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Critical Frequency

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Channel • 10 Shows

History

History

Updated Weekly
Documentary

Documentary

Updated Weekly
History

History

Updated 10/01/2020
Music Commentary

Music Commentary

Updated Daily
History

History

Updated 10/29/2018
History

History

Updated 05/27/2019
News Commentary

News Commentary

Updated 02/26/2020

08/01/2023

Herb, Ep 3: The Next Citizens United Will Be a Climate Case

In more than 30 climate cases making their way through U.S. courts today, oil companies are using an argument they've been laying the legal groundwork for since the 1970s: that since everything they've ever said about climate change was in the interest of shaping policy or blocking regulation, it's protected speech, even if it was misleading. In this episode we take a look at how those cases are playing out and the likelihood that this new take on "corporate free speech" could make it all the way to the Supreme Court. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

08/01/2023

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27 min
11/09/2021

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

11/09/2021

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36 min
10/26/2021

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

10/26/2021

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29 min
11/02/2021

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

11/02/2021

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23 min
07/21/2023

Herb, Ep 1: The Panic

In the 1970s, Mobil Oil had invented the advertorial and was aggressively pursuing an entirely new type of marketing, branding the company as a person with a unique personality and opinions that deserved to be heard. When public backlash threatened to undermine their approach, they launched a campaign that would change the course of U.S. history. Transcript Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

07/21/2023

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35 min
08/01/2023

Herb, Ep 2: A Legal Strategy

Worried that all their work creating Mobil's personality and a multi-pronged issue advertising campaign to go with it would go to waste if the TV networks deemed it all "propaganda" Herb and his boss looked to the courts for protection. In this episode we follow the "corporate free speech" movement through the courts, where it got a big assist from tobacco lobbyist-turned-Supreme Court justice Lewis F. Powell. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

08/01/2023

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31 min
11/07/2018

Caleen Sisk, the Run4Salmon and the Relationship between Water, Salmon, and Native American History in the West

Now in its third year, the Run4Salmon is a 300-mile trek on foot, motorboat, bikes, horses and kayaks from the mouth of the Sacramento River, north to Shasta Lake, to send out prayers and raise awareness about their fight. It’s led by Winnemem Wintu chief Caleen Sisk, and is meant to be a spiritual journey to stop the Shasta Dam heightening, and bring back nearly extinct salmon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

11/07/2018

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31 min
06/09/2020

The End of Extractive Journalism

Extractive journalism—reporting on communities without input or accountability—is the model for a lot of journalism in the U.S., especially journalism about low-income people and communities of color. But lots of people are and have been actively resisting this model. We hear from Sarah Alvarez of Outlier Media in Detroit and Bettina Chang of City Bureau in Chicago about building journalism organizations based on power-sharing rather than extraction, how information can save lives in pandemic times, and how the COVID-19 crisis has changed their work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

06/09/2020

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41 min
12/07/2021

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

12/07/2021

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35 min
11/16/2021

S1 Ep4 | The Birth of SponCon

The legendary Herb Schmertz, VP of Mobil Oil, worked with PBS and The New York Times to invent sponsored content—sponcon—back in the 1960s. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

11/16/2021

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29 min

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