The Listening Post

An exposé detailing the CIA’s war on WikiLeaks - a Trump administration plan to silence Julian Assange and the organisation - has been published. But like so much of the Assange story, it's got nothing like the media coverage it deserves. Contributors: Michael Isikoff - Chief investigative correspondent, Yahoo News Kevin Gosztola - Managing editor, Shadowproof.com Carrie DeCell - Staff attorney, Knight First Amendment Institute Rebecca Vincent - Director of international campaigns & UK bureau director, Reporters Without Borders On our radar: Project Amplify - Facebook’s PR initiative - backfires. Richard Gizbert speaks to producer Meenakshi Ravi about the scrutiny Facebook is under, yet again. Lost in translation: How texts change as they travel The translation of literature - from one language to another - is a tricky business. Translators become cultural mediators, balancing faithfulness to the original with the needs of a new audience. When translators fail, context can be sacrificed, and stereotypes can get reinforced. Contributors: Layla AlAmmar - Author, Silence is a Sense & Academic, University of Lancaster Susan Bassnett - Translation theorist & emeritus professor, University of Warwick Muhammad Ali Mojaradi - Translator & founder, @persianpoetics Leri Price - Literary translator End Note: And, after 16 years of leading the country as its chancellor, Germany is saying goodbye to Angela Merkel. Puppet Regime - a comedy series produced and published by GZERO Media - pays tribute to her work, Kraftwerk style.

United States drone warfare is finally being exposed. But why did it take American news outlets so long to get to such a big story? Contributors: Emran Feroz, Founder, Drone Memorial Christine Fair, Security Studies Program, Georgetown University Spencer Ackerman, Author, Reign of Terror Vanessa Gezari, National Security Editor, The Intercept On our radar: Producer Tariq Nafi and host Richard Gizbert discuss a voting app that was developed by Russian opposition activists to fight Vladimir Putin in the recent elections - but was censored by Big Tech. 100 Years Too Late: Canada’s Residential School Reckoning Months after the story of mass graves at so-called residential schools in Cananda broke, the nation is still reckoning with the trauma of mass graves. Contributors: Cheryl McKenzie, Director of News and Current Affairs, Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN) Cindy Blackstock, Executive Director, First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada Connie Walker, Host, Stolen: The Search for Jermain Wab Kinew, Leader, Manitoba New Democratic Party

Xi Jinping's China has embarked on a campaign that could transform the country's technology, entertainment and media industries. Contributors: Chris Buckley - China correspondent, The New York Times Kaiser Kuo - Host, The Sinica Podcast and editor-at-large, SupChina Bingchun Meng - Associate professor, Department of Media and Communications, LSE Rui Zhong - Program associate, Wilson Center, Kissinger Institute on China and the United States On our radar A month of Taliban rule in Afghanistan, Meenakshi Ravi and producer Johanna Hoes discuss how the Taliban is already leaving its mark on the country’s news industry despite initial promises to the contrary. Structures of oppression? Colombia’s falling statues Indigenous Colombians have been toppling statues of European colonisers - challenging how the country’s history is remembered. Contributors: Didier Chirimuscay - Misak community leader Rodolfo Segovia - President, Colombian Academy of History Amada Carolina Perez - Historian, Javeriana University

Two decades on from the 9/11 attacks, American news coverage of the United States' withdrawal from Afghanistan reveals how much has changed - and how much has not - in the media’s approach to US wars. Contributors: Alexander Hainy-Khaleeli - Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, University of Exeter Catherine Lutz - co-director, Costs of War project; professor of International Studies, Brown University Fariba Nawa - author, Opium Nation; host, On Spec Azmat Khan - contributing writer, The New York Times Magazine; assistant professor, Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism On our radar: Meenakshi Ravi speaks to producer Flo Phillips about the latest developments in the Afghan media space, including the Taliban’s mistreatment of journalists covering this week’s protests. Afghan journalists under threat A report on the past, present and future of the media in Afghanistan, as told by three Afghan journalists. Contributors: ‘N’ - Journalist & media safety specialist ‘M’ - Photojournalist ‘L’ - Regional radio & TV reporter

Twenty years after the 9/11 attacks, this special edition of The Listening Post looks at the climate of fear that undergirded the so-called "War on Terror" and how the US news and entertainment industries helped produce it. Contributors: - Chris Hedges - Former foreign correspondent for The New York Times; author of Collateral Damage - Sinan Antoon - Co-editor at Jadaliyya; poet and writer; associate professor at New York University - Jill Abramson - Former executive editor of The New York Times - Deepa Kumar - author of Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire; associate professor at Rutgers University - Robert D Kaplan - Former contributing editor at The Atlantic - Lexi Alexander - Movie and TV director

A global cyber-surveillance scandal - spyware developed in Israel - has put the government there under the media microscope, and its story does not add up. Contributors: Jonathan Klinger - Cyberlaw lawyer Marc Owen Jones - Assistant professor, Hamid Bin Khalifa University Omer Benjakub - Tech & Cyber Reporter, Haaretz Marwa Fatafta - Policy Analyst, Al Shabaka On our radar: Tunisia is in political turmoil after the president declared a state of emergency - or what critics are calling a coup. Richard Gizbert speaks to producer Flo Phillips about how journalists there are feeling the heat. Africa’s PR Push: How governments manage the message: Handling public relations for governments is lucrative work - and for Western PR firms, Africa has emerged as a new hunting ground. Contributors: Alex Magaisa - Former adviser, prime minister of Zimbabwe Alexander Dukalskis - Author, Making the World Safe for Dictatorship Kathleen Ndongmo - Communications specialist

A global consortium of media outlets blew the lid off a huge surveillance scandal revealing how the hacking tool Pegasus has been used by governments around the world to spy on dissidents and journalists via their mobile phones. Contributors: Rohini Singh - Reporter, The Wire Bradley Hope - Co-founder, Project Brazen Laurent Richard - Founder, Forbidden Stories Eva Galperin - Director, Electronic Frontier Foundation On our radar: American media outlets have been feasting on a story – the billionaire space race. Richard Gizbert and producer Meenakshi Ravi discuss how the mass of coverage squares alongside another story about the planet that is far more consequential - climate change. Bild's battle for political influence in Germany There is a crucial election coming in Germany, and its biggest tabloid, Bild, is trying to preserve its place at the heart of German politics. Contributors: Julian Reichelt - Editor-in-chief, Bild Günter Wallraff - Investigative journalist & author, The Lead Moritz Tschermak - Editor-in-chief, BILDblog & author, How Bild divides society with fear and hate Margreth Lünenborg - Professor of journalism, Free University Berlin - Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe - Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish - Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera - Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/

Cuba is witnessing something historic - the biggest anti-government demonstrations in 60 years - and the authorities have imposed temporary blocks on the internet, making credible media coverage and reliable information that much harder to find. Contributors: Mónica Rivero Cabrera - Cuban journalist Tracey Eaton - Cuba Money Project Angelo R Guisado - Center for Constitutional Rights José Jasán Nieves - Editor-in-chief, El Toque On our radar: Whether they are taking penalty kicks or taking a knee, Black footballers playing for England are dealing with online abuse. Richard Gizbert and producer Tariq Nafi discuss the debate that has resulted - about racism in the United Kingdom. Sports activism in the era of social media On tennis and basketball courts, baseball fields and in hockey rinks, athletes are putting their political and social activism out there for sports fans to see. Contributors: Shireen Ahmed - Journalist & writer Musa Okwonga - Co-founder, Stadio Football & author, One of Them Frank Guridy - Associate professor, Columbia University Khalida Popal - Former captain, Afghanistan’s women’s football team

Twenty-four years since Britain handed Hong Kong back to China, the city has undergone a transformation. In recent years, Beijing has intensified the silencing of political dissent and the squeezing of media freedom - through new laws drawn up in the name of security, the jailing of critics, and the reigning in of adversarial journalism. Contributors: Chris Yeung - Chairperson, Hong Kong Journalists Association Bao Choy - Freelance journalist, RTHK Linda Wong - Journalist, Citizen News Keith Richburg - Journalism and Media Studies Centre, Hong Kong University; president, Foreign Correspondents Club Holden Chow - Vice chairman, Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong Hong Kong: The assault on free speech Three Hong Kongers talk about the shrinking space for freedom in their city, and the way it has affected their lives and work. Contributors: Lee Cheuk-yan - Founder, June 4th Museum Wong Kei Kwan (Zunzi) - Political cartoonist Nathan Law - Democracy activist - Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe - Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish - Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera - Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/

Iran’s new president-elect is heading into the job carrying some baggage from the past that neither he nor the country’s state-friendly news outlets care to talk about. Contributors: Mahsa Alimardani - Iran researcher, Article 19; researcher, Oxford Internet Institute Ghanbar Naderi - Iranian affairs analyst Pardis Shafafi - Anthropologist and researcher, ERC Off-Site Project Arash Azizi - Author of Shadow Commander On our radar Richard Gizbert speaks to producer Meenakshi Ravi about the targeting of female social media influencers in Egypt as two more women are jailed for their TikTok videos. The struggle for freedom of expression in post-Castro Cuba From protests to viral videos, Cuban activists test the limits of dissent as they demand greater cultural freedoms. Contributors: Amaury Pacheco - Poet and activist, Movimiento San Isidro Fernando Ravsberg - Journalist; former correspondent, BBC Fernando Rojas - Cuban Deputy Minister of Culture Marta Maria Ramirez - Independent journalist - Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe - Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish - Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera - Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/

The tit-for-tat in Nigeria that saw Twitter banned by the government. Contributors: Mercy Abang - Journalist Lai Mohammed - Nigerian minister for information and culture Gbenga Sesan - Executive director, Paradigm Initiative Fisayo Soyombo - Editor-in-chief, Foundation for Investigative Journalism On our radar It's election time in Algeria and the government is feeling the heat on the streets. Richard Gizbert and producer Flo Phillips discuss its response - arresting journalists, and taking broadcasters off the air. A snapshot of empire: The racist legacy of colonial postcards How the golden age of postcards left behind a legacy of racism that continues to shape perceptions of Africans today. Contributors: Sarah Sentilles - Writer and critical theorist Olubukola Gbadegesin - Associate professor, Saint Louis University Stephen Hughes - Senior lecturer, SOAS Julie Crooks - Curator, Art Gallery of Ontario - Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe - Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish - Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera - Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/

Just days after the ceasefire in Gaza ended 11 days of bombing, The Listening Post spoke with two Palestinians who have tilted international attention towards their struggle. Contributors: Muna al-Kurd - Sheikh Jarrah resident and activist Hosam Salem - Gaza Palestinian photographer On our radar Richard Gizbert and producer Tariq Nafi discuss Israel’s crackdown on reporters in East Jerusalem, and the international journalists calling out their own media operations for sanitising the oppression of Palestinians. How to cover apartheid: A human rights perspective with Hagai El-Ad Human rights groups are reframing the discussion about Israel's domination of Palestinians. Richard Gizbert interviews Hagai El-Ad, executive director of Israeli human rights organisation, B’Tselem. Contributors: Hagai El-Ad - Executive director, B’Tselem - Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe - Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish - Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera - Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/

A year and a half into the pandemic and people are still asking where the COVID-19 virus originated. The so-called lab-leak theory is gaining momentum among some scientists and journalists who contend this story has the makings of a mass cover-up. Contributors: Nicholas Wade - Former science reporter, New York Times James Palmer - Deputy editor, Foreign Policy Amy Maxmen - Senior reporter, Nature Gideon Meyerowitz-Katz - Epidemiologist, University of Wollongong; columnist, The Guardian On our radar One journalist in Pakistan is beaten up. Another is being censored. Richard Gizbert speaks to producer Tariq Nafi about the country’s red lines that you cannot cross. Forced to forget, determined to remember: The Tiananmen massacre Chinese officials have tried to erase the Tiananmen Square massacre from the country’s history but dissidents outside the mainland are doing what they can to keep the memory alive. Contributors: Lee Cheuk-yan - Founder, June 4th Museum; chairman, Hong Kong Alliance Wu’er Kaixi - Tiananmen protest leader Yaqiu Wang - China researcher, Human Rights Watch

News coverage in the US of the Palestine-Israel conflict has always favoured Israel but that is beginning to shift. The question is - to what extent and will it last? Contributors: Linda Sarsour - Executive director, MPower Change; Author, We Are Not Here to be Bystanders Omar Baddar - National Policy Council, Arab-American Institute Lara Friedman - President, Foundation for Middle East Peace Philip Weiss - Founder and senior editor, Mondoweiss On our radar Belarusian authorities went to extreme lengths to arrest opposition journalist Roman Protasevich. Richard Gizbert speaks to producer Meenakshi Ravi to find out why. Slovenia: The prime minister’s ‘war with the media’ Another European leader shows his authoritarian side; Slovenia’s prime minister, Janez Janša, says he is at "war with the media". Contributors: Marko Milosavljević - University of Ljubljana, Chair of Journalism Anuška Delić - Editor-in-chief, Oštro Blaž Zgaga - Reporter, Nacional.hr and investigative journalist Boris Tomašič - Host and chief editor, Nova 24 - Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe - Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish - Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera - Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/

"Somebody said that football’s a matter of life and death to you. I said, listen, it's more important than that." When the legendary Liverpool football manager Bill Shankly came out with his now-famous quote on TV in 1981, he might have been talking about the Algerian and Tunisian fans in this documentary. For many, football really is much more than a game. Some see themselves as not just supporters but part of a wider movement. They say that on the terraces, they find a sense of belonging and a camaraderie otherwise absent from their daily lives and that as supporters they also represent the dispossessed of the poor suburbs of Tunis and Algiers. Sometimes, however, football passions can have life-changing consequences. In March 2018, 19-year-old Omar Labidi from the southern suburbs of Tunis clashed with police outside a busy stadium. The victim’s brother claims that police used tear gas to force Omar into a nearby river where he drowned. Three years after his death, his family continues to seek justice. In Algeria, Raouf Zerka has only vague memories of the game that changed his life in November 2016. In the 70th minute of a local derby match in Algiers, a burning flare hit him in the face. After eight days in a coma, he discovered he had lost his left eye. This film follows Tunisia’s and Algeria’s most passionate fans, buying tickets on the black market, travelling vast distances to away matches, and doing whatever it takes to support the teams they love. But it also highlights the price of football passion and asks if the cost of extreme fandoms is worth the risk.