Podcast
Citations Needed
Hosted by Nima Shirazi and Adam Johnson · EN
Citations Needed is a podcast about the intersection of media, PR, and power, hosted by Nima Shirazi and Adam Johnson.
40episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
Ep 233: How US Media Naturalizes Capital Strikes and Helps the Rich Undermine Democracy
Jan 2801:24:28Tap to summarizeIn this episode, we examine how billionaires and corporations threatening capital strikes and capital flight to discipline populist politicians and movements is treated as normal, obvious, and healthy by US media.
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News Brief: As Dem Leadership Waffles—Labor, Organizers, Immigrants Fight Back in Minneapolis
Jan 2200:43:18Tap to summarizeIn this News Brief, we break down Dem leadership's fatuous "body cam" and "training" response to ICE brutality, and how organizers in the Twin Cities are not settling for cosmetic reform. With guest Janette Corcelius.
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News Brief: For Media Reporting on Iran, Trump Suddenly Morphs into Pro-Democracy Humanitarian
Jan 1700:25:11Tap to summarizeIn this News Brief, we discuss mainstream media coverage of ongoing protests across Iran and how nearly every major Western outlet has been uncritically framing any potential regime change plans by the US government—including Trump ordering a military attack on the country—as being motivated primarily, if not solely, by concern for the lives, safety and rights of demonstrators.
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News Brief: How Corporate Media Laid the Groundwork for a Rightwing Incitement Campaign in Minnesota
Jan 700:27:42Tap to summarizeIn this News Brief, we detail how CBS, Fox, WSJ, and NYT promoted an essentialized, overblown narrative on the "Somali Minnesota fraud" story, teeing up a full blown rightwing incitement campaign against Minneapolis's immigrant communities.
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Ep 232: US Meddling, the Limits of 'Agency' Discourse and How Media Chooses Which 'Voices' To Center
Dec 1001:29:03Tap to summarizeIn this episode, we discuss the uses and misuses of liberal standpoint theory to promote US meddling, sanctions, and bombing. With guest Vincent Bevins.
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News Brief: BBC's Gaza Double Standard and Western Liberalism's Crisis of Legitimacy
Dec 300:44:48Tap to summarizeIn this News Brief, we interview journalist Daniel Trilling and discuss his investigation into the BBC's systemic anti-Palestinian bias.
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Episode 217: A.I. Mysticism as Responsibility-Evasion PR Tactic
Mar 26, 202501:03:20Tap to summarize"Israel built an 'AI factory' for war. It unleashed it in Gaza," laments the Washington Post. "Hospitals Are Reporting More Insurance Denials. Is AI Driving Them?," reports Newsweek. "AI Raising the Rent? San Francisco Could Be the First City to Ban the Practice," announces San Francisco's KQED. Within the last few years, and particularly the last few months, we've heard this refrain: AI is the reason for an abuse committed by a corporation, military, or other powerful entity. All of a sudden, the argument goes, the adoption of "faulty" or "overly simplified" AI caused a breakdown of normal operations: spikes in health insurance claims denials, the skyrocketing of consumer prices, the deaths of tens of thousands of civilians. If not for AI, it follows, these industries and militaries, in all likelihood, would implement fairer policies and better killing protocols. We'll admit: the narrative seems compelling at first glance. There are major dangers in incorporating AI into corporate and military procedures. But in these cases, the AI isn't the culprit; the people making the decisions are. UnitedHealthcare would deny claims regardless of the tools at its disposal. Landlords would raise rents with or without automated software. The IDF would kill civilians no matter what technology was, or wasn't, available to do so. So why do we keep hearing that AI is the problem? What's the point of this frame and why is it becoming so common as a responsibility-avoidance framing? On today's episode, we'll dissect the genre of "investigative" reporting on the dangers of AI, examining how it serves as a limited hangout, offering controlled criticism while ultimately shifting responsibility toward faceless technologies and away from powerful people. Later on the show, we'll be speaking with Steven Renderos, Executive Director of MediaJustice, a national racial justice organization that advances the media and technology rights of people of color. He is the creator and co-host, with the great Brandi Collins-Dexter, Bring Receipts, a politics and pop culture podcast and is executive producer of Revolutionary Spirits, a 4-part audio series on the life and martyrdom of Mexican revolutionary leader Francisco Madero.
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News Brief: Trump's Hollow Working Class Aesthetics and How Unions Can Lead a Real Resistance
Mar 19, 202500:33:11Tap to summarizeIn this Citations Needed News Brief interview, we're joined by Rutgers professor Eric Blanc to discuss his new book "We Are The Union," and lay out how any meaningful resistance to Trump and Trumpism has to be grounded in a growing, strong, confrontational labor movement.
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News Brief: Israel Kills Over 400 in 12 Hrs, Media Unsure if This Counts as Violating the 'Ceasefire'
Mar 18, 202500:19:35Tap to summarizeIn this News Brief, we detail the struggle to continue framing Israel as a reluctant, defensive peace-seeking party despite its openly genocidal rhetoric and acts.
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News Brief: The Disappearance of Mahmoud Khalil and the Phony 'Campus Safety' Panic
Mar 12, 202500:34:15Tap to summarizeIn this News Brief, we detail how Center-Left institutions and media have cynically wielded "lived experience" claptrap to assist Trump's overtly fascistic crackdown on dissenting speech.
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