Shannon of Remora House DC talks about supporting houseless neighbors and strengthening alliances against ICE sweeps in Washington DC under Trumps federal police and national guard surges the city. Then Paria of Athens speaks to Research Critique about media distraction from the Tempi train disaster to manufacture consent for more police on University campuses
Voices of Spirit, Resistance, and Revival: Jennifer Johns and Rev. Dereca Blackmon on Unity, Media, and Movement-Building In this episode of Hard Knock Radio, host Davey D speaks with singer-activist Jennifer Johns and Reverend Dereca Blackmon about the upcoming East Bay Freedom Revival, a four-day celebration blending Juneteenth, Pride, Winter Solstice, and cultural resistance. The conversation … Continued
Radio is a medium with extraordinary propagandistic power — seductively transmitting ideas into the quotidian intimacy of one’s home and life. That power and potential was recognized early on by the state following the First World World. It was also appreciated by opponents of war, including the anarchist pacifists who founded KPFA Radio and the … Continued
Since well before Covid, U.S. media has been in dire straits. Hedge funds demanding sky-high profits have gobbled up established newspapers, while local reporting has disappeared. Media conglomerates have laid off journalists in record numbers, gutting coverage of the misdeeds of the powerful. And yet over the last five years, as Jon Schleuss of the … Continued
A two-part series on The Virulent Hate Project. We speak with lead researcher Melissa May Borja, Ph.D., about the Virulent Hate Project, an interdisciplinary research initiative that studies anti-Asian racism and Asian American activism during the COVID-19 pandemic. A new report from the project focuses on the nature of anti-Asian racism reported by the news … Continued
KPFA spawned the model of listener-sponsored radio and changed the world. As the station celebrates 72 years, we look back at the origins of KPFA Radio. Historian Iain Boal discusses the anarchist and pacifist politics of KPFA’s founders, many interned as conscientious objectors during WW2 and involved in the left libertarian circle around poet Kenneth … Continued
Trusted, impartial and independent? Or largely unaccountable and part of the Establishment? Sociologist Tom Mills considers the evidence on the enormously influential British Broadcasting Corporation or BBC, which is much revered by progressives in the United States and elsewhere. Resources: Tom Mills, The BBC: Myth of a Public Service Verso, 2020
Cultural and media workers have a disproportionate impact on how other workers see themselves and the world they live in, whether it’s by selling them something or presenting them with dissenting views. As historian Shannan Clark argues, there was a time when a great many cultural workers saw consumption itself as a political act. Such … Continued
Professor Karl Grossman clues us in about the Leadership Institute, which for decades has trained conservatives on how to tell lies and win. Graduates include Mitch McConnell, Mike Pence, Karl Rove…Hosted by Kris Welch. Photo by Rob Walsh on Unsplash
The United States fancies itself an exceptional nation, and in terms of its media system, it’s right: the US has the most commercialized press of any advanced industrial country, with the least support for public media. So argues critic Victor Pickard in his study of the political economy of US journalism. He discusses the long … Continued
