Rakeen Mabud on Supply Chain Breakdown
Why has the system broken down? You could say media’s reluctance to critically break down systems is itself a system problem.
CounterSpin
Steven Rosenfeld on Arizona ‘Audit,’ Sohale Mortazavi on Cryptocurrency
The spate of new election-meddling laws proposed in Arizona suggests that looking away from Trumpists’ “audit” is not the answer.
Natalia Renta on Puerto Rico Debt Deal
A judge has approved a debt restructuring deal for Puerto Rico and the deal’s architects are saying it means a “new day” for the territory.
Jordan Chariton on Flint Water Crisis, Maurice Carney on Lumumba Assassination
While corporate media have largely let the water crisis in Flint go, the story isn’t over, nor has justice been served.
Pardiss Kebriaei on Guantánamo Prisoners
We are a long way from understanding the full meaning of Guantánamo. But we can get the remaining detainees out.
Craig Aaron on Local Journalism, Barbara Briggs on Workplace Disasters
The loss of an information source—a particular place for debate, for conversation, on issues relevant to you—is incalculable, but very real.
Best of CounterSpin 2021
This annual round-up reflects all the conversations we hope have offered a voice that might help you interpret the news you read.
Suyapa Portillo Villeda on Honduran Election
This week on CounterSpin, we talk about the recent Honduran election and signs of hard-won hope in that country.
Caleb Nichols on Defending Public Libraries
Libraries aren’t just a meaningful reality, but a meaningful symbol of the fact that there is a thing called the public interest.
Ralph Nader on Journalism and the Public Interest
A small group of people, willing to confront entrenched ideas and power, really can make change in the public interest.
Dorothee Benz on January 6 Insurrection, Vera Eidelman on Anti-Protest Laws
As the year nears its end, it’s hard not to think back to how it started—with the violent assault on the Capitol.
Carol Anderson on White Supremacy vs. Democracy
This can be a turning point, if more of us understand that history isn’t something that happens to us, but something we DO.
Jon Schwarz on Inflation, Enrique Armijo on Alex Jones
You don’t need to understand inflation, elite media seem to say, but you do need to be mad about it.
Peter Maybarduk on Moderna Patent, Tracy Rosenberg on Aaron Swartz Day
Drugs are developed by the government, and then pharmaceutical companies get patents on them and sell them back to the public.
Michael K. Dorsey on Climate Summit, Nekessa Opoti on Haitian Refugees
This week on CounterSpin: The impacts of climate disruption are not theoretical; they are happening. Those already worst off are facing the worst of it, and those who profit from it continue to profit. There are finer points, but that’s reality. And it’s fair to measure journalism not by its cleverness, or by demonstrated […]
Karen Dolan on Build Back Better, Tim Karr on Changing Facebook
This week on CounterSpin: An early October survey showed that while 60% of those polled knew that the Build Back Better legislative package was “$3.5 trillion,” only 10% had any sense of what was in it. That is many things, but preeminently a failure of news media—the demonstrably harmful effect of months of reporting […]
Paul Paz y Miño on Chevron v. Steven Donziger
Chevron v. Donziger is a case a major fossil fuel company wanted to see silenced that has in fact had that effect.
Lisa Graves on the Fight for the Post Office, Stevana Sims on Defending Anti-Racist Education
Though the Postal Service has always been a public good, its current leaders seem intent on driving it into the ground.
Alec Karakatsanis on ‘Crime Surge’ Copaganda, Jane Manning on Gender-Based Crime
Media announce a rise in the murder rate with coverage steeped in false presumptions about what that means and how to respond.
David Moore on Manchin’s Conflict, Jim Naureckas on Covid and Media
“We’re going to have a representative of fossil fuel interests crafting the policy that reduces our emissions from fossil fuels.”
