True Journalism with Tom Martin and Richard Schreiber
Episode 20 - Boiling the Frog_ How Propaganda Dismantles Democracies with Katya Soldak
Katya Soldak learned how propaganda works as a child. Editorial director of Forbes Media's international editions, director of the 2020 documentary The Long Breakup, and author of the December 2017 Forbes essay This Is How Propaganda Works: A Look Inside A Soviet Childhood, she was raised in Kharkiv at the end of the Soviet Union and has spent her career reporting on how manufactured stories move through a society. This week she sits down with Richard Schreiber and Tom Martin to trace that machinery from a single controlled party line to a fragmented algorithmic feed — and to explain why she considers the second version harder to live inside than the first. The conversation moves from her Soviet childhood, to the Russian influence campaigns she describes encountering across the international markets she oversees, to the fifth year of the war in her home country and the protests that followed Ukraine's dismissal of its defense minister. She is finishing My Kharkiv: Fortress of Solitude, a documentary about daily life under bombardment in the city where she grew up, and she argues that a film outlasts a news cycle in a way her own daily war digest cannot. This is a conversation about method, not opinion — about how an information system can be taken apart gradually enough that the people living inside it do not notice the temperature changing. Topics Covered ● The Void Around a Senator's Death: Senator Lindsey Graham's July 11 death from an aortic dissection drew baseless online claims blaming Russia, Iran, Ukraine and Israel, which PBS News fact-checked — a case study, as the hosts frame it, in how misinformation fills an unexplained gap. ● Absence, Disclosure, and a New Bill: Representative Tom Kean Jr. returned June 30 after nearly four months away, disclosing a depression diagnosis. On July 16, Representatives Ritchie Torres and Seth Moulton introduced the Duty of Transparency Act, requiring notice of absences of 21 or more consecutive days. ● A Soviet Childhood, Written From Memory: Soldak on why her December 2017 Forbes essay had no agenda to defend — she wrote from a child's memory rather than an analyst's vocabulary — and why, by her account, it is still among her most-read work. ● One Party Line, Then a Million Bubbles: The Soviet Union ran one controlled line nearly everyone received. The Reuters Institute's 2026 Digital News Report finds 54% of respondents now use social and video networks for news, while trust in news on social media sits at 22%. ● New Limits on Foreign Correspondents: A Department of Homeland Security rule finalized in July will cap foreign journalists' authorized stay at 240 days, and 90 days for Chinese reporters. Soldak reads it as one more step toward closing off outside access. ● Ukraine in the Fifth Year: Zelenskyy's July 16 dismissal of Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov brought protesters into Kyiv's streets. Soldak, who says she travels to Kyiv and Kharkiv regularly, describes Western support as real but never sufficient — particularly interceptors. ● My Kharkiv: Fortress of Solitude: Her second Ukraine documentary, supported by a Documenting Ukraine grant from Vienna's Institute for Human Sciences, follows local artists and childhood friends living under constant bombing. She says she is still raising funds to finish it. ● Two Sides of the Coin: The hosts close on the July 16 primetime address in which President Trump claimed China had illicitly acquired 220 million U.S. voter files — data election-security experts told fact-checkers is routinely and legally available. About the Hosts Richard Schreiber Richard Schreiber is a strategic AI consultant, journalist, autism advocate, and fiction writer based in New York City. With a background spanning investigative reporting, technology consulting, and over 25 years in legal technology and procurement, Richard brings a rare combination of real-world experience and analytical depth to every conversation. He is the founder of a growing autism advocacy foundation and the author of multiple books, including Autism Care Revolution. His journalism is guided by one principle: facts first, always. Tom Martin Tom Martin is a veteran television news producer with more than 20 years at some of the most respected names in broadcasting. He got his start at the CBS News Washington Bureau in 1982 — where he witnessed history firsthand, including being in the room when Nixon delivered his infamous "I am not a crook" statement. The son of a legendary newspaper editor who helped launch USA Today, Tom grew up believing journalism is a sacred public trust. He carries that belief into every story he tells. Guest: Katya Soldak Katya Soldak is editorial director of Forbes Media's international editions, where she also publishes a running news digest on Russia's war in Ukraine. Born and raised in Kharkiv, she directed the 2020 documentary The Long Breakup, which followed her family and neighbors through Ukraine's break with its Soviet past, two revolutions and war, and which aired in Germany on Arte as Das Ukraine-Dilemma. Her December 2017 Forbes essay on growing up inside Soviet propaganda remains, by her account, among her most-read work. She is finishing a second documentary, My Kharkiv: Fortress of Solitude, supported by a Documenting Ukraine grant from Vienna's Institute for Human Sciences. Our Mission True Journalism exists because facts still matter. The press is a watchdog — not a lapdog — and the American public deserves reporting that shines a light rather than throws a shadow. This is not a political show. We do not have a party. We have one principle: if it is not a verified fact, we will say so.
