Ed Coper will be in conversation with Mark Kenny on his new book, Angertainment. Social media is no longer a platform for connection – it’s a gladiatorial arena powered by an addictive mix of anger and entertainment. As a result, we’re being driven apart: our politics more extreme and empathy on the decline, while those who know how to game the outrage economy for clicks only become more powerful and influential.

Angertainment reveals how our emotions are being hijacked to build political and cultural capital by those who know how to game the outrage economy. How ‘rage bait’— the 2025 Word of the Year—can change how you vote, what you buy and who you hate.

In this high-stakes, highly entertaining journey through our new reality, Ed Coper unmasks the architects of this new power—from manosphere gurus to political demagogues—who have realised that in the attention economy, your anger is the only currency that matters .Darkly funny and terrifyingly urgent, Angertainment is a groundbreaking manual for dismantling the outrage machine. First, we must understand it. Then we can work to defeat it.

‘Ed Coper keenly explores and masterfully analyses the dangerous world of angertainment where so much of our politics now resides’ Malcolm Turnbull

Ed Coper, CEO of the agency Populares, is a leading political communications expert and authority on the internet and democracy, building global blueprints for modern advocacy. He grew Australia's first online political movement, GetUp, and launched Australian Labor’s first digital presence before exporting these techniques across six continents. He has advised high-profile changemakers ranging from Malala Yousafzai and Greta Thunberg to Sir Richard Branson and Shakira. Ed is the author of the acclaimed book Facts and Other Lies,

Professor Mark Kenny is Director of the Australian Studies Institute at ANU, where he hosts the popular podcast series 'Democracy Sausage'. Mark is the Canberra Times political analyst and a regular on the ABC's Insiders and numerous broadcast programs across the country.

The vote of thanks will be given by Ginger Gorman, award-winning journalist and the author of the Troll Hunting,

Books will be available for signing from 5.30pm and again after the event.

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A podcast will be made available after the event.

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