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Press Panel: The Future of Media in a Post-Truth Age
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4:39
Hello and welcome to the panel discussion on "The Future of Media in a Post-Truth Age". The panelists are Jeremy O'Grady, Editor-in-Chief of The Week, Robert Guest, Foreign Editor of the Economist and Jim White, Telegraph columnist, write, and broadcaster
4:54
Robert Guest starts the discussion by saying, "how we live in the era of fake news and it’s not the first one that we’re living in."
4:55
Guest talks about the situation in the 16th century, when the owners of Newfangled printing presses used to print most 'extraordinary','scareless' and 'nonsensical' stories. Because these kinds of stories sold best.
4:56
Jeremy O'Grady, the Editor-in-Chief of The Week magazine, hopes that this evening the panel is able to identify fake news. He terms it 'partisan'.
4:57
Guest tells a story of the "New York Sun", which was one of the great daily newspapers in 1835. They started running a series of stories about a man called 'Hershel' -- who’s looking through a modern telescope.
4:58
He states that, "Nowadays there is a real problem with trusting whether what you read is true or not."
5:00
Grady notes that, "We cannot trust the objectivity of the news any longer." He remarks, "To what extent are we in this age? Is this a novel thing? Are we exaggerating it? These are the questions we would explore through the evening."
5:02
Guest mentions that, "Gathering accurate news cost money and writing fake news is really easy." At the end of his introduction Guest adds, “If you really want to find out what’s happening out there, it costs, and someone has to pay."
5:03
Jim White talks about how today, "newspaper readers are spotted rarely. This change has been "absolutely revolutionary", and has made existing media very uncertain.
5:05
White says that, "today in each of our pockets, we have the ability to be a journalist. He adds, "I think actually, that we are at the cusp of a really, really exciting world."
5:07
Guest on being asked what in those two situations why people nowadays find it harder to differentiate what is true or not, replies, “Being highly intelligent is absolutely no protection against believing."
5:09
He adds that, "it is not necessary that intelligent people are necessarily wise. It’s just one of the things that makes it more likely to believe a story, if it reinforces with the world view they already have."
5:10
Grady points out the lack of trust in mainstream media. He says that, "News has become commentary at one level, at least in Britain." He adds that, "People in reputable places are also being disreputable."
5:11
5:13
Guest considers that the algorithm is playing a big role. He says, "passing the story with others is not just sharing, it’s you’re making them believe it."
5:15
White recalls how during the World Cup 2018 in Russia was all about changing the perspective of foreign journalists on Russia and being on their best-behavior. This led to a sentiment among fans from European countries, which was that the American coverage on Russia was fake.
5:17
White believes that it was a very 'sophisticated PR machinery' at play that led to a perception change about Russia for visiting fans, leading to a distrust of Western media.
5:18
White ends with a solution to counter fake news. He says that,  "Proper scrutiny is the only way to maintain vigilance against fake news."
5:19
Do you believe the media?
Yes (0% | 0 votes)
 
No (0% | 0 votes)
 
Total Votes: 0
5:20
That's a wrap of the discussion. Thank you for being with us!
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