Podcast

In which we speak with acclaimed writer Mike Sager, who was at Ground Zero for a key moment in the history of fake news – the Janet Cooke Pulitzer Prize scandal. This story has it all: sex, drugs, rock and roll, politics, profanity – and a real-life cameo role for Ray! In this American-themed episode, Ray and Lawrence also discuss how Fox News viewers can be redeemed for $15 an hour, the worst car launch of all time, and America’s stupidest murderer.

In which Ray and Lawrence examine their own failure to communicate through game shows and Hyundai’s Super Bowl triumph, as well as editing fails on Married at First Sight (as if the unedited bits weren’t bad enough!). We uncover Russia’s plot, years before their current invasion, to build their national soccer team by sleeping with the enemy. We also speak with the godfather of reality TV research, Graeme Turner, and try to uncover why so many people like to watch ‘ordinary people’.

We kick things off by exploring SpecSavers' 'clear as mud' billboard campaign, discussing how deepfakes are influencing modern warfare and fact-checking Australia's Prevaricator-in-Chief. Meanwhile, Orwellian professor Mark Satta describes how Vladimir Putin is mirroring the techniques of the original Big Brother from 1984.

In which Ray and Lawrence examine how a late-night TV advertising campaign toppled the Pinochet government, why the Australian government thinks it can stop Facebook from running fake celebrity endorsement scam ads and how dancing jellybeans made death likeable. We also speak with influencer scholar (is that a contradiction in terms?) Nataly Levesque to discover why influencers have taken over the world.