The Listening Post

A look at so-called embedded journalism and how the US military uses the media to send a message to Tehran.

Rates of suicide and depression are on the rise in Spain as the unemployment figures in the country reach a record high. So is this the human cost of austerity? Inside Story debates with guests: Diego Lopez, Madhur Jha and Maria Nyman.

For years, print publications watched helplessly as the internet ate into their market, but tin the past two years they have been fighting back. They have barricaded their websites behind paywalls - if you want to read you have got to pay. In July 2010 the Times of London set up its paywall; now there are numerous newspapers sites charging for access. The Listening Post's Flo Phillips investigates who is winning the online war.

When teenager Malala Yousafzai was shot by the Taliban, Pakistan's media was warned to curb its coverage of the story. Tunisia's parliament says new constitution will not contain blasphemy clauses & Rupert Murdoch labels three British celebrities who met with Prime Minister David Cameron 'scumbags on Twitter.

In four minutes Austrian daredevil Felix Baumgartner's plummet from the edge of space racked up millions of hits on the YouTube live stream alone. We have come up with a mash up that mixes in Baumgartner's alter ego from the Land of Lego.

A look at how the so-called graveyard shift at news organisations is not as grim as it may appear.

Examining the multifaceted propaganda battle over the future of Syria. Plus, working the graveyard shift – an insight into the art of obituary writing.

With presidential elections coming up in 2013, the Iranian government is determined to win the information battle. On Listening Post this week: The battle for control of Iran's cyberspace. Plus, Kashmir and the rise of a new online army.

With presidential elections coming up in 2013, the Iranian government is determined to win the information battle. On Listening Post this week: The battle for control of Iran's cyberspace. Plus, Kashmir and the rise of a new online army.

On Listening Post this week: The deadly attacks on Somali journalists. Exploring the media landscape in a country where going to work has become a life-and-death decision for reporters. Plus, to pay or not to pay? The newspapers' fight for survival in a digital world.

When the world pays attention to Chinese journalism, it is usually for the wrong reasons. The Paris-based press freedom group, Reporters Without Borders, ranks China as the sixth most repressive media environment in the world. Chinese reporters and the outlets they work for are routinely written off as mere government mouthpieces. The Communist Party does maintain a tight grip in most areas, but media production in China has exploded over the past three decades, and with that has come new competition for readers, viewers and revenues. That has given rise to a new kind of investigative reporting. News outlets have found that, like anywhere else, exposing wrongdoing and unearthing the odd scandal can be good for business. Investigative reporting in China is not without its limits or risks. But China is no longer the journalistic black hole it once was. The Listening Post's Meenakshi Ravi looks at the grey areas, and the reporters finding ways to produce some high quality, muckraking journalism in the world's largest one-party state.

How did a film trailer that lived in well-deserved obscurity on Youtube turn into something altogether different? Plus, the rise of investigative reporting in China.

Is a protest behind bars beyond the reach of news cameras or is it a case of out of sight, out of mind for the media?

Has the White House selectively leaked classified information about the assassination to score political points? And this week: Playing the Osama bin Laden card: to leak or not to leak? Plus, starved of attention: the media and the Palestinian hunger strike.

By the time Americans head to the polls in November, they will have been exposed to $3bn of ads. Political ads rarely tell the truth and in this year's presidential election campaign, facts have tended to matter less. This is where the mainstream media should step up. But so far, the US media have not shown the appetite or the stomach to get past the rhetoric and get to the truth. In this week's Listening Post, we look at the politics of telling the truth in a heated election campaign.