<description>
 &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Viktor Orb&amp;aacute;n&amp;rsquo;s authoritarian grip on Hungary became a model for the American right. He hollowed out the country&amp;rsquo;s democracy and turned much of the media into a government megaphone. Then a small newsroom called &lt;a href="https://www.direkt36.hu/en/"&gt;Direkt36&lt;/a&gt; exposed a &lt;a href="https://www.direkt36.hu/en/titkosszolgalati-nyomasra-tortent-hazkutatas-a-tiszat-segito-informatikusoknal-aztan-kibukott-egy-gyanus-muvelet-a-part-ellen/"&gt;plot&lt;/a&gt; against the opposition party involving a mysterious political operative, a young IT worker, a raid on a boat in the Danube and a &lt;a href="https://www.direkt36.hu/en/megszolal-a-nyomozo-aki-belulrol-ismeri-a-tisza-elleni-muvelet-ugyet/"&gt;whistleblowing police captain&lt;/a&gt;. A few weeks later, Orb&amp;aacute;n was ousted from power in a landslide election.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Sean Cole reports on the investigation, called the Hungarian Watergate, and what it shows about why an independent press still matters.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Question Everything is a production of &lt;a href="http://www.kcrw.org"&gt;KCRW&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href="http://www.placementtheory.com"&gt;Placement Theory&lt;/a&gt;. And don&amp;rsquo;t forget to sign up for our &lt;a href="http://questioneverything.substack.com"&gt;newsletter&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Guests:&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li dir="ltr"&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.direkt36.hu/en/author/zsuzsi/"&gt;Zsuzsanna &lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.direkt36.hu/en/author/zsuzsi/"&gt;Wirth&lt;/a&gt;, Direct36 investigative reporter&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li dir="ltr"&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.direkt36.hu/en/author/andraspetho/"&gt;Andr&amp;aacute;s &lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.direkt36.hu/en/author/andraspetho/"&gt;Pethő&lt;/a&gt;, Direct36 editor&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li dir="ltr"&gt;&lt;a href="https://journalismresearch.org/tag/marius-dragomir/"&gt;Marius Dragomir&lt;/a&gt;, Director of the Media and Journalism Research Center&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Please support the organizations that support this show:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li dir="ltr"&gt;Ground News is a platform that makes it easy to compare news sources, read between the lines of media bias, and break free from algorithms.&amp;nbsp;Go to&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://ground.news/landingV8/questioneverything?utm_source=questioneverything&amp;amp;utm_medium=podcast&amp;amp;utm_campaign=questioneverything"&gt;GroundNews.com/QUESTION&amp;nbsp;&lt;/a&gt;to get 40% off the unlimited Vantage plan.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Go to&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://zbiotics.com/QUESTION"&gt;https://zbiotics.com/QUESTION&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;and use QUESTION at checkout for 15% off any first-time orders of ZBiotics probiotics.&lt;/li&gt;
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&lt;/ul&gt;
 </description>

A shadowy figure named “Henry” texts someone known as “Gundalf”. Political intrigue ensues.

How a Tiny Newsroom Helped Bring Down Hungary’s Authoritarian Leader

<description>
 &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;While we&amp;rsquo;re heads down working on a bunch of great new episodes, we&amp;rsquo;re sharing the first episode of the new season of Drilled.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;In it, award-winning climate journalist Amy Westervelt exposes how Republican corn ethanol mogul Bruce Rastetter sold "sustainable aviation fuel" to world leaders from North Dakota to Brazil. The problem is, his &amp;ldquo;clean energy&amp;rdquo; project does nothing to help climate change.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Drilled: Carbon Cowboys follows the land grabs, pipelines, and political power stopping real progress from being made.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Find&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://lnk.to/CCQuestion"&gt;Drilled&lt;/a&gt; wherever you get podcasts, or at &lt;a href="pushkin.fm/plus"&gt;pushkin.fm/plus.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Please support the organizations that support this show:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li dir="ltr"&gt;Go to&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://zbiotics.com/QUESTION"&gt;https://zbiotics.com/QUESTION&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;and use QUESTION at checkout for 15% off any first-time orders of ZBiotics probiotics.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li dir="ltr"&gt;Ground News is a platform that makes it easy to compare news sources, read between the lines of media bias, and break free from algorithms.&amp;nbsp;Go to &lt;a href="https://ground.news/landingV8/questioneverything?utm_source=questioneverything&amp;amp;utm_medium=podcast&amp;amp;utm_campaign=questioneverything"&gt;GroundNews.com/QUESTION&amp;nbsp;&lt;/a&gt;to get 40% off the unlimited Vantage plan.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li dir="ltr"&gt;DeleteMe makes it quick, easy and safe to remove your personal data online. Get 20% off DeleteMe consumer plans when you go to&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://joindeleteme.com/20off/?inf=Question+Everything+with+Brian+Reed&amp;amp;utm_source=influencer&amp;amp;utm_campaign=Question&amp;amp;coupon=QUESTION"&gt;joindeleteme.com/QUESTION&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;and use promo code QUESTION at checkout.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
 </description>

From Drilled: Carbon Cowboys

<description>
 &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;The Freedom of the Press Foundation just filed an ethics complaint against Florida Judge Jeffrey Kuntz, who has been nominated by President Trump for a lifetime federal court appointment. They want him stripped of his gavel and his law license.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Why? Judge Kuntz was one of the judges who ruled in Trump&amp;rsquo;s favor in his peculiar defamation lawsuit against the Pulitzer Prize board. The Freedom of the Press Foundation claims the judge handed Trump this victory while, behind the scenes, he was seeking a nomination from the Trump administration for a federal judgeship.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;While Judge Kuntz&amp;rsquo;s nomination is being considered by the Senate, we revisit an episode we first aired in February 2025 about this strange lawsuit against the organization behind journalism&amp;rsquo;s most prestigious award.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Question Everything &lt;/em&gt;is a production of &lt;a href="http://www.kcrw.org"&gt;KCRW&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href="http://www.placementtheory.com"&gt;Placement Theory&lt;/a&gt;. And don&amp;rsquo;t forget to sign up for our &lt;a href="http://questioneverything.substack.com"&gt;newsletter&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Guests:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li dir="ltr"&gt;&lt;strong id="docs-internal-guid-584d73f6-7fff-3a4d-3396-6fd1b355069e"&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.semafor.com/author/ben-smith"&gt;Ben Smith&lt;/a&gt;, editor-in-chief of &lt;a href="https://www.semafor.com/"&gt;Semafor&lt;/a&gt; and co-host of the &lt;a href="https://www.semafor.com/hub/mixed-signals-media-podcast"&gt;Mixed Signals podcast&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Please support the organizations that support this show:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li dir="ltr"&gt;Go to &lt;a href="https://zbiotics.com/QUESTION"&gt;https://zbiotics.com/QUESTION&lt;/a&gt; and use QUESTION at checkout for 15% off any first-time orders of ZBiotics probiotics.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li dir="ltr"&gt;Refresh your everyday with luxury you'll actually use. Head to&lt;a href="https://www.quince.com/our-core-collection?utm_source=veritone&amp;amp;utm_medium=podcast&amp;amp;utm_campaign=question"&gt; Quince.com/QUESTION&lt;/a&gt; for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li dir="ltr"&gt;Ground News is a platform that makes it easy to compare news sources, read between the lines of media bias, and break free from algorithms. Go to &lt;a href="https://ground.news/landingV8/questioneverything?utm_source=questioneverything&amp;amp;utm_medium=podcast&amp;amp;utm_campaign=questioneverything"&gt;GroundNews.com/QUESTION &lt;/a&gt;to get 40% off the unlimited Vantage plan.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li dir="ltr"&gt;DeleteMe makes it quick, easy and safe to remove your personal data online. Get 20% off DeleteMe consumer plans when you go to &lt;a href="https://joindeleteme.com/20off/?inf=Question+Everything+with+Brian+Reed&amp;amp;utm_source=influencer&amp;amp;utm_campaign=Question&amp;amp;coupon=QUESTION"&gt;joindeleteme.com/QUESTION&lt;/a&gt; and use promo code QUESTION at checkout.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
 </description>

A new scandal surrounding Trump’s lawsuit against the Pulitzer Prize Board.

‘Kick Him Off The Bench.’ A Judge in Trump’s Pulitzer Case Gets a Prize

<description>
 &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Like millions of others, Gordon Pennycook&amp;rsquo;s older brother has leapt down the rabbit hole of conspiracy theories, and Gordon says he&amp;rsquo;s tried to change his brother&amp;rsquo;s mind, without success. Which tracks, if you&amp;rsquo;ve ever debated a conspiracy theorist &amp;mdash; it can feel impossible to pull them back to reality.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;If anyone was qualified to convince his brother, though, it&amp;rsquo;s Gordon, who&amp;rsquo;s a psychology professor at Cornell University where he studies why people believe things that aren&amp;rsquo;t true. So Gordon wanted to put this question to the test: Is it actually the case that conspiracy theorists rarely change their minds? He and a team of researchers ran an experiment using an AI chatbot to rebut people&amp;rsquo;s theories. And the results were very surprising. In fact, they ended up changing Gordon&amp;rsquo;s mind about conspiracy theories, and the people who believe them.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Sign up for our &lt;a href="http://questioneverything.substack.com"&gt;newsletter&lt;/a&gt; and we&amp;rsquo;ll share the Debunkbot from Gordon&amp;rsquo;s study, where you can test out your own beliefs.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Question Everything &lt;/em&gt;is a production of&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://www.kcrw.org"&gt;KCRW&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href="http://www.placementtheory.com"&gt;Placement Theory&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Guests:&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"&gt;
&lt;p dir="ltr" role="presentation"&gt;Gordon Pennycook, Cornell University, Associate Professor, Dorothy and Ariz Mehta Faculty Leadership Fellow&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Please support the organizations that support this show:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li dir="ltr"&gt;Go to &lt;a href="https://zbiotics.com/QUESTION"&gt;https://zbiotics.com/QUESTION&lt;/a&gt; and use QUESTION at checkout for 15% off any first-time orders of ZBiotics probiotics.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li dir="ltr"&gt;Refresh your everyday with luxury you'll actually use. Head to&lt;a href="https://www.quince.com/our-core-collection?utm_source=veritone&amp;amp;utm_medium=podcast&amp;amp;utm_campaign=question"&gt; Quince.com/QUESTION&lt;/a&gt; for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li dir="ltr"&gt;Ground News is a platform that makes it easy to compare news sources, read between the lines of media bias, and break free from algorithms. Go to &lt;a href="https://ground.news/landingV8/questioneverything?utm_source=questioneverything&amp;amp;utm_medium=podcast&amp;amp;utm_campaign=questioneverything"&gt;GroundNews.com/QUESTION &lt;/a&gt;to get 40% off the unlimited Vantage plan.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li dir="ltr"&gt;DeleteMe makes it quick, easy and safe to remove your personal data online. Get 20% off DeleteMe consumer plans when you go to &lt;a href="https://joindeleteme.com/20off/?inf=Question+Everything+with+Brian+Reed&amp;amp;utm_source=influencer&amp;amp;utm_campaign=Question&amp;amp;coupon=QUESTION"&gt;joindeleteme.com/QUESTION&lt;/a&gt; and use promo code QUESTION at checkout.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
 </description>

A psychologist whose brother believes in conspiracies runs an experiment. 

Can a Chatbot Convince Conspiracy Theorists of the Truth?

<description>
 &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;According to the fact-checking company NewsGuard, Claude has been a very reliable and accurate chatbot. But in the last month or so, users have started complaining that it seemed to be getting slower, stupider, and less trustworthy. So NewsGuard AI analyst Isis Blachez ran a test on Claude, to see if it is actually getting worse. And running this test revealed a whole new iteration of Russian disinformation campaigns, designed for the AI-era, that are evolving by the second specifically to coerce chatbots into deceiving us.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Question Everything &lt;/em&gt;is a production of &lt;a href="http://www.kcrw.org"&gt;KCRW&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href="http://www.placementtheory.com"&gt;Placement Theory&lt;/a&gt;. And don&amp;rsquo;t forget to sign up for our &lt;a href="http://questioneverything.substack.com"&gt;newsletter&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Guests:&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"&gt;
&lt;p dir="ltr" role="presentation"&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.newsguardtech.com/about/team/isis-blachez/"&gt;Isis Blachez&lt;/a&gt;, analyst for AI and France at &lt;a href="https://www.newsguardrealitycheck.com/"&gt;NewsGuard&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Please support the organizations that support this show:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li dir="ltr"&gt;Go to &lt;a href="https://zbiotics.com/QUESTION"&gt;https://zbiotics.com/QUESTION&lt;/a&gt; and use QUESTION at checkout for 15% off any first-time orders of ZBiotics probiotics.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li dir="ltr"&gt;Refresh your everyday with luxury you'll actually use. Head to&lt;a href="https://www.quince.com/our-core-collection?utm_source=veritone&amp;amp;utm_medium=podcast&amp;amp;utm_campaign=question"&gt; Quince.com/QUESTION&lt;/a&gt; for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li dir="ltr"&gt;Ground News is a platform that makes it easy to compare news sources, read between the lines of media bias, and break free from algorithms. Go to &lt;a href="GroundNews.com/QUESTION"&gt;GroundNews.com/QUESTION &lt;/a&gt;to get 40% off the unlimited Vantage plan.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li dir="ltr"&gt;DeleteMe makes it quick, easy and safe to remove your personal data online. Get 20% off DeleteMe consumer plans when you go to &lt;a href="joindeleteme.com/QUESTION"&gt;joindeleteme.com/QUESTION&lt;/a&gt; and use promo code QUESTION at checkout.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
 </description>

Why the most reliable AI Chatbot has started spreading Russian disinformation.

Claude’s Russian Propaganda Problem

Question Everything is a weekly investigation into how the truth gets buried, distorted, and denied -- and the ways people are fighting to make it matter again.
Hosted by Brian Reed, of S-Town and This American Life.
Winner of the Webby Award, Ambie Award, and a Signal Special Achievement Award for pushing "the boundaries of the medium."

Question Everything

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