The Active Measures Newsletter Podcast - The Pell Center at Salve Regina University

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The Voice of America Silenced Mar 17, 2025

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This week hosts Jim Ludes and Mark Jacobson welcome Matt Armstrong, a former member of the Broadcasting Board of Governors that oversaw the U.S. government's international media, for a discussion of the late breaking moves by the Trump administration to shutter America's overseas broadcasting and the impact those closures might have on international audiences, American alliances, and the ambitions of America's adversaries.

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The Reordering Mar 03, 2025

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This week on the Active Measures Newsletter Podcast, hosts Jim Ludes and Mark Jacobson tackle news that the Secretary of Defense has instructed U.S. Cyber Command to cease planning for offensive cyber operations against Russia; an American think-tank reports on disinformation in every American state; AI can help audiences resist disinformation; while one American scholar notes that right-wing populist information campaigns have the hallmarks of improv; capped off with a couple of articles on losing the current information fight for all the wrong reasons.

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Brazen Feb 24, 2025

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In the aftermath of his party's election victory, Christian Democrat leader Friedrich Merz charted a course for Germany in a Europe that must be independent of the United States, telling an interviewer that the pre-election “intervention from Washington was no less drastic, dramatic, and ultimately no less outrageous, than the intervention that we have seen from Moscow,”--a reference to forays by Elon Musk and Vice President J.D. Vance into German politics. In this week's Active Measures Newsletter Podcast, hosts Jim Ludes and Mark Jacobson examine the German election, the impact of Elon Musk on politics from Berlin to Washington, and the latest reporting on Russian hybrid warfare.

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Unilateral Disarmament Feb 17, 2025

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In this week's episode, hosts Jim Ludes and Mark Jacobson examine Trump Administration decisions to unilaterally disarm the United States of its ability to exert influence around the world, including: the effort to shutter USAID, slash funding for the National Endowment for Democracy, eliminate Justice Department efforts to counter Russian influence, and suspend DHS programs to protect American elections--all while Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth alienate American allies in Europe.

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An Ethno-Nationalist International? Feb 03, 2025

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On this week's Active Measures Newsletter Podcast, Jim Ludes and Mark Jacobson discuss the pattern that emerges when you look at the divisive issues being injected into diverse Western media environments--including Canada, Switzerland, and Germany--where a looming election in February is liberal-democracy's next test against a familiar pattern of ethno-nationalist grievance and promises of national renewal. They also discuss the Chinese AI phenom DeepSeek and its penchant for pro-Beijing disinformation.

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The "Tech Bro-ligarchy" Challenge to Democracy Jan 27, 2025

Show notes

In this week's episode of the Active Measures Newsletter Podcast, hosts Jim Ludes and Mark Jacobson reflect on recent reporting on Russian interference in the German and Romanian elections, the threat of AI-enabled individualized information campaigns, and the growing specter of tech billionaires operating in the information space in the same way we typically think of nation-states. Ultimately, the two hosts consider a couple of recent proposals for fighting back--including to approach disinformation as an "organized crime."

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Is It Time to Move Beyond the Disinformation Framework? Jan 13, 2025

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This week on the Active Measures Newsletter Podcast, hosts Jim Ludes and Mark Jacobson reflect on China's use of social media 'influencers' to target Taiwan and the risk of escalation in Russia's hybrid war against Europe before turning to a consideration of Facebook's decision to end third-party fact-checking. Ultimately, the discussion turns to whether the disinformation framework--trying to correct lies and mistruths--is the most effective way to clean-up a polluted information eco-system. (Spoiler: it's not.)

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Hybrid Warfare to the Fore Jan 06, 2025

Show notes

In the premier episode of the second season of the Active Measures Newsletter Podcast, Mark Jacobson and Jim Ludes discuss a tremendous amount of end-of-year reporting on Russian hybrid warfare efforts in the West, look ahead to Germany's upcoming elections, discuss the U.S. Treasury Departments new sanctions on Russian and Iranian entities for interfering in American elections, look at new country profiles from the EU Disinfo Lab, and discuss the FBI's warnings to lawmakers about China's efforts to discredit them.

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Is That a Drone? Dec 16, 2024

Show notes

In this week's Active Measures Newsletter Podcast, hosts Jim Ludes and Mark Jacobson conclude the year and the first season of the podcast with a discussion of Romanian efforts to protect their presidential election from Russian interference; a look at Congress de-funding the U.S. Global Engagement Center; and then some context for the flurry of drone sightings in the Northeastern United States. They end with a look back at disinformation in 2024 and a look ahead to 2025.
Season 2 of the Active Measures Newsletter Podcast drops January 5, 2025.

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Out-Russia Russia Dec 09, 2024

Show notes

In this episode of the Active Measures Newsletter Podcast, hosts Jim Ludes and Mark Jacobson review the latest reporting on Chinese cognitive warfare, Russia's multi-pronged efforts to undermine Western support for Ukraine, the limits of fact-checking to counter disinformation, and the unprecedented moment when the President of the United States and his principle funder both own popular social media networks--effective instruments for influence, attacks on enemies, and political mobilization.

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