Media criticism with a public-interest spine.
FAIR’s CounterSpin treats news coverage as part of the story, not a neutral backdrop. Recent episodes question corporate tax avoidance, poverty wages, war narratives, government secrecy, local news consolidation, and attempts to sanitize U.S. history.
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FAIR’s CounterSpin is a weekly media-watch program built for listeners who hear a headline and immediately wonder what frame has already been smuggled in. It is not a breezy recap. Recent episodes move through corporate tax avoidance, poverty wages, U.S. war narratives, impeachment, government transparency, local news, LGBTQ rights, First Amendment threats, Abu Ghraib, and the attempted erasure of Black history from public memory. The common thread is power. CounterSpin asks why profitable companies paying little or nothing in federal income taxes are described as successful, why low pay is treated like weather instead of a business decision, and why stock buybacks receive less moral scrutiny than worker demands. Its economic coverage is plainspoken and sharp. Its foreign-policy coverage is heavier, especially around Iran, where guests and openings challenge media language that turns aggression, diplomacy, and civilian harm into abstract strategy. The show also spends time on the machinery of democracy: open records, archives, local reporting, dissent, and the public’s ability to know what is being done in its name. Court rulings are treated as stories about real people and institutional power, not just legal drama. The pace is direct. Short editorial setups give way to interviews with advocates, writers, legal directors, policy directors, fellows, and critics who bring context rather than spin. Janine Jackson’s recurring presence gives the program a consistent skeptical rhythm, but the emphasis stays on the issue at hand. The tone can be cutting, especially toward corporate media and official euphemism. It remains disciplined. CounterSpin is best for listeners who want a left media-criticism lens tied to labor, civil liberties, antiwar analysis, public accountability, and historical memory. It rewards attention to language. It also keeps asking a practical democratic question: what happens when the institutions meant to inform the public become too timid, too consolidated, or too invested in power to name what is happening?
Made for: For listeners who want media criticism grounded in labor, civil liberties, foreign policy, public records, and historical context. It suits people frustrated by headline shorthand and official euphemism.
What sets it apart: CounterSpin treats media framing as a political force, then connects that framing to workers, courts, wars, archives, and public memory. The show is sharper and more issue-specific than general political commentary.
CounterSpin is the weekly radio show of FAIR, the national media watch group.
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Counterspin sharpens attention to framing and omission, tools for critical listening even when its documented subjects are politics rather than music.
Janine Jackson gives Counterspin a clear method: begin with the language of major news coverage, identify what its framing treats as normal, and test those assumptions in conversation with a guest.
Janine Jackson turns neutral-sounding headlines over until you can see who benefits from the wording.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
Stock buybacks, low wages, and archived webpages prompt a look at business choices and public records.
Janine Jackson's conversation about poverty wages starts with a concrete choice: employers can spend money on stock buybacks, or that money could go toward workers' pay. The guest challenges the idea that low wages and part-time schedules are inevitable.
CounterSpin examines pressure on dissent, media owners' interests, and questions about war and accountability.
CounterSpin asks what happens to public debate when an administration pressures dissent and news organizations hesitate to defend the right to report it.
Jackson and Shupak question war coverage that leads with markets while leaving diplomacy and the human cost aside.
Janine Jackson opens with a familiar way of covering the US and Israeli attacks on Iran: what they might mean for markets and gas prices. She then asks where the families of children killed in the attacks belong in that calculation.
Janine Jackson and Naomi Bethune discuss efforts to sanitize Black history in public displays, government websites and funding.
Janine Jackson opens with FCC Chair Brendan Carr's pledge for broadcasters around America's 250th birthday. Carr says it is voluntary, but the request sets up a question that runs through her conversation with Naomi Bethune: who gets to decide which parts of American history the…
How news coverage describes Cuba's shortages, and what its wording suggests about US policy.
Janine Jackson starts with CNBC's coverage of Cuba's postponed cigar festival and a headline about Trump turning the screws as the island runs out of jet fuel.
Ari Berman connects renewed claims about Fulton County's 2020 vote to who may oversee Georgia's elections in 2028.
Janine Jackson and Ari Berman begin with the Save America Act, then turn to who may control future elections. Berman grounds that concern in Georgia, where members of the state election board have focused on Fulton County and passed information to the Justice Department and FBI.
Apple details, software habits, and everyday technical friction.
Records worth hearing, reasons worth arguing over.
Celebrity, clothes and chaos, talked through at full speed.
Counterspin opens with Tesla's reported $5.7 billion in U.S.
This episode of Counterspin discusses Trump's war crimes and threats against Iran, and explores the possibility of impeachment as a response.
This episode of Counterspin covers the Supreme Court ruling on conversion therapy bans and the importance of local news in a consolidated media landscape.
Janine Jackson introduces Sunshine Week and interviews Arlene Martinez about government transparency and the Michigan Press Association's decision not to give an award due to lack of progress.
Counterspin, hosted by Janine Jackson, pairs Pete Hegseth treating Fox News as "to the left" with the Fourth Circuit ruling in al-Shammari v.
This episode of Counterspin critiques U.S.
Counterspin and Gregory Shupak examine the U.S.-Israel strikes on Iran, the corporate-media focus on Trump’s messaging, and the omission of anti-war facts from major outlets like The New York Times and The Washington Post.
Judge Cynthia Roof said the government “does not have the power or the right to dissemble historical truths.”
Journalist and filmmaker Reed Lindsay, who has covered Cuba for over a decade with the project Belly of the Beast, tells Counterspin host Janine Jackson that U.S.
Counterspin host Janine Jackson interviews Ari Berman, national voting rights correspondent for Mother Jones and author of Minority Rule, about the FBI's raid seizing 656 boxes of 2020 ballots from Fulton County, Georgia.
This episode of Counterspin covers the ongoing Starbucks workers' strike and the environmental concerns surrounding AI data centers, featuring interviews with Derek Seidman and Mitch Jones.
Janine Jackson discusses an email from Speaker Mike Johnson about DOGE and interviews Jeff Hauser on Elon Musk's government role and Katya Schwenk on Boeing.
Janine Jackson introduces an interview with Tom Morello about the role of protest music in politics and activism.
This episode of Counterspin discusses House Republicans' plan to cut Medicaid and impose work requirements, and examines a Washington Post editorial questioning trans care for youth.