3 x 60' Northern Pictures

Trolls, bots, Chatbots, misinformation, disinformation and ‘enshittification’ of online information. If you don’t know what any of this means, put on your flak jacket and join reformed war correspondent Hamish Macdonald as he embarks on a thrilling ride into the hostile frontlines of our global information wars. He meets leading experts from around the world to discover what happens if we lose our faith in facts and what we can do about it.

We are all navigating a digital ecosystem where truth and lies can be indistinguishable, and where information is created – at scale – to change what we believe, how we behave and who we vote for. Too many of us are reporting that we don’t believe anything – or anyone.

At a moment when trust in truth itself is fracturing under the pressure of algorithmic manipulation, AI-generated realities and globalised disinformation, The Matter of Facts is an urgent, must-watch investigation into how our shared sense of reality is being rewritten - and what’s at stake if we fail to fight for it.

The series journeys across the United States, the United Kingdom, Poland, Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines and throughout Australia, bringing viewers face-to-face with some of the world’s most insightful and compelling voices on the frontlines of the global information war.

KEY PARTICIPANTS

Australia & New Zealand
Dr Amy Dawel & Dr Eryn Newman: Cognitive Psychologists (Australia & New Zealand)
Lizzie O’Shea: Lawyer & Digital Rights Advocate (Melbourne, Australia)

United Kingdom
Ben Strick: Centre for Information Resilience (London, UK)

United States
Tristan Harris: Technology Ethicist (San Francisco, US)
Maryanne Wolf: Professor-In-Residence, School of Education and Information Studies, UCLA (Los Angeles, US)
Marty Baron: Journalist & Editor (Massachusetts, United States)

Asia
Maria Ressa: Journalist & Nobel Prize Winner (Manila, Philippines)
Audrey Tang: Taiwanese Cyber Ambassador (at large) (Taipei, Taiwan)