Patrick & Claud Cockburn: A Legacy of Guerilla Journalism Against Media Complacency

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Discover how Claude Cockburn's guerrilla journalism foresaw the rise of fascism in the 1930s and challenged mainstream media narratives.

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Description: Mainstream media has a lot to account for in 2024, but go back 90 years, and prestigious publications have often failed to see when things were so clearly wrong. In 1930s Germany, many journalists downplayed Adolf Hitler’s ascension to power, with the New York Times writing “There is no warrant for immediate alarm…The more violent parts of his alleged program he has himself in recent months been softening down or abandoning.” But one young British journalist who, seeing what was happening, quit his job with The London Times and founded The Week, a newsletter that became famous for its opposition to fascism and the Western powers that were enabling it. His name was Claud Cockburn, and he’s the subject of a newly-released biography by his son, Patrick Cockburn, “Believe Nothing Until It Is Officially Denied: Claud Cockburn and the Invention of Guerrilla Journalism,” out now via Verso Books. Patrick is an award-winning journalist himself, with a long expertise in the Middle East. And Patrick is Laura Flanders’ uncle; Claud is her grandfather. How did mainstream media miss what Claud knew about the rise of Nazis, and how did his guerilla journalism make an impact? And why is Claud’s story so relevant now? All that, plus a commentary from Laura.

Guest: Patrick Cockburn, Journalist, and author including “Believe Nothing Until It Is Officially Denied: Claud Cockburn and the Invention of Guerrilla Journalism”, Verso Books.

Watch the broadcast episode cut for time at our YouTube channel and airing on PBS stations across the country

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• Stephanie Flanders on A Trump Economy & What to Watch in The Ultimate Election Year, Watch / Podcast: Abridged, Uncut Conversation

• Arundhati Roy: Freedom, Fascism, Fiction and the Pandemic Portal, Watch

/ Podcast: Abridged, Uncut Conversation

• Laura’s Commentary, F-Word: Bodies, Borders, Resistance, Rebirth: Arundhati Roy, Podcast

• Patrick Cockburn on Syria, Watch

Related Articles and Resources:

• Opinion: Is Trump a fascist? Probably - but not like those of the 30s, by Patrick Cockburn, November 9 2024, iNews

• Opinion: Netanyahu knows the US can’t restrain him now, by Patrick Cockburn, October 2, 2024, iNews

• Most political disasters are overstated - not this one, by Patrick Cockburn, November 6, 2024, iNews

Full Episode Notes are located HERE. They include related episodes, articles, and more.

Laura Flanders and Friends Crew: Laura Flanders, along with Sabrina Artel, Jeremiah Cothren, Veronica Delgado, Erika Harley, Janet Hernandez, Jeannie Hopper, Sarah Miller, Nat Needham, David Neuman, and Rory O’Conner.

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