Counterspin

Tue. 4/9 8:30a: If your only reference was U.S. media, you would think all the belligerence and provocation around the Korean peninsula, was coming from North Korea, whose leaders are too intransigent and irrational to even negotiate with.

Tue. 3/19 8:30a: The Washington Post is again suggesting that Iran is expanding its nuclear program. This time, they say Iran is attempting to import magnets for use in uranium centrifuges. But is the story credible? And how does it play alongside the US’s latest National Intelligence Estimate? We'll talk with Yousaf Butt, physicist and scientist-in-residence at the Monterey Institute for International Studies.

Tue. 2/19 8.30a: Corporate media read calls for a focus on economic growth and investment in Barack Obama's State of the Union address as a sign he was "closing out the politics of austerity." 

Tue. 12/04 8.30a:  A fire at a garment factory in Bangladesh kills over 100 workers just as TV networks go wall to wall with coverage of bargain frenzied Black Friday shopping.

Tue. 11/27 8.30a:  In the past six years, Israel has invaded Lebanon in 2006, Gaza in 2008, and it is now pounding Gaza with drone missiles and artillery. With a seeming strategy of occupation, colonization and war, many are wondering where this ends. We’ll talk to Yousef Munayyer, the director of Washington, D.C.’s Jerusalem Fund, about what happens when the smoke clears in Gaza.

Also on CounterSpin today, we’ll talk to independent journalist Amy Goodman about her new book, The Silenced Majority, and what she thinks media can–and must–do to serve the public.

Tue. 10/9 8:30a: Do presidential debates actually matter? TV networks spend days, if not weeks, building up debate drama aren't likely to tackle that issue. 

Tue. 3/20 8:30a:  The viral video Kony 2012, made by the US based group Invisible Children, calls for military action against African warlord Joseph Kony. It's been seen by more than 80 million people, AND it's been criticized for distorting the central African conflict and a paternalistic view toward Africans. 

Tue. 12/20 8:30a: Few deny anymore that internet access is becoming critical to taking part in political and economic life. So, what does it matter that research shows that higher proportions of African Americans and Latinos than white people are achieving that access through relatively more affordable smartphones rather than home computers?

Tues. 12/13 8:30a:  The annual United Nations meeting on climate change is underway. That might be news to you if you rely on television for your information. These international conferences tend to produce stories that dwell on the lack of progress, or the unwillingness of countries like China to do more.