PRESS AT FOREFRONT OF BATTLE AGAINST FAKE NEWS
IN SHEFFIELD a few days ago, I stopped to listen to a rabble-rouser who had attracted a crowd of about 30 people with some fiery rhetoric. She was obviously from the hard left and having a pop at the Government over the pandemic, understandably getting some enthusiastic applause.
But then she turned her fire in a different direction, and it sent a chill down my spine. “Do you trust the mainstream media?” she bawled. “No,” responded the crowd, which followed up with whoops and cheers.
Does it matter that a bunch of people with nothing better to do on an afternoon than listen to a pound-shop Trotsky don’t like the newspapers and broadcasters trusted by millions? Well yes, actually, it matters greatly. How many of the crowd were stooges who had come along to lend vocal support to their mate was impossible to know, but most appeared to be shoppers and curious passers-by like myself. That’s worrying, because people are being encouraged to distrust a media that presents a fair, balanced view of current events, campaigns on issues that matter, and exposes wrongdoing and chicanery in those who hold high office.
It’s equally worrying that the term “mainstream media” is increasingly being used – especially by those on the left – as one of abuse. This fosters a festering atmosphere of suspicion that honest newspapers like this one and broadcasters with impeccable track records are part of some shadowy establishment plot to conceal the truth from the public, instead of revealing it.
If any one of the whooping audience had paused for a moment to think for themselves, they should have realised that far from hiding uncomfortable truths at the behest of those in power, the past few months have seen the mainstream media at its best.
Flaws and failings in the Government’s response to the pandemic have been forensically investigated and exposed at both regional and national level. Would the shortcomings of the test and trace system have come to light otherwise? Or the rank hypocrisy of Boris Johnson’s chief adviser, Dominic Cummings, breaking the lockdown and driving from London to Durham? No, of course not.
The British media has served readers, viewers and listeners superbly, and that message needs to be shouted from the rooftops, especially because the alternative is a web of lies, distortions and unhinged conspiracy theories. The dodgy rubbish that proliferates on social media isn’t just annoying and frustrating to anyone who recognises it for what it is, it can also be downright dangerous.
Despite the giants of the arena crowing about how they are weeding out fake news, vast amounts of it finds not just a home, but a credulous audience, on their platforms, which essentially still hide behind the disingenuous stance that they are not the publishers of this stuff and therefore not subject to the regulation that the rest of the media, both print and broadcast, abide by.
Just look at Facebook. Last week, the international non-profit organisation Avaaz, which monitors web content, condemned it as a “danger to public health” because of the sheer volume of misinformation about illness to be found in its pages. Lunacies such as bogus “cures” for diseases – including Covid-19 – and a claim that polio is caused by vaccinations had attracted a staggering 3.8 billion global views. Who knows how many of those people believe what they are reading? What is certain is that when a vaccine for Covid does become available, there will be an upsurge in claims that it does more harm than good. And some will take that as gospel.
I wondered as I walked away from the Sheffield demagogue how many of her audience rely on what they read on sites like these to form their view of the world, whilst unthinkingly and foolishly condemning the output of a media for which honesty, integrity and professionalism are watchwords. There is a vicious cycle at work here, thanks to the twisted logic of conspiracy theories about what appears in the media. The more firmly the media insists that it is a purveyor of truth, the more convinced some become that this is part of the great conspiracy to deceive the public.
Arguing against this is an uphill battle, but one that must be fought nevertheless, for the sake of democracy, proper accountability of those in power, and also for the sake of those who are being manipulated into distrust of reputable news organisations. Directorgeneral of the BBC, Tony Hall, says the corporation is a bulwark against the fake news epidemic. He’s right, but the BBC is not alone. Newspapers and other broadcasters are equally important bastions of truth in a world at risk of being swamped by lies. It’s time for a concerted effort to stop the mainstream media from being demonised, and convince those who would whoop their hatred of it that on the contrary, it’s one of the best friends they’ve got.
Arguing against fake news is an uphill battle, but one that must be fought, for the sake of democracy, proper accountability of those in power, and for the sake of those being manipulated.