Two Separate News Podcasts Made Me Angry
Sometimes being direct is best
Often in this newsletter I try to tackle news industry issues from a thoughtful and novel approach. Whether I succeed in this attempt is really up to the readers, but it is always something I strive towards. This week, there were two instances where the reporting was so bad, so atrocious, that there really is no other way to put it: I'm pissed.
You may have noticed the first of these stories in the banner image. This was an episode of The Hill Times' podcast Hot Room. In it, host of the show Peter Mazereeuw brings on Hill Times public service reporter Marlo Glass to discuss Prime Minister Mark Carney's cuts to the public service.
However, as made abundantly clear in the header, arms manufacturing powerhouse Lockheed Martin sponsors the episode. Indeed, an ad read for the F-35 program bridges the listing of Hill Times headlines to the actual discussion. But the ad read does not mention Lockheed Martin, simply referring the listener to a website on F-35 production for Canada. This website mentions Lockheed Martin, Northrup Grumman and RTX in the model of F-35 proposed for Canada.
Cards on the table, I did not listen past this point. Why would I? Lockheed Martin is one of the world's most notorious arms manufacturers which supplies Israel (among many other nations) with weapons specifically crafted to murder people. They profit off of war, death and untold misery. Yet here's a journalism podcast proudly displaying the fact that this arms empire has paid them to promote F-35s. This, presumably, is to shore up support for the deal Canada has already engaged in.
What concerns me more, other than the fact this is one of the most blatantly disgusting sponsors a journalist organization could agree to work with, is the target audience of The Hill Times' reporting. In particular, it's those who work on Parliament Hill. Politicians, public service workers, movers and shakers in Canadian federal politics. This is who Lockheed Martin is hoping to reach with its sponsorship. Not only that, but whoever's in charge of advertising at the publication saw no problem in using their journalism to serve that reach.
Scott Martin
One podcast like this is, truly, an abomination. However, fates conspired to bring another to my attention. This time, it was an episode of POLITICO's podcast Playbook Canada. This week, Mickey Djuric and Jack Blanchard discuss Carney's trips abroad to build trade deals, the relationship between the prime minister and US President Trump and political manoeuvring in Ottawa.
Then, during the 200 second interview, Djuric interviews Conservative MP Jamil Jivani. For those who are unaware, Jivani, looking to rise from his position as a backbencher, has been embarking on a university tour a la Turning Point USA to "End Liberal Racism." Jivani, a close friend of JD Vance, has not had a raucous response to his "Restore the North" tour. For example, when referring to his "National Forum to End Liberal Racism in Ottawa," Zain Velji, host of The Strategists podcast commented "50 people showed up."
Nonetheless, Jivani has cemented anti-immigrant rhetoric as a core pillar in this tour and used it to garner headlines. The level of toxicity is stark, as Nora Loreto writes, "Jivani is soft peddling rhetoric that is usually associated with the violent far right — from Islamophobes to Incels."
So it's clear that Jivani is using far-right rhetoric to push xenophobia and bigotry. Yet in this 200 second interview, none of that is addressed. In fact, he's treated as though he's a celebrity doing a press tour for their latest movie.
Djuric asks Jivani if he's still in a fantasy football league with JD Vance. Teeing up a question, she mentions him trolling people by tweeting a Bud Light (Jivani described it as "cultural outreach"). Then, Djuric asks "Do you want to designate a beer for your campaign to end liberal racism?" Later she asks him about gangster rap.
This is not serious journalism. Even though the "200 Second Interview" format is clearly supposed to be light and breezy, this is a man working to mainstream far-right political ideas into Canadian discourse. Asking him about gangster rap and trolling that harkens back to one of the most vicious anti-trans campaigns in recent memory is disgusting. It's not to be treated in journalist circles like it's a fucking joke. Alberta is just the latest in a long line of political actors passing laws that will harm trans kids. Here we have a reporter happily playing a silly game with a political actor that is overtly pushing for more of those policies.
It's rare that two flagrantly terrible examples of journalism will appear back-to-back, but Canadian news media truly disappointed this week. That's not even to mention the fact that TVO journalist Steve Paikin and Ben Mulroney, host of Global News' political show The West Block, were briefed by Israel's Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs as part of a "Canadian political leadership mission".
Sometimes, when critiquing this industry, there's not much to say other than: what the fuck?
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