Nima Shirazi and Adam Johnson

Citations Needed

News EN ↓ 379 episodes

Citations Needed is a podcast about the intersection of media, PR, and power, hosted by Nima Shirazi and Adam Johnson.

Author

Nima Shirazi and Adam Johnson

Category

News

Podcast website

www.facebook.com

Latest episode

Jul 8, 2026

Where to listen?

Podcasts in the app Replaio Radio Coming soon

Podcasts are coming to the app soon. Install now and be the first to see a whole new take on podcasts

Get it on Google Play Install for free Android 5M+ downloads · 4.8 rating iOS soon

Episodes

Ep 240: How the Media's "Burden," the "Straining Resources" Framing Manufactures the Expendable Other 08.07.2026

In this episode, we discuss the ideological work done by our media's default frame of immigrants, poor seniors, homeless people, and those with disabilities as "burdens" and "strains" on our limited resources––namely those provided by the holy Taxpayer. Meanwhile, skyrocketing police and Pentagon budgets are just treated as unremarkable laws of nature.   With guest Beatrice Adler-Bolton of the Dea...

News Brief: Despite 9-Figure Infusion from Silicon Valley, Abundance Still Seeks Popular Support 01.07.2026

In this news brief, we catch up with Dylan Gyauch-Lewis, senior researcher at the Revolving Door Project, to discuss Abundance's PR problems, why this latest neoliberalism rebrand isn't catching on and how Silicon Valley billionaires still see 'Abundance' as their best chance to counter populist forces in the Democratic Party.

News Brief: The ADL's Bogus Origin Story and Its Rise as Ideological Enforcer for Empire and Israel 24.06.2026

In this News Brief, we talk with Emmaia Gelman, author of The Anti-Defamation League and the Racial State, about how––despite posing a civil rights org––the ADL functions as defender of colonialism and enforcer for reactionary western ideologies.

Episode 239: The Vague, Capital-Serving Co-Optation of "Affordability" Politics 17.06.2026

In this episode, we detail the long history of generic "affordability" discourse and how, post-Mamdani, it's become the go-to establishment buzzword justifying tax breaks for developers, deregulation, and cosmetic tweaks to our for-profit healthcare and education systems. With guest Luke Savage.

News Brief: The Call to Boycott—and Delegitimize—the New York Times 28.05.2026

In this News Brief, we talk with Chris Mills Rodrigo from Writers Against The War On Gaza about their campaign to boycott the New York Times and remove the "paper of record" from its pedestal of alleged neutrality and editorial rigor.

Episode 238: The Fictional, Racist, Paranoia-Sowing "Sleeper Cell" Media Construction 20.05.2026

In this episode, we detail the vague, baseless racism-sowing media coverage and pop culture obsession with so-called "sleeper cells," a construction that has consumed post-9/11 America but suffers from one major problem: there's no evidence it exists.

Live Show: 'How to Sell a Genocide' Book Talk at The Word Is Change Bookstore in Brooklyn, NY 13.05.2026

This is a live recording between Nima and Adam at the Word is Change Bookstore May 7, 2026. In this conversation, we discuss key findings that can be found in Adam's new book, How to Sell a Genocide: The Media's Complicity in the Destruction of Gaza.

News Brief: "Peak TV," Streamer Studio Accounting Gimmicks, and the Precarity of Hollywood Labor 06.05.2026

In this News Brief, we talk with Miranda Banks and Kate Fortmueller, authors of the new book Boom to Bust: How Streaming Broke Hollywood Workers, about rising inequality and precarity in Hollywood, studio consolidation, and how the dream of fame and fortune, 100 years on, is still used to concentrate power and drive down wages.

News Brief: How the Right Invented — and Exploited — the "Liberal Media" Trope 22.04.2026

In this News Brief, we talk with A. J. Bauer, assistant professor at the University of Alabama, about his new book," Making the Liberal Media: How Conservatives Built a Movement Against the Press". In our discussion we break down the corporate and ideological forces that shaped the popular idea mainstream media was crawling with fifth columnist agitators hostile to the values of Real America.    ...

Ep 237: How Selective, Patronizing 'Deradicalization' Discourse Pathologizes Anti-Colonial Struggle 15.04.2026

In this episode, we break down the long history of US media reducing recalcitrant populations' grievances to "terrorism," "hate," and "radicalism" in urgent need of re-education.   With guest Prem Thakker.

Ep 236: Manufactured Austerity and the Media Assisted 'Public-Private Partnership' Rip-Off 08.04.2026

In this episode we discuss how privatization was rebranded 'Public-Private Partnerships' and unleashed decades of raiding of the public coffers by Wall Street. With guest Donald Cohen, founder and executive director of In the Public Interest.

News Brief: As American Troops Hide in Civilian Hotels, US Media Ignores Pentagon's Use of 'Human Shields' 01.04.2026

In this News Brief we examine CNN, the Atlantic, Washington Post and NYT's blatant 'human shields' double standard as reports emerge of US troops hiding from Iranian attacks in civilian infrastructure.

News Brief: How Decades of Media Distortions and Lies about "Iran's Nuclear Program" Lead to War 25.03.2026

In this News Brief, we discuss a recent poll showing 70% of Americans are fundamentally wrong about the nature of Iran's "nuclear program"—including 1 in 4 who think Iran currently possesses a nuclear weapon, and detail how decades of sleazy media innuendo and fabrications got us to this point.

"Shadow Fleets," Sanctions & Western Media's International Law-ification of Arbitrary US Dictates 11.03.2026

In this episode, we explore how arbitrary—often unilateral—sanctions against Enemy States are given the halo of international legal legitimacy with a combination of lies, slippery language and brainless court stenography. With guest Maryam Jamshidi, Associate Professor of Law at the University of Colorado School of Law.

News Brief: As Trump Crushes Academia, the NYT and Atlantic Still Fight 'Woke' Wars from 5 Years Ago 18.02.2026

In this News Brief, we are joined by Chenjerai Kumanyika and Todd Wolfson of the American Association of University Professors to discuss Trump's gutting of higher education, its expansion on previous neoliberal privatization efforts, and how big donor and media backlash against "woke "academics and anti-Gaza genocide protestors is fueling the possible end of academic independence as we know it.  ...

Ep 234: TikTok, Gen Z's Move to Social Media and Elite Panic Over Unsanctioned News 04.02.2026

In this episode, we examine our political class' TikTok neurosis, how Gaza fueled its sell to US and Israeli military contractors, and the long history of elite panics around unsanctioned information flows. With guest Omar Zahzah.

News Brief: ICE, Senate Dems' Counterinsurgency PR, and the Limits of Body Cam Liberalism 30.01.2026

In this News Brief, we detail the fundamental problems with Senate Democrats' cosmetic reforms, the strategy of letting outrage blow over and the conspicuous absence of any proposal that touches ICE's obscene budget.

Ep 233: How US Media Naturalizes Capital Strikes and Helps the Rich Undermine Democracy 28.01.2026

In this episode, we examine how billionaires and corporations threatening capital strikes and capital flight to discipline populist politicians and movements is treated as normal, obvious, and healthy by US media.

News Brief: As Dem Leadership Waffles—Labor, Organizers, Immigrants Fight Back in Minneapolis 22.01.2026

In this News Brief, we break down Dem leadership's fatuous "body cam" and "training" response to ICE brutality, and how organizers in the Twin Cities are not settling for cosmetic reform. With guest Janette Corcelius.

News Brief: For Media Reporting on Iran, Trump Suddenly Morphs into Pro-Democracy Humanitarian 17.01.2026

In this News Brief, we discuss mainstream media coverage of ongoing protests across Iran and how nearly every major Western outlet has been uncritically framing any potential regime change plans by the US government—including Trump ordering a military attack on the country—as being motivated primarily, if not solely, by concern for the lives, safety and rights of demonstrators.

News Brief: How Corporate Media Laid the Groundwork for a Rightwing Incitement Campaign in Minnesota 07.01.2026

In this News Brief, we detail how CBS, Fox, WSJ, and NYT promoted an essentialized, overblown narrative on the "Somali Minnesota fraud" story, teeing up a full blown rightwing incitement campaign against Minneapolis's immigrant communities.

Ep 232: US Meddling, the Limits of 'Agency' Discourse and How Media Chooses Which 'Voices' To Center 10.12.2025

In this episode, we discuss the uses and misuses of liberal standpoint theory to promote US meddling, sanctions, and bombing. With guest Vincent Bevins.

News Brief: BBC's Gaza Double Standard and Western Liberalism's Crisis of Legitimacy 03.12.2025

In this News Brief, we interview journalist Daniel Trilling and discuss his investigation into the BBC's systemic anti-Palestinian bias.

Ep 231 - How To Oppose Genocide Without Opposing Genocide (Part 2): AIPAC Dems' Fake Israel Criticisms 26.11.2025

In this episode, we detail the buyers' market for superficial Gaza critiques that permit ambitious Democrats to look pro-Palestine without the downside of actually being so. With guest Tariq Kenney-Shawa.

Ep 230 - How To Oppose Genocide Without Opposing Genocide (Part 1): Biden World's Reputation Laundering PR Tour 19.11.2025

In this episode, we detail recent attempts by former Biden officials to rewrite history and absolve themselves of responsibility for the horrors of Gaza, and lay out the emerging Dem-aligned media industry of vibing past Democrats' lockstep support for genocide.

Listen to the Citations Needed podcast in Replaio

Radio and podcasts in one app - free, with no sign-up. Install today and do not miss the launch

Get it on Google Play

Replaio is not a podcast publisher; show names, artwork and audio belong to their authors and are distributed through public RSS feeds.