Ed Coper’s new book Angertainment is the starting point for this week’s conversation about algorithms, outrage media and what it’s all doing to society. The book makes a straightforward case: social media doesn’t just reflect our worst impulses, it monetises them. Algorithms reward anger because anger drives engagement. That creates an ecosystem where rage-bait thrives and serious journalism struggles to compete.

Outlets like The Betoota Advocate sit comfortably in that ecosystem. Their "conservative rural news" that looks like a duck and quanks, is often circulated by people who don’t always check before they share. Funny, maybe. Harmless, no. When "conservative rural news" content spreads at the same velocity as real reporting, public trust in the whole media landscape takes the hit.

The deeper issue is what this does to how people relate to each other. When your information diet is curated by an algorithm optimised for outrage, your perception of the world, and the people in it, gets distorted. That has consequences for communities, for political discourse, and for democracy.

We talk through Coper’s framework and ask what, if anything, can actually be done about it. He then puts us in our box.

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Wendell Hussey and Errol Parker wrap up all the biggest stories from the week - live from the Desert Rock FM studio in downtown Betoota thanks to our friends at Dan Murphy's!

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Benny and Alex join BETOOTA TALKS to discuss their 5th and final album - what many critics are describing as a modern pub rock masterpiece, Ultra Dundee. After 15 years of gruelling tours, BAD//DREEMS have always been praised by the rest of Australia's long-suffering rock music scene for never mixing their words about the raw deal that artists receive from labels, streamers and venues. In this interview, the boys explain why they've kept at it. And how, while juggling families and real jobs, it has all been worth it when they pull together an album like this.

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