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| Digital revolution:Dawn of a newera? No, the realityis truly sickening | Digital revolution:Dawn of a newera? No, the realityis truly sickening |
| (about 1 month later) | |
| Remember the early days of the net when people were delighted at having the opportunity, at last, to challenge the primacy of newspaper journalists? | Remember the early days of the net when people were delighted at having the opportunity, at last, to challenge the primacy of newspaper journalists? |
| Those of us who welcomed the digital revolution, and who greeted it as a great leap forward in the gathering and transmission of information, accepted – even if grudgingly – the loss of our exalted position as gatekeepers to the news. We may have bridled at the withering references to “mainstream media”, soon acronymed into the MSM, but it did appear to force us to recognise our sins. We were not the repositories of all knowledge. Our inaccuracies were highlighted. Our biases revealed. Digital missionaries, such as Dan Gillmor, Jay Rosen and Jeff Jarvis, enthusiastically referred to “the people formerly known as the audience”, applauding the fact that digital technology enabled people to turn the tables on us. Move over “professional” journalists. Now citizens can show they are writers, reporters and analysts. Journalism is an activity for everyone. | Those of us who welcomed the digital revolution, and who greeted it as a great leap forward in the gathering and transmission of information, accepted – even if grudgingly – the loss of our exalted position as gatekeepers to the news. We may have bridled at the withering references to “mainstream media”, soon acronymed into the MSM, but it did appear to force us to recognise our sins. We were not the repositories of all knowledge. Our inaccuracies were highlighted. Our biases revealed. Digital missionaries, such as Dan Gillmor, Jay Rosen and Jeff Jarvis, enthusiastically referred to “the people formerly known as the audience”, applauding the fact that digital technology enabled people to turn the tables on us. Move over “professional” journalists. Now citizens can show they are writers, reporters and analysts. Journalism is an activity for everyone. |
| It was suggested that blogs and hyperlocal start-ups would transform the media landscape. Similarly, broadcast journalists would no longer have a monopoly because there were new tools to shoot film - and new platforms, most obviously YouTube, to display it. Traditional media was so yesterday. | It was suggested that blogs and hyperlocal start-ups would transform the media landscape. Similarly, broadcast journalists would no longer have a monopoly because there were new tools to shoot film - and new platforms, most obviously YouTube, to display it. Traditional media was so yesterday. |
| Democracy is at risk due to fake news and data misuse, MPs to conclude | Democracy is at risk due to fake news and data misuse, MPs to conclude |
| So, how did we, the MSM professionals, react? Did we change? Did we clean up our act? Did we take those thousands of critical below-the-line comments to heart? My reading of the national morning newspapers over the past decade suggests not. Newspaper publishers and editors have continued to believe they are the political, social and cultural agenda-setters. Despite the fact that newsprint sales have fallen by more than 50% since the turn of the millennium, they have been consoled by huge online numbers. | So, how did we, the MSM professionals, react? Did we change? Did we clean up our act? Did we take those thousands of critical below-the-line comments to heart? My reading of the national morning newspapers over the past decade suggests not. Newspaper publishers and editors have continued to believe they are the political, social and cultural agenda-setters. Despite the fact that newsprint sales have fallen by more than 50% since the turn of the millennium, they have been consoled by huge online numbers. |
| Doubtless, this engendered the belief that they must be doing something right, and they stopped listening to the increasing complaints from their audiences. Over recent years, critical comments have become little more than a background buzz, a predictably tedious chorus that can safely be ignored. | Doubtless, this engendered the belief that they must be doing something right, and they stopped listening to the increasing complaints from their audiences. Over recent years, critical comments have become little more than a background buzz, a predictably tedious chorus that can safely be ignored. |
| But that’s only one side of the story. Blogging has been an important innovation in undemocratic societies where press freedom has never existed, but its impact in terms of the national news agenda within the developed world has been minimal. As for the founding of news providers at local level – the hyperlocals – this proved to be a false dawn. | But that’s only one side of the story. Blogging has been an important innovation in undemocratic societies where press freedom has never existed, but its impact in terms of the national news agenda within the developed world has been minimal. As for the founding of news providers at local level – the hyperlocals – this proved to be a false dawn. |
| In other words, MSM has not been superseded by the growth of an all-singing, all-dancing, truth-telling, fresh, responsible, informative, unbiased alternative media. Instead, what has taken hold across the net has been the opposite, based on the surfeit of fake news: a nasty, brutish, hysterical, intolerant mob proclaiming extreme opinions marked by racism, including both antisemitism and Islamophobia. | In other words, MSM has not been superseded by the growth of an all-singing, all-dancing, truth-telling, fresh, responsible, informative, unbiased alternative media. Instead, what has taken hold across the net has been the opposite, based on the surfeit of fake news: a nasty, brutish, hysterical, intolerant mob proclaiming extreme opinions marked by racism, including both antisemitism and Islamophobia. |
| In this grim age of Trump and Brexit, online fury is a dead end for the left | John Harris | In this grim age of Trump and Brexit, online fury is a dead end for the left | John Harris |
| Sensible voices have been shouted down. Fanaticism has pushed what we used to regard as the moderate centre to the margins. Opinions count; facts do not. It has overturned the journalistic presumption that people are hungry for information. In fact, their hunger is for material that will reinforce their intolerance. It is no exaggeration to suggest this phenomenon affected the outcome of the US presidential election and the EU referendum. And it infects every aspect of life on the net. | Sensible voices have been shouted down. Fanaticism has pushed what we used to regard as the moderate centre to the margins. Opinions count; facts do not. It has overturned the journalistic presumption that people are hungry for information. In fact, their hunger is for material that will reinforce their intolerance. It is no exaggeration to suggest this phenomenon affected the outcome of the US presidential election and the EU referendum. And it infects every aspect of life on the net. |
| Last week, the Bradford-based Telegraph & Argus felt it necessary to ban people from commenting on its website because of the “hate-filled” comments posted by people who hide behind bogus email addresses and Facebook accounts. It followed a similar decision by the Yorkshire Evening Post. | Last week, the Bradford-based Telegraph & Argus felt it necessary to ban people from commenting on its website because of the “hate-filled” comments posted by people who hide behind bogus email addresses and Facebook accounts. It followed a similar decision by the Yorkshire Evening Post. |
| All newspapers have faced problems with below-the-line commenters who rely on anonymity to make outrageous statements. Too often, even the most active of moderators have found it impossible to deal with those determined to post vile comments. | All newspapers have faced problems with below-the-line commenters who rely on anonymity to make outrageous statements. Too often, even the most active of moderators have found it impossible to deal with those determined to post vile comments. |
| It has also become the greatest headache facing social media outlets, notably Facebook. Algorithms appear unable to solve the problem of balancing the right of freedom of expression with a responsibility to avoid the promotion of bigotry and discrimination against minorities. | It has also become the greatest headache facing social media outlets, notably Facebook. Algorithms appear unable to solve the problem of balancing the right of freedom of expression with a responsibility to avoid the promotion of bigotry and discrimination against minorities. |
| For journalists like me, who saw the net as empowering citizens to forge a new era of more responsible journalism, the reality has been sickening. But should we be surprised? | For journalists like me, who saw the net as empowering citizens to forge a new era of more responsible journalism, the reality has been sickening. But should we be surprised? |
| Although we routinely refer to our trade in high-minded terms as a “mission to inform”, that has always concealed a truth we would rather not acknowledge. Our newspapers have tended to foreground opinions – rather than the facts that the Guardian’s famous former editor, CP Scott, regarded as “sacred”. | Although we routinely refer to our trade in high-minded terms as a “mission to inform”, that has always concealed a truth we would rather not acknowledge. Our newspapers have tended to foreground opinions – rather than the facts that the Guardian’s famous former editor, CP Scott, regarded as “sacred”. |
| Facebook and Twitter bias: it all depends how you look at it | Emily Bell | Facebook and Twitter bias: it all depends how you look at it | Emily Bell |
| One of the most obvious changes in newspaper content from about 1950 onwards was the promotion of columnists. Gradually, they became the most sought-after members of staff, earning the highest salaries, sometimes even greater than those of the editors who employed them. | One of the most obvious changes in newspaper content from about 1950 onwards was the promotion of columnists. Gradually, they became the most sought-after members of staff, earning the highest salaries, sometimes even greater than those of the editors who employed them. |
| Along the way, they have also been encouraged to be as outspoken and controversial as possible in the belief that it attracts readers – which, it is fair to say, has been proved by the online response. So they have shouted and screamed and shrieked. If they push at the boundaries of free speech, then so much the better. They have been given licence to shock and appal. | Along the way, they have also been encouraged to be as outspoken and controversial as possible in the belief that it attracts readers – which, it is fair to say, has been proved by the online response. So they have shouted and screamed and shrieked. If they push at the boundaries of free speech, then so much the better. They have been given licence to shock and appal. |
| By contrast, reporters – the seekers after facts, the diggers and delvers, the men and women employed in the difficult task of revealing things people in power would rather conceal – have earned less and worked harder. The message could not be more obvious: the mission to inform is not valued as highly as the mission to offend. | By contrast, reporters – the seekers after facts, the diggers and delvers, the men and women employed in the difficult task of revealing things people in power would rather conceal – have earned less and worked harder. The message could not be more obvious: the mission to inform is not valued as highly as the mission to offend. |
| Now, with the prominence of opinion over facts, it comes full circle. As you sow, so shall you reap. | Now, with the prominence of opinion over facts, it comes full circle. As you sow, so shall you reap. |
| Reuters trial is a travesty | Reuters trial is a travesty |
| There is a judicial farce being played out in Myanmar. Two Reuters reporters, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, are being tried for revealing state secrets. In fact, they were investigating the massacre of 10 Rohingya Muslims. | There is a judicial farce being played out in Myanmar. Two Reuters reporters, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, are being tried for revealing state secrets. In fact, they were investigating the massacre of 10 Rohingya Muslims. |
| Last week, Kyaw Soe Oo told the court he had been hooded, deprived of sleep and forced to kneel for hours during a lengthy police interrogation after he and Wa Lone were arrested last December. During two weeks of questioning by military intelligence and police special branch, they were also denied access to their families and lawyers. If convicted, they face a jail sentence of up to 14 years. | Last week, Kyaw Soe Oo told the court he had been hooded, deprived of sleep and forced to kneel for hours during a lengthy police interrogation after he and Wa Lone were arrested last December. During two weeks of questioning by military intelligence and police special branch, they were also denied access to their families and lawyers. If convicted, they face a jail sentence of up to 14 years. |
| The trial is a travesty and proves, sadly, Aung San Suu Kyi’s government does not respect freedom of the press. | The trial is a travesty and proves, sadly, Aung San Suu Kyi’s government does not respect freedom of the press. |
| As for the British response, former foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, did call for their release. But it’s hard not to feel the government should have done more. | As for the British response, former foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, did call for their release. But it’s hard not to feel the government should have done more. |
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