Bending Back Barthes: Shock Photos — out now.
From the photographer’s horror to the meme’s irony: how Gaza reveals our loss of feeling.
📷 Mahmud Hams / AFP
🔗 https://open.substack.com/pub/wittgensteinsmonster/p/bending-back-barthes-shock-photos?r=5zs6u&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
#Barthes #Palestine #Mythologies #MediaCriticism #Gaza #BlindFaith #Substack
Thinking about Substack ... are there any financially successful Substack bloggers outside the US and culturally adjacent spaces in the Anglosphere? Eg. Experimental History is British but writes things that appeal to the SoCal software and surveillance industry. Their History leaderboard looks overwhelmingly Anglo https://substack.com/leaderboard/history/paid and their only Politics categories are "U.S." and "World" like an American newspaper. #substack #mediaCriticism #socialMedia
How western legacy media normalizes Israel's crimes
🚨 BREAKING: Scientists finally find a way to treat Huntington's disease, just in time for the BBC to bury it under 37 tabs of geopolitical drama and penguin documentaries. 🌍🐧✨ Meanwhile, the rest of us are left wondering if they can treat our addiction to scrolling past #news about yet another war. 📰🔄
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cevz13xkxpro #HuntingtonsDisease #Breakthrough #Science #MediaCriticism #GeopoliticalDrama #HackerNews #ngated
Amanda Marcotte: 'The media myth that Kirk was doing politics the “right way” owes everything to pundits who never bothered to look at his actual content.'
https://www.salon.com/2025/09/24/dont-worry-erika-kirk-will-never-replace-her-husband/
🎬✨ NEW POST: Disney Renaissance Decoded
🏰 A 10-film deep dive into the politics, propaganda, and hidden transformation narratives in Disney’s most iconic era.
From Ariel to Tarzan — monarchy, empire, gender, assimilation, and a whole lot of lies wrapped in glitter and singing animals.
#DisneyRenaissance #FilmCriticism #AnimationStudies #QueerReadings #FeministFilm #MediaCriticism #NostalgiaIsPolitical #Substack
“We put targets on our colleagues. We undermined #Palestinians and Palestinian voices. We contributed to dehumanising them. We, I became complicit."
https://www.thenational.scot/news/25472712.quit-bbc-gaza-coverage-saw-behind-scenes/
#Gaza #GazaCoverage #Palestine #PalestineCoverage #media #BBC #UKmedia #WesternMedia #mediaCriticism
How Trump Turned George Soros Into America’s Biggest Villain” delves into the construction of a narrative surrounding Soros, characterized by frequent claims linking him to protests and even “deep state” conspiracies, often lacking concrete evidence. The question arises: is this political rhetoric or a deliberate attempt at demonization?
Read more → https://readbitz.com/trump-turned-george-soros-into-americas-villain/
#USPolitics #MediaCriticism #GeorgeSoros #DeepState #NarrativeShaping
False equivalency journalism is masking the truth that the right wing is behind rising political violence nationally and globally
Perhaps afraid to antagonize Donald Trump or his enablers, or not wanting to be attacked by right wing media, many journalists are choosing not to call out who and what is responsible for an increase in political violence. That must change.
#FirstFreedoms #MediaCriticism #MisinformationandDisinformation #SecureFirearmsOwnership
German magazine Der Spiegel labels Putin a "Drone Warrior" in a controversial cover. #Putin #DroneWarrior #DerSpiegel #Russia #UkraineConflict #MediaCriticism 📰✈️💥
New post by Dave Busiek: I recently came across a Facebook post that stopped me cold. It felt less like a feel-good story and more like a warning—a glimpse into what the future of local TV news may become if we’re not careful.
#media #mediacriticism
https://www.bleedingheartland.com/2025/09/09/two-people-one-newscast-zero-excuses/
Journalists say U.S. newsrooms treat Palestine with fear and contempt
"#Prism partnered with #VisualizingPalestine to illustrate this months-long investigation. Through this collaboration, Visualizing #Palestine’s graphics illustrate the findings of our reporting and make visible how #coverageOfPalestine is shaped within U.S. newsrooms—from inception to editing to publication."
https://prismreports.org/2025/09/09/journalists-news-media-bias-palestine/
#media #Gaza #PalestineCoverage #GazaCoverage #USmedia #MSM #WesternMedia #mediaBias #mediaRacism #mediaCriticism #infographics
The Spurs aren’t leaving San Antonio, even if the arena vote fails in November, experts say https://www.rawchili.com/nba/268245/ #Basketball #MediaCriticism #NBA #ProjectMarvel #SanAntonio #SanAntonioSpurs #SanAntonio #SanAntonioSpurs #SportsTeams #spurs #SpursArena #SpursSports&Entertainment
Vile Grifters Are Taking Over Establishment Media
Julia Naue calls Habeck’s farewell “poisoned.” Yet her commentary relies on the same tools: sharp words, irony, ridicule. This reveals a paradox—criticism often mirrors what it condemns. Journalism could go further: not echoing the tone, but uncovering the ambivalence of political exits and the weight of responsibility they carry.
Lindsay Ellis has returned after a full year away.
Her new essay, The Unforgivable Sin of Ms. Rachel, is finally on YouTube—and I’m hyped to watch. Few do cultural critique with the precision and honesty she brings.
It’s good to have her voice back in the mix.
📺 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwpanShgOp4
#LindsayEllis #MediaCriticism #VideoEssay #MsRachel #YouTubeReturn
Great read
"It’s hard to make good work, period. It’s harder when you’re working in an abstract medium like audio where you literally can’t see the thing you’re editing. The work necessarily moves slower, and it slows down further when you are trying to do something ambitious, or interesting, or beautiful. This is true for basically any kind of ambitious creative work. You can see the problem."
https://defector.com/the-future-of-podcasting-is-here-and-it-sucks
How To Spot A Media Distraction - taking a look at a couple of stories that jumped out at me as examples of obvious attempts to manipulate you via media, and media's failure to stop falling for it. #disinformation #propaganda #mediacriticism #media #journalism
🚫 Another deep dive into the world of tech journalism where we learn... absolutely nothing! 🎉 Zuckerberg's AI hiring freeze article is just a fancy 404 error page masquerading as news. 🔒 Try harder next time, Telegraph!
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/08/21/zuckerberg-freezes-ai-hiring-amid-bubble-fears/ #techjournalism #Zuckerberg #AIhiringfreeze #Telegraph #mediacriticism #HackerNews #ngated
