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The Bunker – News without the nonsense

The PR dark arts explained: 'I got dictators and oligarchs the news stories they wanted'

The Bunker – News without the nonsense

Podmasters

Society & Culture, Government, News, Politics

4.61K Ratings

🗓️ 1 October 2024

⏱️ 32 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Who ensures that dictators and oligarchs get good press? Who feeds the media fake stories that serve the ends of the powerful? Phil Elwood was a PR operator who worked for authoritarian regimes, manipulating the media to support his controversial clients. In his book All The Worst Humans he opens the lid on the dark arts of PR and news management, from “kneecapping” the US bid for the 2022 World Cup to getting positive press for Libya during the release of the Lockerbie bomber. “I carry a lot of regret for my career,” he tells Jacob Jarvis. But why did he stop? Buy All The Worst Humans: How I Made News for Dictators, Tycoons and Politicians from our affiliate bookshop and you’ll help fund The Bunker by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too.  We are sponsored by Indeed. Go to indeed.com/bunker for £100 sponsored credit. • Get tickets for Levitation, the annual festival of electronic music and ideas presented by friends of the pod Castles In Space, at Bedford Esquires on Sat 5 Oct. And here’s a taster playlist of who’s on.  • The Pension Confident Podcast from PensionBee aims to improve listeners’ understanding of personal finance – whether that’s helping you to navigate the cost of living crisis, exploring the impact of your relationship status on your finances or discussing how to teach kids about money. Listen to the latest episode here https://link.chtbl.com/FSF2Yu6y www.patreon.com/bunkercast Presented by Managing Editor Jacob Jarvis. Audio production by Tom Taylor. Art by James Parrett. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Managing Editor Jacob Jarvis. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production www.podmasters.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

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0:22.1

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0:28.0

Shopify.co. UK slash revenue.

0:40.0

Hello and welcome to the bunker, I'm Jacob Jarvis.

0:43.2

My guest today describes his former career in par as follows.

0:47.6

Operators like me oil the machines that prop up authoritarian power all over the world.

0:52.0

I help those machines function by laundering the sins of

0:54.5

dictators through the press. Phil Elwood is the author of all the worst humans

0:58.9

how I made news for dictators, tycoons and, in which he chronicles his time aiding a series of horrible

1:06.1

characters in manipulating the media.

1:08.9

So how does someone get into this line of work?

1:11.2

How does this shady business operate and what can we learn from looking behind the scenes?

1:16.1

We're going to discuss exactly that today.

1:18.4

Phil, thank you very much for joining me.

1:20.1

Thank you very much for having me on.

1:22.1

Phil, I've got a two part first question.

1:25.0

The first one, why did you write this book specifically now?

...

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