The Listening Post

It was the most expensive election in American history: nearly $12bn spent, much of it on advertisements, with the majority of that money going to Republican candidates. But most voters weren't buying it. The result: a Democratic sweep on a scale not seen in half a century. In the aftermath of the vote, United States President Donald Trump – who has long revelled in his ability to turn controversy...

The historic elections in Israel - the first since October 7 and a test of Benjamin Netanyahu’s political survival - saw voters turn out in unprecedented numbers, including a record share of Palestinian citizens of Israel, whose vote was met with demonisation from politicians and media. The Listening Post's Richard Gizbert and Meenakshi Ravi discuss the bigger story emerging around who turned out...

Three years after the October 7 attacks and the start of Israel’s genocide in Gaza, there have been a slew of books, podcasts and media appearances revisiting what happened. Much of this is coming from former Biden officials who are trying to whitewash the administration's support for Israel and rehabilitate their reputations. They are being welcomed across mainstream media, whilst those with more...

With elections one month away, the media discourse in Israel has narrowed in on one question about one man: What did Benjamin Netanyahu know before October 7? The prime minister is suing the Israeli newspaper that reported the claim, while the right-wing Channel 14 insists none of it matters. Missing from the coverage is any reckoning with what Israel has done in Gaza. Contributors: Dan Perry – Au...

As Brazilians head into national elections, there’s a familiar name on the ballot: Bolsonaro. Not former President Jair Bolsonaro. It’s his son Flavio, who is presenting himself to the electorate as a more moderate version of his father. Election coverage has been dominated by a major corruption scandal - the biggest banking fraud case in the country’s history. Brazilians are accustomed to corrupt...

As Brazilians head into national elections, there’s a familiar name on the ballot: Bolsonaro. Not former President Jair Bolsonaro. It’s his son Flavio, who is presenting himself to the electorate as a more moderate version of his father. Election coverage has been dominated by a major corruption scandal - the biggest banking fraud case in the country’s history. Brazilians are accustomed to corrupt...

As Brazilians head into national elections, there’s a familiar name on the ballot: Bolsonaro. Not former President Jair Bolsonaro. It’s his son Flavio, who is presenting himself to the electorate as a more moderate version of his father. Election coverage has been dominated by a major corruption scandal - the biggest banking fraud case in the country’s history. Brazilians are accustomed to corrupt...

AI’s existential threat to humanity is dominating headlines across the globe. But with so much attention on the fear of a future AI apocalypse, is the media ignoring the damage AI is already causing? And as AI CEOs join forces to call for regulations, is their motivation about public safety or to secure their grip on the technology’s future? Contributors:  Leo Schwartz – Reporter, The Information...

With the US midterm elections just weeks away, Donald Trump’s administration is trying to put a positive spin on a war with Iran that shows no sign of letting up. Climbing fuel and grocery prices, the president’s provocative social media posts and the Pentagon’s combative relationship with the media are making that story harder to sell. Contributors:  Laicie Heeley – Editor-in-chief, Inkstick Mark...

Assal Rad built a reputation on social media as the “headline fixer” for her work correcting journalistic sins at major news outlets. The historian joins presenter Richard Gizbert to discuss her new book, ‘Don’t Say Palestine - How the Media Manufactured Consent for Genocide.’ In it, Rad traces the role mainstream media played in normalising the dehumanisation of Palestinians and whitewashing Isra...

For decades, much of the United States media adopted Washington’s framing of US conflicts in the Middle East. But the US-Israel war against Iran is defying that trend. US news outlets are increasingly challenging President Donald Trump on his declarations of victory and absence of a clear strategy. Meanwhile, Iran’s military remains operational, Tehran retains control of the Strait of Hormuz and f...

As criticism of Israel mounts over its wars on Gaza, Lebanon and Iran, along with the escalating settler violence in the occupied West Bank, the country is ramping up its PR offensive. From a carefully managed appearance of Benjamin Netanyahu on CBS’s 60 Minutes to a major expansion of Israel’s Hasbara operation, the push includes pouring money into digital campaigns and media messaging. The goal...

The information front has been central to the Iranian government’s war effort. For an external audience, there is an innovative online strategy that has consisted of AI Lego, memes and hip hop diss tracks directed at Donald Trump and the MAGA base. But this coexists with more brutal domestic tactics: crackdowns, arrests and internet blackouts. The result has been the Iranian authorities making use...

A fragile ceasefire between the US and Iran holds - but the information war intensifies. At the centre: the Strait of Hormuz, where competing US and Iranian narratives have collided. During any truce, even when the bombs stop falling, the information war goes on.  Moments like this test journalism. Because the job is not just to report on the messaging coming from all sides - but to decode and deb...

The war on Iran has entered a much more damaging phase with more assassinations of the leadership in Tehran, the continued blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and major strikes on energy infrastructure across the region. As the war has escalated, pressure on news organisations in the United States, Israel and Iran is increasing. Contributors:  Branko Marcetic – Writer, Jacobin Arta Moeini – Institute...

One week into the United States and Israel’s war on Iran, and the messaging coming from the White House is consistently chaotic and contradictory. From regime change and nuclear threat to preemptive attack - the Trump administration is struggling to juggle its narrative. And while the mainstream media is working overtime to legitimise the Trump-Netanyahu war at home, Americans remain unconvinced....

As Washington escalates threats of military action against Iran, negotiations over Tehran’s nuclear programme continue behind the scenes. But while the Trump administration insists that the standoff is about security, Iran’s state media are pushing a very different narrative: that the crisis is a deliberate distraction from the Epstein scandal that continues to implicate the US president. Contribu...

A series of warnings from artificial intelligence (AI) industry insiders shows how the debate around AI drives extreme news cycles, swinging between hype and alarm. The result is media coverage that overlooks the intricacies of this technology and its impact on everyday life. We examine the real risks, what’s being overstated, and what major tech companies stand to gain from all the fearmongering....

The latest tranche of the Epstein files contains more than three million documents - the largest release of its kind. In what appears to be a clumsy attempt at a cover-up by the US Department of Justice, the sloppily redacted names of high-profile perpetrators have failed to conceal the intricate web of global elites spanning politics, royalty, Hollywood and tech. The fallout in Europe has resulte...

The Epstein files dump has led to days of intense media coverage, revealing how powerful elites around the world engaged in either illegal or morally reprehensible behaviour. But even as journalists sift through millions of documents, one of the most significant stories remains largely missing from the mainstream narrative. Contributor: Murtaza Hussain - National security and foreign affairs repor...

In Minneapolis, Minnesota, the fatal shooting of a protester by border control agents triggered mass demonstrations and presented the Trump administration with an unexpected test of its immigration strategy. Footage captured by onlookers has undercut official statements and intensified questions about the level of force and use of high-tech tools being used to crack down on dissent. Contributors:...

Donald Trump’s latest attempt to seize Greenland shows that the president is willing to use US force to determine international borders, even at the expense of sovereignty. Western allies - NATO countries included -  publicly formed a united front, but private messages have revealed a more deferential approach to dealing with Trump. This latest crisis may have been averted, but the question remain...

This past week, Iranian protesters were labelled “terrorists” and “saboteurs” by the state. That rhetoric was accompanied by an internet blackout and a surge in violence, with the death toll still unclear. Simultaneously, tensions between the United States and Iran escalated, raising the stakes in what has become one of the most serious political upheavals in the country in years. Contributors: To...

The horrific Bondi Beach attack in Australia was pulled into Israel’s global information war this past week. As blame was directed towards pro-Palestine politics, media narratives blurred Jewish identity and Israeli state policy - raising urgent questions about who is put at risk when Israel’s anti-Palestinian messaging travels beyond its borders. Contributors: Naama Blatman – Executive member, Je...

For more than a century, Warner Bros has been one of Hollywood’s biggest players, a legacy studio that helped define the Golden Age of cinema with iconic blockbuster movies. Now, it’s at the centre of a contentious, billion-dollar bidding war between Netflix, the world's leading streaming platform, and Paramount Skydance, owned by the powerful Ellison family, which has close ties to President Trum...