Trusted, impartial and independent? Or largely unaccountable and part of the Establishment? Sociologist Tom Mills considers the evidence about the enormously influential British Broadcasting Corporation or BBC, which is much revered amongst progressives in the United States and elsewhere.

And closer to home, we celebrate the 18th anniversary of this radio program, Against the Grain. Eighteen years ago, C.S. Soong and Sasha Lilley broadcast the first Against the Grain program — with Marxist political economist Robert Brenner — less than three weeks before the U.S. invaded Iraq. They had produced a four part series called Free Radicals, aimed at challenging conventional wisdom on the left, and KPFA received such positive feedback that the management at the time decided to bring them on as a daily program. And remarkably, Against the Grain has been on the air since then.

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