Marianna in Conspiracyland 1: 1. Entering Conspiracyland
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BBC
4.0 • 545 Ratings
🗓️ 12 June 2023
⏱️ 15 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
What’s happening in the Devon town of Totnes? The small town of Totnes in Devon is known for its warmth and open-mindedness, gong baths and healing crystals, but a fault line has emerged between the minority who’ve been drawn in by disinformation laced with hate and those who are fighting against it. Some in the town were drawn into a conspiracy theory movement during the pandemic, one whose monthly marches and rallies persist to this day. A conspiracy theory newspaper called The Light seems to have played a key part in the division there. BBC disinformation and social media correspondent Marianna Spring investigates how the theories that dominate its pages are changing the town.
Host: Marianna Spring Producers: Philip Marzouk and Olivia Lace-Evans Producer for BBC Radio 4 podcasts: Nathan Jones Technical Producer: Alex Portfelix Senior news editor: Sam Bonham Commissioner: Rhian Roberts
New episodes released every few days. If you're in the UK, listen to the whole series first on BBC Sounds bbc.in/42x5sO5
And please get in touch with Marianna by emailing at: mariannainconspiracyland@bbc.co.uk.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | A group of men ran in with machetes. |
| 0:03.8 | I'm Livy Haydock, and from BBC Sounds and BBC Radio 5 Live, |
| 0:08.6 | this is gangster, the story of Georgie Pye. |
| 0:13.2 | The scene of the killing near a Chinese bookshop is being flooded with detectives. |
| 0:17.0 | Welcome to the world of the triads. |
| 0:19.6 | If the triads are coming out of you, you're done. |
| 0:21.5 | Where loyalty is sworn in blood. |
| 0:24.8 | Gangster, the story of Georgie Pye. |
| 0:27.6 | Listen first on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:31.3 | BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts. |
| 0:34.9 | You're about to listen to Mariana in Conspiracy Land with me, Mariana Spring. |
| 0:40.3 | New episodes will be released weekly, wherever you get your podcasts. |
| 0:44.4 | But if you're in the UK, the whole series is available right now. |
| 0:48.1 | First on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:51.8 | The small town of Totnes in Devon is known for its warmth and open-mindedness, |
| 0:57.1 | gong baths and healing crystals, but something has gone awry. |
| 1:02.1 | I've been shouted at the street. I've been accosted and had cameras shoved it up my nose |
| 1:07.8 | and had people drive their cars at me. |
| 1:15.6 | A fault line has emerged between the minority who've been drawn in by disinformation laced with hate and those who are fighting against it. |
| 1:18.6 | It's been a bit upsetting to have town where hippies who you thought were friends of yours |
| 1:23.6 | have crossed very quickly with only the smallest of encouragement over to the far |
| 1:28.7 | eye. This series is about the local people at the core of the conspiracy theory movement. |
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