Episode 2146: Sasha Issenberg on how to build more trust and transparency in American politics

Keen On

Earlier this year, the prolific American political journalist Sasha Issenberg came on the show to offer a playbook for winning elections in our disinformation age. And, on a recent trip to Los Angeles, I sat down with Issenberg in his Venice home to talk more broadly about the American political system for our KEEN ON AMERICA series. In particular, he addressed perhaps the most pressing issue of all about the future of American politics - how we might build more trust and transparency in both media and the system itself.

Sasha Issenberg is the author of five books including THE VICTORY LAB, which upon its 2012 release Politico called “Moneyball for politics,” and the follow-up THE LIE DETECTIVES, published in March 2024 by Columbia Global Reports. His other books have covered topics ranging from the global sushi business to medical tourism and the same-sex marriage debate. He covered the 2008 election as a national political reporter in the Washington bureau of The Boston Globe, 2012 for Slate, 2016 for Bloomberg Politics and Businessweek, and 2020 for The Recount. He is the American political correspondent for Monocle, and has written for New York, The New York Times Magazine, and George, where he served as a contributing editor. He teaches in the political science department at UCLA.

Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.

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