
Citations Needed
Nima Shirazi and Adam Johnson · Citations Needed
Show overview
Citations Needed has been publishing since 2017, and across the 9 years since has built a catalogue of 373 episodes, alongside 5 trailers or bonus episodes. That works out to roughly 360 hours of audio in total. Releases follow a weekly cadence, with the show now in its 9th season.
Episodes typically run thirty-five to sixty minutes — most land between 40 min and 1h 13m — though episode length varies meaningfully from one episode to the next. The publisher flags most episodes as explicit, so expect adult themes or strong language throughout. It is catalogued as a EN-language News show.
The show is actively publishing — the most recent episode landed 4 days ago, with 15 episodes already out so far this year.
From the publisher
Citations Needed is a podcast about the intersection of media, PR, and power, hosted by Nima Shirazi and Adam Johnson.
Latest Episodes
View all 373 episodesLive Show: 'How to Sell a Genocide' Book Talk at The Word Is Change Bookstore in Brooklyn, NY
News Brief: "Peak TV," Streamer Studio Accounting Gimmicks, and the Precarity of Hollywood Labor
News Brief: How the Right Invented — and Exploited — the "Liberal Media" Trope
Ep 237: How Selective, Patronizing 'Deradicalization' Discourse Pathologizes Anti-Colonial Struggle
Ep 236: Manufactured Austerity and the Media Assisted 'Public-Private Partnership' Rip-Off

News Brief: As American Troops Hide in Civilian Hotels, US Media Ignores Pentagon's Use of 'Human Shields'
EIn this News Brief we examine CNN, the Atlantic, Washington Post and NYT's blatant 'human shields' double standard as reports emerge of US troops hiding from Iranian attacks in civilian infrastructure.

News Brief: How Decades of Media Distortions and Lies about "Iran's Nuclear Program" Lead to War
EIn this News Brief, we discuss a recent poll showing 70% of Americans are fundamentally wrong about the nature of Iran's "nuclear program"—including 1 in 4 who think Iran currently possesses a nuclear weapon, and detail how decades of sleazy media innuendo and fabrications got us to this point.

"Shadow Fleets," Sanctions & Western Media's International Law-ification of Arbitrary US Dictates
EIn this episode, we explore how arbitrary—often unilateral—sanctions against Enemy States are given the halo of international legal legitimacy with a combination of lies, slippery language and brainless court stenography. With guest Maryam Jamshidi, Associate Professor of Law at the University of Colorado School of Law.

News Brief: As Trump Crushes Academia, the NYT and Atlantic Still Fight 'Woke' Wars from 5 Years Ago
EIn this News Brief, we are joined by Chenjerai Kumanyika and Todd Wolfson of the American Association of University Professors to discuss Trump's gutting of higher education, its expansion on previous neoliberal privatization efforts, and how big donor and media backlash against "woke "academics and anti-Gaza genocide protestors is fueling the possible end of academic independence as we know it.

Ep 234: TikTok, Gen Z's Move to Social Media and Elite Panic Over Unsanctioned News
EIn this episode, we examine our political class' TikTok neurosis, how Gaza fueled its sell to US and Israeli military contractors, and the long history of elite panics around unsanctioned information flows. With guest Omar Zahzah.

News Brief: ICE, Senate Dems' Counterinsurgency PR, and the Limits of Body Cam Liberalism
EIn this News Brief, we detail the fundamental problems with Senate Democrats' cosmetic reforms, the strategy of letting outrage blow over and the conspicuous absence of any proposal that touches ICE's obscene budget.

Ep 233: How US Media Naturalizes Capital Strikes and Helps the Rich Undermine Democracy
EIn this episode, we examine how billionaires and corporations threatening capital strikes and capital flight to discipline populist politicians and movements is treated as normal, obvious, and healthy by US media.

News Brief: As Dem Leadership Waffles—Labor, Organizers, Immigrants Fight Back in Minneapolis
EIn this News Brief, we break down Dem leadership's fatuous "body cam" and "training" response to ICE brutality, and how organizers in the Twin Cities are not settling for cosmetic reform. With guest Janette Corcelius.

News Brief: For Media Reporting on Iran, Trump Suddenly Morphs into Pro-Democracy Humanitarian
bonusEIn this News Brief, we discuss mainstream media coverage of ongoing protests across Iran and how nearly every major Western outlet has been uncritically framing any potential regime change plans by the US government—including Trump ordering a military attack on the country—as being motivated primarily, if not solely, by concern for the lives, safety and rights of demonstrators.

News Brief: How Corporate Media Laid the Groundwork for a Rightwing Incitement Campaign in Minnesota
EIn this News Brief, we detail how CBS, Fox, WSJ, and NYT promoted an essentialized, overblown narrative on the "Somali Minnesota fraud" story, teeing up a full blown rightwing incitement campaign against Minneapolis's immigrant communities.

Ep 232: US Meddling, the Limits of 'Agency' Discourse and How Media Chooses Which 'Voices' To Center
EIn this episode, we discuss the uses and misuses of liberal standpoint theory to promote US meddling, sanctions, and bombing. With guest Vincent Bevins.

News Brief: BBC's Gaza Double Standard and Western Liberalism's Crisis of Legitimacy
EIn this News Brief, we interview journalist Daniel Trilling and discuss his investigation into the BBC's systemic anti-Palestinian bias.

Ep 231 - How To Oppose Genocide Without Opposing Genocide (Part 2): AIPAC Dems' Fake Israel Criticisms
EIn this episode, we detail the buyers' market for superficial Gaza critiques that permit ambitious Democrats to look pro-Palestine without the downside of actually being so. With guest Tariq Kenney-Shawa.

Ep 230 - How To Oppose Genocide Without Opposing Genocide (Part 1): Biden World's Reputation Laundering PR Tour
EIn this episode, we detail recent attempts by former Biden officials to rewrite history and absolve themselves of responsibility for the horrors of Gaza, and lay out the emerging Dem-aligned media industry of vibing past Democrats' lockstep support for genocide.

Citations Needed Live Show Beg-a-Thon: MAHA, TikTok and the Rise of Health-Branded Fascism
EIn this Live Show Beg-a-Thon from 10/13, we are joined by Justin Feldman to discuss the rise of MAHA, the broader Granola-to-Fascist Pipeline and how corporate-written food policies and our shitty for-profit medical system fuel hucksterism.