“The news media can do a lot better. Frankly, we need to reflect and represent different communities, and produce material that is more relevant to people who don't necessarily come from privileged backgrounds. Because I think that the way to engage people is to tell stories that have relevance to their lives, rather than this paternalistic ‘we speak, you listen’ approach we see now.” 

In this week’s episode of The G Word, Chris Wigley is joined by Rebecca Skippage, News Editor and Anti-Disinformation Lead at the BBC. Having spent much of her career tackling misinformation, in 2020 she also founded a fellowship at Reuters Institute, established to explore best practice in communicating with global audiences and to encourage people to utilise public service media networks.   

Today, Rebecca discusses why people from less privileged backgrounds are significantly less likely to turn to news media, how the BBC combats fake news and the importance of social listening. She also talks about her eye-opening report ‘The role of public service media in the fight against disinformation’ and touches on the usefulness of WhatsApp and other similar media platforms.