Citations Needed
Citations Needed
Nima Shirazi and Adam Johnson
Citations Needed is a podcast about the intersection of media, PR, and power, hosted by Nima Shirazi and Adam Johnson.
News Brief: Despite 9-Figure Infusion from Silicon Valley, Abundance Still Seeks Popular Support
In this news brief, we catch up with Dylan Gyauch-Lewis, senior researcher at the Revolving Door Project, to discuss Abundance's PR problems, why this latest neoliberalism rebrand isn't catching on and how Silicon Valley billionaires still see 'Abundance' as their best chance to counter populist forces in the Democratic Party.
Jul 1
38 min
News Brief: The ADL's Bogus Origin Story and Its Rise as Ideological Enforcer for Empire and Israel
In this News Brief, we talk with Emmaia Gelman, author of The Anti-Defamation League and the Racial State, about how––despite posing a civil rights org––the ADL functions as defender of colonialism and enforcer for reactionary western ideologies.
Jun 24
42 min
Episode 239: The Vague, Capital-Serving Co-Optation of "Affordability" Politics
In this episode, we detail the long history of generic "affordability" discourse and how, post-Mamdani, it's become the go-to establishment buzzword justifying tax breaks for developers, deregulation, and cosmetic tweaks to our for-profit healthcare and education systems. With guest Luke Savage.
Jun 17
1 hr 20 min
News Brief: The Call to Boycott—and Delegitimize—the New York Times
In this News Brief, we talk with Chris Mills Rodrigo from Writers Against The War On Gaza about their campaign to boycott the New York Times and remove the "paper of record" from its pedestal of alleged neutrality and editorial rigor.
May 28
40 min
Episode 238: The Fictional, Racist, Paranoia-Sowing "Sleeper Cell" Media Construction
In this episode, we detail the vague, baseless racism-sowing media coverage and pop culture obsession with so-called "sleeper cells," a construction that has consumed post-9/11 America but suffers from one major problem: there's no evidence it exists.
May 20
1 hr 30 min
Live Show: 'How to Sell a Genocide' Book Talk at The Word Is Change Bookstore in Brooklyn, NY
This is a live recording between Nima and Adam at the Word is Change Bookstore May 7, 2026. In this conversation, we discuss key findings that can be found in Adam's new book, How to Sell a Genocide: The Media's Complicity in the Destruction of Gaza.
May 13
1 hr 3 min
News Brief: "Peak TV," Streamer Studio Accounting Gimmicks, and the Precarity of Hollywood Labor
In this News Brief, we talk with Miranda Banks and Kate Fortmueller, authors of the new book Boom to Bust: How Streaming Broke Hollywood Workers, about rising inequality and precarity in Hollywood, studio consolidation, and how the dream of fame and fortune, 100 years on, is still used to concentrate power and drive down wages.
May 6
47 min
News Brief: How the Right Invented — and Exploited — the "Liberal Media" Trope
In this News Brief, we talk with A. J. Bauer, assistant professor at the University of Alabama, about his new book," Making the Liberal Media: How Conservatives Built a Movement Against the Press". In our discussion we break down the corporate and ideological forces that shaped the popular idea mainstream media was crawling with fifth columnist agitators hostile to the values of Real America.        
Apr 22
51 min
Ep 237: How Selective, Patronizing 'Deradicalization' Discourse Pathologizes Anti-Colonial Struggle
In this episode, we break down the long history of US media reducing recalcitrant populations' grievances to "terrorism," "hate," and "radicalism" in urgent need of re-education.   With guest Prem Thakker.
Apr 15
1 hr 21 min
Ep 236: Manufactured Austerity and the Media Assisted 'Public-Private Partnership' Rip-Off
In this episode we discuss how privatization was rebranded 'Public-Private Partnerships' and unleashed decades of raiding of the public coffers by Wall Street. With guest Donald Cohen, founder and executive director of In the Public Interest.
Apr 8
1 hr 6 min
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