This is a lecture given to visiting GWU students to introduce them to the political media landscape of the UK in the run up to the 2015 General Election. It shows how journalism has become networked as has political communication. It discusses whether this has improved the quality of political debate.

1. Networked Politics:
what happens to democracy when journalism
changes?
Prof Charlie Beckett
GWU Seminar March 2015

2. What does journalism do for politics?
• Information
[facts, records, statistics, events,
policies]
• Deliberation
[debate, analysis, comment, opinion]
• Accountability
[investigation, audit, voice for
citizen, campaigns]

4. Politicians/executive
News Media
Public

5. Networked election

6. Political reporting is now networked
Journalism, social media & data
Politicians/executive
Citizens

11. 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….”

13. 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”

15. More, faster
media
Increased
spin control
More cynical
public
More
aggressive
social media
& journalism
Politics
becomes
media
orientated
The vicious cycle of mediatisation

17. 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?

18. 47%: Citizen + journalist =
transparency

19. Democratisation?

21. The song

24. 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

25. Dangers of new media democracy
• Trivialisation: distraction, short attention span
• Manipulation: propaganda, fake, inaccuracy
• Fragmentation: polarisation, conflict

26. #Ferguson tweets by party affiliation

27. Filter bubbles then?

28. Complex, hybrid, fluid news media

29. 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

30. 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
• Continue to uphold the traditional functions
of acting as an independent reporter,
investigator and critic of government

31. The real problem for mainstream
politics and mainstream journalism is
the same:
How to achieve the authenticity that
will get the public’s attention and
foster sustained engagement?

32. Keep in touch:
Prof Charlie Beckett
Twitter: @CharlieBeckett
My blog: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/polis/
Email: c.h.beckett@lse.ac.uk
I am also on Facebook and Medium