Thread by @MaajidNawaz, THREAD: Dear media colleagues, a heartfelt appeal (not attack) to be better1) [...]

THREAD:
Dear media colleagues, a heartfelt appeal (not attack) to be better

1) public trust is at an all time low for media on both sides of the Atlantic:

i) UK (TV journalists scored -40, and print journalists -55) https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-britons-still-support-lockdown-despite-being-sadder-and-more-anxious-poll-11977655

ii) US: https://www.washingtonpost.com/media/2020/03/27/poll-finds-americans-disapprove-medias-handling-coronavirus-its-same-polarized-picture-ever/

Coronavirus: Britons still support lockdown despite being sadder and more anxious - poll

In a poll of 1,652 Britons for Sky News conducted by YouGov this week, the public were emphatic that the lockdown should continue.

https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-britons-still-support-lockdown-despite-being-sadder-and-more-anxious-poll-11977655

2) doubling-down on this by blaming:
i) the public, as “populists”

ii) voices who are flagging this, as “government stooges” or

iii) the poll as “just a poll”

Are precisely the reaction that so missed the public mood over Brexit & Trump’s victory & so will make matters worse

3) also, saying “that’s just the public rallying around the government during a time of crisis” doesn’t quite cut it: the public did not support our government (but generally supported media scepticism) during both the Iraq War & 2008 crash, around WMD & bailouts, respectively

4) replying defiantly by saying that “it’s our job to hold government to account, even when its unpopular” spectacularly misses the point I feel, and also importantly, sounds as if it’s tone deaf to precisely what the public’s complaints are. Thereby making matters worse again

5) the public is smart enough to sense and decipher that the way media does business has changed drastically post the creation of social media, and that clicks make revenue for media companies, which means polarised & polarising stories do better, even if they’re not as important

6) print media largely sets the agenda for broadcast media. The public know as well as we do what’s going on therefore, and senses the decline in the business side of the industry (especially in print) just as we do on the inside. The public isn’t stupid.

7) I know from the inside that the largest media companies often hire junior staff to do their online work. This means we’re in the unusual position where often junior staff are responsible for posting the most viewed headlines & how many times, in which order, every day, online

8) print editors & even owners appear still to be stuck in the past (this is not blame) & while they choose editorial priorities & front pages for print versions, the real front page is becoming online. Newspaper social media accounts are often run by 20-something fresh graduates

9) and even print stories that are deemed worthy & important appear (when you zoom out a bit) petty & partisan, rather than of gravity. For example, during a week when domestic violence spiked through the roof, PM’s chief advisor sitting in on a meeting(s) became a bigger story

10) consider: we’re living through the worst public health crisis in memory. If we’re more fluent in who sat in which meetings, than we are in being able to explain the different legitimate emerging schools of scientific thought for global pandemic responses, we’re in trouble

11) this is aside from some transparent hatchet jobs (probably politically motivated). Which frankly, are so obvious now it’s not even worth debating: https://twitter.com/MaajidNawaz/status/1254453634873659392

https://twitter.com/MaajidNawaz/status/1254453634873659392

12) To reply by saying “critics shouldn’t follow the Trump line of attacking the media” is a red herring & personally insulting too. I’m obviously no Trump fan. I suffered under his (Muslim) travel ban to the US & even missed a family funeral. But I try to remain dispassionate.

13) some UK media dismiss these concerns as sounding like more Trumpian “fake news” allegations. This can be met with an equally valid criticism though: US media is *already* hyper-politicised & therefore UK media should be wary of becoming like their polarised US counterparts

14) this rebuttal is also too intellectually lazy & avoids self-scrutiny. Truth is polled public trust in media was dipping before #Covid19 & continued to plummet to historically low levels now. Likely, the gap between public mood on Brexit & Trump & the media’s mood is a factor

15) if it is a factor that this is Brexit & Trump “to be continued”, then whatever mood we missed then, is even more exacerbated now during lockdown. Our tone therefore, is probably deaf to the huge shifts in consciousness that occurred after the 2008 crash & during last 3 years

16) we media being tone deaf to the public in this way, is critically dangerous. The public is in danger of abandoning MSM altogether, and increasingly heading to crackpot conspiratorial & confirmation-bias affirming outlets, making the problem even worse. A vicious cycle.

17) so it’s urgent that we all humbly ponder what’s going on & not arrogantly double-down. Otherwise, this will end in more of the public flocking to PM Johnson & Trump, not fewer. Because the public saw that eroding trust in British institutions only led to the rise of Corbyn

18) none of this means letting the government off the hook. But educating public & explaining unknowns is part of our remit. For eg: how many journalists took time to educate the public that since...

... Lansley reforms Health Secretaries were barred from procurement decisions over things like PPE? Acquiring PPE had been the job of NHS’s CEO & not the Health Secretary. This message was nowhere near clear enough.

19) There is a way to address meaty topics throughout this without pandering to government while also avoiding petty & gossip laden stories about why the PM’s chief advisor attended a specific meeting. For example ...

... all of the below are (in my view, but hey, who am I?

) more important *themes* (not mere questions) that are more worthy of exploring than gossip about Sage meeting attendance...

i) Why have gov been so poor at comms?

ii) is there a lockdown exit strategy & what is it?

iii) between Sweden & Italy lockdown styles, lies a South Korean model, are we able to copy their experience & if not, how can we get to that level of assumed success?

iv) instead of threatening to increase fines or take away access to parks, what is the Home Office doing about the spike in domestic violence & child abuse during lockdown?

v) what will be the lasting Impacts on health & poverty due to this lockdown?

v) what is status of our 5G Huawei deal now & generally do we have a strategy for relations with China (apart from simply securing cheap labour & goods)?
vi) which Tory politicians sit on Huawei board, how much have they been paid & how has China influenced our decision making?

vii) how can we diversify our supply chains & meet a future fraught with more bio & cyber risks, than previously assumed military risk?

viii) what accountability exists for hugely powerful opaque NHS quangos & their CEOs, in both procurement & virus control measures?

ix) what are the precise scientific disagreements between Imperial, Oxford & Sweden schools?

x) why were many modelling predictions wrong? Or not?

xi) supermarkets are among only business that will turn a huge profit this quarter. Why do emergency tax breaks apply to them?

xii) why are supermarkets allowed to sell non-essential items but not small damilynowed businesses that are being ruined?

xiii) why are we reporting simple ‘death counts’? Why are we not reporting comparable total death rate from this day last year? To discern the difference?

xiv) as is obvious, the world has changed. Does the government plan to study UBI & its viability after this is over?

xv) traffic is low, and pollution has not been lower since the 1950s. What measures are in place to keep pollution low and encourage more cycling? etc..

xvi) why is there a disproportionate impact on BAME communities worldwide & what education/help/outreach is being done to stymie this?

xvii) why have too many CBILS loans from banks still not come through & why are banks being so weird & cagey about them?

xviii) our security services have said that the angle that this may have been an accidental bio-weapon leak is “credible” and the door is not closed to that line of inquiry. What future measures should exist for biological warfare & how should this change our politics & culture?

xix) we know that Russia, China & Iran (and others) have been heavily involved in online disinformation campaigns. What measures are/should be put in place to protect newly “politically exposed” front line scientists from online sting campaigns & psyops & disinformation?

...get my drift? There’s so much to explore outside of that Sage story & hatchet jobs on the PM, that I shouldn’t really have to type any of the above (it’s just a personal list of interests). I know we can be & do better for the public.

This is merely my appeal that we try