Media Confidential

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...

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 assassinati...

Could machine-generated articles replace those created by human beings? After their series on AI in the media, Alan and Lionel now turn to listeners’ questions. There's no question that AI could help to make journalists lives easier, but what sort of practical uses will there be on a day-to-day basis? Is there a risk that AI will take over the creative roles of writers and reporters? And what are...

Can traditional journalism survive when ChatGPT is able to produce copy in a matter of seconds? In Media Confidential’s third episode in a series exploring the world of artificial intelligence, Alan and Lionel are joined by Felix Simon, an AI expert and research fellow at the Reuters Institute of Journalism. He shares how the technology could transform the way newsrooms operate, and why this might...

What do you do if a big story breaks on Christmas Day and there's a skeleton crew running the newsroom? That's just one of the seasonal questions put to Alan and Lionel in this week's Q&A episode. The editors also discuss Mishal Husain's departure from the BBC's Today programme, characterising her as one of the best interviewers of recent times. Finally, they reflect on how reporting has chang...

In the second episode on our series focusing on AI's impact on the media industry, Alan and Lionel talk to the executive chairman of Sky News, David Rhodes. David has expressed support for AI advancements, as long as publishers are compensated fairly. He’s keen to promote transparency, support credible journalism, and combat fake news. Noble ambitions...but how does he intend to carry them out? No...

Office streakers, whiskey before lunchtime, and untimely deaths: with Christmas party season almost upon us, Alan and Lionel get nostalgic for the old-fashioned newsroom on this week’s Media Confidential Q&A. Plus, your weekly update on the contested  Observer  sale, amidst disquiet amongst journalists at the paper. After  grilling  Tortoise’s James Harding on the podc...

In the first of three special editions on artificial intelligence and the media, Alan and Lionel are joined by the CEO of  ProRata.ai , Bill Gross. Artificial intelligence poses a serious threat to the survival of news organisations. Last year, the  New York Times  sued Microsoft over AI models secretly scraping its copyrighted work. Millions of articles from the  Times  w...

In this week’s Q&A, Lionel Barber takes centre stage to tell the tale of a largely unknown man who, for three days, was the richest man in the world. Recorded in front of an audience at  Prospect  HQ, he spoke about his new book,  Gambling Man: The Wild Ride of Japan’s Masayoshi Son , in conversation with  Prospect ’s books & culture editor, Peter Hoskin. Nobody had wri...

“Fake news”, lies, and a deep distrust of the “mainstream media”: these all marked the Trump’s first presidency. But will Trump 2.0 only usher in more bombastic speeches, or will the regime turn authoritarian? Alan and Lionel are joined by Margaret Sullivan, columnist and former  New York Times  editor, who has called Trump an existential threat to journalism. And with several American n...

Tune into a special taster of Media Confidential’s sister podcast: former Conservative cabinet minister Baroness Sayeeda Warsi joins deputy editor Ellen Halliday and Alona Ferber on the Prospect Podcast. In a moving and emotionally frank conversation about her journey in the public eye, she talks about her lifelong effort to challenge stereotypes, and why she’s finally resigned the whip. Politicia...

Hurricanes and wildfires are becoming more frequent. The extreme forecasts that were predicted a few decades ago are starting to happen, and climate change is an existential crisis for us all. So how do you tell the biggest story in the world?   Alan and Lionel are joined by award-winning environmental journalist and Financial Times associate editor, Pilita Clark. Pilita dials in from Baku, A...

How do you ask those difficult questions to guests that you want to probe further? And what do you do when they react unexpectedly—and the interview goes awry? This is the position Alan found himself in recently when recording with bestselling author, Michael Lewis. Alan tells us what went through his mind, and how he remained so cool. And following the tense recent episode with James Harding, whe...

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...

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...

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,...

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 t...

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 l...

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 feed...

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, s...

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 exto...

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 lande...

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 co...

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 follo...

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 th...