The Listening Post

Every year on the last Monday of May, US news outlets dedicate their day's coverage to Memorial Day commemorating soldiers killed in action. This year, Chris Hayes, a presenter on US network MSNBC, sparked controversy when he questioned the US media's habitual use of the word 'hero' when describing American soldiers fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. It was a chance to ask a difficult question: whether those who die in war have perished in vain or, even worse, had been killed in a cause that was actually wrong – and to ask whose interests the rhetorics of military heroism serve. But his comments caused outrage among right-wing media outlets and Hayes was forced to publically apologise. What Chris Hayes learned, apart from a few new ways to apologise, is that to many Americans, this is not a discussion even worth having. In this week's feature, the Listening Post's Marcela Pizarro on the terminology that galvanises America's wars.

On July 16 and 17, Egyptians head to the polls eager to vote in the run-off stages of the country's milestone election. Two candidates face off against one another: Ahmed Shafiq, the former prime minister, and Muslim Brotherhood candidate, Mohamed Morsi. It has been roughly 18 months since the former president, Hosni Mubarak, was deposed and the Egyptian public openly rejected the state run media machine. But this current show of democracy, and the energised media landscape that has evolved, has exposed the pitfalls that come with a new, factionalised media landscape. In this week's News Divide, the media are being examined as closely as the politicians they are covering in the country's landmark election.

In 1972, a bungled burglary at the Democratic Party's office in Washington triggered one of the most famous political scandals in history. Watergate led to the resignation of Richard Nixon, the only US president ever to do so, and launched the Washington Post into the media hall of fame thanks to the work of two of its reporters on that story. Since then the names of Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward have been synonymous with quality investigative journalism. But 40 years later, times have changed. Some say that the Post is a shadow of its former self and that while the paper made its name speaking truth to power – it has now merely become a function of it. Listening Post's Marcela Pizarro takes a look at the legacy of the Washington Post, the decline of the US printed press and the challenges for investigative journalism in a digital age.

Although the Arab Spring has been contained to North Africa and the Middle East, it has unnerved leaders further afield in countries with democratic credentials that are less than stellar. Zimbabwe is one such country. Earlier this year, six Zimbabweans faced treason charges for gathering and screening footage of the Arab revolutions. Although those charges were eventually whittled down and they received suspended jail sentences, the message was clear from Harare. It has been more than three years since the Zimbabwe Government of National Unity was formed, merging Robert Mugabe's Zanu PF and Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change. However, critics argue that the coalition has done little to reform the country's media. Government censorship - direct or indirect - is still a reality in Zimbabwe, but some are finding ways around it.

During Augusto Pinochet's 18-year rule, thousands of Chileans were murdered or had gone missing. But due to tight censorship, it was a story the country's media failed to expose. Chile returned to democracy in 1990, but the media have been reluctant to touch on the thorny issues of the country's past, until recently. Over the past few months, Chileans have been tuning into a TV drama dealing with the military dictatorship. Los Archivos de Cardinal – The Cardinal's Archives tells the story of a team of lawyers working with the Catholic church to expose the torture and killings carried out by Pinochet's regime - and it has provoked a fierce debate about the role of public broadcasting, in what remains a deeply polarised society. The series has brought back memories of a collective trauma, revived old political rivalries - and it's also provoked some of the country's most prominent journalists to carry out their own investigation - using the cardinal's original archives to look into the real facts behind the cases dramatised on screen. The Listening Post's Marcela Pizarro takes a look at the slick TV thriller that tells the story the Chilean media has tended to avoid.

In this Listening Post feature we are showcasing a newsreel from the 1940s which introduces the audience to what it is like to work in a newsroom. Back then in the pre-television era, newsreels were trailers of their day and were shown in cinemas before the feature film. We thought it might be fun to show one newsreel to a few journalists and get their thoughts on what has changed in the news business over the years - and a few things that have not. In this week's feature, Listening Post's Flo Phillips looks at what life used to be like inside a newsroom.

This week: A Listening Post special - Whistleblowing and the US media. Four years ago, on the campaign trail, candidate Barack Obama shared his views on whistleblowers. He said: "Often the best source of information about waste, fraud and abuse in government is a government employee committed to public integrity, willing to speak out. Such acts of courage and patriotism ... should be encouraged rather than stifled." As president, the reality has been very different. On his watch, six whistleblowers have been charged under the Espionage Act for allegedly mishandling classified information. That is twice as many as all past presidents combined. The threat facing whistleblowers has implications in many areas, including defence, intelligence and national security. And then there is the impact it is having on the US media - as the sources dry up, so too do the stories and the American people are left knowing less and less about what their government is doing. In the first half of this full edition special, we blow the whistle on President Obama's America. In the second half of the show, Jesselyn Radack, a lawyer who worked as an ethics adviser for the US Department of Justice, talks to us about the impact whistleblowing has had on US journalism and what news organisations are doing about it.

On Listening Post this week: Listening in at the Leveson Inquiry: Former British prime minister Tony Blair and cabinet minister Jeremy Hunt take the stand. And, the Washington Post 40 years after Watergate. It has been one of the biggest, most protracted media scandals the world has ever seen. It started with a single rogue reporter but is now tainting British governments, both past and present, and could very lead to new set of rules and regulations for the UK media. This week, the drama intensifies at the Leveson Inquiry as former prime minister Tony Blair and current cabinet minister Jeremy Hunt take to the stand.

Mohammed Abdel-Mawla al-Hariri is a Syrian social media activist who, like many others before him, gave an interview to Al Jazeera's Arabic news channel to denounce the al-Assad regime. But the interview looks set to be his last. Shortly after giving it, he was reportedly taken from his home, tortured and charged with 'high treason and contacts with foreign parties'. The Syrian government allegedly sentenced him to death. This case is significant because of the chilling effect it may have on opponents of the government and its potential impact on the flow of information coming out of the country.

On Listening Post this week: Soft power or hard sell? China's new media strategy. Plus, beating censorship in Zimbabwe by dialling in the news. Over the past few weeks, stories coming out of China have dominated the global headlines. First came the Bo Xilai political scandal, followed by the story of Chen Guangcheng, the blind dissident, and more recently, the expulsion of Al Jazeera's sole China correspondent Melissa Chan. Chinese authorities have yet to specify the reasons why Chen was not allowed to stay, and it has left room for speculation, mostly negative, in the Western media.

The Listening Post’s Nick Muirhead now on online animations and how in cyberspace, they can a carry a hefty political punch.

Did Nicolas Sarkozy's tempestuous relationship with the French media contribute to his defeat at the polls?

The media will be covering the first Greek elections since the beginning of the financial crisis, and Listening Post's Marcela Pizarro looks at how the economic collapse has hit the Greek media itself.

Media outlets have multiplied in post-Ben Ali Tunisia, but with this plurality has come a whole new set of problems.

For many NGOs and charities in Africa the Kony video has marked a significant point in their media evolution. They have proved they can get their message out and command an audience.