{"podcast":{"title":"Political Breakdown","slug":"political-breakdown-683875","podcast_index_feed_id":683875,"rss_url":"https://feeds.megaphone.fm/KQINC9796326111","website_url":"https://www.kqed.org/podcasts/politicalbreakdown","image_url":"https://megaphone.imgix.net/podcasts/3684f0fc-a1ec-11ea-a4d4-c3a2c1e05d46/image/cc7063c12f3b91030d4dc7da579b5d49.jpg?ixlib=rails-4.3.1&max-w=3000&max-h=3000&fit=crop&auto=format,compress","author":"KQED","episode_count":792,"summary":"Join hosts Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos as they unpack the day in politics with a California perspective. Featuring interviews with reporters and other insiders involved in the craft of politics—including elected officials, candidates, pollsters, campaign managers, fundraisers, and other political players—Political Breakdown pulls back the curtain to offer an insider’s glimpse at how politics works today.","last_synced_at":"2026-07-18T22:21:15.189762+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/political-breakdown-683875"},"episode":{"title":"How the U.S. Government Uses Social Media to Target Its Own Citizens","slug":"how-the-u-s-government-uses-social-media-to-target-its-own-citizens","published_at":"2026-04-01T01:44:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/political-breakdown-683875/how-the-u-s-government-uses-social-media-to-target-its-own-citizens","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/political-breakdown-683875","url":"https://next.kqed.org/news/12078155","audio_url":"https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.megaphone.fm/KQINC6026813952.mp3?updated=1775008269","summary":"The Department of Homeland Security is using social media to demonize dissenters, branding U.S. citizens as terrorists, rioters and agitators. That’s according to a Wall Street Journal investigation that found most of DHS’s assault allegations against citizens were unsubstantiated. Scott is joined by reporter Brenna Smith, a member of the investigative team that reviewed cell phone recordings and body-camera footage. In addition to the investigation’s findings, they discuss the financial, emotional and professional toll on the Americans targeted by this aggressive government campaign. Check out ⁠⁠⁠Political Breakdown’s weekly newsletter⁠⁠⁠, delivered straight to your inbox. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices","meta_description":"The Department of Homeland Security is using social media to demonize dissenters, branding U.S. citizens as terrorists, rioters and agitators. That’s acco…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":1605,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/political-breakdown-683875/episodes/how-the-u-s-government-uses-social-media-to-target-its-own-citizens/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/political-breakdown-683875/how-the-u-s-government-uses-social-media-to-target-its-own-citizens.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}