The Munk Debates Podcast Munk Foundation / iHeartRadio

Within one week of the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, the BBC received more than 1,500 complaints relating to its coverage of the Israel-Hamas conflict. Criticisms were split almost evenly between those claiming its reporting had been biased against Israel and those saying it was biased in favour of Israel. These disparate interpretations of the media’s coverage of the war are not limited to the BBC. Other mainstream media outlets like the New York Times, CNN, and the CBC have faced similar accusations in recent weeks. Israel’s supporters argue that activists have infiltrated newsrooms, leading to journalism that is increasingly biased against the party whom many young progressives have deemed the villain in this conflict: Israel. From falsely and prematurely blaming Israel for an attack on a Gaza hospital, to refusing to use the word terrorists to describe Hamas, to trusting information provided to them by Hamas under the pretext of the Gaza Health Ministry, the international press has shown its true colours and cannot be relied upon to deliver unbiased, factual reporting. Others argue that the opposite is true. For decades the western press has ignored the suffering of Palestinians and deemed them less deserving of attention or sympathy due to a colonial, white supremacist way of thinking. Whereas Ukrainians who use violence to resist occupation are depicted as heroes, Palestinians are derided as attackers and terrorists. This dehumanization has made violence towards them more acceptable and has made western media outlets complicit in the deaths of thousands of innocent civilians.

 

Arguing in favour of the resolution is James Kirchick. He’s a columnist for Tablet magazine and a writer at large for Air Mail.

Arguing against the resolution is Arwa Damon, a former CNN Senior International Correspondent.

 

SOURCES: Sky News, BBC, Fox News

 

The host of the Munk Debates is Rudyard Griffiths - @rudyardg.  

Tweet your comments about this episode to @munkdebate or comment on our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/munkdebates/

To sign up for a weekly email reminder for this podcast, send an email to podcast@munkdebates.com.  

To support civil and substantive debate on the big questions of the day, consider becoming a Munk Member at https://munkdebates.com/membership

Members receive access to our 10+ year library of great debates in HD video, a free Munk Debates book, newsletter and ticketing privileges at our live events.

This podcast is a project of the Munk Debates, a Canadian charitable organization dedicated to fostering civil and substantive public dialogue - https://munkdebates.com/

Senior Producer: Ricki Gurwitz

Editor: Kieran Lynch

On this episode of the Munk Debate podcast we’re talking about one of the biggest challenges facing the Israeli army in Gaza: Hamas tunnels. These tunnels, some of which stretch for miles and reach depths as low as 230 feet underground, offer Hamas fighters protection and allow them to launch attacks against the IDF before returning underground to safety. How can Israel hope to dismantle this underground web of labyrinths, while trying to rescue over 200 hostages that are suspected of being held there? For this, and more, we turn to one of the world’s leading experts on urban warfare, John Spencer. John is a combat veteran, national security and military analyst, and chair of urban warfare studies at the Modern War Institute.

The host of the Munk Debates is Rudyard Griffiths - @rudyardg.  

Tweet your comments about this episode to @munkdebate or comment on our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/munkdebates/

To sign up for a weekly email reminder for this podcast, send an email to podcast@munkdebates.com.  

To support civil and substantive debate on the big questions of the day, consider becoming a Munk Member at https://munkdebates.com/membership

Members receive access to our 10+ year library of great debates in HD video, a free Munk Debates book, newsletter and ticketing privileges at our live events.

This podcast is a project of the Munk Debates, a Canadian charitable organization dedicated to fostering civil and substantive public dialogue - https://munkdebates.com/

Senior Producer: Ricki Gurwitz

Editor: Kieran Lynch

This is the podcast version of our public debate on the Crisis of Liberalism that took place in front of an audience of 3,000 people in Toronto on November 3rd, 2023.

For the better part of three centuries, through wars, revolutions, and sweeping social change, liberalism has endured as the defining ideology of the West. Its championing of individual rights, free trade and capitalism, and liberal democracy has long been equated with the West’s economic development, social tolerance, personal freedoms, and the rule of law. But, more recently, powerful criticisms of liberalism have arisen on the right (populism) and left (socialism). Liberalism is increasingly blamed for everything from growing inequality, environmental degradation, political polarization, and cultural fragmentation. For its critics, liberalism has become an impediment to the goal of progress, and humanity urgently needs a new animating ideology.

Arguing for the motion is the controversial British M.P. and former cabinet minister, Jacob Rees-Mogg. He is joined by the American writer and columnist who has shaped a generation’s thinking on the important issues of our time: George F. Will.

Opposing the motion is U.K. journalist, self-avowed communist and popular leftist thinker, Ash Sarkar. Her debating partner is the disruptive and thought-provoking American social conservative, Sohrab Ahmari, author of the bestseller Tyranny Inc.: How Private Power Crushed American Liberty.

 

The host of the Munk Debates is Rudyard Griffiths - @rudyardg.  

Tweet your comments about this episode to @munkdebate or comment on our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/munkdebates/

To sign up for a weekly email reminder for this podcast, send an email to podcast@munkdebates.com.  

To support civil and substantive debate on the big questions of the day, consider becoming a Munk Member at https://munkdebates.com/membership

Members receive access to our 10+ year library of great debates in HD video, a free Munk Debates book, newsletter and ticketing privileges at our live events.

This podcast is a project of the Munk Debates, a Canadian charitable organization dedicated to fostering civil and substantive public dialogue - https://munkdebates.com/

Senior Producer: Ricki Gurwitz

Editor: Kieran Lynch

The last two decades have seen the world economy cascade from crisis to crisis: from the global financial crisis of 2008, to increasing economic inequality and the devastating effects of climate change, to the COVID supply chain crisis and rise in inflation, we are living in a period of heightened instability. It is this economic unpredictability which is the subject of a new book by world famous investor Mohamed El Erian. Permacrisis: A Plan to Fix a Fractured World, written together with former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Nobel Prize winning economist Michael Spence, identifies the common causes behind these crises, and offers a sensible plan for reform to create a fairer, more equitable and more stable world.

 

The host of the Munk Debates is Rudyard Griffiths - @rudyardg.  

Tweet your comments about this episode to @munkdebate or comment on our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/munkdebates/

To sign up for a weekly email reminder for this podcast, send an email to podcast@munkdebates.com.  

To support civil and substantive debate on the big questions of the day, consider becoming a Munk Member at https://munkdebates.com/membership

Members receive access to our 10+ year library of great debates in HD video, a free Munk Debates book, newsletter and ticketing privileges at our live events.

This podcast is a project of the Munk Debates, a Canadian charitable organization dedicated to fostering civil and substantive public dialogue - https://munkdebates.com/

Senior Producer: Ricki Gurwitz

Editor: Kieran Lynch

On this Munk Dialogue we’re speaking to American billionaire investor Leon Cooperman. Leon is as famous for his candid conversations as his success on the stock market, and in this dialogue he doesn’t hold back. Leon tells us why he welcomes the recent rise in interest rates, why he thinks Bidenomics has been a disaster for the US economy, and what stocks he’s investing in right now. We also get his response to the current war between Israel and Hamas, the rise of anti-semitism on campus, and why he has vowed to stop donating to his alma mater, Columbia University.  

 

The host of the Munk Debates is Rudyard Griffiths - @rudyardg.  

Tweet your comments about this episode to @munkdebate or comment on our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/munkdebates/

To sign up for a weekly email reminder for this podcast, send an email to podcast@munkdebates.com.  

To support civil and substantive debate on the big questions of the day, consider becoming a Munk Member at https://munkdebates.com/membership

Members receive access to our 10+ year library of great debates in HD video, a free Munk Debates book, newsletter and ticketing privileges at our live events.

This podcast is a project of the Munk Debates, a Canadian charitable organization dedicated to fostering civil and substantive public dialogue - https://munkdebates.com/

Senior Producer: Ricki Gurwitz

Editor: Kieran Lynch

On November 3rd four debaters will take to the stage at Toronto’s Roy Thomson Hall to debate the crisis of liberalism.

The motion is Be it Resolved, liberalism gets the big questions right. 

On this Munk Dialogue, we are speaking with each of the debaters who are taking part in this important and timely debate, to get a sense of their arguments and what we can expect from them on stage at Toronto’s Roy Thomson Hall on November 3rd.

Arguing for the motion is the controversial British M.P. and former cabinet minister, Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg. He will be joined by the American writer and columnist who has shaped a generation’s thinking on the important issues of our time: George F. Will.

Opposing the motion is U.K. journalist, self-avowed communist and popular leftist thinker, Ash Sarkar. Her debating partner is the disruptive and thought-provoking American social conservative, Sohrab Ahmari, author of the bestseller Tyranny Inc.: How Private Power Crushed American Liberty.

The host of the Munk Debates is Rudyard Griffiths

Tweet your comments about this episode to @munkdebate or comment on our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/munkdebates/

To sign up for a weekly email reminder for this podcast, send an email to podcast@munkdebates.com.  

To support civil and substantive debate on the big questions of the day, consider becoming a Munk Member at https://munkdebates.com/membership

Members receive access to our 10+ year library of great debates in HD video, a free Munk Debates book, newsletter and ticketing privileges at our live events.This podcast is a project of the Munk Debates, a Canadian charitable organization dedicated to fostering civil and substantive public dialogue - https://munkdebates.com/

Senior Producer: Ricki Gurwitz

Editor: Kieran Lynch