Media Democracy Pod

The Boris Johnson who bestrode British politics like a Colossus in 2019 is no more. In his place is a hapless figure, who can't seem to stop breaking his own regulations again and again last December. What happened? Why have the British public finally lost patience with him? Was it the media, by any chance? Tom and Dan come back to the Media Democracy studios to discuss the ongoing campaign by political insiders and their allies in the press to get Boris done.

What a vintage year it's been! Tom and Dan look back on 2020 and talk about the highlights of the UK media's performance. We touch on mainstream satire (bad), the BBC (cosily familiar but also bad), the Murdoch press (very, very bad) and the current state of relations between the media and economic reality (absolutely awful). There's also some talk about what the hell the two hosts have been up to this year.

There'll be Media Democracy one offs in the future, but we aren't going to pretend to be regular podcasters any more. But look out for new work on media reform in 2021.

Music by Makaih Beats.

Show links:

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1461670X.2020.1852099

https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/opendemocracyuk/after-corbynism-where-next-english-socialism/

This week your intrepid co-hosts enter BBC Radio 4's flagship forum for ethical debate, The Moral Maze and talk about its February 12th episode 'The Moral Purpose of the BBC'. Confronted with the labyrinth of the BBC's assumptions and dogmas, its lopsided balance and general inability to think or see what's in front of its nose, Tom and Dan soon realise that there is no easy way out. At the beginning of the show Media Democracy explains who you should vote for in the forthcoming elections for leader of the Labour Party.

Music by Makaih Beats.

This is the second part of our interview with Juliet Jacques. In the intro, Tom and Dan talk briefly about Rebecca Long Bailey's recent proposals to reform the BBC and the response of liberal intelligentsia: why think through what public media should look like in the digital age when you can fixate instead on court gossip?

Music by Makaih Beats.

In the first instalment of a two-parter, this week Tom and Dan talk with author and critic Juliet Jacques about the depiction of trans people in the media, the trouble with liberal pluralism, and whether or not a secret cabal of Norwich City fans is pulling the strings of the British power elite.

Music by Makaih Beats.

Dan and Tom return to podcasting after the Christmas break to discuss the media's behaviour in the General Election and the implications for the Labour Party of trying to operate in a communicative space that is as deceptive as it is hostile. Along the way we touch on some familiar themes - the awfulness of PPE, the awfulness of the New Statesman, liberalism's inability to distinguish between basic sociology and conspiracy theory, and much, much more.

Peter McColl's article on deliberative democracy as a superior alternative to technocracy and market forces can be found at his blog: https://petermccoll.wordpress.com/2019/09/02/from-the-crisis-of-meaning-to-challenge-focused-democratic-economy/

Shout out to Andy McDonald, Labour's Shadow Transport Secretary, for pointing out that 'the conduct of broadcasters in this election demonstrates the urgent need to debate democratic reforms to our media.' https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/labours-unfair-treatment-shows-broadcasters-21222653.amp

Music by Makaih Beats.

On 22 October Peter Oborne broke the silence that surrounds Westminster journalism with a damning article on the relationship between Downing Street’s press operation and senior correspondents like Robert Peston, Tim Shipman and Laura Kuenssberg. We talk about the article, the responses from Robert Peston and Amol Rajan, and what the reaction tells us about the state of UK journalism.

Peter Oborne’s original article - https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/opendemocracyuk/british-journalists-have-become-part-of-johnsons-fake-news-machine/ -

Robert Peston’s hilarious response

- https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/opendemocracyuk/my-job-draw-back-veil-robert-peston-responds-peter-oborne/ and Amol Rajan’s pretend-brave interview with Oborne https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0009lhr

Music by Makaih Beats.

Barely days after Facebook began trialing a news feature on its app Tom and Dan talk about the journey the company is on, from content agnostic charnel house to halfway convincing approximation of a civil public sphere. What does the platforms' emerging compromise with elected politicians, legacy media and the secret state look like? And how do we stop it? We also talk about Ofcom’s recent review of the BBC, the difference between quantity and quality in news coverage, balance in theory and practice, and Rupert Murdoch, the GOAT in the production and dissemination of fake news. We end with a bungling attempt to persuade our listeners to like and subscribe.

Music by Makaih Beats.

This week Tom and Dan talk with Jodie Nesling of the Isle of Thanet News, an awarding winning monthly newspaper covering Margate, Broadstairs, Ramsgate and a handful of villages inland in East Kent. Jodie began her career as a journalist in one of the corporate conglomerates and she talks about her experiences there and about the challenges facing a start-up aiming to give its community the reporting it deserves.

The Isle of Thanet News is published as a free monthly newspaper and its reporting is also freely available online at https://theisleofthanetnews.com.

Music by Makaih Beats.

This week Tom and Dan are joined by author and activist Tamasin Cave of Spinwatch. We talk about the Climate Crisis and the individuals and institutions determined to preserve business as usual, whatever the cost. We explore the geography of the Westminster Village, the politics of proximity, and the gap between the lobbyists' outward facing propaganda and their growing internal anxiety about the threat of democracy. For the avoidance of doubt, at one point Dan makes a joke.

Tamasin will be at Extinction Rebellion from Monday October 7th. For more information, follow her on Twitter at @CaveTamasin.

Check out Influence Map: https://influencemap.org to find out more about the geography of lobbying. For more about the Climate Emergency and what to do about it, check out Desmog https://www.desmog.co.uk/. Spinwatch works to promote transparency in the lobbying sector Spinwatch.org.

Music by Makaih Beats.