Fake news and fake politics March 2017

Journalism and Politics:Fake news and fake politics

Prof Charlie Beckett@CharlieBeckett

March 2017

What does journalism do for politics?

• Information [facts, records, statistics, events,

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

citizen, campaigns]

History of political news: a battle between journalists & power

• Inns of court• Holborn printers• Covent Garden coffee houses• Fleet Street national newsrooms• Broadcasting – public and commercial• Old Street – Tech City

News is now networked and blended into information ecology

• Mixed market of publishers (legacy, native, amateur, corporate etc)

• More, varied platforms (TV, radio, print, SM, Internet)• On demand and personalised• Direct communication (disintermediation)• Online and mobile• Different formats: video, data visualisations, alerts• User at the centre• Narrative control and influence now ‘distributed’

Politicians

News Media

Public

Political reporting is now networked

Media

Politicians

Abundance of sources = lack of trust?

Abundance of sources = lack of trust?

Abundance of sources = lack of trust?

Abundance of sources = lack of trust?

Mixed media ecology: legacy, native & social

Blended, personal, emotional

Fake news

What digital can do for democracy

• More information• Citizen voice and

participation• Media held to account• Access to politicians• Direct communication

(disintermediation)

• Information overload• Faster• More personal (filter

bubbles)• More emotional

(personalities, anger)• Manipulation,

misinformation

Filter bubbles now

Filter bubbles then?

A new kind of (anti-media) politics?

It’s not working yet…

Disrupting media as a strategy

Contact me:

Prof Charlie BeckettPolis, LSE

@CharlieBeckettc.h.beckett@lse.ac.uk