Media Confidential

Alan Rusbridger and Lionel Barber—two of the world’s greatest editors—dive into the hugely important world of media. What—and who—drives it? What do they get right... And what do they get wrong?


Lionel, former editor of the Financial Times, and Alan, editor of Prospect and former editor of the Guardian, will bring you revealing, high profile interviews and in-depth discussion.


Media Confidential is produced by Prospect Magazine.


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Recent Episodes
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    Mar 6, 2025 – 50:27
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  • The Murdoch monarchy: Who will take the crown?
    Feb 27, 2025 – 42:55
  • Q&A: What's the role of journalism in the age of Trump?
    Feb 24, 2025 – 28:17
  • Can you ‘bomb-proof’ the BBC?
    Feb 20, 2025 – 45:46
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    Feb 17, 2025 – 22:47
  • Sam Freedman: “The press lobby’s gone feral!”
    Feb 13, 2025 – 37:43
  • Q&A: How to interview a president
    Feb 10, 2025 – 18:58
  • Norm Pearlstine: “Media is Trump’s cocaine”
    Feb 6, 2025 – 32:18
  • Q&A: Reporting as an act of resistance
    Feb 3, 2025 – 23:30
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    Jan 30, 2025 – 44:29
  • Saad Mohseni: The tycoon and the Taliban
    Jan 27, 2025 – 22:08
  • Prince Harry wins, Telegraph in Limbo: What next?
    Jan 23, 2025 – 40:56
  • Q&A: The BBC, a broken tape recorder and a fake Meryl Streep
    Jan 20, 2025 – 21:30
  • Armando Iannucci: "X is an industrial piss factory"
    Jan 16, 2025 – 46:38
  • Q&A: When Lionel met Obama and Alan met the queen
    Jan 13, 2025 – 18:48
  • 2025: Buckle up! It’s going to be quite a year
    Jan 9, 2025 – 45:00
  • Is assisted dying moral? Rowan Williams and Brenda Hale in conversation
    Jan 2, 2025 – 58:49
  • 2024 in review: From Sanewashing to the Observer sale
    Dec 26, 2024 – 44:28
  • Q&A: Will machines replace us?
    Dec 23, 2024 – 25:36
  • AI: Powering newsrooms of the future?
    Dec 19, 2024 – 40:25
  • Q&A: The Daily Mail's sidebar of shame
    Dec 16, 2024 – 21:02
  • The Murdoch Succession and the limits of AI
    Dec 12, 2024 – 40:46
  • Q&A: What's REALLY going on at the Observer?
    Dec 9, 2024 – 23:38
  • AI: how to stop Big Tech ripping off journalism (again)
    Dec 5, 2024 – 39:03
  • Q&A: Lionel’s Wild Ride
    Dec 2, 2024 – 39:04
  • Trump 2.0: Buckle up! It’s going to be wild
    Nov 28, 2024 – 39:13
  • Sayeeda Warsi on the Tories and why ‘Muslims don’t matter’
    Nov 25, 2024 – 35:50
  • Reporting on a burning planet
    Nov 21, 2024 – 48:44
  • Q&A: Michael Lewis, the Observer and asking difficult questions
    Nov 18, 2024 – 24:08
  • Marianna Spring: Truth and the social media scandal
    Nov 14, 2024 – 37:50
  • Q&A: The death of local news
    Nov 10, 2024 – 17:36
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    Nov 7, 2024 – 52:48
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    Nov 3, 2024 – 22:14
  • US election 2024: The final days
    Oct 31, 2024 – 45:52
  • Q&A: How influential is Joe Rogan?
    Oct 27, 2024 – 20:10
  • Eric Beecher: Making an enemy of Murdoch
    Oct 24, 2024 – 37:01
  • Q&A: Advice for aspiring editors? Get a backbone!
    Oct 20, 2024 – 17:37
  • Michael Lewis on his critics: “It’s all horseshit”
    Oct 17, 2024 – 50:02
Recent Reviews
  • Scrabble made worse
    Audio
    I’m listening to Lionel Barber praise the easier access to audio equipment and wonder why the quality of his recording is more uneven than Alan’s.
  • sidneyhart
    Would be even better if Barber reduced his showboating
    Even I, an American, love this show with its mostly British concerns. Both Rusbridger and Barber are distinguished former editors and their tone and manner is just right. But Barber’s humblebragging (but not really humble) about his globetrotting is the one off-putting thing about the show. Let me extend that a bit: Barber’s America-philia (carried over from his time at the FT, which has become a thoroughly American rag run mostly by Americans though owned by Japanese) stops me from giving it five stars.
  • artymacs
    Very interesting
    This podcast shows signs of promise. Two successful editors who answer to no one and can call it straight. That’s rare in Britain.
  • JWOWENUK
    Who better ?
    Who better than two of the great editors of our time - Rusbridger of the Guardian & Barber of the FT- to assess and explain the stories behind the stories and newsmakers? Excellent first episode on Murdoch and his legacy.
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