Rigged
10 episodes - English - Latest episode: 12 months ago - ★★★★★ - 39 ratingsIn Rigged, we’ll rummage through the bag of tricks used by PR to shape the world you live in. Over the last century, these tricks have rigged the media, the government… society, really...with sometimes ridiculous, and sometimes profoundly serious effects on our democracy. This is a podcast about that war for hearts and minds right here on US soil.
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Episodes
Herb, Ep 3: The Next Citizens United Will Be a Climate Case
August 01, 2023 16:57 - 26 minutesIn more than 30 climate cases making their way through U.S. courts today, oil companies are using an argument they've been laying the legal groundwork for since the 1970s: that since everything they've ever said about climate change was in the interest of shaping policy or blocking regulation, it's protected speech, even if it was misleading. In this episode we take a look at how those cases are playing out and the likelihood that this new take on "corporate free speech" could make it all the...
Herb, Ep 2: A Legal Strategy
August 01, 2023 16:50 - 30 minutesWorried that all their work creating Mobil's personality and a multi-pronged issue advertising campaign to go with it would go to waste if the TV networks deemed it all "propaganda" Herb and his boss looked to the courts for protection. In this episode we follow the "corporate free speech" movement through the courts, where it got a big assist from tobacco lobbyist-turned-Supreme Court justice Lewis F. Powell. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Herb, Ep 1: The Panic
July 21, 2023 19:18 - 34 minutesIn the 1970s, Mobil Oil had invented the advertorial and was aggressively pursuing an entirely new type of marketing, branding the company as a person with a unique personality and opinions that deserved to be heard. When public backlash threatened to undermine their approach, they launched a campaign that would change the course of U.S. history. Transcript Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
S1 Ep6 | How a Standard Oil PR Guy Shaped Post-War America
December 07, 2021 09:05 - 35 minutesIn 1944 the greatest threat to American industry wasn't World War II, it was convincing Americans to fall back in love with free-market capitalism after having experienced government systems that actually worked for the greater good. In the season finale of Rigged, we lay out the strategy contained in a never-before-published confidential document from the archive of Earl Newsom, Standard Oil of New Jersey's (today ExxonMobil) top PR guy from the late '30s to the late '60s. Learn more about y...
S1 Ep5 | Fun with Front Groups
November 30, 2021 08:05 - 27 minutesAstroturfing—the creation of fake grassroots groups to agitate for pro-business policies—has been a favorite tactic of industries and companies trying to avoid regulation for decades. In this episode we take a look at some of the greatest hits. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
S1 Ep4 | The Birth of SponCon
November 16, 2021 14:36 - 29 minutesThe legendary Herb Schmertz, VP of Mobil Oil, worked with PBS and The New York Times to invent sponsored content—sponcon—back in the 1960s. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
S1 Ep3 | A Tie Is A Win
November 09, 2021 11:00 - 35 minutesThe tactic of science denial is fairly well known these days. In this episode, we dig into a lesser-known aspect: the PR strategy behind science denial, and the origins and architects of that strategy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
S1 Ep2 | Ye Olde Crisis Actor Myth
November 02, 2021 10:00 - 23 minutesYou could be forgiven for thinking the crisis actor myth was cooked up by Alex Jones to sell people on school shooting conspiracies, but in fact it's more than a century old. In this episode we meet the world's first publicist, the legendary Ivy Ledbetter Lee, and learn about his work crushing mine strikes for the Rockefellers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
S1 Ep1 | Fake Experts and Real Bacon
October 26, 2021 10:00 - 30 minutesIn this episode we'll meet the godfathers of American PR, Ivy Lee and Edward Bernays, and explore the origins and evolution of industry-funded experts who shaped everything from the breakfast table to our understanding of the economy and science. Read more: http://rigged.media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Welcome to Rigged
September 28, 2021 15:22 - 3 minutesIntroducing Rigged: A podcast documenting the history and evolution of disinformation in America. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices