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PODCAST

The Active Measures Newsletter Podcast

The Pell Center at Salve Regina University

From the Pell Center at Salve Regina University and the creators of the Active Measures Newsletter, a weekly dive into the latest trends in political warfare, influence, and information campaigns.

government politics

All Episodes

35:15

"Freedom is Coming" with Reuters' Simon Lewis and...

The Active Measures Newsletter Podcast ·

2026/03/14

The U.S. State Department has plans for an online portal designed to bypass European social media content bans. With a tagline “Freedom is Coming,” the plan plainly pits the U.S. government in opposition to European laws. Simon Lewis and Humeyra Pamuk of Reuters broke this story in February and in this episode of the podcast trace the as-yet-to-be-launched website to a three part-ambition: promoting free speech; boosting far-right political parties in Europe; and protecting American

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31:12

Disinformation and the War with Iran with Sofia...

The Active Measures Newsletter Podcast ·

2026/03/07

Truth is the first casualty of war, and the sheer volume of digital disinformation coming out of the war with Iran only proves the point. News Guard’s Sofia Rubinson and Isis Blachez review the phony images and videos claiming Iranian battlefield successes not borne out by the evidence. In addition, hosts Jim Ludes and Mark Jacobson discuss other reporting on emerging themes in Spanish language disinformation ahead of the U.S. midterm elections before turning their attention to the power of

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6:05

Special Edition: Benjamin Franklin and the Dawn of...

The Active Measures Newsletter Podcast ·

2026/02/28

As we approach the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution, we examine Benjamin Franklin’s 1782 disinformation operation during the peace negotiations with Britain. As American diplomats sought formal recognition of independence following Yorktown, Franklin produced a fabricated supplement to the Boston Independent Chronicle, printed in France but designed to appear authentic, alleging British officials had encouraged atrocities by their Native American allies. The forged document aimed

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38:48

The Noise War with J.J. Green

The Active Measures Newsletter Podcast ·

2026/02/21

“Flood the zone.” That’s the strategy advice of domestic political operatives and hostile foreign intelligence services. Veteran national security journalist J.J. Green stands in the midst of the ensuing storm with a new handbook, The Noise War, to help reporters, citizens, educators, and students spot disinformation, manage their information diet, and remain engaged in the life of the republic. Hosts Jim Ludes and Mark Jacobson also highlight new reporting on a U.S. government

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35:18

The New Era of Digital Repression with Steven...

The Active Measures Newsletter Podcast ·

2026/02/14

As anti-government protests in Iran ratcheted-up in the waning days of 2025, the Iranian government cracked-down harshly, using physical violence against their own people and shutting down the internet in the country. Steven Feldstein and Shreya Joshi of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace put Iran’s actions in a broader global context of digital-repression where regimes fight the population by controlling the flow of information. Hosts Jim Ludes and Mark Jacobson also discuss the

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35:00

Inauthentic 'Fan Pages' with Shawn Eib and Eric Nelson

The Active Measures Newsletter Podcast ·

2026/02/07

Somebody is growing a network of pages across social media targeting professional sports franchises in the United States and the star athletes they employ with rage bait, spam, and AI slop that undermines the multi-billion dollar sports industry. This week, hosts Jim Ludes and Mark Jacobson discuss the operation of these networks with Shawn Eib and Eric Nelson of Alethea, the private firm whose research identified their presence. Also on the docket: informal information networks in Venezuela and one

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34:08

Migrant Warfare with Karen-Anna Eggen & Jyri Lavikainen

The Active Measures Newsletter Podcast ·

2026/01/31

Before it became a Europe-wide phenomenon, Russia's use of migration as a weapon was a test-case stressing the borders between Russia and its two arctic neighbors: Norway and Finland. On this week's episode of the podcast, Karen-Anna Eggen (Norwegian Institute for Defense Studies) and Jyri Lavikainen (Finnish Institute for International Affairs) share their research detailing Russia's efforts to weaponize human migration. Hosts Jim Ludes and Mark Jacobson also review new reporting on the potential

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12:00

Special Edition: Russia's Support for American...

The Active Measures Newsletter Podcast ·

2026/01/24

"Russia is our friend?" It was a strange refrain for tiki-torch wielding protesters in 2017, but it exposed the reality that for some American white-nationalists, Russian leader Vladimir Putin is a role model as the last defender of white Christendom. In this special edition of the podcast, host Jim Ludes reviews the American separatism Russia encouraged in 2016, the Putin regime's ties to American extremists, and its political, ideological, and geo-strategic goal: eviscerating American power.See

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30:30

Protecting America's Elections with RI Secretary of...

The Active Measures Newsletter Podcast ·

2026/01/17

Rhode Island Secretary of State Gregg Amore discusses the threat of foreign malign influence to American elections, Trump administration cuts to federal programs to support local election officials, and the enduring value of civics education and critical thinking in an era of ubiquitous disinformation. Hosts Jim Ludes and Mark Jacobson also highlight continued, bipartisan Congressional support for U.S. international broadcasting and the real-time case study of what happens when the United States

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34:36

Alliance Strategic Communications with Janis Sarts

The Active Measures Newsletter Podcast ·

2026/01/10

On the first episode of the new year, Janis Sarts, Director of the NATO Strategic Communications Center of Excellence discusses the current information challenges facing the North Atlantic alliance, Russia's current use of these tools, and the transition from an ecosystem dominated by social media platforms to one dominated by artificial intelligence. Hosts Jim Ludes and Mark Jacobson also highlight disinformation spilling out of the U.S. strike in Venezuela and the actions of the Trump

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9:17

Special Edition: The U.S. Response to the East German...

The Active Measures Newsletter Podcast ·

2026/01/03

In June of 1953, civil disturbances hit East Germany--and the Eisenhower administration faced a choice: make good on the rhetoric of 'liberation' or adopt a more restrained approach. According to host Jim Ludes, President Eisenhower and his team adopted the latter approach, restraint, seeking to exploit the uprisings for advantage in the Cold War without encouraging anyone to take needless risks or discrediting the protests themselves by endorsing them from Washington.See omnystudio.com/listener for

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8:15

Special Edition: Edward Bernays and "The Engineering...

The Active Measures Newsletter Podcast ·

2025/12/27

In this special edition of the podcast, host Mark Jacobson revisits the classic work of Edward Bernays whose 1928 book, Propaganda, argued that democracy required managed perception and was effective precisely because it bypasses conscious reasoning. Bernays wrote at a time when newspapers were the dominant form of communication, when radio and film were still nascent, but the clear implications of his work for our current world of algorithmically controlled media are numerous.See

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32:22

2025: A Year in Active Measures with Jim Ludes and...

The Active Measures Newsletter Podcast ·

2025/12/20

It's been a dynamic year of growth for the Active Measures Newsletter Podcast. With great guests and a ton of news, each week we've had more to talk about than time to do it. So as the year winds down, hosts Mark Jacobson and Jim Ludes name their "final four"--the biggest stories from the Active Measures Newsletter in 2025. Artificial Intelligence, Sabotage in Europe, America’s Unilateral Disarmament, and more contend for the biggest story of the year. Mark and Jim have their pick. What's

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36:04

A Matter of Trust with L. Gordon Crovitz

The Active Measures Newsletter Podcast ·

2025/12/13

“They’re burning all the witches,” sang Taylor Swift on the album “reputation,” a lyric with meaning about modern-day witch hunts, cancel culture, and, in fact, disinformation. In this week’s episode of The Active Measures Newsletter Podcast, hosts Jim Ludes and Mark Jacobson break down the recent attack on Taylor Swift’s actual reputation and the self-harm done to America’s reputation by its new national security strategy. Then, they welcome L. Gordon

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28:56

Cognitive Warfare with Frank Hoffman

The Active Measures Newsletter Podcast ·

2025/12/06

The terminology we use to describe new phenomena matters. On this week's podcast, defense intellectual Frank Hoffman reviews Chinese, Russian, European, and--to the extent there is any--American writings about 'cognitive warfare.' For the uninitiated--this runs the gamut from traditional tools of influence to novel technologies, including chemical and directed energy weapons that can "alter peoples’ brains and thought processes. . . .” Co-hosts Jim Ludes and Mark Jacobson also discuss

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9:28

Special Edition: Social Media's "Fake Americans" Problem

The Active Measures Newsletter Podcast ·

2025/11/29

American social media is filled with high-strung posters, outrage-addicts, and partisan players. It's a perfect avenue for amplifying division and most platforms let anyone play anonymously. So it came as a shock to some this week when X turned on a new geolocation service and the overseas posting of active accounts--some with hundreds of thousands and even millions of followers--proved to originate from Eastern Europe, Africa, and Asia. In this special edition of the podcast, host Jim Ludes takes

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34:26

Hired Agents Sow Russian Chaos in Europe with Naomi...

The Active Measures Newsletter Podcast ·

2025/11/22

This week, Naomi O’Leary, European Correspondent for The Irish Times describes Russia’s hybrid warfare across Europe—from severed pigs heads dumped at French mosques to cases of arson in Poland and the United Kingdom. “Russia is recruiting what they call ‘Telegram agents’ over this messaging app to do small-scale sabotage,” she says, “and the aim is . . . ‘to disrupt the unity of Western states and sow discord among citizens of European

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37:02

'The X-Effect' with Kaitlin Tosh and Michelle Inez...

The Active Measures Newsletter Podcast ·

2025/11/15

Journalists at Sky News created an elegant experiment to assess whether content on X in the United Kingdom had political bias. From a database of 90,000 posts created by 21,690 accounts collected over two weeks in May of 2025, they were able to observe ". . . a clear imbalance of content promoted on the platform, with right-wing voices dominating and the algorithm pushing posts to new users that don't align with their interests." Digital Investigations Journalists Kaitlin Tosh and Michelle Inez

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32:11

The Red Hand Trial in France with Marion Solletty &...

The Active Measures Newsletter Podcast ·

2025/11/08

This week, Politico's Marion Solletty (Editor-at-Large, France) and Laura Kayali (Defense Correspondent) join hosts Jim Ludes and Mark Jacobson to discuss the "Red Hands" trial in France, reports of ties to Russian intelligence, and the broader context in which France finds itself as a "hot-spot in Russia's hybrid war against Europe." The hosts also examine Shakespeare for lessons about irregular warfare and reports that Russia will spend less on defense but more on state-run information

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36:01

China Relies on Local Voices with Poppy McPherson and...

The Active Measures Newsletter Podcast ·

2025/11/01

This week on the Active Measures Newsletter Podcast, hosts Jim Ludes and Mark Jacobson speak with Poppy McPherson (Special Correspondent for Southeast Asia) and Karen Lema (Philippines Bureau Chief) of Reuters whose recent reporting showed Chinese government use of a local public relations firm in the Philippines to mount a pro-China/anti-U.S. influence campaign in the country. Mark and Jim also review some of the big stories from this week's newsletter including Suzanne Nossel's case that Americans

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77 results

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