Welcome to Media Storm's News Watch, helping you get your head around the headlines.

We’re taking on the right-wing hit job on the BBC. Why has one of the world’s most trusted news organisations capitulated to dodgy accusations of lefty, pro-trans and anti-Israel bias, when it gets just as many accusations from the other side? Learn about power structures inside global news and the battles for narrative control – while minorities continue to pay the highest price.

After the break: ever thought we'd be talking about football on Media Storm? Maccabi Tel Aviv played Aston Vila in Birmingham. We highlight buried police intelligence showing overlaps between Israel’s hooligan and military forces, and breakdown how Sky News manufactured the key headline (‘no-go area for Jews’) that came to shape political events. Listen and learn to spot misinformation in realtime.

The episode ends with Eyes on Genocide. Updates from Gaza, where the so-called ceasefire has entered its second month amid hundreds of Palestinian casualties; and from Sudan, where satellite imagery sparks fears that paramilitary forces are burning victims’ bodies in bulk.

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

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Margaux Blanchard is a widely published journalist. She has written everything from essays about motherhood to investigations about disused mines. But what her editors didn’t realise? Margaux Blanchard doesn’t exist. At least, not as a human being.

A company called Inception Point AI is using artificial intelligence to publish 3,000 podcast episodes a week at the cost of $1 a piece. Reviewers call it ‘AI sludge’ – is it coming for our jobs (and brains)?

Big Tech firms are using journalists’ work without permission to train AI to do their jobs. The AI summaries often get the facts wrong while putting human news publishers out of business. Where does this leave us in an era of disinformation warfare?

Can the mainstream media blame AI when it’s already churning out sensationalist clickbait and poorly fact-checked news? And could AI ever be used to improve chronic problems in our news, instead of exploiting them?

Press Gazette editor Charlotte Tobitt and tech journalist Rob Waugh join Media Storm to breakdown the best and worst impacts of AI on the news.

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

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Survivors of genocide in Gaza have called on the global community to launch criminal prosecutions of Western media professionals who they say carry blame for the murders of their colleagues, families and other victims of Israeli conquest.

Is criminal prosecution possible? Would it even be fair?

We put these questions to Palestinian and Western journalists, legal experts and other witnesses, to take the conversation about media complicity – which has featured on the podcast repeatedly over the past two years – to its next step. Where there is complicity, shouldn’t there be accountability

Guests include Palestinian journalists Ahmed Alnaouq and Abubaker Abed, US journalist Katie Halper, Israeli anthropologist Jeff Halper, Norwegian frontline medic Dr Mads Gilbert, and professor of law Penny Green.

This episode was recorded at the Gaza Tribunal in Istanbul, a people’s trial collating evidence alleging crimes against humanity in Palestine.

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Funding, for one thing. Political frontmen, for another. The question is why?

Money trailing into Far-Right groups connects European aristocrats with US Christian evangelicals and Russian propagandists. Together, these vastly different interest groups support joint campaigns undermining migrant rights with one hand, and abortion rights with the other.

Connecting the dots between them, is a debunked White Supremacist conspiracy theory called ‘The Great Replacement’. It argues that White Europeans and Americans are being deliberately seditiously replaced by non-white migrant populations, and that the solution is not just closing borders, it's forcing up White birth rates— and forcing down abortions.

Sian Norris is an investigative journalist exposing these dirty money trails, and she joins us on Media Storm. She says that while wealthy European aristocrats, hardline American Christians and Russian disinformationists may seem very different on the surface, each is incentivised to subscribe to a fascistic mythic past in which White people were superior to others and women’s bodies were controllable and for childbirth. As a result, absurd and extremist worldviews have entered mainstream politics.

How normalised is White Supremacism today? How does it threaten women’s bodily autonomy? How have legacy news outlets helped to make extremism mainstream? This week’s episode brings together the different fights against two far-right frontiers: immigration and abortion.

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

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This week your Media Storm hosts Mathilda and Helena answer all your questions - from hellish headlines to book recommendations to life with or without a fringe.

Some current affairs are covered, including the Manchester synagogue attack and an update on the flotilla detainees. But we also dive into personal, professional and even philosophical questions.

Plus, we even put on our Agony Aunt hats and advise on listener dilemmas: from trying not to look like a ‘conspiracy-theory-nut’, to taking on teachers at your children’s school.

We didn't have enough time to cover all your questions so there will be a Q&A PART TWO very soon, we promise. If you want to submit a question, you can do so by signing up to our ⁠Patreon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠!

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

The music is by⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ @soundofsamfire⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

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We recorded this episode in the knowledge that Israel's planned illegal interception of the Global Sumud Flotilla was imminent. Overnight, the abduction of its passengers begun, and at time of upload, it is still ongoing.

Israeli military vessels attacked the humanitarian boats with water canons, before boarding vessels and capturing passengers. Captives are expected to be taken to Ketziot prison in the Negev desert.

This was a forcible prevention of the flotilla's lawful aim to carry aid to Gaza as it endures a manmade famine and genocide. Under maritime law, it was an act of piracy. It was also enabled by international news media.

Here's how.

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

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Whether it's the Reform Party weaponising women's safety, Donald Trump diminishing domestic abuse, or worrying stats about girls' safety in schools, you don't have to look far to see that discrimination against women still exists - and is often aided by lazy, misleading, or misinformed reporting.

What can we do about this?

This week, Media Storm showcases the people and platforms working to end gender-based violence, buy calling out and correcting misogyny in the media.

First up: an in-depth interview with Eliza Hatch. She’s the founder of Cheer Up Luv, the UK-based platform dedicated to ending gender-based violence, discrimination and bias through education, art and storytelling. Helena and Eliza chat about working in the VAWG sector, bringing men into the conversation, and the crucial point headlines are missing when they talk about young men "falling behind" women in education and academia.

And after the break: hear about This Ends Now's new campaign, Take It As Read, which will help us all to challenge misogynistic and victim blaming language around male violence against women and girls.

Interested in this topic? Listen to Media Storm's episodes on domestic abuse reporting, rape justice, and why 'violence against women' is a man's problem.

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

The music is by⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ @soundofsamfire⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

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It's time for another News Watch, helping you get your head around the headlines.

This week we start by looking at Trump’s new Caribbean front in the ‘war on terror’, and rising authoritarian usage of “anti-terror” laws in the West.

Helena reflects on the unreported stories from a weekend of nationalist protests in the UK: people of colour trapped inside their houses. 100,000 people joined the march, which was led by far-right Tommy Robinson and riddled with racist violence. We consider the root causes of rapidly rising radicalism in the UK, and the lessons that populist press and politicians are all-too-slow to learn.

To listen to our episode 'Radical thinking: How to fight the far-right', click here.

Next - Charlie Kirk was an American right-wing political activist who campaigned against gun controls, before he was shot and killed in yet another political assassination in the US. His shooting gave rise to many conspiracy theories, but the one peddled across mainstream media was that the suspect was motivated by “transgender ideology”. Here’s everything wrong with that.

Finally, we turn to Gaza, where genocide has just been declared by a UN commission. The expert panel examined actions and statements made publicly by Israeli leaders and soldiers, and concluded that genocidal intent is “the only reasonable inference”. So why haven’t most Western media reached the same conclusion?

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

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This week, co-host Mathilda brings you a report from Tunisia, just before she sets sail on the Global Sumud Flotilla.

Ordinary people have made extraordinary sacrifices to make the journey toward Gaza, and establish a humanitarian corridor to get much needed aid into Palestine. Some people have left young children behind, others have risked their livelihoods to make the journey possible. But they stand firm in the belief that humanity and solidarity are their most important values.

Media Storm brings you the voices missing from the mainstream: activists from the Global South, and ordinary civilians who believe there is nothing more important than solidarity with Gaza right now. We also hear from Greta Thunberg, and grandson of Nelson Mandela, Mandla Mandela.

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

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Media Storm is back! And it's time for another News Watch, helping you get your head around the headlines.

This week saw the 10 year anniversary of the death of Alan Kurdi, the four-year-old refugee child who died attempting to flee the Syrian war along with his family. A photo of his tiny body washed up on the beach came to symbolise the global refugee crisis as a tragedy of humanity. But 10 years later, have we lost our compassion again?

As the Reform party dominates political discourse, its players stir up anti-migrant sentiment, and the press helps to pump up misinformation, the far-right are weaponising feminism and women’s safety, to further their anti-immigration agenda… again. We say: not in our name.

And beloved TV presenter Rylan rehashes far-right talking points on daytime television - we look at the most common immigration myths and why they're spreading so easily in the media.

And as Mathilda prepares to set sail covering the actions of the Global Sumud Flotilla, we go behind the scenes of the biggest civilian fleet yet fighting to get humanitarian aid into Gaza.

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

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