Genuine: The Opposite of Fake

 The word fake gets chucked around a lot. With AI becoming more of a thing, fakes are a growing industry, especially how it applies to the media. The term ‘fake news’ gets thrown around a lot, usually by the people who are telling the lies and don’t like them getting exposed. While most accusations of fakeness are hollow projections, it is fair to say that mainstream media does leave a lot to be desired in terms of integrity. There is either a desperate attempt to stay neutral, in which case the stories they produce are toothless and leave too much to the reader to sort out for themselves, or they are slaves to a corporate commercial agenda that is more concerned about ratings and traffic than maintaining journalistic integrity.

For this post I thought I would promote lower scale media channels that focus on bringing honesty to political reporting. This is particularly important in the run up to the US elections which are only a few weeks away. Those are the most consequential elections of the century so far, for all the wrong reasons. The world is at an inflection point, where unpopular right wing politicians are realising that their approach is heading for the tar pits of history and they need to find away to avoid that annoying democratic process that they are tied to. This US election is not so much about which party wins as about a vote for democracy itself. Now democracy isn’t perfect, but it is still preferable to having some demented narcissistic sociopath imposing his will on the most powerful country in the world whether they like it or not. The podcasters I am about to highlight understand the threat to democracy, understand the bullshit approach of mainstream media and aim to present that rare thing: reality. Even though it’s an old fashioned word I’m gong to describe them as genuine media. As in not fake. As in honest. As in reliable.

Meidas Touch Network

Probably the most well known and comprehensive, the Meidas Touch Network has grown from its initial living room podcast to having more than 3 million subscribers and being name checked on 60 Minutes. Ben Meiselas is the lead podcaster but there is also the offshoot Legal AF with Michael Pocock for amateur legal geeks to dive into. Highlighting political hypocrisy and the negligence of commercial media when it comes to exposing misinformation and deceit, these guys are both brutally honest and hilarious. Fact checking is their strong point and they are able to source up some stories that few others would go near, like just how close were Trump and Jeffrey Epstein? With a growing reach they are the right wing’s worst nightmare.

Bryan Tyler Cohen

Meidas Touch are the right wing’s worst nightmare with one possible exception: Bryan Tyler Cohen. Brian is my favourite political commentator. Not just brutally, but savagely honest his sarcasm is a more deadly weapon than any AR15. If you are looking for razor sharp humour look no further. But Brian isn’t just a joker – although he knows that nothing hurts a puffed up, pretentious politician more than being laughed at – but he is also searingly honest when it comes to reporting the facts behind the spin. Piers Morgan foolishly invited him on as a panelist recently and instantly regretted it. As a bonus value add, Brian also hosts spin off podcasts The Legal Breakdown with Glen Kirschner and Democracy Watch with Marc Elias. Both are a lot more serious, but they hit the honesty button hard and you won’t find anything that cuts through the BS harder.

David Pakman

Moving away from the more aggressive approach of Brian and Ben, David Packman has carved a niche as a commentator that likes to present a fair assessment of political crud. In other words David tries to be more balanced, while still exposing the constant hypocrisy and misinformation that runs rampant through US politics. Sometimes his desire to be fair can be a little bit irritating when you know he is dealing with obvious bullshit, but on the whole he treats his topics with integrity and you have to admire him for that. The fact that he gets so much hate mail proves that he is hitting nerves with the right wingers in his audience, but it also proves that they are watching him, which is important when it comes to breaking down silos. His real time fact checking and the way he laughs when Trump speaks is reason enough to watch him.

The Young Turks

Taking David Packman’s balanced approach a step further, but turning it on its head so they hold no one sacred are TYT. Very experienced, with more than ten years under their belt, they are a lot more politically aggressive, to the extent that host Cenk Uygur stood as a Democrat presidential candidate in the primaries. He obviously got nowhere but he proved he means business. Another one of Piers Morgan’s panelists that he must have later regretted, Cenk has a booming voice and a bear-like sense of humour. His co-hosts on the network support the overall approach to find the nastiest political crap they can and expose it. Possibly dealing more in outrage than I’m comfortable with, they are still one million times less strident than political propagandists like Fox etc. Equally at home exposing the madness of Q-Anon as they are looking under the hood of the GOP and Democrats they are challenging and great if you are in the mood to kick some shit.

Pondering Politics

Jessiah Eberlan is the host here. Bit more of a slow burn than the previous podcasters, it took me longer to get into his more low key approach, but once you get to know his style he is the equal of Packman when it comes to keeping emotion out of his analysis and zooming in on the nitty gritty.

Luke Beasley

Also a bit more low key, but more prone to letting emotion out in his presentation, Luke is notable for actually getting out into the field and interviewing political nutters, fascists and conspiracy theorists to see what makes them tick. This is an especially brave thing to do in the current powder keg of US politics. How he hasn’t been assaulted yet is beyond me, especially when he seems to embody everything these people hate.

The Damage Report

Another network operating like Meidas Touch with guest presenters and side slots. Their Garbage People of the Week is always a laugh and shines the light on some lesser know political freaks. Operating in a space between Meidas Touch and Brian Tyler Cohen they are well worth the clicks.

The Dollemore Daily

Jesse Dollemore is a former marine with a big laugh and an open approach that encourages contact with his audience. This is a risky practice as he has been on the receiving end of some horrific abuse, but he keeps laughing at the haters and exposing their stupidity. The fact that he is an ex-serviceman gives him the credibility to get away with commentary that others can’t, and it seems to pull in more right wingers to his audience, for better or worse. His recent coverage of Trump’s Arlington Cemetery stunt is a must see.

Honourable mention also goes to Adam Mockler, Farron Balanced and Keith Edwards for their podcasts that cover similar ground to the Meidas Touch but without the numbers, although all of them are growing. More power to them – the world needs as many clear voices as it can get at the moment. It’s fair to say that none of these media channels would be anywhere near as popular if it wasn’t for Trump and the right wing in general, but that’s the natural process of restoring balance. The world has to wake up to the existential threat posed by the retrogressive, corrupt, hypocritical and downright retarded right wing view of the world and its enabler, organised religion. And that’s where we are going next.