Oct 29, 2026 · 11 min
Media manipulation tests democracy from Serbia to America
Manipulating the Media
The episode connects Serbia’s media reckoning with broader concerns about platform power, election interference, and disinformation in democratic politics.
- 1Serbia’s student-led uprising exposed the political cost of television’s years of silence and one-sided reporting.
- 2The discussion links Brazil’s election tensions to concerns about Meta, Bolsonaro, and the manipulation of political information.
- 3AI-driven disinformation and the suppression of political accounts raise questions about who controls democratic debate.
Don't miss
Serbian television apologizes for years of silence, one-sided reporting, and failure to challenge those in power.
The brief
Heather Cox Richardson begins in Serbia, where a student-led democratic movement challenged Aleksandar Vučić, a key ally of Vladimir Putin, and forced a reckoning with political power.
The sharpest moment comes when Serbian television apologizes for years of silence, one-sided reporting, and failing to challenge those in power.
From Serbia, the episode turns to Brazil’s presidential election and broader concerns about Meta, Bolsonaro, and the manipulation of political information.
The discussion widens to the United States, where Donald Trump, platform restrictions, and AI-driven disinformation sharpen the question of who controls political visibility.
The episode’s central warning is that democratic politics can be distorted both by propaganda and by the platforms deciding which political voices remain visible.
Weekly email
State of the Pod, every Monday
The week's most-discussed names and stories from podcasts, with the moments behind them. Free, five minutes, unsubscribe in one click.