Media Storm

Quite a lot to NOT be proud of this Pride Month, with corporations creeping away cowardly as ultra-Conservatives boycott their rainbow campaigns. Meanwhile, much of the mainstream media refuses to report on rising threats to LGBT+ equality.

Luckily, there’s also lots to laugh about! From hilariously hopeless Pride ads to everything that comes out of Olga Koch’s mouth - and lots to gossip about too, with celebrity “queerbaiting” up on the agenda.

We pick our way through Pride’s best and worst reporting, including vital LGBTQIA+ investigations that went under the radar - with QueerAF editor Jamie Wareham, and comedian Olga Koch.

This week’s lived experience comes from teachers and trans youth, who share firsthand insights on headlines about “gender ideology”, as both the Conservatives and Labour pledge to rigidly censor gender-related education ahead of the general election.

Plus, your round-up of the headlines through a Media Storm lens, including debunking myths of a Labour "supermajority", Just Stop Oil's stonehenge protest, and Rwanda refugee watch.

And finally… GETTING READY FOR GLASTONBURY?! Find out how Traveller culture has shaped modern-day music festivals, and how you can celebrate them as you celebrate Glastonbury.

Hosts: Mathilda Mallinson (@mathildamall) and Helena Wadia (@helenawadia)

Music: Samfire (@soundofsamfire)

Assistant Producer: Katie Grant

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Today is #WorldRefugeeDay - an international day designated by the UN to honour refugees around the globe.

World Refugee Day feels especially relevant at Media Storm, because refugees make one of the strongest cases for this podcast’s existence. They are one of the groups characterised most frequently and most voicelessly in our mainstream media, and consequently, clouded by myth.

Joining us to bust some of the biggest myths about refugees are two people with lived experience - Journalist, Editor-in-Chief at Egyptwatch, and host of the podcast Untold Stories, Osama Gaweesh - and Afghan journalist, newsreader, and women's rights activist, Zahra Shaheer.

We talk about what the mainstream news media so sorely lacks - the focus on inclusion, positivity, and solutions. Plus, we discuss the biggest story in UK immigration and election news - the Tories' Rwanda deportation deal.

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Music: Samfire @soundofsamfire

Assistant Producer: Katie Grant

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This investigation contains discusses of rape, sexual assault, and suicide which some listeners might find distressing. If you need someone to talk to, you can call the Samaritans on 116 123 or Rape Crisis on 0808 500 2222.

Warning: strong language

Media Storm’s first series featured an investigation into ‘Rape justice: ‘What happens to the 98%?', when we discovered the fates of the many reported rapes that never make it to trial.

Today, we speak to “the lucky ones” - the 2% of victims who get the chance to go to court. Or do they? Many are pushed to leave the courtroom and miss the bulk of their trial… and then they must pay tens of thousands of pounds to find out what happened inside.

Are government contractors getting rich off of victims’ suffering? Or is someone trying to hide something?

This is an investigation into the transparency of the UK’s justice system, and the treatment of women and victims during rape and sexual assault trials.

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• Samfire @soundofsamfire

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This week, Faiza Shaheen announced she has resigned from the Labour Party, after a shock email revealed she had been deselected as a candidate in this year's General Election.

The Labour Party candidate selection committee called into question tweets that Faiza had 'liked', some from 10 years ago. But behind the apparent distractions of old tweets is something far more sinister: what Faiza has described as “a systematic campaign of racism, Islamophobia, and bullying".

Are people of colour held to a higher standard in public and in the media? We discuss this, how the routine dehumanisation of brown skinned people has lead to desensitisation when it comes to coverage of Palestine, and why we need to push beyond 'representation'.

Plus, your round up of the headlines through a Media Storm lens - Government policies putting a dampener on Pride Month, a hidden story about Israeli interference in the ICC that didn't make it to the mainstream, does the media gives Nigel Farage a free pass, and was the viral AI-generated 'All Eyes on Rafah' image 'slacktivism'?

Joining Helena this week is GUEST HOST Coco Khan (Pod Save the UK)

We are joined in the studio by Sharan Dhaliwal, founder of feminist South Asian magazine Burnt Roti, and Shaista Aziz, ex-Labour councillor, journalist, and director of The Three Hijabis.

Hosts: Mathilda Mallinson (@mathildamall) and Helena Wadia (@helenawadia)

Music: Samfire (@soundofsamfire)

Assistant Producer: Katie Grant

Support Media Storm on Patreon.

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As South Africans head to the polls, Media Storm is seizing the opportunity to break out of the Western worldview.

Last season, former UN Security Council President Kishore Mahbubani criticised the "arrogance" of the UK media and its failure to expose people in 'the West' to how 88% of the world's population see things differently to them.

South Africa gives us some clues as to why. Their coverage of the raging conflict in Gaza paints a far more black-and-white narrative of events, condemning Israeli "apartheid" and "genocide" against Palestinians. Meanwhile, coverage of Russia's invasion of Ukraine muddies the stark solidarity expressed in Western media.

We speak to South African Political Analyst Mpumelelo Mkhabela, comedian Tats Nkonzo, and South African former politician Andrew Feinstein about Israel-Palestine and Russia-Ukraine. And we hear from South Africans spanning classes, genders, races, ages to hear how their voting today – collectively, their testimonies tell us as much about our own democracies as theirs.

Hosts: Helena Wadia (@helenawadia) and Mathilda Mallinson (@mathildamall)

Music: @soundofsamfire

Support us on Patreon! patreon.com/MediaStormPodcast

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Content warning: mentions of violence against women, rape, and assault.

This episode was recorded just before the general election was announced! Register to vote here.

This week, it was reported the number of Met police officers being dismissed reached a new peak. A police officer has been handed a guilty sentence for assault, after arresting and handcuffing a Black woman over an apparent bus fare evasion. And last year the Casey Review found the Met Police was institutionally sexist, racist and homophobic.

Have we made any progress? And is reform possible? If one bad apple spoils the barrel...

Joining Helena this week is GUEST HOST Coco Khan (Pod Save the UK)

This week, we are joined by Patsy Stevenson - the campaigner, equal rights activist, and writer who was awarded damages by the Met Police after being forcibly arrested in 2021 at the Clapham Common vigil for Sarah Everard.

We're also joined by Dr Leyla Hussein - psychotherapist and activist, specialising in supporting survivors of sexual abuse. She's the founder of the Dahlia Project, the first counselling service specifically for survivors of female genital mutilation (FGM), and the co-founder of Safe Spaces for Black Women.

Plus, your round-up of the headlines through a Media Storm lens - we discuss the Government's new sex education proposals (have your say here), a failed crackdown on protesting, and a hidden climate headline you might have missed.

Hosts: Mathilda Mallinson (@mathildamall) and Helena Wadia (@helenawadia)

Music: Samfire (@soundofsamfire)

Assistant Producer: Katie Grant

Researcher: Sophie Clark

Support Media Storm on Patreon.

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The climate crisis is wreaking havoc in headlines this week: heatwaves in southeast Asia, flooding in Kenya and Brazil, and exotic spiders smuggling their way into the UK - all this marks a record leap in atmospheric CO2.

One climate-related story has haunted UK news cycles for almost five years: The London mayor’s controversial Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ). Yet it's not reported as a climate story at all - so much as a political one.

This week, we're joined by Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah, mother of the Ella, the only person in the world with pollution listed as her legal cause of death. She tells us air pollution is a human story, not a political one.

We're also joined by Akshat Rathi, award winning climate reporter at Bloomberg Green, host of the podcast 'Zero', and author of Climate Capitalism, to discuss solutions-focussed climate reporting.

Plus, your round up of the headlines through a Media Storm lens - we discuss Rwanda, Voter ID, the power of boycotts at Eurovision and The Great Escape festival, and why no journalist should doorstop national treasure Rylan's mum.

Hosts: Mathilda Mallinson (@mathildamall) and Helena Wadia (@helenawadia)

Music: Samfire (@soundofsamfire)

Assistant Producer: Katie Grant

Support Media Storm on Patreon patreon.com/MediaStormPodcast

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

There’s a morbid theme to Media Storm’s first new weekly format - but that’s ok because it’s Dying Matters Awareness Week so we all need to get talking about death!

Our key voices today are people with terminal illnesses - as we discuss the late Kris Hallenga’s legacy beyond 'CoppaFeel!' and the debates on assisted dying laws unfolding across the British Isles. And - we reveal the inside scoop on a controversial BBC documentary dropping next week on ‘assisted suicide’.

Plus, your round up of the headlines through a Media Storm lens - if you read right-leaning papers you’ll have gotten an eyeful, but left-leaning readers are left in the dark… We pick apart a divisive story about a Holocaust Memorial Day protest in Poland. It’s a story that tells us more about the media than what’s actually happening on the ground.

This episode features lived experience speakers Jenny Carruthers, Kit, Gareth, Anne and Warwick. Plus Lord Charlie Falconer, comedian and host of Conversations in Company Isabelle Farah, and Sarah Wootton from Dignity in Dying. Access their open letter here.

Hosts: Mathilda Mallinson (@mathildamall) and Helena Wadia (@helenawadia)

Music: Samfire (@soundofsamfire)

Assistant Producer: Katie Grant

Read our Q&A in PodBible!

Support Media Storm on Patreon.

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We're back for Series 4!

It’s been a while, so here's your refresher episode which tells you everything you need to know about Media Storm - plus, we tell you all about our new format!

Media Storm is dedicated to platforming the most important people in the story– the ones living it. Despite them, ironically, being the most absent from mainstream news.

Every Thursday, we’ll be using our Media Storm lens to bring you the biggest news story of the week and dissect the headlines as usual - except on this current affairs show, you’ll hear from the people actually living the news stories… 

Make sure you're subscribed to be the first in the know!

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Media Storm returns next week!

Get a taste for what is to come from your essential guide to today’s chaotic clickbait climate.

It's your weekly current affairs round-up - but not as you know it. Featuring cross-platform comparisons, shrewd bullsh*t-radars, and finding the facts behind the fear-mongering, Media Storm is guaranteed to leave you with plenty to talk about.

Out weekly, every Thursday from May 2nd.

Follow us @mediastormpod @helenawadia @mathildamall

Become a supporter: patreon.com/MediaStormPodcast

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