Today, ‘fake news’ has become a buzzword, causally used by politicians, journalists and talk-show hosts. But the modern concept of ‘fake news’ is no novelty, it’s been around for at least a century. And the Soviets have always been good at it. In this episode we head over to India and zoom in on ‘fake news’ of the 1960’s. As the country becomes an ideological Cold War battlefield, falsifications and forgeries are used as weapons to win over supporters and attack enemies. What did ‘fake news’ look like then? Who produced it? And was it just the Soviets or did the other camp use ‘black propaganda’ as well?

Dr. Paul McGarr – Associate Professor in US Foreign Policy at the University of Nottingham – explains how ‘fake news’ was created, how effective it was in the Cold War battles, and uncovers the human stories behind these forgeries.