The algorithms that Big Tech designed - and the genocide they assisted. The Listening Post explores how Israel’s killing campaign of Palestinians has relied on artificial intelligence to choose its targets. A dystopian nightmare serves as a marketing campaign for technology flawed by design, and deepens the global digital divide.Contributors:Sophia Goodfriend – Researcher, Duke UniversityMona Shtaya – Digital rights scholarMatthew Mahmoudi – Researcher, Amnesty TechSebastian Ben Daniel –...

It is election season in India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi seems set to win a third successive term in the national elections — for good reason, say his supporters. They claim 10 years of the Modi government have transformed India, from lifting millions out of poverty to elevating India’s global status, but his critics say Modi’s record is far from perfect.In this episode of The India Report, we analyse how India has fared in the past decade on the foreign policy and economic policy...

With international reporters locked out, Palestinian journalists have made huge sacrifices to keep the world informed of the unprecedented killing and destruction in Gaza.More media workers have been killed by Israel since October 7 than in any other conflict in modern history.Like the rest of the population, Gaza's journalists have also been maimed, arrested or threatened, have seen their homes and offices destroyed and are grieving over the loss of those close to them.The Listening Post...

Six months into Israel’s devastating war on Gaza, the United Nations Security Council has finally passed a resolution demanding a ceasefire. The United States’s abstention marks a pivotal moment in Israel’s increasing international isolation.In the Israeli media, the opposition to the UN vote is near-unanimous and unsurprising. More striking is the lack of interest from American news outlets. The implications this story raises are perhaps a little uncomfortable for them - they hit too close...

With India amid a national election campaign, its news media is in sharp focus. Until recently it was believed that the sheer diversity of outlets ensured a range of perspectives, but now, India’s mainstream media has largely been co-opted by the Bharatiya Janata Party and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Just how did the media in India get to this point and what does it mean for the upcoming elections?Featuring:Ravish Kumar - Former Host, NDTVShashi Shekhar Vempati - Former CEO, Prasar...

The threat to ban TikTok in the United States has prompted an online backlash. Critics question the premise that Chinese ownership poses a security risk and suggest the real reason may be the surge in pro-Palestinian content since October 7.Contributors:Julia Angwin - Tech Policy Writer, New York Times; Founder, Proof NewsRussel Brandom - Tech Editor, Rest Of The WorldMarwa Fatafta - MENA Policy and Advocacy Director, Access NowEvan Greer – Director, Fight for the FutureOn our radar:In yet...

Elections are weeks away in India and opposition parties are attempting to take on the seemingly unstoppable juggernaut of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is seeking a third consecutive term.The opposition claims that Modi’s success rate has very little to do with his governance – but more because scores of his political rivals have been arrested or charged on questionable grounds. They say it has kneecapped the opposition and gamed the political arena in favour of the governing party.In...

With the global media’s attention trained on Gaza since October 7, things have worsened for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, and near impossible for journalists to cover.With their movement severely restricted, dozens of Palestinian journalists have been arrested, often held without trial or charge.Contributors:Anan Quzmar - JournalistAssal Rad - Middle East Scholar and AuthorMariam Barghouti - Writer and JournalistOren Ziv - Journalist, +972 MagazineOn our radar:Ahead of an upcoming...

The politics of Hindu nationalism have played a central role in the dramatic rise of the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. As the elections have neared, the Modi regime has turbocharged its Hindu-first agenda - best exemplified in the inauguration of the Ram Temple in the city of Ayodhya.Veteran journalist Sreenivasan Jain explains how the opening of this temple - and the whitewashing of its controversial past - illustrates how Modi and his party have made their brand of Hindu supremacism...

The United States' airdrops of aid into Gaza are a textbook case of cognitive dissonance on the part of the US administration - dropping food while continuing to send Israel bombs with which to pulverise Gaza. And the gulf between what’s happening on the ground and the mainstream media’s reportage continues to widen.Contributors:Laura Albast - Fellow, Institute for Palestine StudiesMohamad Bazzi - Professor, New York UniversityAntony Loewenstein - Author, The Palestine LaboratoryMouin Rabbani...

In December 2023, The New York Times published an explosive article - now widely discredited - that detailed Hamas’s agenda to weaponise rape and sexual violence on October 7. We reveal the controversies surrounding the article along with the broader issue of Western media outlets’ pro-Israeli/anti-Palestinian bias.Lead contributors:Ali Abunimah - Director, Electronic IntifadaChris Hedges - Former Middle East Bureau Chief, The New York TimesYumna Patel - Palestine News Director, MondoweissOn...

With Alexey Navalny’s death and Julian Assange’s extradition appeal happening within a week of each other, we look at the selective treatment of the two dissenters in the Western media.Lead contributors:Chip Gibbons - Policy Director, Defending Rights & DissentMatt Kennard - Chief Investigator, Declassified UKBranko Marcetic - Writer, JacobinRebecca Vincent - Director of Campaigns, Reporters Without Borders (RSF)On our radar:Usually silent in the face of the suffering in Gaza, Israeli TV...

More than a million Palestinians have been crammed into the city of Rafah -  which is being bombed by Israel with the imminent threat of a ground invasion. Western media, however, has once again failed to communicate the severity of this moment.Contributors:Laura Albast - Media Analyst, Institute for Palestine Studies-USANabih Bulos - Middle East Bureau Chief, LA TimesAdel Iskandar - Professor of Global Communication, Simon Fraser UniversityJacob Magid - US Bureau Chief, The Times of IsraelOn...

This past week’s elections in Pakistan were meant to be a formality, the outcome - a win for the PMLN - predetermined by the Pakistani military and intelligence apparatus.But despite their attempt to manage the narrative and meddle with politics, former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his party, the PTI, had an unexpected pull with the people.Contributors:Amber Shamsi - Director, Centre for Excellence in JournalismAsma Shirazi - Anchor, HUM NewsFahd Husain - President, AIK NewsMoeed Pirzada -...

Israeli intelligence accuses a UN refugee agency of collusion with Hamas – and the media take it at face value.Israel has for years been claiming that the United Nations refugee agency (UNRWA) is in cahoots with Hamas. The latest allegations – which coincided with the International Court of Justice’s order for Israel to prevent genocide – bear the hallmarks of a distraction tactic. So far, the media have taken the bait.Contributors:Diana Buttu – Palestinian lawyerTal Mimran – Former Israeli...

Part 1: What does the ICJ ruling mean for Israel?Judgement day at the International Court of Justice. The court has ruled the people of Gaza must be protected from genocidal acts carried out by Israel.Richard Gizbert is joined by producer Tariq Nafi to discuss the impact this ruling could have on how the media discuss the war in Gaza.Part 2: Mohammed el-Kurd on Palestinian resistanceWriter and journalist Mohammed el-Kurd in a video essay on Palestinian resistance and the Western media’s...

The ICJ hearings have drawn scorn as well as shock from Israel’s media punditry. In the West, however, the case has emboldened journalists to ask tougher questions of the Israeli narrative.Lead contributors:Oren Ziv - Reporter, +972 MagazineMouin Rabbani - Co-editor, JadaliyyaSelma Carmey - Human rights lawyerGideon Levy - Columnist, HaaretzDaniel Levy - President, US/Middle East Project; Former Israeli political adviserOn our radar:Australia’s public broadcaster- ABC - fired a radio host...

With the International Court of Justice deliberating over South Africa’s genocide case against Israel, we look at how the proceedings could affect reporting on the war.Contributors:Qaanitah Hunter - Journalist, News24Nimer Sultany - Editor-in-Chief, The Palestine Yearbook of International LawDaniel Levy - President, US/Middle East ProjectTony Leon - Political commentatorOn our radar:In Ecuador, masked gang members break into the studio of the state broadcaster, firing at staff and taking...

After three months of destruction, displacement and the killing of Palestinians, we take a deep dive into the way the Gaza story has been covered.Since the attacks on October 7, The Listening Post has interviewed a range of experts on the news coverage – what’s missing in it, and how it has helped enable the crimes being waged on Palestinians in Gaza.In this special edition, we’ve compiled three interviews – with one journalist, one expert on human rights and another on digital rights. They...

In 17 years of The Listening Post, we have never seen a story anything like Israel’s war on Gaza.It has been a turning point for the world order as we know it and its media ecosystem – which is why, since October 7, we have covered nothing else.In this special edition, we compiled our reporting on the Gaza war over the past 12 weeks. The extent of the brutality, a genocide unfolding in plain sight; the sheer volume of disinformation, designed to defend the indefensible; and the complicity of...

According to Gaza’s government media office, Israel’s military has now killed 97 journalists in the Strip. Israel has barred international media from entering Gaza, firsthand reporting on the onslaught there has been left to Palestinians already locked into the occupied territory - documenting their own genocide.Contributors:Amahl Bishara - Professor of anthropology, Tufts UniversityArwa Damon - Former senior international correspondent, CNNSari Bashi - Program director, Human Rights...

Israel’s ethnic cleansing of Gaza is being witnessed in real time, with Palestinian civilians broadcasting their own bombardment; Israeli soldiers streaming sadistic acts of humiliation - proof of an historic crime. The question Palestinians are asking - urgently - is whether it will make any difference.Contributors:Ariella Aisha Azoulay - Professor of Modern Culture & Media, Brown UniversityOmar Al-Ghazzi - Associate Professor of Media & Communications, LSERamzy Baroud -...

More than 60 days into the Israel-Gaza war, two Israeli news outlets - +972 magazine and Local Call - published a report on The Gospel, a new artificial intelligence system deployed in Gaza.The AI helps generate new targets at an unprecedented rate, allowing the Israeli military to loosen its already permissive constraints on the killing of civilians.Contributors:Marwa Fatafta - MENA Policy and Advocacy Director, Access NowOmar Shakir - Israel and Palestine Director, Human Rights WatchSophia...

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...