News Beat

AKA "Corporate Profiteering During Record Inflation"  As the media obsessed over record inflation for much of the year, major corporations were publicly celebrating their recent rise in profits and admitting in earnings calls that they were raising prices on consumers—effectively price gouging Americans. This boon to corporate coffers also comes amid increased use of stock buybacks to funnel money...

Republicans, who have long used crime to win elections, are now determined to remove democratically elected progressive prosecutors from office. These are effectively modern day coups meant to crush reform policies that voters supported in response to decades of mass incarceration and punitive policing measures.  News Beat is a multi-award-winning podcast brought to you by Morey Creative Studios a...

In a follow up to our “Big Lie” episode, we report on the congressional hearings on fossil fuel disinformation that you likely didn’t see in the corporate media. Investigators publicly released internal Big Oil documents that further exposed how the industry utilizes propaganda and disinformation to further investments in oil and gas, while claiming publicly to be transitioning to alternative ener...

What did the fossil fuel industry know about climate change and when did it know it? Turns out, these giant corporations were aware of the harmful effects of greenhouse gas emissions for DECADES and instead of combatting the crisis they’ve engaged in obfuscation and manipulative marketing campaigns to sow confusion and mistrust of science. At the same time, some of the most influential ad agencies...

Bernadette Smith scours the depths of the Red River in Manitoba for her missing sister and other women and children murdered and dumped in its murky waters. Duana Johnson comforts families of those who’ve vanished from reservations throughout the U.S. Northwest. Mary Kathryn Nagle battles for justice on behalf of the mothers, daughters, sisters, aunties, and nieces stolen, tortured, raped, and kil...

Ukraine is at the center of a proxy war between decades-long rivals and two competing economic systems, and opportunistic weapons manufacturers are cashing in. We provide a much-needed historical perspective about the Russian invasion of Ukraine, elements of which have gone under-reported, if not ignored entirely, by the corporate media. Our guests for this episode include Jennifer Briney, host of...

A staggering percentage of those locked up in America’s mass incarceration crisis— upwards of 20%, or 200,000 folks (!!) —were homeless or in marginal housing leading up to their imprisonment. Forty percent were on welfare. Even more were jobless, especially among the Black community. And far too many were in public housing or foster care prior to even turning 18 . This episode examines the devast...

On May 14, an 18-year-old white supremacist armed with an assault rifle and wearing body armor livestreamed his massacre of 10 Black people at a Tops supermarket in Buffalo, New York. Ten days later, another 18-year-old slaughtered 19 children and two adults at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. While investigators scramble for motivations behind the latter, those of the accused mass murdere...

Devised in the wake of the September 11th Terror Attacks and subsequent 9/11 Commission casting much of the blame on the lack of interjurisdictional communication between law enforcement, fusion centers have continued to operate in the shadows and outside the realms of the public eye, and even elected officials, ever since. Yet instead of foreign and domestic terrorists, these multi-million-dollar...

In 2017, shortly after the deadly "Unite The Right" rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, we released an episode titled ‘Misunderstanding Terrorism: Exposing Radical Caucasian Extremism’ calling out what the vast majority of mainstream news outlets and then-President Trump wouldn’t, yet what study after study had been warning about for quite some time: It wasn’t foreign Musli...

Long time listeners will certainly recognize LiKWUiD who, as one of News Beat's "Artist in Residence," has been featured on several important episodes delivering compelling, often heart wrenching lyrics that compliment our social justice reporting in a truly powerful way. Find out a little bit more about this prolific Hip-Hop artist, DJ, educator and mentor as we welcome LiKWUiD to the News Beat C...

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. demanded justice and equality—two essential truths which still have not been achieved , more than 50 years since his murder on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis. Year after year, without fail, politicians, pundits, and corporations bastardize his image and legacy to their own capitalistic agendas—capitalism and its many evils something ML...

Like we always do at this time of year, we present an important, alternative look at Martin Luther King, Jr.’s legacy, examining how the civil rights icon was so much more than simply the “I Have a Dream” soundbite, which has become known as the cornerstone of his public perception. Along with Pastor Roger C. Williams of the First Baptist Church of Glen Cove, NY, Larry Hamm, of t...

When disaster strikes, who profits? That’s the question Australian-based reporter Antony Loewenstein has been investigating for years. “Disaster capitalism” was first coined by renowned journalist and author Naomi Klein in her 2007 best-selling book “Shock Doctrine.” Loewenstein digs deeper with on-the-ground reporting to show how companies around the world profit fro...

America's longest war has one clear winner: Corporations . Has the war in Afghanistan become the biggest scam of our lifetime? News Beat is a multi-award-winning podcast brought to you by Morey Creative Studios and Manny Faces Media . Subscribe for free to our Substack newsletter . Audio Editor/Sound Designer/Producer/Host: Manny Faces Editor-In-Chief/Producer: Chris Twarowski Managing Editor/Prod...

Surprise, surprise. Modern day citizen’s arrest laws across the United States have their roots in Civil War-era laws designed to punish slaves. In this episode, one of the foremost experts on citizen’s arrest laws traces the history of these archaic laws from the colonial period to today—exposing yet another disturbing aspect of America’s “justice” system. News...

Beware the false messiahs of meaningful criminal justice reform, the so-called bipartisan coalition championing initiatives that purport to make a difference yet do absolutely nothing to incite true change, and in fact, further tighten the historical and ongoing noose of neoliberalism and structural racism within the world’s largest prison state. Our guests go behind the smoke and mirrors, r...

Since last spring, politicians, right-wing pundits, the media, and so-called “centrist” Democrats have weaponized the rise in violent crimes, including murders, to demonize police reform efforts and blame progressives. Sure enough, they conveniently neglect to mention that crime is up across the country—in cities run by Democrats and Republicans. We examine the spike in violent c...

Long time listeners know Silent Knight , his voice and his profound work -- not only as News Beat's "Artist in Residence," but as a solo artist, frontperson for our good friends and co-award-winning collaborators, The Band Called FUSE , and as an Innocence Ambassador for the renowned organization, The Innocence Project . Find out a little bit more about this prolific Hip-Hop artist, polka enthusia...

Law enforcement is increasingly using facial recognition, AI and other technologies despite numerous studies and real world examples of such tech falsely identifying criminal suspects. Along with concerns over how this tech will disproportionately impact Black and Brown communities, experts are raising concerns over First Amendment implications and what it means to live in a society in which we&rs...

This episode was honored as Best Podcast at the 2021 New York Press Club Journalism Awards . We dedicate the win to the many voices -- both heard, and unheard -- represented in this episode. The 2020 rebellions sparked renewed discussions surrounding a host of racial issues, including police brutality toward black men. Advocates argue that black women are similarly exposed to excessive police viol...

If you pay attention to mainstream media, you’d notice that many outlets are recognizing June 17, 2021 as the 50th anniversary of the “war on drugs.” Actually, the racist and deadly drug war goes back much further than conventional wisdom suggests, and was originally waged by an authoritarian bureaucrat that most people likely have never heard of. We think it’s important to...

Guilty pleas have become the dominant way in which prosecutors in America secure convictions. In some cases, 99 percent of cases in various jurisdictions end in a plea bargain. While plea bargaining has been a function of the American justice system for nearly a century, the practice started taking hold in the 1970s following various Supreme Court decisions that upheld its constitutionality. Throu...

Reform candidates are increasingly winning district attorney elections in the United States. The movement represents a  direct challenge to the decades-long tough-on-crime era, characterized by punitive sentencing laws, significant investments in police forces and prisons, and the criminalization of mental health—culminating in the highest incarceration rates in the world. Opponents are...

As we work to deliver you more compelling social-justice-meets-music-and-lyrics episodes of  News Beat  proper, we want to put you on to another incredible podcast in our production universe,  Unf*cking the Republic . This brilliant show is all about exposing political f*ckery -- from all sides -- while informing and entertaining along the way. It's also produced and audio edited by...