TEASER: The Godfathers of Disinformation
The War on Cars
The War on Cars, LLC
4.9 • 937 Ratings
🗓️ 28 February 2022
⏱️ 5 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
***This is a preview of a short bonus episode for our Patreon supporters. Become a Patreon supporter of The War on Cars for ad-free access to this and all our exclusive content. And we'll send you stickers!***
Journalist and producer Amy Westervelt joined us in Episode LXXXI for our annual shredding of the Super Bowl car ads. While we had her in the studio we absolutely had to chat with Amy about her outstanding podcast series, Rigged. In it, Westervelt takes us on a deep dive into the history of the public relations industry and the incredible cast of mid-20th century characters who invented it. We live in a world awash in spin, disinformation, and mistrust of institutions. Rigged helpus us understand how we got here.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey everybody it's Aaron Napa Stack here with some bonus content for our Patreon supporters. |
| 0:14.7 | Last week journalist Amy Westerfeld joined us for our annual Super Bowl car ad episode |
| 0:20.0 | and hopefully you had a chance to listen to that one it was a lot of fun. While we had her in the studio we wanted to talk with Amy about her outstanding podcast series rigged. |
| 0:31.0 | In rigged Amy Westerfeld delves into the history of the public relations industry and shows us how PR has shaped what we now call the American way of life in ways that you will probably find |
| 0:46.9 | surprising and even a little mind-blowing. |
| 0:50.3 | Rigged offers up one incredible character after another with many direct connections to the automobile and fossil fuel industries |
| 0:58.9 | And that's what we talk about in this Patreon bonus If you are not yet a Patreon supporter of the |
| 1:04.9 | war on cars, it is simple to sign up. Just go to our website and click support us. |
| 1:09.4 | You can sign up starting at just $3 per month. |
| 1:13.5 | We will send you stickers and you'll have access to bonus content like this. |
| 1:18.0 | If you have already enlisted in the War on Cars, |
| 1:21.1 | we thank you so much. Head on to patreon to enjoy the rest of our |
| 1:25.3 | conversation with journalist Amy Westerfeld. |
| 1:32.0 | So Amy another fascinating character that you talk about on your podcast, on Rigged |
| 1:36.6 | and on your other work is Herbert Schmertz. |
| 1:39.2 | And since we kind of brought you on to talk about the Super Bowl and corporate television. I wonder if you could talk about |
| 1:45.6 | Herbert Schmertz and his connection to public television. |
| 1:49.2 | Yes, Herrchmert is probably my favorite of all these guys. |
| 1:53.8 | He's like a really entertaining character. |
| 1:56.9 | He definitely was one of the PR guys that love to be on TV himself as well. He fancied himself kind of a movie mogul. And in the late 60s |
| 2:08.9 | early 70s, PBS wanted to launch masterpiece theater. |
| 2:14.0 | They had this great idea that they thought people would love |
... |
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