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The Future of Media in a Post-Truth Age | Oxford Union
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Ayusha Chalise
4:15
Welcome to the panel discussion on The Future of Media in a Post-Truth Age.
4:22
4:23
Panelists include Robert Guest, the foreign editor of the Economist, Jeremy O'Grady, Editor-in-Chief of The Week and Jim White, columnist, The Telegraph and broadcaster.
4:39
Robert Guest, Foreign Editor of The Economist, starts the panel discussion. He says "We live in the era of fake news but it's is not the first one," and then chronicles how since the 16th century, several press makers published falsified information and made-up stories.
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Robert asserts "It is worth stressing that gathering accurate news costs money. Writing fake news is really easy." He further states "We (The Economist) have 25 bureaus around the world. I have to fly people there, and pay for their meals and fixtures. It all costs money. If you need news, you'll have to pay for it."
4:53
When asked about whether people are becoming more intelligent due to availability of open information sources, Robert Guest espouses, "It's not like intelligent people are necessarily wise." He also points out how algorithms give us stories that align with our existing world views and may create echo chambers. 
Robert cites examples of international fake news allegedly pushed by Russia which threatens American democracy and emphasized the need for developing healthy skepticism.
4:55
5:02
Guest states "There is one authoritarian regime that is incredibly good at manipulating Western media because they know more about us than we know about them and it is Rwanda." He further states "They know there are places that seek leaked tables of gender parity. So the president of Rwanda said let's have women majority MPs and hope no one notices that our parliament does nothing. And suddenly we see all this news about how Rwanda is one of the best places to be a women"
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"Authoritative regimes understand the weaknesses that democracies have and they know they have the willingness to criticize their elected governments. But they can turn it against us," clarifies Guest.
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Jeremy O'Grady talks about distinguishing between fake news and idea of partisanship and cited Reuters survey on digital news in 2018 shows that very high percentage of people associates fake news with the mainstream media.
5:12
Where do you think most fake news are spread?
Mainstream Media (0% | 0 votes)
 
Social Media (0% | 0 votes)
 
Total Votes: 0
5:14
O'Grady says, "Whether this is a problem of producers of the news or consumers of the news, it is nevertheless worth pointing out that we don’t just have problem of identifying fake news; which is relatively easy, and we also don’t have a problem with economic aspect of the news."
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Jim White, speaks about his experience as a journalist in the 1980s. He recalls that his editor— who would take the train from Ipswich everyday to come to work— would quickly scan the passengers reading newspapers in the train, to assess the newspapers that were in demand.  
White then compares this with a similar situation in the 21st century, where most people prefer reading news on their phones.
5:22
"Change is revolutionary. Shift is uncomfortable and people don't know how to deal with it," he says, stating that 'The Independent' [a UK-based magazine founded in 1986] doesn't print anymore, and is fully online.
5:23
Jim White further says that anyone has a chance to be a journalist now, with the help of our smartphones. He states "To deliver our sense of opinions to the world, we can be as sophisticated now as those back in 1986. The means are even greater, and they're right in our pocket."
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Speaking about the difference between fact and opinion, Jim White cites an example from his World Cup coverage in Russia. The country and its citizens were on their best behavior during the World Cup. White says that there were angry groups of Western European football fans who would usually flock to World Cup venues, avoiding Russia because of its incorrect representation by the media. "It was all you cooking up news about Russia being horrible," they would say.
White implies that media can be used as a PR machine that can turn one's opinion against himself.
5:27
Do you think the future of journalism is bleak?
Yes (0% | 0 votes)
 
No (0% | 0 votes)
 
Can't Say (0% | 0 votes)
 
Total Votes: 0
5:28
He gives another example of President Trump using skepticism to cover up any reports of his indiscretions. He says, "Its all fake.You read Stormi Daniels speaking on Trump's physicality, you assume that it is fake news."
5:32
Thank you for staying with us throughout this blog. We hope you had a great time reading this.
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