The Media Rumble session, 'The #Pegasus Story', was moderated by Manisha Pande, executive editor at Newslaundry. The panel comprised four journalists who were at the forefront of the Pegasus story: Forbidden Stories editor in chief Sandrine Rigaud; The Wire journalist Kabir Aggarwal; The Guardian's international correspondent Michael Safi; and Le Monde journalist Julien Bouissou.
The panel discussed what is arguably the biggest story of the year: the Pegasus #spyware developed by the #NSO and its potential targets. Sandrine explained the initial days of their investigation and how Forbidden Stories came across the list of potential targets. The panel also discussed the difficulty they faced in gaining the trust of potential targets and other media partners to aid their investigation.
0:00 to 1:18 Introduction
1:18 to 5:55 Initial days of investigation, methodology and precautions taken
5:55 to 11:08 The Wire reporting on a story where it was also a victim
11:08 to 15:04 Securing information and communication between collaborators
15:04 to 19:24 Reducing the entire story into a 5 episode podcast
19:24 to 33:18 Obstacles posed by secrecy in building trust with readers and potential targets
33:18 to 35:51 Gaining trust of other media partners
35:51 to 47:44 Pros and Cons of being legacy media versus a not for profit
47:44 to 51:45 Tackling the ‘National Security’ argument used by the government
51:45 to 53:48 Reasons for lukewarm response from the Indian public
53:48 to 56:18 Reception of the story in France
56:18 to 58:59 Concluding remarks
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