Podcasts · Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford
Poles Apart: How A Journalist Divided A City
· 37 min · S4 E22
Episode Poles Apart: How A Journalist Divided A City
Heroic explorer Frederick Cook has just returned from the very roof of the world, the first man to reach the North Pole. Or so he says. Journalist Philip Gibbs has been watching him, and he’s convinced he’s lying.
When Gibbs publishes that belief, he stands alone. Cook has a gripping manner and an excellent reputation: his winning tale must be true. Diners boo Gibbs at a restaurant, newspapers publish sly-looking caricatures of him, and he even receives threats of violence.
But then, everything changes.
We often think of polarisation as a modern problem — but the story of Cook and Gibbs has much to teach us here.
For a full list of sources for this episode, please visit timharford.com.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Links in the notes 2
Transcript
Shows are listed from Apple Podcasts' charts and directory, and Podcast Index where it is used. Every show and episode belongs to its publisher and plays from the publisher's own feed; this site hosts none of them. Explicit shows are for adult profiles only, and children’s profiles hear only children’s shows. More about this list.