RE:Balance with Kamahl Santamaria

24 MAY 2025: Which is more important - the decline of a former president, or the one in office right now?  America’s been presented with that dilemma this past week, as yet more revelations were made about the mental and physical state of former president Joe Biden.  And it happened in the same week he was diagnosed with stage four cancer.But what about the mental state of the current president Donald Trump - is that not arguably just a little more significant?  And what if it was  Biden saying the things Trump does?  A bit of artificial intelligence gives us a look at what 'AI Joe' would sound like.Audio clips courtesy: CNN, Yahoo News, CBS News, MSNBC, Access Hollywood, The David Pakman Show (all via YouTube)AI clips created using Parrot AppFor more, visit thebalance.website Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2 MAY 2025: Fairness, balance, and accuracy are the cornerstones of journalism - which is why it’s so extraordinary when a news outlet breaches them, and in such spectacular fashion.This week we look at a decision from the Broadcasting Standards Authority, which shows how ThreeNews blew through those tenets of reporting in a story about an anti-smoking group and its supposed links to the vaping industry.It’s an almost-perfect example of what happens when the narrative overrides the facts, the public gets misled, and the journalists are called out for their tactics.All audio voice-overs generated using AI: TTSMaker: Free Text to SpeechThreeNews theme music courtesy: NaruTVMock (via YouTube)Original Substack article: 'Keeping them honest: a Substack by Kamahl SantamariaFor more, visit thebalance.website Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

27 MARCH 2025: What on earth just happened?? Some of the most senior people in the Trump Administration used Signal to communicate sensitive information about a strike against the Houthis in Yemen, AND invited a reporter from The Atlantic into the group chat? In this edition of RE:Balance, Kamahl breaks down the seriousness and the absolute lunacy of the situation, but also raises issues from the chat which are flying under the radar.AUDIO CLIPS COURTESY: Crooked Media, Fox News, C-SPAN, The White House (all via YouTube)For more, visit thebalance.website Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

7 MARCH 2025: Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky is a hero; everyone says so.  But is that why he’s a hero - because it’s the prevailing narrative?  This week we look at the overlooked geopolitics from before the Russian invasion, where Zelensky was perhaps more puppet than paragon.Audio clips courtesy: MSNBC, AP, The Sun, The London Standard, Sky News Australia (all via YouTube).  AI voiceover provided by TTSmaker.comFor more, visit thebalance.website Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

THIS WEEK: It turns out video pieces can make good audio too, so here are two recent Viditorials from The Balance, exploring current events with a balanced lens.First, it's the Gulf of Mexico/America, and how the White House has turned what is basically a vanity project into a vendetta against the Associated Press. It's extremely worrying that media organisations which don't conform with the 'Dear Leader' are now being banned from certain events.And then, we're revisiting the 'prisoner vs hostage' debate in Israel and Gaza - something which the BBC felt it had to apologise for on-air.For more, visit thebalance.website Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

THIS WEEK: With the ceasefire in Gaza holding, Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners have been released as part of the deal.  But what makes the Israelis ‘hostages’, and the Palestinians ‘prisoners’?  Plus Donald Trump’s confusion over the two words, in a completely different context.Audio clips courtesy: CBC News, DW, CBS News, The Independent, CNN, Newsmax (via Youtube and Substack)For more, visit thebalance.website Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

RE:Balance is back and rebooted!News stories can get big very quickly and take on a life of their own, fuelled by social media and hot takes. So each week, RE:Balance will take those stories and give them context and new perspective - because you don’t have to agree with all sides of a story, but you should understand them.THIS WEEK: Meta’s decision to end fact-checking on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads has caused all sorts of concern about misinformation and fake news.  And Mark Zuckerberg’s apparent cosying-up to Donald Trump hasn’t helped.  But he’s doing it for good reason - and they’re in his interests, not necessarily yours.Audio clips courtesy NBC News, MSNBC, CNN, and The Joe Rogan Experience PodcastFor more, visit thebalance.website Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is an audio version of the latest VIDCAST from The Balance, looking at the Israel-Hamas war. This week, we look at the issues of justification, proportionality, and collective punishment - and how, very simply, two wrongs don't make a right. We also pay tribute to the family of Al Jazeera journalist Wael Dahdouh, whose family members were killed in an Israeli airstrike on Gaza.The video version of this podcast can be found here: https://youtu.be/ywmJG5Y7jgMFor more, visit thebalance.website Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The story of an initially-unnamed BBC presenter - accused of paying a young person thousands of pounds for sexually explicit pictures - took on a life of its own this past week. It was equal parts shocking, unbalanced, engrossing, farcical, and unpleasant. And it raised a lot of questions about privacy, speculation, who knew what and when - and of course who the presenter actually was. This week on RE:Balance, Kamahl picks apart the facts of the story and the way it was reported, and speaks to Associate Professor of Sociology at Swansea University Dr. Ashley A. Frawley about the behaviour of all involved - from the accused to the accusers, the media, and the public on social media.LINKS:Ashley A. Frawley on twitter'The Carnival of Cancel Culture' by Ashley Frawley, 5 March 2023'Déjà vu, all over again' by Kamahl Santamaria, 13 July 2023Donate to The Balance ...For more, visit thebalance.website Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On the first full episode of RE:Balance, Kamahl Santamaria reintroduces himself - a year after media reports of alleged 'inappropriate behaviour' ended his career. He talks about those allegations, the effect they had, and how the reporting of them has shaped his new venture, The Balance.For more, visit thebalance.website Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.