169: A Jesse Brown Christmas, with Rachel Gilmore

Quick Overview

The podcast episode, titled "A Jesse Brown Christmas, with Rachel Gilmore," serves as a comprehensive critique of Jesse Brown and his media outlet, Canada Land, focusing on Brown's perceived descent into irrelevance and propagandistic behavior, particularly regarding his handling of antisemitism discourse and his professional conflicts.

Key Points: Hosts Daniel Mate and Matt Lee introduce the episode as a long-awaited discussion focusing on Jesse Brown's 'descent into irrelevance' and shift toward becoming a propagandist. Guest Rachel Gilmore, an independent journalist, details her background, including working as a Parliament Hill reporter and her subsequent decision to pursue independent journalism after experiencing frustration with mainstream news confines. Gilmore recounts her experience being dropped from a CTV fact-checking segment during a federal election after being viciously attacked online, largely due to her coverage of the rising white nationalist movement and conservative politicians. The hosts and Gilmore criticize Jesse Brown for focusing only on a specific type of antisemitism (criticism related to Israel) while ignoring far-right, vicious antisemitism, citing his six-part podcast series on antisemitism co-produced with the Zionist Canadian Jewish News. A key point of contention is Brown's reaction to Gilmore's critique of Globe and Mail columnist Robin Urbach, where Brown tweeted, "Stop talking over Jews," which the hosts view as Brown over-talking Jews and failing to acknowledge minority experiences being co-opted. Gilmore suggests Brown may resent her because she has embraced modern content creation tools to do journalism, contrasting with his earlier role as the intrepid up-and-comer challenging legacy media. The episode highlights Brown's shift from critiquing mainstream media's conflicts of interest (like Peter Mansbridge taking industry speaking fees) to ignoring conflicts involving pro-Israel media figures taking paid trips to Israel funded by groups like the Exigent Foundation.