From JFK’s assassination to the moon landing, conspiracy theories have always existed. But the rise of social media has enabled fake news to spread like wildfire. Award-winning journalist Marianna Spring joins the podcast to take Alan and Lionel on a tour through what she calls “Conspiracyland”, a hinterland between the online world and perceived reality. Marianna is the Disinformation and Social Media correspondent for the BBC and is also the author of Among the Trolls: My Journey Through...

Why is local news so important? And how do we protect it? Alan and Lionel are joined by Frances Cairncross for a special edition of Media Confidential. Five years ago, she was tasked with producing the Cairncross Review, which examined whether high-quality journalism could survive amid the rise of digital platforms. In this episode, the editors ask Frances about the decline of local news, despite the review’s recommendations to safeguard its future. They dissect why protecting local news is...

After weeks of speculation about Tortoise Media's shock bid for the world's oldest Sunday newspaper, Alan and Lionel are finally joined by James Harding, the former BBC director and Tortoise's founder. In a robust discussion, James is grilled about his start up—a relative newcomer in the media world—shaping the future of the Observer. Alan and Lionel interrogate where the funding is coming from, and his long-term plans for the title. The editors are also joined by Carole Cadwalladr, an...

Alan and Lionel are joined, once again, by Charlie Brinkhurst-Cuff, to answer listeners’ questions on a fast-moving media world. The editors discuss the ethics of whether stories concerning national security should be published. On a lighter note, they share their favourite newsroom-related movies, and are tasked with describing their jobs in just five words. Alan and Lionel reveal which editors they were most in awe of when they began their journalism careers. Finally, one answer produces...

Just days ahead of the US election, Alan and Lionel are joined by Steve Coll, a double Pulitzer prizewinner, senior editor at the Economist and former managing editor of the Washington Post.      Steve reflects on one of the most fraught US elections in history, analysing how the candidates’ relationship with the media has changed and what a Trump win would look like.   Political scientist Robert Kagan also joins the podcast, in the aftermath of his resignation as editor-at-large at...

Alan and Lionel are joined by Charlie Brinkhurst-Cuff, senior staff editor at the New York Times and former editor-in-chief at gal-dem, for a special edition of Media Confidential’s Q&A. What do newspaper editors talk about when they’re all in the same room? What support is available for reporters who have witnessed traumatic situations? And what are the rules of giving feedback to writers? (Clue: offer them a shit sandwich.) With both Trump and Harris making recent appearances on...

Alan and Lionel are joined by Eric Beecher to discuss his new book, The Men Who Killed The News about media moguls' abuses of power. At 33, Eric became the youngest ever editor of The Sydney Morning Herald, before Rupert Murdoch crowned him editor-in-chief at the Melbourne Herald. So why, several years later, was he sued by the Murdochs? Eric has seen Murdoch at his best, successful and innovative, and at worst, a ruthless dictator.He shares a story of pressure and coercive behaviour, and...

On this week’s Q&A, Alan and Lionel are back with a postbag of questions. One listener wonders if AI makes exposing the truth almost impossible, while another asks for some insider tips for new editors. In the run up to the US election, Alan and Lionel also discuss Elon Musk’s open endorsement of Donald Trump and whether X should be penalised as a result. The former newspaper editors also extol the virtues of courage (and Dutch courage) for journalist, plus, inevitably, more on the...

Alan and Lionel are joined by Michael Lewis, the bestselling author of The Big Short and The Blind Side. His new book Going Infinite chronicles the rise and fall of Sam Bankman-Fried, the tycoon behind the crypto-trading company FTX. When the company collapsed, and it was discovered that Bankman-Fried had stolen billions of dollars from customers, it ultimately landed him a prison sentence. Michael was fascinated by Bankman-Fried, watching this story unravel before his eyes. But when Alan...

From today's hottest new columnists to the perils of fine wine, Alan Rusbridger and Lionel Barber discuss listeners' questions with characteristic dry wit. This week's episode tackles Lionel’s favourite question so far—what does an editor actually do all day? Alan and Lionel share their tales of the swanky lives of Fleet Street editors...including an anecdote with a seriously morbid conclusion. The editors also make their predictions about when physical newspapers will become a thing of the...

Alan and Lionel are joined by Esther Solomon, editor of the English language edition of Haaretz, an Israeli newspaper known for critically reporting on human rights and Israel's policies towards Palestinians. A year on from October 7th, with hostages still in Gaza, Esther talks about Netanyahu’s fluctuating popularity as regional war continues to escalate. How will Israel strike back at Iran following a recent rocket attack? And when the bombs fall silent and a dialogue needs to begin, what...

Alan Rusbridger and Lionel Barber dig into the Media Confidential mailbox to answer listeners' questions about the media. This week, they discuss political bias in UK newspapers, as well as the growing number of people who get their news from social media. Are these sources reliable? And should social media companies be liable for material posted on their platforms? One listener wonders whether there is anything that the editors strongly disagree on, and asks a pressing question: Alan or...

Justine Roberts is not happy. Earlier this year she discovered that tech giant OpenAI has been scraping Mumsnet—the successful website of which she is CEO—for content. AI machines, like ChatGPT, train their Large Language Models (LLMs) in this way. Justine and her team have recently launched the first British legal action against OpenAI.Meanwhile, Google is fighting to overhaul UK copyright law to allow it to freely mine content for commercial gain, without compensating other...

In this episode of Media Confidential Q&A, Alan Rusbridger and Lionel Barber dig into the mailbox to tackle listeners' questions about the media industry. The topics on the table this week: what led to the downfall of the London Evening Standard? Will newspapers be able to afford their foreign correspondents in future? Are traditional journalistic skills still useful…and can you guess which presenter failed his shorthand exam? Plus, a confession from one of the editors…who may have been...

Alan and Lionel are joined by Yale history professor and leading scholar of Soviet Russia, Tim Snyder. Snyder’s new book, On Freedom, explores the risks to shared freedom in a ‘post-truth’ world. He argues that a rise of disinformation and fake news—coupled with the weakening of reliable media sources and local news—has undermined established truths, which creates a pathway towards fascism. Amidst concerns that a second Trump term could lead to authoritarianism in the US, the role of...

In this episode of Media Confidential Q&A, Alan and Lionel return with the answers to all your burning questions and shed some light on the inner workings of the media industry.   This week: why is the BBC is constantly chasing gen Z audiences, even though young people consume media in other ways? And when does the non-mainstream media become so big that it becomes the mainstream media—even if was established in opposition to traditional publishers and broadcasters? Plus, the two former...

Alan Rusbridger and Lionel Barber talk to NYT tech journalists Kate Conger and Ryan Mac about their new book Character Limit: How Elon Musk Destroyed Twitter. The editors also explore the tumult at the Jewish Chronicle, a newspaper now plagued with allegations of fake news and a decline in journalistic standards. With four of its top columnists resigning, they ask what the future is for the oldest Jewish newspaper in the world. And as news breaks that the Observer—the world’s oldest Sunday...

Alan and Lionel return with their weekly Media Confidential: Questions and Answers show to tackle your burning questions and shed some light on the inner workings of the media industry. This week the two former newspaper editors discuss why Prince Harry continues to be targeted by the print media in the UK, what the return on inverstment is for a deep investigation carried out by journalists for a publication and they reveal who the bravest journalist they have ever worked with is. Send your...

According to the writer, historian and activist Rebecca Solnit, US media are failing to cover Donald Trump properly. “His incapacity to be coherent is pretty much hidden from the public, unless they’re listening directly or reading alternative media,” she says. Solnit, whose essay Men Explain Things To Me inspired the word “mansplaining”, says she’s convinced that the US mainstream press—including the New York Times—are “sanewashing” the former president and the gibberish he has spouted...

Alan and Lionel introduce a brand new, weekly bonus episode of Media Confidential. Every Sunday they answer listeners’ questions about how the media really works. In the first show they contemplate the rise of the Mail Online, assess the role played by the right-wing media in this summer’s riots, and much, much more. Plus, the big question: who was harder to deal with in government—Tony Blair’s chief press secretary Alastair Campbell or former chief adviser to Boris Johnson, Dominic...

X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, has become the champion of free speech—but at what cost? During a summer of unrest in the UK, a hornet’s nest of hatred was stirred up on X. Elon Musk himself gave the nest a good kicking when he provocatively claimed that the UK was heading to civil war. And when Alan responded with a column about the post, he was met by a barrage of abuse from Musk’s supporters. So, is Elon Musk—with his 196m followers—out of control? And what does his...

Following the shocking attempted assassination of former president Donald Trump, social media platforms were flooded not only with truthful accounts of what happened at the rally, but also with lies, conspiracies and “fake news” concerning the shooting.   Alan and Lionel are joined by Jay Rosen, associate professor of journalism at New York University, to explore how to cover a presidential campaign in a time of misinformation, and when a culture war is pitching social media platforms and new...

Can Biden stay in presidential race or will concern about the state of his health force him out of the running?   There are plenty of reporters who say his time is up, but how did the president get to this stage in the campaign without anyone running a health-check on him? Jill Abramson, the first female executive editor of the New York Times, joins Alan and Lionel on this episode. She explains that when she was in charge, she had a physician on the staff who’d be in touch with the...

As Britain goes to the polls, what role has the media played in shaping the way that nation votes? Traditionally, the tabloid media, mainly Murdoch’s Sun, had a significant role in influencing the public, simlpy due to the huge swathes of the population that read the paper. But what about this year? Where have the tabloids and the broadsheets put their faith?   Alan and Lionel are joined by David Yelland. David was once editor of the Sun and now presents a podcast for the BBC called When It...