71. A Failed Coup and a Failed Reality TV Show with Rocco Castoro and Emily Molli

Failed State Update

We keep hoping that the Trump administration will become old news, but the stories of its incompetence and corruption keep coming. One of our favorites is Seven Days in January, a new podcast about Mark Burnett and Elizabeth Koch's failed attempt to turn the Presidential Inauguration into a reality series for Amazon Studios. According to our guests, the deal "evaporated as quickly as it appeared, leaving ominous questions to linger around F.T.C. oversight of Amazon’s $8.5 billion MGM Studios acquisition and their knowledge of 20 hours of unaired footage." A new investigative journalism outlet called The Knows got its hand on the audio, and it's airing it on its new podcast for the first time. For more info, check out the website: https://www.theknows.net/

About the guests

Rocco Castoro is the editor-in-chief of The Knows and used to be EIC of VICE Media, gaining awards and accolades while peeking behind the curtain of the news and media industry. After he resigned at an ethics conference he was given a five-year non-compete unheard of in media. His experiences forced him to develop unorthodox, yet effective reporting methods.

Emily Molli is The Knows’s special projects editor. She started as a wire reporter and photojournalist but quickly adapted to fill various roles in the evolving digital media industry. After dropping out of college to cover the 2016 presidential election, she covered social movements across the U.S., Europe, and Hong Kong. Her visual work has been featured by major news agencies, outlets, and networks as well as in documentaries & feature films.

Failed State Update website: https://roundtable.io/failed-state-update/

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And be sure to check out J.G. Michaels' other podcast, Parallax Views: https://parallaxviews.podbean.com/

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