A year ago I published the book National Security Cinema: The Shocking New Evidence of Government Control in Hollywood. On this month’s subscriber podcast I reflect on the success of the book, its impact on media coverage of the topic of government influence on entertainment and the plans for a followup book. I also talk […](Read more...)
Information recently obtained under FOIA has revealed that up to 200 Home Office staff have liaised with TV and Film producers about the content of their products, usually without any kind of contract in place governing their behaviour. While they are refusing to release exact details, this is confirmation that the British government has a […](Read more...)
Dennis Rodman's visit to North Korea in early 2013 sent shock waves through the international media and inspired a CIA-supported Hollywood film about assassinating Kim Jong-Un. It also drew the attention of the US State Department, who recently released cables about Rodman's trip, though they are highly classified and heavily redacted.
This week I am joined by long-time 9/11 researcher and activist Jon Gold, to talk about his new book We Were Lied to About 9/11. We discuss Jon’s experiences both of the 9/11 attacks and of his years of research and activism, along with the legacy of the ‘truth movement’ and why Jon’s approach is […](Read more...)
The Untouchables TV series (1959-63) was the first of its kind – a police procedural with explicit violence and action. Up until then most detective stories focused on the investigation, but The Untouchables featured the gunfights and car chases that became staples of the genre by the 1970s. It was also subject to investigation by […](Read more...)
The Last Supper is a 1990s black comedy where a group of ultra-liberal post-graduate students invite right-wingers over for debate, and kill them if they cannot change their minds. In this episode I analyse this film’s political satire, the occult symbolism littered throughout the movie, and how the logical result of identity politics is the […](Read more...)
In 1995 the Pentagon supported an episode of the popular sitcom Home Improvement, where Tim and Jill get to drive tanks at a Marine base. This week we take a deep dive into this episode, its feminist subtext, and the DOD’s political censorship of the script, courtesy of a file from an archive in Georgetown. […](Read more...)
For decades the Eurovision Song Contest has been a platform for projecting soft power and engaging in cultural warfare. In this month’s subscriber-only podcast I look at how Eurovision entries have been used for propaganda and have been subject to political censorship. I discuss this year’s winning entry – which purports to be an anthem […](Read more...)
In 1974 former CIA officer Victor Marchetti and former State Department official John Marks published their book The CIA and the Cult of Intelligence. This week I examine a file in the JFK archives that details what the CIA censored from the book, and why. I look at several categories of CIA operations that were […](Read more...)
