Reynolds Gutierrez
Associate Producer
Exile Studio
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SHOOT THE MESSENGER: Espionage, Murder & Pegasus Spyware |
Description |
Shoot the Messenger: Espionage, Murder and Pegasus Spyware is a 10-episode investigative series (each episode 35-50 minutes). This series is a special partnership between Exile Content Studio and the Committee to Protect Journalists. Hosts Rose Reid and Nando Vila examine the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi — since his murder in 2018, members of his inner circle have confirmed they had the world's most sophisticated military-grade spyware on their phones. It's called Pegasus. Pegasus can use your phone in ways that you can’t - it can access your microphone, turn on the cameras, read your passwords, access all your apps, data, photos and even deleted files. How did this spyware come to be, how does it work, and how vulnerable are you? Over the course of ten episodes, Shoot The Messenger investigates Pegasus, the Israeli technology company that makes it, the NSO Group, and the cyber war industry that is booming around it. You have heard the headlines — this is the deep dive. Our goal for this show is to tell important global stories that warrant another investigation. This podcast is designed to be a sonic experience — explaining the use of technology and geopolitics with those closest to investigations around the world through a thriller-type format. We are an international podcast team working across continents, time zones, countries, cultures, and languages. (American; Dutch; Spanish; Venezuelan; Colombian; Mexican). Our Season 1 collaboration with the Committee to Protect Journalists on “Espionage, Murder & Pegasus Spyware” covered topics and revealed new information to our listeners. We unravel what really happened to slain journalist Jamal Khashoggi and shine a light on the journalists in El Salvador who were spied on for hundreds of days. We show how this technology is uniting unlikely allies — and being used in Israel as a diplomatic bargaining chip. The series also examines the role of governments and US-based private equity and front companies are linked. When we started reporting on this project in 2021, there was a very real sense of danger that digging deep into Pegasus, and therefore into the NSO Group, would be a risk for the reporters. Additionally, because of the nature of spyware - and the emotional impact it can have on those who are spied on - it is difficult to both identify those who have been and then get permission to interview. |
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