Let’s talk about how the media is fuelling the rise of Reform.

This is not a new topic. The News Agents called it a "lefty cop-out" to blame the media for the rise of Reform. But what about the media cop-outs? What about the media's refusal to change, even as the Far-Right returns to the mainstream?

The truth, Media Storm argues, is this: our media did not just fuel the rise of Reform, they cashed in on it.

So on this week's episode, while Mathilda struggles with corrupted live show audio (sorry), we bring you a special audio article on the topic instead, and introduce you to the Media Storm column in Byline Times - out every Friday.

This episode is produced and presented by Mathilda Mallinson (@mathildamall). The music is by Samfire (@soundofsamfire).

Support Media Storm on Patreon, and follow the column on Byline Times.

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Warning: this episode contains mentions of baby loss.

Three years ago, we brought you the story of a Nigerian fishing community suing Shell in UK courts over oil spills. This year marks 10 years since their battle began, and the year it finally goes to trial.

The Niger Delta is one of the ten most important wetland ecosystems in the world, home to some 31 million people. But the river that sustains so many lives of so many species has become poisoned over decades by oil.

Environmental justice is a long and winding road, but communities are standing firm in their bids to hold the world’s most powerful corporations to account. They rely on media coverage to keep their fights in the limelight, yet they often struggle to be seen. Why is that?

In this episode, we are joined by Lazarus Tamana, UK president of the Movement For The Survival of The Ogoni People , and Dr Emem Okon, Executive Director of community-led NGO Kebetkache Women Development & Resource Centre. They help us unpick the media’s coverage of the climate crisis - examining undisclosed relationships between news outlets and corporations, a failure to understand national vs. ‘World’ news, and telling choices of media language.

Follow Amnesty UK’s ‘No Clean Up, No Justice’, read Dr Emem Okon’s research, with the Kebetkache Women Development and Resource Centre and Both Ends.

The episode is hosted and produced by Mathilda Mallinson (⁠@mathildamall⁠) and Helena Wadia (⁠@helenawadia⁠) , with Lily Erwood as Assistant Producer.

The music is by ⁠@soundofsamfire⁠

Support us on ⁠Patreon⁠!

Follow us on ⁠Instagram⁠, ⁠Bluesky⁠, and ⁠TikTok

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LAST CHANCE TO GET YOUR LIVE SHOW TICKETS!

Media Storm is back for SERIES 6! And we’re here to help you get your head around the headlines (however unhinged they are).

But this week, we had a little identity crisis… should we be using the term ‘mainstream media’ when it’s become such a conspiracy buzzword? And if not, how do we point out all the mainstream media mishaps?! Let us know your thoughts...

Stories we delve into this week include: Two post-Brexit trade deals got very different reactions in the UK media. Spoiler: we think race has something to do with it. We look at the UK-India trade deal, and the UK-US trade deal - and ask why one got too much scrutiny, and the other almost none at all.

Next up, Gérard Depardieu was convicted for two counts of sexual assault. So why are much of the media labelling him as a 'legend' - and why is The Telegraph telling us 'all is not lost' for him? And we break down Keir Starmer’s now infamous immigration speech, likened by his own party members to Enoch Powell’s xenophobic ‘rivers of blood’. This is headline politics at its worst.

As usual, we end with Eyes on Palestine. Follow the Committee to Protect Journalists here.

Click here to complain to the BBC about their interview with Palantir.

Read the report by Doctors of the World UK and Médecins Sans Frontières about Wethersfield.

The episode is hosted and produced by Mathilda Mallinson (⁠@mathildamall⁠) and Helena Wadia (⁠@helenawadia⁠) 

The music is by⁠ @soundofsamfire⁠

Support us on⁠ Patreon⁠!

Follow us on⁠ Instagram⁠,⁠ Bluesky⁠, and⁠ TikTok

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Date: Tue 20 May 2025

Location: The Podcast Show, ⁠Business Design Centre⁠, 52 Upper Street London N1 0QH

Doors Open: 18:30 | Show Begins: 19:00 (1hr)

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The descent to dictatorship, the ‘invasion’ of borders, the war on free speech… what’s a global crisis, and what’s just another media storm?

Join co-hosts Helena Wadia and Mathilda Mallinson – and special guests Natasha Devon and Milo Edwards – as they storm through the most unhinged headlines of 2025. Come for a brutal biopsy of the big stories, and leave a little wiser about the media’s wily ways.

Natasha Devon is writer, speaker, and broadcaster on LBC. Milo Edwards is a stand-up comedian and host of the podcasts Trash Future, Masters of Our Domain, and Glue Factory.

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Join us for the Media Storm LIVE SHOW with special guests Natasha Devon and Milo Edwards - Tuesday 20th May 7pm @ the Business Design Centre in Islington. Tickets are available HERE!

Kim, an asylum seeker from Zimbabwe, lives on £7-a-day while supporting a newborn in cockroach-infested accommodation… HOW is she supposed to pay the £10,000 NHS bill she received after giving birth?

This week, Kim shares her story, and the Media Storm team unpack the mainstream media myths that feed the wider healthcare, migration and gender injustices behind it.

Myths like:

We pick apart some current, culpable headlines, and compare the stories they tell with the first-hand experiences of the people living it.

Also joining us in the studio is Judith Dennis, head of policy at Maternity Action, which works for the rights of pregnant women and new parents irrespective of migration status, and is campaigning for changes alongside the National Childbirth Trust.

The episode is hosted and produced by Mathilda Mallinson (@mathildamall) and Helena Wadia (@helenawadia)

The music is by @soundofsamfire

Support us on Patreon!

Follow us on Instagram, Bluesky, and TikTok

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Join us for the Media Storm LIVE SHOW! Tuesday 20th May 7pm, @ the Business Design Centre in Islington. Tickets available HERE 

Time for another weekly news debrief: we pick apart the most unhinged headlines and try to make sense of the mainstream media, helping you consume the news critically.

This week, Katy Perry was blasted - into space, and in the media (4:50). As news broke that the Supreme Court ruled the legal definition of a woman is based on 'biological sex' (a ruling that didn't consult a single transgender person), we look at the rollbacks of queer rights around the world (10:20).

Plus, how three front pages defined differently an attack on prison officers at HMP Frankland by the Manchester arena bomber's brother (22:32), a rebuttal against an ableist Daily Mail column on stammering (31:53), and why one article about asylum seekers living in 'luxury hotels' fails on facts (36:34).

To keep Eyes on Palestine (41:02), we look at the case of Mohsen Mahdawi, a Palestinian student at Columbia university abducted by ICE in the US, and discuss a small but mighty change in a BBC headline.

The episode is hosted and produced by Mathilda Mallinson (@mathildamall) and Helena Wadia (@helenawadia) 

The music is by @soundofsamfire

Support us on Patreon!

Follow us on Instagram, Bluesky, and TikTok

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Join us for the Media Storm LIVE SHOW! Tuesday 20th May 7pm @ the Business Design Centre in Islington.

Tickets are available at 10am today via AEG Presents HERE! Paid Patreon subscribers get access to tickets ONE HOUR EARLIER at 9am

What’s the bigger threat to free speech: the ‘woke mob’, or the MAGA word police? Where’s the line between free speech and hate speech? How can you have free market of ideas - when most of the media is owned by political suck-ups? Is free speech actually free if some people have more free speech than others?

And with ‘free speech crusaders’ censoring anyone whose views they dislike… WHAT DOES ‘FREE SPEECH’ EVEN MEAN ANYMORE?

Journalist and political activist Femi Oluwole joins Helena Wadia and Mathilda Mallinson to put the mainstream media’s ‘free speech’ debates under the microscope: from the arresting of keyboard criminals, to the abduction of students calling attention to Palestine, to the hypocrisy of MAGA leaders, and the social media algorithms shaping public discourse.

The episode is hosted and produced by Mathilda Mallinson (@mathildamall) and Helena Wadia (@helenawadia)

The music is by @soundofsamfire

Support us on Patreon!

Follow us on Instagram, Bluesky, and TikTok

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Join us for the Media Storm LIVE SHOW! Tuesday 20th May 7pm, @ the Business Design Centre in Islington.

Tickets available at 10am on Friday via AEG Presents HERE 

Paid Patreon subscribers get access to tickets ONE HOUR EARLIER at 9am - support us on Patreon and get early access!  

Content warning: Rape and sexual assault. If you need support you can contact Rape Crisis on 0808 500 2222

Time for another weekly news debrief: we pick apart the most unhinged headlines and try to make sense of the mainstream media, helping you consume the news critically.

This week, some million people in the US protested for democracy and against the Trump administration - but you wouldn’t know it from the front pages (3:10). One grievance on the protest agenda was against Trump’s tariffs, described as ‘reciprocal’ in the media - but it turns out they're anything but (10:25). 

Plus - can we do anything about Meta’s AI stealing over 7 million books? (9:12) (Sign the petition from The Society of Authors here!) Why did The Telegraph call Lucy Connolly, jailed for calling on rioters to set fire to asylum seeker hotels on X, a political prisoner? (21:03) And why intersectional reporting is so important in the case of serial rapist Zhenhao Zou. (31:11)

Finally, keeping Eyes on Palestine, we look at the compliant reporting even the face of evidence that Israel's army killed 15 Palestinian paramedics and civil emergency responders. (39:14) 

The episode is hosted and produced by Mathilda Mallinson (@mathildamall) and Helena Wadia (@helenawadia) 

The music is by @soundofsamfire

Support us on Patreon!

Follow us on Instagram, Bluesky, and TikTok

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Warning: this episode contains mentions of suicide. If you need support, contact the Samaritans on 116 123

Reports of image-based sexual abuse in the UK have increased tenfold over the past few years. Women are five times more likely to be victims of intimate image abuse. The true scale of the problem is probably larger, as many victims do not come forward.

But sensationalist headlines about so-called 'revenge porn' are doing a disservice to survivors. The term 'revenge' welcomes victim-blaming, the term 'porn' undermines the severity of the crime. Articles about apparent new protections for victims are written from Government press releases, with fact-checking thrown out the window, leaving tired survivors to take on crucial work as campaigners.

Legal frameworks also can't seem to keep up with rising technology - AI generated image-based sexual abuse, also known as 'deepfakes', increased 400% between 2022 and 2023.

Is the media failing to point to a culture of misogyny behind this crime? What steps can we take to combat IBSA? And how can we put survivors first every step of the way?

Joining Media Storm this week is Elena Michael, co-founder and director of #NotYourPorn (you can sign their open letter to address the critical gaps in current legislation), and founder of anti-share technology Image Angel, Madelaine Thomas.

The episode is hosted and produced by Mathilda Mallinson (@mathildamall) and Helena Wadia (@helenawadia)

The music is by @soundofsamfire

Support us on Patreon!

Follow us on Instagram, Bluesky, and TikTok

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Time for another weekly news debrief: we pick apart the most unhinged headlines and try to make sense of the mainstream media, helping you consume the news critically.

So many media storm’s blowing up our radar this week! The ICE abduction of a Turkish PhD student in the US (01:17); a coordinated effort by the Times, Telegraph, TalkTV, GB News, and Robert Jenrick to mislead the public about new sentencing guidelines (5:02); meanwhile, Marjorie Taylor Greene and her MAGA friends blame migrants, Biden, and everyone but themselves for the Signal group-chat security scandal (17:56).

Plus - and this is where it gets awkward AF - Sky New's Sophie Ridge confuses two Muslim MPs for each other (22:00); a double stabbing in Bournemouth reveals how sensationalist media can play unwittingly into the hands of murderous men (26:05); and did you know - Adolescence is a true story? (34:24) And if you have concerns about the knee-jerk reaction of showing Adolescence in schools, here's the open letter you can sign.

Finally, for Eyes on Palestine, we report on the discovery of a mass grave of Palestinian doctors that has reignited accusations of Israeli war crimes. (38:20)

The episode is hosted and produced by Mathilda Mallinson (@mathildamall) and Helena Wadia (@helenawadia)

The music is by @soundofsamfire

Support us on Patreon!

Follow us on Instagram, Bluesky, and TikTok

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices