Introducing Our News Criticism Podcast... The North State
Canada's honest news media criticism in podcast form is finally here
It's been an unfortunate reality that Canadian news media criticism has been severely lacking. We used to have a regular, well-produced and well-funded podcast network that, through all its faults, produced reliable critical views on the Canadian news landscape. Whatever your feelings may be on the journalistic worth of others at that podcast network, there is no longer any credibility from its publisher.
Though this context is important in this announcement, it's not the final word. People living in this country crave honest criticism of its journalistic institutions. Especially since Oct. 7, the system's inherent bias has been irrevocably revealed. One of the things I've learned writing The Catch is that there's an audience hungry for discerning and critical news-consumption.
It's been too long since people have had a podcast that truly holds journalistic power to account. Often, listeners have stuck with the current options because there's none other that even aims to fulfill the same purpose.
It's time to fill that gap.
Introducing... The North State.
The North State is a news media criticism podcast hosted by myself, Scott Martin, as a project of The Catch. Why the name? Plenty of reasons, the main one being it sounds like "The Fourth Estate" and Canada is a state in the north. Pretty simple.
Hosted on Acast, there is a trailer that you can listen to right now, linked below.
The North State is also available on your podcast player of choice. If you can't find it, let us know, and we'll try our best to sort out any issues.
Apple Podcasts
Spotify
Acast Link
RSS Feed Here
Right now, the trailer publish here is to inform you of the goals of the podcast, and for you to subscribe to the feed for the official launch. The first episode will officially drop on Monday, Oct. 7.
Since Israel's genocide of Palestinians intensified last October, Canadian news media has shown its systemic biases in covering the conflict. The Catch has covered it many times. But on Oct. 7, 2024, it will officially be a full year of poor coverage. What's been revealed? What's been omitted? What does this reporting say about our news media ecosystem? I'll be interviewing journalists and activists for a three-part series, published weekly, covering a year of Canada's response to Israeli genocide in Palestine.
Once the intro series is finished, things will slow down a bit. This is pretty much a one-man operation. Regular readers (or social media followers) will note that, in addition to writing The Catch and occasional freelancing, I have a full-time job with unreliable hours. This means that the schedule will adjust to one episode every other week.
That being said, The North State will be a bit elastic in format. Some, like the intro series, will be more structured issue focused. Others will centre on news stories going on in Canada, analyzing how the coverage shapes our understanding. Some will be one-on-one interviews. It all depends on what's most important at time of publishing.
I want The North State to be a reliable podcast where you can escape the deluge of biased reporting that our news ecosystem is entrenched in.
Finally, I'd like to thank other people who helped shape this project into its best iteration. They all provided irreplaceable insight and suggestions that took this podcast from an idea in my head to the best version of itself. These include, but are not limited to, Dave Gray-Donald, publisher and editorial director for The Grind, podcasting legend Aliya Pabani and director at Harbinger Media Network, Andre Goulet.
That's right. The North State will be supported by Harbinger Media Network, Canada's progressive podcasting community. They host Big Shiny Takes, Sources by PressProgress, Alberta Advantage and honestly too many amazing shows to list here. Check them out.
Artwork for the podcast, obviously playing off of The Catch motif, was done by Zo at Studio Bonjourhi. They also helped immensely in consulting on the name, format, etc. so thank them for that as well. The theme music will be Vigilante by Cross Dog. Thanks so much to Tracy, Mikey and Mark for allowing me to use such a kick-ass song for this project. Cross Dog also dropped probably the best punk album of 2024 in June, All Hard Feelings. Seriously, if you like punk then you'll love them. Here's my favourite track from All Hard Feelings: Jane Roe.
So subscribe to the feed, tell your friends, go to the Podcast page of this website to share the link (or this post), and get ready... because, unfortunately, this is The North State.
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