Weapons of Mass Distraction

Long Shadow

Long Lead & PRX

Technology, Politics, Guns, Internet, Anniversary, 9-11, Terrorism, America, Narrative, History

4.8 • 1.9K Ratings

🗓️ 22 July 2025

⏱️ 45 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

North Korea hacks a movie studio over a screwball comedy, inspiring America’s enemies to launch cyberattacks against the U.S. To roil an election, one even unleashes a network of trolls pitting ordinary Americans against each other, online and in the streets.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is long lead.
0:08.5	You're used to hearing my voice on the world, bringing you interviews from around the globe.
0:12.9	And you hear me reporting environment and climate news. I'm Carolyn Beeler.
0:17.9	And I'm Marco Wurman. We're now with you hosting the world together.
0:21.6	More global journalism with a fresh new sound.
0:23.6	Listen to the world on your local public radio station and wherever you find your podcasts. Hey everyone, it's me, Garrett.
0:38.2	Just a heads up that this episode contains harsh language, so take care when listening.
0:48.4	On June 11, 2014, Sony Pictures dropped a teaser trailer for an upcoming movie. Kim Jong-un's people believe anything he tells them, including that he can speak to dolphins.
1:00.0	The movie was called The Interview. The premise was ridiculous.
1:04.0	Two hapless TV journalists, played by Seth Rogan and James Franco,
1:09.0	But he does talk to dolphins.
1:14.7	We're hired by the CIA to kill the leader of North Korea.
1:16.9	Want to go kill Kim Jong-un?
1:17.3	Totally.
1:18.9	I'd love to say, Nick Chong-un, it's a date.
1:27.3	We put out a trailer for the movie sometime in early June of that year.
1:28.3	And we received a very cryptic email from the North Korean envoy in New York.
1:36.3	Michael Linton was the head of Sony Pictures Entertainment when the threatening email
1:40.3	about the interview landed in his inbox.
1:42.3	We couldn't even tell whether it was real or fake.
1:46.0	It's sort of intimated that the authorities in North Korea really didn't want this movie to be coming out.
1:53.0	It turned out that the email was real, and North Korea quickly followed it up with threats.
	...

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