# Why the US treasury secretary thinks the FT has become ‘tabloid trash’ Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/media-confidential-6620203/why-the-us-treasury-secretary-thinks-the-ft-has-become-tabloid-trash Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/media-confidential-6620203/why-the-us-treasury-secretary-thinks-the-ft-has-become-tabloid-trash.md Podcast: [Media Confidential](https://stenobird.com/podcast/media-confidential-6620203) Published: 2026-04-02T01:00:00+00:00 Episode link: https://shows.acast.com/media-confidential/episodes/media-confidential Audio file: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/650ac5ba0434d000118468a9/e/69cd304f7d4a54c657ce8f84/media.mp3 Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/media-confidential-6620203/episodes/why-the-us-treasury-secretary-thinks-the-ft-has-become-tabloid-trash Duration seconds: 1619 ## Resource Alan and Lionel discuss the Observer after investigative journalist Carole Cadwalladr, the paper’s former features writer, suggests that some of its new funders may not be who they seem. And as Scott Bessent, US secretary to the Treasury, takes aim at the Financial Times —claiming that a story about him was “manufactured”—former FT editor Lionel gives a considered reply. The editors also examine the selection process for the new head of Ofcom. What’s taking so long? And they discuss the BBC’s sacking of Scott Mills, following new information about abuse allegations. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/media-confidential-6620203/episodes/why-the-us-treasury-secretary-thinks-the-ft-has-become-tabloid-trash/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/media-confidential-6620203/why-the-us-treasury-secretary-thinks-the-ft-has-become-tabloid-trash.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource. A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed. ## Transcript Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.