Today I’m delighted to announce we are launching a brand new weekly podcast called Media Confidential, which adds to Prospect’s growing digital repertoire.
A new episode will be released every Thursday morning (UK time), hosted by myself and Lionel Barber, former editor of the Financial Times. With over 80 years of journalism, editing and publishing experience between us, we will take you behind the headlines into the hugely important world of media.
What—and who—drives it? What do they get right? What do they get wrong… And why does it matter?
Prospect believes the world can be better and that there are many ways to improve it. At the heart of a healthy democracy is media—the fourth estate. When media goes dark democracies come under pressure. That’s why it’s important that someone monitors the people who are monitoring us.
We will bring listeners revealing, high-profile guest interviews and in-depth analysis. The first episode features an interview with Michael Wolff, author of the new book: The Fall: The End of Fox News and the Murdoch Dynasty and Malcolm Turnbull, former prime minister of Australia.
You can listen and download Media Confidential on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, and also follow the podcast on X/Twitter @mediaconfpod, or listen to the first episode below.
I’d like to thank Ellen Halliday, my deputy editor, the whole Prospect team, and our production partners Fresh Air, for their work in making the podcast come to fruition.
We hope you enjoy it, and welcome your feedback to mediaconfidential@prospectmagazine.co.uk
If you’d like to hear more from Prospect, register for free to receive our excellent newsletters, or subscribe to receive unlimited access to our agenda setting journalism.
Alan Rusbridger
Editor, Prospect
A little bit about us...
Lionel Barber (@lionelbarber) is an author, broadcaster and former editor of the Financial Times (2005-20), where he led the digital transformation of the newspaper and pioneered investigative journalism, including exposure of the Wirecard scandal. He served as a trustee and chairman of the Tate (2011-21) and is currently a member of the board of the Carnegie Corporation of New York as well as chairman of the Wincott Foundation. Awarded the Légion d’honneur in 2016 and the Stella d’Italia in 2022, he lectures widely on international relations and US foreign policy. He is the author of the Powerful and the Damned: Private Diaries in Turbulent Times, and is currently completing a biography of Masayoshi Son, the founder and CEO of SoftBank.
Alan Rusbridger (@arusbridger) is editor of Prospect and former editor of the Guardian, a position he held for 20 years. During his time at the Guardian he oversaw publication of many ground-breaking stories including the NSA leaks by whistleblower, Edward Snowden, the Wikileaks documents, the News of the World phone hacking scandal and many challenges to press freedom. The Guardian was co-awarded a Pulitzer prize for the Edward Snowden story. Rusbridger is a member of Facebook’s oversight board and is chair of the Reuters Institute for Journalism.
