Episode 3: The Story of a Decade-Long Investigation
Summary
Drilled: The Propagandist features journalist Aline who details her decade-long investigation into the Standing Rock movement, uncovering how private security firm Tiger Swan orchestrated a covert propaganda campaign to turn public opinion against protesters. The episode explores the use of social media bots, "snitch jacketing," and the infiltration of camps by agents like Joel McCullough to deepen divisions within the movement and surrounding communities. Aline discusses how these tactics, documented through leaked internal records, helped normalize the framing of protests as disruptive an…
Topics discussed
Sponsors and show introduction
Intro to Aline and Standing Rock reporting
Surveillance and militarized atmosphere at camps
TigerSwan records and information operations
Infiltrators and the Joel Edwards case
Snitch jacketing and paranoia in the movement
Pressure cooker dynamics and community divisions
Targeted propaganda and pre-existing divisions
Sponsor break: Optum, Brilliant, PayPal
Unique approach to continuous movement coverage
Legal discovery and release of 60k pages
Corporate surveillance and global patterns
AI, data centers, and local community impact
2016-2017 context and Facebook propaganda
Keyboard warriors and counter-insurgency tactics
Trump era, pipeline backers, and anti-protest sentiment
Historical context of anti-protest sentiment
ALEC and legislative crackdown on protests
Current crackdowns and National Security Memo 7
Who are the protesters? Debunking stereotypes
Threats to democracy and the state of journalism
Solutions: Media literacy and checking credibility
Credits and closing sponsor reads
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