Media Storm

This week, Media Storm investigates how universities handle sexual misconduct cases - when their prestigious professors are at the centre of the scandal.

It all started when our intern, a student at LSE, told us about student activism stirring at her university, after a dozen sexual misconduct allegations against one male professor resulted in no disciplinary action for him - and several female staff resigning in protest.

It’s not a secret that women drop out of academia at disproportionate rates to men. The female-male ratio slips from over 50/50 at postgraduate studies to 30/70 at the highest rank of professor – giving the sector the reputation of a “leaky pipeline”.

But staff sexual misconduct (and universities’ failures to address it), is rarely, if ever, explored as a reason.

We investigated. And to borrow the resigning words of one female professor, what we found, at times, “reads like a textbook on how to turn a complaints process into a gauntlet, into a warning to women not to challenge the behaviour of men and the institutions that protect them”.

The episode was co-produced by Mathilda Mallinson and Camilla Tiana, and hosted by Mathilda Mallinson and Helena Wadia. The music is by Samfire.

Academic resources:

·       Eradicating Sexual Violence in Tertiary Education (UCU, 2021)

·       Power in the academy: staff sexual misconduct in UK higher education (NUS, 2021)

·       Misconduct Disclosure Scheme proposal (1752, 2024) 

·        ‘How Do Institutional Gender Regimes Affect Formal Reporting Processes for Sexual Harassment? A Qualitative Study of UK Higher Education,’ by Anna Bull, and Erin Shannon (Law & Policy, 2024)

Response from The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) spokesperson:

“LSE is committed to a working and learning environment where people can achieve their full potential free of all types of harassment and violence. We take reports of sexual harassment extremely seriously and encourage any member of the LSE community who has experienced or witnessed this to get in touch via one of our many channels. Further, if a complaint of misconduct is received against any member of our faculty, staff or student body we will always investigate fairly and fully, following our policies and procedures.

“LSE has developed, and continues to develop, a number of measures to ensure any allegation of misconduct receives a trauma-informed, robust and compassionate response. 

“These measures include the new Report + Support system- an online tool where staff and students can report issues of concern and which provides information about support, policies and procedures and campaigns. This enables us to address issues more quickly and consistently across the School and vastly improve our approach to case management and communication with all involved. In line with sector best practice, we also plan to make greater use of external investigators in the future. 

"We have commissioned Rape Crisis South London and Survivors UK to run an Independent Sexual Violence Advisory service for the School. This provides practical and emotional support for any student or staff member who needs it and supports them through a reporting process and/or the criminal justice process if they wish. This service is available to access online without a waiting list. This represents a step-change in the level of specialist support we're offering our students. 

“We have also implemented a tailored all-staff online training course on addressing harassment and sexual misconduct affecting students, developed with Advance HE. This is being rolled out as required training across the School." 

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This week, Media Storm delves into a vastly underreported topic - and one of the biggest potential barriers to gender equality, child welfare and family security.

The UK has the least generous paternity leave entitlement in Europe, currently set at a measly two weeks. On the surface, maternity leave looks generous in length - but compared to OECD countries, the rate of pay is one of the lowest.

As the government and media put culture wars over real-life policies, spread muddled misinformation about benefits that are designed to be difficult, and gender equality faces major cultural setbacks.... we ask young parents campaigning for change: why? (And how they're doing it while 5 months' pregnant?!)

Joining us this week are the founders of Dope Black Dads - Marvyn Harrison, and of Nugget Savings - Katie Guild. 

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

The music is by @soundofsamfire

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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. In this episode, we take you through the Media Storm mission: we’re not about conspiracy, we’re about media literacy.

THAT Zelensky-Trump press conference set the tone for world news this week, as Western leaders rolled out red carpets and tried to decipher diplomatic rationale from clickbait MAGA politics. So who was the rude reporter that set the wheels in motion? And what should we make of the pantomime that’s become of the White House’s press room?

Imagine, instead, if Netanyahu had been in the hot seat (we play it out for you): warned by Trump and Vance that he is gambling with World War Three. That he has no cards to play, if the US wants a ceasefire. Instead of applying such pressure, the US government pushed through an emergency arms sale to Israel this week - days before imposing new terms on the ceasefire with Hamas. But is that how the press reported it?

Now for something NOT TRUMP. Ever heard of joint enterprise? The little-known law putting Black boys in prison has failed to attract much press scrutiny, so we dive in.

And finally, Mathilda’s secret aristocratic background has been exposed by the Daily Mail! Find out why Helena’s so disappointed.

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

The music is by @soundofsamfire

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Warning: strong language

For the first time since they wrapped filming, Mathilda, Jess, & Nathan from Channel 4's four-part documentary Go Back To Where You Came From are reunited!

In the documentary, Mathilda traced a common refugee route from Somalia to the UK - alongside Jess, from a small town in Wales, and Nathan, a trucker from Barnsley. At the start of their journey, Nathan & Jess had very strong anti-immigration views. But by the final episode of the show, after talking to migrants and seeing firsthand the situations that refugees flee, the audience sees their views change - and an unlikely friendship develop between the group.

How do we apply the lessons learnt from this documentary to our lives? How do we fight dehumanisation, and build bridges with those who think differently to us?

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

The music is by @soundofsamfire

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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.

One murder trial unfolding in the US has all the ingredients for a media storm: a child’s 'grandfather-like' figure becoming his fanaticised murderer. But the killer was motivated by anti-Palestinian radicalisation, and for that the mainstream media itself should be on trial. Perhaps that’s why there’s not a whisper about the case in our press.

But the death of Wadea Al-Fayoume is no less tragic than the death of every child in this war. We compare news coverage of different child fatalities, depending on whether they’re Israeli or Palestinian. And we question the BBC’s ‘spineless’ decision to pull a documentary covering the lives of Palestinian children. ‘Gaza: How To Survive A War Zone’ was taken offline after intervention from UK and Israeli government officials.

Germany’s general election results shocked many due to an ‘unprecedented’ spike in votes for the far-right AfD. But zoom out on the history timeline, and a very familiar pattern emerges. Scroll through the interactive history Mathilda’s loving HERE.

The Pope is ill: cue a scramble for power in the Vatican, avidly followed by Western media. But why are they so unfazed about the very same patriarchy they vehemently damn in non-Western religions?

And finally: “Queen of Woke” Ash Sarkar rejects identity politics in a “spectacular Damascene conversion” - at least according to the Telegraph. And yet, their account of her new book doesn’t include a single direct quote...

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

The music is by @soundofsamfire

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Between the rise of the far-right and Israel’s ongoing warfare, today’s world is a feeding frenzy for antisemitism, and many Jewish people are afraid of prejudice and attack.

But as many provocateurs turn antisemitism into a political weapon, the root causes of racism are being overlooked and enabled. All the while, the mainstream media has become a weapon of mass destruction in the war of words - often failing to spotlight the biggest drivers of hate.

Is it possible to be anti-Zionist without being antisemitic? What does Israel’s war mean for Jewish protection worldwide? Are Elon Musk and Kanye West’s competing for the most “Nazi swag”? These are all questions we’ll put to our guests - Andrew Feinstein, son of a Holocaust survivor and former comrade of Nelson Mandela in the war against Apartheid, white supremacy and antisemitism in South Africa. And Alex Kane, senior reporter at the historic, post-Nazi Jewish Currents in the US.

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

The music is by @soundofsamfire

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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.

The UK agreed to hand the Chagos Islands “back” to Mauritius. But colonial history makes this decision complicated - and crucially, Chagossians were excluded from the discussions… much like Ukraine this week, who were left out of US-Russia peace negotiations. This news made every front page, except for the Daily Mail who wrote about wokeness and the Daily Star who wrote about... sausages.

Other stories we cover: more than 65,000 people have complained to Ofcom over a GB News comment comparing queerness to (prepare yourself) paedophilia. We discuss this record-breaking number, and the doubled-down defence of the presenter.

And finally, why anti-migrant sentiment led to Sweden's worst mass shooting - and whether the media does a better job at reporting crises, or creating them.

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

The music is by @soundofsamfire

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It's Valentine's Day! A day full of overpriced chocolates, high expectations, and focus on how much sex you're going to have.

So what about those who have no interest in it? 'Ace' is an umbrella term used to describe people who experience little, fluctuating, or no sexual attraction. There are also aromantic people - who experience little to no romantic attraction. Asexuality is often widely misunderstood, including within the LGBTQ+ community.

Asexual people are also not recognised in legislation, such as under the UK Equality Act, and Stonewall found asexual people may be at a higher risk of conversion therapy than gay, lesbian and bi individuals. But when asexual activists take to the media to raise these issues, they are met with a chorus of criticism, ignorance, and insults: they're vying for victimhood, or they're offered the enlightening advice to simply "get laid".

Here to help us understand why exactly the media are so angry is Yasmin Benoit, model, academic and activist.

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

The music is by Samfire (@soundofsamfire)

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! JOIN US AT SAMFIRE’S EP LAUNCH PARTY TONIGHT !

This week’s political news reads like a playbook in fascist propaganda - and rule number 1 is throwing minorities under the bus. Whether it’s Trump’s America, Merz’s Germany or Starmer’s Great Britain, leadership apparently now means bowing to the myths of the masses - myths the media has miserably failed to correct.

Is there really a ‘migrant crime wave’? We review worldwide data to equip listeners with the facts missing from the mainstream media.

What about ‘the war on women’s sports’? How many transgender athletes does it take for the Trump administration to ceremoniously sign a national ban? (Apparently, just 10 - we wonder what Musk’s ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ makes of that use of federal funds.)

And guess who predicted Hamas’ hesitation over hostage releases, following Trump’s plans to “take over” Gaza? The families of those hostages. So why did their concerns barely make the press?

We finish News Watch with Eyes On Palestine: new frontiers of war emerge in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

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

The music is by Samfire (@samfire)

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This week, we’ve decided to cover a topic that’s hugely underreported in the mainstream media: FGM. Yesterday was FGM Zero Tolerance Day, so you may have seen a (very small) flurry of articles about the topic - but this week's guests say that it needs to be covered all year round.

FGM stands for Female Genital Mutilation - the deliberate cutting or removal of a female's external genitalia. It is currently documented in 92 countries around the world, the highest share in Africa - countries including Somalia, Egypt, Mali, Sudan and Ethiopia. It is also found in Asian and Middle Eastern countries, and in diaspora communities in the West.

Over 200 million women globally have been subjected to FGM. This should be a media storm. But instead, there’s near silence. So we've asked FGM survivors why the coverage is lacking, what they need from the media, and what we can do to help.

Joining us is Dr Leyla Hussein, psychotherapist and award-winning international campaigner leading the fight against FGM, and Ifrah Ahmed, Somali-Irish humanitarian worker, activist, and founder of the Ifrah Foundation, a charity with the aim of the absolute abandonment of FGM in Somalia.

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

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