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 App

For more, visit thebalance.website

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

16 MAY 2025: Air Force One is the official plane of the United States president - a literal White-House-in-the-sky. So what happens when a country wants to give the current president a jumbo jet to use as HIS Air Force One?

This week we look at Qatar’s $400m gesture to the United States - why it can’t work, why it perhaps should work, what may well stop it from working, and what Qatar gets out of it.

Be sure to check out our YouTube channel as well for the Viditorial on this story.

Audio clips courtesy: AP, CNN, Crooked Media, Fox News, NBC News, Sky News Australia

(Also in the podcast, Kamahl briefly talks about the extraordinary usage of the C-word in the New Zealand media this past week. You can (and should!) read his two Substack posts on it here and here.)

For 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 Speech

ThreeNews theme music courtesy: NaruTVMock (via YouTube)

Original Substack article: 'Keeping them honest: a Substack by Kamahl Santamaria

For more, visit thebalance.website

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.