Media Confidential – Details, episodes & analysis

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 Cummings? Listen here to find out!

Send your questions and queries on the media to mediaconfidential@prospectmagazine.co.uk or via X, @mediaconfpod

This episode is sponsored by Reviewed & Cleared.

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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 support for Donald Trump in the upcoming US election tell us about X’s relationship with democracy?

One person who understands the inner workings of the platform is Twitter’s former vice president of Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Bruce Daisley. He believes that the platform was weaponised to stoke the racist riots in England and Northern Ireland this summer—and that Musk played a role as well. One way to stop this happening again, Daisley says, would be to threaten him with personal legal liability. So, what kind of regulation could make a difference?

Alan Rusbridger and Lionel Barber explore the question: how do you solve a problem like X?

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GB News has repeatedly breached broadcasting regulations, been accused of political bias and featured anti-vax stories—but it got away with such misdemeanors until Prime Minister Rishi Sunak appeared on a show called “The People’s Forum”, in which he was able to outline key Conservative messages, largely unchallenged.

Ahead of the general election on 4th July, this finally grabbed the attention of Ofcom. But what took the regulator so long? And what sort of sanctions can the channel—many of whose MP presenters will now be unable to host during the election campaign—expect to face?

Professor Stewart Purvis once served as a senior executive at Ofcom, and is dismayed at the way Ofcom has allowed GB News carry on unchallenged. He talks to Lionel and Alan about the way it should be held to account for lacking impartiality.

Also this week: The Bristol Cable, a crowdfunded independent media organisation has been given a rare chance. The investigative newspaper is attempting to fill a gap left by the demise of traditional local newsrooms—and if they gain enough new members by September, they could secure a chunk of much-needed cash. Will they pull it off?

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No foreign journalists are allowed into Gaza, so the rest of the world relies on those living in area to relay what is happening on the ground—dedicated and determined reporters who have made sure that no-one can look away.

For months, photojournalist Motaz Azaiza and Al Jazeera reporter Youmna El Sayed were among those reporting from Gaza.

Motaz has captured some of the most brutal, honest images of the war, refusing to censor even the most harrowing of shots. His aim? To show the world what western media couldn’t.

Youmna is a journalist for Al Jazeera English in Gaza, who witnessed shocking events during her work—ones that that will never leave her. “The only thing that keeps me standing is the suffering I’m seeing,” she says.

For this week’s podcast, they join Alan Rusbridger and Lionel Barber in London, at the “Truth Tellers” investigative journalism summit hosted in the memory of the great newspaper editor, Sir Harry Evans.

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Investigative journalist Nick Davies returns with yet more remarkable insights and analysis about the phone-hacking scandal that engulfed Murdoch’s papers. Having trawled through documents disclosed through a host of court cases, Davies has pieced together information that suggests figures at the top of the Murdoch news empire—including potentially the man himself—knew more than we previously thought.

To read Nick’s stories in full, and the response from News Group Newspapers, visit the Prospect website: https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/media/phone-hacking/65918/the-murdoch-spy-papers

Alan and Lionel also talk to Branko Brkic, editor-in-chief of South Africa’s Daily Maverick, about successfully holding power to account in that country and the importance of journalism in fighting for freedom and exposing corruption around the world.

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Back in 2009, journalist Nick Davies uncovered a scandal: newspapers owned by Rupert Murdoch had been hacking the phones of celebrities, public figures and even victims of crimes—notably the missing schoolgirl Milly Dowler—in search of stories. The Leveson inquiry was established to investigate, and the world moved on.

For this month’s Prospect magazine, Nick Davies has trawled through documents to unearth new evidence which suggests that the phones of some politicians were still being hacked during the Leveson inquiry, and at moments when key decisions were being made in government that would affect the commercial interests of Murdoch’s papers. It turns out the story is far from over… Nick joins Lionel Barber and Alan Rusbridger to discuss his findings.

To read the story in full, and the response from News Group Newspapers to Davies’s claims, visit the Prospect website: https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/media/phone-hacking/65918/the-murdoch-spy-papers

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Lionel Barber and Alan Rusbridger are joined by Maurizio Molinari, editor of Italian daily newspaper La Repubblica to explore exactly what Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is doing with Italian state media.

Renowned historian Antonio Scurati was booked to deliver a monologue on a talk show on Italian broadcaster RAI 3 on 25th April, Italy’s Liberation Day, when it commemorates victory over fascism. In this speech, he was planning to accuse Meloni’s government of sticking to ideologies of neo-fascist culture. But then his appearance was cancelled—leading to allegations that the Italian PM is trying to turn state broadcasters into her own “megaphone”.

She wouldn’t be the first European leader exert control over their country’s media. There are concerns that Meloni is planning to take the Italian media down a similar road to that of Viktor Orbán’s Hungary, where independent journalists operate in a climate of fear and intimidation.

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Tensions in the Middle East ramped up at the weekend with the massive drone and missile attack launched by Iran on Israel. The eyes of the world refocused on the region, particularly Gaza—but what about the other occupied Palestinian territory, the West Bank?

Gideon Levy is an award-winning journalist who has been writing a column in Haaretz called “The Twilight Zone” for many years. On the podcast, he discusses his current view of life in the West Bank with Alan Rusbridger and Lionel Barber.

Gideon has been visiting Gaza and the West Bank on a weekly basis for over 30 years now, reporting the stories of Palestinians living in the occupied territories. Gaza was closed to all Israelis after the second Intifada, but Gideon has continued his weekly visits to the West Bank since. The people he has met have told him many moving stories, which he has relayed as part of what he says is his mission to tell the truth. Behind it all, Gideon sees himself as a journalist and a human first, and then an Israeli— and believes this should be a message for all journalists. 

‘I’ve crossed some lines’ he says, because he walks a difficult path. He’s been shot by Israeli soldiers, too. But he insists that someone must tell the story of the people living in the occupied territories, currently living through hell in the West Bank and in Gaza.

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The war in Ukraine has been grinding on for over two years now, and the media spotlight on the region has dimmed over the last few months. But Anne Applebaum, a Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and writer for the Atlantic, has been following the conflict closely.

Because much of the world’s media has turned attention away from Ukraine, with editors focusing time and money instead on the war in Gaza, Anne explains that the innovation of Ukrainians in the war is being under-reported. So is there more going on than meets the eye? Despite not having a navy, Ukraine has been able to destroy much of the Russian Black Sea Fleet—but that hasn’t been widely covered, as no journalists are present to witness successful missions. As the war enters a crucial new phase, Anne, Lionel and Alan discuss the challenges of covering the conflict—and what the media can do better.

Also on the podcast, Celia Richardson from the National Trust joins Alan and Lionel to talk about the accusations made by the Daily Mail that the scones sold in its tea rooms and made with no butter were “woke”. A storm in a teacup?

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Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu has passed a law that will ban foreign media from operating within the country. Al Jazeera is one of the main outlets on the ground providing reportage, and the most watched network in the region—so what impact will the closure of their operations in Israel have on the ability to get news out of the war zone? Alan Rusbridger and Lionel Barber are joined by journalist and humanitarian Khaled Mansour to discuss where genuine news reporting from the conflict will come from with the ban in place.

Also this week: in the past, UK political parties have relied on backing from Murdoch-run news media to ensure victory in general elections. Journalist and author Tom Baldwin discusses with Alan and Lionel whether that will be the case in the next election too. With the media landscape vastly different to previous elections, do the Times and the Sun still hold the power to sway the population?

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