The Listening Post

On The Listening Post this week: Turkish and Russian media put their own spin on the battle in Idlib. Plus, travel vloggers with special access in Pakistan. Idlib: Battle on the Ground, Battle on the Airwaves It was a bilateral meeting that came at a tense time. But it resulted in a ceasefire in Syria - specifically in Idlib in the northwest. Neither of the two leaders in front of the cameras, however, were Syrian. There was the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, and Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. In the media battle to shape global perceptions, Russia has Sputnik - a state-owned news outlet operating in Turkish amongst other languages. Turkey has TRT World, the state-owned broadcaster with its own story to tell. This conflict - given its various proxy players and objectives - has never been easy for outsiders to understand. And the news now coming out of Turkey and Russia - and the competing narratives - are not helping. Contributors: Ragip Soylu - Turkey correspondent, Middle East Eye Mahir Boztepe - Editor-in-chief, Sputnik Turkiye Yusuf Erim - Editor-at-large, TRT World Ilya Yablokov - Lecturer, Leeds University On our radar: Richard Gizbert speaks to producer Nic Muirhead about the "infodemic" of misinformation regarding coronavirus that is going viral on social media. Pakistan's New Look: The foreign vloggers rebranding the country online Travel vlogging; a sub-genre of social media that generates millions of dollars through billions of clicks, and for some of the countries visited, provides a golden PR opportunity. For instance, take Pakistan, a country desperate to shed its image as too dangerous for tourists. Enter the influencers; if you subscribe to vloggers like Rosie Gabrielle, Jordan Taylor and Eva zu Beck, you will have seen a very different side of Pakistan. A lot of this content comes with the approval of a government out to capitalise on the PR potential - photogenic white visitors with huge online audiences. The Listening Post's Meenakshi Ravi tells the story behind Pakistan's social media makeover. Contributors: Ahmer Naqvi - Karachi-based cultural critic Aneeqa Ali - Lahore-based travel agent Eva zu Beck - Travel vlogger Syed Zulfikar Bukhari - Chairman, National Tourism Coordination Board - 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/

On The Listening Post this week: To extradite or not to extradite: Julian Assange's trial and its consequences for journalism. Plus, prison journalism in the US. On trial: Julian Assange and journalism We begin with the legal fate of Julian Assange. This past week saw the commencement of a court case that will determine whether Britain should extradite the WikiLeaks founder to the United States. The US government has charged Assange for his part in the release of classified military documents - he's looking at a maximum prison sentence of 175 years. Assange's advocates say he has little chance of getting a fair trial in the US and, if sent there, he could end up facing conditions amounting to torture. It is a case against Julian Assange and, by implication, modern-day journalism. Contributors: Stefania Maurizi - Investigative journalist James Ball - Global editor, The Bureau of Investigative Journalism Rebecca Vincent - UK bureau director, Reporters Without Borders Nils Melzer - UN special rapporteur on torture On our radar: Richard Gizbert speaks to producer Meenakshi Ravi about the "Delhi Riots" and the difficulties journalists are facing in trying to cover them. America's Jailhouse Journalists More than two million people live within the American prison system. That is roughly equivalent to the population of a city like Las Vegas, imprisoned across the country. The stories of what really goes on inside are seldom heard. For journalists who have tried, access is the issue, with prison authorities usually controlling who gets in and what stories get out. But some prisoners are determined to make this a beat of their own. The journalism they produce behind bars is of real value, both for audiences and the reporters involved. The Listening Post's Flo Phillips on the ultimate inside story - prison journalism in the US. Contributors: John J Lennon - Inmate journalist from Sing Sing Prison & contributing editor, Esquire Magazine Troy Williams - Founder, San Quentin Prison Report & founder, Restorative Media Project Kerry Myers - Former editor, The Angolite & deputy executive director, The Parole Project Sam Robinson - Information officer, San Quentin Prison Yukari Iwatani Kane - Adviser, San Quentin News - 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/

Angola became the centre of worldwide media interest last month, following the publication of the so-called "Luanda Leaks". Based on a trove of leaked emails and other documents obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, the investigation revealed how Isabel dos Santos, daughter of the former president, Jose Eduardo dos Santos, had exploited government resources and connections to build a multibillion-dollar empire. The dos Santos family's fortunes were already starting to shift in the southern African country after its patriarch resigned the presidency in 2017, after 38 years in power. His anointed successor, Joao Lourenco, belongs to the same party, the MPLA, that has ruled Angola since 1975 - the year its cadres secured independence from Portugal. But President Lourenco was soon straying from his predecessor's script, stripping the dos Santos clan of its control of a number of state-owned companies. Some of the most visible changes to take place under Lourenco have occurred in Angola's media sector, which has long been subject to heavy state control. Soon after taking office, Lourenco invited journalists who had been jailed under dos Santos to a press conference at which he paid tribute to their work and declared his commitment to press freedom. Since then, the signs have been encouraging. While restrictive media laws passed by dos Santos have not, at least so far, been reversed, local journalists and international press freedom groups note a growing tolerance for dissenting opinions in the Angolan public sphere. In this climate, one particular form of dissent is flourishing: satire. The use of humour as a mode of social and political critique has deep roots in Angola: In the colonial era, for instance, song lyrics commonly poked fun at the Portuguese. The Listening Post spoke to two of the country's most accomplished satirists - cartoonist Sergio Picarra and comedian Tiago Costa - about the role of humour as a form of political commentary and the changing state of press freedom in Angola. "Satirising the rich, satirising the politicians, satirising the powerful - these are forms of social resistance to the aggressions we experience on a daily basis," says Picarra. Picarra experienced the repression of the dos Santos regime first-hand: In 1997, he was fired by the state-owned newspaper Jornal de Angola over a cartoon that was deemed too critical of the government. "Almost the entire media was controlled by the state - television, radio, newspapers," Picarra reflects. "It was a very difficult period. You had to find symbols, metaphors and characters to portray people and situations." Tiago Costa, a comedian with a sharp eye on Angola's political landscape, began his career towards the end of the dos Santos era. For him, the change of presidents has had a dramatic effect. "In the past, if you made fun of President Jose Eduardo, everyone would be against you," Costa recalls. "Today, if you make fun of President Joao Lourenco, people are aware that's all it is - a joke. Whereas under dos Santos, Costa's comedy was confined to YouTube and the radio, he now has two television shows, Sopa Saber and Goza'Aqui com Vida. The programmes air on Vida TV, a station partly owned by Tchize dos Santos, one of the former president's daughters. But, in a sign of how far things have shifted, that has not stopped Costa from mocking her on air. Picarra agrees that improvements in press freedom are undeniable. But there is, he emphasises, still a long way to go. "It is not a complete opening," he says. "The information that the public gets is still highly controlled." For Costa, satire has a role to play in pressuring the political class towards greater accountability, and away from corruption: "Satire should force our politicians to recognise their mistakes and learn from them. It might help us avoid producing another Isabel dos Santos. And if we manage that, it will be great." Produced by: Daniel Turi Contributors: Tiago Costa - Comedian and host, Sopa Saber Sergio Picarra - Cartoonist and creator, Mankiko - 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/

On The Listening Post this week: Unelectable or frontrunner? Why is Bernie Sanders getting such a tough ride from US corporate media? Plus, the satirists mocking Angola's elite. Sanders vs Bloomberg and the corporate media machine We're in the early days of the US election season and the battle for the right to take on Donald Trump currently looks like a two-horse race. On the progressive side of the Democratic Party, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. To his right, former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. In the coverage of the two candidates - whose politics are poles apart - the US news media are showing their corporate bias. Sanders is a democratic socialist, Bloomberg is the 9th-richest person in the world. Sanders relies on a huge grassroots following and record-breaking fundraising; Bloomberg is already out of pocket to the tune of $350m on an advertising blitz. Despite leading the pack as far as opinion polls are concerned, Bernie Sanders is being cast as unelectable in much of the media coverage. Months ahead of the November election, for a lot of voters, the US news media is already an election issue. Contributors: Anoa Changa - Host of The Way with Anoa Shane Ryan - Politics editor, Paste Magazine Sophia McClennen - Professor, Penn State University John Nichols - National affairs correspondent, The Nation On our radar: Richard Gizbert speaks to producer Johanna Hoes about the media tug-of-war between the US and China, with Beijing expelling three Wall Street Journal reporters and Washington ramping up disclosure requirements for Chinese news outlets on American soil. The funny side of corruption: A masterclass in Angolan satire Former Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos repressed his political opponents and the news media, leaving very little room for dissent. His successor, Joao Lourenco, has promised a new era of media freedom and celebrated the work of journalists who were jailed under dos Santos. In this budding climate of tolerance, one particular form of dissent is flourishing: satire. Ever since the colonial era, Angolans have used humour to make some serious points about the powers that be. The Listening Post spoke to two of the country's most accomplished satirists - one a comedian, the other a cartoonist - about how their crafts enable them to critique Angola's political class. Contributors: Tiago Costa - Comedian and host, 'Sopa Saber' Sergio Picarra - Cartoonist and creator, 'Mankiko' - 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/

Over the past 10 years, viewers in India have witnessed the rise of a new breed of news anchor: brash, aggressive and unapologetically nationalistic. They trade in conflict, fear and spectacle - a formula that tends to pay off in the ratings and online. The Listening Post's Meenakshi Ravi looks closely at a prime practitioner of this news style: Arnab Goswami of Republic TV. Contributors: Pragya Tiwari - Delhi-based writer Kunal Kamra - Comedian Aditya Raj Kaul - Former senior editor, Republic TV Manisha Pande - Executive editor, Newslaundry - 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/

On The Listening Post this week: For a moment, China saw public anger and real news reporting about the coronavirus go uncensored. How come? Plus, the sound and fury of India's news anchors. Speaking up about the coronavirus – but at what cost? The death of Li Wenliang, a doctor in Wuhan, the Chinese city at the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak, has caused collective outrage online. Li was amongst the first to raise the alarm. He was then taken into custody and forced to confess to wrongdoing - spreading rumours - essentially for doing his job. It is rare for the Chinese to openly criticise the government; rarer still when those criticisms on social media are not instantly deleted by censors. And for Chinese journalists, there was a temporary window that opened for some hard-hitting investigative reporting. It appears that that window has since been closed - replaced by what Beijing calls "managed transparency". Contributors: Jane Li -Tech reporter, Quartz Maria Repnikova - Assistant professor, Georgia State University Muyi Xiao - Visuals editor, ChinaFile Liu Xin - Host and journalist, CGTN On our radar: Richard Gizbert speaks to Filipina journalist Maria Ressa, head of the news website Rappler, about President Rodrigo Duterte's move to shut down ABS-CBN, the country's leading broadcaster. Arnab Goswami and the newsification of hate in India Over the past decade, Indians have witnessed the rise of a new breed of news anchor: brash, aggressive, unapologetically nationalistic. They trade in conflict, fear and spectacle - it is a formula that tends to pay off in the ratings and online. The Listening Post's Meenakshi Ravi looks closely at a prime practitioner of this news style: Arnab Goswami of Republic TV. Contributors: Pragya Tiwari - Delhi-based writer Kunal Kamra - Comedian Aditya Raj Kaul - Former senior editor, Republic TV Manisha Pande - Executive editor, Newslaundry - 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/

On The Listening Post this week: For a moment, China saw public anger and real news reporting about the coronavirus go uncensored. How come? Plus, the sound and fury of India's news anchors. Speaking up about the coronavirus – but at what cost? The death of Li Wenliang, a doctor in Wuhan, the Chinese city at the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak, has caused collective outrage online. Li was amongst the first to raise the alarm. He was then taken into custody and forced to confess to wrongdoing - spreading rumours - essentially for doing his job. It is rare for the Chinese to openly criticise the government; rarer still when those criticisms on social media are not instantly deleted by censors. And for Chinese journalists, there was a temporary window that opened for some hard-hitting investigative reporting. It appears that that window has since been closed - replaced by what Beijing calls "managed transparency". Contributors: Jane Li -Tech reporter, Quartz Maria Repnikova - Assistant professor, Georgia State University Muyi Xiao - Visuals editor, ChinaFile Liu Xin - Host and journalist, CGTN On our radar: Richard Gizbert speaks to Filipina journalist Maria Ressa, head of the news website Rappler, about President Rodrigo Duterte's move to shut down ABS-CBN, the country's leading broadcaster. Arnab Goswami and the newsification of hate in India Over the past decade, Indians have witnessed the rise of a new breed of news anchor: brash, aggressive, unapologetically nationalistic. They trade in conflict, fear and spectacle - it is a formula that tends to pay off in the ratings and online. The Listening Post's Meenakshi Ravi looks closely at a prime practitioner of this news style: Arnab Goswami of Republic TV. Contributors: Pragya Tiwari - Delhi-based writer Kunal Kamra - Comedian Aditya Raj Kaul - Former senior editor, Republic TV Manisha Pande - Executive editor, Newslaundry - 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/

On The Listening Post this week: "Terrorists", "anti-nationals" – Indian TV anchors are in attack mode against critics of the ruling party. Plus the history of blackface in the Arab world. Are the loudest voices on India's airwaves normalising hate? India is more than two months into a series of nationwide protests against a new citizenship law known as the CAA, the Citizenship Amendment Act. The CAA makes it easier for migrants from religious minorities to get Indian citizenship - unless they are Muslims. This is a political story in which the media are playing a central role. Much of the media has taken to amplifying the nationalistic, pro-Hindu rhetoric of the ruling party, the BJP - labelling protesters "anti-national", implying that Muslims are inclined to spread terror - and, in the process, normalising hate speech and spreading it across their airwaves. Contributors: Kavita Krishnan - Secretary, All India Progressive Women's Association Mitali Saran - Author and columnist Vineet Kumar - Author and media scholar Aditya Raj Kaul - Strategic affairs editor, Business Television India Sudhir Chaudhary - Editor-in-chief, Zee News On our radar: Richard Gizbert speaks to producer Flo Phillips about Donald Trump's decision to award the Presidential Medal of Freedom to a controversial conservative talk show host, Rush Limbaugh. Blackface: The ugliness of racism in Arab media Blackface - the caricaturing of those of African descent using theatrical makeup is a supposed entertainment device from a bygone era. Across much of the Western world, it no longer features in mainstream art or entertainment but in the Middle East, you do not have to go back in time to find it. Blackface and caricatured depictions of black people still are broadcast there - and in most cases - they are not even seen as offensive. The Listening Post's Tariq Nafi looks at racism in Arab media and the persisting legacy of blackface. Contributors: Maha Abdul Hamid - Academic and activist Eve Troutt Powell - Professor of Middle Eastern History, University of Pennsylvania Joseph Fahim - Film critic Fatima Ali - Activist, model and writer - 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/

For more than 20 years, Lam Wing-kee owned Causeway Bay Books in Hong Kong. The store not only specialised in literature critical of the Chinese Communist Party and the private lives of Beijing's ruling elite, but perfected the art of smuggling those books - which are banned in China - onto the mainland. His work turned him into a target. In 2015, Lam disappeared along with four of his colleagues, only to resurface months later on Chinese state television, "confessing" to the crime of smuggling contraband. The Listening Post's Johanna Hoes travelled to Lam's new home, Taiwan, to speak to him about his time in a secret Chinese prison, the bizarre circumstances of his release, and his stated wish to finish what he started - running a bookstore with a mission. Contributors: Lam Wing-kee - former owner and manager, Causeway Bay Books

On The Listening Post this week: The coronavirus outbreak in China - a public health disaster and a messaging nightmare. Also on the show, the saga of Hong Kong's kidnapped bookseller. Covering the Coronavirus Contagion On January 23, Chinese authorities shut down the city of Wuhan. In short order, 17 more cities were quarantined, affecting nearly 60 million people. The orders issued by Beijing were significant, but late in coming: the first official case of the virus was confirmed almost two months ago. That was how long it took for China's state-controlled media to stop downplaying the seriousness of the outbreak and start providing the kind of information that can save lives. By that stage, however, millions of Chinese citizens had passed through the affected region - unaware of the risks involved. With the death toll now in the hundreds, the number of infected in the thousands, the coronavirus - like the coverage of this story - has gone global. Contributors: Luwei Rose Luqiu - assistant professor, Hong Kong Baptist University; former executive news editor, Phoenix TV Katrina Yu - China correspondent, Al Jazeera English Mary Hui - reporter, Quartz Huiling Ding - associate professor, North Carolina State University; author of Rhetoric of a Global Epidemic: Transcultural Communication about Sars On our radar: Richard Gizbert speaks to producer Meenakshi Ravi about the Washington Post reporter who was suspended from her job over a controversial tweet, and The Guardian's decision to ban advertising from fossil fuel firms. The Saga of the Kidnapped Bookseller of Hong Kong For more than 20 years, Lam Wing-kee owned Causeway Bay Books, a store that not only specialised in literature critical of the Chinese Communist Party and the private lives of Beijing's ruling elite, but perfected the art of smuggling those books - which are banned in China - onto the mainland. His work turned him into a target. In 2015, Lam disappeared along with four of his colleagues, only to resurface months later on Chinese state television, "confessing" to the crime of smuggling contraband. The Listening Post's Johanna Hoes travelled to Lam's new home, Taiwan, to speak to him about his time in a secret Chinese prison, the bizarre circumstances of his release, and his stated wish to finish what he started - running a bookstore with a mission. Contributors: Lam Wing-kee - former owner and manager, Causeway Bay Books - 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/

On The Listening Post this week: As the Australian bushfires blaze on, Rupert Murdoch's news empire continues to peddle climate scepticism. Plus, the legacy of murdered journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. The Murdoch media empire: Polluting Australia's airwaves? In Australia, soaring temperatures, extended droughts and strong winds have resulted in a wildfire season like no other. Yet, as so much of the country burns, most of the Australian media outlets owned by Rupert Murdoch refuse to call this story what scientists say it is: a disaster exacerbated by the climate crisis. Millions of acres have been burned out, dozens of people have died, wildlife is on the run and papers like The Australian and networks like Sky News Australia are not only dismissing the scientific consensus, but are trafficking in some false, debunked narratives. Murdoch's media empire has long held a disproportionate influence over Australian politics and he and Prime Minister Scott Morrison are united on this issue. Throw in Murdoch's close ties to Australia's powerful fossil fuel lobby and all the elements are there for a conspiracy of disinformation on the biggest, gravest story of our time. Contributors: Richard Cooke - Contributing editor, The Monthly Amy Remeikis - Political reporter, The Guardian Australia Rodney Tiffen - Author, Rupert Murdoch: A Reassessment & Emeritus Professor, University of Sydney James Painter - Research Associate, Reuters Institute and author, Climate Change in the Media On our radar Richard Gizbert speaks to producer Tariq Nafi and The Intercept Brasil's, Leandro Demori, about how prosecutors in the country are going after an Intercept reporter, Glenn Greenwald, for exposing corruption in an investigation known as Operation Car Wash. Murder in Malta: Daphne Caruana Galizia's journalistic legacy The small, Mediterranean island state of Malta has been producing a lot of news recently, all as a result of a blog called Running Commentary and its author, Daphne Caruana Galizia. Described as a "one-woman WikiLeaks" Caruana Galizia wrote stories on politics and corruption. And because Malta's mainstream media did not want to touch those stories, the blog was the only place people could learn about a system involving the people they elected - bribes, kickbacks, money laundering and embezzlement. Running Commentary came to a sudden end in 2017, when Caruana Galizia was murdered - killed by a bomb planted in her car. This past month, Malta's Prime Minister, Joseph Muscat, resigned - after it emerged that his aides may have had a hand in that murder. The Listening Post's Flo Phillips investigates the work of a reporter who was killed for what she exposed - and how the late Daphne Caruana Galizia's journalism continues to make the news. Contributors: Matthew Caruana Galizia - Son of Daphne Caruana Galizia and investigative journalist Manuel Delia - Author, Murder on the Malta Express and blogger, Truth Be Told Caroline Muscat - Founder, The Shift News & former news editor, The Times of Malta Mark Laurence Zammit - Presenter, Xarabank - 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/

In Portugal's election last October, Romualda Fernandes, Beatriz Gomes Dias, and Joacine Katar Moreira made history by becoming the first women of African descent elected to Parliament. Dias, Gomes and Moreira all represent different political parties - the Socialist Party, Left Bloc and Livre, respectively - but their critiques of racism in Portuguese society have been credited with catalysing a debate that many see as long overdue. A 2016 report by the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, while noting that Portugal had grown more tolerant and inclusive over the previous two decades, criticised the persistence of "Afrophobia" and "institutional racism" in the country. In the years since, Portugal - like much of Europe - has witnessed a spike in far-right sentiment, with the 2019 election also marking the first time a far-right party won a seat in Parliament since the fall of the Salazar dictatorship in 1974. However, observing the way the debate played out in Portugal's mainstream media, one could get a rather different impression. A slew of opinion-makers - most, if not all, white - responded to concerns from anti-racist politicians and campaigners with a mixture of disbelief and denial: "Are the Portuguese racist?" asked the newspaper Sol. Columnists at the right-wing news website Observador were more definitive: "Portugal wasn't and isn't racist," wrote one; another, meanwhile, derided the "myth" of a racist Portugal. "I think we're all racist," explains Observador's editor, Jose Manuel Fernandes, speaking to The Listening Post's Daniel Turi. "That's a battle that never ends. However, when it comes to institutional racism - I don't think that exists in Portugal." For Moreira, member of parliament for Livre, reactions such as these came as no surprise: "This is very specific of Portuguese racism - the absolute denial that there is racism in Portugal." In trying to explain this discourse of denial, some point to the lack of diversity in Portugal's media industry. Portuguese journalists of colour are few and far between - something that Fernandes, too, acknowledges can skew the reporting of race. However, Portugal is not the only country with a diversity problem in its newsrooms. For many, a stronger explanation lies in an ideology of Portuguese exceptionalism - one with deep roots in the country's colonial past. Portugal was the world's first global empire, with outposts across Africa, Asia and South America. From its beginnings in the 15th century all the way up to the handover of Macau to China in 1999, it was also the longest lasting. Despite the many horrors of that history, including Portugal's leading role in the transatlantic slave trade, a sense of nostalgia for that era runs deep in the here and now. The media are no exception and appeals to a rose-tinted view of Portuguese colonialism are a common feature of the recent denials of racism in present-day Portugal. "We travelled across Africa and Asia with native populations, had children with them and in many cases we assimilated them," notes the writer of the Sol article referenced above. "Having this discourse about the past is then transferred to the present," says Joana Gorjao Henriques, author of Racism in Portugal. "As a result, the media are incapable of noticing the inequalities that exist in Portuguese society." However, for Mamadou Ba, director of the NGO, SOS Racismo, these attempts to defend the colonial record are also a response to the fact that critiques of racism - both historical and contemporary - are more visible than in the past. "There's a certain right-wing elite who are trying to glorify the colonial past. They're well aware that people of colour are getting more of a voice in the media, and so this is part of their strategy to undermine the rise of anti-racist politics." Contributors: Jose Manuel Fernandes - publisher, Observador Mamadou Ba - director, SOS Racismo Joana Gorjao Henriques - columnist, Publico and author, Racism in Portugal Joacine Katar Moreira - member of parliament, Livre - 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/

On The Listening Post this week: How the downing of a Ukrainian passenger aircraft flipped the narrative in Iran. Plus, the challenges of reporting race in Portuguese media. From mourning Soleimani to protesting against the regime When a US drone strike killed Iran's most important military figure, General Qassem Soleimani, two weeks ago, it provided Tehran with an opening to rally the Iranian people to back their Islamic leaders against the United States. For a few days, that seemed to be the case. Then a passenger plane was shot down over Tehran, and Iran's leaders chose to lie to the public, before finally admitting three days later that they had taken the plane down by mistake. Iranians have since taken to the streets - not to mourn the loss of a fallen soldier, but because they are outraged after years of official lies, ineptitude and impunity. That messaging opportunity is long gone. The Iranian government now has a PR nightmare on its hands. Contributors: Arash Azizi - Writer and historian, New York University Ali Vaez - Director, Iran Project, International Crisis Group Hosein Ghazian - Author, journalist and sociologist Sanam Shantyaei - Senior Journalist and anchor, Middle East Matters, France 24 On our radar Richard Gizbert speaks to producer Johanna Hoes about cracks appearing inside the Murdoch empire when it comes to reporting on Australia's bushfires; and about the restoration of the internet in Kashmir - with caveats. Racism in Portugal: A blind spot for the media? A few months ago, three women of African descent - Beatriz Gomes Dias, Romualda Fernandes and Joacine Katar Moreira - made history, becoming the first black women elected to parliament in Portugal. They have faced all kinds of racial abuse on social media. In the mainstream media, the hostility has been more subtle but no less direct: Portuguese commentators and news columnists have contested the idea that racism even exists there. This is a story rooted in a rose-tinted view of the country's history - its colonial past. The Listening Post's Daniel Turi reports from Portugal on a state of denial in the country's media when it comes to race. Contributors: Jose Manuel Fernandes - Publisher, Observador Mamadou Ba - Director, SOS Racismo Joana Gorjao Henriques - Columnist, Publico and author, Racism in Portuguese Joacine Katar Moreira - Member of Parliament, Livre - 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/

On this episode of The Listening Post: Media in the US and Iran are vastly different but when it comes to war, they stumble in similar ways. Plus, the media collectives in Rio de Janeiro’s favelas. US versus Iran: Covering Soleimani's assassination A little more than a week ago, most Americans had never even heard of the name Qassem Soleimani. Now, Iran's top military leader, assassinated in a US drone strike, has been cast as the "world's number one bad guy". And that is not Donald Trump talking; those are the words of US news network CNBC. This story - and some of the coverage coming out of Washington - harkens back to 2003, the Iraq war. Too much airtime given to the hawks prowling news studios. Not enough scrutiny of their motives, or the legality of a possible war. In Iran meanwhile, Soleimani's killing has given the country's leaders an historic messaging opportunity that is now reverberating across news outlets the government there controls, as well as in the streets. Contributors: Eskandar Sadeghi-Boroujerdi - Lecturer, Goldsmiths Holly Dagres - Non-resident fellow, Atlantic Council Pouya Alimagham - Historian, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Document, mobilise, amplify: Media activists in Rio's favelas Perhaps you see favelas as the Brazilian media; and many international outlets have depicted them as lawless communities, virtual no-go zones for police, where the only realistic solution is a security show of force. That portrayal plays well for two politicians in particular, President Jair Bolsonaro and Rio's Governor, Wilson Witzel, both of whom have given police more authority to use lethal force in the favelas. There is, however, an alternative media narrative coming from the favelas, which has emerged from community-based journalistic collectives. They use video footage, posted on social media, to document police violence and security abuses to counter the dominant mainstream narrative on one of Brazil's most important stories. The Listening Post's Tariq Nafi reports on two of those collectives - Papo Reto and Maré Veevee - and the work they do. Contributors: Thaina de Medeiros - Papo Reto Media Collective Naldinho Lourenco - Mare Vive Media Collective Vinicius Donola - Journalist, former special correspondent, Record TV Renata Souza - Deputy, Rio State Legislature - 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 special edition of The Listening Post on a new kind of reporting: open-source journalism. Citizen journalism allows anybody with a mobile phone to document current events and produce content that is now routinely used by news organisations. Open-source journalists often start with that kind of material - and then they apply some of the same investigative techniques that are used by police and intelligence agencies. It is a growth industry, partly because of the decline in press freedom across many parts of the world. Tariq Nafi explores how open-source reporters have proved valuable on the story in Syria. Dubbed the first "YouTube conflict", the Syrian civil war has produced a goldmine of raw material - hours of images and information - for open-source investigators to analyse, interpret and authenticate without having to go there and take the risks that come with the assignment. Daniel Turi goes on to examine how open-source researchers in China have proven the existence and the location of so-called re-education camps for Muslims in the province of Xinjiang - camps whose existence Beijing had previously denied. And even if the authorities are successful in shutting down specific individuals, there are more open-source researchers out there. That is Beijing's challenge on this story, as it is for the Bashar al-Assad government in Damascus. It is not just the reporters doing this kind of work - it is also the technology that makes their work possible. And that is a much more difficult thing to suppress. Contributors: James Palmer - deputy editor, Foreign Policy Shawn Zhang - law student, University of British Columbia Adrian Zenz - open-source researcher Yuan Yang - China tech correspondent, Financial Times Eyal Weizman - founding director, Forensic Architecture Hadi al-Khatib - founding director, The Syrian Archive - 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/