Strategic communication, news media and influence

NATO March 2017 Prof. Charlie Beckett

Dept of Media and Communications,LSE

@CharlieBeckett

Three things you needed to know today?

Three things I needed to know today?“Is my flight home to London going to be on time?”

Three things I needed to know today?“Is Andy Carroll going to be fit to play against Chelsea tonight?”

Three things I needed to know today?“What’s the latest in German politics – especially Shulz v Merkel?”

• What’s the latest in German politics – especially Shulz v Merkel

News is now networked and blended into information ecology• Mixed market of publishers (legacy, native, amateur, corporate etc)• More, varied platforms (TV, radio, print, SM, Internet)• On demand and personalised• Direct communication (disintermediation)• Online and mobile• Different formats: video, data visualisations, alerts• User at the centre• Narrative control and influence now ‘distributed’

Reuters digital report

Mixed media ecology: legacy, native & social

Blended, personal, emotional

Echo chambers/filter bubbles/polarisation

Tow Center, Columbia UniversityOctober 2016

Terror events – example of changes• Faster: the information spreads instantly, comment is instantaneous• Bigger: more people know, includes live video, images, audio and

graphics• More diverse - direct sources – including terrorists, politicians, law

enforcement, intelligence • Verification problems – deliberate fake news, propaganda, mistaken

sharing, misinformation, mistakes, prejudice

Fake news

"Fake” News

Propaganda war

Relativism – everything is fake

NATO – not US opposition but indifference?

Survival kit for truth

Journalists• Connect - be accessible and present on all platforms• Curate – help users to good content where ever it is• Be relevant – use users’ language and listen creatively with data• Be expert – add value, insight, experience, context• Be truthful – fact checking, balance, accuracy• Be human - show empathy, diversity, constructive• Transparency – show sources, be accountable, allow criticism

Networks• Filter out fake news better• Give the user better signals of the quality of content• Promote better content through algorithms• Promote news literacy

Authorities• Communicate where the public communicate• Talk the right languages: conversational, human, even humourous• Be relevant• Open up• Interactive• Be realistic – media has limited influence

Specific organic solutions

Strategic solutions

Citizens• News literacy • Media empowerment - creativity• Information citizenship• Informational rights• Etiquette

Remember the good about digital• People love it• You can’t reverse it (though it can become more closed, captured)• It challenges power and complacency• ‘democratises’ • Promotes hidden voices and ideas• Greater diversity• It can mean better quality content made more accessible

Thank you. Keep in touchProfessor Charlie BeckettDirector, Polis, LSEDepartment of Media and Communications, LSEEmail c.h.beckett@lse.ac.ukPolis blog: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/polis/category/director/Twitter @CharlieBeckettAlso on:FacebookMediumInstagram