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Panel discussion on "The future of Media in a Post-Truth Age"
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Manish Banerjee
4:00
4:01
Hello and welcome to a panel discussion on "The future of media in a Post-Truth age" hosted by Oxford Union. The panelists are Jeremy O'Grady, editor in chief of The Week, Robert Guest, foreign editor of The Economist, and Jim White, Telegraph columnist, writer, and broadcaster.
4:07
Robert Guest says that "Real news is where you have to go out and pay a lot of money." He also explains how readers must pay for the news to find out what's going on in the world.
4:13
Jim White opens the discussion by saying that people look into their phones and no longer rely on newspapers." He further added that everyone is trying to practice journalism through the gadgets in their pockets.
4:15
Robert states that intelligence doesn't protect one and being intelligent is not equivalent to being wise.
4:18
Robert further added " Russian intelligence plummeted the idea to South Africa that HIV virus has been created to kill black people and people believed it".
4:19
4:20
"Telling a difference between what's a reliable and a non reliable sources
Looking at Individual sources, demand accountability, checking on people" says Robert.
4:21
Jeremy O'Grady emphasises by saying "Intellectual tribe or any kind of trial from the politics of identity becomes so strong that now it's really painful when evidence goes against your own view. "What is good for the tribe is presented to you and what I'm interested in is knowing is trying to find out why it is,"says Jeremy.
4:23
Jeremy explains how objective reporting as an ideal is under threat now and believes that consumers are losing trust because of that.
4:25
4:26
Jim White brings out a differentiation while answering a question from the audience between a fact and an opinion. "Talking to England fans out there, they blamed the media and the sophisticated PR machines can turn the media back at ourselves" he says.
4:28
Robert Guest underlines the limit of authoritarian regimes and believes it's healthy that they understand their weaknesses.
4:29
"I agree that there is a deep need of how you inculcate it in schools and I don't know that teaching people what I think is called and rather grand terms epistemic vigilance but in a vigilance about where this information is coming" says Jeremy O'Grady.
4:31
Jim encapsulates the success of New York Times as they announced the best figures in internet subscription.
Jeremy O'Grady explains "Number of complaints against somebody who's making a controversial point on a controversial subject would use that as the barrier to ban any more tweets from that person."
4:32
Jim adds how an air of vigilance can only be maintained through proper scrutiny.
4:34
Is objectivity in journalism becoming obsolete?
Yes (0% | 0 votes)
 
No (0% | 0 votes)
 
Partly (0% | 0 votes)
 
Total Votes: 0
Robert describes the importance of newspapers by saying,"Not just enough to read the Guardian, you need to read the left wing stuff as well."
4:35
"People think that an elite publication can get things right" says Robert.
4:36
Jeremy points out,"This is really not living in a spectacularly coast truth environment. We are just living in an environment where all the crack pots have always been with us and have suddenly been handed a megaphone"
He adds that there is a distinct feeling of unease that one gets by hearing the chatter all the time.
4:38
"The New York Times now, I was looking at the charge of total newspaper sales in the US and have gone down from a peak of about 60 million in the 1890's to back to 40 million now but they were 40 million at the end of the war and that was the same time as the actual newspapers have reduced because we have this fantastic jungle of of podcasts and and various other forms of of learning about what's going on which simply went there before so," says Jeremy.
4:39
Jeremy takes a question from the audience and points out how "Nobody believes anything how you feel about the democratization of the news now as everybody has access to it."
4:42
Jim visualises "I think there is a certain wild west element to it influencer thing that exploded 5 years ago in social media and an intimate relationship with the viewers. Quite clear that marketeers have realised the power of it. Within those territories new ideas emerging, How do we regulate it? Still figuring It's a real wild west out there and we are still finding our way through it."
4:43
Robert Guest continues and says,"If people use their voice for wrong reasons, there will be bad affects to it. In Taiwan, younger people don't correct their elder ones."
4:44
4:45
Jeremy O'Grady further adds "Suppose an inclination to want to do so problem is not so much that the the news is fake as the people who are writing it and their audience of their notion is that the president's equipment was as described as they wanted to be and our own attitudes as citizens can maintain the idea of a reasonable neutrality.
4:47
Jeremy answers a question about Indian journalism and says " India today is basically any news company in India that you can think of that none of them covered it because they were the ones who have been outed in the scandal that happened to buy news in the name of willing to promote certain political ideologies in the name of money and that was one of the biggest candidates that happened."
4:49
Robert chooses to not take the names of Indian media houses,but points out the conflict of interest problem in India. He backs the stringent British laws.
4:50
4:51
Jim answers a question relating to the cobra sting operation, "I don't think we should shy away from the fact that Britishers have been paid to say something. Taxed economy for our own personal benefits that happens at every elections small scale corruptions, I don't think we in this country should pretend that we don't involve in these things."
Is Indian Journalism in deep crisis?
Yes (0% | 0 votes)
 
No (0% | 0 votes)
 
Total Votes: 0
4:52
"The house sway is a journalism of which travel journalism is,"Jim says.All this example in which one you don't not is obviously under supervision," adds Jeremy.
4:53
Jeremy takes up another audience question, "But I'm sure like political parties for instance, if I'm here and if I'm running my campaign, I would obviously like to promote it on every platform that I can write just very different than having a company."
4:54
Robert concludes that there is always a bias, "we have never lived in a age where there is objective news. Journalists choose what stories to highlight."
4:55
"A certain level of objectivity is needed necessarily to embrace selection.Additions of these things is a curious thing that happens as you're going through them," explains Jeremy.
4:56
Jeremy answers "I don't think that has ever been nor ever could be a time when there is objective news but as Robert said you have enough people abiding by the rules of of attempted objectivity and I'm going to meet it coming up with different points of view but trying to be as discussions as possible and if you can preserve that environment then you are engaged in what might be called public interest journalism and it is a great benefit to democracy if you're not then democracy in trouble."
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