Being an expert on the digital world, journalism and democracy I can support you: as a seasoned keynote speaker, panellist, author, lecturer and consultant. With more than 20 years of experience in journalism in major news organisations, many of these in leadership positions, I am now responsible for leadership programmes and strategy at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford. You are welcome to look at my portfolio – or share your thoughts on my posts.
Journalism and Democracy in the Digital World
My Opinion
The rift between big metropolitan areas and the countryside has grown. Now the urban class is pitted against everything from deep suburbia to the last provincial backwater — and journalism has something to do with it. The political divide used to be between the haves and the have-barely-enoughs. For more than a century, social class …
Looking at the Brexit mess from outside of the UK, it doesn’t take much for observers to conclude at least one thing: the British don’t understand the EU. Leavers display a downright hostility through their portrayal of the EU as some bureaucratic, money gobbling behemoth, determined to cripple Britain’s autonomy, but this completely misses the …
Continue reading "London Calling Brexit: A view from the outside in"
There are plenty of reasons to talk about the media as an industry in crisis. Business models are eroding, political pressures on journalists are increasing, and the need for cultural transformation puts newsrooms under severe strain. However, giving up is no option. So as we approach 2019, let’s focus on the strengths of the industry and …
Continue reading "Why the news media isn’t dead yet – seven reasons for hope"
It’s not technology that is bringing about populism and political outcomes many of us don’t agree with. It’s people. Unsuprisingly, establishing a causal relationship between the means of communication and today’s political landscape is quite common these days. Thanks to intense news media coverage, the general public is getting more media-savvy. People are discussing algorithms, …
The killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was a gruesome reminder that the media is under attack. And yet the greatest risk to the profession is not contract killers carrying bone saws; rather, it is mundane concerns like budget cuts and intensifying demands on reporters. OXFORD – The brutal torture and murder of the US-based …
Back in the day, it was all about pornography. “I know it when I see it”, United States Supreme Court Justice Potter Steward argued in the ground-breaking verdict Jacobellis vs. Ohio in 1964, a ruling that settled much about what was legal and what was not in matters of show and tell. “I know it …
Continue reading "In Institutions We Trust: What Is Quality Journalism?"
One common assumption about the internet goes like this: because everybody can access information, news, and knowledge freely, the web is making society more democratic. So much for the fiction; the fact is that the opposite might be true. At least this is what a recently published study by the Reuters Institute for the Study of …
The Panama Papers investigation was a momentous task. The multi-award-winning international collaboration led by German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung was mainly about manpower. Reporters spent an entire year sifting through data, looking for anomalies and following up on sources. But did it really need to be so laborious? Some journalists who are hopeful about the advancement …
Continue reading "We Can Use Robots But We Still Need Journalists"
How can we protect democracy if we only speak to Siri or Alexa but not each other? Democracy is based on the premise that everyone can express themselves, but it also implies other people are listening. Maybe it’s time for a real-life conversation. In the language of journalists, you might call this a scoop: getting the German President to preside over a …
It used to take quite an effort to manipulate people. Considerable amounts of skill, knowledge, engagement and financial means were needed to sway public opinion, influence elections, create a popular uprising or sell low-value products at high cost. Not any longer. And now social media can do it for everybody. Creating divisive content, lies, fake …
After years of bad news for the news business, recent data suggest that consumer confidence is slowly returning. To sustain this trend, journalists must continue producing quality content, and governments should explore new ways to support those who cannot pay. OXFORD – After years of ill health, the news industry is finally showing signs of …
In a fast-paced world attacked by rampant capitalism from one side and authoritarianism from the other, the institutions of democracy must be nourished. Public service media is one way to do it. Imagine if there was a war and there were no pictures of it. This is the thought that comes to mind when visiting the …
Don’t worry, this won’t be another think-piece interpreting Melania Trump’s choice of wardrobe, this will be about media. A very unhealthy part of current media dynamics, that is. For those of you who don’t live on this news planet and missed it, I am referring to Melania Trump’s visit to one of the infamous migrant children’s …
Continue reading "Melania’s Jacket or What’s Wrong With Media Dynamics"
A comparative study by the European Journalism Observatory (EJO) revealed what has been obvious all along, but now it has some tough numbers to back it up. 41% of all stories published in eleven countries’ major newspapers were written by men and only 23% by women. This is not just another report about gender inequality, …
Continue reading "Get the Data and Get it Done: How to Tackle Gender Imbalance in Newsrooms"
There are many similarities between the trust deficit that still plagues the financial sector and the one that is beginning to undermine technology companies. Firms like Amazon, Facebook, and Google should study five lessons that most banks never learned after the 2008 crisis. OXFORD – The predictions were wrong: the global economy didn’t collapse after …
The loss of freedom in the digital age seemed inevitable even before the Cambridge Analytica scandal with its massive breach of data privacy. Citizens appear destined to live in one of these two worlds: Number one is the world of monopoly capitalism, where they are primarily regarded as customers. These customers’ sole purpose is it …
Continue reading "Our Digital Futures: Where Europe Could Come In"
In a democracy, the rights of the many cannot come at the expense of the rights of the few. In the age of algorithms, government must, more than ever, ensure the protection of vulnerable voices, even erring on victims’ side at times. OXFORD – Germany’s Network Enforcement Act – according to which social-media platforms like …
OXFORD – In the debate over the future of journalism, “fake news” has taken center stage, with storylines featuring a ranting American president, Russian communication “bots,” and betrayal and subterfuge competing for public attention. But in an era of diminishing profits and shrinking audiences, is fake news really the biggest threat that traditional media face? …
With business models under pressure and competition for audience and advertising dollars increasing, media organisations inevitably search for innovative new ways to attract audiences, tell stories or earn revenue. Yet newsrooms often rush into innovation projects, expecting journalists to participate, or even to lead them, without explaining why, what the project is for, or how …