Next week, we're going to start our new season, the real free speech threat,

covering the growing criminalization of environmental protest around the world.

It's our first big cross-border series and it will include dozens of stories both in the podcast

and online. One thing we'll be looking at in that series is the media's role in enabling this trend.

Before you can criminalize protest, you have to vilify the protesters. And to do that effectively,

you need the media's help.

Evlando Cooper, at Media Matters, reviewed media coverage of climate protest in the US

from May 30th, 2022 to July 31st, 2023 for a new study. He documented a trend that we've

been seeing too. Not only has the US media perpetuated the idea that climate protesters are uniquely

disruptive and radical, but they're general failure to cover anything about climate protest

other than the disruption that they cause further perpetuates this thinking.

Evlando's research found that while multiple national outlets have run stories about climate

protesters being annoying and destructive, not a single broadcaster has run even one story

on the fact that nearly half of the states in the US have now passed laws criminalizing protest.

That fact is both shocking and worrisome. We're going to get into all of that and more with

Evlando after this quick break. I'm Amy Westerville and this is Drilled.

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