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Critical Frequency

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Channel • 12 Shows

History

History

Updated weekly
Social Sciences

Social Sciences

Weekly series
TV & Film

TV & Film

Updated 28/11/2018
History

History

Updated 01/10/2020
History

History

Updated 27/05/2019
Music Commentary

Music Commentary

Updated daily
TV & Film

TV & Film

Updated 06/01/2019

07/12/2021

S1 Ep6 | How a Standard Oil PR Guy Shaped Post-War America

In 1944 the greatest threat to American industry wasn't World War II, it was convincing Americans to fall back in love with free-market capitalism after having experienced government systems that actually worked for the greater good. In the season finale of Rigged, we lay out the strategy contained in a never-before-published confidential document from the archive of Earl Newsom, Standard Oil of New Jersey's (today ExxonMobil) top PR guy from the late '30s to the late '60s. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

07/12/2021

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35 min
09/11/2021

S1 Ep3 | A Tie Is A Win

The tactic of science denial is fairly well known these days. In this episode, we dig into a lesser-known aspect: the PR strategy behind science denial, and the origins and architects of that strategy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

09/11/2021

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36 min
21/03/2023

S8 Ep2 | The Contract

After a year’s worth of pressure from local press and civil society groups, the Guyanese government released its contract with ExxonMobil to the public in December 2017. The IMF calls it an unfair deal for Guyana. Some local leaders start calling on government officials to try to renegotiate the contract, but others say that’s a fool’s errand and the only place to fight the contract is in court. Read more in Antonia Juhasz's Wired story on Guyana: https://www.wired.com/story/the-quest-to-defuse-carbon-bomb-guyana/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

21/03/2023

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38 min
30/07/2024

Denial to Delay: How the Fossil Fuel Industry Rebranded an Oil Production Technique as a "Climate Solution" and Got Taxpayers to Foot the Bill

Carbon capture has always seemed a little scammy, but in a blockbuster investigation co-published with Vox this week, we discovered just *how* scammy. Carolyn Raffensperger, executive director of the Science and Environmental Health Network, joins to walk us through the many issues with the technology, from the fact that it delivers little to no climate benefit to the fact that it creates a massive new public health threat. Read more here: https://drilled.media/news/ccs Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

30/07/2024

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36 min
28/03/2023

S8 Ep3 | Unlimited Liability

One person in Guyana knows both the inner workings of oil companies and the intricacies of Guyanese environmental law better than most. Melinda Janki grew up in Guyana, but went to university at Oxford and then worked as in-house counsel for oil giant BP before returning home. Decades ago she started to help strengthen the country’s environmental laws. In 2018 she started filing suits against the government to block offshore drilling. Her latest suit demands that ExxonMobil be liable for any environmental damage caused to Guyana in case of an offshore catastrophe. Read more in Antonia Juhasz's Wired story on Guyana: https://www.wired.com/story/the-quest-to-defuse-carbon-bomb-guyana/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

28/03/2023

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42 min
30/11/2021

S1 Ep5 | Fun with Front Groups

Astroturfing—the creation of fake grassroots groups to agitate for pro-business policies—has been a favorite tactic of industries and companies trying to avoid regulation for decades. In this episode we take a look at some of the greatest hits. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

30/11/2021

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27 min
03/07/2024

Denial to Delay: The Great "Greening" of LNG

As part of our ongoing series looking into new climate problems the fossil fuel industry is peddling as solutions, we did a deep dive into the push to position liquefied natural gas—a fossil fuel—as "green" and discovered one particularly active lobbying group. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

03/07/2024

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40 min
26/10/2021

S1 Ep1 | Fake Experts and Real Bacon

In this episode we'll meet the godfathers of American PR, Ivy Lee and Edward Bernays, and explore the origins and evolution of industry-funded experts who shaped everything from the breakfast table to our understanding of the economy and science. Read more: http://rigged.media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

26/10/2021

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29 min
02/11/2021

S1 Ep2 | Ye Olde Crisis Actor Myth

You could be forgiven for thinking the crisis actor myth was cooked up by Alex Jones to sell people on school shooting conspiracies, but in fact it's more than a century old. In this episode we meet the world's first publicist, the legendary Ivy Ledbetter Lee, and learn about his work crushing mine strikes for the Rockefellers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02/11/2021

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23 min
21/03/2025

New Research: The Advertorials Many Media Outlets Make for Oil Companies Are Misleading, But They Don't Have to Be

We have covered before how the fossil fuel industry created the advertorial and how it continues work with media on the modern incarnation: sponsored content, created by the media outlets themselves. To be clear, it’s outlets’ internal brand studios that write op-eds, craft slide shows and videos, and produce podcasts for fossil fuel companies, not their editorial staff. But these services are explicitly marketed as a way to make corporate content mirror the editorial content in style and approach, and when it comes to fossil fuel advertisers it often directly contradicts what the editorial staff is reporting. In late 2023, we published a report detailing the many examples of this and delving into the peer-reviewed research that shows how misleading this practice is to readers. This week, one of the researchers who has contributed the most to that body of evidence, Dr. Michelle Amazeen, at Boston University, published a new study looking at why this practice is particularly misleading on social media, and what media outlets might be able to do to make it less so. She joins us to speak about that research. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

21/03/2025

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20 min

In Rigged, we’ll rummage through the bag of tricks used by PR to shape the world you live in. Over the last century, these tricks have rigged the media, the government… society, really...with sometimes ridiculous, and sometimes profoundly serious effects on our democracy. This is a podcast about that war for hearts and minds right here on US soil.

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HISTORY
A true-crime podcast about climate change. Reported and hosted by a team of investigative climate journalists, Drilled examines the various obstacles that have kept the world from adequately responding to climate change.

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SOCIAL SCIENCES
Law & Order meets the climate crisis as we dig into the stories behind the hundreds of climate cases around the globe.

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DOCUMENTARY