The Mediatisation of Politics:what happens when government and journalism

become networked?

Prof Charlie Beckett

Lisbon Dec 2014

What does journalism do for politics?

• Information

[facts, records, statistics, events, policies]

• Deliberation

[debate, analysis, comment, opinion]

• Accountability

[investigation, audit, voice for citizen, campaigns]

Politicians/executive

News Media

Public

Political reporting is now networked

Journalism, social media & data

Politicians/executive

Citizens

Networked politics

• SATURATION

• ACCELERATION

• DISINTERMEDIATION

• VOLUME AND VARIETY

Media for democracy

• “…the information revolution makes possible for the first time in history something we have only dreamt about: A global society where people anywhere and everywhere can discover their shared values, communicate with each other and do not need to meet or live next door to each other to join together with people in other countries in a single moral universe to bring about change….”

Media against democracy

• “It used to be thought – and I include myself in this – that help was on the horizon. New forms of communication would provide new outlets to by-pass the increasingly shrill tenor of traditional media. In fact, the new forms can be even more pernicious, less balanced, more intent on the latest conspiracy theory multiplied by five”

The average length of articles about the Prime Minister in the Guardian and Times halved between 1945 and 2009 but the average number of articles mentioning the Prime Minister doubled (Langer 2011).

Television news sound bites related to US Presidential campaigns shrank from just over 43 seconds in 1968 to just under 9 seconds in 1988 and less than 8 seconds in 2004 (Hallin 1994; Bucy 2007).

In its first four-year term, the Blair administration issued 32,000 press releases (cited in Dean 2012).

The number of civil service information officers doubled in the Cabinet Office between 1979 and 2006, tripled at the MoD and Prime Minister’s office, and quadrupled at the Home Office (Davis 2007).

More, faster media

Increased spin control

More cynical public

More aggressive

social media & journalism

Politics becomes

media orientated

The vicious cycle of mediatisation

Does it matter?

• Spin: Truthfulness and trust undermined?

• Politicization of civil servants?

• ‘Tail wags the dog’: policy follows a media agenda?

• Focus on immediate results, not long-term?

• Chilling of policy deliberation?

• Journalism not trusted

The (politician’s) problem with political journalism is..?

• Unaccountable power

• Bias – partisan press

• Obsession with process - personality, trivia

• Cynicism

• Lack of information or expertise

• Speed – no time to reflect

• Distraction – social media & commodification = shortened attention span

The (journalist’s) problem with political journalism is..?

• Lack of resources for (political) journalism

• Government secrecy

• Government and party spin and manipulation

• Disintermediation: increased role of social networks & public relations

• Lack of public attention (social media/commercialisation)

The (public’s) problem with political journalism is..?

• Too complicated

• Too cynical

• Too belligerent, biased

• Too much process

• Boring

• Irrelevant – ‘Westminster bubble’

• Too simplistic

• Not critical enough

• Too complicit – not critical or radical enough

• Sensationalist

• Not informed enough about realities of policy-making

Democratisation?

The song

47%: Citizen + journalist = transparency

Potential of ‘new’ media for democracy

• Gives citizen direct voice

• Gives citizen direct access to information

• Allows citizen to organise and campaign

• Allows the public to critique mainstream media

Dangers of new media democracy

• Fragmentation/polarisation

• Bad information/propaganda

• Distraction

• Short attention span

#Ferguson tweets by party affiliation

Filter bubbles then?

More democratic?

“Journalism will continue to become more plural in its forms, its functions, and its practitioners. It will become more difficult to distinguish it from advocacy political communications, public relations alternative and participatory civic information, personal commentary, poplar culture and so on”

Dahlgren 2009

The political role of networked journalism

• Job of the political journalist becomes to filter, curate and make relevant the right information for the right people

• To be public-centred, customer-focused, reliable, transparent and credible

• While continuing to uphold the traditional functions of acting as an independent reporter, investigator and critic of government

The real problem for mainstream politics and journalism is…How to keep the attention of the citizen and to have a legitimate, active public role in an age where political parties are no longer a viable vehicle for democracy and where the political system no longer offers credible policy narratives around fundamental problems such as the European economic crisis and the profound shifts in community identity posed by immigration and globalisation?

In an era of social networked communication what is the role of news media and the politicians in engaging the public with the task of living together and meeting challenges such as climate change or generational health needs?

Keep in touch:Prof Charlie Beckett

Twitter: @CharlieBeckettMy blog: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/polis/

Email: c.h.beckett@lse.ac.ukI am also on Facebook, Slideshare and

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