The Imperfects · Hugh van Cuylenburg, Ryan Shelton & Josh van Cuylenburg

Hamish Macdonald - After The Facts

March 29, 2026·1 hr 26 min·6 clips

Award-winning journalist Hamish Macdonald says we're already living in the post-truth future we once feared.

Post-truth does not feel far away now. The guest describes algorithms that feed on basic human reactions: what people click, what annoys them, what gets a feeling out of them. AI makes the whole thing sharper. He calls the coming wave information pollution, because the issue is not just more material. It is what those systems might be doing back to people while they scroll. He is not doom-laden, though. He thinks humans can adjust, as they have with fears around the Cuban Missile Crisis, Chernobyl, and other moments that felt like the end of the world. The mood stays warm, but never too tidy. The tougher stretch comes when the conversation turns political. Pauline Hanson becomes the stress test. The guest does not want callers with some of those views written off as people who should not be heard. Other Australians vote, pay taxes, and have the same right to ring a radio station as anyone else. That is not agreement. It is a slower way of arguing: ask what is being claimed, what numbers are being used, and what policy is meant to fix the thing. Immigration and homes make that concrete. If someone says immigration is why they cannot afford a home, he wants the link named and the evidence put on the table. Then the proposed fix has to survive daylight. Feeling strongly is not enough. That is where the episode has its bite. Listening can be generous, but it cannot turn into a holiday from facts. One speaker admits he avoids things too. Seeing an interview drop on Australia Day felt so transparent that he could not watch it, and he knows that may be its own problem. The conversation does not chase easy purity. It asks whether people can stay curious about each other while getting much tougher about evidence, especially when AI and algorithmic feeds make confusion cheap.

As heard by us

A calm, useful conversation about facts, outrage, and staying mentally steady in a polluted information world.

Hamish Macdonald returns to The Imperfects for a thoughtful conversation about staying steady in a media climate where facts can feel optional and outrage moves fast.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

You want a thoughtful reset on facts, noise, and what constant information overload is doing to your head.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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