media and politics lse mpa talk 2017

MEDIA CHANGE AND THE IMPACT ON POLITICSProf Charlie BeckettDirector, PolisDept of Media and Communications, LSE

Me• Ex LWT, BBC, Channel 4 News (ITN)

• @CharlieBeckett

• C.h.beckett@lse.ac.uk

• http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/polis/category/director/

Complex issues, manic media

Structural change in information landscape

• Legacy media still powerful – especially amongst older citizens

• Legacy media online still powerful – e.g. Channel 4 News Facebook video

• Digital native publishers: BuzzFeed, Politico, Vox, Teen Vogue, Ladbible, Mumsnet, VICE

• Social networks: Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Pinterest• Propaganda, ‘Fake News’, info wars, hacking• State or corporate actors: sponsored content, public

relations• Activist media: NGOs, bloggers, campaigners

Changes in dynamics of mediation• Shift from linear, top-down, Fourth Estate to Networked

flows

• Acceleration of news cycle

• Loss of authority and control for mainstream news media

• Battle for attention versus distraction

• Increasing role of emotion and relativism

Clicks and Likes are not votes

Social is not a political strategy

Taking back control?

Politics as theatre

Vicious spin cycle

Disrupting media as a strategy

News is getting emotional

Me• Ex LWT, BBC, Channel 4 News (ITN)

• @CharlieBeckett

• C.h.beckett@lse.ac.uk

• http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/polis/category/director/