Trump claims to want to bomb Iran over human rights concerns. This excuse is obviously pretextual, fake and not something Trump has ever expressed interest in until 12 days ago. Nevertheless, as I write, corporate media is uncritically reporting on it as if it’s a sincere and genuine conviction.

In this News Brief, "How Corporate Media Laid the Groundwork for a Rightwing Incitement Campaign in Minnesota," we detail how CBS, WSJ, NYT promoted an overblown narrative on the "Somali Minnesota fraud" story, teeing up a full blown rightwing incitement campaign. w/ @matthewccook5.bsky.social

I wrote about reporters’ refusal to use “act of war,” “invasion” or “coup” when covering Trump’s brazen attacks on Venezuela, instead echoing WH-approved euphemisms, and the broader trend of our press dutifully giving Trump’s lawlessness the vague whiff of international legitimacy when it has none.

Excellent by @theintercept.com @ahjohnson.bsky.social This is the CBS / 60minutes context: Ellison's emissary Bari Weiss is doing exactly what she was chosen to do. "about consolidating top-down oligarchical control over legacy media brands that will endure" theintercept.com/2025/12/22/b...

"Weiss and Ellison’s interference into “60 Minutes” creates a de facto state media, but their burgeoning empire is about consolidating oligarchical control over legacy media that will endure long after Trump fades into irrelevance," writes @ahjohnson.bsky.social. theintercept.com/2025/12/22/b...

I wrote about NYT, CNN, and ABC’s casual acceptance that US dictates and Trump’s arbitrary use of American violence against Venezuela is somehow a form of “international” law. It’s not, and US media should stop implying and/or outright lying that it is.

@ahjohnson.bsky.social explains how the media, including (surprise surprise!) the New York Times, is covering for Trump and lying to us about the Venezuelan oil tanker www.columnblog.com/p/us-media-r...

In this News Brief, "CNN Partners with Gambling App That Lets You Wager on Starvation in Gaza," we break down CNN's partnership with Kalshi, the moral hazards of news gambling markets and the broader media-assisted financialization of every aspect of our lives.

Coming May 19, 2026 from Amistad Books and HarperCollins THE OVERSEER CLASS: A Manifesto by Steven W. Thrasher cover art by Jamaal Barber Available for pre-order now www.harpercollins.com/products/the...

I wrote about CNN partnering with a gambling app that lets you wager on famine in Gaza, what this shift portends in our media, the obvious moral hazards of this arrangement, and “news” as politically impotent, disempowering spectator sport

In this News Brief, "BBC's Gaza Double Standard and Western Liberalism's Crisis of Legitimacy," we interview journalist Daniel Trilling and discuss his investigation into the BBC's systemic anti-Palestinian bias.

Preordered this so fast

In Ep 231, "How To Oppose Genocide Without Opposing Genocide (Part 2): AIPAC Dems' Fake Israel Criticisms," we detail the buyers' market for superficial Gaza critiques that permit ambitious Democrats to look pro-Palestine without the downside of actually being so. With guest @tksshawa.bsky.social.

I wrote a book about US media’s complicity in the Gaza genocide. It's available for pre-order. It’s a data-driven and, I hope, thorough account of how center-left media sold the American public on mass death in Gaza. Out 4/21. 100% of royalties go to @mecaforpeace.bsky.social.

In Ep 230, "How To Oppose Genocide Without Opposing Genocide (Part 1): Biden World's Reputation Laundering PR Tour," we detail attempts by ex-Biden officials to distance themselves from the horrors of Gaza and lay out the emerging Dem-aligned media industry of vibing past Dems' support for genocide.

Leading up to NYC’s election, politicians launched a barrage of racist claims against Zohran Mamdani. Mainstream media outlets have barely covered it. @ahjohnson.bsky.social reports on the Islamophobic vitriol, threats of deportation, & virtually no coverage.

Times Union editorial board tackled this in June, and again last month:

Congressional republicans have been spewing racist attacks on Mamdani for weeks and it’s almost never mentioned in our media. Not only that, the person leading the hate campaign—Randy Fine—is treated by the same media as a good faith expert on antisemitism. I wrote about this obscene double standard

From the NYT editorial board to CNN panels, Zohran Mamdani is hearing unsolicited advice––and veiled threats––from US corporate media: by @ahjohnson.bsky.social

As @ahjohnson.bsky.social points out here, the US media is stroking its chin & pondering why Trump wants to attack Venezuela. They somehow overlook his stated motivation, which is that Venezuela has the world's biggest oil reserves.

Trump has openly said his motive for attacking Venezuela is to seize its oil. But recent explainers in WaPo, Politico, BBC, CNN pontificating about Trump's motives do not mention this fact at all. I wrote about western media's bizarre refusal to state the obvious, even after Trump says it himself.

Citations listeners! Join us this Wed Nov 5 at 5:30pmET/4:30pmCT for a YouTube live show on the media’s reaction to the NYC mayoral election. Will it be a Mamdani meltdown? Will there be executions in Central Park? Will the MSNBC/Pod Saves set successfully Obama-fy him? Find out!

In this Live Show Beg-a-Thon, "MAHA, TikTok and the Rise of Health-Branded Fascism," recorded on 10/13, we are joined by Justin Feldman to discuss the rise of MAHA, the broader Granola-to-Fascist Pipeline and how corporate-written food policies and our for-profit medical system fuel hucksterism.

In this News Brief, we detail how the AP, Atlantic, Washington Post and New York Times are accepting Trump's framing that his attacks on Venezuela and Colombia are about "going after drug cartels" when it's clear they are—based on Trump's own words—about controlling Venezuela's oil.

In this News Brief, "Media Helps Sell ICE Raids with Zero Dark Thirty Ride-Along Schlock," we discuss NYT, NBC, Fox, CBS and ABC's "embedded reports" of ICE raids that prime the public for ICE’s abductions and harassment of immigrants. With guest @matthewccook5.bsky.social

Folks I know there’s a lot going on, but if you’re free tmrw in Chicago plz support NU students been banned from classes for refusing to watch Israeli propaganda. Their lawyer (& mine), Rima Kapita, has filed an emergency order demanding the courts intervene. I filed an affidavit of support. 🙏🏾

In this News Brief, "The Billionaire-Backed Groups Working to Push Dems Right in 2026 & 2028," we detail the major factions seeking to rewrite the history of the 2024 election as "woke" Gone Too Far, downplay Gaza, and prevent economic populism at all costs.

Monday at 9:30 pm ET / 8:30 pm CT on our YouTube channel! Don't miss it!

I wrote about the Bari Weiss take over of CBS News as part of a broader trend away from the pretense of liberal institutionalism into a genuinely post-reality tabloidism, marked by AI slop, unsophisticated Trumpian-Likudite propaganda and consolidation of traditional and social media.

In this News Brief, "IDF-Funding Mega-Billionaire Buys CBS News, Installs Bari Weiss to Enforce Ideological Discipline," we discuss the Ellisons' purchase of Paramount and the TikTok algorithm, their potential purchase of CNN, and how this will invariably incite more violence against Palestinians.

For 2 years of Israel’s genocide in Gaza, not one Palestinian voice has been featured on NBC, ABC or CNN’s Sunday shows. @ahjohnson.bsky.social writes about how the U.S. media has debated Palestinians’ annihilation without letting a single Palestinian speak. inthesetimes.com/article/gaza...

Please join us one week from today for a Beg-A-Thon live show @ 9:30ET/8:30CT! We will be joined by Justin Feldman to discuss the rise of MAHA, the broader Granola-to-Fascist Pipeline and how corporate-written food policies and our shitty for-profit medical system fuel hucksterism.

One thing I’d be nice if Schatz and others acknowledged is that even judging their hard right turn on immigration in Spring 2024 on its own terms it failed miserably. In July when Harris took over Trump led on “immigration” by 9pts, by election day he led 13pts. At best it, electorally, did nothing

In Ep 229, "Sociopathic 'You Got To Hand it To 'Em' Punditry and the Rise of Politics as Sport" we detail the rise of detached "who's winning/who's losing" political analysis that reduces high stakes life and death issues to fodder for ESPN-type navel-gazing. With guest @jackmirkinson.bsky.social

In Ep 228, "Billionaires as Insta-Experts: How Our Media Conflates Extreme Wealth with Expertise," we break down the media convention of assuming the rich are per se experts on everything from education to "the economy" to poverty in Africa when, in reality, they are Just Some Guys.

@ahjohnson.bsky.social of @citationspod.bsky.social on the White House’s weaponization of Kirk’s death and the broader rightward tilt of the media.

My guest @ahjohnson.bsky.social is brilliant in this latest episode of @theintercept.com podcast. He perfectly explains why all of these institutional pillars, including media, appear to have fallen so quickly in the wake of an obvious smear campaign. theintercept.com/2025/09/19/b...

MAGA is swiftly channeling outrage over Kirk’s murder into efforts to attack nonprofits, discipline liberals and the Left. Democratic leadership seems uninterested in stopping them. @ahjohnson.bsky.social explains what’s at stake and who’s failing to act. inthesetimes.com/article/trum...

New from me. The biggest labor story in the US is happening at Microsoft. More people should be talking about it. I spoke with 5 tech workers who have all been fired for protesting Microsoft's complicity in genocide. They don't regret it & won't stop @therealnews.com therealnews.com/the-biggest-...

Musk has spent the past week having another Great Replacement meltdown and once again, "leading anti-hate organization" ADL has ignored his overt trafficking in antisemitic conspires because Musk toes the line on Israel. I wrote about the increasingly obvious hollowness of ADL's shakedown operation

Polling shows Zohran Mamdani leading with Jewish voters in NYC’s mayoral race. But the New York Times keeps framing him as “alienating” the community—while ignoring polls that say otherwise. 📊 Read @ahjohnson.bsky.social’s breakdown.

In this News Brief, we detail recent "updates" pro-Israel crybullies have pressured media outlets to make (some more willing than others) that give readers the distinct impression emaciated children in Gaza aren't really an urgent humanitarian crisis if they have rickets, cancer, or cerebral palsy.

With democratic voters support for Israel at an all time low and 65% of Dems saying Israel is carrying out a genocide, theres emerged a new suite of pseudo criticism of Israel by AIPAC liberals. I listed the top four and dissect why they’re bullshit ass-covering and misleading busy work.

In Ep 227, "The Importance of 'Seriousness,' or Why Palestinians Can't Be Witness to Their Own Genocide (Part II)" we detail US media's trend of reporting on Israeli war crimes months after Palestinian reporters already did and the broader regime of dehumanization targeting Palestinian media workers

This is an excellent piece

Typically excellent analysis…and Wrigley Field gets referenced!

As Dems struggle to find an off-ramp for the increasingly unpopular Gaza genocide their leadership spent 22 months supporting, they've settle on blaming "Netanyahu." I wrote about the rise of One Bad Man Theory and how it serves to obscure much deeper issues with the logic and reality of zionism.

In Ep 226, "The Importance of 'Seriousness,' or Why Palestinians Can't Be Witness to Their Own Genocide (Part I)," we detail NYT & WSJ's incitement campaign against the UN in Jan 2024 and how it directly assisted Israel's starvation campaign. w/ guest Moureen Kaki who joins us from Khan Yunis, Gaza

The politics of feigned helplessness are bipartisan and essential to maintaining American Innocence: by @ahjohnson.bsky.social