S4E10 Just Stop Oil: Why do people hate them so much?

Explicit content warning

08/15/24 • 60 min

Cult members. Fanatics. Selfish. Evil. All words that have been used to describe climate activists in the mainstream media.

Just Stop Oil have made many headlines since 2022, be it by stopping traffic or throwing powder on Stonehenge in their token orange shade. Last month, five members were sent to prison with the longest sentences ever given for peaceful protest in the UK. But what does the group actually want? If it weren't for the name, Just Stop Oil's aims would be largely absent from press reports, which focus on the public nuisance caused by the group rather than the climate change message behind it.

Are the horror stories of blockaded ambulances all to be believed, or is the media misrepresenting the group? If so, why? Why do the public apparently hate them so much? And why hasn't this stopped them?

We're joined by Just Stop Oil spokesperson Adrian Johnson and climate journalist Diyora Shadijanova.

Plus, your round-up of the headlines through a Media Storm lens: exposés of NHS strike 'plots', the reasons for inaccuracies coming out of Gaza, an Islamophobic Daily Mail front page, and... dogs?

As a take home message, we also speak to Emma Webber, mother of Nottingham attacks victim Barnaby Webber, about victims' consent in true crime and her reaction to the riots that followed the Southport stabbings.

Hosts: Mathilda Mallinson (@mathildamall) and Helena Wadia (@helenawadia)

Music: Samfire (@soundofsamfire)

Assistant Producer: Katie Grant

Support Media Storm on Patreon!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Cult members. Fanatics. Selfish. Evil. All words that have been used to describe climate activists in the mainstream media.

We're joined by Just Stop Oil spokesperson Adrian Johnson and climate journalist Diyora Shadijanova.

Plus, your round-up of the headlines through a Media Storm lens: exposés of NHS strike 'plots', the reasons for inaccuracies coming out of Gaza, an Islamophobic Daily Mail front page, and... dogs?

Hosts: Mathilda Mallinson (@mathildamall) and Helena Wadia (@helenawadia)

Music: Samfire (@soundofsamfire)

Assistant Producer: Katie Grant

Support Media Storm on Patreon!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Previous Episode

S4E9 Bigotry & bad information: Islamophobia, far-right riots, and Olympic boxing row

This week has seen stories of bigotry, fuelled by bad information.

Anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant riots sprung up across the UK, with no factual basis in the incident that triggered them - a stabbing attack that killed three young girls in Southport last Monday, founded on a widespread fake news story that the attacker was a Muslim asylum seeker who arrived ‘illegally’ by boat.

But some mainstream news outlets seemed to have trouble naming the problem. Riots were labelled ‘protests’. Attacking a mosque was called ‘disorder’. And the word Islamophobia? That was nowhere to be found.

This week we are joined by Rizwana Hamid, award-winning journalist and the director of The Centre for Media Monitoring - which promotes accurate, fair and responsible reporting of Muslims & Islam. We discuss longstanding Islamophobia in the British media, the treatment of Zarah Sultana MP on Good Morning Britain, and smash tropes and stereotypes including accusations of grooming gangs and extremism.

You’ll also hear from Sabah Ahmedi, aka @theyoungimam, who invites those who disagree with or fear his faith to step out of their comfort zone, visit a mosque, and see for themselves.

Plus, your round-up of the headlines through a Media Storm lens, including tackling the disinformation surrounding the ‘gender eligibility’ of two Olympic boxers - Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-Ting.

Hosts: Mathilda Mallinson (@mathildamall) and Helena Wadia (@helenawadia)

Music: Samfire (@soundofsamfire)

Assistant Producer: Katie Grant

Support Media Storm on Patreon!

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Next Episode

S4E11 Prisons: Overcrowding, Operation Early Dawn, and child strip-searches

‘UK PRISONS OVERCROWDED AFTER RACIST RIOTS!’

‘A CHILD IS STRIP-SEARCHED EVERY 14 HOURS’

‘SCORES OF CRIMINALS COULD BE FREED IN DAYS’

Headlines this week spotlight the UK’s criminal justice system, as prison overcrowding triggers emergency measures. Amazingly, serious talks about prison reform have entered the mainstream media - but a key voice is missing from the coverage: prisoners themselves.

This week, people with inside knowledge of the system join Helena and Mathilda for the week’s top stories. Lady Unchained and David Navarro talk prison overcrowding, child strip-searching, and the new prisons minister, James Timpson. We also ask: was this really all caused by Keir Starmer’s ‘clampdown’ on far-right rioters?

Plus, other Media Storms of the week: Superyacht shipwreck, migrant ‘superheroes’, and Steven van de Velde's post-Olympics interviews.

Hosts: Mathilda Mallinson (@mathildamall) and Helena Wadia (@helenawadia)

Music: Samfire (@soundofsamfire)

Assistant Producer: Katie Grant

Episode research: Camilla Tiana

Support Media Storm on Patreon!

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