Selling the war: Purges, polygraphs and propaganda

With the US midterm elections just weeks away, Donald Trump’s administration is trying to put a positive spin on a war with Iran that shows no sign of letting up.

Climbing fuel and grocery prices, the president’s provocative social media posts and the Pentagon’s combative relationship with the media are making that story harder to sell.

Contributors: Laicie Heeley – Editor-in-chief, Inkstick Mark Kimmitt – Former US Assistant Secretary of State Negar Mortazavi – Host, The Iran Podcast Samira Mohyeddin – Founder, On The Line Media

Revelations from Israeli newspaper Haaretz about what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu knew before the October 7 attacks have ignited a firestorm in the country. Netanyahu calls the reporting fabricated and is threatening to sue.

Six years on from the start of the pandemic, COVID-19 is back in the headlines – and so are questions about how newsrooms covered it.

The Listening Post’s Nicholas Muirhead on how the pandemic broke trust in the US.

Featuring: Amesh Adalja – Infectious Disease Physician, Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security Frances E Lee – Co-author, In COVID’s Wake: How Our Politics Failed Us Jeanne Lenzer – Investigative Medical Journalist