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Whistle-blowers and Rumour-mongers
Secrets and lies, truth and rumour - how can we distinguish between them? With Rahul Sagar, Ana Maria Machado and Jayson Harsin.
This week on The Forum, how can we distinguish between truth and rumour? And in what circumstances is telling the truth a really bad idea? Carrie Gracie talks to Secrets and Leaks author Rahul Sagar, about the ethics of leaking state information. Media expert Jayson Harsin explains the dark arts of the 鈥榬umour bomber鈥� and award-winning novelist Ana Maria Machado, with a Brazilian story of whistle-blowing gone wrong.
Last on
Mon 14 Oct 2013
02:06GMT
麻豆社 World Service Online
Chapters
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State secrets and leaks
Duration: 15:15
The whistle-blower鈥檚 tale
Duration: 07:45
60 Second Idea: Ideological Citizenship
Duration: 08:20
Rumour Bombs
Duration: 12:40
Rahul Sagar
Rahul is a politics professor at Princeton University in the US. In his new book , he weighs the ethics of revealing sensitive government information, from Deep Throat and Watergate to Edward Snowden and the NSA.
Ana Maria Machado
Ana Maria is a leading writer in Brazil and the President of the Brazilian Academy of Letters.听 Her most recent novel Infamia won the prestigious Zaffari & Bourbon Award (Best novel in Portuguese language 2011-2013), and includes the story of a whistle-blower whose world falls apart when a false rumour about him spreads like wildfire.Jayson Harsin
Jayson is Assistant Professor of Communication Studies at Baruch College, City University of New York.听 His most recent research focuses on political 鈥楻umor Bombs鈥� and the public sphere, and is currently writing a book on the subject.60 second Idea to Change the World: Ideological Citizenship
In this week鈥檚 60 Second Idea to Change the World, Princeton academic Rahul Sagar says let鈥檚 base citizenship on ideology rather than birth or ancestry. That way everyone will be able to live with people they agree with. Don鈥檛 want to pay taxes and be saddled with oppressive public services? You can move to Libertarian-Land. Want the State to provide everything and tax the living daylights out of evil corporations? Good news, Socialist-stan awaits you. Wait a minute, you鈥檒l say. Won鈥檛 Libertarian-Land and Socialist-stan end up going to war with each other? Don鈥檛 worry, they won鈥檛 be able to鈥攖hey鈥檒l all be kept in check by Moderate-stan, to whom we鈥檒l give all the nuclear weapons.
听
In Next Week鈥檚 Programme:
Fear: What makes animals and humans either fearful or fearless?Broadcasts
- Sat 12 Oct 2013 23:06GMT麻豆社 World Service Online
- Sun 13 Oct 2013 10:06GMT麻豆社 World Service Online
- Mon 14 Oct 2013 02:06GMT麻豆社 World Service Online
Podcast
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The Forum
The programme that explains the present by exploring the past