Adam H Johnson

Why is Mainstream Media Ignoring Overtly Racist Attacks on Mamdani from Congressional Republicans? Non-stop Islamophobic vitriol, threats of deportation, and virtually no coverage from CNN, NBC, CBS, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal or The Washington Post.

Leading up to NYC’s election, politicians launched a barrage of racist claims against Zohran Mamdani. Mainstream media outlets have barely covered it.

@ahjohnson.bsky.social reports on the Islamophobic vitriol, threats of deportation, & virtually no coverage.

So it is possible

Times Union editorial board tackled this in June, and again last month:

Should be fixed soon!

Why is Mainstream Media Ignoring Overtly Racist Attacks on Mamdani from Congressional Republicans? Non-stop Islamopbohic vitriol, threats of deportation, and virtually no coverage from CNN, NBC, CBS, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal or The Washington Post.

Congressional republicans have been spewing racist attacks on Mamdani for weeks and it’s almost never mentioned in our media. Not only that, the person leading the hate campaign—Randy Fine—is treated by the same media as a good faith expert on antisemitism. I wrote about this obscene double standard

Bad luck walking into one of those super anti-military Alabama honky tonk bars. What are the odds he happened to show up on ‘Maoist third worldists drink free’ night?

Elite media to Mamdani: Drop everything that made you successful and act more like a generic Democrat From the NYT editorial board to CNN panels, Zohran Mamdani is hearing unsolicited advice––and veiled threats––from US corporate media.

From the NYT editorial board to CNN panels, Zohran Mamdani is hearing unsolicited advice––and veiled threats––from US corporate media: by @ahjohnson.bsky.social

Media Pontificating About Trump’s Motives for Attacking Venezuela Keep Ignoring that he Openly Admitted It Was to Take Their Oil BBC, Politico, WaPo, CNN entertain many reasons for why Trump wants regime change in Venezuela—while ignoring the most obvious.

As @ahjohnson.bsky.social points out here, the US media is stroking its chin & pondering why Trump wants to attack Venezuela. They somehow overlook his stated motivation, which is that Venezuela has the world's biggest oil reserves.

Media Pontificating About Trump’s Motives for Attacking Venezuela Keep Ignoring that he Openly Admitted It Was to Take Their Oil BBC, Politico, WaPo, CNN entertain many reasons for why Trump wants regime change in Venezuela—while ignoring the most obvious.

Trump has openly said his motive for attacking Venezuela is to seize its oil. But recent explainers in WaPo, Politico, BBC, CNN pontificating about Trump's motives do not mention this fact at all. I wrote about western media's bizarre refusal to state the obvious, even after Trump says it himself.

Citations listeners! Join us this Wed Nov 5 at 5:30pmET/4:30pmCT for a YouTube live show on the media’s reaction to the NYC mayoral election. Will it be a Mamdani meltdown? Will there be executions in Central Park? Will the MSNBC/Pod Saves set successfully Obama-fy him? Find out!

Citations Needed Live Show Beg-a-Thon: MAHA, TikTok and the Rise of Health-Branded Fascism In this Live Show Beg-a-Thon from 10/13, we are joined by Justin Feldman to discuss the rise of MAHA, the broader Granola-to-Fascist Pipeline and how corporate-written food policies and our shitty for

In this Live Show Beg-a-Thon, "MAHA, TikTok and the Rise of Health-Branded Fascism," recorded on 10/13, we are joined by Justin Feldman to discuss the rise of MAHA, the broader Granola-to-Fascist Pipeline and how corporate-written food policies and our for-profit medical system fuel hucksterism.

News Brief: As Trump Attacks Venezuela, Media Takes His Absurd “Drug War” Pretext at Face Value In this News Brief, we detail how the AP, Atlantic, Washington Post and New York Times are accepting Trump's framing that his attacks on Venezuela and Colombia are about

In this News Brief, we detail how the AP, Atlantic, Washington Post and New York Times are accepting Trump's framing that his attacks on Venezuela and Colombia are about "going after drug cartels" when it's clear they are—based on Trump's own words—about controlling Venezuela's oil.

News Brief: Media Helps Sell ICE Raids with Zero Dark Thirty Ride-Along Schlock In this News Brief, we are joined by Matthew Cunningham-Cook to discuss his recent media analysis of "embedded reports" of ICE raids that prime the public for brutal crackdowns on undocumented immigra

In this News Brief, "Media Helps Sell ICE Raids with Zero Dark Thirty Ride-Along Schlock," we discuss NYT, NBC, Fox, CBS and ABC's "embedded reports" of ICE raids that prime the public for ICE’s abductions and harassment of immigrants.

With guest @matthewccook5.bsky.social

People talk about how Star Trek whiffed trans themes in TNG, and it’s true to an extent but one thing they were absolutely not ready for was poly Phlox

SHOW OUT TO OUR COURT HEARING TO SUPPORT THE NU STUDENT'S CLASS ACTION MONDAY OCT. 20 2:00 PM COURTROOM: 1719 219 SOUTH DEARBORN STREET, CHICAGO, IL 60604 THE BUILDING IS ON THE NORTHEAST SIDE OF DEARBORN & JACKSON WE INVITE NORTHWESTERN STUDENTS, FACULTY, THE GREATER EVANSTON COMMUNITY, AND THE GREATER CHICAGO COMMUNITY TO COME TO THE HEARING! TO SHOW THAT WE ALL CARE ABOUT THIS ISSUE AND THAT THIS CASE AFFECTS US ALL! [HEARING ON PLAINTIFFS' PETITION FOR A TEMPORARY RESTRAINING ORDERI COURT ETIQUETTE • BRING YOUR ID • NO BANNERS OR DISRUPTIONS • DRESS NEUTRALLY • BE RESPECTFUL • BE ON TIME CASE INFO: HTTPS://TINYURL.COM/FILEDCOMPLAINT

Folks I know there’s a lot going on, but if you’re free tmrw in Chicago plz support NU students been banned from classes for refusing to watch Israeli propaganda. Their lawyer (& mine), Rima Kapita, has filed an emergency order demanding the courts intervene. I filed an affidavit of support. 🙏🏾

News Brief: The Billionaire-Backed Groups Working to Push Dems Right in 2026 and 2028 In this public News Brief, we detail three major factions that have emerged in 2025 seeking to rewrite the history of the 2024 election as

In this News Brief, "The Billionaire-Backed Groups Working to Push Dems Right in 2026 & 2028," we detail the major factions seeking to rewrite the history of the 2024 election as "woke" Gone Too Far, downplay Gaza, and prevent economic populism at all costs.

I want position players pitching or it’s a disappointment

Monday at 9:30 pm ET / 8:30 pm CT on our YouTube channel! Don't miss it!

To clarify in case there’s any confusion, this is not a prediction of what will come to pass (I don’t make those, I’m bad at wagering), it’s an analysis of what I think billionaires broadly think of the moment and what they perceive as the purpose of media in the near future.

I wrote about the Bari Weiss take over of CBS News as part of a broader trend away from the pretense of liberal institutionalism into a genuinely post-reality tabloidism, marked by AI slop, unsophisticated Trumpian-Likudite propaganda and consolidation of traditional and social media.

News Brief: IDF-Funding Mega-Billionaire Buys CBS News, Installs Bari Weiss to Enforce Ideological Discipline | Citations Needed Get more from Citations Needed on Patreon

In this News Brief, "IDF-Funding Mega-Billionaire Buys CBS News, Installs Bari Weiss to Enforce Ideological Discipline," we discuss the Ellisons' purchase of Paramount and the TikTok algorithm, their potential purchase of CNN, and how this will invariably incite more violence against Palestinians.

They are not but as an explanatory device for genocide “stay out of prison” is misleading and to the extent it’s true it’s only true because genocide is popular

It’s Not Just 'Netanyahu': The Rise of Liberals’ One Bad Man Theory to Explain Away Gaza Genocide Attempts to pin the horrors on “Netanyahu" obscure the reality of just how popular genocide is with US elites and within Israel itself.

His policies are very popular and, in key ways, are *to the left* of Israelis society. As I explained here. www.columnblog.com/p/its-not-ju...

Netanyahu didn’t do genocide in Gaza to stay out of prison, he did genocide because genocide is very popular in Israel. It’s political consensus.

Things can be meaningfully escalatory. Things are very rarely bimodal.

This is their goal at least, whether these liberal systems can sufficiently push back remains to be seen.

I think this is misreading the play, correct in spirit but not in letter. They will seek to gut liberal institutions, support system and basic GOTV thus making defeating Republicans that much more difficult but not impossible. So there’ll be voting but close races will artificially go GOP

In 2 Years of Gaza Genocide, Sunday Shows on NBC, ABC and CNN Have Not Featured a Single Palestinian Guest In a microcosm of the U.S. coverage of Israel’s war on Gaza, since Oct. 7, 2023, influential Sunday news shows have not seen fit to book any Palestinians.

For 2 years of Israel’s genocide in Gaza, not one Palestinian voice has been featured on NBC, ABC or CNN’s Sunday shows.

@ahjohnson.bsky.social writes about how the U.S. media has debated Palestinians’ annihilation without letting a single Palestinian speak.

inthesetimes.com/article/gaza...

Please join us one week from today for a Beg-A-Thon live show @ 9:30ET/8:30CT! We will be joined by Justin Feldman
to discuss the rise of MAHA, the broader Granola-to-Fascist Pipeline and how corporate-written food policies and our shitty for-profit medical system fuel hucksterism.

I never said they were. Try reading it again