tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-40972715195519169362024-03-27T17:43:24.140+00:00Politics, PR & MarketingMusings on political communication, how it works, or doesn't, what it is and should be and reflections on what our leaders are saying and, importantly, how they say it!Dr Darren G Lillekerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00870644282739147878noreply@blogger.comBlogger696125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4097271519551916936.post-14149594165934034122017-03-20T13:46:00.000+00:002017-03-20T13:46:17.762+00:00Post-truth and how to combat fake news<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b>Evidence
to the Culture, Media and Sport Committee 'Fake news' inquiry presented by members
of the Centre for Politics & Media Research, Faculty for Media &
Communication, Bournemouth University, UK.</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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Author:
Darren G. Lilleker, Associate Professor of Political Communication<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;">Contributors: Jenny Alexander, Dalia ElSheikh, David McQueen, Barry
Richards and Einar Thorsen</span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;">The concept of fake
news is problematic. It is a catch-all term with multiple definitions that has
the capacity to undermine the role of media as the fourth estate as well as the
civic attitudes that underpin democratic culture. Our report outlines the
definitions and underlying practices captured by the term, demonstrating how
fake news is used to confirm existing biases and beliefs. Our contention is,
however, that confirmation bias can only be relied upon where facts, and the
sources of facts, are contested and so lack credibility. In other words
citizens will rely on their beliefs when they are unable to believe alternative
accounts.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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To combat the
post-truth environment that nurtures fake news we propose four recommendations:</div>
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<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li>Ensure the inclusion into education of
a media literacy programme that can prepare people to be citizens of a digital
world;</li>
<li>Ensure that established media outlets
adhere to the basic standards of journalism when constructing news;</li>
<li>Put pressure on, through regulation if
necessary, the major players in the digital environment to at a minimum
accredit verified news providers;</li>
<li>Challenge the use of the phrase fake
news in order to create an environment that is more supportive of media.</li>
</ol>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;">As researchers with a
track record for investigating the role of media within society and its
importance for pluralist democracy, particularly given the rise of a
post-truth, spin culture, we propose that the concept of fake news –
terminologically and practically – is highly damaging. Our combined expertise
offers an informed appraisal of the nature of the problem, its potential
negative impacts but offer research-led solutions that can combat media
distrust and an attendant reliance on fake stories designed to manipulate.<br clear="all" style="mso-special-character: line-break; page-break-before: always;" />
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b>Understanding fake news, the nature of the problem
and potential solutions<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<b>What is 'fake news'? <o:p></o:p></b></div>
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There
are at least four definitions of "fake news" in contemporary public
circulation:</div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]-->1)<span style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]-->Deliberate falsehoods to attract visitors as
clickbait; <o:p></o:p></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]-->2)<span style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]-->Satirical news that is designed to be humorous and
overtly fake, and thus not intended to mislead as the first category is<a href="file:///C:/Users/Darren/Downloads/Evidence%20Submission%20-%20Fake%20News%20FINAL.docx#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-family: inherit, serif; line-height: 115%;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>;
<o:p></o:p></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]-->3)<span style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]-->Public relations, spin or biased reporting which
exaggerates certain facts, obscuring others; <o:p></o:p></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]-->4)<span style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]-->The dismissal of reports as fake by an individual
or organisation (such as Donald Trump or Emily Thornberry) because they present
a challenge to their own or their party’s narrative. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The
borders and boundaries between these four types are highly permeable. The
notion of fake news is not new per se, as the extensive literature around
propaganda and spin demonstrates; yet the problem is perhaps increasing and
certainly the term has gained traction after President Trump’s frequent usage.
Newspapers have a record for publishing stories with limited evidence and of
questionable veracity<a href="file:///C:/Users/Darren/Downloads/Evidence%20Submission%20-%20Fake%20News%20FINAL.docx#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-family: inherit, serif; line-height: 115%;">[2]</span></span></span></a>.
Public awareness of dubious practices including the use of the infamous ‘fake
sheikh’, the phone hacking scandal and various celebrities winning cases
against news organisations must contribute to the low public perception of
journalists; only 25% say they believe journalists tell the truth, a rating
shared with estate agents, although they beat government ministers and
politicians<a href="file:///C:/Users/Darren/Downloads/Evidence%20Submission%20-%20Fake%20News%20FINAL.docx#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-family: inherit, serif; line-height: 115%;">[3]</span></span></span></a>. Arguably cynicism towards
the media has also been cultivated by the long-standing academic critique of
the media for their failures to ‘hold power to account’<a href="file:///C:/Users/Darren/Downloads/Evidence%20Submission%20-%20Fake%20News%20FINAL.docx#_ftn4" name="_ftnref4" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-family: inherit, serif; line-height: 115%;">[4]</span></span></span></a>.
Media mistrust provides for an
environment where truth, and trustworthiness, is perceptual and where information
presented as fact is treated with cynicism: an environment characterised as
being ‘post-truth’ but one that might lead to a diminution of, or ‘death’, of
mainstream news<a href="file:///C:/Users/Darren/Downloads/Evidence%20Submission%20-%20Fake%20News%20FINAL.docx#_ftn5" name="_ftnref5" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-family: inherit, serif; line-height: 115%;">[5]</span></span></span></a>.</div>
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The
current anxiety about "fake news" in the UK appears to have been sparked
in the aftermath of the Brexit vote and President Trump’s election in the US. In
some senses this anxiety can be understood as a moral panic or at least as a
crisis story about a much larger issue which is (in part) about fact-checking
in the digital age. Such anxieties have mounted, particularly as some forms of
"citizen journalism", "user generated content" and
"new model" news websites, from The Canary to Breitbart, challenge
the boundaries of the journalistic profession.<o:p></o:p></div>
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In
order to develop a broad definition we argue that fake news is the deliberate
spread of misinformation, be it via traditional news media or through social
media. Often such news is generated with the intent to mislead in order to gain
financially or politically<a href="file:///C:/Users/Darren/Downloads/Evidence%20Submission%20-%20Fake%20News%20FINAL.docx#_ftn6" name="_ftnref6" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-family: inherit, serif; line-height: 115%;">[6]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>.
In some cases fake news employs eye-catching headlines or entirely fabricated
news-stories in order to increase readership and online sharing. Profit is made
in a similar fashion to ‘clickbait’ which relies on revenue from advertisers generated
through clicks. People are encouraged to read or view a story in order to earn
revenue for the host organisation through clicks regardless of the veracity of
the published stories. Easy access to ad-revenue, increased political
polarization and the ubiquity of social media, primarily the Facebook newsfeed,
have been implicated in the spread of fake news. Anonymously hosted websites with
no known publishers have also been implicated, particularly because they make
it difficult to prosecute sources of fake news for libel or slander<a href="file:///C:/Users/Darren/Downloads/Evidence%20Submission%20-%20Fake%20News%20FINAL.docx#_ftn7" name="_ftnref7" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-family: inherit, serif; line-height: 115%;">[7]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Yet
theoretically any individual or organisation can create fake news. Cultures of
spin and public relations, which accentuate positives and bury bad news, have
been pervasive within the political and corporate world over the last two
decades<a href="file:///C:/Users/Darren/Downloads/Evidence%20Submission%20-%20Fake%20News%20FINAL.docx#_ftn8" name="_ftnref8" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-family: inherit, serif; line-height: 115%;">[8]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>,
with many public institutions generating news items which are instantly
published with little editorial scrutiny<a href="file:///C:/Users/Darren/Downloads/Evidence%20Submission%20-%20Fake%20News%20FINAL.docx#_ftn9" name="_ftnref9" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-family: inherit, serif; line-height: 115%;">[9]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>.
While we might not wish to classify every piece of public relations, created by
a state, corporation, government, political party or campaign organisation as
fake news, there are key elements of public relations which elide with the
concept of fake news. Public relations practices produce news that is generated
in order to influence the reader, shape their attitudes and behaviours, and so
advantage the source; news outlets equally accentuate elements of stories in
order to fit an ideological bias. In both these cases there might be elements
of truth but exaggeration is used to cause an emotional response from the
reader. The ordinary citizen is therefore free to decide what to believe and
what to discount, but may not have the information or capacity to arrive at an
informed answer. In extremis they may also choose to ignore news they
understand to be fake or inaccurate, since their faith in the source is greater
than that who attacks them for being fake. Therefore, at the heart of the ‘fake
news’ problem is the challenge that is posed to democratic citizenship when
decisions are taken based upon emotional responses engendered by inaccurate
information. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Confirmation bias: why fake news gains traction<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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An
investigation by Craig Silverman and Lawrence Alexander found over 100 sites
purporting to provide news of US politics were in fact hosted by a number of individuals
residing within the Macedonian town of Veles. Each news site had a Facebook
page with thousands of followers<a href="file:///C:/Users/Darren/Downloads/Evidence%20Submission%20-%20Fake%20News%20FINAL.docx#_ftn10" name="_ftnref10" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-family: inherit, serif; line-height: 115%;">[10]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>.
The individuals creating these sites had experimented with content, discovering
pro-Trump news earned the most in click-thru revenue. These sites all provided
fake stories, ‘revealing’ proof Obama was not American, ‘providing’ exclusive
footage from Bill Clinton sex tapes and ‘quoting’ Hilary Clinton saying Trump
was ‘honest and can’t be bought’. Despite being untrue, they were read and
shared via the Facebook newsfeed, maybe appearing true to many readers.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Aside
from the eye-catching style of headlines, the stories also have plausibility to
their intended audience. Humans tend to seek information that fits with their
existing belief systems<a href="file:///C:/Users/Darren/Downloads/Evidence%20Submission%20-%20Fake%20News%20FINAL.docx#_ftn11" name="_ftnref11" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-family: inherit, serif; line-height: 115%;">[11]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>.
They like to hear negative news about people they do not like and vice versa.
The above stories confirmed anti-Obama and anti-Clinton biases, some particularly
reinforcing the ‘crooked Hillary’ narrative; others confirmed the honesty and
accuracy of Trump’s take on the world. Pro-Clinton or pro-Sanders narratives
gained were less attractive for clickbait sites, but they were no less
prevalent. This was echoed in another investigation by Silverman, exposing how
two opposing so-called ‘hyperpartisan’ news websites were both owned by the
same company<a href="file:///C:/Users/Darren/Downloads/Evidence%20Submission%20-%20Fake%20News%20FINAL.docx#_ftn12" name="_ftnref12" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-family: inherit, serif; line-height: 115%;">[12]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>. Moreover, their news
copy was in places near identical – with adjectives and hyperbole adjusted to
suit the respective liberal or conservative audiences. Thus truth became
blurred and contested, a feature of many election campaigns. <o:p></o:p></div>
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In
a pluralist media system fake news is contested and challenged. However
research on media habits show that many people <i>choose</i> not to enjoy a pluralist diet of information. News sources
are chosen because they confirm existing biases and beliefs. This phenomenon is
particularly problematic within the online environment. Cass Sunstein observed
the construction of filter systems, whereby news feeds, sources of news and
information and online social networks becoming increasing homogenous
ideologically<a href="file:///C:/Users/Darren/Downloads/Evidence%20Submission%20-%20Fake%20News%20FINAL.docx#_ftn13" name="_ftnref13" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-family: inherit, serif; line-height: 115%;">[13]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>. Put simply some people
are most likely to connect with peers or organisations with whom they agree
already, filtering out information that they disagree with or that challenges
their existing biases or beliefs. Moreover the majority of people who do not
use anti-tracking software, cookie data which allows websites such as Google
and Facebook to know what other sites are visited, what products are viewed
etc., are likely to have products and viewpoints tailored according to their
interests<a href="file:///C:/Users/Darren/Downloads/Evidence%20Submission%20-%20Fake%20News%20FINAL.docx#_ftn14" name="_ftnref14" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-family: inherit, serif; line-height: 115%;">[14]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>. A person who scours
Amazon and LiveNation (a concert promoter) for heavy metal music, may only see
promotions for more heavy metal music; a person who likes pro-Trump news
stories may only see further pro-Trump news stories. The filter bubbles created
through algorithms based on online behavioural patterns may have even further
implications for those who seek out, read and like more extremist or
anti-democratic political views. There is conflicting evidence on how
hermetically sealed these filter bubbles created by social media users or
algorithms are, but arguably they can present significant problems even if the
majority of sources exposed to offer a one-sided narrative around a more
emotionally resonant message<a href="file:///C:/Users/Darren/Downloads/Evidence%20Submission%20-%20Fake%20News%20FINAL.docx#_ftn15" name="_ftnref15" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-family: inherit, serif; line-height: 115%;">[15]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>.
<o:p></o:p></div>
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Confirmation
bias may not be seen as a huge problem, as it suggests that the only people
reached and affected are those with an existing propensity to believe a
particular story. However there are two important ramifications for democratic
society. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Firstly
there are degrees of bias. Having a latent bias against a particular social group
can be nurtured and made more extreme through exposure to fake news, due to the
emotive arguments made, particularly when similar peers share that news with
their own supportive, emotionally engaging, comment<a href="file:///C:/Users/Darren/Downloads/Evidence%20Submission%20-%20Fake%20News%20FINAL.docx#_ftn16" name="_ftnref16" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-family: inherit, serif; line-height: 115%;">[16]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>.
The more that peers support a given viewpoint or perspective, the more likely
an individual will absorb that into their belief system<a href="file:///C:/Users/Darren/Downloads/Evidence%20Submission%20-%20Fake%20News%20FINAL.docx#_ftn17" name="_ftnref17" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-family: inherit, serif; line-height: 115%;">[17]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
due to the emotional connection to the peers, their strength of feelings and
the perceived veracity of the argument. Greater exposure to fake news that
reinforces a particular set of beliefs is found to have a particularly powerful
impact on those who consume little ‘real’ news and rely heavily on information
discovered through their social networks<a href="file:///C:/Users/Darren/Downloads/Evidence%20Submission%20-%20Fake%20News%20FINAL.docx#_ftn18" name="_ftnref18" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-family: inherit, serif; line-height: 115%;">[18]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>.
Hence fake news can be a force for increased emotional and extreme attachments
to an idea, both of which can translate into extreme, emotionally-driven
behaviour. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Secondly
there are degrees of untruth. In 2016 it may not have mattered how many
Americans believed Obama was also an American citizen. An anonymously-produced
and widely-circulated map of incidents of crimes purportedly committed by
refugees in Germany may have far-reaching implications for the forthcoming
election in that nation. Despite this being contested by one independent online
website as being based on inaccurate data, and being hosted by a Russian
exponent of alt-right (the new far right) propaganda, Germany’s <i>Bild</i> newspaper and UK <i>Daily Mail</i> both used the map to attack
Merkel’s policy on refugees<a href="file:///C:/Users/Darren/Downloads/Evidence%20Submission%20-%20Fake%20News%20FINAL.docx#_ftn19" name="_ftnref19" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-family: inherit, serif; line-height: 115%;">[19]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>.
The map hosted by XYE, the challenge by The Bureau of Investigative Journalism,
or both could be fake<a href="file:///C:/Users/Darren/Downloads/Evidence%20Submission%20-%20Fake%20News%20FINAL.docx#_ftn20" name="_ftnref20" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-family: inherit, serif; line-height: 115%;">[20]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>.
Once in the public consciousness it is immaterial, German citizens with latent
concerns regarding absorbing a refugee community will become more concerned,
and possibly encouraged to vote a particular way; pro-refugee groups will be
forced to be refugee crime deniers; society becomes polarised over perceptions
of truth. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Contestations
of fact can therefore have important ramifications that go beyond questions of
how well-informed people are, they can also inform a range of behavioural
choices from how to vote to whether to participate in actions which exacerbate
social tensions; so explaining the rise of hate crimes. The impact of fake news
has already resulted in Edgar Welsh attempting to ‘do the right thing’ by
firing an assault rifle in a Washington Pizzeria believing the story that it
was the headquarters of a child-sex ring patronised by Clinton’s campaign chief
John Podesta; the evidence being that certain topping styles were code words.
One concerned citizen believed a fake news story sufficiently, and had
sufficient concern for the welfare of children, to take the law into their own
hands. While one extreme and isolated correlation between fake news and violent
action, the fact there were up to ten attacks against migrants in Germany
during 2016 may relate to the increase in anti-migrant news stories by domestic
and international alt-right groups<a href="file:///C:/Users/Darren/Downloads/Evidence%20Submission%20-%20Fake%20News%20FINAL.docx#_ftn21" name="_ftnref21" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-family: inherit, serif; line-height: 115%;">[21]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>.
It is therefore important to consider viable means by which to combat the
spread and acceptance of fake news.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>Combating fake news<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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Critiques
of the media have proved vulnerable to appropriation. Donald Trump’s presidential
brand as the ‘outsider’ allows him to reinforce the perception that in the age of
social media electoral popularity
does not have to rest on support from a substantial section of mainstream
media. The term is becoming more widely popularised, not only by news sites
which claim ‘independence’, combat the alt-right, and expose ‘fake news’, but
by any politician who wishes to challenge the veracity of news reports<a href="file:///C:/Users/Darren/Downloads/Evidence%20Submission%20-%20Fake%20News%20FINAL.docx#_ftn22" name="_ftnref22" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-family: inherit, serif; line-height: 115%;">[22]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>.
While reactions to the term will vary across different audience segments, an
underlying and widespread effect is likely to be a still deeper and broader
suspicion of any ‘news’ sources which challenge the existing views of an
audience. Unchecked, this process will undermine the kind of public sphere – a
space for rational dialogue – on which democratic politics depends. The
collapse of a national public into a number of different and polarised
truth-tribes is becoming an imaginable scenario. Thus we propose four ways by
which this should be arrested.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>Media Literacy<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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Firstly
we recommend a renewed focus on media literacy in schools, particularly around
emotional self-management and digital ‘emotional self-care’. While applied
mostly to the work of activists or researchers<a href="file:///C:/Users/Darren/Downloads/Evidence%20Submission%20-%20Fake%20News%20FINAL.docx#_ftn23" name="_ftnref23" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-family: inherit, serif; line-height: 115%;">[23]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>,
the ability to distance oneself emotionally from material online, personal or
political is important in constructing a better understanding of how to be a
good digital citizen. Simple lessons relating to thinking before liking or
sharing, how to avoid filter bubbles and understanding the threats posed by
exposure to information are required now from a young age. Media literacy also
needs to provide a basis for assessing the validity of sources, source bias,
the role of journalism in society and how to differentiate between different
forms of journalism: investigative, editorial or propagandistic. These are
issues that predate and transcend fake news, but are no less important because
of that. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>Media standards</i><o:p></o:p></div>
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Media
literacy must also work in tandem with better regulation of the standards of
news production and the pluralism of views. A starting point would be admission
that the phenomenon of fake news has its roots in mainstream media failure.
Issues of partisanship and bias, ethical standards in journalism, and unhealthy
levels of ownership concentration have created an environment in which trust in
journalists is at an all-time low. The concern here is that well documented and
long-term public distrust in sections of the news media (typically tabloid
journalists in the UK) will become contagious, and citizens will begin to see
all of their news as of questionable veracity (which Trump is actively
encouraging in the US); an environment
in which real and fake become indistinguishable. It is therefore incumbent on
our news media to raise journalistic standards and to reform. But reform is
something the newspaper press has for decades proven itself incapable of, and
thus the onus on leading this process must lie with government. Therefore the
implementation of the recommendations of the Leveson enquiry remains crucial. Implementation
would help improve ethical standards of journalism, yet ownership concentration
remains a problem, and regulation should be pursued that prevents monopoly
ownership of news organisations which make them susceptible to disseminating a
single ideological argument.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i>Regulating the digital environment<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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The
response by Facebook to criticisms, the creation of a Journalism Project<a href="file:///C:/Users/Darren/Downloads/Evidence%20Submission%20-%20Fake%20News%20FINAL.docx#_ftn24" name="_ftnref24" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-family: inherit, serif; line-height: 115%;">[24]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="vertical-align: baseline;">,</span></span>
may be seen as a small step in the right direction, in particular the pledge to
collaborate with news corporations in order to produce a newsfeed that cannot
be contaminated by less credible sources. However this does not prevent fake news
outlets creating spaces within social media platforms, creating attractive fake
news headlines, and encourage sharing of this content. At a minimum political
pressure should be put upon on social media platforms to strengthen their
actions in relation to combating hate speech, a component of some fake news.
Platforms are currently struggling to deal with content that is reported as
inappropriate<a href="file:///C:/Users/Darren/Downloads/Evidence%20Submission%20-%20Fake%20News%20FINAL.docx#_ftn25" name="_ftnref25" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-family: inherit, serif; line-height: 115%;">[25]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>, therefore this might
present challenges despite the German government attempts to sanction Facebook
if they do not comply. Perhaps a better solution, however, is stronger
regulation of how news outlets are labelled (consider variations to the
verified tick on Twitter). If they do not comply with recognised standards of
journalism they must be classed as political, not news. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i>Creating an environment that supports media.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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The
above can go some way to ensuring citizens are able to make mature and
reality-based judgments of who to trust while not being exposed to manipulation
online. The final recommendation focuses on political actors. The argument
being that they should always offer evidence and analysis based arguments, not
simply negating arguments as fake if they do not agree or when reports
challenge their narrative, and citizens need to be encouraged to judge their
arguments on that basis. Moreover, the mainstream news media must be openly
supported, by politicians and all other potential opinion-leaders, therefore retaining
its position at the heart of democratic culture. The media cannot be protected
from criticism, as there are significant problems with media production of fake
news; however criticisms of news coverage should avoid using the phrase ‘fake
news’ in a tit-for-tat fashion. Challenges to news must also be challenged, for
their evidence base and their veracity, in order that citizens do not just seek
validity through confirmation bias but can employ more informed judgment.</div>
<div>
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="ftn1">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/Darren/Downloads/Evidence%20Submission%20-%20Fake%20News%20FINAL.docx#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 8.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
Comedy shows such as The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (TDS) and The Colbert
Report (TCR) have been referred to as “fake news” in the past, since they
satirise news bulletins and indeed current affairs. Others include The Onion in
the US, and <a href="http://newsthump.com/">News Thump</a> or <a href="http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/">The Daily Mash</a> in the UK.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn2">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/Darren/Downloads/Evidence%20Submission%20-%20Fake%20News%20FINAL.docx#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 8.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
Independent academic studies include Martin Conboy, (2006). <i>Tabloid Britain</i>, Routledge or Kevin
Williams, (2009). <i>Get Me a Murder a Day!:
A History of Media and Communication in Britain</i>. A&C Black.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn3">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/Darren/Downloads/Evidence%20Submission%20-%20Fake%20News%20FINAL.docx#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 8.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
IpsosMORI Veracity Index, 2016, <a href="https://www.ipsos-mori.com/researchpublications/researcharchive/3685/Politicians-are-still-trusted-less-than-estate-agents-journalists-and-bankers.aspx#gallery[m]/1/">https://www.ipsos-mori.com/researchpublications/researcharchive/3685/Politicians-are-still-trusted-less-than-estate-agents-journalists-and-bankers.aspx#gallery[m]/1/</a>
<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn4">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/Darren/Downloads/Evidence%20Submission%20-%20Fake%20News%20FINAL.docx#_ftnref4" name="_ftn4" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 8.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
Fore example see James Curran & Jean Seaton, (2009). <i>Power without responsibility: press, broadcasting and the internet in
Britain</i>. Routledge.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn5">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/Darren/Downloads/Evidence%20Submission%20-%20Fake%20News%20FINAL.docx#_ftnref5" name="_ftn5" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 8.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/feb/26/robert-mercer-breitbart-war-on-media-steve-bannon-donald-trump-nigel-farage">https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/feb/26/robert-mercer-breitbart-war-on-media-steve-bannon-donald-trump-nigel-farage</a>
<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn6">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/Darren/Downloads/Evidence%20Submission%20-%20Fake%20News%20FINAL.docx#_ftnref6" name="_ftn6" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 8.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[6]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
Elle Hunt, (December 17, 2016).
"What is fake news? How to spot it and what you can do to stop it". <i>The Guardian</i>. ISSN 0261-3077.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn7">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/Darren/Downloads/Evidence%20Submission%20-%20Fake%20News%20FINAL.docx#_ftnref7" name="_ftn7" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 8.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[7]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
Jack Shafer, (22 November 2016).
"The Cure for Fake News Is Worse Than the Disease". Politico. <a href="http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/11/the-cure-for-fake-news-is-worse-than-the-disease-214477">http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/11/the-cure-for-fake-news-is-worse-than-the-disease-214477</a>
<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
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<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/Darren/Downloads/Evidence%20Submission%20-%20Fake%20News%20FINAL.docx#_ftnref8" name="_ftn8" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 8.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[8]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
Aeron Davis, (2002). <i>Public relations
democracy: Politics, public relations and the mass media in Britain</i>.
Manchester University Press. Kevin Moloney, (2006). <i>Rethinking public relations: PR, propaganda and democracy</i>.
Routledge.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn9">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/Darren/Downloads/Evidence%20Submission%20-%20Fake%20News%20FINAL.docx#_ftnref9" name="_ftn9" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 8.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[9]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
Justin Lewis, Andrew Williams & Bob Franklin, (2008). A compromised fourth
estate? UK news journalism, public relations and news sources. <i>Journalism studies</i>, 9(1), 1-20. <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14616700701767974">http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14616700701767974</a>
<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
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<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/Darren/Downloads/Evidence%20Submission%20-%20Fake%20News%20FINAL.docx#_ftnref10" name="_ftn10" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 8.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[10]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
<a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/craigsilverman/how-macedonia-became-a-global-hub-for-pro-trump-misinfo?utm_term=.lteaM80XO#.tiK9kPoOM">https://www.buzzfeed.com/craigsilverman/how-macedonia-became-a-global-hub-for-pro-trump-misinfo?utm_term=.lteaM80XO#.tiK9kPoOM</a>
<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
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<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/Darren/Downloads/Evidence%20Submission%20-%20Fake%20News%20FINAL.docx#_ftnref11" name="_ftn11" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 8.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[11]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
Philip E. Converse, (1962). <i>The nature of
belief systems in mass publics</i>. Ann Arbor Press.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
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<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/Darren/Downloads/Evidence%20Submission%20-%20Fake%20News%20FINAL.docx#_ftnref12" name="_ftn12" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 8.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[12]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
https://www.buzzfeed.com/craigsilverman/how-the-hyperpartisan-sausage-is-made?utm_term=.poV3enQ2M#.imye4DqNQ<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn13">
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/Darren/Downloads/Evidence%20Submission%20-%20Fake%20News%20FINAL.docx#_ftnref13" name="_ftn13" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 8.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[13]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
Cass Sunstein, (2009). <i>Republic. com 2.0</i>.
Princeton University Press.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/Darren/Downloads/Evidence%20Submission%20-%20Fake%20News%20FINAL.docx#_ftnref14" name="_ftn14" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 8.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[14]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
<a href="https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/277351">https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/277351</a>
<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/Darren/Downloads/Evidence%20Submission%20-%20Fake%20News%20FINAL.docx#_ftnref15" name="_ftn15" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 8.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[15]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
For an alternative perspective see Margetts et al’s research <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/12/of-course-social-media-is-transforming-politics-but-it-s-not-to-blame-for-brexit-and-trump">https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/12/of-course-social-media-is-transforming-politics-but-it-s-not-to-blame-for-brexit-and-trump</a>
or the recent Reuters’ study <a href="https://rasmuskleisnielsen.net/2016/11/25/is-social-media-use-associated-with-more-or-less-diverse-news-use/">https://rasmuskleisnielsen.net/2016/11/25/is-social-media-use-associated-with-more-or-less-diverse-news-use/</a>
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<a href="http://edc-connection.ebscohost.com/c/articles/108723202/negative-feelings-their-role-word-of-mouth-disclosure-social-media">http://edc-connection.ebscohost.com/c/articles/108723202/negative-feelings-their-role-word-of-mouth-disclosure-social-media</a>
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/Darren/Downloads/Evidence%20Submission%20-%20Fake%20News%20FINAL.docx#_ftnref17" name="_ftn17" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 8.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[17]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
Elsie M. Botha, (2014). Contagious Communications: The role of emotion in viral
marketing (Doctoral dissertation, KTH Royal Institute of Technology). <a href="https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:745835/FULLTEXT01.pdf">https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:745835/FULLTEXT01.pdf</a>
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/Darren/Downloads/Evidence%20Submission%20-%20Fake%20News%20FINAL.docx#_ftnref18" name="_ftn18" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 8.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[18]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
Meital Balmas, (2014). When Fake News Becomes Real: Combined Exposure to
Multiple News Sources and Political Attitudes of Inefficacy, Alienation, and
Cynicism. <i>Communication Research</i>,
41(3), 430-454.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/Darren/Downloads/Evidence%20Submission%20-%20Fake%20News%20FINAL.docx#_ftnref19" name="_ftn19" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 8.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[19]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
<a href="https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2017-02-27/the-future-of-fake-news">https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2017-02-27/the-future-of-fake-news</a>
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/Darren/Downloads/Evidence%20Submission%20-%20Fake%20News%20FINAL.docx#_ftnref20" name="_ftn20" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 8.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[20]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
There are a plethora of sites which claim to combat fake news, for example <a href="http://www.stopfake.org/en/news/">http://www.stopfake.org/en/news/</a>
which have not more claim to veracity and credibility than the sites they
attack exacerbating the polarisation of online discourse.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/Darren/Downloads/Evidence%20Submission%20-%20Fake%20News%20FINAL.docx#_ftnref21" name="_ftn21" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 8.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[21]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-39096833<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/Darren/Downloads/Evidence%20Submission%20-%20Fake%20News%20FINAL.docx#_ftnref22" name="_ftn22" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 8.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[22]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
For example see <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/emily-thornberry-says-it-is-fake-news-to-claim-jeremy-corbyn-opposed-nuclear-power-even-though-he-did_uk_58b02796e4b060480e06dc3f">http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/emily-thornberry-says-it-is-fake-news-to-claim-jeremy-corbyn-opposed-nuclear-power-even-though-he-did_uk_58b02796e4b060480e06dc3f</a>
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/Darren/Downloads/Evidence%20Submission%20-%20Fake%20News%20FINAL.docx#_ftnref23" name="_ftn23" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 8.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[23]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
https://www.opendemocracy.net/5050/ch-ramsden/self-care-in-digital-space<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/Darren/Downloads/Evidence%20Submission%20-%20Fake%20News%20FINAL.docx#_ftnref24" name="_ftn24" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 8.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[24]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
<a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/3067148/most-innovative-companies/facebook-finally-admits-its-a-giant-media-company-almost">https://www.fastcompany.com/3067148/most-innovative-companies/facebook-finally-admits-its-a-giant-media-company-almost</a>
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<a href="http://www.fair-im-netz.de/SharedDocs/Downloads/DE/Artikel/09262016_Testergebnisse_jugendschutz_net_Hasskriminalitaet.pdf;jsessionid=F742D7DC6FF0FE4673CF297A34EFA8AD.1_cid297?__blob=publicationFile&v=1">http://www.fair-im-netz.de/SharedDocs/Downloads/DE/Artikel/09262016_Testergebnisse_jugendschutz_net_Hasskriminalitaet.pdf;jsessionid=F742D7DC6FF0FE4673CF297A34EFA8AD.1_cid297?__blob=publicationFile&v=1</a>
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Dr Darren G Lillekerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00870644282739147878noreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4097271519551916936.post-34812387130356521232016-10-06T15:19:00.000+01:002016-10-06T15:19:07.319+01:00When prejudice became acceptable<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
The 23rd June 2016 is not only the date when British citizens by a small majority voted for the UK to leave the European Union, it also marks the point when prejudice became mainstream. Prior to then any commentary on immigration had to be couched in the terms that it was not racist to talk of limits. But in the days following the referendum result there was a spike in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/jul/11/police-blame-worst-rise-in-recorded-hate-on-eu-referendum" target="_blank">reports</a> of hate crimes. The tone of debate had fundamentally changed. What might have been appropriate to say quietly within small groups, or for certain political figures within UKIP to daub on a poster, was now openly said to those who would feel most threatened and violated. The atmosphere of prejudice which was symbolised by the signs 'No Blacks, No Irish, No Dogs', signs only ended by the 1965 Race Relations Act, had returned.<br />
<br />
One can understand how the living conditions many face, living near to or in poverty, on a minimum rather than a living wage, on part-time or zero-hours contracts, with families to feed, can lead them to seek someone to blame. Some can blame political elites for a lack of regulation, some the corporations for their greed and lack of corporate social responsibility, others can blame migrant workers. During the EU referendum campaign one strand of argument was that uncontrolled migration was the major factor in depressing wages, giving power to employers, and putting a strain on public services. In the many areas where de-industrialization has taken its toll this claim resonated and in large numbers those areas voted to leave. Or rather they voted for a better future for themselves and hoped their vote would make things better as they struggled to see their situations getting worse.<br />
<br />
Theresa May's vision for "<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/1440108/theresa-may-pledges-not-to-work-just-for-the-privileged-few-as-she-arrives-at-number-10-after-being-made-pm/" target="_blank"><span style="background-color: white;">creating a </span><span style="background-color: white;">fairer</span><span style="background-color: white;">, more equal </span></a><span style="background-color: white;"><a href="https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/1440108/theresa-may-pledges-not-to-work-just-for-the-privileged-few-as-she-arrives-at-number-10-after-being-made-pm/" target="_blank">society</a>" took shape this week, and in doing so played directly to prejudice. While her <a href="http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2016/10/full-text-theresa-mays-conference-speech/" target="_blank">conference speech</a> did not say that immigrants are to blame for all societal ills, it can be interpreted that way. The following phrasing is important here:</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white;">"And if you’re one of those people who lost their job, who stayed in work but on reduced hours, took a pay cut as household bills rocketed, or – and I know a lot of people don’t like to admit this – someone who finds themselves out of work or on lower wages because of low-skilled immigration, life simply doesn’t seem fair".</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">The phrasing contains an important caveat, 'if''. But whether the 'if' is heard is a question. The line that "</span><span style="background-color: white;">someone who finds themselves out of work or on lower wages because of low-skilled immigration" finds life unfair will resonate. But more importantly it plays to a prejudice that exists, that same prejudice that emerged on June 23rd. Her words may be a ploy to undermine support for Labour or UKIP among the working class, but it is also very divisive. Britain today, like many countries, is made up of myriad groups. Some may descend from immigration from Normandy or Scandinavia, some from the Commonwealth, others from the European Union; Britain is literally a nation of immigrants. But immigration is now becoming a reference point for societies ills. May's speech says that low-skilled immigration is bad and must stop, one must therefore wonder what she meant by community and citizenship when a few minutes later she called Britain "</span>a country built on the bonds of family, community, citizenship<span style="background-color: white;">". What is the community, what makes a citizen and who does this exclude? And in the new Conservative vision it is not just low-skilled immigration that is under fire.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">One must inquire what it really means to develop policy to "</span>put the interests of the British people first<span style="background-color: white;">". Home Secretary Amber Rudd's <a href="http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2016/10/full-text-amber-rudds-conference-speech/" target="_blank">speech</a> said much that was laudable. But the way that the terms immigration and immigrants was used reinforces a stereotype that these are people who exploit loopholes to gain, among other things, student visas, taxi licences, bank accounts. How British people should view immigrants is perhaps made clear in the statement "</span>I also come here today with a warning to those that simply oppose any steps to reduce net migration: this Government will not waver in its commitment to put the interests of the British people first.<span style="background-color: white;">" The message here is clear: migration is not in the interests of British people and must be restricted. Britain, it would seem, is to be only for the British - whatever that means.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">What either May or Rudd really meant is not important. Some will cry racism, others will cry realism; but it is the perception of what is meant that matters. Those who have xenophobic views will have found much succour in these speeches. Furthermore they may feel able to make practical steps in working towards achieving government policy by making those they think might be immigrants (independent of their place of birth, their reason for being in the country or the length of their tenure) unwelcome. I find this profoundly worrying, hence the return to blogging after almost three years. The language and argumentation suggests that all those coming from outside of the country attack the interests of the British. It does not differentiate between the pimp, the drug runner, the dentist, the refugee, the plumber or the surgeon - they are one, they are the immigrant. It also may give permission to the racist fringe of society to target anyone, based on skin colour or accent, as the outsider, the threat to British interests. Is that what British values are now, have we become a nation of prejudice? If government policy is a reflection of national sentiment we have taken a giant leap towards being more prejudiced and more xenophobic, rolling back the tide of the last fifty years.</span></div>
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Dr Darren G Lillekerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00870644282739147878noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4097271519551916936.post-31993647182972359352013-12-06T09:51:00.001+00:002013-12-06T09:51:09.858+00:00The passing of a political giant: reflections on Nelson Mandela<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.potentash.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Mandela_bday.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="247" src="http://www.potentash.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Mandela_bday.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">Nelson Mandela, a man whose life’s journey took him from activist to prisoner to President to global icon, has passed away. While it has been expected perhaps for some time, it does not make it any less sad. His passing led me to reflect on the impact of the man, not just in terms of politics but on global society and opinions.</span></div>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
I was sixteen, with the usual cares of a sixteen-year old boy, with some interest in history and politics but limited. Apartheid was a word that was known and I remember happily signing petitions against it, I also remember Barclays being known as the fascist bank due to investments in South Africa. There was also a campaign of pressure upon British PM Margaret Thatcher to push for a global campaign against the white supremacist regime. But these mostly failed to have impact, not just on the regime but also cognitively on many people.</div>
</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
It struck me how the name of Mandela probably entered the wider consciousness in Britain due to Jerry Dammers and his band The Specials AKA. The Two Tone scene had long shown that cultural fusion worked, and it had always had a political edge. Looking back I wonder how many children of largely conservative families, often those who would enjoy the racist jokes prevailing in the working men’s clubs, variety shows and on television of the time, who wouldn’t want their daughter to ‘marry one’, suddenly found themselves singing this catchy little song about a man with an exotic name. I do remember reading the story of Nelson Mandela in a piece that explained the song to the masses in a popular music magazine. Suddenly apartheid had a human face, one deserving of interest, of support, and the campaign had a cracking theme tune.</div>
</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
His release six years later was part of the new dawning of democracy, of freedom. The Berlin Wall had fallen, the Eastern European dictatorships that ruled in the name of communism had collapsed, and Nelson Mandela walked free from 27 years of imprisonment. That could have been the end of a story but it wasn’t. He might also, perhaps justifiably, have left prison intent on revenge. But he showed the world a very important lesson. It is not revenge but reconciliation that rebuilds a society; his path to power was not on the back of civil war but a desire for civil society.</div>
</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
The long road to freedom was indeed long but the journey he embarked upon is not over. South Africa has come a long way from the days of Apartheid but there are still deep social and economic divisions. Equally, while a man of colour might reside in the White House, there remains currents of racism across the globe. Nelson Mandela’s rightful legacy should be the eradication of inequalities based on colour, race or any other irrational and illogical mechanism that allows one group to be superior over another. While he has the absolute right to rest in peace those that follow the wisdom of his words and deeds need to continue his journey, he drew the map let us all follow.</div>
</span></div>
Dr Darren G Lillekerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00870644282739147878noreply@blogger.com54tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4097271519551916936.post-71088624810544736012013-12-05T20:39:00.000+00:002013-12-05T20:39:21.151+00:00What matters: the means or the end?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
By coincidence, in a discussion with my <a href="http://courses.bournemouth.ac.uk/courses/undergraduate-degree/politics-media/none/3123/" target="_blank">Politics & Media</a> students and reading <a href="http://www.douglas-mcintyre.com/book/shopping-for-votes" target="_blank">Shopping for Votes</a> the idea of what matters in politics came up. Susan Delacourt argues that people shop and vote for ideas citing an advertising executive who argued no-one goes out to by a half-inch drill bit they want a half-inch hole. Perhaps more accurately they want is what the half-inch hole provides, a bracket for a shelf on which to put family pictures, trophies, books etc. What this suggests is that parties and candidates offer, and voters select, an outcome but care little about the means. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
But is that really true? People may want crime reduced but would they support capital measures like, for example, chopping off the hand of a thief? Sure the ultimate capital punishment may be supported for certain crimes but most people would stop short in other cases. What about in other cases?</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Most people want a strong economy, with stable economic growth and all that brings. But what about the means? Who wins and who loses within the restructured economy may not be to everyone's liking, not even the majority's liking. Not everyone may support the myriad enterprises that will be running public services at a profit. Political outcomes are often presented as a product but the means to that end are often played down. Yet the real choice in politics is more likely to be around means rather than ends. It is hard to imagine any party serious about government not offering economic restructuring, it is how that separates them. Does this also separate voters? Does the end always justify the means, more importantly is the means supported to achieve the end, or are voters just happy that they do not have to make the decision themselves? </div>
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Dr Darren G Lillekerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00870644282739147878noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4097271519551916936.post-79487506069801408152013-10-02T14:42:00.000+01:002013-10-02T14:42:04.649+01:00The UK 2015 General Election campaign started today<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://www.conservatives.com/People/~/media/Images/Branding/Large/People/david-cameron-2011.ashx" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="145" src="http://www.conservatives.com/People/~/media/Images/Branding/Large/People/david-cameron-2011.ashx" width="320" /></a>The speech of a Prime Minister to their party conference is little more than a media event in the modern age. The purpose is about the image, the impression and the brand. David Cameron's speech fitted that mold perfectly and demonstrated exactly where he is focusing energy: 2015. As with much of the conference the focus appears to be on the next election, fighting off the threat from Ed Miliband's Labour and gaining sufficient seats to govern alone. Certainly there was a mixture of pleas, as the BBC's <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-24369418" target="_blank">Nick Robinson</a> points out, Cameron asked to be allowed to finish the job fifteen times. Robinson also notes how Ed Miliband or Labour were awarded twenty-five references.</div>
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But this detracts from the core message, Cameron invokes a wide range of heuristic devices when talking of the land of opportunity for all. Possibly an early launch of a campaign slogan, but not without substance. A land that is debt free, where business flourishes, and where citizens are enabled to flourish also. Or at least that was the grand statement. </div>
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But how is the land of hope that is Tory to be delivered. Detail was slender, talking of investment and training, or rewarding hard working people is fine; they are good priorities. But for a government there should be detail, what is the seven year plan to achieve this land of opportunity? It was thus an odd speech. Great for a opposition leader who wishes to re-organize priorities once elected. But for a prime minister there was perhaps too much vision, too many expectations, but insufficient amounts of detail. Where is the Policy + Outcome = Prosperity equation in it all? </div>
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Which all makes one wonder what to expect for the next two years (give or take <span style="text-align: left;">a few months), or if the Conservatives win in 2015 the next seven. The vision is one no sensible person could disagree with largely. So the real question after all is said and done is whether Cameron is the man to lead his team to deliver on that vision. In essence maybe that was the real purpose of the speech, the lay out a vision, to appear to possess the qualities to deliver on the vision, and the attack the opposition after every opportunity to ensure not too many waver. </span></div>
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Dr Darren G Lillekerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00870644282739147878noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4097271519551916936.post-27962005212443350592013-02-04T14:14:00.001+00:002013-02-04T14:14:12.597+00:00Will the next Democrat hopefuls do an Obama?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Having completed <a href="http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415572187/" target="_blank">analysis</a> of the use of the Internet by Obama in 2008 and 2012, and compared his community building and interactivity to his rivals, in a chapter that will be published in the Sage Handbook of US Political Marketing we speculated whether this was an Obama model of campaigning, a Democrat candidate model, or a new model for campaigning that everyone would eventually lock on to. The launch of the Hillary Clinton campaign, by the Ready for Hillary Political Action Committee suggests the answer is that it was an Obama thing. </div>
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Drawing on a number of theories for Internet use and campaigning we proposed four functions for websites, social media platforms and the various tools and spaces that a campaign might utilize. They are informing, mobilizing harvesting data and interacting. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglebzw989On1MdL3Bmx27bTowk5T33tKtZt0OzPnQtq-LlGIRHwNnO3U6RrQ_2GanhFX4bhJCNFexpL1m9mVV3TQ5u-iuZcNp-CkEMVexD60Nij1G3IXm8dCC502B74k6kQbeviszCrwI/s1600/ready4hillary.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglebzw989On1MdL3Bmx27bTowk5T33tKtZt0OzPnQtq-LlGIRHwNnO3U6RrQ_2GanhFX4bhJCNFexpL1m9mVV3TQ5u-iuZcNp-CkEMVexD60Nij1G3IXm8dCC502B74k6kQbeviszCrwI/s320/ready4hillary.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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Of course it is early days for team Hillary, but as the screenshot shows it seems priority number one is harvesting email addresses, through a sign-up mechanism that is the totality of the Ready for Hillary <a href="http://www.readyforhillary.com/" target="_blank">website</a>, and data from the Facebook <a href="http://www.facebook.com/ReadyForHillary" target="_blank">group</a> which already has over 32,000 members - that is a lot of data already about the lives of those who do (and so also data on those who might be convinced to) support the Hillary campaign. However, the imagery is Hillary beckoning the visitor in. Is it a sign that this will become a community? Will Hillary develop an interactive campaign? <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/yVcqCvzeDWBIKAKyi9dW/full" target="_blank">Research</a> suggests that female representatives are far more likely to be conversationalists and interactive than their male counterparts. Or will this indicate that the next contest will be back to a more Web 1.5 approach (between Web 1.0 and Web 2.0), looking interactive but really all about persuading?</div>
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Dr Darren G Lillekerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00870644282739147878noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4097271519551916936.post-27013465207073522672013-01-24T07:06:00.000+00:002013-01-24T07:48:51.032+00:00Cameron’s European gamble: a brilliant move?<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">David Cameron’s long awaited and long delayed </span><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/eu/9820230/David-Camerons-EU-speech-in-full.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">speech</span></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> on Europe finally arrived and many have described it as a ‘pivotal’, ‘epoch-defining’ speech. It may or may not be that – we will have to wait a few years to know for sure. But I sense it will be. It appears to have achieved two things immediately. The text of the speech seems to appeal to both the pro-European and anti-European factions within his party by calling for an in-out referendum whilst signalling a strong desire to stay within a ‘reformed European Union’. In fact the message will make the pro-European conservatives very nervous about a ‘gamble’ that the electorate will want to stay in under any circumstances when opinion polls suggest a majority want out. But they are likely to be a lot quieter than the rowdy Euro-sceptics have been in recent months. The Lib Dems are clearly unhappy about Cameron’s speech and you only have to </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gE7P0JeGJTU" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">watch Nick Clegg’s face</span></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> in the House of Commons today to see that.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNMPBpKEfd8dpM1B9DlqlXl6wQWgKD4ziuO-8lA32dPtG9GRMzgVF-jE7cJFq60RZuMNUnM3kXwIc5E09jZZIhGvTttw7H_NTrYspDbGQjx543k1DMwzhh0KtGfgMCRSCHAzLdB3GQGe8/s1600/pmg+3.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="177" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNMPBpKEfd8dpM1B9DlqlXl6wQWgKD4ziuO-8lA32dPtG9GRMzgVF-jE7cJFq60RZuMNUnM3kXwIc5E09jZZIhGvTttw7H_NTrYspDbGQjx543k1DMwzhh0KtGfgMCRSCHAzLdB3GQGe8/s320/pmg+3.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The wild cheering by the bank-bench Tories in Prime Minister’s Questions shows that you underestimate Cameron at your cost. He has, in a matter of hours, re-energised his party, put off the many thorny issues of Europe to a date after the next election, shown Labour and the Lib Dems to be out of touch with the UK voting public and made UKIP look faintly irrelevant. It’s an astonishing move – a high wire balancing act that may come unstuck, but after yesterday's PMQs – it looks as if he has pulled it off. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Ed Miliband put on a brave face and landed a few well aimed digs: ‘He’s been driven to it not by the national interest, but been dragged to it by his party’. However, you sense Cameron’s confidence rising as fires back: ‘We want to reset that relationship. He hasn’t got a clue what he’d do.’ Worst of all, Milband seemed skewered by the simple choice Cameron gave him: ‘The most basic question of all is do you want a referendum? Yes or no? I do, does he?’ To which Miliband replied: ‘My position is no, we don’t want a referendum’. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">If George Osborne is competent enough to put a little life (and investment) back in the economy before 2015 the Tories could be riding high on Cameron’s promise of ‘a renegotiation and then a referendum’. While the exact details of that renegotiation are only hinted at it’s clear that Cameron favours a more ‘market-friendly’ Europe. In PMQs he shouted above the yells of approval from his party: ‘We’ve been very clear about what we want to see - change. In a whole series of areas social legislation, employment legislation, environmental legislation where Europe has gone far too far.’ So the negotiation would seek an end to 48 hour maximum working week, an end to talk of a Financial Transaction Tax (something that could reduce speculation and raise much needed revenues), an end to some of the basic environmental protections that have been passed in Brussels. He is also holding out the promise of an end to ‘meddling’ by the European Court of Human Rights. All red meat to conservative Daily Mail reading voters. Not so great for those looking for a </span><a href="http://www.leftfootforward.org/2013/01/caroline-lucas-yes-to-a-referendum-yes-to-a-better-europe/" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">more progressive</span></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> European Union.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">There’s a long way to go yet – the German-French axis may upset Cameron’s plans where Labour and the LibDems cannot. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">Voters may decide that Europe is a distraction from the real issues.</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">There are many ifs and buts and winning the 2015 election (the condition for any changes to existing European treaties) is the biggest ‘if’ of all. But I suspect Clegg knows that the Lib Dem’s are a busted flush now. Cameron has used them to prop up an unpopular round of savage austerity cuts and to triple the cost of university fees (against Clegg’s signed pledge not to increase them). This may seem like yesterday’s news now but wait for the election when voters are reminded constantly of it. The </span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUDjRZ30SNo" target="_blank">I’m sorry spoof</a> video</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> viewed by over 2 million people will almost certainly be playing on Nick Clegg’s political gravestone in 2015. But it may just be that in an adjoining plot Cameron’s speech on Europe will be playing on another headstone – that of Ed Miliband.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Ed Miliband, Nick Clegg – your move.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;">David McQueen</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;">Programme Leader: BA Politics and Media</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><a href="https://taw.bournemouth.ac.uk/owa/redir.aspx?C=d66a5588c5504a48b6f2ba1e3e827132&URL=http%3a%2f%2fcourses.bournemouth.ac.uk%2fcourses%2fundergraduate-degree%2fpolitics-media%2fba-hons%2f3123%2f" target="_blank">http://courses.bournemouth.ac.uk/courses/undergraduate-degree/politics-media/ba-hons/3123/</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;">Register for our Post-Leveson Media Reform Conference on 8<sup>th</sup> February at:</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><a href="https://taw.bournemouth.ac.uk/owa/redir.aspx?C=d66a5588c5504a48b6f2ba1e3e827132&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.bournemouth.ac.uk%2ffuturestudents%2fdownloads%2fregistration-media-policy-post.pdf" target="_blank">http://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/futurestudents/downloads/registration-media-policy-post.pdf</a></span></div>
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ExpatGoneHomehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08081158842667437103noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4097271519551916936.post-88367371131921162072013-01-23T09:05:00.001+00:002013-01-23T09:05:14.372+00:00Cameron's speech: a message to his critics or British or EU leaders?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhklbUIcO815s36xdXoRas-_5QV4po0vglEdZ_FD-KWoCPRwE-mcMFb48sdU-oWmIW_WWAGytLayvKA6ZwCW1pXgrIIRKmCqZP4Hz7CxGkwehuJUDAYm5spMtCqptwEDppcZxfNHO2jG00/s1600/cameron-europe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="209" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhklbUIcO815s36xdXoRas-_5QV4po0vglEdZ_FD-KWoCPRwE-mcMFb48sdU-oWmIW_WWAGytLayvKA6ZwCW1pXgrIIRKmCqZP4Hz7CxGkwehuJUDAYm5spMtCqptwEDppcZxfNHO2jG00/s320/cameron-europe.jpg" width="320" /></a>The long awaited and long-trailed speech by David Cameron to map out Britain's future relationship with the European Union has taken place. It can be interpreted in two ways. Firstly as a call for reform of the political settlement that binds EU member states. Secondly as a mechanism for silencing opponents of Britain's membership in his own party and the UK Independence Party who threaten to take votes from the Conservatives at next year's European Parliamentary Election. So what was this all about fundamentally?</div>
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Cameron started on the attack but finished defending the European Union, but it is the role of the EU in maintaining our, and its other member's, prosperity that he focused on defending. He argued that EU membership is a means to an end: prosperity. The EU is not a means in itself. He argued that the EU is facing three crises:</div>
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<li>a Eurozone crisis which needs governance </li>
<li>low competitiveness due to failing to allow full access to a single market and while it produces 25% of global GDP, it also is responsible for 50% of social spending</li>
<li>democratic accountability and the gap between citizens and EU institutions</li>
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But, he argued the greatest danger facing the EU is the rejection of new thinking. More of the same is not tenable. This was not purely about highlighting the deficit in governance, economic competitiveness and accountability. Cameron also presented a vision around five principles:</div>
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<li>Competitiveness</li>
<li>Flexibility - celebrating diversity as a single market not a single currency and polity</li>
<li>Power flowing to member states not away - repatriation of power</li>
<li>Democratic accountability and a stronger role for national parliaments</li>
<li>Fairness for all nations in and out of the Eurozone</li>
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He made sweeping claims about British people being disillusioned with the EU, wanting a common market not a political union, over which they have had no say; this a direct attack on predecessors who shrank away from a referendum. Cameron wants to confront the issue, but not now.</div>
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Cameron argued that what is needed is a new settlement for the EU, and that this may be inevitable when the EU emerges from the Eurozone crisis. He wants to negotiate for a new settlement based on his principles, and in that he is not alone as an EU leader. Following those negotiations and redrafting an image of the future of the Union will be presented to the British people at which point an simple in or out choice will be given in a referendum.</div>
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So does it matter. Some European leaders will agree and may well work with Cameron to support his five principles. There is much truth in his critique of the workings of the EU, and many agree that reform may be needed and may now be inevitable. But these are only principles, broad brush statements about the future, there is no detail on how these would be instituted. So could this shape the EU, probably not, it will be down to future negotiations among all the leaders of the EU member states. But, Conservative MPs seem favourable and that maybe the more important aspect of the speech. He promised a referendum, delivered a very conservative and neo-liberal critique of the EU, he called for a return to economic not political union: he wore the clothes of the Eurosceptic throughout. But he seems also to have assuaged calls for a referendum now. His defence of the union, and plausible case for why not now may have won the day. So perhaps the internal and domestic political ramifications are more important than the more global impact.</div>
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But there is now uncertainty. Sometime, possibly in the next five years there could be a referendum. Possibly Cameron will push for a yes to staying a member but, if the negotiations fail, he may push for a no. How will that uncertainty impact upon our relations within the EU, the relations for pan-European business partnerships? The wider implications are as uncertain as Cameron's proposals and the future relationship between Britain and the European Union</div>
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Dr Darren G Lillekerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00870644282739147878noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4097271519551916936.post-25465202076948535732013-01-16T15:52:00.001+00:002013-01-16T16:04:03.187+00:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large; font-weight: normal;">Can Cameron's speech pull the Tories from the Euro swamp?</span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: monospace; font-size: 13px;">As David Cameron prepares to make what may be the most important speech of his political career it looks like the Conservative Party are marching back into the fetid political swamp that is Europe all over again. Margaret Thatcher, the Tories greatest twentieth century star (after Winston Churchill) was swallowed by this swamp as was her unlucky successor John Major. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: monospace; font-size: 13px;">Now it seems David Cameron is being dragged under as Europhiles and Europhobes within his party have allowed their self-destructive impulses to resurface. This is hardly surprising given the dreadful state of the Euro and the European project generally in the post-2007 financial crisis era. Voters are increasingly wary of further involvement in a European Union that is prepared to beggar the people of Greece, Spain, Portugal and Ireland to save the ill-conceived vanity project that is the Euro. The rise and rise of UKIP in recent years is a clear sign that a large section of the public want as little as possible to do with the continent, its open borders, austerity plans and loss of sovereignty. With UKIP actually ahead of the Tories in one recent ComRes poll </span><a href="https://taw.bournemouth.ac.uk/owa/redir.aspx?C=7f45be21b7354c50b96fe5c050b43792&URL=http%3a%2f%2fukpollingreport.co.uk%2fblog%2farchives%2f6829" style="font-family: monospace; font-size: 13px;" target="_blank">http://ukpollingreport.co.uk/blog/archives/6829</a><span style="font-family: monospace; font-size: 13px;"> for European elections old divisions within the Conservative Party have widened dramatically as members worry that UKIP will do to the party what the SDP did to Labour in the 1980s. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2poaZbp3aJ35w7t3ikdNN8j0A8nqmQ3nCrJAKtU52xNkp1wpAMKcN2-OjL575jNI_TNEN6ruyH6MeskUIfG4NfCsWKOEyWBn8MVV9Bpj5VzybwwwWcX8jADcOxAqk3MdAPTZ5JVb3Efo/s1600/Nigel+Farage+celebrates.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="132" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2poaZbp3aJ35w7t3ikdNN8j0A8nqmQ3nCrJAKtU52xNkp1wpAMKcN2-OjL575jNI_TNEN6ruyH6MeskUIfG4NfCsWKOEyWBn8MVV9Bpj5VzybwwwWcX8jADcOxAqk3MdAPTZ5JVb3Efo/s200/Nigel+Farage+celebrates.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nigel Farage toasts the Euro quagmire</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: monospace; font-size: 13px;">The prospect of splitting the Tory vote has actually increased splits within the party as those for and against Europe begin a fight to the death. In the meantime Labour and UKIP are quietly chuckling on the sidelines as Cameron tries to navigate a middle way between the warring factions in his party that will keep both sides happy. Whatever the speech contains it is most likely to spell the beginning of the end for the increasingly fragile ConDem alliance.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: monospace; font-size: 13px;">David McQueen</span><br />
<span style="font-family: monospace; font-size: 13px;">Programme Leader: Politics and Media</span><br />
<a href="https://taw.bournemouth.ac.uk/owa/redir.aspx?C=7f45be21b7354c50b96fe5c050b43792&URL=http%3a%2f%2fcourses.bournemouth.ac.uk%2fcourses%2fundergraduate-degree%2fpolitics-media%2fnone%2f3123%2f" style="font-family: monospace; font-size: 13px;" target="_blank">http://courses.bournemouth.ac.uk/courses/undergraduate-degree/politics-media/none/3123/</a><br />
<br />
Post-Leveson Conference 8th February, Bournemouth University:<br />
<a href="https://taw.bournemouth.ac.uk/owa/redir.aspx?C=7f45be21b7354c50b96fe5c050b43792&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.bournemouth.ac.uk%2ffuturestudents%2fmicrosites%2fpost-leveson-conference%2findex.html" style="font-family: monospace; font-size: 13px;" target="_blank">http://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/futurestudents/microsites/post-leveson-conference/index.html</a>ExpatGoneHomehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08081158842667437103noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4097271519551916936.post-88113161918098473572012-11-15T19:26:00.002+00:002012-11-15T19:26:33.053+00:00Why electing PCCs is a bad idea<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="background-color: #edeff4; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 12.727272033691406px;">I have lots of reasons for opposing these but the two main points of opposition for me are as follows.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #edeff4; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 12.727272033691406px;">Firstly, we do not want the police to be under party influence, so setting out policies that follow or oppose governments for political reasons as opposed to what is right for the area. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #edeff4; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 12.727272033691406px;">The second is that in elections like this turn out is low and some people are more likely to turn out an vote than others. If PCCs view these elections strategically and seek to be re-elected then they may choose to ensure that the areas where voting is highest, or those with the greatest likelihood of voting, have a much greater influence on policy. We would not want highly visible policing in some areas but invisible elsewhere for the purposes of winning votes. They are my major criticisms, both are dismissed by the candidates I have spoken to but I still feel the dangers exist.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #edeff4; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 12.727272033691406px;">Those who agree and wish to voice this opposition can sign a petition </span><a href="http://t.co/uMZugFqJ" rel="nofollow nofollow" style="background-color: white; color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 15.454545021057129px;" target="_blank">http://t.co/uMZugFqJ</a></div>
Dr Darren G Lillekerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00870644282739147878noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4097271519551916936.post-78602175773444382182012-10-08T15:52:00.002+01:002012-10-08T15:52:22.059+01:00Too many tweets... do not a news item make<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Which is the brave move made by David Cameron. From stating that 'too many tweets make a twat', three years later Cameron has joined Twitter and been given quite the welcome. Of course it was unsolicited but it was a weekend, it was a fun story at the beginning of the Conservative Party Conference and it seemed someone thought it a good idea to submit question via Twitter. The <a href="https://twitter.com/i/#!/search/?q=%23askdave&src=typd" target="_blank">#askdave</a> went berserk, trending in hours. If anyone out there wants to find some witty critiques of Cameron, his cabinet, his government, his policies they are there. He made no attempt to crowdsource but the crowd appeared anyway. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP6-0-jbN8gu-EABBOkcVGDfbsmiXfl40s-zdVnxJsA_IDQwfTmMXuKDFgb44Hv3QqFbpso8EBivDw6uLP_y-9aJIrFHgN8-_Mi4Xk42VOVJcjsar1XYwe2ojrY3sWJQJ13MBBQJ7VxJM/s1600/Ask+Dave.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="307" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP6-0-jbN8gu-EABBOkcVGDfbsmiXfl40s-zdVnxJsA_IDQwfTmMXuKDFgb44Hv3QqFbpso8EBivDw6uLP_y-9aJIrFHgN8-_Mi4Xk42VOVJcjsar1XYwe2ojrY3sWJQJ13MBBQJ7VxJM/s320/Ask+Dave.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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What is interesting is that there are no news items to be found in the mainstream UK media for #askdave, only the New York Times makes a wry comment. So despite the number of responses (though many are from John Prescott), the fact that it seems infamous in politico circles, it is simply a phenomenon within a bubble that encloses the politically-interested Twitter community. So, how democratizing is Twitter, does it shape the agenda; perhaps only when people say something that interests journalists, that shapes an existing story, but it is not a way to capture the attention of journalists with a story they do not want to report. A surprise in this case!</div>
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Dr Darren G Lillekerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00870644282739147878noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4097271519551916936.post-18546749534859501262012-10-05T11:02:00.000+01:002012-10-05T11:02:26.855+01:00The Right Message?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzZoN9rZnW7hLi0qS5M67PqzX3jtN5PA3BXvKPipHy-yFisWXlHJyu3OmMqcFV9oJ3gg1iGQpK-Vt6jZyDrHJUFGj6iIxbBiaxXqnZmNRAcqQO6d3tm_t6MM4_32v7eaACC3miek_NFsk/s1600/labnotlearningr.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzZoN9rZnW7hLi0qS5M67PqzX3jtN5PA3BXvKPipHy-yFisWXlHJyu3OmMqcFV9oJ3gg1iGQpK-Vt6jZyDrHJUFGj6iIxbBiaxXqnZmNRAcqQO6d3tm_t6MM4_32v7eaACC3miek_NFsk/s320/labnotlearningr.jpg" width="216" /></a></div>
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After two and a half years in government there are many messages that perhaps should be communicated. Backed by an email campaign and <a href="http://www.conservatives.com/Get_involved/labourisntlearning.aspx" target="_blank">webpage</a>, foreshadowing the Conservative's conference, this is the message they seem to want to get out to voters. Of course it will go down well with their supporters, research shows that attacks always do (see for example the <a href="http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&ved=0CCAQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fweber.ucsd.edu%2F~tkousser%2FAnsolabehere.pdf&ei=u65uUPO4IIqe0QX8vYDYBg&usg=AFQjCNG1olIW2GPasGy79UAb-sYpuEFFAg&sig2=IFGA7ngGK1skA4NHOxPzMw" target="_blank">work</a> of Stephen Ansolabehere). But surely the target of the message is the floating voter, or more likely the person who voted Conservative in 2010 but may have become disillusioned with the party (or indeed the coalition government) and may be reconsidering their choice following what was regarded as a '<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-19805576" target="_blank">spectacular</a>' performance by Ed Miliband at Labour's Conference.</div>
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But will it work. Will it make those wavering Conservative supporters reconsider? Creating a little bit of cognitive dissonance to juxtapose the post conference euphoria? Or will it make the Conservatives seem a little desperate? Having nothing positive to say about their own record they go into attack mode. It is a question of perceptions but it could be a risky strategy for a government that have never fully won the approval of the voters. </div>
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Dr Darren G Lillekerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00870644282739147878noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4097271519551916936.post-25333696914367780082012-10-02T13:25:00.002+01:002012-10-02T13:25:39.129+01:00Open Source Democracy<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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While I do not always agree with Clay Shirky I find his ideas and arguments highly engaging and find myself thinking wouldn't it be great if he was right. In a recent <a href="http://gigaom.com/2012/09/29/could-we-use-open-source-tools-to-improve-politics/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter" target="_blank">TED talk</a> he talks about the potential for open source democracy and crowd-powered social change (a feature of much of his <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Clay-Shirky/e/B001JPCHYC/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1/275-9691783-0031648" target="_blank">writing</a>). His idea is that governments would be willing to provide a social, communal space where political decisions can be developed and taken by the combined thinking of politicians (possibly civil servants) but importantly also the ordinary citizen - that the space becomes co-created and reliant on the sum of all parts to reach sensible solutions. It works on the same principle as open source software - co-operation without co-ordination. The formation of communities that come together to reach common goals. Watch his video, think about his argument, but also think about the ramifications.</div>
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The advantages are clear; what we are talking about here is electronically-enabled, non-representative direct, democracy. But what of disadvantages? One of the major problems with direct democracy is how to gain the right representative composition of participation - in other words will direct democracy create better laws, laws which are the benefit of all or just a small, non-representative minority. Where would be the checks and balances to prevent racist, homophobic, sexist and prejudiced voices predominating. Of course there can be checks and balances but is it possible, organically, to get a sufficient number of average people to participate in direct democracy initiatives even when the initiative has a direct link to a legislature. Even if you can gain a critical mass to participate at one point, can such a critical mass be maintained? Will that critical mass both be deliberative as well as anarchic or just plain satirical? (Downing Street petitions in the UK have gained signatures against mandatory car tracking but also for electing Jeremy Clarkson as prime minister). So there are challenges. But could it work, is there real potential or is this just a cyber optimist's pipe dream? </div>
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Dr Darren G Lillekerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00870644282739147878noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4097271519551916936.post-3638557953285949202012-09-27T15:45:00.002+01:002012-09-27T15:45:53.764+01:00Will taxation save the 'quality' press<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">From the various comments online the answer is no, and that it is a stupid idea. But this is not an off the wall idea from someone who knows nothing about our media industry.</span> <span style="background-color: white; color: #231f20; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">Guardian executive investigations editor David Leigh has suggested a £2 a month broadband levy should be imposed on all households to save newspapers from the effect of falling print circulations, so basically as the television licence protects the BBC, this tax would protect print journalism. His argument is that as consumers will not pay for content, an argument that was lost some time ago, the only option is to collect the tax via broadband providers (stand by for a price rise and administration cost to coincide with this if ever enacted). </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">The question, however, is will it save print journalism; or rather can print journalism be saved? Print has a problem. It cannot compete with rolling news but tries to through online rolling news, so undermining its own product. The print version is more portable (though iPad or kindle versions make some media more portable than others), but is is convenient? Print can deliver a greater level of analysis than is often the case with straight news bulletins and most news programmes outside to the BBC stable, a point Ivor Gaber noted during analysis of the coverage of the leader's debates during the 2010 UK General Election, but does it? Basically is print journalism providing a product that is desired by the 21st Century consumer, or are they thinking from within a bubble where they are worthy, the fourth estate, and so needing protection? </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">I personally can see both sides of the argument but would be interested in the views of readers. </span></span></span></div>
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Dr Darren G Lillekerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00870644282739147878noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4097271519551916936.post-27067049754916952012-07-24T16:47:00.001+01:002012-07-24T16:47:51.878+01:00Engaging the Public<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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On July 6th we organised an event which attracted around 35 people. The premise was that politics should be about engaging the public, informing them, interesting them, exciting them and involving them. Yet there is widespread disinterest, disengagement and distrust in our political system. This one-day event is designed for sharing ideas about why the public show disinterest and distrust and how we might consider re-engaging the public, encouraging people to get involved in politics.
Our research focuses at the local and national level of politics. We will introduce ideas ranging from understanding the political consumer to how to engage and mobilise members of the public using the latest technologies and how to audit communication.
This is how the day went:
<script src="http://storify.com/ana_adi/engaging-the-public.js">
</script><noscript>[&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://storify.com/ana_adi/engaging-the-public" target="_blank"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;View the story "Engaging the public" on Storify&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;]</noscript></div>Dr Darren G Lillekerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00870644282739147878noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4097271519551916936.post-47280037807505572612012-07-20T11:45:00.001+01:002012-07-20T11:45:24.729+01:00The Promise and Problems of Online Deliberation<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There is a fascinating report by Laura Black available free <a href="http://kettering.org/publications/the-promise-and-problems-of-online-deliberation/">here</a> which <span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18px;">assesses the deliberative prospects offered by different forum design choices. The report includes a great schematic which gives an accessible overview of the implications design</span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"> choices have for designing and hosting spaces that facilitate deliberative decision making. The question that is perhaps not answered is how to make people want to have a conversation in the first place, and then how to start that conversation - but for those with an audience that want to talk this gives some invaluable insights.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJf2nkiVOry-TvCij_1Q_vrRyzLO3GpIEJtlXXzVbQd23oKbNFY-ywJDrlxR24GTktzsZVOzGrvSqsljezVgFU-Xa5Zwwx2RHu_JtveTDXzL3OiUIk-fycw36oxGaSU0fTOJNFTL3YPJg/s1600/right+tool+for+the+job.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJf2nkiVOry-TvCij_1Q_vrRyzLO3GpIEJtlXXzVbQd23oKbNFY-ywJDrlxR24GTktzsZVOzGrvSqsljezVgFU-Xa5Zwwx2RHu_JtveTDXzL3OiUIk-fycw36oxGaSU0fTOJNFTL3YPJg/s640/right+tool+for+the+job.png" width="410" /></a></div>
</div>Dr Darren G Lillekerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00870644282739147878noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4097271519551916936.post-53552668574706089642012-07-04T13:43:00.004+01:002012-07-04T13:44:48.406+01:00Research shows government departments do not use social media properly<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Mark Pack highlights that government departments are in broadcast mode only and have reasonably few followers. <a href="http://bcove.me/1z1vym07">See this video from PR Week</a>. My own work (<a href="http://www.psa.ac.uk/journals/pdf/5/2011/1309_713.pdf">presented at the ECPR</a> and currently being revised for publication) suggests there is a correlation here, that the more interactive you are, and the more personalised, the more people engage with your message.</div>Dr Darren G Lillekerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00870644282739147878noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4097271519551916936.post-81762769684955317082012-05-27T22:47:00.000+01:002012-05-27T22:47:19.367+01:00Celebritisation too far?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Many of the great kings and emperors (and other important notables) has their portrait painted for posterity. The picture would be full of symbolism to demonstrate their power. One wonders how many leaders would want this sort of portrait to be done of them and what impact this has from an impression management perspective.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhct5Y5Z0z_btdKdsHiSZD-XQwH1K_mMKSa_-LiyScKuskjWrLaXrnCWWuJQWfmCpMYnV64GLg8SmUkoAYEFlzdoLcqFTTL9eWG-tmgtXG5fWrIEcAYiSXkC7M4x2YAzDlLmRQGuTjgijA/s1600/STEVEN+Harper+NUDE+PAINTING+CANADIAN+PM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhct5Y5Z0z_btdKdsHiSZD-XQwH1K_mMKSa_-LiyScKuskjWrLaXrnCWWuJQWfmCpMYnV64GLg8SmUkoAYEFlzdoLcqFTTL9eWG-tmgtXG5fWrIEcAYiSXkC7M4x2YAzDlLmRQGuTjgijA/s320/STEVEN+Harper+NUDE+PAINTING+CANADIAN+PM.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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This is Canadian Prime Minister <a href="http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=9&ved=0CJABEBYwCA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pm.gc.ca%2Feng%2Fpm.asp&ei=q5_CT4eZA8ix0QWtr9TICg&usg=AFQjCNEaU1TQOcoQ-6bV27rmu3xE_HG2Vg&sig2=6KhUxc9ooT7HrbeEn0-Tjw">Stephen Harper</a>, it is unofficial and satirical and sold for $5,000. The cup looks like a Tim Horton's cup, which is the Canadian coffee house brand that politicians must be seen in to be seen to be 'normal'. The artist has gone on record saying that apart from the head the body is not a representation of Harper.</div>
</div>Dr Darren G Lillekerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00870644282739147878noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4097271519551916936.post-8232146517623953662012-04-20T13:44:00.001+01:002012-04-20T13:45:36.873+01:00All politics is social (great infographic by Jarred Romley)<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVZESLFSzHHXsJNCTslLoSCD-zqyfLT9ZxbAR21glhd4XuwMzXJVUGxtc6FIR2IO5e7t9LzI6z524tKUCuMDtaqd4w_1JXvz6bh_eiBvVdHKWD_3RhlscoebQld-d4Vg_QUkBLpOqxjGE/s1600/social-politics.gif"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 60px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVZESLFSzHHXsJNCTslLoSCD-zqyfLT9ZxbAR21glhd4XuwMzXJVUGxtc6FIR2IO5e7t9LzI6z524tKUCuMDtaqd4w_1JXvz6bh_eiBvVdHKWD_3RhlscoebQld-d4Vg_QUkBLpOqxjGE/s400/social-politics.gif" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5733463153041477330" /></a>Dr Darren G Lillekerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00870644282739147878noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4097271519551916936.post-60510258409564517492012-03-26T15:15:00.002+01:002012-03-26T15:19:08.618+01:00Great Spoof (http://www.cash4access.com/)<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8aJ6_pjzuD3WgmcVLkxfbL2oK-wdMaowV5AxQdSmWQwiMKlykzx3WaDHrUgg8yg1_hK0ZFpBd_BYyI7QbU0iQmB8KjZwXxUwybJx2jHZrAqNhgkPdIYuG6MzdvC-bHqUcPNpf09C34pQ/s1600/cash4access.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 311px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8aJ6_pjzuD3WgmcVLkxfbL2oK-wdMaowV5AxQdSmWQwiMKlykzx3WaDHrUgg8yg1_hK0ZFpBd_BYyI7QbU0iQmB8KjZwXxUwybJx2jHZrAqNhgkPdIYuG6MzdvC-bHqUcPNpf09C34pQ/s400/cash4access.png" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5724209992976174674" /></a><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 100%; ">Where there is a good story, there is a good way to satirise the situation and create a good spoof. Doubtless this will go viral quickly, it is very much in the vein of www.mydavidcameron.com and those create your own slogan posters from the 2010 UK General Election. This is the power of the Internet, anyone who wants to can contribute, they just need the skills, resources and the will. </span></div>Dr Darren G Lillekerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00870644282739147878noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4097271519551916936.post-43413328571495521172012-03-25T16:55:00.004+01:002012-03-25T17:07:14.410+01:00Fine words from a member of the government<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgskMyTuFeECE_8WfWoeyt0JQvzXDwIn-ksEGoJIX5FYqdZHugep7_E1sejGJEmoDCQ3_zm8xO6LHU8tJ1tOsxQCr7peAtuNq44nSqesXFmfPOnd96bKzuSkPfW62WGtQVhrj9Lxt84zR0/s200/ruffley.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5723866751078375634" style="float: right; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 188px; " /><div style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; "><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; ">The main story for the <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2119948/Osbornes-letter-rant-Clegg-granny-tax-backlash.html#ixzz1q90ndPA8">Daily Mail</a> is that Chancellor swore in a confrontation over the budget. It is not surprising that there are </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; ">heated discussions over politics, it is a feature of coalitions. More appalling is the quote in the article from </span><span ><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-align: left; ">Tory MP <a href="http://www.davidruffleymp.com/text.aspx?id=1">David Ruffley</a> (Pictured) who said: ‘Pensioners are going to be bellyaching about this for a while. </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-align: left; ">The grey vote is powerful and [Osborne] could have thought better of it and found the money elsewhere.’</span></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; "><span ><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-align: left; "><br /></span></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; "><span ><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-align: left; ">Is this the sort of comment that is appropriate from a representative of the people? </span></span><span style="text-align: left; line-height: 14px; background-color: rgb(237, 239, 244); "><span >It suggests that Ruffley is concerned only about votes and treats a large proportion of the population with disdain. It is hard not to treat anyone with contempt who dismisses the concerns of people who may be worried about affording their bills as bellyaching. The fact that the journalists ignore this is worrying, they focus only on the story of disagreements. Will this be picked up by Labour? It is not the words of someone representing a compassionate Conservative party and certainly does not fit with the ethos Cameron seems to want to project but plays to those notions of the Conservatives as the nasty party, out of touch and elitist. If more MPs share this view and are allowed to express them it could be very damaging for the brand.</span></span><span style="text-align: left; "></span></div><span style="line-height: normal; "><br /></span>Dr Darren G Lillekerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00870644282739147878noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4097271519551916936.post-15219406832592552062012-02-19T12:01:00.006+00:002012-02-19T12:26:25.251+00:00Book Review: Rasmus Kleis Nielsen - Ground Wars<div align="justify"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh60QcV8qIWcFNcmC8avImZvYX1smEpjsv8obig8QaQatKow-ugQu2yMG960ROPyA23L2dk0A6byRoOkOKwiL6JNjuKj40ws5_s21Mk2vPjNqlYfLRTH-jcVfpXXq7tOKB7T2ZtsZa4ACc/s1600/ground+wars.gif"><img style="margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px; width: 133px; height: 200px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5710821822317057234" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh60QcV8qIWcFNcmC8avImZvYX1smEpjsv8obig8QaQatKow-ugQu2yMG960ROPyA23L2dk0A6byRoOkOKwiL6JNjuKj40ws5_s21Mk2vPjNqlYfLRTH-jcVfpXXq7tOKB7T2ZtsZa4ACc/s200/ground+wars.gif" /></a>The book <a href="http://press.princeton.edu/titles/9616.html">Ground Wars</a> focuses on a area of political communication that is largely ignore by academic study. As the subtitle states, the focus is on 'personalised political communication' or individuals as media. While much is written about the air war, the mass media campaign, advertising, television debates et cetera, we find that the ground war is seldom documented. Yet we can find evidence that, aside from the currency earned by a good incumbent, being contacted by the campaign can be crucial. The figure Nielsen references is the mobilisation of one in fourteen contacts, similar evidence can be found in work by <a href="http://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Get_out_the_vote.html?id=LKGaYyZqZbEC&redir_esc=y">Gerber & Green</a> as well as myself in a <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1362/026725705775194166">micro-study of marginal seat campaigns in the UK</a>. </div><div align="justify"> </div><div align="justify">The value of Nielsen's book is that it offers an in-depth account of the various players that participate. He describes any campaign unit as an assemblage, a tapestry of permanent and part-time staffers, volunteers and part-timers, all of whom draw together for the purpose of pursuing a goal. However, these goals may not always be identical. They may all want a Democratic victory, but some are there for the candidate, some for the party and some for the president. There may also be various competing forces working together but with their own objectives and motivations. Nielsen also charts how voters respond to be canvassed, by telephone or on the doorstep, or being 'knocked-up', encouraged to go out and vote, and the complex but often dubiously accurate walk sheets, voter lists and accompanying scripts that are employed. It is a rich story that questions the extent to which all political campaigning is professionalised but highlights how these personal interactions are a core part of the campaign experience for some voters in the US.</div><div align="justify"> </div><div align="justify">Of course the US is not alone in having a ground war. Nielsen hints at the fact that this is part of campaigning, and not just US campaigning, but there is no comparative aspect to the work itself. However, the parallels with campaigns I have experienced are many. In the UK local campaigning has perhaps even less of a professional edge, but the same characters appear (though there are few if any paid part-time canvassers on the whole). The same forces, also, are at work. Thus Nielsen's work offers much scope for future research agendas, both in tracking the evolution of these campaigns, how they work across different systems and what commonalities and differences appear across ground wars. For this reason, as well as shedding much light into a hidden aspect of campaigning, this book and the research it builds upon, is very important for the understanding of how both party staff and volunteers as well as voters, experience elections.</div><div align="justify">Nielsen's work is also useful for another reason. The appendix offers a personal and academic overview of the research method. The work is ethnographic in style, taking a participant observation approach. Nielsen details the difficulties in gaining trust, the challenges faced by trying to be removed while also being useful to have around, the misunderstanding of his work as the 'office anthropologist' and the array of challenges met through the course of his study. As such this offers both guidance and caution to any researcher embarking on similar work.</div><div align="justify"> </div><div align="justify">Overall it is, to those fascinated in campaigning, a gripping read. Well researched, insightful and full of wonderful snapshots drawn from observations made during the research. If you really want to understand campaigning, this is the book to read.</div>Dr Darren G Lillekerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00870644282739147878noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4097271519551916936.post-67630861292912928882011-10-24T13:35:00.002+01:002011-10-24T13:39:19.251+01:00BOOK REVIEW: I'll have what she's having<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvqK9_w8Qq3T40bFPWDkr3-khJCPD20ftmG-dVpamyCsAg4gni_dOjIoQicmwKVtct4ibksY1ZF67T1-DcupU_fAAgfDRUS06fpMFXjBLlUUAFefxc3NjIYC-LSzgd7XDLEP4x9ZlLGVU/s200/I%2527ll+have.jpg" style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 136px; height: 200px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5667037158041158066" /><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" >Bentley et al, (Alex Bentley, Mark Earls and Michael O’Brien (2011) <i><a href="http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?ttype=2&tid=12599">I’ll Have What She’s Having: Mapping social behaviour</a></i>, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, pp. 146, $22.95/£15.95) in this short and accessible text, explore the phenomena surrounding social interacti</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; font-size: small; ">on and influence. Their question is how do we understand copying. More specifically, how do individuals learn from one another, influence one another and to what extent is man a rational independent actor or simply a follower. The discussion begins in the Pleistocene era, when man had to learn how to survive. Here not only do we observe social learning but understand how it was written into the human genes. The authors argue that the same mechanisms within human cognition exist; they have simply evolved from learning how to survive to how to survive within modern society. Therefore the rules of copying no longer simply follow a ‘copy if better’ norm, although this may help us to understand how technological innovations spread [think of the touch screen], but now relate to the creation of social norms. Social norms are often created through marketing communication, promoting a product as the ‘must have’ item, as well as political communication. The so-called ‘movement for change’ around Obama was a form of group think inculcated through the power of the campaign messages.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; font-size: small; ">The power of a social cascade is thus highlighted as the way in which individuals believe they are acting independently but are actually being influenced. Influence in the 21<sup>st</sup> Century is likely to be from many sources simultaneously, those who are our friends or whom we follow on social media, the media we read but also the people we spend time with during our day to day lives. Our lives can be described as a rich collage of influences, each being processed and weighed in our minds prior to acceptance or rejection. What is less clear is how cascades start and, in particular, how unintended cascades occur across a society. Why, for example, might parents choose to give their child a name that ends up shared with a third of other children born at the same time? Surely this is not intentional, and may well be innovative in each particular case, or copying someone famous without realising that others would do the same, but why do people independently choose the same innovation? The authors explain four cognitive conditions. When there are few options and few sources of influence a process or rational choice occurs, possibly because the choice is actually a no-brainer. Where there are many options but few sources of influence, so everyone is behaving differently, the decision amounts to nothing but a random guess. If there are few options but many sources of influence this results in directed copying, individuals looking to those who they respect and copying their choice. It is when there are many options and many sources of influence, but yet copying is evidenced and a behaviour appears as the choice of the majority, that we have undirected copying. The challenge is identifying the reasons for the copying, something the authors cannot fully explain.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; font-size: small; ">Political choice is often described as a rational choice, and perhaps following Bentley et al’s schematic there is a reason. Choices tend to be limited, in particular realistic choices for who would be president or party of government, and sources of influence tend to be polarised. However, does this always result in a rational and deliberative choice outcome? Those who are reliant on media with particular partisan biases, or adopt one during a contest, may well fall into directed copying. The choir of voices supporting one party, the UK Sun newspaper’s reporters’ backing of the Conservatives perhaps, can lead to a predisposition to adopt the ideas as your own. There may also be a range of random guesses taking place. While there may not be many similar options, the options may seem very similar and even overwhelming to those who have little political knowledge. Unless there is a clear direction from the media, peers or other respected sources of information, voter choices may amount to little but a random guess once in the ballot box. It is more difficult to consider how undirected copying takes place within a political environment. There may often be many sources of influence, given that most campaigns are dominated by marketing communication. Equally there may be the perception that there are many similar options, or at least an overwhelming choice may exist. Can a combination of influences, from peers, the media, opinion polls, lead to undirected copying? Can we explain the bandwagons that brought Tony Blair or Barack Obama to power in this way? The challenge here is would anyone admit to copying and if not how could we detect such behaviour?</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" >The book is aimed at the expert, though accessible due to its brevity it would be a challenge to newcomers to the topic and offers few signposts to further reading. However, the role of the book is to raise some important and interesting questions about individuality and its limitations. No human would want to think of themselves as having similar thought processes to those associated with sheep or lemmings. Few would ever admit to blind following. Yet we can see in the cases of suicide bombers, rioters on the streets of London, or participants in protests that escalate from peaceful marches to public insurrection, that blind following happens. If Bentley et al explain a significant percentage of human behaviour within their schematic then they demonstrate the amount of power that is held by social influentials. These influentials may be benign figures, or the creators of marketing communication or political propaganda; if it is the latter who predominate in our society we may not like what we find when we map social behaviour.</span></p>Dr Darren G Lillekerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00870644282739147878noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4097271519551916936.post-29026913627938974562011-10-11T15:13:00.013+01:002011-10-11T16:13:10.227+01:00No cracks in the consensus ...yet<div><br /><div><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZOR8WaE3nhS1nXYUA2WnJqMB0HQxEUhfsLeXah5CsHG5SwRmhYFUmekJ5Hvj6_EcGLc1G5-Q_TCut8fbapzO4mAkAmf0OePzHsNGrXdy0Lg6FJYH1uxvuS2B-Ex2Vp0NxRlNXC75OF-0/s1600/Labour-leader-Ed-Miliband-007.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 120px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5662250376663256354" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZOR8WaE3nhS1nXYUA2WnJqMB0HQxEUhfsLeXah5CsHG5SwRmhYFUmekJ5Hvj6_EcGLc1G5-Q_TCut8fbapzO4mAkAmf0OePzHsNGrXdy0Lg6FJYH1uxvuS2B-Ex2Vp0NxRlNXC75OF-0/s200/Labour-leader-Ed-Miliband-007.jpg" /></a>The recent party conferences by the Conservative, Liberal-Democrats and Labour parties underscore what unites rather than divides the major political parties. All have now subscribed to the austerity agenda in response to the global financial and economic crisis, although there is some disagreement on the pace of cuts. All the parties have also completely abandoned any aspiration towards a return to the free higher education most of our MPs once enjoyed. Ed Miliband effectively (and probably prematurely) conceded the principle of the debate over tuition fees to the coalition government by arguing in his <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/ed-miliband/8791870/Labour-Party-Conference-Ed-Milibands-speech-in-full.html">conference speech</a> that Labour would lower the cap of tuition fees from £9,000 to £6,000.<br /><br />Perhaps more significantly there still appears to be no serious public discussion of the r<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUkszQPmp_zTmsZPtDyMlum9obJh3QVDQHYc3VFStOwxn881qIfhVgcPAU3wrybZ7rOOuVsXbOR2m7lWnGBZAOsevtgz_LIyRnJ4WQi5C1930uqs2b3kXFY0o9BPET8MEPANE6zStDns8/s1600/Occupy-Wall-Street-007.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 201px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 148px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5662250501419536530" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUkszQPmp_zTmsZPtDyMlum9obJh3QVDQHYc3VFStOwxn881qIfhVgcPAU3wrybZ7rOOuVsXbOR2m7lWnGBZAOsevtgz_LIyRnJ4WQi5C1930uqs2b3kXFY0o9BPET8MEPANE6zStDns8/s200/Occupy-Wall-Street-007.jpg" /></a>eduction in corporation tax proposed by George Osborne <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/budget/7847799/Budget-2010-Osborne-unveils-corporation-tax-fit-for-a-globalised-world.html">last year </a>from 28% to 24% over four years, although Miliband did suggest he would claw this back from the banks and private equity firms which were the whipping boys for much of the speech. By 2014 corporation tax in the UK will have more than halved since its highpoint in the post-war era of 50% in <a href="http://assets.cambridge.org/97805218/14003/sample/9780521814003ws.pdf">1949 </a>when Britain really was in an economic crisis. The 24% corporation tax will put us well below the US (at 39%) or Germany (at 33%) and closer to the tax rates of Saudi Arabia and Russia (20%). This reduction is of course being paid for by students and others at the sharp end of the various austerity measures, yet the opposition has failed to campaign on this slashing of corporation tax and so the mainstream media have maintained a polite silence on the topic.<br /><br />From across the Atlantic however, comes a potential source of trouble for the major parties. The <a href="http://occupywallst.org/">Occupy Wall Street </a>movement has spread to 25 cities in the US and has had an unusual degree of support and understanding from a broad coalition of disgruntled voters and even sympathy from Federal Reserve Chairman <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2011/10/05/336510/bernanke-occupy-wall-street/">Ben Bernanke</a> and mainstream political figures like <a href="http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-10-09/wall-street-protesters-are-angry-about-jobs-pelosi-says.html">Nancy Pelosi</a>. Should the success of the movement continue, building on an awareness of record rates of inequality, there is a chance it could spread to Britain. The possibility of copy-cat demonstrations gaining mass support in London as winter approaches seems remote, but much depends on the public mood of those sections of the population most affected by the cuts, including the <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/dec/16/public-servants-to-lose-jobs">100,000 </a>public sector employees expected to lose their jobs by early in the new year.<br /><br />The mass protests in Greece and riots in England over the summer are further reminders that civil unrest is a real possibility. Demonstrations of the type seen in the US or Athens may not take place, but if the <a href="http://thecomingcrisis.blogspot.com/2011/10/occupy-london-thousands-plan-protest.html">pla</a><a href="http://thecomingcrisis.blogspot.com/2011/10/occupy-london-thousands-plan-protest.html">nned occupation</a> of the London Stock Exchange for the 15th October or similar future protests gained significant support it could put all three parties on the back foot. Each has been accused of ‘collusion’ in enacting a corporate-sponsored political agenda (be it Labour’s promotion of costly PFI projects including <a href="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/3790f3a6-767d-11da-a8a9-0000779e2340.html#axzz1aNkKbdAu">hospitals</a>); deregulation of banks and financial services (Labour and Conservative); rolling back planning restrictions in the interests of property developers (LibDem/Conservative) and so on.<br /><br />The extent to which the three major parties are seen to be ‘in the pocket’ of big business and pushing a discredited neo-liberal agenda may in the end do real damage to British democracy and could lead to even higher levels of voter disengagement.<br /><br />Reconnecting with voters might be regarded by political observers as essential for all three parties. However, the perception that powerful lobbyists, private and corporate donors and multinational threats to relocate production (and accompanying beggar-thy-neighbour tax policies) are the real drivers of party policy may yet produce a coalition of citizens who are disillusioned with this politics as usual. Should this coalition find a sustained collective voice (either on the streets of Wall Street, Athens or London) and if a coherent set of demands emerges there may be the first cracks in the cu<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQETB_wnRcW_NqphSJ1_zjv9wl_V-1-VDg0uOS739oqKDZRJOviq-aspuNz5WT3upDRECCuLKMA97fxc1GV6APOHmkjKlWJ8-S36lU6SOSheNN5hIUXwmy7JdaIOY65QVkCUCuTvQ439A/s1600/bonus+march+washington.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 110px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5662252462165186498" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQETB_wnRcW_NqphSJ1_zjv9wl_V-1-VDg0uOS739oqKDZRJOviq-aspuNz5WT3upDRECCuLKMA97fxc1GV6APOHmkjKlWJ8-S36lU6SOSheNN5hIUXwmy7JdaIOY65QVkCUCuTvQ439A/s200/bonus+march+washington.jpg" /></a>rrent political consensus. When 20,000 veterans of the First World War marched on Washington in the spring and summer of 1932 and set up a tent city opposite the Capitol - President Herbert Hoover (whose austerity measures were so unpopular) sent in four troops of cavalry and four companies of infantry to clear the encampment, which was torched. The failure of Hoover’s austerity measures led to the massive election victory of Roosevelt in November 1932 on the promise of a programme of employment through the New Deal. The lessons of history seem blindingly clear as the satirical magazine the Onion <a href="http://www.theonion.com/articles/historians-politely-remind-nation-to-check-whats-h,26183/">recently</a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk4F7j616dylwLEx3OQsZJ6-bb4iRAKyS-GBpzOY6Eqxdbt3uVxZTxKZm5Zoe_gD3bXyk7aVSVMT41NqdJ1jfwTe2-m31vK8kmhtInUt3Xi7iuOchj0QnrsRiagyygUUqa2S00yNYWqiE/s1600/burning+tent+city.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 200px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 130px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5662252669012689794" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk4F7j616dylwLEx3OQsZJ6-bb4iRAKyS-GBpzOY6Eqxdbt3uVxZTxKZm5Zoe_gD3bXyk7aVSVMT41NqdJ1jfwTe2-m31vK8kmhtInUt3Xi7iuOchj0QnrsRiagyygUUqa2S00yNYWqiE/s200/burning+tent+city.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.theonion.com/articles/historians-politely-remind-nation-to-check-whats-h,26183/"> noted</a>.<br /><br />Should a similar movement of civil disobedience provoke public sympathy either here or in the US there is a chance for the kind of movement that could make real demands on a system that has appeared deaf to alternative strategies for dealing with the current economic crisis. At that point real political differences between the parties could make a comeback and our democracy would be all the healthier for that. </div></div></div>ExpatGoneHomehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08081158842667437103noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4097271519551916936.post-42168825967126664932011-09-26T15:18:00.003+01:002011-09-26T15:27:35.414+01:00The classic US political advertisement<div style="text-align: justify;">Why is this advertisement a classic? Because of the well-trodden path in terms of the style, structure and the way in which it tries to evoke a whole series of emotional reactions among the audience.</div><div><br /></div> <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/8EL5Atp_vF0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe> <div style="text-align: justify;">It starts with the here and now. Obama is president, he is speaking, making promises. This cuts then to news reports which are selected carefully to demonstrate all that Obama offered has not been delivered. The music would be appropriate for a thriller, just when the hero is in danger. The hero here is America - of course. But then the saviour arrives. the music becomes upbeat, faster, the images faster, positive. Rick Perry promises a new form of leadership, the one that America deserves, all is suddenly right with the world.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The narrative is simple and all too common. The situation is bad, this is the blame of the incumbent. But there is an alternative. The imagery, music and words all associate Obama with negatives - the use of the word Zero especially. Is Perry building a 'from Hero to Zero' narrative for Obama? Perry is associated with all that is positive, sunlight, warmth, bravery and Americana of course. The classic comparative ad as if it had been lifted from a shelf and the images changed. As American as apple pie but also as universal as the debt crisis, this is the narrative that underpins so many election campaigns. </div>Dr Darren G Lillekerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00870644282739147878noreply@blogger.com5