Alan Rusbridger and Lionel Barber—two of the world’s greatest editors—dive into the hugely important world of media. What—and who—drives it? What do they get ri...
Armando Iannucci: "X is an industrial piss factory"
How do you solve a problem like Elon? The billionaire owner of X controls one of the world's biggest social media channels, treating the platform as his own propaganda machine.Armando Iannucci—the satirist, writer and producer behind Alan Partridge, The Thick of It and Veep—has, until recently, been using his own Twitter account to fact-check Musk's posts.He joins Alan Rusbridger and guest host, Janine Gibson, editor of the Weekend FT, to discuss how what happens if we don't take Musk seriously.Like Donald Trump, Musk has a strong dislike for the mainstream media and has used X to vocalise support for fringe figures like Tommy Robinson. But what might have once been dismissed as baseless rants are now driving the news agenda—and even political manoeuvres—in many parts of the USA and Europe.How will Musk's megalomania end? And how dangerous to global democracy is he, really? Armando, Alan and Janine discuss. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Q&A: When Lionel met Obama and Alan met the queen
Alan and Lionel kick off the 2025 with a brand-new Q&A episode.While primetime CNN attracts a mere 400,000 listeners, the Joe Rogan Experience reaches over 17 million subscribers on YouTube. What explains the exponential rise of Joe Rogan’s podcast?In a world dominated by social media platforms, where fact and fiction are blurred, the editors make the case for traditional, fact-based journalism.Plus, Alan and Lionel have brushed shoulders with many household names, but who has made them starstruck? The editors share their stories: what question did Alan ask the queen? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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2025: Buckle up! It’s going to be quite a year
Alan and Lionel are joined by Janine Gibson, editor of the Weekend FT, to look ahead to what promises to be a “yuge” year for journalists.As Trump enters his second term in the White House, should we expect authoritarian clamp-downs on the press? And as Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg promises free-speech and the end of fact-checking at Facebook, will opinion trump truth?The editors also discuss new media stars, from Joe Rogan to gamer “ConnorEatsPants”, who has interviewed everyone from Joe Exotic to Sesame Street’s Elmo…and even the mysterious Adrian Dittmann, rumoured to be Elon Musk’s alter-ego.Plus, will Prince Harry have his day in court to take on Murdoch over phone-hacking? One of our editors receives some tantalising hints that he may not go through with it after all… Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Is assisted dying moral? Rowan Williams and Brenda Hale in conversation
Would legalising assisted dying end unnecessary suffering? Or would it instead enable the abuse of some of society’s most vulnerable people?Kim Leadbeater’s assisted dying bill has passed its second reading. Back in September, Prospect invited two of our most profound thinkers—Rowan Williams and Brenda Hale—to debate the issue. As archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams led a Church that publicly opposes any form of assisted dying, while, as a Supreme Court judge, Brenda Hale was involved in life-or-death judgements.In a moving exchange, Hale discusses her own Christian faith, while Williams shares his pastoral experience in the company of the dying. They joined Prospect’s editor Alan Rusbridger and commissioning editor Emily Lawford for a thoughtful and vitally important conversation.This episode was first published on Media Confidential's sister podcast, the Prospect podcast. To read this conversation from the magazine, visit our website. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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2024 in review: From Sanewashing to the Observer sale
For our final episode of 2024, Alan and Lionel look back at their Media Confidential year. They’ve tackled a huge range of stories: from phone-hacking and the rise of AI, to Ofcom’s battles with GB News. They’ve analysed elections on both sides of the Atlantic, were joined by Toby Jones on the Post Office scandal, and heard from courageous reporters working inside Gaza.There’s been an assassination attempt on Donald Trump, and a crisis at the Washington Post… but which episodes do they find the most memorable?Michael Lewis came to Prospect Towers in September to promote his new book about Sam Bankman-Fried, Going Infinite. But when Alan started reading out criticism of the book, the temperature dropped several degrees. The heated resulting exchange is hard to forget.Ahead of the US election, Rebecca Solnit joined Alan and Lionel to discuss her concerns about the American media “sanewashing” Donald Trump.Finally, James Harding and Carole Cadwalladr recently appeared on the show to tell-all about Tortoise's controversial decision to buy the Observer. James received a grilling from our hosts. Now, with Observer journalists striking, who’s to say who was right?2025 promises to be a heck of a ride. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Alan Rusbridger and Lionel Barber—two of the world’s greatest editors—dive into the hugely important world of media. What—and who—drives it? What do they get right... And what do they get wrong?Lionel, former editor of the Financial Times, and Alan, editor of Prospect and former editor of the Guardian, will bring you revealing, high profile interviews and in-depth discussion.Media Confidential is a Fresh Air production for Prospect Magazine.Enjoy one-month's free trial to Prospect's digital content, and get full access to rigorously fact-checked, truly independent analysis and perspectives. No commitment - you can cancel at any time. Click here to subscribe: https://subscription.prospectmagazine.co.uk/1mfd/prospect-magazine/mcpod1mf About Prospect Prospect brings rigorously fact-checked analysis, ideas and perspectives to the big topics the world is grappling with. In addition to being the UK’s leading monthly current affairs magazine, Prospect publishes daily commentary and analysis online. Even more discussion about the ideas that matter is available in our growing range of newsletters and podcasts, the most recent of which is Media Confidential. We'd love your feedback! Tell us more at: https://f9ce3vpjrw3.typeform.com/to/bxJBPxN2 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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