On this edition of Your Call Media Roundtable, we're discussing the widening US–Israeli military intervention in Iran and how the war is being covered in the US press.
According to the Human Rights Activists News Agency, more than 1,000 civilians were killed in the first five days of US–Israeli bombing, including 181 children under the age of ten. According to the World Health Organization, 13 hospitals have bombed by Israel and the USA in Iran.
We'll also learn more about the near-total communications blackout in Iran. According to Aljazeera, NetBlocks said on Thursday that "an increasingly Orwellian environment is emerging as telcos threaten users who try to connect to the global internet with legal action," in reference to users reporting that they have received threatening text messages from telecommunications authorities after trying or sharing VPNs.
Who is shaping the narrative in the coverage?
Guests:
Borzou Daragahi, award-winning foreign correspondent covering the greater Middle East, North Africa, and Europe -- including Iran, Afghanistan, and Turkey, and writer of the badlands newsletter on Substack
Amir Rashidi, cybersecurity and policy expert, digital rights advocate, and director of digital rights at the Miaan Group
Will Bunch, national columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer, and author of After the Ivory Tower Falls: How College Broke the American Dream and Blew Up Our Politics―and How to Fix It
Chris Lehmann, DC Bureau chief for The Nation, and author of The Money Cult: Capitalism, Christianity, and the Unmaking of the American Dream
Resources:
badlands: Dishonorable Attack, Inevitable Blowback
The Guardian: Internet blackout is tool of desperate regime to isolate Iranians, say experts
The New York Times: Analysis Suggests School Was Hit Amid U.S. Strikes on Iranian Naval Base
The Philadelphia Inquirer: Death to prediction markets profiting on war
The Nation: The Corporate Media Is Head Over Heels for the Iran War
