1.
Problems for political media
in the ‘fake news’ era
Professor Charlie Beckett
@CharlieBeckett
Madrid
June 2017

2.
What does journalism do for politics?
• Information
[facts, records, statistics, events,
policies]
• Deliberation
[debate, analysis, comment, opinion]
• Accountability
[investigation, audit, voice for
citizen, campaigns]

3.
Politicians
News
Media
Public

4.
Political reporting is now networked
Media
Politicians
Citizens

5.
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

6.
Examples of networked political journalism

7.
Build your own coalition

8.
Listen, then inform = networked journalism

9.
What digital can for democracy
• More information
• Citizen voice and participation
• Media accountability
• Direct communication
(disintermediation)
• Organisation & campaigning

10.
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

11.
‘Fake’ political news
• Mail
• Alt Left and Right
• Fake fake news
• Party propaganda

12.
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

13.
blog.sysomos.com/
(2015)
• Orange = Corbyn critics
• Red = centre Left, neutral or supportive
• Purple = broad debate
• Blue = Corbynistas

14.
Trump’s media by-pass

15.
Brexit: never mind the facts

16.
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

17.
Rampant relatavism

18.
Trust in media: relative to platform, source,
country

19.
Post-truth?

20.
Further reading:
• Post-truth, a myth created by journalists?
• http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/polis/2017/06/06/post-truth-does-the-solution-lie-
outside-the-newsroom/
• How can we clean up media and democracy?
• http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/polis/2017/01/09/how-can-we-save-media-and-
democracy-in-2017/
• What does Trump mean for media and democracy?
• http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/polis/2016/11/13/what-does-the-trump-triumph-
mean-for-journalism-politics-and-social-media/
• Distortion in the referendum campaign
• http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/polis/2016/07/04/brexit-was-a-failure-of-
deliberative-democracy-we-are-all-to-blame/

21.
The spin cycle:
virtuous, vicious, socialised &
disrupted
Charlie Beckett
Dept of Media and Communications
LSE
@CharlieBeckett

22.
The ideal of political communications
Political ‘event’
Critical but
constructive
coverage
Informed public,
agonistic debate
Politicians
communicate
transparently
and engage in
open debate
Competitive
marketplace of
ideas and policy
development

23.
The vicious spin cycle of pre-social media
political communications
Political event
Critical and hostile
news media coverage
Public lose
confidence in
politicians or policies
Politicians seek
tighter control of
message through
more constrained
and stage-managed
communications
Public and journalists
more frustrated,
cynical and angry,
debate degraded,
coverage increasingly
hostile

24.
The vicious spin cycle of networked political
communications: eg UK GE2017
Political event
Social media reaction plus
news media coverage
Emotionally-driven response
amplified and accelerated
through polarising digital
networks
Politicians seek tighter
control of message through
more constrained and stage-
managed communications -
including through platform
controls
Public and journalists more
frustrated, cynical and angry,
debate degraded

25.
The vicious spin cycle of populist political
communications: Trump era
Political event
Trump frames media
as ‘opposition’ and
any critique labelled
‘fake news’ – he
communicates direct
to supporters
More polarised social
media reaction and
more reactive news
media coverage
Increasingly polarised
emotionally-driven
debate amplified and
accelerated through
digital networks, loss
of MSM agenda-
setting &
accountability roles
Public and journalists
more polarised,
frustrated, cynical
and angry, debate
degraded and more
antagonistic

26.
How to escape the vicious spin cycle of
political communications?
Political event or
statement delivered
with authenticity and
transparency
Social media and
mainstream news media
coverage plural ,
evidence-based and
interactive
Emotional/empathetic
informed response
amplified and
accelerates agonistic
exchanges through
transparent digital
networks
Politicians negotiate
response openly,
politically.
Public and journalists
more engaged, lines of
accountability clearer,
responsibilities more
defined