the death of objectivity? windsor debates sept 2015
TRANSCRIPT
The death of objectivity: implications for strategy-makers
Prof Charlie BeckettPolis, LSE
Windsor Debates, Sept 2015
Journalistic Objectivity: it’s a made-up idea
“The belief in objectivity is a faith in 'facts,' a distrust in 'values,' and a commitment to their segregation."
(Michael Schudson)
The promise of participation
“We are in the age of answer back, better still we are in the age in which “we the people” have their greatest opportunity ever to influence the information agenda…But above all we are in the age of more. More potential to get it right, to get it fast, to get it in depth.”
Jon Snow, Presenter, Channel 4 News Cudlipp Lecture, 2012
Digital disrupters
How did we get from this…
…to this?
#EuroMaidan: Power to the people?
Social Media Tells The Story
Social Media Tells The Story
Social Media Tells The Story
Social Media Tells The Story
The effect on public opinion & policy
The effect on public opinion & policy
• News cycle much faster – stories framed instantly and agenda shaped more quickly
• Verification – people want filters but foster fakes
• Multiple news – people seek trusted sources in the face of over-abundance of information including peer referrals
• Personalised – people want to chose news to suit them: bubbles, solidarity, identity
Global networked news war
Media is a battleground
Plurality or propaganda?
Paradox of plurality
Information over-load and source multiplicity leads to:
• Confusion: ‘what’s true?’• Cynicism and conspiracy: ‘nothing is true’• Relativism: ‘everything is true’• Subjectivity: ‘what I feel is true’
The battle for objectivity: BBC
• Public service broadcaster retaining core value of the aspiration to objectivity – a USP for digital age but becoming more open, collaborative and interactive
Changing from inside
Changing from inside
The battle for objectivity: BBC
• Public service broadcaster retaining core value of the aspiration to objectivity – a USP for digital age but becoming more open, collaborative and interactive, reinventing itself as the world’s broadcaster from the world not to the world
The battle for objectivityBuzzfeed: from mews to news
Buzzfeed: from mews to news
This matters to all strategic communicators
• Organisations need to establish their voice• Transparency is the online currency of trust• Interactivity is key to engagement• Objectivity is still an aspiration that can act as
a signal for trust and a sustainable relationship• Objectivity must be combined with openness
Connect to me:[email protected]
@CharlieBeckettCharles Beckett on Facebook
Polis director’s blog:http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/polis/