SEASON THREE
Disinformation
In Season 3, On Spec takes a deep dive into the global abyss of fake news, bringing you the story of how the scourge of disinformation is effecting ordinary people in seven different countries— Turkey, Russia, Brazil, India, the US, Hong Kong and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The deliberate falsification of information takes different shapes in different countries, and hurts low-income and marginalized communities in dramatic ways. We bring two sides of the disinformation debate face to face — people who might have never talked to each other — to hash out their different takes, explain where they get their information, and why they believe what they do.
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SEASON THREE’S HOST
Fariba Nawa
“Interviewing people in crises in the field gives me a sense of purpose, a connection to traumatized communities I know too well. I was born to share real life stories — mine and theirs.”
Fariba Nawa has been covering global news for 25 years from places like Afghanistan, Egypt, Iran, Pakistan and now Turkey. She is also a speaker and author of the book Opium Nation: Child Brides, Drug Lords and One Woman’s Journey through Afghanistan. A native Afghan, Fariba’s fluent in Farsi/Dari and can get by in Arabic and Turkish. Some recent work can be found in The World, Time, The Christian Science Monitor, The New Yorker, and The Financial Times.
Take a deep dive into the episodes below
In Africa, herbal treatments are used to heal viruses in the absence of modern medicine, but disinformation about these treatments and how they can cure COVID-19 is having a deadly impact. Government officials and local healers out to make money sell these treatments with fake news. Congolese journalist Patrice Chitera, who has used these treatments for his ailments in the past, adds his own story as well as those impacted by these herbal meds. Patrice questions who to hold accountable for the loss of lives in a country where there’s little trust of those in power.
Hong Kong protesters were on the streets for more than a year to fight for their freedom of expression after China announced laws to further curb their rights in 2019. Police violently attacked protestors, threw opposition politicians in jail and the country has been polarized as disinformation spreads. Journalist Lisa Jane Harding, based in Hong Kong for 19 years, reports through the eyes of a politician and a chef supporting opposing sides on how the protests split Hong Kong, and if the city can regain lost freedoms.
Some of the world’s most active climate deniers reside in the United States. Arkansas suffers from flooding and is one of the conservative red states where many farmers, who have the most to benefit from green policies, are actually voting against their best interests because of disinformation. Arkansas native and journalist Alice Driver introduces an organic farmer, who’s a climate activist, to a state senator, a climate change skeptic who also happens to be her neighbor, to see if they can find common ground.
The Modi government has an agenda to make India a Hindu nation, and they have tapped into old prejudices and disinformation to brainwash influential and ordinary people into hating minorities, particularly Muslims. Indian journalist Prachi Pinglay Plumber is a Hindu married to a Muslim, and she touches on her own experience of interfaith marriage, as she tells the tale of India’s demise from a secular democracy to a country that has used fake news to fuel riots. She unravels the Delhi riots in 2020 through the lens of a Muslim family living in a Hindu neighborhood, and a right wing Hindu activist. And she asks, how is love possible in the midst of broiling animosity?
Since the elections in Brazil that brought Jair Bolsonaro to power, Brazilian journalists Giovana Fleck and Carol Grune have been hearing politicians insult women, threaten them with rape, and try to take away their rights as women. For Carol, the polarized politics of Brazil led to a breakup with her father. Giovana helps Carol tell her story as the father and daughter quarantine together in Porto Alegre. Carol and her parents are on different sides of the feminist debate in Brazil, and they hash out their their political differences, realizing the divisions are really about their own identities.
Putin’s Russia is a homophobic country. The state media spouts anti-gay rhetoric and creates fake news, Parliament passes laws that curtail LGBTQ activism, and hate crimes are on the rise. But in bigger cities, there are also thriving gay scenes, and a new generation of Russian activists is seeking to change public opinion. British journalist Theo Merz, who’s gay, takes us to Moscow where he lives across these two Russias. He explores this rainbow divide and brings two people with radically different viewpoints face to face for a discussion about sexual identity.
Turkey hosts the largest number of refugees in the world, but they are facing a brutal backlash from Turkish society. In February 2020, during the onset of the pandemic, the Turkish government misinformed refugees that they could leave Turkey and enter Greece. Turkish photojournalist Özge Sebzeci boarded a bus from Istanbul to Greece filled with migrants headed to Europe, and she tells the story of their journey. Then she weaves in the Turkish narrative by getting to know an anti migration politician and a pro-refugee activist to understand how they shaped their opinions.
Behind the Scenes & Interviews
Suno India speaks with journalists Prachi Pinglay and Kunal Shankar, who produced On Spec’s Season 3, Episode 4 – Love in Times of Hate. They discuss what the impact of fake news has been on India, and what it was like reporting and putting together the episode for On Spec.
Season Three Contributors
Kunal Shankar is an award-winning investigative journalist passionate about reporting on caste discrimination, bureaucratic, judicial, and corporate fraud and climate change. He began his career in television in his hometown, Chennai, and has worked for ABC News Radio, Frontline magazine, India Today, and collaborated with American Public Media. Kunal loves beaches, having grown up by the sea in Chennai, and dabbles in South Indian recipes occasionally
Prachi Pinglay-Plumber is an independent journalist based in Bengaluru, India. She has reported on political, social, and cultural issues for BBC News, The Hindu and Outlook magazine from the western Indian states of Maharashtra, Goa, and Gujarat. Agrarian crisis, women’s rights, the environment, and culture have been recurring elements in her reporting. Trained in radio, she occasionally dabbles in teaching at journalism schools and community radio projects. Prachi is passionate about all things Mumbai, Bollywood, street food, secularism, and her toddler son Noor.
Rajesh Mukkath is a Chennai-based sound designer with more than 15 years of experience working in feature films, television and radio. This is his first experience working with podcasts and he is very enthusiastic about exploring potentials of sound design in this visual-free medium.
Theo Merz is a British journalist based in Moscow. His work has appeared in The Economist, The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Times, VICE, and other news outlets. He was previously a Russia correspondent for Agence France-Presse, and has also reported for the news agency from Ukraine, Hong Kong and Malaysia.
Lisa Jane Harding is a British breaking news reporter based in Hong Kong, where she has lived for the past 18-years. She has worked as a freelance correspondent for Deutsche Presse-Agentur, covering the anti-government protest movement and subsequent political fallout in the region, as China speeds-up the ex-British colony’s integration into the country. Her work has appeared in CNN, South China Morning Post, and several major news publications in Germany, Australia, US, and the Middle East.
Giovana Fleck is a journalist from the extreme south of Brazil, currently residing in Amsterdam. She has worked as a reporter and video editor with independent media that focuses on the narratives of social impact, women’s rights, indigenous causes, and the environment. Fleck is currently freelancing while in pursuit of her Master’s degree in political communication.
Alice Driver is the author of More or Less Dead and the translator of Abecedario de Juárez. Her long-form reporting, radio, and essays have appeared in National Geographic, Time, Oxford American, Longreads, and Reveal from the Center for Investigative Reporting.
Levi Bridges is an American audio journalist currently based between Mexico City and Moscow, Russia. He’s reported for outlets like Marketplace and Public Radio International, and produced audio documentaries in English and Spanish for NPR’s Radio Ambulante.
Patrice Citera is a freelance journalist based in Kinshasa, the DR Congo. He reports for a number of outlets, including Euronews, Deutshwelle English, and Voice of America. He spent 11 years (2003-2013) with the BBC World Service reporting news and current affairs in English, French, and Swahili, initially in radio and later online and television. He has also reported for the Associated Press and the New Humanitarian (formerly IRIN News).
From recording punk bands in his garage to touring with Joe Biden as a sound recordist, Craig has been a working audio engineer for over 20 years. He has been to all seven continents in pursuit of music and adventure, and is also the 2008 Air Guitar World Champion. He currently lives with his family in southern Oregon.
Alisa Zaira Reznick is a journalist and photographer from Flagstaff, Arizona. After several years in Amman, Jordan she returned to Arizona to document migration, human rights and the environment from a new border. Her work has appeared in Al Jazeera, Mother Jones, NPR, PRX’s The World and the BBC, among others. She currently covers border and immigration issues for Tucson’s NPR affiliate, Arizona Public Media.
Born next to the Bosphorus, Özge Sebzeci is a documentary and portrait photographer based between Turkey and Germany focusing on stories about gender, migration and ecology. Her approach revolves around establishing trust and intimacy with the people she photographs. She is deeply committed to diverse perspectives in visual storytelling. Sebzeci is a grantee with the National Geographic Society and Magnum Foundation. Her work has been published in National Geographic, Time, Die Zeit, NPR, The Atlantic, NRC Handelsblad, De Standaard, Horizonte, VG, and 140journos among others. She is a member of Women Photograph and Diversify Photo and Varız Buradayız.
A physicist turned journalist, Umar’s reporting includes breaking news and investigative features, spanning four continents. He is a recipient of grants from the Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting and the National Geographic Society. He has been a correspondent for The Los Angeles Times, Reuters, and Al Jazeera English, reporting from the Middle East and South Asia, and a national investigative reporter with ProPublica. His work has also appeared in Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, the Atlantic, the Nation, the Intercept, National Geographic, the Wall Street Journal, and the Christian Science Monitor. Born in Pakistan and raised in New Orleans, he is fluent in Urdu and can do pretty well in Arabic and Turkish.
A former engineer, Oscar is a visual journalist who has covered the global refugee crisis from Africa, Latin America and the Middle East.He has been published in NBC News, the Finnish Broadcasting Company, PRI’s The World, Catholic News Service, The Guardian, Ozy, National Geographic Traveler, and other outlets. Among other projects, Oscar is currently working on a National Geographic Explorer’s Grant with Umar to tell the stories of Afghanistan’s refugees. He’s fluent in Spanish, and conversational in French and Turkish.
Fariba Nawa has been covering global news for 25 years from places like Afghanistan, Egypt, Iran, Pakistan and now Turkey. She is also a speaker and author of the book Opium Nation: Child Brides, Drug Lords and One Woman’s Journey through Afghanistan. A native Afghan, Fariba’s fluent in Farsi/Dari and can get by in Arabic and Turkish. Some recent work can be found in The World, Time, The Christian Science Monitor, The New Yorker, and The Financial Times.