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Norman Solomon on Afghan escalation, Robert Naiman on Afghan civil war

Fri, Dec 4 Listen

This week on CounterSpin: 30,000 new troops to Afghanistan at the 'fastest possible pace,' President Obama has declared, are in our vital national interest. The Washington Post called it a strong but carefully calibrated to Afghanistan and Pakistan, describing the plan as "a counterinsurgency strategy aimed at protecting the Aghan population." Perhaps some message shifting going on, about whether US actions are aimed at helping Afghans or defending ourselves, (or maybe you can take your...

Maryann Napoli on mammography guidelines, Rebecca Solnit on 'The Battle for

Fri, Nov 27 Listen

LINKS: --Center for Medical Consumers --The Battle of the Story of the "Battle of Seattle"

Jodi Jacobson on the Stupak amendment, Barbara Miner on 'merit pay'

Fri, Nov 20 Listen

This week on CounterSpin: The Stupak Amendment, a last-minute addition to the Houses recently passed healthcare reform plan, would severely restrict abortion coverage for those on the "public option" part of the plan and those buying private insurance using government money. Many House Democrats journalists and pundits have portrayed Stupak as a sacrifice that must be made to get healthcare reform. Reproductive health advocates and many others differ, saying it could enormously impact...

Trudy Lieberman on health care, Laurie Williams Allan Zabel on cap trade

Fri, Nov 13 Listen

This week on CounterSpin : a source from a senior citizens group quoted in the Washington Post said the groups main challenge today is simply to try to keep the record straight about what's actually in the health care reform bill, as opposed to whats being claimed about it. That would seem to be the basic challenge facing reporters, too, but have they been too caught up with coverage of congressional politicking to do justice to it? Well hear from journalist Trudy Lieberman on that. Also on...

Greg Gordon on Goldman Sachs, Phyllis Bennis on Israel/Palestine

Fri, Nov 6 Listen

This week on CounterSpin: A new investigative series by McClatchy newspapers Greg Gordon reveals that in 2006 and 2007, Goldman Sachs sold more than $40 billion in securities backed by risky home mortgages, "but never told the buyers it was secretly betting that a sharp drop in U.S. housing prices would send the value of those securities plummeting." Sounds important. Well talk to Greg Gordon about his story. Also on the show: Israel/Palestine is in headlines at the moment as the press...

David Swanson on health care debate, Bruce Dixon on the 'public option'

Fri, Oct 30 Listen

This week on CounterSpin: Making sense of the health care debate. In the past week we've supposedly seen the comeback of the public option, in some form or another. We're also told that Harry Reid must gather 60 votes to pass a bill. Is any of this right? And what about a true public health system like single-payer? Author and activist David Swanson will join us to try and untangle these story lines. Also on the show: Progressives and others interested in truly universal healthcare, as in...

Kristin Thomson on the Performance Rights Act; Jennifer McLennan on Open Ac

Fri, Oct 23 Listen

This week on CounterSpin: The Performance Rights Act would require broadcasters to pay royalties that would be split between recording artists and record companies. The bill has just passed through house and senate committees, and will presumably be debated and voted on. The legislation, naturally faces strong opposition from the broadcasting industry, who say it will hurt stations and artists alike. Kristin Thomson, of the Future of Music Coalition, a group that supports the bill, will join...

Marie Trigona on Argentina media law, Peter Richardson on Ramparts

Fri, Oct 16 Listen

This week on CounterSpin: Argentina just passed a media law that will severely curb the power of the countrys most powerful conglomerates by putting a majority of the countrys broadcast licenses in non-corporate hands. How did the law come about, and how is it expected to change Argentinas media landscape. And what lessons might US media activists take from Argentinas example? Well talk with Marie Trigona, an independent journalist and filmmaker based in Argentina. Also on CounterSpin today:...

Cyrus Safdari on Iran, Nomi Prins on bailouts

Fri, Oct 9 Listen

This week on CounterSpin: The story of Iran's nuclear program certainly isn't going away; glance at the newsstands this week and you might see the Newsweek cover story 'After Iran Gets the Bomb.' And a leaked report suggesting Iran is indeed pursuing nuclear weapons made its way to the front page of the New York Times. What should we make of that story, and the general media consensus on the Iranian threat? Analyst and Iranaffairs.com blogger Cyrus Safdari will join us to share his thoughts....

Gareth Porter on Iran, Christopher Martin on ACORN

Fri, Oct 2 Listen

This week on CounterSpin: Did the White House really disclose the existence of Irans new Uranium enrichment plant, and does the plant, as many news stories seem to indicate, really violate the law? And what evidence is there that the plant has anything to do with a nuclear weapons program, as certain prominent US media figures have claimed? Well talk to historian and free lance journalists Gareth Porter about the latest wave of allegations against Iran. Also this week: The community activist...

Joseph Romm on Climate Summit, Elinore Longobardi on Subprime vs. ...

Fri, Sep 25 Listen

This week on CounterSpin: the highest-level conference yet on climate change took place this week at the UN. The press made much of the obstacles faced on the way to any international agreement -- but if the front page of the country's paper of record is saying that temperatures haven't risen in 10 years, maybe one of those obstacles is media coverage? We'll talk to Joseph Romm of Climate Progress.org Also on the show: Words mean things and the way reporters use them can shade the way we see...

Daniel Ellsberg and Rick Goldsmith on 'The Most Dangerous Man in America'

Fri, Sep 18 Listen

This week on CounterSpin: The Most Dangerous Man in America. That's how Henry Kissinger described whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg, who famously leaked a top-secret study of the Vietnam War in 1971 to the NY Times and other news outlets. The publication resulted in a landmark Supreme Court decision on freedom of the press, increased pressure to end the Vietnam War and was a key factor in the resignation of Richard Nixon. A new film tells that story. This week on a special edition of CounterSpin...

Mark Cook on Honduras, Diana Duarte on Saving the World's Women

Fri, Sep 11 Listen

This week on CounterSpin: The media lie that will not die about the Honduras coup is that ousted president Manuel Zelaya was attempting to change the Honduran constitution in order to extend his time in office. But there is nothing new about this current set up; the same lie was used 45 years ago to remove another democratically elected president from office. Journalist Mark Cook has written about the eerie parallels in the September issue of FAIR's magazine Extra!. We'll talk to Mark Cook...

Jordan Flaherty on Katrina anniversary, Sarah Anderson on executive pay

Fri, Sep 4 Listen

This week on CounterSpin: Corporate media promised to pay more attention to poverty and race after the Gulf Coast's Katrina disasters in 2005, and for a short time they did a little more reporting. But where was the followup on this years August anniversary, when papers like the Washington Post and Los Angeles Times, and networks like ABC and Fox offered virtually no coverage. We'll talk to journalist Jordan Flaherty, reporting the story since 2005, about the stories from the continuing...

Spencer Ackerman on CIA torture documents, Ed Herman on Lockerbie

Fri, Aug 28 Listen

Matt Taibbi on Goldman Sachs

Fri, Aug 21 Listen

This week on CounterSpin: Goldman Sachs, Wall Street profiteering and... vampire squids. Wait... what was that last one? Journalist Matt Taibbi wrote a long takedown of the venerable Wall Street firm in Rolling Stone. Business journalists pronounced themselves mostly unimpressed with Taibbi's analysis, and troubled by his languagelike calling the company 'a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money.'...

Trudy Lieberman on health care reform, Gary Schwitzer on health news study

Fri, Aug 14 Listen

This week on CounterSpin: Healthcare reform is still the top political story of the moment. But the coverage seems to have gone from bad to worse, with noisy town hall meetings standing in the way of any coherent discussion of the dysfunctional healthcare system in this country, and what can be done about it. Trudy Lieberman has been watching healthcare coverage for Columbia Journalism Review; she'll join us to talk about what she's found. Also on CounterSpin today: An ongoing review of...

Alfie Kohn on education 'reform,' Iyanna Jones on 'Disappearing Voices'

Fri, Aug 7 Listen

This week on CounterSpin: Charter schools raise a lot of concerns for educators interested in the future of truly public education; the corporate press have tended more toward boosterism of charters and their high profile promoter, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. That's the subject of a story in the current issue of Extra! and CounterSpin discussed the phenomenon on the occasion of Duncan's nomination with education expert Alfie Kohn, author of The Schools Our Children Deserve, among...

Sonali Kolhatkar on Afghan women and the war, Dedrick Muhammad on Obama's N

Fri, Jul 31 Listen

This week on CounterSpin: Some prominent feminist and liberal voices have recently lent their endorsement to the ongoing U.S. war in Afghanistan, based on the idea that the war is an effort to improve the lives of Afghan women and girls. That was a major argument at the war's onset, but how does it stand up 8 years later? We'll talk with Sonali Kolhatkar, co-director of the group Afghan Women's Mission and host/producer of Uprising Radio. Also on the show: Have you noticed how President...

David Swanson on healthcare reform, Harold Meyerson on Californias budget c

Fri, Jul 24 Listen

This week on CounterSpin: "Obama May Have To Wait for Health Reform" explained one July 22 headline. Leave it to corporate media to take a life-and-death issue for millions of Americans and reduce it to an item on a president's wish list. But if they're going to mainly cover healthcare policy as inside the Beltway politicking, how good a job are they doing even of that? We'll hear from activist and author David Swanson about the current state of play in healthcare reform efforts and what...

Gerald Lemelle on Obama in Africa, Katha Pollitt on Caitlin Flanagan in Tim

Fri, Jul 17 Listen

This week on CounterSpin: Barack Obama's recent trip to Africa gave the press corps a chance to opine predictably on Obama's "unique role" as a "son of Africa" who was specially suited to "tell African leaders hard truths". It should've also been a chance for a hard look at the nature of U.S. Africa policy. How'd they do on that score? We'll hear from Gerald Lemelle of Africa Action. Also on the show: In her Time magazine cover story, "Why Marriage Matters," Caitlin Flanagan argues for...

Sasha Abramsky on 'Breadline USA', Jim Naureckas on the future of journalis

Fri, Jul 10 Listen

This week on CounterSpin: Some 25 million Americans, nearly 9 percent of the population--rely on food pantries. But with rare exceptions, and despite its devastating impact, big media just don't seem to find a reportable story in chronic hunger. A new book hopes to make the issue more visible, by actually talking to people. It's called Breadline USA: The Hidden Scandal of American Hunger and How to Fix It; we'll speak with author Sasha Abramsky. Also on the show: Hard times and decreasing...

David Barsamian on Iran upheaval, Chandra Bhatnagar on UN racism report

Fri, Jun 26 Listen

This week on CounterSpin: Events in Iran continue to unfold with protesters still in the street in what seemed to begin as a rejection of the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Has it become something more now? And how are the press corps--not famously nuanced on Iran--handling events? We'll hear from David Barsamian, founder and director of Alternative Radio and co-author of the book Targeting Iran. Also on the show: The UN Human Rights Council's report on racism in the U.S.,...

D.D. Guttenplan on I.F. Stone

Fri, Jun 19 Listen

This week on CounterSpin: I.F. Stone was not only among the greatest American investigative reporters, he was also an activist and man of the left, according to D.D. Guttenplan, who has just published the latest biography of the journalist. Because he challenged U.S. power, often simply by reporting on the contents of official documents, and because he was a leftist, Stone's reputation has been under assault by vestigial McCarthyites who have been claiming for decades that Stone was a Soviet...

Phyllis Bennis on Obama's Cairo speech, Jonathan Tasini on the Boston Globe

Fri, Jun 12 Listen

This week on CounterSpin: Barack Obama has either been currying favor with Muslims or extending an olive branch in the Middle East depending on which media you consume. We'll talk with Phyllis Bennis of the Institute for Policy Studies about Obama's major speech in Cairo, and the size of the gap between words and actions. Also on the show: The Boston Globe says it will impose a 23 percent wage cut on its employees on June 14. This is needed, says the Globes parent New York Times Company,...

Fred Clarkson on Tiller murder; Adam Serwer on Sotomayor

Fri, Jun 5 Listen

This week on CounterSpin: Theres been a lot of coverage of the murder of Dr. George Tiller, allegedly killed by and anti-abortion activist. But there has been relatively little discussion of the culture that such violence arises from, where mainstream anti-abortion figures regularly demonize abortion providersand were not just talking about Bill OReilly. Well talk to Fred Clarkson, who has been monitoring and writing about anti-abortion violence for years. Also on the show: As the vetting...

John Feffer on North Korea, Han Shan on Shell Ken Siro-Wawa

Fri, May 29 Listen

This week on CounterSpin: When the media talks foreign affairs, there's generally an assumption that countries have identifiable interests and rationally pursue them as best they can. All that's thrown out the window when it comes to North Korea. That country's apparent decision to conduct an underground nuclear test and test-fire several missiles has re-engaged the media discussion about the nuclear-armed dictatorship. But what do we still not understand about that country's behavior? And...

Mike Lillis on climate bill, Joy-Ann Reid on Cheney torture

Fri, May 22 Listen

This week on CounterSpin: Climate change legislation is making its way through Congress, but weirdly, that might not be good news. Some environmentalists are saying that in this case, no law might be better than this bill--that started out as a call to reduce carbon emissions but seems to be turning into something else. We'll talk with Mike Lillis, who covers Congress for the Washington Independent. Also on the show: Did top Bush officials instruct interrogators to torture detainees, not...

Manan Ahmed on Pakistan, Dean Starkman on 'Power Problem'

Fri, May 15 Listen

This week on CounterSpin: There are many legitimate concerns about Pakistan, but our guest, University of Chicago historian Manan Ahmed, says the U.S. media discussion of recent developments there, portraying Pakistan as a country "on the brink," border on hysteria. Well talk to Manan Ahmed about the hype, and about what he thinks the media should be paying more attention to in Pakistan. Also on CounterSpin today: It certainly seems like the business press missed the big stories of the...

Bart Laws on swine flu, Kristin Thomson on radio diversity study

Fri, May 8 Listen

This week on CounterSpin: If you didn't panic over the swine flu, then maybe you weren't watching much TV, where scary charts and maps documented the spread of a worldwide pandemic. At least that's what we were hearing last week. With the media hysteria subsiding, the question isn't so much did the press overreact, but how much. But how do we assess the role of public health officials, who perhaps by nature are supposed to worry about these kinds of things? And is there a different...

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