What’s wrong with political journalism?

Prof Charlie Beckett

MC417 2016

What does journalism do for politics?

• Information [facts, records, statistics, events,

policies]• Deliberation [debate, analysis, comment, opinion]• Accountability [investigation, audit, voice for

citizen, campaigns]

Politicians

News Media

Public

Political reporting is now networked

Media

Politicians

Networked political journalism is..

• Mainstream or digital native media ‘exploiting’ networks

• ‘Digital first’: Connected, continuous• Includes public participation at some point:

source, interactivity, audience analysis, dissemination

• Multi-source, multi-format, multi-platform• Service, not product

Examples of networked political journalism

Build your own coalition

What digital can for democracy

• More information• Citizen voice and

participation• Media accountability• Direct communication

(disintermediation)• Organisation &

campaigning

What digital can for democracy

• More information• Citizen voice and

participation• Media accountability• Direct communication

(disintermediation)• Organisation &

campaigning

• Over abundance of data and voice

• Replicates hierarchies• Homophily (filter

bubbles)• Fragmentation and

polarisation• Distraction, extremism,

clicktavism

#EdStone

Trust in media: relative to platform, source, country

Real problem is lack of engagement, attention & authenticity

Corbyn’s solution: bypass MSM

Labour’s ratings have declined under Corbyn to record post-war low

Labour supporters don’t even back him for PM

blog.sysomos.com/(2015)

• Orange = Corbyn critics• Red = centre Left, neutral or supportive• Purple = broad debate• Blue = Corbynistas

Trump’s media by-pass

Trumpvision

Trump v Clinton

• HRC is significantly ahead in all mainstream polling

• US tradition of anti-establishment voting historically grounded

• But seems to confirm filter bubble works for core (primaries), less so for open votes (presidentials, general election) i.e. for power not mobilisation

Journalists have lost control to platforms

Platforms now increasingly shape political information flows

Facebook’s new news policy• “In the weeks ahead, we’re going to begin allowing more

items that people find newsworthy, significant, or important to the public interest — even if they might otherwise violate our standards. We will work with our community and partners to explore exactly how to do this, both through new tools and approaches to enforcement. Our intent is to allow more images and stories without posing safety risks or showing graphic images to minors and others who do not want to see them.”

• http://newsroom.fb.com/news/2016/10/input-from-community-and-partners-on-our-community-standards/

Facebook fosters hyper-partisan false news posts

False information feeds partisan passion

• Articles with false news gain more traffic than those that are factual

• 38% of right wing hyper partisan posts contained significant false information

• 22% of left wing hyper partisan posts contained significant false information

• https://www.buzzfeed.com/craigsilverman/partisan-fb-pages-analysis?utm_term=.fhewlD3Z8z#.qqXD3ZmWQq

Brexit: more evidence that MSM journalism has lost relevance?

The Brexit media failure?

• False equivalence (esp BBC)• Partisan press• Lack of fact checking• News media out of touch• Failed to predict result• But both sides lied

Post-truth?

• Is ‘Post truth’ actually simply the failure of Establishment to recognise challenging views?

• Does politics and media deserve to be trusted?

• What should mainstream news media do to regain relevance?

Journalism and Democracy

Prof Charlie Beckett

MC4222016