LEVER WEEKLY: Who’s Censoring Your Favorite Movies?

What The Lever Published This Week:

Battle Of The Hollywood CensorsWhile politicians, military brass, and Chinese officials jockey to control the content of Hollywood blockbusters, experts say no one is looking out for the filmmakers themselves.

Wall Street’s New Prison Scam As states crack down on prison-phone price gouging and resulting government kickbacks, telecom companies and their private equity backers have new ways to game the system.

Introducing Sirota’s Signals — Paid subscribers get a new weekly dose of must-read stories, missed nuggets, and fun-but-worthwhile distractions.

YOU LOVE TO SEE IT: People With Disabilities Score Equal Pay — Plus, funding arrives for cleaner energy technologies, insurers’ care-denial bots are put on notice, and regulators tackle an airborne killer.

Stuff To Listen To:

LEVER TIME: Amazon Is Afraid Of Its New Union OrganizersThe Lever speaks with two organizers involved in unionizing one of Amazon’s biggest warehouses.

MVC: 27 Dresses (with Erica Bitton) The MVC team explores the wedding-industrial complex in celebration of Valentine’s Day.

The Lever In The News:

MN Prisons Pocketed $274K In Telecom Kickbacks Last YearJournalist Katya Schwenk reflects on her reporting about a prison telecom scam. 

Movies vs. Capitalism Podcast Nominated for an Ambie Award! — Our podcast exploring the ideologies baked into your favorite movies was nominated for a prestigious award from the Podcast Academy, a major professional podcasting organization.