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

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Episodes

News Brief: Substance vs Vibes in VP Kamala Harris' Gaza PR Reboot 02.08.2024

In this public News Brief we analyze the new Democratic nominee's "shift in tone" and whether more sophisticated Empathy-Speak and continued appeals to bogus "ceasefire negotiations" signifies a meaningful break from Biden.

Episode 206: How the Gambling Industry Swallowed Sports Media Whole 31.07.2024

"Legalize and Regulate Sports Betting," NBA Commissioner Adam Silver wrote in The New York Times in 2014. "NFL Betting Promos & Bonuses | Top NFL Betting Sites & Offers for Week 9 NFL Odds & More," USA Today offered readers in 2023. "Bookmakers break down NBA, NHL playoffs, big bets," reads a June 2024 Fox Sports headline. It's not an exaggeration to state that, since its legalization in 2018, spo...

Live Show 7/16/24: Paris, Power and Olympic Class War with Jules Boykoff 24.07.2024

In this live show from July 16 2024, we are joined by Citations Needed Senior Olympics Correspondent Jules Boykoff of The Nation to discuss unrest in France over the upcoming Olympic games, increased athlete activism and unionization, and the fewer and fewer marks willing to buy the IOC's bill of goods.

The Great Neoliberal Burden Shift (Part II)- How Corporate America Offset Liability Onto Its Workers 10.07.2024

"How Railroaders Are Killed; Train Crews Grow Careless," read a 1906 syndicated article. "There is a kind of personality who is accident-prone," reported the Kansas City Star  in 1944. Amazon's safety programs are "designed to keep its nearly one million warehouse workers worldwide fit and limber," The Seattle Times  claimed in 2021.  For well over a century, it's been standard practice for corpor...

The Great Neoliberal Burden Shift (Part I) - How Corporate America Offset Liability Onto the Public 03.07.2024

"Choose the product best suited for baby," Nestlé urged in a 1970s baby formula ad. "What size is your carbon footprint?" wondered oil giant BP in 2003. "Texting, music listening put distracted pedestrians at risk," USA Today announced in 2012. These headlines and ad copy all offer a glimpse into a longstanding strategy among corporations: place the burdens of safety, health, and wellbeing on indi...

News Brief: Unions, Gaza, and Labor's Checkered Relationship With US Militarism 19.06.2024

On this public News Brief, we are joined by author and historian Jeff Schuhrke to discuss labor's response to the ongoing genocide in Gaza, the history of union support for (and opposition to) U.S.-led war and imperialism, and his upcoming book, Blue-Collar Empire: The Untold Story of US Labor's Global Anticommunist Crusade.

Live Show: Student Organizers Breakdown Media Distortions Over Gaza College Encampments 12.06.2024

On this Citations Needed Live Show, recorded virtually on May 23, 2024, Adam and Nima discuss recent coverage of the campus protests over the ongoing genocide in Gaza, from the media's habit of pathologizing Zoomers to Biden's condescending implication they're just a foaming hate mob. We were joined by guests Layla Saliba and Jonathan Ben-Menachem.

Ep 203: Ideological Shaping of the Possible Part II: How Corporate Think Tanks Function as Influence Laundromats 05.06.2024

"Susan Rice examines U.S. foreign policy strategy with The Post's David Ignatius," read the title of a 2016 Washington Post Live  conversation. "Key player in war on climate change? The Pentagon," CNN insisted in 2020. "Democrats Need To Learn How To Get Excited About the Center-Left," The Messenger proclaimed in 2023.  These posts were all facilitated, sponsored, or authored by a member of a Demo...

Ep 202: Ideological Shaping of the Possible Part I: Democrats and the Black Box Corporate Consulting Industry 29.05.2024

"David Plouffe's advice for 2020," Axios shared in 2019. "James Carville: 'Stupid wokeness' is a national problem for Democrats," CNN reported in 2021. "Robert Gibbs, former White House Press Secretary under President Obama, discusses the debt ceiling deal and the latest job numbers," MSNBC announced in 2023. On a regular basis, news media clue us into the latest prescriptions from so-called Democ...

Episode 201: The Conservative, Faux-Erudite Rise of Nuance Trolling 15.05.2024

"Here's why creating single-payer health care in America is so hard," explained Harold Pollack in Vox in 2016. "The benefits of climate action…are diffuse and hard to pin down," shrugged a Foreign Affairs article in 2020. "A nuanced view of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict," presented Aliza Pilichowski in The Jerusalem Post in 2023. Each of the above is an example of something that can be called "...

News Brief: Axios, NYT Help White House Obscure Their Role in Rafah Invasion 08.05.2024

In this News Brief, we breakdown the White House's latest attempt to arm and fund Israeli war crimes while looking like helpless. bumbling humanitarians.

News Brief: Campus Anti-Genocide Protests and the Weaponization of Squishy, Bad Faith "Safety" Rhetoric 27.04.2024

In this public News Brief, we discuss Establishment reaction to pro-Palestinian protests on US campuses, from liberal handwringing to police crackdowns to therapy-speak.          

Episode 200 - The Rise of the War on Drugs 2.0: This Time It's Different, We Promise 27.03.2024

"Sen. Chuck Schumer warns drug dealers are pushing rainbow fentanyl to children," CBS News cries. "'It's very challenging': Inside the fentanyl fight at the border," ABC News reports. "The hard-drug decriminalization disaster," New York Times columnist Bret Stephens laments. In recent years, we've been warned about the growing threat of hyperpotent street drugs, particularly opioids. Fentanyl is d...

Episode 199: The Golden Age of Crybullyism 20.03.2024

"Ex-officer Amber Guyger testifies in wrong-apartment murder trial: 'I was scared to death,'" a " story reported in 2019. "Starbucks Files Complaints with Labor Board, Accuses Union Organizers of Bullying and Harassment," reported Food & Wine Magazine in April 2022. "Labour MPs fear for safety as pro-Palestine protesters target offices," The Guardian warned in November 2023. Within the last decade...

Episode 198: How The Atlantic Magazine Helps Sell Austerity and War to Middlebrow Liberals 13.03.2024

"Teachers Unions: Still a Huge Obstacle to Reform." "Countering Iran's Menacing Persian Gulf Navy." "Open Everything: The time to end pandemic restrictions is now." "The Good Republicans' Last Stand" Each of these headlines comes from the same magazine: The Atlantic. For 167 years, the publication has enjoyed elite stature in the American literary and journalistic worlds, publishing such luminarie...

News Brief: Media, Billionaires' Attacks on Homeless People May Pay Off Big at Supreme Court 06.03.2024

On this News Brief, we are joined by Jesse Rabinowitz of the National Homelessness Law Center to discuss the upcoming Johnson v. Grants Pass case, which will be heard by the Supreme Court of the United States on April 22nd 2024. This is the most significant case about the rights of homeless people in decades, determining whether cities can make it a crime to be homeless, to sleep outside, even whe...

Beg-A-Thon Live Show 1-30-24: The Grim Popularity of Rise-And-Grind TikTok #Influencers 28.02.2024

In this Live Show Beg-A-Thon recorded Jan 30, we break down the worst Rise-And-Grind social media stars and how they've moved from Silicon Valley-adjacent to subprime motivational content helping middle and working class people get through the daily grind. With guest Hussein Kesvani.

News Brief: How US Media Obscures the Violence of the Generic, Sterile-Sounding "Border Deal" 21.02.2024

In this News Brief we are joined by friend of the show, Maximillian Alvarez of The Real News, to discuss Democrats' pathetic, myopic, and nihilistic attempt to play the Racist Reverse Uno Card on Congressional Republicans.

Episode 197: The "Human Shields" Canard as Catch-All Colonial Absolution 07.02.2024

"Viet Cong Use Children as Human Shields," the Associated Press alleged in 1967. "'Civilian casualty?" That's a gray area," Alan Dershowitz argued in The Los Angeles Times in 2006. "We can't ignore the truth that Hamas uses human shields,""Jason Willick wrote in The Washington Post in 2023. For more than five decades, military forces with overwhelming firepower, including the U.S., Israel, and oth...

Episode 196: Benevolent Billionaire Despotism and US Media's Softball Treatment of 'Effective Altruism' 31.01.2024

"Join Wall Street. Save the world," The Washington Post urged in 2013. "How to Know Your Donations Are Doing the Most Good," The New York Times proclaimed in 2015. "I give 10 percent of my income to charity. You should, too," Vox advised last November. Each of these headlines tops a piece that extols the virtues of Effective Altruism, a philanthropic philosophy, for lack of a better term, ostensib...

News Brief: The ICJ Ruling and the Essentialness of Squishy Western Liberal Support for Genocide 26.01.2024

In this public News Brief, we react to the media spin around the ICJ's genocide ruling against Israel and how framing by the NYT and BBC seeks to uphold the logic of the so called "war" creating said genocide.

Episode 195: David Leonhardt and the Elite Consensus Manufacturing Machine 24.01.2024

"Make sense of the day's news and ideas," urges The Morning, a daily New York Times newsletter. "Get smarter, faster on news and information that matters to you," Axios assures its readership. "This is how the news should sound," The New York Times again declares, via its podcast The Daily. Over the last ten years, roughly speaking, we've seen the proliferation of the daily digest-style newsletter...

Beg-A-Thon Announcement Jan 30: The Worst Rise-And-Grind TikTok #Influencers 24.01.2024

Get shredded! Get a hot trad wife! Close the Baxter Account! Join us Jan 30 at 8:30pm ET for a live show beg-a-thon with guest Hussein Kesvani, as we break down the most ridiculous and toxic rise-and-grind guys on social media, from David Goggins to Andy Elliott to Ed Mylett. We will be giving away merch, dunking on intense grifter assholes, and having a generally good time live on our YouTube cha...

News Brief: Quantifying the Media's Selective Humanity in Gaza 19.01.2024

In this News Brief, we are joined by Adam's anonymous co-author of their two recent studies—one of print and one of cable news—detailing US's media's double standards when covering the 'Gaza conflict.'

News Brief: 5 Ways US Media Helps Put a 'Humanitarian' Spin on Gaza Ethnic Cleansing 14.12.2023

In this News Brief, we detail how horrific population transfers, mass bombings, and collective punishment are spun as humanitarian gestures to protect civilians.

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