Mad About Media Episode 2: Lies, Fear and the Feed

From AI-generated content to racist rumours online, this episode looks at how false stories spread, who benefits, and what can happen when online hate spills into real life.

In this episode of Mad About Media, students from FET College Dhúlaigh talk screen time, information overload and the messy business of knowing what to trust online.

Guest: Professor Eileen Cullity from DCU on misinformation, disinformation, influencers, bias and why none of us are as immune to manipulation as we might like to think.

Guest: Leon Diop, co-founder and CEO of Black and Irish. The discussion includes Black and mixed-race communities in Ireland, racism online, Irish identity, the use of the tricolour, education, anti-racism and how young people can protect themselves when hateful content appears in their feed.

Theme: Disinformation, Influence & Online Hate

Student challenge: Track the scroll. The students check how much time they actually spend on their phones and start confronting the gap between “just checking something” and losing hours online.

Listen if: you’ve ever wondered how lies online become real-world harm.

In Near FM’s Mad About Media, students from FET College Dhúlaigh take on the big questions, interviewing journalists, academics, and experts about the forces shaping the media we consume every day and finding out how to navigate the world in 2026.

This series is co-funded by Ireland’s media regulator, Coimisiún na Meán and supported by your television licence fee.

Music credits: Demented Nightmare by Darren Curtis and Madness of Linda by Rafael Krux