The Battle For Free Speechhttps://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-battle-for-free-speech--7063186Marc Steiner and Michael Fox take you on a journey to look at the threats to free speech, from Trump to Silicon Valley. They look at the history of the fight for free speech and the battle being waged over it today, within the United States and abroad.

Marc Steiner is the host of the Marc Steiner Show and a longtime community organizer and activist. 

Michael Fox is the host of the podcasts Under the Shadow and Stories of Resistance.

The Battle for Free Speech is brought to you by The Real News Network.]]>enSociety & CultureThe Real News Network (TRNN)https://d3wo5wojvuv7l.cloudfront.net/t_rss_itunes_square_1400/images.spreaker.com/original/a7b42ef4bfecbae03a40d99ff05f993e.jpgThe Battle For Free Speechhttps://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-battle-for-free-speech--7063186Thu, 16 Jul 2026 17:21:11 +0000Journalist Michael Fox, The Real News NetworkThe Real News Network (TRNN)radio@therealnews.comThis year, the United States celebrates its 250th anniversary. But there’s a problem. Our most basic freedom — the freedom of speech — is under attack. In this immersive series, hosts https://therealnews.com/the-marc-steiner-show and...Marc Steiner and Michael Fox take you on a journey to look at the threats to free speech, from Trump to Silicon Valley. They look at the history of the fight for free speech and the battle being waged over it today, within the United States and abroad.

Marc Steiner is the host of the Marc Steiner Show and a longtime community organizer and activist. 

Michael Fox is the host of the podcasts Under the Shadow and Stories of Resistance.

The Battle for Free Speech is brought to you by The Real News Network.]]>trueepisodicFighting Disinformation in Europe: Media Education, Regulation, & Organizinghttps://therealnews.com/the-battle-for-free-speech
In this episode, Michael Fox goes to Spain, to look at how members of the Spanish far right have been inspired by Charlie Kirk. Then we look at grassroots organizing against Big Tech in Ireland, media education initiatives in Finland, and European measures regulating Big Tech. 

“This has now been a topic of discussion very much in Europe,” says Finnish educator Saara Salomaa. “Should we actually trust any US tech companies, or should we try to get rid of US tech companies as soon as possible?”

Michael is joined in the episode by Laura Flanders. She is the host of Laura Flanders and Friends on public television — formerly known as the Laura Flanders show.

The Battle for Free Speech Podcast is a production of The Real News Network. 

Hosted by Michael Fox and Marc Steiner. Theme music by Michael Fox, Jordan Klein and Daniel Nuñez. Other music from Blue Dot Sessions and Epidemic Sound. Production and Sound Design by Michael Fox and Stephen Frank. Editorial support by Kayla Rivara. Research by Ben Schweiger. 

Guests: 
Many thanks, also, to Ilona Taimelafor taking the time to speak with me about media education in Finland.

Resources: 

Follow The Battle For Free Speech on Spotify or Apple Podcasts
Support Michael Fox's reporting at patreon.com/mfox. Never miss an episode — sign up for The Real News newsletter at therealnews.com.
The Battle for Free Speech is a production of The Real News Network.

Follow The Battle For Free Speech on Spotify or Apple Podcasts

Sign up for our newsletter and never miss an episode

Follow us on:
Bluesky: @therealnews.com
Facebook: The Real News Network
Twitter: @TheRealNews
YouTube: @therealnews
Instagram: @therealnewsnetwork]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73007997Thu, 16 Jul 2026 10:00:03 +0000Journalist Michael Fox, The Real News NetworkDisinformation is impacting our lives. Much of it is being pushed by unregulated Silicon Valley tech companies and their billionaire owners. But people in Europe are pushing back. In this episode, Michael Fox goes to Spain, to look at how members of...
In this episode, Michael Fox goes to Spain, to look at how members of the Spanish far right have been inspired by Charlie Kirk. Then we look at grassroots organizing against Big Tech in Ireland, media education initiatives in Finland, and European measures regulating Big Tech. 

“This has now been a topic of discussion very much in Europe,” says Finnish educator Saara Salomaa. “Should we actually trust any US tech companies, or should we try to get rid of US tech companies as soon as possible?”

Michael is joined in the episode by Laura Flanders. She is the host of Laura Flanders and Friends on public television — formerly known as the Laura Flanders show.

The Battle for Free Speech Podcast is a production of The Real News Network. 

Hosted by Michael Fox and Marc Steiner. Theme music by Michael Fox, Jordan Klein and Daniel Nuñez. Other music from Blue Dot Sessions and Epidemic Sound. Production and Sound Design by Michael Fox and Stephen Frank. Editorial support by Kayla Rivara. Research by Ben Schweiger. 

Guests: 
Many thanks, also, to Ilona Taimelafor taking the time to speak with me about media education in Finland.

Resources: 

Follow The Battle For Free Speech on Spotify or Apple Podcasts
Support Michael Fox's reporting at patreon.com/mfox. Never miss an episode — sign up for The Real News newsletter at therealnews.com.
The Battle for Free Speech is a production of The Real News Network.

Follow The Battle For Free Speech on Spotify or Apple Podcasts

Sign up for our newsletter and never miss an episode

Follow us on:
Bluesky: @therealnews.com
Facebook: The...]]>4692bigtech,censorship,digitalservicesact,disinformation,elonmusk,europe,fakenews,farright,finland,firstamendment,freedomofexpression,freespeech,independentmedia,ireland,lauraflanders,medialiteracy,misinformation,socialmedia,spain,techregulationfalse17fullBrazil’s Battle Against Fake News & the US War to Undermine it | Ep. 6https://therealnews.com/brazils-battle-against-fake-news-and-the-us-war-to-undermine-it
Both those presidents lost their reelections — Trump in 2020. Bolsonaro in 2022. They both claimed fraud and tried to carry out a coup to stay in power. 

But that is where these two paths diverged. In the United States, President Donald Trump continued to peddle his lies about the elections. He created his own social media platform and he used it to push his agenda. He was reelected in 2024 and returned to power. In Brazil, however, the country’s Supreme Electoral Court blocked former President Jair Bolsonaro from running for office for eight years, because of the lies he told about the country’s electoral system.

It wasn't censorship. it was a different interpretation of free speech. One that said the right to free expression must be balanced with the other rights in the country and the country’s democratic system. The United States doesn’t agree. And the Trump administration has been pushing to bend Brazil toward its definition of "free speech."

In this episode, Michael Fox journeys to Brazil to understand the lengths that the country has gone to fight disinformation. 

Michael is joined in the episode by Maximillian Alvarez, editor-in-chief and co-executive director of The Real News Network and the host of the Working People Podcast.

The Battle for Free Speech is a production of The Real News Network.

Hosted by Michael Fox and Marc Steiner. Theme music by Michael Fox, Jordan Klein and Daniel Nuñez. Other music from Blue Dot Sessions and Epidemic Sound. Production and Sound Design by Michael Fox and Stephen Frank. Editorial support by Kayla Rivara. Research by Ben Schweiger.

Guests: 
Resources: 

Never miss an episode — sign up for The Real News newsletter at therealnews.com

Follow The Battle For Free Speech on Spotify or Apple Podcasts

Sign up for our newsletter and never miss an episode

Follow us on:
Bluesky: @therealnews.com
Facebook: The Real News Network
Twitter: @TheRealNews
YouTube: @therealnews
Instagram: @therealnewsnetwork]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/72881398Thu, 09 Jul 2026 10:00:02 +0000Journalist Michael Fox, The Real News NetworkThis is really a tale of two countries: the United States and Brazil. In both countries, far-right presidents come to power — Donald Trump and Jair Bolsonaro. In both those countries, the presidents spent several years unraveling democratic...
Both those presidents lost their reelections — Trump in 2020. Bolsonaro in 2022. They both claimed fraud and tried to carry out a coup to stay in power. 

But that is where these two paths diverged. In the United States, President Donald Trump continued to peddle his lies about the elections. He created his own social media platform and he used it to push his agenda. He was reelected in 2024 and returned to power. In Brazil, however, the country’s Supreme Electoral Court blocked former President Jair Bolsonaro from running for office for eight years, because of the lies he told about the country’s electoral system.

It wasn't censorship. it was a different interpretation of free speech. One that said the right to free expression must be balanced with the other rights in the country and the country’s democratic system. The United States doesn’t agree. And the Trump administration has been pushing to bend Brazil toward its definition of "free speech."

In this episode, Michael Fox journeys to Brazil to understand the lengths that the country has gone to fight disinformation. 

Michael is joined in the episode by Maximillian Alvarez, editor-in-chief and co-executive director of The Real News Network and the host of the Working People Podcast.

The Battle for Free Speech is a production of The Real News Network.

Hosted by Michael Fox and Marc Steiner. Theme music by Michael Fox, Jordan Klein and Daniel Nuñez. Other music from Blue Dot Sessions and Epidemic Sound. Production and Sound Design by Michael Fox and Stephen Frank. Editorial support by Kayla Rivara. Research by Ben Schweiger.

Guests: 
Resources: 

Never miss an episode — sign up for The Real News newsletter at therealnews.com

Follow The Battle For Free Speech on Spotify or Apple Podcasts

4711alexandredemoraes,bigtech,bolsonaro,brazil,censorship,coup,democracy,disinformation,electiondenial,firstamendment,freespeech,humanrights,january8,journalism,lula,politics,socialmedia,supremecourt,tariffs,trumptrue16fullWhat Is Free Speech? America at 250 | Ep. 5https://therealnews.com/what-is-free-speech-america-at-250Mansa Musa — longtime activist, former Black Panther, host of TRNN’s Rattling the Bars, and a man who spent nearly 49 years in prison — to ask a deceptively simple question: what does free speech actually mean?

From the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to Quito, Ecuador, to Frederick Douglass's 1852 address "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July," this episode unravels the gap between the promise of the First Amendment and the reality of who gets to speak in America — and who pays a price for it.

"There's a kind of narcotic effect of those words — free speech," says legal scholar Mary Anne Franks (Fearless Speech). "It's because we think we know it so well that we don't know anything about it."

Historian Fara Dabhoiwala traces how the US broke from the rest of the world's balanced approach to free expression during the Cold War, and a forgotten 1986 Ursula K. Le Guin speech offers a radically different vision: speech as dialogue, not domination.

Follow The Battle For Free Speech on Spotify or Apple Podcasts

Support Michael Fox's reporting at patreon.com/mfox. Never miss an episode — sign up for The Real News newsletter at therealnews.com.

The Battle for Free Speech is a production of The Real News Network. 

Hosted by Michael Fox and Marc Steiner.
Theme music by Michael Fox, Jordan Klein, and Daniel Nuñez. Additional music from Blue Dot Sessions and Epidemic Sound.
Production and sound design: Michael Fox and Stephen Frank.
Editorial support: Kayla Rivara. Research: Ben Schweiger.
Many thanks to Sylvia Gross for providing her incredible voice acting skills in this episode.
Photo Credit: Rosa Fox

Guests
Resources


Follow The Battle For Free Speech on Spotify or Apple Podcasts

Sign up for our newsletter and never miss an episode

Follow us on:
Bluesky: @therealnews.com
Facebook: The Real News Network
Twitter: @TheRealNews
YouTube: @therealnews
Instagram: @therealnewsnetwork]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/72791432Thu, 02 Jul 2026 16:10:21 +0000Journalist Michael Fox, The Real News NetworkOn the eve of the United States' 250th birthday, Michael Fox sits down with https://therealnews.com/author/charles-hopkins — longtime activist, former Black Panther, host of TRNN’s https://therealnews.com/rattling-the-bars, and a man who spent nearly...Mansa Musa — longtime activist, former Black Panther, host of TRNN’s Rattling the Bars, and a man who spent nearly 49 years in prison — to ask a deceptively simple question: what does free speech actually mean?

From the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to Quito, Ecuador, to Frederick Douglass's 1852 address "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July," this episode unravels the gap between the promise of the First Amendment and the reality of who gets to speak in America — and who pays a price for it.

"There's a kind of narcotic effect of those words — free speech," says legal scholar Mary Anne Franks (Fearless Speech). "It's because we think we know it so well that we don't know anything about it."

Historian Fara Dabhoiwala traces how the US broke from the rest of the world's balanced approach to free expression during the Cold War, and a forgotten 1986 Ursula K. Le Guin speech offers a radically different vision: speech as dialogue, not domination.

Follow The Battle For Free Speech on Spotify or Apple Podcasts

Support Michael Fox's reporting at patreon.com/mfox. Never miss an episode — sign up for The Real News newsletter at therealnews.com.

The Battle for Free Speech is a production of The Real News Network. 

Hosted by Michael Fox and Marc Steiner.
Theme music by Michael Fox, Jordan Klein, and Daniel Nuñez. Additional music from Blue Dot Sessions and Epidemic Sound.
Production and sound design: Michael Fox and Stephen Frank.
Editorial support: Kayla Rivara. Research: Ben Schweiger.
Many thanks to Sylvia Gross for providing her incredible voice acting skills in this episode.
Photo Credit: Rosa Fox

Guests
Resources


Follow The Battle...]]>4183abolition,america250,blackpanther,censorship,civilrights,democracy,firstamendment,frederickdouglass,freespeech,free-speeech,independenceday,july4th,mansamusa,massincarceration,news,politics,pressfreedom,prisonindustrialcomplex,rattlingthebars,therealnewsfalse15fullAttacks on Press Freedom: Lawsuits, Intimidation, and the War on Journalists | Ep. 4https://therealnews.com/the-battle-for-free-speech
In this episode of The Battle for Free Speech, Michael Fox is joined by Real News investigative journalist and Capitol Hill correspondent Taya Graham to map the assault on the American press: the rubber bullets and broken bones, the billion-dollar lawsuits, the FBI raids on reporters' homes, the jailing of journalists like Georgia Fort and Don Lemon, and the deportation of immigrant reporters Mario Guevara and Estephanie Rodriguez. Featuring voices from the Committee to Protect Journalists and the National Press Photographers Association, they trace how violence, intimidation, media consolidation, and the gutting of access all serve a single goal: self-censorship — the silencing of the press in the name of free speech.

The Battle for Free Speech is a production of The Real News Network.

Hosted by Michael Fox and Marc Steiner. Theme music by Michael Fox, Jordan Klein and Daniel Nuñez. Other music from Blue Dot Sessions and Epidemic Sound. Production and Sound Design by Michael Fox and Stephen Frank. Editorial support by Kayla Rivara and Heather Gies. Research by Ben Schweiger.

Guests: 

Resources: 


Follow The Battle For Free Speech on Spotify or Apple Podcasts

Sign up for our newsletter and never miss an episode

Follow us on:
Bluesky: @therealnews.com
Facebook: The Real News Network
Twitter: @TheRealNews
YouTube: @therealnews
Instagram: @therealnewsnetwork]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/72683173Thu, 25 Jun 2026 10:00:04 +0000Journalist Michael Fox, The Real News NetworkPhotojournalist Nick Stern still has nightmares from the night an officer fired a flashbang into his leg as he covered the LA immigration protests. He's one of dozens of journalists assaulted, arrested, or deported in Trump's second term — a year that...
In this episode of The Battle for Free Speech, Michael Fox is joined by Real News investigative journalist and Capitol Hill correspondent Taya Graham to map the assault on the American press: the rubber bullets and broken bones, the billion-dollar lawsuits, the FBI raids on reporters' homes, the jailing of journalists like Georgia Fort and Don Lemon, and the deportation of immigrant reporters Mario Guevara and Estephanie Rodriguez. Featuring voices from the Committee to Protect Journalists and the National Press Photographers Association, they trace how violence, intimidation, media consolidation, and the gutting of access all serve a single goal: self-censorship — the silencing of the press in the name of free speech.

The Battle for Free Speech is a production of The Real News Network.

Hosted by Michael Fox and Marc Steiner. Theme music by Michael Fox, Jordan Klein and Daniel Nuñez. Other music from Blue Dot Sessions and Epidemic Sound. Production and Sound Design by Michael Fox and Stephen Frank. Editorial support by Kayla Rivara and Heather Gies. Research by Ben Schweiger.

Guests: 

Resources: