The Explanation

BBC World Service

Where the world is explained. Making sense of the big stories - looking behind the spin. Exploring the important questions about long-running stories and the latest global news. An honest, unvarnished, explanation of the world.

Featuring new episodes of The President's Path, Unspun World with John Simpson, and The Media Show.

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346 episodes
Updated Friday

Episodes346

Newest first

Feb 20, 2025 · 22 min
The Media Show: Diplomacy and the media and 100 years of The New Yorker
The battle to report Ukraine, Russia, and government narratives
Feb 14, 2025 · 26 min
Unspun World: Is Western support for Ukraine holding firm?
John Simpson examines whether Western support for Ukraine is holding firm
Feb 13, 2025 · 22 min
The Media Show: Understanding the attention economy
How big tech is reshaping how we pay attention
Feb 7, 2025 · 26 min
Unspun World: Donald Trump’s whirlwind start to his second term
John Simpson examines Donald Trump’s first few weeks in office
Feb 6, 2025 · 22 min
The Media Show: Bill Gates on tech and politics
Microsoft co-founder discusses social media, Trump, and his concerns over misinformation
Jan 31, 2025 · 26 min
Unspun World: How will Trump's second presidency affect the war in Ukraine?
John Simpson reflects on how the collapse of the Soviet Union has shaped Putin’s Russia
Jan 30, 2025 · 22 min
The Media Show: China’s AI rise
DeepSeek shakes up tech, raising security and influence concerns in the West
Jan 27, 2025 · 23 min
Mindu Hornick: Interview with an Auschwitz survivor
Tim Franks speaks to Mindu Hornick, who survived the Nazis' largest concentration camp
Jan 24, 2025 · 26 min
Unspun World: What's behind the growing tensions between China and Taiwan?
In Taiwan, John Simpson reflects on the last 60 years of Chinese politics
Jan 23, 2025 · 22 min
The Media Show: Prince Harry’s legal victory and TikTok’s future
Prince Harry gets a formal apology from Murdoch’s News Group Newspapers and a payout
Jan 16, 2025 · 22 min
The Media Show: Reporting the LA fires
Challenge and dilemma for journalists reporting on the LA wildfires
Jan 9, 2025 · 22 min
The Media Show: Meta drops fact-checkers and Grand Theft Auto 6 hype builds
Why Mark Zuckerberg has changed tactics ahead of President Trump’s return
Jan 2, 2025 · 22 min
The Media Show: media trends in 2025
Media predictions: what we'll see in 2025
Dec 28, 2024 · 36 min
The Global Jigsaw: The language of war: Ukraine
Kyiv’s answer to the Kremlin’s warspeak
Dec 26, 2024 · 22 min
The Media Show: Jeans, cars, deodorant
Advertising legend Sir John Hegarty on creating some of the world’s most famous ads
Dec 21, 2024 · 28 min
The Global Jigsaw: The language of war: Russia
Decoding the Kremlin’s warspeak
Dec 19, 2024 · 22 min
The Media Show: CNN’s Syria report controversy
CNN faces backlash over Syrian prisoner misidentification
Dec 12, 2024 · 22 min
The Media Show: Reporting Syria and reaction to Luigi Mangione
Syria enters a new era for journalists after the fall of the Assad regime
Dec 5, 2024 · 22 min
The Media Show: Reddit's rise
Why Reddit is one of the world’s fastest growing social networks
Nov 28, 2024 · 22 min
The Media Show: BBC presenter defection
Mishal Husain leaves the BBC after 26 years to join Bloomberg