson: Washington Post factchecking seems to be weaponized in favor of the status quo. The paper … Read more‘Maybe It’s Time We Broaden What We Mean by “Poor”’ – CounterSpin interview with Shailly Gupta Barnes on defining and ending poverty

Janine Jackson interviewed The Next System Project’s Dana Brown about medicine for all for the September 20, 2019, episode of CounterSpin. This is a lightly edited transcript. Play Stop pop out X MP3 Link Janine Jackson: Having made billions of dollars from aggressively and irresponsibly promoting the painkiller OxyContin, spurring a wave of opioid addiction … Read more‘We Can Assure Long-Term, Affordable Access to All Essential Medication’ – CounterSpin interview with Dana Brown on medicine for all

Janine Jackson interviewed Justice for Muslims’ Maha Hilal about the “terrorist watchlist” for the September 20, 2019, episode of CounterSpin. This is a lightly edited transcript. Play Stop pop out X MP3 Link Janine Jackson: We don’t need the anniversary of September 11, 2001, to remind us of the devastating legacies of that day: the … Read more‘The Remedies That Were Proposed Weren’t About Ending the List’ – CounterSpin interview with Maha Hilal on ‘terrorist watchlist’

Play Stop pop out X MP3 Link Image: National Priorities Project This week on CounterSpin: “‘When I use a word,’” says Lewis Carroll’s Humpty Dumpty “in rather a scornful tone, ‘it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less.’” So it is with corporate media when it comes to money—the idea, if … Read moreShailly Gupta Barnes, Frances Fox Piven on Defining and Ending Poverty

Play Stop pop out X MP3 Link   This week on CounterSpin: A District Court judge ruled that the Terrorist Screening Database, or Watchlist as it’s usually called, is unconstitutional—people don’t know when they’re on it, they can be added with zero evidence of criminal activity, and the designation follows them everywhere. What the judge … Read moreMaha Hilal on Anti-Muslim Watchlist, Dana Brown on Public Option for Pharmaceuticals

Janine Jackson interviewed Public Citizen’s Amit Narang about Trump’s corporate deregulation for the September 13, 2019, episode of CounterSpin. This is a lightly edited transcript. Play Stop pop out X MP3 Link CNN (8/14/19) Janine Jackson: “There’s a New Culture Divide Between Trump and Corporate America,” says CNN. “Many Businesses Oppose Trump’s Deregulatory Agenda,” says … Read more‘Trump’s Deregulatory Agenda Has Been Driven by Corporations’ – CounterSpin interview with Amit Narang about Trump’s corporate deregulation

Janine Jackson interviewed author Marjorie Cohn about the unending US war in Afghanistan for the September 13, 2019, episode of CounterSpin. This is a lightly edited transcript. Play Stop pop out X MP3 Link Washington Post (8/19/19) Janine Jackson: Outrage poured in when it was revealed that Donald Trump had invited representatives of the Taliban … Read more‘It Was Illegal and Still Is Illegal’ – CounterSpin interview with Marjorie Cohn on the unending US war in Afghanistan

Play Stop pop out X MP3 Link   (cc photo: Dread Scott) This week on CounterSpin: Just after September 11, 2001, Time magazine published a special issue that ended with the words of Lance Morrow. “A day cannot live in infamy without the nourishment of rage,” Morrow wrote; “let’s have rage.” Calling for America to … Read moreMarjorie Cohn on Afghanistan’s Unending War, Amit Narang on Deregulation & Corporate America

by Joshua Cho On the 18th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, the illegal US occupation of Afghanistan continues as the longest overseas war in American history. Although President Donald Trump recently declared that peace negotiations over the withdrawal of US troops with the Taliban are “dead,” reportedly because of the death of a US … Read moreOn 18th Anniversary of 9/11, Media Worry About ‘Premature’ End to Afghan War

Janine Jackson interviewed the Friends Committee on National Legislation’s Hassan El-Tayyab about US war crimes in Yemen for the September 6, 2019, episode of CounterSpin. This is a lightly edited transcript. Play Stop pop out X MP3 Link Janine Jackson: When observers who have spent years in war-rocked places describe events as “staggering,” you know … Read more‘Yemen Was Called the Forgotten War, but Activists Are Refusing to Forget’ – CounterSpin interview with Hassan El-Tayyab on US out of Yemen

Janine Jackson interviewed Cornell’s Kate Bronfenbrenner about Trump’s anti-labor Labor Board for the September 6, 2019, episode of CounterSpin. This is a lightly edited transcript. Play Stop pop out X MP3 Link Scabby the Rat (cc photo: Jim Naureckas) Janine Jackson: The National Labor Relations Board has ruled that an employer’s misclassification of a worker … Read more‘Under the Trump Administration, the [NLRB] Appointees Have Been Extremists’ – CounterSpin interview with Kate Bronfenbrenner on Trump’s anti-labor Labor Board

The August 30, 2019, episode of CounterSpin included a compilation of archival interviews about the Tea Party movement, featuring Sikivu Hutchinson, Jodi Jacobson and Rick Perlstein. This is a lightly edited transcript. Play Stop pop out X MP3 Link New York Times (8/28/19) Janine Jackson: The Tea Party didn’t get what it wanted, but it … Read more‘I Don’t Think We Can Possibly Fight Them if We Don’t Understand the History’ – CounterSpin retrospective on Tea Party revisionism with Sikivu Hutchinson, Jodi Jacobson and Rick Perlstein

Play Stop pop out X MP3 Link (cc photo: Fahd Sadi) This week on CounterSpin: A UN panel has just announced that the US could be deemed complicit in war crimes being carried out in Yemen. “Third state” parties, including the US, that supply weapons and other support “[perpetuate] the conflict,” the panel said, and … Read moreHassan El Tayyab on US Out of Yemen, Kate Bronfenbrenner on Labor Board vs. Labor

Play Stop pop out X MP3 Link (cc photo: Fahd Sadi) This week on CounterSpin: A UN panel has just announced that the US could be deemed complicit in war crimes being carried out in Yemen. “Third state” parties, including the US, that supply weapons and other support “[perpetuate] the conflict,” the panel said, and … Read moreHassan El Tayyab on US Out of Yemen, Kate Bronfenbrenner on Labor Board vs. Labor

Janine Jackson interviewed Indian Country Today’s Mark Trahant about the Native American Presidential Forum for the August 30, 2019, episode of CounterSpin. This is a lightly edited transcript. Play Stop pop out X MP3 Link Janine Jackson: The Frank LaMere Native American Presidential Forum in Sioux City, Iowa, was a long overdue spotlight on Native … Read more‘You Can’t Know This Country’s Story Without Learning How Indian Country Fits In’ – CounterSpin interview with Mark Trahant on Native American Presidential Forum

by Sam HusseiniTwo-time Oscar nominee Keira Knightley is known for being in period pieces such as Pride and Prejudice, so her playing the lead in the new film Official Secrets, released in the US on Friday, August 30, may seem odd at first. That is, until one considers that the time span depicted—the early 2003 … Read moreFilm Official Secrets Is Tip of Mammoth Iceberg  

Play Stop pop out X MP3 Link This week on CounterSpin: An article in the New Republic about this month’s historic Native American Presidential Forum ends by citing OJ Semans from the organizing group Four Directions, who says the event was ultimately less about the candidates than about the 5 million Natives across the country, … Read moreMark Trahant on Indigenous and the Election; Tea Party Revisionism

by Julianne Tveten  Thousands of Native Hawaiians and their supporters have been congregating since July 15 at the base of Mauna Kea, a dormant volcano and mountain on the island of Hawaii. Known in Hawaiian as the kia’i, the protectors—a term the group prefers to “protesters”—seek to deter construction of the $1.4 billion Thirty Meter … Read moreProtectors of Mauna Kea Are Fighting Colonialism, Not Science

Janine Jackson interviewed author Sasha Abramsky about Trump’s new attack on immigrants for the August 23, 2019, episode of CounterSpin. This is a lightly edited transcript. Play Stop pop out X MP3 Link Janine Jackson: It’s long been obvious, to anyone with a passing acquaintance with white supremacy, that Donald Trump and his ilk’s stance … Read more‘It’s an Attempt to Impose a White Nationalist Vision of What America Is’ – CounterSpin interview with Sasha Abramsky on new attack on immigrants

by Pete Tucker After years of hiding in plain sight, Jack Evans’ ethical problems are suddenly a story (WJLA, 3/5/19). When the FBI came knocking on DC Councilmember Jack Evans’ door in June, it set off an earthquake in local politics and business. Over his 28 years on the DC Council, Evans has served as … Read moreWaPo Complicit in Corruption of DC Council’s Corporate ‘Concierge’

Play Stop pop out X MP3 Link This week on CounterSpin: The Trump administration planned massive ICE workplace raids for the first day of school that included no plans for children coming home to empty houses; they tried to find a way to block undocumented kids from going to public schools; they refuse to give … Read moreSasha Abramsky on Trump’s New Attack on Immigrants

Janine Jackson interviewed US Right to Know’s Carey Gillam for the August 16, 2019, episode of CounterSpin, about being targeted by Monsanto. This is a lightly edited transcript. Play Stop pop out X MP3 Link Janine Jackson: There’s an old saying but true, “News is something somebody doesn’t want printed. All else is advertising.” And … Read more‘Monsanto Has Worked Very Hard to Discredit Me and My Work’ – CounterSpin interview with Carey Gillam on Monsanto’s attack on journalism

Janine Jackson interviewed Amnesty International USA’s Ernest Coverson about guns and human rights for the August 16, 2019, episode of CounterSpin. This is a lightly edited transcript.  Play Stop pop out X MP3 Link New York Times (8/9/19) Janine Jackson: When Walmart responded to the early August mass murder by a white supremacist by announcing … Read moreOn Gun Violence, ‘We Need the Federal Government to Take Bold Steps’ – CounterSpin interview with Ernest Coverson on guns & human rights

Play Stop pop out X MP3 Link This week on CounterSpin: The US undoubtedly needs better health care, including mental health care, and blithely violent cultural media is nothing to celebrate; but there is no actual mystery about the main reason behind the gun violence this country sees every day of the year—and that sometimes … Read moreErnest Coverson on Guns & Human Rights, Carey Gillam Under Attack From Monsanto

Janine Jackson interviewed Ruha Benjamin about racism and technology for the August 9, 2019, episode of CounterSpin. This is a lightly edited transcript. Play Stop pop out X MP3 Link Janine Jackson: Welcome to CounterSpin, your weekly look behind the headlines. I’m Janine Jackson. SFGate (7/22/15) This week on CounterSpin: Listeners may have heard about … Read more‘Black Communities Are Already Living in a Tech Dystopia’ – CounterSpin interview with Ruha Benjamin on racism and technology

Janine Jackson interviewed Sriram Madhusoodanan about climate justice for the August 2, 2019, episode of CounterSpin. This is a lightly edited transcript. Play Stop pop out X MP3 Link Janine Jackson: Climate disruption presents a test for corporate news media: Will they act on the understanding that a conversation that doesn’t acknowledge that unprecedented measures … Read more‘People Are Demanding Accountability for the Fossil Fuel Industry’ – CounterSpin interview with Sriram Madhusoodanan about climate justice

Play Stop pop out X MP3 Link This week on CounterSpin: Listeners may have heard about the electronic soap dispensers whose light sensors can’t detect black skin, Google and Flickr‘s automatic image-labeling that—oops— tagged photos of black people with “ape” and “gorilla.” An Asian-American blogger wrote about her Nikon digital camera that kept asking, “Did … Read moreRuha Benjamin on Race After Technology

Janine Jackson’s interview with Amin Husain about the Whitney Museum protest, originally part of the May 10, 2019, episode of CounterSpin, was reaired on the August 2, 2019, show. This is a lightly edited transcript. Play Stop pop out X MP3 Link New York Times (7/25/19) Janine Jackson: Warren Kanders resigned from his position as … Read more‘Museums Like the Whitney Are Accountable to the Communities They Claim to Serve’ – CounterSpin interview with Amin Husain on Whitney Museum protest

by Lucas Koerner The Reagan administration in 1982 coerced National Public Radio (NPR) to cover more favorably the US terrorist war then being waged against Nicaragua. As Greg Grandin writes, Otto Reich, head of the administration’s Orwellian propaganda outfit known as the Office of Public Diplomacy, informed the public network that his office had contracted … Read moreNPR Shreds Ethics Handbook to Normalize Regime Change in Venezuela

Janine Jackson interviewed Ed Morales about the Puerto Rican protest movement for the July 26, 2019, episode of CounterSpin. This is a lightly edited transcript. Play Stop pop out X MP3 Link Janine Jackson: Puerto Rico is a territory of the United States; that’s critical to understanding the island’s historical, political and economic situation. And … Read more‘Democracy Has Become a Joke on the Island’ – CounterSpin interview with Ed Morales on Puerto Rican protest

Play Stop pop out X MP3 Link (cc photo: Frank Schwichtenberg) This week on CounterSpin: The harms of climate disruption are already terrible and will only get worse, and despite what appears to be some people’s magical thinking, no one will be unaffected. What’s more, the drivers of climate disruption are known, and it isn’t … Read moreSriram Madhusoodanan on Fossil Fuel Investigations, Amin Husain on Decolonizing Museums

by Joshua Cho Washington Post (4/16/19) Journalists routinely dehumanize human beings crossing the southern border by comparing them to natural disasters like a “flood” or “deluge.” But while migration has always been a natural phenomenon, the increasingly forced migration of people escaping deteriorating conditions is an unnatural disaster driven, in part, by climate disruption. The … Read moreMedia Downplay Climate Disruption’s Ever-Growing Role in Driving Migration

Play Stop pop out X MP3 Link   (cc image: Oscar Rohena) This week on CounterSpin: Someone was asleep in the Tone Deafness Department at the New York Times, and allowed the paper to describe Puerto Rico as a place where “people enjoy the benefits of American citizenship but cling to their own Spanish-speaking culture.” … Read moreEd Morales on Puerto Rico Protests

  “The Democratic Party,” a new column by Thomas Edsall (7/24/19) declares, “Is Actually Three Parties.” Fascinating! Tell us more, New York Times columnist on “politics, demographics and inequality.” Well, based on data from a CBS poll of “battleground states,” there are “three roughly equal groups”: Democrats who call themselves “very liberal,” Democrats who call … Read moreWhat Do Black Voters Want? NYT’s Edsall Says It’s What ‘Conservative’ Democrats Want

  When previously unknown Venezuelan opposition politician Juan Guaidó stood up in an East Caracas plaza and declared himself “interim president” of the South American country, Western corporate media were ebullient. In those heady early days, corporate journalists could scarcely conceal their love affair with the 35-year-old politician, whom they likened to Barack Obama (CNN, … Read moreWestern Media Losing Enthusiasm for Failing Coup in Venezuela