In this episode of The David Somerfleck Podcast I interview Josh Hamilton of The Jist. To learn more about Josh, his podast, or his site, visit https://thejist.co.uk. 
To apply to be a guest or ask a question that we may use on a future episode please go to www.dms.blue/podcastguest. 
To watch the video version of our interview visit this link: https://youtu.be/F5tvnW3ZYow.
If you enjoyed listening to this podcast please like it or subscribe. 
Here is a brief rundown of some of the topics or questions covered in this episode with Josh:
· Let’s start with your own background, education, and launching point. One of the reasons I wanted to interview you is that you have a fairly broad mixture of topics on your own podcast Chatter and certainly on your site The Jist that appeals to a wide range of informed interests. Where did the Jist begin, what needs do you see it filling and where did the podcast come in?
· What initiated your interests in international politics, messaging, and the role online marketing, possible bias and clickbait all intersecting?
· What do you see as the current state of international politics in a post COVID, post Trump time? Is it leaning toward more polarization of voting blocs in order to obfuscate actual issues, divide and conquer so a larger elite plan can be enacted? Is it less organized and deliberate or something completely different? What’s the end goal?
· How do you feel media as a whole, globally or internationally, influences what we perceive and consume in the working, day-to-day reality we live and struggle in?
· How do the US and UK compare to other countries or your take on our differences?
· How has the use of the internet and social media changed since its inception?
· Should the internet first, then social media secondly, be regulated? If yes, how? Where would regulation for a greater public good begin and censorship end? What’s the middle path toward a freer, less commercialized mass media?
· When I was trained in political campaign messaging by The White House Project one of the points repeatedly hammered at was the importance of clear, decisive narrative and that whoever has the clearer, simpler, narrative is most likely to win. Have most politicians come to understand that concept and been able to utilize it for their campaigns? Trump seems to have captured the fascination, some would say total fealty, of the Republican party base – disenfranchised lower middle class socioeconomically and wealthy elite investors, while similar messaging and behavior modeling has seemed to take hold for other politicians in other countries such as Mexico’s Obrador, London’s Kate Hoey with the wall, Duerte in the Phillipines, Egypt’s authoritarian President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi. How do you see it? Have most politicians become more sophisticated in their use of social media to promote their ends? How so and how can the public tell manipulation from actual objective fact if they consume with emotion over logic?
· What is the path forward toward a more rational, less manipulated internet? Should we have a international or even global digital bill of rights? If so, what would it ideally put forth? How would it practically work? Have there been any efforts in any arenas toward actually petitioning for such legislation?

---

Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/somerfleck/message