The Explanation Podcast
Where the world is explained. Making sense of the big stories - looking behind the spin.
Where the world is explained. Making sense of the big stories - looking behind the spin. Exploring the important questions about long-running stories and the latest global news. An honest, unvarnished, explanation of the world.
Featuring new episodes of The President's Path, Unspun World with John Simpson, and The Media Show.
Episodes to download
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The Media Show: Bill Gates on tech and politics
Thu 6 Feb 2025
Microsoft co-founder discusses social media, Trump, and his concerns over misinformation
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Unspun World: How will Trump's second presidency affect the war in Ukraine?
Fri 31 Jan 2025
John Simpson reflects on how the collapse of the Soviet Union has shaped Putin’s Russia
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The Media Show: China’s AI rise
Thu 30 Jan 2025
DeepSeek shakes up tech, raising security and influence concerns in the West
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Mindu Hornick: Interview with an Auschwitz survivor
Mon 27 Jan 2025
Tim Franks speaks to Mindu Hornick, who survived the Nazis' largest concentration camp
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Unspun World: What's behind the growing tensions between China and Taiwan?
Fri 24 Jan 2025
In Taiwan, John Simpson reflects on the last 60 years of Chinese politics
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The Media Show: Prince Harry’s legal victory and TikTok’s future
Thu 23 Jan 2025
Prince Harry gets a formal apology from Murdoch’s News Group Newspapers and a payout
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The Media Show: Reporting the LA fires
Thu 16 Jan 2025
Challenge and dilemma for journalists reporting on the LA wildfires
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The Media Show: Meta drops fact-checkers and Grand Theft Auto 6 hype builds
Thu 9 Jan 2025
Why Mark Zuckerberg has changed tactics ahead of President Trump’s return
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The Global Jigsaw: The language of war: Ukraine
Sat 28 Dec 2024
Kyiv’s answer to the Kremlin’s warspeak
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The Media Show: Jeans, cars, deodorant
Boxing Day 2024
Advertising legend Sir John Hegarty on creating some of the world’s most famous ads
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The Media Show: CNN’s Syria report controversy
Thu 19 Dec 2024
CNN faces backlash over Syrian prisoner misidentification
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The Media Show: Reporting Syria and reaction to Luigi Mangione
Thu 12 Dec 2024
Syria enters a new era for journalists after the fall of the Assad regime
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The Media Show: Reddit's rise
Thu 5 Dec 2024
Why Reddit is one of the world’s fastest growing social networks
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The Media Show: BBC presenter defection
Thu 28 Nov 2024
Mishal Husain leaves the BBC after 26 years to join Bloomberg
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Unspun World: Could Russia's war with Ukraine escalate?
Fri 22 Nov 2024
John Simpson examines the risk of nuclear escalation in Russia’s war with Ukraine
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The Media Show: Jake Paul v Mike Tyson
Thu 21 Nov 2024
What the Jake Paul v Mike Tyson boxing bout on Netflix tells us about the future of media
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Unspun World: What can the world expect from a second Trump term?
Fri 15 Nov 2024
John Simpson explores the implications of a second Trump term for US foreign policy
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The Media Show: US Election and its impact on media
Thu 14 Nov 2024
Why Trump’s victory poses a credibility challenge for journalism
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Unspun World: What does the US election tell us about America?
Fri 8 Nov 2024
How the US presidential campaign highlighted the deep divisions in the country
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The Media Show: Trump's winning media strategy
Thu 7 Nov 2024
The pundits and pollsters who got the election wrong
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The Global Jigsaw: Russia’s “special demographic operation”
Sat 2 Nov 2024
Why is the Kremlin worried about population decline?
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Unspun World: What will Iran do now?
Fri 1 Nov 2024
How the Iranian regime might respond to Israel’s attack
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The Media Show: Ballots, bias and big tech
Thu 31 Oct 2024
Ros Atkins is in Washington DC and asks what role the media is playing in the election
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The Global Jigsaw: Turkey’s anti-LGBT drive
Sat 26 Oct 2024
What’s behind the evolution of the Turkish president's anti-LGBT narrative?
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Unspun World: The Middle East: The regional perspective
Fri 25 Oct 2024
Analysing attitudes of other regional powers towards Israel’s wars in Gaza and Lebanon
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The Media Show: The king of reality TV
Thu 24 Oct 2024
How Andy Cohen created the Real Housewives phenomenon
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Unspun World: Israel's Middle East strategy
Thu 17 Oct 2024
John Simpson analyses Israel’s long-term strategy in the Middle East
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The Media Show: ISIS Prisons Museum
Thu 17 Oct 2024
The journalists documenting the atrocities of the so-called Islamic State
