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CounterSpin, the weekly radio program of the media watch group FAIR (Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting), provides a critical examination of the major stories every week, and exposes what the mainstream media might have missed in their own coverage. CounterSpin exposes and highlights biased and inaccurate news; censored stories; sexism, racism, homophobia, transphobia and ableism in the news; the power of corporate influence; gaffes and goofs by leading TV pundits; TV news’ narrow political spectrum; attacks on free speech; and more.
Ever wanted to know how music affects your brain, what quantum mechanics really is, or how black holes work? Do you wonder why you get emotional each time you see a certain movie, or how on earth video games are designed? Then you’ve come to the right place. Each week, Sean Carroll will host conversations with some of the most interesting thinkers in the world. From neuroscientists and engineers to authors and television producers, Sean and his guests talk about the biggest ideas in science, philosophy, culture and much more.
In order for America to defeat white supremacy & bigotry, we must first address white evangelicalism’s complicity in perpetuating these behaviors. The only way to accomplish that is by embracing pluralism, amplifying marginalized voices and listening to (and believing!) those of us who left white evangelicalism behind.
Americans don’t know how to solve problems. We’ve lost sight of what institutions are and why they matter. The Long Game is a look at some key institutions, such as political parties, the U.S. Senate, the media, and the church.
Past Present brings together three historians to discuss what’s happening in American politics and culture today. Natalia, Neil, and Niki bring historical insights to the news of the day, offering listeners an alternative to the reflexive and polarized world of punditry. Interested in the world around you but exhausted by rote reactions and partisan talking points? You’ve come to the right place.
The Sensibly Speaking Podcast is a weekly show, posting a new episode each Saturday, covering current events and topics from a skeptical, humanist and critical thinking approach. Join Chris Shelton, the Critical Thinker at Large, as he goes over varied topics from critical thinking to science to talking in detail about hot topics in the news . Tired of just hearing the mainstream media’s interpretation of events? Want some sensible talk? Then join me here each Saturday!
In 2021, abortion access is still in the news; from our founding, the conversation around reproductive rights has been one of the most contentious political debates in America. This history is one that combines political, religious, and social forces, layered with systemic racism and misogyny. From Wonder Media Network, co-hosts Kate Kelly and Jamia Wilson unpack this rich history from the views of colonial America, to seminal Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade, all the way to the present day.
It was 2018, and I had just finished a long day of interviewing Rohingya survivors of genocidal violence. The air was sticky-hot, and as I walked to the truck, I started to peel an orange, a trick I’d learned in my trauma training. In the mysterious ways of the brain, mine–broken a few years earlier by PTSD–responded to the smell of citrus. And I was thinking: How these things happen? What is it that stirs up such hate that a “normal” person can snap and, say, annihilate their neighbor? Scholars have mapped the way, as you might imagine, but I began thinking: What can I do?
And I started to think about what I had witnessed–well, lived, really, just in the course of my own career, in my own country. I worked on Capitol Hill in my first job, back when people from all sides spoke with one another. I watched that change just in the three years I was in Washington. I worked in broadcast journalism, where I was mentored by some wise folks of journalism–before that, too, changed, from a public service to a commodity. And the angrier and more anxious it made its audience, the more money it made.
I accidentally made documentary films. The first one, Haiti: Where Did the Money Go? tracked what happened to the donations by US citizens to US charities following the Haiti earthquake. The American Red Cross infamously tried to shut down this little film—which backfired. But, I also became aware that if that film hadn’t been an independent production and aired on PBS, it probably wouldn’t have happened.
The second film, The Uncondemned, brought me into the world of international criminal law, mass rape and genocide. It taught me how language is used to “other,” how anger is manipulated and how trust can be abused until “truth” is lost. And it also taught me that people can make fortunes off of these tactics—and after traveling around the world a couple times, seeing first-hand what happens when truth becomes conspiracy, I found myself on that dusty hillside in a refugee camp in Bangladesh. What can I do?
Well, it’s hard to hate someone you’ve had a conversation and a glass of wine with (and water’s okay here, too)—and so it’s brought me here: to the largest ongoing cocktail party I’ve ever thrown, aimed at counteracting what I keep calling “the anger industrial complex.”
Building A New Kind of Party Animal, One Cocktail at a Time.
My mother was a Rush Limbaugh-loving conservative. I was so liberal I moved to Canada. In Suasion, I talk about how we lost, then found, a way to talk, what’s behind the great political divide—and why deep understanding is the best weapon in a war of persuasion.