MEDIA

Following the News in Gaza

Recommended podcasts

The purpose of this article is to share podcasts I follow for news about Gaza and Palestine. But first, a few comments about news, media, facts and narrative, ideology, and what makes a source “alternative.”

I’ve been writing about political issues since the year 2000 but have never mentioned Palestine, in large part because the subject seemed “complicated.” But current events show that it’s not complicated, not for me anyway. To me, what’s going on there is a total horror show, full stop.

At the same time, I understand why other people do not share that assessment. By “I understand” I don’t mean that I comprehend their arguments and have respect for them as a a simple difference of opinion — I don’t — but that I know why they have other ideas.

It’s simple. In this digital age, our beliefs about events and issues are primarily products of the digital media that we consume. We are conditioned by media, whether we want to admit it or not, so it’s important to choose our media wisely. (With a perfectly valid option being no media.) This includes not only news media but also entertainment media, which arguably plays a larger role in shaping our worldviews and cultural norms, but for this essay I’m focusing on news media.