If the United States has aided and abetted Israel’s campaign of ethnic cleansing in Gaza, the European Union’s role has been one of quiet complicity.In a special edition of The Listening Post, we examine the discourse around the conflict in three EU countries: Germany, where shows of support for the Palestinians have been heavily suppressed; France, where television news channels have distorted the debate to suit their own agendas; and the outlier that is Ireland, where there has been probing...

Forty-eight days of bloodshed later, a truce lasting 96 hours - between Israel and Hamas - has come into effect, giving Palestinians in Gaza some temporary room to breathe. But in the information war, there is no ceasefire in sight.Contributors:Abboud Omar Hamayel – Academic, Birzeit UniversityHussein Ibish – Arab Gulf States InstituteMia Bloom – Professor, Georgia State UniversityShashank Joshi – Defence Editor, EconomistOn our radar:This past week has been one of the most devastating for...

The evidence provided by Israeli forces to justify their attacks on Gaza's hospitals has come up short - and so has the news coverage.Contributors:Alice Rothchild - Health Advisory Council, Jewish Voice for PeaceDiana Buttu - Palestinian LawyerMeron Rapoport - Editor, Local CallYumna Patel - Palestine News Director, MondoweissOn our radar:Israeli politicians are calling for the transfer of Palestinians from Gaza. Producer Tariq Nafi reports on how they’re using the media to transmit the...

Freedom of expression is under the gun in the Land of the Free. We look at what media in the United States is missing in Israel’s war on Gaza - and why it matters.Contributors:Noura Erakat - Associate Professor, Rutgers UniversityAbdallah Fayyad - Journalist; Former Member, Boston Globe Editorial BoardAlex Kane - Senior Reporter, Jewish CurrentsJack Mirkinson - Acting Senior Editor, The NationOn our radar:The vast majority of mainstream outlets in the US are corporate-owned. Nic Muirhead...

After three weeks of a punishing Israeli bombardment of Gaza, Israel is still refusing to allow international journalists in.News outlets and audiences are entirely reliant on local Palestinian reporters, who risk their lives to provide a window into the war.Contributors:Tal Schneider - political and diplomatic correspondent, Times of IsraelNathan Thrall - author of A Day in the Life of Abed Salama: A Palestine StoryJoshua Leifer - journalist, Dissent MagazineOmar Baddar - deputy director,...

After three weeks of punishing Israeli bombardment of Gaza, Israel is still refusing to allow international journalists in. News outlets and audiences are entirely reliant on local Palestinian reporters, who risk their lives to provide a window into the war.Contributors:Mouin Rabbani - Co-editor, JadaliyyaOmar Shakir - Human Rights Watch, Israel and Palestine directorYara Eid - Gazan journalistOn our radar:The online space has been a significant arena of battle throughout this war. Flo...

Two weeks into Israel’s war on Gaza, what the world is witnessing - from Israeli leaders' racist and genocidal rhetoric to the mass killing of Palestinian civilians - bears the hallmarks of a historic crime. This episode looks at how the media are responding - in Israel and beyond.Contributors:Neve Gordon - professor of international law and human rights, Queen Mary UniversityTariq Kenney-Shawa - US policy fellow, Al-ShabakaAntony Loewenstein - Author of books such as The Palestine...

What we are seeing in the occupied Gaza Strip and Israel has no precedent - thebarbarism, the talk of vengeance, the war crimes. And the signs, all too familiar ones, of journalists succumbing to the pressures under the powers that be.In this special episode, we delve into the news coverage of the war in Palestine and Israel. We examine the narratives that have emerged since Hamas’s surprise attack - a seismic news event that is destined to take ownership of the date on which it happened -...

With a week to go until elections in Poland, the ruling Law and Justice Party has used its control of the public broadcaster to drown out opposition voices and push its anti-European Union, anti-migrant messaging.Contributors:Jan Cienski - Senior Policy Editor, Politico EuropePaulina Lenik - Assistant Professor, Kozminski UniversityAnita Prazmowska - Professor in International History, LSEWojciech Przybylski - Editor-in-Chief, Visegrad InsightOn our radar:Police in Delhi raided the offices of...

The resignation of 92-year-old media magnate Rupert Murdoch has set in motion the long-awaited succession of his empire. What effect will his son Lachlan’s leadership have on media - and politics - worldwide?Contributors:Kerry Flynn - Media Reporter, AxiosDes Freedman - Professor, Goldsmiths, University of LondonMatt Gertz - Senior Fellow, Media Matters for AmericaPaddy Manning - Author, The SuccessorOn our radar:With a general election just two weeks away, a Polish film telling the story of...

As the residents of the city of Derna count their dead, authorities in eastern Libya expel news crews from the city and evade scrutiny of their role in the disaster.Contributors:Elham Saudi - Co-founder & director, Lawyers for Justice in LibyaSami Zaptia - Editor-in-chief, Libya HeraldAnas El Gomati - Director, Sadeq InstituteOn our radar:Media tycoon Rupert Murdoch announced his resignation this week aged 92, handing over the reins of his empire to his son. Reporter Johanna Hoes explains...

Saudi Arabia’s massive spending on sport is part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s strategy to diversify the petrostate’s economy and re-shape its brand.Contributors:Abdullah Al-Arian - Author, Football in the Middle EastGregg Carlstrom - Middle East Correspondent, The EconomistKristin Diwan - Senior Research Scholar, The Arab Gulf States InstituteRayhan Uddin - Journalist, Middle East EyeOn our radar:This week saw the launch of the biggest antitrust trial of the century against tech...

Politicians have long had a tendency to frame the past in a way that suits their political agenda in the present and the Holocaust is no different.In this special episode of The Listening Post, Johanna Hoes reports on historical revisionism in Poland; the governing right-wing Law and Justice party’s attempts to portray all Polish people as heroes or victims while concealing an uncomfortable truth: that some Poles collaborated with the Nazis and were complicit in crimes against...

A military takeover in Niger as the Kremlin and Russian mercenaries lurk on the sidelines and the airwaves. But would Russia be any less exploitative than Niger’s old colonial masters?Contributors:Alexis Akwagyiram - Managing editor, Semafor AfricaMathieu Oliver - Journalist, Jeune AfriqueAanu Adeoye - West Africa correspondent, Financial TimesDelina Goxho - Security analystOn our radar:China wants its citizens to be on the lookout - online - for spies. Johanna Hoes looks at their tips and...

A viral video revealing a shocking case of sexual assault has put the northeastern Indian state of Manipur on the radar and shed light on a place that the mainstream media has paid scant attention to.Contributors:Anubha Bhonsle - founder, NewsworthySamrat Choudhury - journalist and author, Northeast India: A Political HistoryPatricia Mukhim - editor, The Shillong TimesSushant Singh - consulting editor, The Caravan; senior fellow, Centre for Policy ResearchOn our radar:Israelis are describing...

For the first time in 63 years, Hollywood actors have joined writers in a double strike against studio powerhouses, demanding better pay, fairer working conditions, and protections from present and future AI threats.Contributors:Miranda Banks - Media professor, Loyola Marymount University's School of Film and TelevisionDaheli Hall - Writer and actorMeg James - Senior entertainment writer, Los Angeles TimesSharon Waxman - CEO and founder, The WrapOn our radar:Israeli President Isaac Herzog...

The United States-China relationship is a complex one. Beneath the diplomatic niceties lies deep mutual suspicion - two governments fully engaged in a bigger battle of narratives.Contributors:Jiayang Fan - staff writer, The New YorkerBrian Hioe - editor, New Bloom MagazineJames Palmer - deputy editor, Foreign PolicyOn our radar:In the United Kingdom, the BBC is in a state of turmoil after a Rupert Murdoch-owned tabloid alleged sexual misconduct involving one of the broadcaster’s most famous...

In the aftermath of one of the worst Israeli military attacks on the occupied West Bank in 20 years, the Israeli government takes issue with the global media’s coverage of the violence.Contributors:Amjad Iraqi - Senior editor, +972 MagazineGil Hoffman - Executive director, HonestReportingSarit Michaeli - International advocacy officer, B'TselemTariq Kenney-Shawa - Journalist and US policy fellow, Al-ShabakaOn our radar:The chaos at Elon Musk’s Twitter - the Muskverse - has left the field open...

Analysts have been deciphering the Putin-Prigozhin power struggle; how it played out and what’s next for Russian politics and the war in Ukraine.Contributors:Ian Garner - Author, Z GenerationEilish Hart - Editor, Meduza in EnglishNeil Hauer - JournalistLeonid Ragozin - Freelance journalistOn our radar:Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has been hyping his Saudi megaproject in the desert. Producer Tariq Nafi looks into Neom and the PR company selling it to the world.India’s Young...

The most recent tragedy in the Mediterranean Sea - a boat of 750 refugees capsizing off Greece - has shed light on the European Union’s anti-immigration policies, the many media outlets reinforcing that message and the few independent ones that push back on the official narrative.Contributors:Giorgos Christides - journalistAndrew Peter Geddes - professor of migration studies, European University InstituteMyria Georgiou - professor of media and communications, London School of Economics and...

In death, as in life, Silvio Berlusconi dominates the headlines. He was a man whose legacy across media, popular culture and politics is not confined just to Italy.Contributors:Roberto D’Alimonte - professor, LUISS Guido Carli UniversitySerena Danna - deputy director, OpenPaolo Gerbaudo - reader in digital politics, King’s College LondonSilvia Sciorilli Borrelli - Milan correspondent, Financial TimesOn our radar:Donald Trump’s legal charges are piling up, but his campaign for re-election is...

Discussions about artificial intelligence (AI) have quickly turned from the excited to the apocalyptic. Are warnings that AI could pose an existential threat valid, or do they distract from the real danger AI is already causing?Contributors:Charlie Beckett - head, Polis LSE JournalismAI ProjectYoshua Bengio - professor of computer science, University of MontrealSarah Myers West - director, AI Now InstituteÉmile P Torres - author of Human Extinction: A History of the Science and Ethics of...

The acclaimed HBO TV series Succession immersed viewers in the world of the Roys, a family fighting for control of their elderly father’s media empire. Art imitates life, and as the series - which was partly, at times largely, based on the Murdochs - winds down, we examine what the hit show tells us about the dangers of corporate media.Contributors:Paddy Manning - Author, The Successor: The High-Stakes Life of Lachlan MurdochBanseka Kayembe - Culture WriterDavid Folkenflik - Media...

After 12 years of being shunned for his crackdown on protests that pushed Syria towards civil war, President Bashar al-Assad returned to the Arab League’s annual summit. The process of al-Assad’s rehabilitation - spearheaded by Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman - has taken years of PR, spin, photo ops and the casting aside of history.Contributors:Arwa Damon - Former senior international correspondent, CNNFaisal Al Yafai - International editor, New Lines magazineNabih Bulos -...

With President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the verge of re-election in the second round next week, what’s next for what is left of Turkish journalism?Contributors:Mustafa Akyol - Senior Fellow, Cato InstituteRavza Kavakci Kan - AK Party Member of ParliamentSeren Selvin Korkmaz - Co-founder, IstanPol Institute & Lecturer, Stockholm UniversityGüney Yildiz - Researcher & AnalystOn our radar:Another death in Guatemala. Producer Flo Phillips reports on elPeriódico, the investigative magazine...