#1689 The Media and the Moguls: Corporate Media is not equipped for Trump
Air Date: 2-7-2025
Transcript
Trump came in with a plan to subdue the media and large swaths of the media came in with a plan to acquiesce. But it's important to understand why because it's not a conspiracy or people wanting to do harm, it's structural to the system.
Read more#1682 Looking Back to Trump 1.0 (Remix)
Air Date: 1-11-2025
Today, we look back to the warnings we gave ourselves at the beginning of the first Trump administration. In 2017 there was concern about corruption and his business dealings, ethics around his nominees, and the inability of the media to cover him properly.
Read more#1672 Keep an open mind, but not so open that your brains fall out
Air Date: 11-26-2024
In a world of infinite information but a finite amount of time to check your facts, we're living the logical conclusion of an online environment that favors false information over truth and the most popular online media reflects that reality perfectly.
Read more#1668 We Are Going Back: Team post-election analysis
Air Date: 11-8-2024
The Best of the Left team holds a special post-election discussion available to all listeners to present the initial takes on the election as well as our own reactions and suggestions for how to move forward.
Read more#1663 Recovering from Disaster(ous) Policy Amid Disinformation: Hurricanes and Wild Fires at the forefront of our climate emergency
Air Date: 10-15-2024
Just as COVID tended to expose the preexisting fractures and inequalities in our society causing undue harm, supercharged by disinformation, so do natural disasters. And the impact of disinformation and conspiracy has only grown in recent years.
Read more#1658 Pileup on the Information Superhighway: Information Dispensation in the Age of Deep Doubt
Air Date: 9-27-2024
Let's just say that it's not a coincidence that right-wing authoritarians are on the rise at the same time as people around the world are having a harder time than ever figuring out what's true. That said, society is beginning to fight back.
Read more#1638 AI: From Killer Apps to Killer Robots, the Present and Future of Artificial Intelligence Spans the Spectrum
Air Date: 6-28-2024
AI, like all new technologies, won't be all good or all bad. In fact, my favorite understanding of emerging technologies is that they often bring simultaneous utopia and dystopia, though many tend to focus on the benefits while only discovering the drawbacks later.
Read more#1633 Fights for Fair Pay, Journalism vs Sensationalism, Billionaire Bailouts, and Addiction Capitalism: Sports are a Microcosm of the Ills of Society
Air Date: 6-4-2024
The problems that arise within the systems of sports are the same problems we all face everywhere which makes them a good lens through which to understand the mechanisms of broader society. Fair pay, both journalism and addictive games functioning under capitalism, and benefits for billionaires all resonate far beyond the bounds of the players, owners and fans of sports clubs.
Read more#1613 Breathless Speculation: Biden's Baggage, Trump's Tyranny, Misleading Media, Courts and Criminality
Air Date: 2-23-2024
2024 is already shaping up to be even more of a disaster than expected. The causes for anxiety are many and varied, leaving many of us with questions. We generally try to avoid topics and commentaries that lean into the realm of pure speculation but today we decided to lean all the way in to answer your most pressing questions. What about Biden's support of Israel? What about his age? Should he be replaced at the Democratic Convention? How likely is Trump to do the horrible things he promises? And what about his court cases?
Read more#1591 Broken News: Understanding traditional media and social media reporting on the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza
Air Date: 11-6-2023
Media literacy is a basic requirement for understanding the war in Gaza, as propaganda, misinformation, and disinformation are being distributed for both ideological and financial reasons.
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