Media Confidential

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 podcast, plenty of questions still remain...

Meanwhile, down under, the Australian ban on social media for under 16s sparks discussion, and it becomes clear that one of our hosts is not a social media fan.

But this “dinosaur” can still bite—listen to the episode to hear his objections.

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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 were used to train chatbots, which now compete with the paper, the lawsuit claimed.

How can be affected newspapers be identified and compensated for the use of their stories? Bill offers a novel solution, which is being taken up by some of the biggest names in the media: the Guardian, Sky News, the FT, the Daily Mail’s publisher, as well as Prospect.

Also this week: updates on the ongoing Observer saga, and Lionel and Alan discuss the scandal involving BBC presenter Gregg Wallace.

To watch this interview, and many more, head over to YouTube and search for ‘Prospect Magazine’. 

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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 written extensively about Son, and with no western biography available, Lionel leapt at the chance to tell the extraordinary story of a speculator who has won and lost billions over the course of his life.

From the slums to the high-flying world of trading, he uncovers the rise of a Korean-Japanese businessman, who was truly ahead of his time.

Lionel’s book Gambling Man is available here: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/451627/gambling-man-by-barber-lionel/9780241582725

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“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 news organisations in turmoil and some TV networks struggling, what will the next four years hold for independent media?

Margaret discusses the role that new platforms like Substack may play, as well as “shadow president” Elon Musk, who only seems interested in free speech when it echoes his own views.

She calls for stiff spines and strong wills when dealing with the president and shares her hopes for the industry, if reporters can be be courageous enough...

To watch this interview, search for ‘Prospect magazine’ on YouTube, where Media Confidential is published every Friday.

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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.

Politicians, media outlets, think tanks and even the entertainment industry have poisoned public discourse, culminating in this summer’s riots, which saw mosques targeted and a wave of anti-Muslim disinformation. Sayeeda unpacks these ideas in her new book Muslims Don’t Matter, about “the silencing, stereotyping and stigmatising of Muslims” and describes how Islamophobia, which she calls “Britain's bigotry blind spot”, not only passes the “dinner table test”, but has been embraced and enacted into policy.

Muslims Don’t Matter is out now: https://www.littlebrown.co.uk/titles/sayeeda-warsi/muslims-dont-matter/9780349136486/

And to listen to more from the Prospect podcast, visit https://prospect.lnk.to/podcastgu

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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, Azerbaijan, where the annual COP29 meeting on climate change is currently taking place.

Though 2024 is set to be the hottest year on record, discussion around climate has slipped into culture war territory, with ideology often trumping facts. How do journalists punch through and capture the public’s imagination? When the truth is hard to swallow, should they try and find the positive spin, or tell the grim reality?

To listen to the Prospect podcast on “COP29 and climate culture wars”, with Isabel Hilton and Sam Alvis, click here.

And to order tickets to our special book event with Lionel Barber, go here: https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/gamblingman

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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, where are things currently at with the sale of the Observer? Lionel and Alan discuss how they think the situation could pan out.

The editors also discuss political “leaks”: how they happen, and the impact inside government.

Plus, why was one our hosts presented with a cherry cake from a well-known British businessman? Listen to this week’s Media Confidential’s Q&A to find out…

Send your questions to [email protected] or @mediaconfpod

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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 Conspiracyland. She attempts to make sense of what causes people to be sucked in to myths—whole movements sprang during the pandemic, based on disinformation around Covid-19. This summer’s far-right riots were sparked by false information. And after the attempted assassination of Donald Trump during his election campaign, others couldn’t distinguish if what happened was real or staged.But as more people believe in wild stories, what impact does it have on society?

Will we look back with disbelief at how the truth became distorted beyond recognition, on giant unregulated social media platforms?

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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 vital in a rapidly evolving digital landscape, and the risks of a growing number of people living in “news deserts”.

Send your questions to [email protected], or via X, @mediaconfpod

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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 award-winning investigative journalist and Observer mainstay, to present the view from the newsroom.

She questions whether the newspaper is facing an immediate threat, and discusses the repercussions for journalists at both the Observer and the Guardian. Could a sale lead to strike action?

To watch this episode, head to the 'Prospect Magazine' YouTube channel, where episodes are published every Friday.

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