Jonathan Heawood debriefs on Ofcom's yearly Making Sense of Media conference, held yesterday in sunny London.
How do you make sense of the media? Every day, it gets more complex, more challenging – and more interesting. We’re bombarded from all angles by different kinds of content from professional journalism to propaganda, via clickbait, native advertising and the rest. It’s hard enough for those of us who work in the industry to understand – and a minefield for the public.
That’s why Ofcom has a statutory duty for media literacy, which they describe as ‘making sense of media’. They don’t run their own media literacy programmes, but they conduct important research, fund pilot programmes and bring people together. Which is exactly what happened at this year’s Making Sense of Media Winter Conference on 27 November.
The conference was held on the back of new Ofcom research, which shows that many people are less likely to trust a professionally edited news story than supposedly ‘eyewitness’ footage of an event:
Around four in ten (44%) believe that the more a story is edited, the less likely it is to be true.
42% think that important stories are deliberately covered up by traditional news outlets.
Only a third (32%) believe that journalists follow codes of practice.
These findings highlight the scale of the challenge facing the professional news media. How can we win back audiences who have become increasingly vulnerable to online misinformation and disinformation, if they think that professional media practices actually work against the truth? How can the professional news media staunch the flood of – to use a technical term – bullshit?
This is not only a problem for the media industry. In the stark words of Melissa Basol, ‘misinformation is a threat to science, society and the democratic process.’ It can stop people trusting medical professionals, slow down climate mitigation measures and increase support for extremist and anti-democratic politics. The World Economic Forum has identified mis- and disinformation as among the most severe global risks over the next decade, just behind the climate crisis.
Richard Burgess, Director of News Content at the BBC, told the conference that ‘all of us in the media are in a battle for the truth right now. Southport was a good example of where disinformation spread really quickly and if we’re not quick enough into that same space, it’s dangerous.’ He acknowledged, however, that professional news providers can’t expect audiences to listen to them when there’s so much exciting content out there online: ‘If we’ve got a battle for truth, we’ve also got a battle to remain engaging.’
Georgina Lee, FactCheck and Data News Editor at Channel 4 News, agreed: ‘We have to insert our news into the flow of content in a completely different way and meet a new generation in an environment where they are essentially seeking entertainment. We need to fuse our reporting style with storytelling.’
Chris Morris, CEO of Full Fact, challenged the idea of ‘media literacy’ which he said ‘can sound patronising, as though it’s about people sitting behind little wooden desks being told things.’ In his view, the professional news media are ‘about making sure people have the information they need to make informed choices on the things that matter to them.’
I joined a panel with Michael Jermey, ITV Director of News, and Fran Yeoman of Liverpool John Moores University, to discuss the implications of Ofcom’s research. Kate Morris, who leads on mis- and disinformation at Ofcom, asked us whether the professional news media can act as an antidote to the misinformation crisis. I had to give a straight answer: no.
Maybe professional news should act as an antidote and maybe it could act as an antidote in a different context. But the facts speak for themselves: right now, mis- and disinformation are overwhelming the professional news media.
As Marianna Spring said in a keynote speech, part of the problem is that too many people feel that ‘media is not on the team of the public.’
It’s hardly surprising that people’s trust in the professional news media is under huge pressure. We are going through a massive transition in how we process information and ideas. Social media platforms give people the sense that they are taking part in the process of shaping the media (even if, in fact, they are dancing to the tune of algorithms and the companies behind them). Traditional forms of news media, where professional journalists sit apart from society, are struggling to find their place in this new ecosystem.
I don’t think that the answer is for news media professionals to tell people to shut up and trust us. There have been too many unethical journalists and too many corrupt media owners over the years for this to cut any ice. The good journalists have allowed the rotten ones to influence how the public see all journalism.
Nor do I think that media literacy on its own can turn the tide. As Fran Yeoman said, media literacy can’t be ‘pedagogical PR’ – a form of covert marketing for an industry that has squandered public trust over many years.
The professional news media should certainly become more transparent. And media literacy programmes should be strengthened. We also need independent and effective media regulation. These are essential for countering misinformation; but they’re not sufficient.
If we’re serious about generating a new media ecosystem, in which people find their way to truly informative and empowering content, then we need to let the public inside the media itself. We need to celebrate, support and expand the work of the independent news providers across the UK who are pioneering new forms of co-creational news media.
This emerging form of media, which is committed to both public participation (like social media) and truth (like professional news media), points the way towards a more vibrant ecosystem of the future, in which people trust the media, not because they’re told to, but because they, or people like them, are actively involved in producing it.
At PINF, we’re currently exploring this type of media in partnership with academics at the universities of Oxford, Stirling and Warwick and an amazing group of co-creational media practitioners.
I was glad to hear, as the conference drew to a close, that Ofcom might also be moving into this area. Yih-Choung Teh, Group Director for Strategy and Research, announced a new community programme called ‘Untold Stories’, working with partners on media literacy programmes that help people understand how news is produced.
If we can shift Ofcom’s understanding of ‘media literacy’ from a passive knowledge of the media to active co-creation of the news, then I think we can start to make real progress on the era-defining challenge of misinformation.
Jonathan Heawood is Executive Director of the Public Interest News Foundation.