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CIPR FELLOWS’ LUNCH JULY 25th
1
THE	
  NEW	
  MEDIA	
  AND	
  DEMOCRACY	
  
	
  
SIR	
  PETER	
  LUFF	
  MP,	
  FCIPR,	
  FSA	
  
	
  
CIPR	
  Fellows’	
  Lunch,	
  25th	
  July	
  2014	
  
	
  
In	
  an	
  editorial	
  last	
  Saturday,	
  the	
  Financial	
  Times,	
  in	
  an	
  almost	
  perfectly	
  contrived	
  insult	
  to	
  all	
  
of	
  us	
  here,	
  wrote,	
  
	
  
“..	
  there	
  is	
  still	
  too	
  much	
  of	
  the	
  PR	
  man	
  about	
  Britain’s	
  Prime	
  Minister.”	
  
	
  
Next	
  Spring	
  I	
  stand	
  down	
  after	
  twenty	
  three	
  years	
  as	
  a	
  Member	
  of	
  Parliament.	
  
	
  
Throughout	
  those	
  years,	
  I	
  have	
  often	
  realised	
  that	
  my	
  previous	
  life	
  in	
  public	
  relations	
  
consultancy	
  was	
  the	
  best	
  possible	
  training	
  for	
  the	
  job.	
  How	
  wrong	
  can	
  the	
  FT	
  be?	
  
	
  
In	
  the	
  great	
  circus	
  of	
  life	
  that	
  is	
  both	
  PR	
  consultancy	
  and	
  politics,	
  you	
  must	
  learn	
  not	
  just	
  to	
  
juggle,	
  to	
  keep	
  many	
  and	
  very	
  different	
  groups	
  –	
  of	
  clients	
  or	
  constituents	
  –	
  content,	
  but	
  also	
  
to	
  tame	
  huge	
  issues,	
  lions,	
  that	
  threaten	
  to	
  devour	
  you	
  if	
  you	
  make	
  a	
  single	
  slip.	
  
	
  
In	
  fact,	
  as	
  I	
  said	
  in	
  a	
  recent	
  CIPR	
  interview,	
  what	
  you	
  really	
  need	
  to	
  perfect	
  is	
  the	
  art	
  of	
  
juggling	
  lions.	
  
	
  
To	
  take	
  an	
  example	
  I	
  remember	
  particularly	
  clearly,	
  	
  
my	
  training	
  in	
  PR	
  proved	
  its	
  worth	
  within	
  two	
  years	
  of	
  my	
  election.	
  	
  In	
  1994	
  I	
  bought	
  my	
  nine	
  
year-­‐old	
  daughter	
  a	
  girls’	
  magazine	
  –	
  and	
  was	
  genuinely	
  surprised	
  to	
  find	
  sexually	
  explicit	
  
content	
  on	
  its	
  letters	
  page.	
  
	
  
I	
  soon	
  discovered	
  it	
  was	
  one	
  of	
  many	
  magazines	
  aimed	
  at	
  girls	
  between	
  eight	
  and	
  eighteen	
  
using	
  sex	
  to	
  sell.	
  There	
  was	
  a	
  race	
  to	
  the	
  gutter	
  going	
  on	
  in	
  the	
  name	
  of	
  circulation.	
  
	
  
These	
  magazines	
  were	
  both	
  sexually	
  explicit	
  and	
  deeply	
  sexist.	
  Their	
  disturbing	
  message	
  was	
  
simple.	
  Boys	
  did	
  real	
  things	
  but	
  girls	
  –well	
  their	
  role	
  was	
  just	
  to	
  be	
  girls	
  for	
  the	
  boys.	
  
	
  
So	
  I	
  decided	
  to	
  use	
  my	
  position	
  as	
  an	
  MP	
  to	
  raise	
  the	
  issue.	
  	
  
	
  
During	
  this	
  targeted	
  campaign	
  I	
  applied	
  some	
  widely	
  appreciated	
  rules	
  of	
  communication.	
  	
  
	
  
Above	
  all	
  else,	
  I	
  focused	
  on	
  communicating	
  a	
  clear	
  and	
  compelling	
  message	
  –	
  never	
  prim,	
  
condescending	
  or	
  lecturing.	
  Not	
  a	
  preachy	
  message,	
  just	
  a	
  sense	
  that	
  girls	
  were	
  being	
  let	
  down	
  
by	
  the	
  magazines	
  that	
  were	
  supposed	
  to	
  help	
  them.	
  
	
  
I	
  said	
  I	
  understood	
  the	
  need	
  for	
  sensitive	
  and	
  professional	
  advice	
  but	
  what	
  the	
  magazines	
  
were	
  doing	
  was	
  excessive,	
  sexist	
  and	
  robbed	
  children	
  of	
  their	
  childhoods.	
  
	
  
It	
  turned	
  out	
  that	
  I	
  had	
  articulated	
  what	
  thousands	
  of	
  parents	
  thought	
  –	
  and	
  public	
  opinion	
  
was	
  on	
  my	
  side.	
  
	
  
CIPR FELLOWS’ LUNCH JULY 25th
2
I	
  also	
  repeated	
  my	
  message	
  until	
  people	
  got	
  sick	
  of	
  hearing	
  me	
  say	
  it.	
  As	
  my	
  old	
  political	
  boss	
  
Peter	
  Walker	
  often	
  told	
  me,	
  “It’s	
  only	
  when	
  you	
  are	
  sick	
  and	
  tired	
  of	
  your	
  message	
  that	
  you’re	
  
just	
  beginning	
  to	
  communicate	
  it	
  to	
  others.”	
  
	
  
	
  
I	
  focused	
  on	
  the	
  big	
  picture,	
  dealing	
  with	
  the	
  relatively	
  few	
  TV,	
  radio	
  and	
  print	
  titles	
  that	
  held	
  
the	
  influence	
  nationally.	
  Success	
  with	
  those	
  would	
  move	
  opinion.	
  	
  
	
  
And	
  it	
  worked.	
  I	
  had	
  used	
  my	
  PR	
  training	
  to	
  run	
  a	
  one	
  man	
  campaign	
  that	
  actually	
  changed	
  
something.	
  
	
  
After	
  some	
  very	
  bad	
  publicity,	
  the	
  publishers	
  -­‐	
  who	
  were	
  unable	
  to	
  believe	
  I	
  did	
  not	
  have	
  
funding	
  and	
  campaign	
  mangers	
  behind	
  me	
  -­‐	
  soon	
  capitulated;	
  a	
  new	
  independent	
  regulator,	
  a	
  
code	
  of	
  conduct,	
  and	
  only	
  professionally	
  qualified	
  counsellors	
  to	
  offer	
  advice	
  on	
  the	
  problem	
  
pages.	
  The	
  magazines	
  actually	
  improved.	
  
	
  
Such	
  a	
  campaign	
  wouldn’t	
  have	
  succeeded	
  if	
  I	
  hadn’t	
  followed	
  the	
  advice	
  I	
  had	
  been	
  giving	
  
clients	
  as	
  a	
  communications	
  consultant.	
  	
  
	
  
I	
  was	
  both	
  attacking	
  part	
  of	
  the	
  media	
  and	
  using	
  the	
  media	
  to	
  help	
  me.	
  It	
  was	
  an	
  exercise	
  in	
  
the	
  triumph	
  of	
  democracy	
  over	
  commercial	
  interest.	
  
	
  
I	
  don’t	
  tell	
  you	
  this	
  to	
  blow	
  my	
  own	
  trumpet.	
  I	
  tell	
  it	
  to	
  blow	
  yours.	
  	
  
	
  
PRs	
  have	
  a	
  genuinely	
  important	
  role	
  in	
  challenging	
  the	
  status	
  quo	
  and	
  gaining	
  profile	
  for	
  their	
  
clients	
  and	
  causes.	
  	
  
	
  
We	
  won’t	
  all	
  agree	
  on	
  the	
  merits	
  of	
  those	
  causes	
  or	
  clients,	
  but	
  we	
  should	
  agree	
  that	
  they	
  have	
  
the	
  right	
  to	
  be	
  heard.	
  That	
  is	
  democracy	
  after	
  all.	
  	
  
So,	
  contrary	
  to	
  the	
  views	
  of	
  the	
  FT,	
  we	
  PRs	
  make	
  good	
  politicians	
  –	
  we	
  serve	
  democracy	
  pretty	
  
effectively.	
  
	
  
Democracy	
  is	
  very	
  topical	
  at	
  the	
  moment	
  –	
  and	
  about	
  to	
  become	
  even	
  more	
  so.	
  	
  
	
  
Next	
  year,	
  election	
  year,	
  marks	
  the	
  800th	
  anniversary	
  of	
  Magna	
  Carta	
  and	
  the	
  750th	
  
Anniversary	
  of	
  what	
  is	
  generally	
  recognised	
  as	
  the	
  first	
  broadly	
  representative	
  English	
  
parliament.	
  
	
  
Our	
  contemporary	
  freedoms	
  and	
  democratic	
  representation	
  began	
  their	
  evolution	
  from	
  these	
  
two,	
  related	
  events.	
  
	
  
So	
  this	
  is	
  a	
  good	
  time	
  to	
  reflect	
  on	
  the	
  health	
  of	
  our	
  democracy.	
  
	
  
And	
  I	
  take	
  as	
  my	
  text	
  –	
  or	
  perhaps	
  my	
  warning	
  to	
  myself	
  -­‐	
  that	
  famous	
  quote	
  of	
  Enoch	
  Powell,	
  
	
  
“For	
  a	
  politician	
  to	
  complain	
  about	
  the	
  press	
  is	
  like	
  a	
  ship's	
  captain	
  complaining	
  about	
  the	
  sea.”	
  
	
  
Nonetheless,	
  my	
  subject	
  is	
  a	
  simple	
  and	
  well-­‐worn	
  one	
  –	
  the	
  relationship	
  between	
  politicians	
  
and	
  the	
  media	
  and	
  the	
  consequences	
  for	
  our	
  democracy.	
  
	
  
CIPR FELLOWS’ LUNCH JULY 25th
3
I	
  am	
  thinking	
  of	
  the	
  consequences	
  of;	
  
• the	
  new	
  need	
  for	
  speed	
  which	
  drives	
  instant	
  reaction	
  to	
  often	
  complex	
  events;	
  	
  
• of	
  the	
  growing	
  commercial	
  pressures	
  that	
  drive	
  even	
  the	
  most	
  respectable	
  news	
  outlet	
  
into	
  a	
  search	
  for	
  sensation;	
  
• and	
  of	
  the	
  loss	
  of	
  journalistic	
  interpretation	
  in	
  the	
  new	
  social	
  media	
  that	
  leads	
  to	
  
unmediated	
  news	
  triumphing	
  over	
  the	
  mediated.	
  
	
  
My	
  thesis	
  is	
  simple.	
  It	
  is	
  that	
  democratic	
  societies	
  need	
  shared	
  places	
  -­‐	
  particularly	
  in	
  the	
  
media	
  -­‐	
  for	
  rational,	
  informed	
  political	
  debate.	
  
	
  
My	
  concern	
  is	
  that	
  the	
  decline	
  in	
  the	
  reach	
  and	
  quality	
  of	
  traditional,	
  “legacy”	
  media	
  coupled	
  
with	
  the	
  fragmentation	
  of	
  the	
  population	
  caused	
  by	
  the	
  new	
  “social”	
  media,	
  endanger	
  those	
  
places	
  -­‐	
  and	
  so	
  it	
  is	
  ever	
  more	
  important	
  to	
  uphold	
  them	
  wherever	
  we	
  can.	
  
	
  
These	
  changes	
  might	
  actually	
  help	
  some	
  politicians,	
  parties	
  and	
  interest	
  groups	
  ;	
  if	
  they	
  use	
  
media	
  management	
  techniques	
  and	
  the	
  social	
  media	
  well,	
  they	
  can	
  by-­‐pass	
  objective	
  criticism	
  
and	
  make	
  their	
  unmediated	
  case	
  direct	
  to	
  their	
  supporters	
  and	
  potential	
  supporters.	
  
	
  
But	
  they	
  make	
  life	
  harder	
  for	
  democracy	
  as	
  we	
  lose	
  our	
  shared	
  national	
  narrative	
  and	
  
understanding	
  and	
  as	
  the	
  essential,	
  constructive	
  challenge	
  to	
  politicians	
  provided	
  by	
  good	
  
journalism	
  is	
  no	
  longer	
  as	
  effective.	
  	
  
	
  
The	
  conventional	
  view	
  is	
  that	
  a	
  free	
  press	
  and	
  technological	
  change	
  has	
  driven	
  increased	
  
awareness	
  of	
  opportunity	
  and	
  liberty	
  –	
  and	
  so	
  played	
  a	
  major	
  part	
  in	
  ending	
  tyranny	
  in	
  
Eastern	
  Europe	
  and	
  elsewhere.	
  	
  	
  
	
  
But	
  are	
  the	
  new	
  social	
  media	
  always	
  the	
  same	
  force	
  for	
  good?	
  	
  
	
  
They	
  certainly	
  do	
  good.	
  	
  
	
  
Above	
  all,	
  they	
  spread	
  knowledge.	
  
	
  
I	
  have	
  seen	
  their	
  power	
  and	
  positive	
  impact	
  as	
  they	
  share	
  news	
  among	
  specific	
  vulnerable	
  
groups	
  such	
  as	
  the	
  elderly,	
  the	
  disabled	
  or	
  those	
  with	
  special	
  medical	
  needs.	
  	
  
	
  
The	
  same	
  public	
  service	
  can	
  be	
  performed	
  within	
  local	
  communities	
  as	
  events	
  and	
  issues,	
  like	
  
flood	
  warnings,	
  are	
  spread	
  rapidly	
  to	
  residents.	
  
	
  
And	
  in	
  times	
  of	
  conflict	
  they	
  can	
  give	
  the	
  lie	
  to	
  the	
  propaganda	
  of	
  ruling	
  elites	
  and	
  autocrats.	
  
	
  
But	
  what	
  of	
  the	
  harm?	
  	
  
	
  
By	
  providing	
  channels	
  for	
  bad	
  men	
  to	
  recruit	
  converts	
  to	
  their	
  cause,	
  or	
  to	
  spread	
  poisonous	
  
disinformation	
  in	
  an	
  instant,	
  for	
  example,	
  they	
  can	
  do	
  actual	
  harm	
  to	
  democracy.	
  
	
  
More	
  subtly,	
  they	
  undermine	
  our	
  democracy	
  in	
  another	
  way.	
  
	
  
The	
  social	
  media	
  reduce	
  society	
  to	
  groups	
  of	
  self-­‐selecting	
  special	
  interests	
  who	
  spend	
  more	
  
and	
  more	
  of	
  their	
  time	
  talking	
  to	
  those	
  with	
  similar	
  views,	
  isolating	
  themselves	
  from	
  contrary	
  
points	
  of	
  view.	
  
CIPR FELLOWS’ LUNCH JULY 25th
4
	
  
Who	
  do	
  we	
  talk	
  to	
  now	
  to	
  form	
  our	
  opinions?	
  In	
  the	
  seventeenth	
  and	
  eighteenth	
  centuries	
  it	
  
was	
  the	
  coffeehouses	
  of	
  London	
  where	
  society’s	
  elite	
  formed	
  its	
  shared	
  understandings.	
  We	
  
still	
  need	
  those	
  coffeehouse	
  forums,	
  actual	
  or	
  metaphorical,	
  where	
  exchange	
  and	
  debate	
  takes	
  
place.	
  
	
  
My	
  conclusion	
  is	
  that	
  the	
  diminution	
  of	
  such	
  shared	
  places	
  in	
  the	
  media	
  –	
  and	
  of	
  the	
  
atomisation	
  of	
  public	
  debate	
  caused	
  by	
  social	
  media	
  -­‐	
  mean	
  that	
  more	
  and	
  more	
  of	
  the	
  burden	
  
of	
  nurturing	
  our	
  democracy	
  falls	
  on	
  the	
  shoulders	
  of	
  just	
  one	
  media	
  organisation	
  –	
  the	
  BBC.	
  
	
  
Public	
  relations	
  professionals	
  need	
  the	
  ability	
  to	
  engage	
  in	
  a	
  free	
  exchange	
  of	
  information	
  and	
  
to	
  conduct	
  public	
  conversations	
  that	
  are	
  well-­‐informed.	
  But	
  democracy	
  needs	
  those	
  things	
  
just	
  as	
  keenly.	
  
	
  
My	
  argument	
  has	
  two	
  caveats.	
  
	
  
NEVER	
  TRUST	
  A	
  POLITICIAN	
  
	
  
Caveat	
  number	
  one.	
  
	
  
I’m	
  not	
  about	
  to	
  issue	
  a	
  plea	
  for	
  politicians	
  to	
  be	
  liked.	
  A	
  degree	
  of	
  healthy	
  cynicism	
  is	
  
essential.	
  	
  	
  
	
  
One	
  of	
  my	
  favourite	
  lines	
  in	
  Shakespeare	
  comes	
  when	
  Lear	
  comforts	
  the	
  cruelly	
  blinded	
  
Gloucester	
  with	
  these	
  words,	
  
	
  
Get	
  thee	
  glass	
  eyes	
  	
  
And,	
  like	
  a	
  scurvy	
  politician,	
  seem	
  	
  
To	
  see	
  the	
  things	
  thou	
  dost	
  not.	
  i	
  
	
  
I	
  think	
  that	
  modern	
  cynicism	
  has	
  reached	
  dangerous	
  levels,	
  yes,	
  but	
  the	
  politicians’	
  response	
  
must	
  be	
  to	
  win	
  back	
  respect,	
  not	
  to	
  seek	
  popularity.	
  
	
  
My	
  heart	
  sinks	
  when	
  I	
  hear	
  another	
  politician	
  is	
  going	
  on	
  “Have	
  I	
  Got	
  News	
  for	
  You”	
  to	
  try	
  and	
  
be	
  funny.	
  
	
  
But	
  I	
  suppose	
  it’s	
  better	
  than	
  going	
  into	
  the	
  jungle	
  to	
  eat	
  mealy	
  grubs	
  in	
  the	
  deluded	
  belief	
  
that	
  “I’m	
  a	
  Celebrity,	
  Get	
  Me	
  Out	
  of	
  Here”	
  is	
  a	
  good	
  vehicle	
  to	
  engage	
  the	
  alienated.	
  
	
  
Or	
  believing	
  that	
  sensational	
  Tweeting	
  is	
  a	
  satisfactory	
  substitute	
  for	
  serious	
  thought.	
  
	
  
NO	
  MEDIA	
  GOLDEN	
  AGE	
  
	
  
And	
  caveat	
  number	
  two.	
  
	
  
I	
  am	
  definitely	
  not	
  making	
  a	
  plea	
  for	
  a	
  return	
  to	
  some	
  lost	
  golden	
  age	
  -­‐	
  for	
  politicians	
  at	
  least	
  -­‐	
  
when	
  journalists	
  and	
  newspapers	
  knew	
  their	
  place.	
  	
  No	
  such	
  time	
  ever	
  existed,	
  although	
  I	
  do	
  
look	
  back	
  with	
  a	
  twinge	
  of	
  nostalgia	
  at	
  some	
  of	
  those	
  early,	
  intensely	
  deferential	
  television	
  
interviews.	
  
	
  
CIPR FELLOWS’ LUNCH JULY 25th
5
You	
  know	
  the	
  sort	
  of	
  thing	
  –	
  “Please	
  Mr	
  Macmillan,	
  do	
  tell	
  us	
  what	
  you	
  think.”	
  
The	
  truth	
  is,	
  as	
  you	
  all	
  know,	
  that	
  the	
  British	
  media	
  have	
  always	
  been	
  robust	
  and	
  politicians	
  
have	
  always	
  complained.	
  Somehow	
  democracy	
  survived	
  and	
  even	
  flourished.	
  
Perhaps	
  no	
  complaint	
  was	
  more	
  famous	
  than	
  that	
  of	
  my	
  illustrious	
  predecessor	
  as	
  a	
  
Worcestershire	
  MP,	
  Stanley	
  Baldwin,	
  who	
  famously	
  attacked	
  the	
  papers	
  owned	
  by	
  
Beaverbrook	
  and	
  Rothermere	
  three	
  days	
  before	
  the	
  election	
  in	
  March	
  1931,	
  when	
  he	
  said,	
  	
  
“The	
  newspapers	
  attacking	
  me	
  are	
  not	
  newspapers	
  in	
  the	
  ordinary	
  sense.	
  	
  They	
  are	
  engines	
  of	
  
propaganda	
  for	
  the	
  constantly	
  changing	
  policies,	
  desires,	
  personal	
  vices,	
  personal	
  likes	
  and	
  
dislikes	
  of	
  the	
  two	
  men.	
  What	
  are	
  their	
  methods?	
  Their	
  methods	
  are	
  direct	
  falsehoods,	
  
misrepresentation,	
  half-­truths,	
  the	
  alteration	
  of	
  the	
  speaker's	
  meaning	
  by	
  publishing	
  a	
  sentence	
  
apart	
  from	
  the	
  context...What	
  the	
  proprietorship	
  of	
  these	
  papers	
  is	
  aiming	
  at	
  is	
  power,	
  and	
  
power	
  without	
  responsibility	
  –	
  the	
  prerogative	
  of	
  the	
  harlot	
  throughout	
  the	
  ages.”	
  
To	
  be	
  fair,	
  the	
  British	
  press	
  has,	
  rightly,	
  always	
  been	
  anxious	
  to	
  expose	
  wrongdoing.	
  	
  But	
  their	
  
targets	
  have	
  not	
  always	
  been	
  fair	
  ones.	
  
	
  
Look	
  for	
  example	
  at	
  the	
  fictional	
  travails	
  of	
  Septimus	
  Harding,	
  warden	
  of	
  Hiram’s	
  Hospital,	
  at	
  
the	
  hands	
  of	
  The	
  Jupiter	
  –	
  a	
  thinly	
  disguised	
  Times	
  –	
  in	
  Trollope’s	
  outstanding	
  1855	
  novel,	
  The	
  
Warden,	
  first	
  in	
  his	
  glorious	
  series	
  The	
  Chronicles	
  of	
  Barsetshire.	
  
	
  
The	
  warden	
  was	
  a	
  good	
  and	
  honest	
  man,	
  traduced	
  and	
  hounded	
  to	
  near	
  penury	
  by	
  the	
  press.	
  
	
  
Good	
  people	
  have	
  indeed	
  been	
  hounded	
  unfairly	
  for	
  centuries.	
  That	
  can	
  be	
  the	
  price	
  of	
  a	
  free	
  
press	
  –	
  that	
  it	
  can	
  make	
  mistakes.	
  
	
  
So,	
  to	
  be	
  absolutely	
  clear	
  I	
  am	
  not	
  asking	
  for	
  journalists	
  to	
  stop	
  doing	
  their	
  job	
  –	
  politicians	
  
must	
  always	
  be	
  treated	
  with	
  scepticism.	
  They	
  always	
  have	
  been	
  and	
  happily	
  there’s	
  little	
  
prospect	
  of	
  that	
  changing	
  in	
  a	
  hurry,	
  even	
  in	
  a	
  post-­‐Leveson,	
  post-­‐phone	
  hacking	
  world.	
  
	
  
So	
  I	
  am	
  not	
  saying	
  politicians	
  should	
  be	
  treated	
  with	
  kid	
  gloves,	
  and	
  I	
  am	
  not	
  saying	
  that	
  the	
  
media	
  should	
  not	
  be	
  robust.	
  
	
  
But	
  it’s	
  time	
  to	
  worry	
  when	
  hard-­‐nosed	
  observers	
  like	
  Andrew	
  Marr	
  writing	
  ten	
  years	
  ago,	
  
say,	
  
	
  
“…	
  the	
  truth	
  is	
  that	
  we	
  political	
  journalists	
  have	
  spent	
  too	
  much	
  time	
  metaphorically	
  jamming	
  
wastebins	
  on	
  politicians’	
  heads.	
  We	
  have	
  become	
  too	
  powerful,	
  too	
  much	
  the	
  interpreters,	
  using	
  
our	
  talents	
  as	
  communicators	
  to	
  crowd	
  them	
  out.	
  On	
  paper	
  we	
  mock	
  them	
  as	
  never	
  before	
  and	
  
report	
  them	
  less	
  than	
  ever	
  before.	
  ….	
  We	
  are	
  overshadowing	
  the	
  institutions	
  that	
  made	
  us;	
  we	
  
have	
  become	
  insufficiently	
  serious.	
  	
  Once	
  my	
  father	
  bought	
  a	
  rose	
  bush	
  for	
  our	
  garden	
  in	
  
Scotland.	
  He	
  supported	
  it	
  with	
  some	
  insignificant-­looking	
  sticks.	
  The	
  rose	
  died	
  and	
  the	
  sticks	
  
grew.	
  That	
  is	
  what	
  happening	
  in	
  Westminster	
  too.”	
  
	
  
I	
  am	
  also	
  worried	
  about	
  a	
  declining	
  respect	
  for	
  the	
  truth	
  and	
  an	
  increasing	
  recklessness	
  in	
  
political	
  comment	
  that	
  would	
  make	
  even	
  harlots	
  blush.	
  
	
  
CIPR FELLOWS’ LUNCH JULY 25th
6
That	
  recklessness	
  is	
  in	
  large	
  part	
  a	
  product	
  of	
  the	
  need	
  for	
  speed	
  I	
  referred	
  to	
  earlier	
  –	
  forget	
  
the	
  24	
  hour	
  news	
  cycle	
  –	
  now	
  it’s	
  more	
  like	
  five	
  minutes.	
  
	
  
Snap	
  judgements	
  -­‐	
  by	
  politicians	
  and	
  commentators	
  -­‐	
  become	
  the	
  conventional	
  wisdom	
  and	
  
deeper	
  reflection	
  becomes	
  challenging.	
  
	
  
As	
  Andrew	
  Marr	
  clearly	
  recognises,	
  politicians	
  do	
  need	
  a	
  minimum	
  level	
  of	
  respect	
  -­‐	
  and	
  facts	
  
are	
  very	
  precious	
  things	
  indeed.	
  
	
  
We	
  live	
  in	
  a	
  time	
  of	
  unprecedented	
  change	
  and	
  complexity	
  when	
  more	
  careful	
  thought	
  is	
  
needed	
  than	
  ever.	
  
	
  
But	
  our	
  politics	
  and	
  our	
  media	
  are	
  conspiring	
  together	
  to	
  drive	
  us	
  to	
  instant	
  reactions,	
  
meaningless	
  sound	
  bites	
  and	
  gross	
  simplifications.	
  
	
  
And	
  the	
  awkward	
  truth	
  is	
  that	
  politics	
  in	
  the	
  UK	
  has	
  become	
  rather	
  boring.	
  	
  
	
  
As	
  Kevin	
  Toolis,	
  author	
  of	
  “The	
  Confessions	
  of	
  Gordon	
  Brown”	
  observed	
  recently;	
  
	
  
“In	
  the	
  olden	
  days,	
  the	
  Labour	
  and	
  Tory	
  Party	
  conferences	
  were	
  guaranteed	
  political	
  barn	
  fest.	
  
Revolts	
  –	
  among	
  the	
  delegates,	
  errant	
  union	
  bosses	
  and	
  pro-­hanging	
  Tory	
  wannabes	
  -­	
  were	
  as	
  
common	
  as	
  bare-­breasted	
  women	
  in	
  Game	
  of	
  Thrones.	
  Passion	
  and	
  politics	
  mattered.	
  But	
  post	
  
new	
  Labour,	
  bar	
  the	
  odd	
  expenses	
  scandal,	
  our	
  ideological	
  ground	
  has	
  narrowed.	
  Shut	
  your	
  eyes,	
  
and	
  it’s	
  hard	
  to	
  tell	
  Tory	
  and	
  Labour	
  MPs	
  apart.	
  …	
  if	
  modern	
  British	
  politics	
  is	
  an	
  art	
  form,	
  it	
  
remains	
  a	
  very	
  dull	
  one.”	
  
	
  
No	
  wonder	
  colourful	
  but	
  implausible	
  figures	
  like	
  Nigel	
  Farage	
  -­‐	
  or	
  eccentric	
  dissidents	
  on	
  the	
  
government	
  backbenches	
  -­‐	
  attract	
  support.	
  
	
  
And	
  this	
  is	
  not	
  just	
  a	
  UK	
  problem;	
  as	
  the	
  now	
  very	
  elderly	
  former	
  German	
  Chancellor	
  Helmut	
  
Schmidt	
  said	
  recently,	
  
	
  
“Media	
  democracies	
  don’t	
  produce	
  leaders,	
  they	
  produce	
  populists.”	
  	
  
	
  
They	
  also	
  produce	
  robots.	
  
	
  
In	
  one	
  particularity	
  cruel	
  briefing	
  recently	
  ahead	
  of	
  the	
  last	
  reshuffle	
  it	
  was	
  reported	
  critics	
  of	
  
a	
  cabinet	
  minister	
  were	
  saying	
  of	
  her,	
  using	
  a	
  rather	
  dated	
  metaphor,	
  
	
  
“She	
  puts	
  in	
  a	
  tape,	
  presses	
  play,	
  and	
  this	
  stream	
  of	
  stuff	
  comes	
  out.	
  She	
  doesn’t	
  listen.”	
  
	
  
That	
  description	
  fits	
  most	
  political	
  interviews	
  I	
  hear	
  these	
  days	
  with	
  front	
  benchers	
  in	
  
particular	
  too	
  scared	
  to	
  deviate	
  from	
  the	
  line	
  to	
  take.	
  
	
  
No	
  wonder	
  voters	
  feel	
  disengaged.	
  
	
  
MEDIA	
  CHANGE	
  
	
  
CIPR FELLOWS’ LUNCH JULY 25th
7
As	
  Parties	
  have	
  declined	
  in	
  their	
  power	
  and	
  the	
  respect	
  in	
  which	
  politicians	
  is	
  held	
  has	
  sunk	
  
ever	
  lower,	
  the	
  traditional	
  media	
  have	
  fragmented	
  and	
  decayed	
  and	
  the	
  social	
  media	
  have	
  
blossomed.	
  	
  
	
  
Technology	
  and	
  commercial	
  competition	
  have	
  ravaged	
  the	
  newspaper	
  industry	
  and	
  
proliferated	
  the	
  electronic	
  media.	
  	
  
	
  
And	
  so	
  often	
  in	
  the	
  explosion	
  of	
  television	
  channels	
  and	
  the	
  frenzy	
  of	
  commercial	
  radio,	
  news	
  
broadcasts	
  play	
  second	
  fiddle	
  at	
  best.	
  
	
  
Not	
  so	
  long	
  ago	
  a	
  couple	
  of	
  interviews	
  and	
  a	
  piece	
  dictated	
  to	
  the	
  Press	
  Association	
  were	
  
enough	
  to	
  ensure	
  your	
  information,	
  as	
  long	
  as	
  it	
  was	
  sufficiently	
  compelling	
  or	
  important,	
  
would	
  be	
  carried	
  to	
  a	
  majority	
  of	
  the	
  population.	
  	
  	
  
	
  
I	
  can	
  remember	
  as	
  if	
  it	
  were	
  yesterday	
  a	
  world	
  with	
  just	
  two	
  television	
  channels	
  –	
  and	
  I	
  can	
  
recall	
  the	
  day	
  our	
  first	
  television	
  came	
  to	
  the	
  Luff	
  household	
  in	
  about	
  1960.	
  	
  
	
  
I	
  still	
  tend	
  to	
  think	
  of	
  commercial	
  radio	
  as	
  pirate	
  radio.	
  The	
  Home	
  Service	
  and	
  the	
  Light	
  
Programme	
  were	
  my	
  only	
  two	
  radio	
  stations.	
  	
  
	
  
Then	
  it	
  was	
  unthinkable	
  to	
  start	
  the	
  day	
  without	
  reading	
  a	
  national	
  newspaper.	
  Now	
  most	
  
people	
  never	
  pick	
  one	
  up	
  at	
  all.	
  
	
  
And	
  that	
  is	
  a	
  shame.	
  Or	
  should	
  be.	
  
	
  
There	
  still	
  is	
  a	
  shared	
  news	
  agenda	
  that	
  the	
  country	
  as	
  a	
  whole	
  hears,	
  but	
  it	
  is	
  spread	
  over	
  
more	
  and	
  more	
  platforms	
  and	
  is	
  becoming	
  fragile.	
  	
  
	
  
Our	
  shared	
  national	
  understanding	
  is	
  at	
  risk	
  of	
  decay	
  as	
  news	
  sources	
  proliferate,	
  and	
  become	
  
more	
  superficial,	
  as	
  politics	
  is	
  taken	
  less	
  seriously	
  and	
  as	
  news	
  bulletins	
  become	
  briefer.	
  
	
  
As	
  much	
  as	
  ever,	
  perhaps	
  more,	
  we	
  need	
  the	
  media	
  -­‐	
  and	
  that	
  means	
  journalists,	
  good	
  
journalists,	
  to	
  mediate,	
  to	
  explain	
  and	
  to	
  comment.	
  To	
  put	
  in	
  context.	
  To	
  provide	
  background	
  
and	
  reason.	
  	
  
	
  
Journalists	
  and	
  commentators	
  like	
  Matthew	
  Parris	
  and	
  Danny	
  Finklestein,	
  like	
  Steve	
  Richards	
  
and	
  Robert	
  Peston,	
  like	
  Andy	
  Marr,	
  John	
  Humphries	
  ,	
  Jeremy	
  Vine	
  and	
  Nick	
  Robinson	
  –	
  who,	
  
whatever	
  their	
  personal	
  views,	
  clearly	
  care	
  about	
  politics	
  and	
  society.	
  	
  	
  
	
  
But,	
  in	
  many	
  cases,	
  the	
  approach	
  to	
  politics	
  of	
  too	
  many	
  journalists	
  and	
  editors	
  has	
  become	
  
trivial	
  at	
  best,	
  destructive	
  at	
  worst.	
  
	
  
What	
  worries	
  me	
  now	
  is	
  that	
  the	
  ever-­‐deepening	
  contempt	
  for	
  politicians	
  in	
  which	
  so	
  many	
  
newspapers	
  seem	
  to	
  hold	
  us	
  is	
  matched	
  only	
  by	
  an	
  equal	
  contempt	
  for	
  the	
  truth.	
  
	
  
Here	
  are	
  some	
  recent	
  examples.	
  
	
  
• First	
  the	
  Daily	
  Mail	
  and	
  the	
  Daily	
  Express:	
  	
  
	
  
CIPR FELLOWS’ LUNCH JULY 25th
8
At	
  the	
  beginning	
  of	
  the	
  year	
  both	
  these	
  papers	
  played	
  to	
  the	
  gallery	
  in	
  the	
  most	
  exotic	
  terms	
  
over	
  the	
  coming	
  wave	
  of	
  Romanians	
  and	
  Bulgarians.	
  
	
  
“Benefits	
  Britain	
  Here	
  We	
  Come;	
  Fears	
  as	
  migrant	
  flood	
  begins”	
  screamed	
  the	
  Express	
  on	
  New	
  
Year’s	
  Day.	
  The	
  Mail	
  headlined	
  one	
  of	
  its	
  stores	
  that	
  same	
  day;	
  
	
  
“Sold	
  out!	
  Flights	
  and	
  buses	
  full	
  as	
  Romanians	
  head	
  for	
  the	
  UK.”	
  
	
  
Except	
  it	
  just	
  wasn’t	
  true.	
  The	
  flights	
  were	
  not	
  sold	
  out	
  –	
  there	
  were	
  seats	
  at	
  reasonable	
  prices	
  
on	
  all	
  of	
  them.	
  And	
  the	
  numbers	
  of	
  Bulgarians	
  and	
  Romanians	
  in	
  the	
  UK	
  actually	
  fell	
  slightly	
  in	
  
the	
  first	
  quarter	
  of	
  this	
  year.	
  
	
  
But	
  reports	
  like	
  these	
  set	
  the	
  context	
  for	
  the	
  most	
  sensitive	
  debate	
  in	
  our	
  democracy	
  at	
  
present	
  -­‐	
  immigration.	
  
	
  
• Second,	
  The	
  Times	
  
	
  
Not	
  to	
  be	
  outdone	
  in	
  the	
  “Let’s	
  drive	
  the	
  reputation	
  of	
  MPs	
  even	
  lower”	
  contest	
  the	
  Times	
  
joined	
  in	
  last	
  month	
  with	
  the	
  extraordinary	
  headline	
  “	
  MPs’	
  £750,000	
  bar	
  bill”.	
  	
  
	
  
It	
  turned	
  out	
  the	
  £750,000	
  bill	
  was	
  the	
  total	
  for	
  all	
  alcohol	
  served	
  at	
  the	
  bars	
  and	
  restaurant	
  to	
  
MPs,	
  their	
  staff,	
  Commons	
  staff,	
  journalists,	
  all	
  these	
  groups’	
  guests	
  –and	
  included	
  bottles	
  of	
  
whisky	
  sold	
  to	
  the	
  general	
  public	
  from	
  the	
  gift	
  shop	
  and	
  the	
  alcohol	
  drunk	
  by	
  people	
  at	
  the	
  
many	
  events	
  hosted	
  in	
  Parliament.	
  	
  
	
  
Incidentally,	
  The	
  Times	
  went	
  one	
  better	
  on	
  July	
  11th	
  with	
  its	
  devastating	
  	
  -­‐	
  and	
  truthful	
  -­‐	
  
revelation	
  “Scissors,	
  stapler	
  and	
  plastic	
  ruler	
  among	
  MPs’	
  latest	
  expenses”.	
  
	
  
Yes,	
  our	
  office	
  costs	
  budgets	
  really	
  are	
  used	
  to	
  pay	
  for	
  –	
  shock	
  horror	
  –	
  running	
  our	
  offices.	
  
	
  
• Third,	
  the	
  Sunday	
  Times:	
  
	
  
I’m	
  specially	
  troubled	
  by	
  The	
  Sunday	
  Times’	
  growing	
  reputation	
  for	
  sensationalised	
  reports	
  
that	
  hang	
  by	
  the	
  barest	
  thread	
  to	
  a	
  semblance	
  of	
  the	
  truth.	
  	
  Here	
  is	
  the	
  home	
  of	
  investigative	
  
journalism	
  of	
  the	
  highest	
  kind.	
  	
  Now	
  though,	
  it	
  gets	
  so	
  much	
  just	
  plain	
  wrong.	
  	
  
	
  
On	
  15th	
  June	
  under	
  the	
  headline	
  “RAF’s	
  new	
  fighter	
  gets	
  so	
  hot	
  it	
  melts	
  runways”	
  it	
  reported	
  on	
  
what	
  it	
  went	
  to	
  on	
  to	
  describe	
  as	
  “Britain’s	
  troubled	
  new	
  £100	
  million	
  fighter	
  jet.”	
  
	
  
Leaving	
  on	
  one	
  side	
  that	
  the	
  F35	
  is	
  for	
  the	
  RAF	
  and	
  the	
  Royal	
  Navy,	
  it’s	
  most	
  egregious	
  error	
  
was	
  its	
  “revelation”	
  that	
  we’d	
  only	
  just	
  worked	
  out	
  that	
  it	
  got	
  rather	
  hot	
  where	
  the	
  powerful	
  
jet	
  engines	
  point	
  when	
  it	
  lands	
  vertically.	
  Apparently	
  none	
  of	
  the	
  clever	
  people	
  at	
  the	
  MoD	
  –	
  
or	
  the	
  US	
  DoD	
  -­‐	
  had	
  thought	
  of	
  this	
  and	
  so	
  we	
  were	
  having	
  to	
  rush	
  to	
  install	
  concrete	
  landing	
  
pads	
  at	
  UK	
  bases	
  for	
  the	
  planes	
  in	
  yet	
  another	
  defence	
  cock-­‐up.	
  
	
  
Sadly	
  for	
  the	
  Sunday	
  Times	
  and	
  its	
  scandalised	
  readers,	
  the	
  story	
  was	
  wrong	
  on	
  every	
  count.	
  
Of	
  course	
  we	
  knew	
  it	
  got	
  hot	
  when	
  an	
  F35	
  lands	
  and	
  we	
  had	
  always	
  budgeted	
  for	
  and	
  planned	
  
these	
  landing	
  pads.	
  But	
  don’t	
  let	
  the	
  facts	
  get	
  in	
  the	
  way	
  of	
  a	
  good	
  story.	
  
	
  
CIPR FELLOWS’ LUNCH JULY 25th
9
And	
  let	
  me	
  repeat	
  that	
  point	
  about	
  investigative	
  journalism	
  –	
  great	
  scoops	
  like	
  the	
  Sunday	
  
Times’	
  hard	
  work	
  on	
  the	
  Qatar	
  World	
  Cup	
  story.	
  	
  	
  
	
  
We	
  need	
  the	
  occasional	
  brilliance	
  of	
  this	
  paper	
  to	
  manifest	
  itself	
  more	
  often,	
  but	
  it	
  lets	
  itself	
  
down	
  every	
  time	
  it	
  runs	
  a	
  story	
  like	
  the	
  F35	
  one.	
  	
  	
  
	
  
How	
  can	
  I	
  believe	
  its	
  investigative	
  scoops	
  when	
  I	
  know	
  its	
  routine	
  news	
  is	
  so	
  often	
  just	
  
wrong?	
  
	
  
How	
  can	
  a	
  democracy	
  flourish	
  if	
  the	
  voters	
  are	
  so	
  grievously	
  misled	
  or	
  only	
  partially	
  informed	
  
at	
  best?	
  
	
  
So	
  the	
  traditional	
  media	
  –	
  newspapers,	
  television	
  and	
  radio	
  -­‐	
  facing	
  a	
  daily	
  battle	
  for	
  survival,	
  
have	
  become	
  more	
  varied,	
  less	
  coherent.	
  Our	
  news	
  now	
  is:	
  
	
  
• Fragmented	
  
• Transitory	
  
• Sensationalised	
  and	
  
• Often	
  just	
  wrong	
  
	
  
Thank	
  God,	
  you	
  may	
  say,	
  for	
  the	
  extraordinary	
  decline	
  in	
  national	
  newspaper	
  circulations.ii	
  
	
  
Every	
  single	
  national	
  daily	
  and	
  Sunday	
  paper	
  has	
  seen	
  serious	
  falls	
  since	
  2010,	
  typically	
  after	
  
long	
  periods	
  of	
  decline.	
  
	
  
Only	
  the	
  good	
  old	
  Daily	
  Mail	
  has	
  held	
  its	
  head	
  high,	
  bobbing	
  around	
  the	
  two	
  million	
  mark	
  for	
  
the	
  last	
  fifty	
  years	
  –	
  but	
  it’s	
  still	
  down	
  from	
  2.3	
  million	
  in	
  2000	
  to	
  1.7	
  million	
  now.iii	
  
	
  
But	
  the	
  fact	
  is	
  that,	
  while	
  newspapers	
  remain	
  very	
  important	
  sources	
  of	
  views,	
  if	
  not	
  news,	
  
nowhere	
  near	
  enough	
  newspapers	
  are	
  now	
  sold	
  in	
  the	
  UK	
  to	
  use	
  simply	
  printed	
  media	
  to	
  
communicate	
  your	
  political	
  philosophy,	
  your	
  policies	
  or	
  your	
  views	
  sufficiently	
  widely.	
  
	
  
Indeed,	
  unfair	
  criticism	
  or	
  plain	
  error	
  of	
  the	
  kind	
  I	
  have	
  described	
  may	
  be	
  less	
  significant	
  to	
  
politicians	
  and	
  parties	
  than	
  once	
  it	
  was.	
  We	
  can	
  shrug	
  off	
  what	
  the	
  papers	
  say	
  more	
  readily	
  
than	
  our	
  predecessors	
  ever	
  could.	
  	
  
	
  
Apparently	
  Andy	
  Coulson’s	
  successor	
  at	
  Downing	
  Street,	
  Craig	
  Oliver,	
  a	
  former	
  television	
  
journalist,	
  doesn’t	
  think	
  newspapers	
  matter	
  much	
  and	
  avoids	
  speaking	
  to	
  them	
  if	
  possible.	
  	
  Ed	
  
Miliband	
  has	
  let	
  it	
  be	
  known	
  he	
  doesn’t	
  read	
  them	
  often.	
  
	
  
Downing	
  Street	
  does,	
  though,	
  worry	
  about	
  the	
  television	
  and	
  social	
  media	
  –	
  and	
  they	
  are	
  right.	
  
As	
  The	
  Economist	
  put	
  it	
  recently,	
  
	
  
“For	
  the	
  tyranny	
  of	
  the	
  leader	
  column,	
  Mr	
  Oliver	
  has	
  substituted	
  the	
  terror	
  of	
  the	
  tweet.”	
  
	
  
But	
  television	
  offers	
  a	
  ray	
  of	
  democratic	
  hope	
  –	
  step	
  forward	
  the	
  BBC.	
  
	
  
BBC	
  TV	
  News	
  reaches	
  around	
  two	
  thirds	
  of	
  UK	
  adults	
  every	
  week.	
  	
  This	
  reach	
  has	
  remained	
  
remarkably	
  resilient	
  over	
  the	
  last	
  decade.	
  	
  
CIPR FELLOWS’ LUNCH JULY 25th
10
	
  
Radio	
  One	
  Newsbeat	
  reaches	
  42%	
  of	
  all	
  15-­‐24	
  year	
  olds	
  with	
  its	
  two	
  daily	
  programmes.	
  
	
  
And	
  the	
  BBC	
  website	
  is	
  a	
  remarkably	
  reliable	
  source,	
  attracting	
  some	
  20%	
  of	
  all	
  UK	
  news	
  
website	
  visits.iv	
  
	
  
Over	
  80	
  per	
  cent	
  of	
  people	
  consume	
  some	
  BBC	
  news	
  every	
  week	
  –	
  and	
  it	
  seems	
  many	
  of	
  them	
  
use	
  the	
  BBC	
  to	
  verify	
  stories	
  they	
  have	
  first	
  head	
  from	
  social	
  media	
  or	
  less	
  authoritative	
  
websites.	
  	
  
	
  
Encouragingly	
  for	
  the	
  BBC,	
  it	
  is	
  by	
  far	
  the	
  most	
  trusted	
  news	
  source	
  in	
  the	
  country	
  –	
  58%	
  of	
  us	
  
say	
  it	
  is	
  the	
  single	
  most	
  trustworthy	
  source	
  of	
  news	
  –	
  no	
  newspaper	
  scores	
  more	
  than	
  2%	
  on	
  
that	
  measure.	
  
	
  
The	
  other	
  sources	
  of	
  national	
  news	
  are	
  also-­‐rans	
  by	
  comparison	
  -­‐	
  although	
  honourable	
  
mentions	
  must	
  go	
  to	
  ITV	
  News	
  and	
  Sky.	
  
	
  
And	
  I	
  must	
  note	
  the	
  magnificent	
  role	
  of	
  local	
  papers	
  in	
  supporting	
  a	
  sense	
  of	
  community	
  at	
  
local	
  level	
  –	
  a	
  healthy	
  relationship	
  between	
  those	
  hard	
  pressed	
  institutions	
  and	
  their	
  local	
  
BBC	
  radio	
  station	
  is	
  crucial.	
  	
  
	
  
Much	
  of	
  the	
  health	
  of	
  our	
  democracy	
  really	
  does	
  rest	
  on	
  the	
  shoulders	
  of	
  the	
  BBC,	
  to	
  spread	
  a	
  
measure	
  of	
  common	
  experience	
  that	
  is	
  mediated,	
  contextualised,	
  interpreted,	
  all	
  of	
  which	
  is	
  
essential	
  for	
  our	
  democracy	
  to	
  work.	
  
	
  
SOCIAL	
  MEDIA	
  
	
  
So	
  what	
  of	
  the	
  social	
  media?	
  
	
  
For	
  me,	
  and	
  I	
  suspect	
  for	
  you,	
  they	
  are	
  often	
  my	
  prime	
  source	
  of	
  news.	
  
	
  
But	
  the	
  problem	
  with	
  the	
  social	
  media	
  is	
  that	
  they	
  amplify	
  something	
  that	
  was	
  also	
  true	
  of	
  the	
  
conventional	
  printed	
  media	
  –you	
  choose	
  your	
  sources	
  of	
  information	
  and	
  you	
  tend	
  to	
  choose	
  
things,	
  sources,	
  people	
  you	
  agree	
  with.	
  
	
  
As	
  constituency	
  parties	
  decay	
  the	
  real	
  danger	
  for	
  MPs	
  is	
  that	
  they	
  hear	
  too	
  much	
  from	
  a	
  
smaller	
  and	
  smaller	
  and	
  less	
  representative	
  section	
  of	
  their	
  electorate.	
  
	
  
One	
  of	
  my	
  least	
  favourite	
  phrases,	
  and	
  one	
  often	
  used	
  to	
  trump	
  opposition	
  to	
  a	
  contrary	
  point	
  
of	
  view	
  is	
  “And	
  all	
  my	
  friends	
  agree	
  with	
  me”.	
  	
  Well,	
  they	
  would,	
  wouldn’t	
  they?	
  That’s	
  why	
  
they’re	
  your	
  friends.	
  
	
  
As	
  we	
  all	
  use	
  social	
  media	
  more	
  and	
  more,	
  just	
  like	
  the	
  decaying	
  political	
  parties	
  in	
  our	
  nation,	
  
we	
  retreat	
  into	
  ghettos	
  of	
  mutual	
  reinforcement,	
  only	
  choosing	
  as	
  “friends”,	
  or	
  only	
  to	
  
“follow”,	
  those	
  who	
  share	
  our	
  view	
  of	
  the	
  world.	
  
	
  
This	
  is	
  a	
  mistake	
  made	
  by	
  both	
  politicians	
  and	
  the	
  public	
  –	
  as	
  Simon	
  and	
  Garfunkel	
  so	
  
famously	
  put	
  it	
  in	
  The	
  Boxer,	
  
	
  
“A	
  man	
  hears	
  what	
  he	
  wants	
  to	
  hear	
  and	
  disregards	
  the	
  rest.”	
  
CIPR FELLOWS’ LUNCH JULY 25th
11
	
  
But	
  to	
  be	
  in	
  politics,	
  to	
  understand	
  politics	
  is	
  to	
  need	
  to	
  listen	
  to	
  conflicting	
  points	
  of	
  view	
  and	
  
to	
  reach	
  judgements	
  on	
  them.	
  Not	
  just	
  to	
  do	
  what	
  your	
  friends	
  would	
  like	
  you	
  to	
  do.	
  
	
  
Even	
  the	
  most	
  strident	
  newspaper	
  forces	
  you	
  to	
  look	
  at	
  stories	
  that	
  didn’t	
  immediately	
  
interest	
  you	
  and	
  exposes	
  you	
  to	
  opinion	
  pieces	
  from	
  writers	
  dissenting	
  from	
  the	
  paper’s	
  
editorial	
  line.	
  
	
  
Not	
  only	
  do	
  the	
  social	
  media	
  build	
  ghettos	
  of	
  mutual	
  reinforcement,	
  they	
  also	
  lend	
  themselves	
  
to	
  brevity	
  and	
  assertion,	
  often	
  abuse,	
  more	
  than	
  to	
  reason	
  and	
  explanation.	
  	
  140	
  Twitter	
  
characters	
  are	
  just	
  too	
  few	
  for	
  the	
  complexity	
  of	
  most	
  important	
  arguments.	
  
	
  
But	
  it	
  is	
  surprising	
  just	
  how	
  abusive	
  you	
  can	
  be	
  within	
  that	
  limit.	
  	
  One	
  recent	
  favourite,	
  from	
  
my	
  near	
  namesake	
  Davie	
  Tuff,	
  and	
  directed	
  at	
  me	
  and	
  on	
  or	
  two	
  others	
  just	
  for	
  canvassing	
  in	
  
the	
  Newark	
  by-­‐election	
  said	
  simply,	
  
	
  
Evil	
  scum	
  who	
  prey	
  on	
  the	
  disabled.	
  #nazis	
  
	
  
Pathetic	
  and	
  harmless?	
  Perhaps	
  not.	
  	
  Davie	
  Tuff	
  or	
  @bigtwix	
  has	
  108,000	
  followers.	
  
	
  
Social	
  media	
  are	
  not,	
  in	
  fact,	
  media	
  at	
  all.	
  	
  They	
  are	
  publishing	
  technologies,	
  and	
  the	
  views	
  in	
  
them	
  are	
  unmediated	
  –	
  that	
  is	
  a	
  large	
  part	
  of	
  their	
  problem.	
  	
  
	
  
Companies	
  with	
  reputations	
  to	
  protect	
  have	
  to	
  maintain	
  a	
  close	
  watch	
  on	
  the	
  potentially	
  
ruinous	
  rumour	
  or	
  libel	
  that	
  can	
  “trend”	
  on	
  a	
  social	
  media	
  platform	
  in	
  nanoseconds.	
  
	
  
And	
  the	
  skilful	
  modern	
  politician	
  will	
  work	
  out	
  how	
  to	
  exploit	
  the	
  lack	
  of	
  mediation	
  in	
  social	
  
media	
  to	
  promote	
  his	
  or	
  her	
  cause	
  without	
  the	
  tiresome	
  intermediation	
  of	
  the	
  public	
  spirited	
  
journalist	
  –	
  and	
  that’s	
  what	
  many	
  of	
  them	
  still	
  are.	
  
	
  
This	
  is	
  not	
  just	
  a	
  British	
  problem,	
  of	
  course.	
  	
  It	
  can	
  be	
  a	
  much	
  more	
  serious	
  problem	
  in	
  the	
  
developing	
  world	
  or	
  in	
  cases	
  of	
  extreme	
  social	
  disorder	
  where	
  there	
  are	
  no	
  established	
  news	
  
sources	
  local	
  people	
  can	
  rely	
  on.	
  
	
  
The	
  experience	
  of	
  newspapers,	
  radio	
  and	
  TV	
  stations	
  in	
  Kenya	
  in	
  the	
  wake	
  of	
  the	
  disputed	
  
2007	
  Presidential	
  Election	
  was	
  a	
  case	
  in	
  point:	
  many	
  regular	
  journalists	
  reported	
  that	
  they	
  
felt	
  'left	
  behind'	
  or	
  'irrelevant'	
  as	
  SMS	
  and	
  web-­‐based	
  systems	
  to	
  report	
  and	
  track	
  the	
  violence	
  
of	
  the	
  post-­‐election	
  crisis	
  rapidly	
  overtook	
  their	
  conventional	
  journalism	
  techniques.	
  
	
  
Skip	
  forward	
  to	
  2011	
  and	
  the	
  events	
  of	
  the	
  Arab	
  Spring,	
  and	
  there	
  was	
  an	
  explosion	
  in	
  the	
  role	
  
of	
  social	
  media	
  in	
  not	
  just	
  overtaking	
  legacy	
  media	
  correspondents	
  but	
  in	
  the	
  very	
  organising	
  
and	
  mobilising	
  of	
  revolutionary	
  movements	
  leading	
  to	
  regime	
  change.	
  	
  
	
  
The	
  media	
  development	
  organisation	
  Internews	
  Europevi	
  observed	
  across	
  the	
  region	
  a	
  
dramatic	
  void	
  rapidly	
  open	
  up	
  between	
  the	
  discredited	
  remnants	
  of	
  state-­‐media	
  propaganda	
  
machines	
  and	
  the	
  all-­‐powerful	
  social	
  media	
  across	
  Libya,	
  Tunisia,	
  Egypt	
  and	
  Syria.	
  
	
  
CIPR FELLOWS’ LUNCH JULY 25th
12
The	
  freedom	
  of	
  speech	
  and	
  free	
  expression	
  seemingly	
  being	
  offered	
  by	
  digital	
  media	
  rapidly	
  
led	
  to	
  citizens	
  regularly	
  citing	
  social	
  media	
  as	
  their	
  primary	
  source	
  of	
  news,	
  information	
  and	
  
analysis.	
  	
  	
  
	
  
Internews	
  has	
  witnessed	
  both	
  the	
  dramatic	
  success	
  of	
  social	
  media	
  journalism,	
  but	
  also	
  the	
  
pitfalls	
  and,	
  at	
  worst,	
  abuses	
  where,	
  for	
  example,	
  actuality	
  and	
  images	
  from	
  one	
  place	
  are	
  
passed	
  off	
  as	
  events	
  elsewhere	
  some	
  months	
  later.	
  	
  	
  	
  
	
  
This	
  has	
  led	
  Internews	
  Europe	
  to	
  test	
  and	
  deploy	
  the	
  first	
  versions	
  of	
  a	
  highly	
  sophisticated,	
  
semi-­‐automated,	
  News	
  Verification	
  tool	
  to	
  make	
  sense	
  of	
  the	
  social	
  media	
  chaos	
  in	
  the	
  
region.	
  	
  	
  The	
  algorithm	
  and	
  editorial	
  principles	
  behind	
  it	
  are	
  being	
  trialed	
  directly	
  with	
  
newsrooms	
  and	
  media	
  outlets.	
  	
  
	
  
The	
  system	
  is	
  felt	
  to	
  be	
  helping	
  editors	
  distinguish	
  rapidly	
  fact	
  from	
  fiction	
  and	
  also	
  
preventing	
  them	
  falling	
  behind	
  the	
  agenda.	
  	
  In	
  time,	
  greater	
  citizen	
  education	
  of	
  the	
  need	
  for	
  
the	
  curation	
  of	
  social	
  media	
  and	
  for	
  news	
  verification	
  is	
  absolutely	
  critical.	
  
	
  
Perhaps	
  technology	
  can	
  help	
  to	
  authenticate	
  the	
  accuracy	
  and	
  reliability	
  of	
  social	
  media	
  and	
  
make	
  the	
  news	
  these	
  media	
  propagate	
  trustworthy.	
  But	
  perhaps	
  that	
  has	
  dangers	
  of	
  its	
  own.	
  
Who	
  writes	
  the	
  algorithm?	
  He	
  or	
  she	
  is	
  the	
  new	
  but	
  anonymous	
  editor	
  with	
  immense	
  power.	
  
What	
  subjective	
  judgments	
  have,	
  knowingly	
  or	
  unknowingly,	
  been	
  written	
  in	
  to	
  them?	
  
	
  
VOLUME	
  AND	
  NOISE	
  
	
  
And	
  the	
  other	
  challenges	
  prompted	
  by	
  technology	
  include	
  volume	
  and	
  immediacy.	
  	
  	
  
	
  
We	
  live	
  in	
  a	
  transactional	
  world	
  where	
  the	
  customer	
  is	
  king.	
  Our	
  on-­‐line	
  gratification	
  through	
  
Amazon	
  is	
  immediate	
  and	
  we	
  expect	
  the	
  same	
  service	
  from	
  our	
  politicians.	
  	
  
	
  
Campaign	
  groups	
  like	
  38	
  Degrees	
  who	
  bombard	
  us	
  with	
  emails	
  from	
  constituents	
  who	
  have	
  
been	
  hoodwinked	
  by	
  brief	
  campaign	
  messages	
  from	
  the	
  organisers	
  do	
  harm,	
  not	
  good.	
  
	
  
They	
  breed	
  a	
  sense	
  of	
  entitlement	
  that	
  their	
  view	
  should	
  prevail	
  on	
  the	
  bogus	
  basis	
  that	
  
volume	
  outweighs	
  reason	
  -­‐	
  and	
  that	
  anything	
  short	
  of	
  acquiescence	
  to	
  their	
  often	
  ill-­‐
considered	
  demands	
  is	
  a	
  rejection	
  of	
  democracy	
  –	
  when	
  quite	
  the	
  opposite	
  is	
  generally	
  the	
  
case.	
  
	
  
My	
  contention	
  is	
  that	
  democracy	
  is	
  diminished,	
  not	
  enhanced	
  by	
  electronic	
  communications	
  –	
  
but	
  the	
  perception	
  is	
  very	
  different.	
  
	
  
Electronic	
  communications	
  have	
  created	
  a	
  false	
  sense	
  of	
  access	
  and	
  engagement	
  but	
  have	
  
actively	
  separated	
  MPs	
  from	
  direct	
  personal	
  responsibility	
  to	
  respond	
  to	
  all	
  communications;	
  
the	
  sheer	
  volume	
  makes	
  it	
  impossible	
  to	
  do	
  so.	
  
	
  
The	
  volume,	
  the	
  aggression,	
  the	
  ability	
  for	
  your	
  enemies	
  to	
  transmit	
  one	
  of	
  your	
  unguarded	
  
thoughts	
  to	
  the	
  world	
  at	
  the	
  press	
  of	
  a	
  button,	
  makes	
  politicians	
  seem	
  more	
  remote,	
  more	
  
guarded.	
  
	
  
I	
  am	
  by	
  nature	
  a	
  glass-­‐half	
  full	
  man	
  so	
  on	
  reflection	
  I	
  do,	
  just,	
  remain	
  optimistic.	
  
	
  
CIPR FELLOWS’ LUNCH JULY 25th
13
Most	
  obviously,	
  people	
  contact	
  MPs	
  in	
  increasing	
  numbers	
  to	
  solve	
  their	
  problems	
  or	
  to	
  
address	
  their	
  concerns.	
  	
  An	
  institution	
  experiencing	
  such	
  sharp	
  increases	
  in	
  demand	
  cannot	
  
be	
  said	
  to	
  be	
  irrelevant.	
  
	
  
People	
  still	
  form	
  opinions	
  on	
  political	
  issues	
  and	
  of	
  politicians,	
  but	
  do	
  we	
  understand	
  how	
  this	
  
happens?	
  
	
  
Fresh	
  ideas	
  can	
  still	
  be	
  communicated	
  powerfully	
  but	
  it	
  requires	
  a	
  new	
  approach	
  –	
  or	
  is	
  it	
  
largely	
  a	
  question	
  of	
  being	
  diligent	
  about	
  the	
  tried	
  and	
  tested	
  methods?	
  	
  
	
  
Twenty	
  year	
  ago	
  in	
  my	
  teenage	
  magazine	
  campaign	
  I	
  learnt	
  for	
  myself	
  the	
  power	
  of	
  advice	
  I	
  
was	
  always	
  giving	
  to	
  my	
  clients.	
  And	
  if	
  you	
  have	
  a	
  message	
  to	
  communicate	
  that	
  advice	
  is	
  still	
  
powerfully	
  valid.	
  
	
  
The	
  message	
  matters	
  most	
  
	
  
Get	
  the	
  message	
  right	
  and	
  everything	
  else	
  falls	
  into	
  place.	
  
	
  
You	
  can’t	
  repeat	
  the	
  message	
  too	
  often	
  
	
  	
  
As	
  I’ve	
  done	
  on	
  many	
  campaigns	
  since	
  –	
  and	
  as	
  I’ve	
  seen	
  politicians	
  so	
  often	
  forgetting	
  to	
  do	
  -­‐	
  
repeat	
  the	
  message	
  until	
  you’re	
  heartily	
  sick	
  of	
  it.	
  	
  Don’t	
  make	
  a	
  speech	
  and	
  move	
  on	
  as	
  we	
  so	
  
often	
  seem	
  to	
  do	
  
	
  
Repeat,	
  repeat,	
  repeat.	
  
	
  
Be	
  relevant	
  and	
  authentic	
  
	
  
Don’t	
  sound	
  like	
  just	
  another	
  politician.	
  Don’t	
  condescend,	
  don’t	
  lecture,	
  and	
  don’t	
  parrot	
  lines	
  
to	
  take	
  -­‐	
  but	
  be	
  human,	
  authentic.	
  	
  Say	
  what	
  you	
  believe.	
  Be	
  more	
  like	
  Boris.	
  
	
  
Understand	
  the	
  media	
  landscape	
  
	
  
In	
  a	
  sense	
  this	
  is	
  the	
  same	
  as	
  it	
  always	
  was	
  -­‐	
  learn	
  how	
  the	
  media	
  work	
  and	
  use	
  them.	
  But	
  
proliferation	
  and	
  the	
  social	
  media	
  have	
  made	
  this	
  much	
  more	
  complicated	
  
	
  
So	
  there	
  are	
  my	
  four	
  rules.	
  On	
  reflection	
  they’re	
  no	
  different	
  from	
  the	
  old	
  ones,	
  just	
  more	
  
important	
  than	
  ever.	
  
	
  
These	
  golden	
  rules	
  answer	
  the	
  problem	
  of	
  how	
  to	
  communicate	
  your	
  view,	
  your	
  proposition,	
  
and	
  your	
  message.	
  
	
  
They	
  don’t,	
  though,	
  guarantee	
  that	
  democracy	
  will	
  be	
  well	
  informed.	
  
	
  
So	
  still	
  I	
  worry	
  –	
  we	
  face	
  a	
  dangerous	
  combination	
  of	
  circumstances.	
  	
  
	
  
Newspapers	
  that	
  say	
  things	
  that	
  are	
  not	
  true	
  to	
  sell	
  copies,	
  social	
  media	
  that	
  isolate	
  and	
  
reinforce	
  prejudice,	
  and	
  politicians	
  who	
  can	
  exploit	
  the	
  unmediated	
  social	
  media	
  to	
  their	
  own	
  
ends.	
  	
  
	
  
CIPR FELLOWS’ LUNCH JULY 25th
14
That’s	
  the	
  bad	
  news.	
  	
  
	
  
The	
  good	
  news	
  is	
  that	
  this	
  all	
  makes	
  work	
  for	
  public	
  relations	
  professionals	
  like	
  you.	
  	
  	
  
	
  
So	
  continue	
  to	
  do	
  your	
  job	
  with	
  pride	
  and	
  passion.	
  	
  
	
  
And	
  two	
  final	
  thoughts.	
  
	
  
Crucially,	
  whatever	
  else	
  you	
  do,	
  be	
  careful;	
  never	
  Tweet	
  after	
  a	
  drink.	
  Always	
  pause	
  before	
  
pressing	
  send,	
  post	
  or	
  tweet.	
  So	
  put	
  your	
  phones	
  down	
  –	
  now!	
  
	
  
And	
  never	
  forget,	
  something	
  you	
  won’t	
  hear	
  many	
  fellow	
  Conservatives	
  say;	
  we	
  democrats	
  
should	
  thank	
  God	
  for	
  the	
  BBC.	
  
	
  
To	
  return	
  to	
  Enoch	
  Powell’s	
  warning	
  about	
  politicians	
  who	
  complain	
  about	
  the	
  media	
  being	
  
like	
  sea	
  captains	
  and	
  the	
  sea	
  –	
  the	
  BBC	
  is	
  our	
  democracy’s	
  lifeboat.	
  
	
  
ENDS	
  
i i
Or	
  again	
  from	
  Shakespeare,	
  as	
  Hamlet	
  contemplates	
  poor	
  Yorrick’s	
  skull	
  he	
  muses,	
  
	
  	
  
It	
  might	
  be	
  the	
  pate	
  of	
  a	
  politician,	
  one	
  that	
  would	
  circumvent	
  God.	
  
	
  
In	
  the	
  interests	
  of	
  etymological	
  exactitude	
  I	
  should	
  explain	
  that	
  “politician”	
  meant	
  something	
  rather	
  
different	
  in	
  Elizabethan	
  times.	
  
	
  
One	
  source	
  says	
  it	
  meant	
  a	
  
	
  
“...	
  trickster,	
  one	
  who	
  follows	
  Machiavelli’s	
  ‘policy’	
  “	
  
	
  
Another	
  source	
  offers	
  a	
  
	
  
“…	
  schemer,	
  intriguer,	
  plotter”.	
  
	
  
So	
  perhaps	
  it	
  did	
  mean	
  much	
  the	
  same	
  thing	
  after	
  all.	
  
ii
At	
  its	
  peak	
  in	
  1960	
  the	
  Daily	
  Express	
  had	
  a	
  circulation	
  of	
  over	
  4	
  million.	
  Now	
  it’s	
  just	
  half	
  a	
  million.	
  
	
  
In	
  1965	
  the	
  Daily	
  Mirror	
  sold	
  nearly	
  five	
  million	
  copies.	
  Now	
  it’s	
  just	
  a	
  million.	
  
	
  
In	
  1980	
  the	
  Daily	
  Telegraph	
  managed	
  1.5	
  million	
  copies.	
  	
  Now	
  it’s	
  half	
  a	
  million.	
  
	
  
In	
  1990	
  The	
  Guardian	
  was	
  selling	
  over	
  400,000	
  copies,	
  now	
  it’s	
  half	
  that.	
  
	
  
The	
  circulation	
  of	
  The	
  Times	
  is	
  actually	
  up	
  on	
  1960,	
  1970	
  and	
  1980	
  –	
  but	
  it’s	
  still	
  down	
  from	
  
678,000	
  at	
  its	
  peak	
  in	
  2000	
  to	
  under	
  500,000	
  today.	
  
iii iii
And	
  of	
  course	
  its	
  website	
  is	
  a	
  phenomenon.	
  In	
  May	
  it	
  attracted	
  4.7	
  million	
  browsers	
  daily	
  in	
  the	
  UK	
  
and	
  a	
  further	
  6.3	
  million	
  in	
  the	
  rest	
  of	
  the	
  world.	
  This	
  makes	
  it	
  the	
  world’s	
  biggest	
  news	
  website.	
  
• iv
	
  iv
	
  iv
	
  Average	
  daily	
  audience	
  for	
  6pm	
  &	
  10pm	
  bulletins	
  (2014	
  figures):	
  5m	
  and	
  4.6m	
  respectively	
  
CIPR FELLOWS’ LUNCH JULY 25th
15
• The	
  combined	
  weekly	
  audience	
  for	
  both	
  bulletins	
  is	
  22m	
  
• Both	
  bulletins	
  skew	
  marginally	
  more	
  female	
  (53%).	
  	
  And	
  both	
  are	
  slightly	
  older	
  (62%	
  over	
  55s	
  for	
  
the	
  Six,	
  52%	
  over	
  55s	
  for	
  the	
  Ten)	
  
• The	
  8pm	
  one	
  minute	
  news	
  bulletin	
  has	
  a	
  weekly	
  reach	
  of	
  12m	
  and	
  an	
  average	
  daily	
  audience	
  of	
  
3.9m.	
  The	
  audience	
  for	
  the	
  8pm	
  bulletin	
  skews	
  even	
  more	
  female	
  (61%),	
  is	
  younger	
  than	
  the	
  6pm	
  
and	
  10pm	
  news	
  bulletins	
  (54%	
  under	
  55)	
  and	
  slightly	
  more	
  C2DE	
  (53%)	
  	
  
• Radio	
  1	
  Newsbeat	
  reaches	
  8.9m	
  weekly	
  –	
  within	
  that,	
  the	
  15	
  min	
  Newsbeat	
  bulletins	
  at	
  lunchtime	
  
and	
  in	
  the	
  evening	
  reach	
  2.1m	
  and	
  1.8m	
  respectively.	
  	
  R1	
  total	
  news	
  audiences	
  are	
  balanced	
  in	
  
terms	
  of	
  gender	
  and,	
  as	
  you	
  would	
  expect,	
  younger	
  (59%	
  under	
  35)iv
	
  
vi vi
"Internews Europe is an international development organisation specialising in supporting independent
media, freedom of information and free expression around the globe"	
  

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The New Media and Democracy, Sir Peter Luff MP.

  • 1. CIPR FELLOWS’ LUNCH JULY 25th 1 THE  NEW  MEDIA  AND  DEMOCRACY     SIR  PETER  LUFF  MP,  FCIPR,  FSA     CIPR  Fellows’  Lunch,  25th  July  2014     In  an  editorial  last  Saturday,  the  Financial  Times,  in  an  almost  perfectly  contrived  insult  to  all   of  us  here,  wrote,     “..  there  is  still  too  much  of  the  PR  man  about  Britain’s  Prime  Minister.”     Next  Spring  I  stand  down  after  twenty  three  years  as  a  Member  of  Parliament.     Throughout  those  years,  I  have  often  realised  that  my  previous  life  in  public  relations   consultancy  was  the  best  possible  training  for  the  job.  How  wrong  can  the  FT  be?     In  the  great  circus  of  life  that  is  both  PR  consultancy  and  politics,  you  must  learn  not  just  to   juggle,  to  keep  many  and  very  different  groups  –  of  clients  or  constituents  –  content,  but  also   to  tame  huge  issues,  lions,  that  threaten  to  devour  you  if  you  make  a  single  slip.     In  fact,  as  I  said  in  a  recent  CIPR  interview,  what  you  really  need  to  perfect  is  the  art  of   juggling  lions.     To  take  an  example  I  remember  particularly  clearly,     my  training  in  PR  proved  its  worth  within  two  years  of  my  election.    In  1994  I  bought  my  nine   year-­‐old  daughter  a  girls’  magazine  –  and  was  genuinely  surprised  to  find  sexually  explicit   content  on  its  letters  page.     I  soon  discovered  it  was  one  of  many  magazines  aimed  at  girls  between  eight  and  eighteen   using  sex  to  sell.  There  was  a  race  to  the  gutter  going  on  in  the  name  of  circulation.     These  magazines  were  both  sexually  explicit  and  deeply  sexist.  Their  disturbing  message  was   simple.  Boys  did  real  things  but  girls  –well  their  role  was  just  to  be  girls  for  the  boys.     So  I  decided  to  use  my  position  as  an  MP  to  raise  the  issue.       During  this  targeted  campaign  I  applied  some  widely  appreciated  rules  of  communication.       Above  all  else,  I  focused  on  communicating  a  clear  and  compelling  message  –  never  prim,   condescending  or  lecturing.  Not  a  preachy  message,  just  a  sense  that  girls  were  being  let  down   by  the  magazines  that  were  supposed  to  help  them.     I  said  I  understood  the  need  for  sensitive  and  professional  advice  but  what  the  magazines   were  doing  was  excessive,  sexist  and  robbed  children  of  their  childhoods.     It  turned  out  that  I  had  articulated  what  thousands  of  parents  thought  –  and  public  opinion   was  on  my  side.    
  • 2. CIPR FELLOWS’ LUNCH JULY 25th 2 I  also  repeated  my  message  until  people  got  sick  of  hearing  me  say  it.  As  my  old  political  boss   Peter  Walker  often  told  me,  “It’s  only  when  you  are  sick  and  tired  of  your  message  that  you’re   just  beginning  to  communicate  it  to  others.”       I  focused  on  the  big  picture,  dealing  with  the  relatively  few  TV,  radio  and  print  titles  that  held   the  influence  nationally.  Success  with  those  would  move  opinion.       And  it  worked.  I  had  used  my  PR  training  to  run  a  one  man  campaign  that  actually  changed   something.     After  some  very  bad  publicity,  the  publishers  -­‐  who  were  unable  to  believe  I  did  not  have   funding  and  campaign  mangers  behind  me  -­‐  soon  capitulated;  a  new  independent  regulator,  a   code  of  conduct,  and  only  professionally  qualified  counsellors  to  offer  advice  on  the  problem   pages.  The  magazines  actually  improved.     Such  a  campaign  wouldn’t  have  succeeded  if  I  hadn’t  followed  the  advice  I  had  been  giving   clients  as  a  communications  consultant.       I  was  both  attacking  part  of  the  media  and  using  the  media  to  help  me.  It  was  an  exercise  in   the  triumph  of  democracy  over  commercial  interest.     I  don’t  tell  you  this  to  blow  my  own  trumpet.  I  tell  it  to  blow  yours.       PRs  have  a  genuinely  important  role  in  challenging  the  status  quo  and  gaining  profile  for  their   clients  and  causes.       We  won’t  all  agree  on  the  merits  of  those  causes  or  clients,  but  we  should  agree  that  they  have   the  right  to  be  heard.  That  is  democracy  after  all.     So,  contrary  to  the  views  of  the  FT,  we  PRs  make  good  politicians  –  we  serve  democracy  pretty   effectively.     Democracy  is  very  topical  at  the  moment  –  and  about  to  become  even  more  so.       Next  year,  election  year,  marks  the  800th  anniversary  of  Magna  Carta  and  the  750th   Anniversary  of  what  is  generally  recognised  as  the  first  broadly  representative  English   parliament.     Our  contemporary  freedoms  and  democratic  representation  began  their  evolution  from  these   two,  related  events.     So  this  is  a  good  time  to  reflect  on  the  health  of  our  democracy.     And  I  take  as  my  text  –  or  perhaps  my  warning  to  myself  -­‐  that  famous  quote  of  Enoch  Powell,     “For  a  politician  to  complain  about  the  press  is  like  a  ship's  captain  complaining  about  the  sea.”     Nonetheless,  my  subject  is  a  simple  and  well-­‐worn  one  –  the  relationship  between  politicians   and  the  media  and  the  consequences  for  our  democracy.    
  • 3. CIPR FELLOWS’ LUNCH JULY 25th 3 I  am  thinking  of  the  consequences  of;   • the  new  need  for  speed  which  drives  instant  reaction  to  often  complex  events;     • of  the  growing  commercial  pressures  that  drive  even  the  most  respectable  news  outlet   into  a  search  for  sensation;   • and  of  the  loss  of  journalistic  interpretation  in  the  new  social  media  that  leads  to   unmediated  news  triumphing  over  the  mediated.     My  thesis  is  simple.  It  is  that  democratic  societies  need  shared  places  -­‐  particularly  in  the   media  -­‐  for  rational,  informed  political  debate.     My  concern  is  that  the  decline  in  the  reach  and  quality  of  traditional,  “legacy”  media  coupled   with  the  fragmentation  of  the  population  caused  by  the  new  “social”  media,  endanger  those   places  -­‐  and  so  it  is  ever  more  important  to  uphold  them  wherever  we  can.     These  changes  might  actually  help  some  politicians,  parties  and  interest  groups  ;  if  they  use   media  management  techniques  and  the  social  media  well,  they  can  by-­‐pass  objective  criticism   and  make  their  unmediated  case  direct  to  their  supporters  and  potential  supporters.     But  they  make  life  harder  for  democracy  as  we  lose  our  shared  national  narrative  and   understanding  and  as  the  essential,  constructive  challenge  to  politicians  provided  by  good   journalism  is  no  longer  as  effective.       The  conventional  view  is  that  a  free  press  and  technological  change  has  driven  increased   awareness  of  opportunity  and  liberty  –  and  so  played  a  major  part  in  ending  tyranny  in   Eastern  Europe  and  elsewhere.         But  are  the  new  social  media  always  the  same  force  for  good?       They  certainly  do  good.       Above  all,  they  spread  knowledge.     I  have  seen  their  power  and  positive  impact  as  they  share  news  among  specific  vulnerable   groups  such  as  the  elderly,  the  disabled  or  those  with  special  medical  needs.       The  same  public  service  can  be  performed  within  local  communities  as  events  and  issues,  like   flood  warnings,  are  spread  rapidly  to  residents.     And  in  times  of  conflict  they  can  give  the  lie  to  the  propaganda  of  ruling  elites  and  autocrats.     But  what  of  the  harm?       By  providing  channels  for  bad  men  to  recruit  converts  to  their  cause,  or  to  spread  poisonous   disinformation  in  an  instant,  for  example,  they  can  do  actual  harm  to  democracy.     More  subtly,  they  undermine  our  democracy  in  another  way.     The  social  media  reduce  society  to  groups  of  self-­‐selecting  special  interests  who  spend  more   and  more  of  their  time  talking  to  those  with  similar  views,  isolating  themselves  from  contrary   points  of  view.  
  • 4. CIPR FELLOWS’ LUNCH JULY 25th 4   Who  do  we  talk  to  now  to  form  our  opinions?  In  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries  it   was  the  coffeehouses  of  London  where  society’s  elite  formed  its  shared  understandings.  We   still  need  those  coffeehouse  forums,  actual  or  metaphorical,  where  exchange  and  debate  takes   place.     My  conclusion  is  that  the  diminution  of  such  shared  places  in  the  media  –  and  of  the   atomisation  of  public  debate  caused  by  social  media  -­‐  mean  that  more  and  more  of  the  burden   of  nurturing  our  democracy  falls  on  the  shoulders  of  just  one  media  organisation  –  the  BBC.     Public  relations  professionals  need  the  ability  to  engage  in  a  free  exchange  of  information  and   to  conduct  public  conversations  that  are  well-­‐informed.  But  democracy  needs  those  things   just  as  keenly.     My  argument  has  two  caveats.     NEVER  TRUST  A  POLITICIAN     Caveat  number  one.     I’m  not  about  to  issue  a  plea  for  politicians  to  be  liked.  A  degree  of  healthy  cynicism  is   essential.         One  of  my  favourite  lines  in  Shakespeare  comes  when  Lear  comforts  the  cruelly  blinded   Gloucester  with  these  words,     Get  thee  glass  eyes     And,  like  a  scurvy  politician,  seem     To  see  the  things  thou  dost  not.  i     I  think  that  modern  cynicism  has  reached  dangerous  levels,  yes,  but  the  politicians’  response   must  be  to  win  back  respect,  not  to  seek  popularity.     My  heart  sinks  when  I  hear  another  politician  is  going  on  “Have  I  Got  News  for  You”  to  try  and   be  funny.     But  I  suppose  it’s  better  than  going  into  the  jungle  to  eat  mealy  grubs  in  the  deluded  belief   that  “I’m  a  Celebrity,  Get  Me  Out  of  Here”  is  a  good  vehicle  to  engage  the  alienated.     Or  believing  that  sensational  Tweeting  is  a  satisfactory  substitute  for  serious  thought.     NO  MEDIA  GOLDEN  AGE     And  caveat  number  two.     I  am  definitely  not  making  a  plea  for  a  return  to  some  lost  golden  age  -­‐  for  politicians  at  least  -­‐   when  journalists  and  newspapers  knew  their  place.    No  such  time  ever  existed,  although  I  do   look  back  with  a  twinge  of  nostalgia  at  some  of  those  early,  intensely  deferential  television   interviews.    
  • 5. CIPR FELLOWS’ LUNCH JULY 25th 5 You  know  the  sort  of  thing  –  “Please  Mr  Macmillan,  do  tell  us  what  you  think.”   The  truth  is,  as  you  all  know,  that  the  British  media  have  always  been  robust  and  politicians   have  always  complained.  Somehow  democracy  survived  and  even  flourished.   Perhaps  no  complaint  was  more  famous  than  that  of  my  illustrious  predecessor  as  a   Worcestershire  MP,  Stanley  Baldwin,  who  famously  attacked  the  papers  owned  by   Beaverbrook  and  Rothermere  three  days  before  the  election  in  March  1931,  when  he  said,     “The  newspapers  attacking  me  are  not  newspapers  in  the  ordinary  sense.    They  are  engines  of   propaganda  for  the  constantly  changing  policies,  desires,  personal  vices,  personal  likes  and   dislikes  of  the  two  men.  What  are  their  methods?  Their  methods  are  direct  falsehoods,   misrepresentation,  half-­truths,  the  alteration  of  the  speaker's  meaning  by  publishing  a  sentence   apart  from  the  context...What  the  proprietorship  of  these  papers  is  aiming  at  is  power,  and   power  without  responsibility  –  the  prerogative  of  the  harlot  throughout  the  ages.”   To  be  fair,  the  British  press  has,  rightly,  always  been  anxious  to  expose  wrongdoing.    But  their   targets  have  not  always  been  fair  ones.     Look  for  example  at  the  fictional  travails  of  Septimus  Harding,  warden  of  Hiram’s  Hospital,  at   the  hands  of  The  Jupiter  –  a  thinly  disguised  Times  –  in  Trollope’s  outstanding  1855  novel,  The   Warden,  first  in  his  glorious  series  The  Chronicles  of  Barsetshire.     The  warden  was  a  good  and  honest  man,  traduced  and  hounded  to  near  penury  by  the  press.     Good  people  have  indeed  been  hounded  unfairly  for  centuries.  That  can  be  the  price  of  a  free   press  –  that  it  can  make  mistakes.     So,  to  be  absolutely  clear  I  am  not  asking  for  journalists  to  stop  doing  their  job  –  politicians   must  always  be  treated  with  scepticism.  They  always  have  been  and  happily  there’s  little   prospect  of  that  changing  in  a  hurry,  even  in  a  post-­‐Leveson,  post-­‐phone  hacking  world.     So  I  am  not  saying  politicians  should  be  treated  with  kid  gloves,  and  I  am  not  saying  that  the   media  should  not  be  robust.     But  it’s  time  to  worry  when  hard-­‐nosed  observers  like  Andrew  Marr  writing  ten  years  ago,   say,     “…  the  truth  is  that  we  political  journalists  have  spent  too  much  time  metaphorically  jamming   wastebins  on  politicians’  heads.  We  have  become  too  powerful,  too  much  the  interpreters,  using   our  talents  as  communicators  to  crowd  them  out.  On  paper  we  mock  them  as  never  before  and   report  them  less  than  ever  before.  ….  We  are  overshadowing  the  institutions  that  made  us;  we   have  become  insufficiently  serious.    Once  my  father  bought  a  rose  bush  for  our  garden  in   Scotland.  He  supported  it  with  some  insignificant-­looking  sticks.  The  rose  died  and  the  sticks   grew.  That  is  what  happening  in  Westminster  too.”     I  am  also  worried  about  a  declining  respect  for  the  truth  and  an  increasing  recklessness  in   political  comment  that  would  make  even  harlots  blush.    
  • 6. CIPR FELLOWS’ LUNCH JULY 25th 6 That  recklessness  is  in  large  part  a  product  of  the  need  for  speed  I  referred  to  earlier  –  forget   the  24  hour  news  cycle  –  now  it’s  more  like  five  minutes.     Snap  judgements  -­‐  by  politicians  and  commentators  -­‐  become  the  conventional  wisdom  and   deeper  reflection  becomes  challenging.     As  Andrew  Marr  clearly  recognises,  politicians  do  need  a  minimum  level  of  respect  -­‐  and  facts   are  very  precious  things  indeed.     We  live  in  a  time  of  unprecedented  change  and  complexity  when  more  careful  thought  is   needed  than  ever.     But  our  politics  and  our  media  are  conspiring  together  to  drive  us  to  instant  reactions,   meaningless  sound  bites  and  gross  simplifications.     And  the  awkward  truth  is  that  politics  in  the  UK  has  become  rather  boring.       As  Kevin  Toolis,  author  of  “The  Confessions  of  Gordon  Brown”  observed  recently;     “In  the  olden  days,  the  Labour  and  Tory  Party  conferences  were  guaranteed  political  barn  fest.   Revolts  –  among  the  delegates,  errant  union  bosses  and  pro-­hanging  Tory  wannabes  -­  were  as   common  as  bare-­breasted  women  in  Game  of  Thrones.  Passion  and  politics  mattered.  But  post   new  Labour,  bar  the  odd  expenses  scandal,  our  ideological  ground  has  narrowed.  Shut  your  eyes,   and  it’s  hard  to  tell  Tory  and  Labour  MPs  apart.  …  if  modern  British  politics  is  an  art  form,  it   remains  a  very  dull  one.”     No  wonder  colourful  but  implausible  figures  like  Nigel  Farage  -­‐  or  eccentric  dissidents  on  the   government  backbenches  -­‐  attract  support.     And  this  is  not  just  a  UK  problem;  as  the  now  very  elderly  former  German  Chancellor  Helmut   Schmidt  said  recently,     “Media  democracies  don’t  produce  leaders,  they  produce  populists.”       They  also  produce  robots.     In  one  particularity  cruel  briefing  recently  ahead  of  the  last  reshuffle  it  was  reported  critics  of   a  cabinet  minister  were  saying  of  her,  using  a  rather  dated  metaphor,     “She  puts  in  a  tape,  presses  play,  and  this  stream  of  stuff  comes  out.  She  doesn’t  listen.”     That  description  fits  most  political  interviews  I  hear  these  days  with  front  benchers  in   particular  too  scared  to  deviate  from  the  line  to  take.     No  wonder  voters  feel  disengaged.     MEDIA  CHANGE    
  • 7. CIPR FELLOWS’ LUNCH JULY 25th 7 As  Parties  have  declined  in  their  power  and  the  respect  in  which  politicians  is  held  has  sunk   ever  lower,  the  traditional  media  have  fragmented  and  decayed  and  the  social  media  have   blossomed.       Technology  and  commercial  competition  have  ravaged  the  newspaper  industry  and   proliferated  the  electronic  media.       And  so  often  in  the  explosion  of  television  channels  and  the  frenzy  of  commercial  radio,  news   broadcasts  play  second  fiddle  at  best.     Not  so  long  ago  a  couple  of  interviews  and  a  piece  dictated  to  the  Press  Association  were   enough  to  ensure  your  information,  as  long  as  it  was  sufficiently  compelling  or  important,   would  be  carried  to  a  majority  of  the  population.         I  can  remember  as  if  it  were  yesterday  a  world  with  just  two  television  channels  –  and  I  can   recall  the  day  our  first  television  came  to  the  Luff  household  in  about  1960.       I  still  tend  to  think  of  commercial  radio  as  pirate  radio.  The  Home  Service  and  the  Light   Programme  were  my  only  two  radio  stations.       Then  it  was  unthinkable  to  start  the  day  without  reading  a  national  newspaper.  Now  most   people  never  pick  one  up  at  all.     And  that  is  a  shame.  Or  should  be.     There  still  is  a  shared  news  agenda  that  the  country  as  a  whole  hears,  but  it  is  spread  over   more  and  more  platforms  and  is  becoming  fragile.       Our  shared  national  understanding  is  at  risk  of  decay  as  news  sources  proliferate,  and  become   more  superficial,  as  politics  is  taken  less  seriously  and  as  news  bulletins  become  briefer.     As  much  as  ever,  perhaps  more,  we  need  the  media  -­‐  and  that  means  journalists,  good   journalists,  to  mediate,  to  explain  and  to  comment.  To  put  in  context.  To  provide  background   and  reason.       Journalists  and  commentators  like  Matthew  Parris  and  Danny  Finklestein,  like  Steve  Richards   and  Robert  Peston,  like  Andy  Marr,  John  Humphries  ,  Jeremy  Vine  and  Nick  Robinson  –  who,   whatever  their  personal  views,  clearly  care  about  politics  and  society.         But,  in  many  cases,  the  approach  to  politics  of  too  many  journalists  and  editors  has  become   trivial  at  best,  destructive  at  worst.     What  worries  me  now  is  that  the  ever-­‐deepening  contempt  for  politicians  in  which  so  many   newspapers  seem  to  hold  us  is  matched  only  by  an  equal  contempt  for  the  truth.     Here  are  some  recent  examples.     • First  the  Daily  Mail  and  the  Daily  Express:      
  • 8. CIPR FELLOWS’ LUNCH JULY 25th 8 At  the  beginning  of  the  year  both  these  papers  played  to  the  gallery  in  the  most  exotic  terms   over  the  coming  wave  of  Romanians  and  Bulgarians.     “Benefits  Britain  Here  We  Come;  Fears  as  migrant  flood  begins”  screamed  the  Express  on  New   Year’s  Day.  The  Mail  headlined  one  of  its  stores  that  same  day;     “Sold  out!  Flights  and  buses  full  as  Romanians  head  for  the  UK.”     Except  it  just  wasn’t  true.  The  flights  were  not  sold  out  –  there  were  seats  at  reasonable  prices   on  all  of  them.  And  the  numbers  of  Bulgarians  and  Romanians  in  the  UK  actually  fell  slightly  in   the  first  quarter  of  this  year.     But  reports  like  these  set  the  context  for  the  most  sensitive  debate  in  our  democracy  at   present  -­‐  immigration.     • Second,  The  Times     Not  to  be  outdone  in  the  “Let’s  drive  the  reputation  of  MPs  even  lower”  contest  the  Times   joined  in  last  month  with  the  extraordinary  headline  “  MPs’  £750,000  bar  bill”.       It  turned  out  the  £750,000  bill  was  the  total  for  all  alcohol  served  at  the  bars  and  restaurant  to   MPs,  their  staff,  Commons  staff,  journalists,  all  these  groups’  guests  –and  included  bottles  of   whisky  sold  to  the  general  public  from  the  gift  shop  and  the  alcohol  drunk  by  people  at  the   many  events  hosted  in  Parliament.       Incidentally,  The  Times  went  one  better  on  July  11th  with  its  devastating    -­‐  and  truthful  -­‐   revelation  “Scissors,  stapler  and  plastic  ruler  among  MPs’  latest  expenses”.     Yes,  our  office  costs  budgets  really  are  used  to  pay  for  –  shock  horror  –  running  our  offices.     • Third,  the  Sunday  Times:     I’m  specially  troubled  by  The  Sunday  Times’  growing  reputation  for  sensationalised  reports   that  hang  by  the  barest  thread  to  a  semblance  of  the  truth.    Here  is  the  home  of  investigative   journalism  of  the  highest  kind.    Now  though,  it  gets  so  much  just  plain  wrong.       On  15th  June  under  the  headline  “RAF’s  new  fighter  gets  so  hot  it  melts  runways”  it  reported  on   what  it  went  to  on  to  describe  as  “Britain’s  troubled  new  £100  million  fighter  jet.”     Leaving  on  one  side  that  the  F35  is  for  the  RAF  and  the  Royal  Navy,  it’s  most  egregious  error   was  its  “revelation”  that  we’d  only  just  worked  out  that  it  got  rather  hot  where  the  powerful   jet  engines  point  when  it  lands  vertically.  Apparently  none  of  the  clever  people  at  the  MoD  –   or  the  US  DoD  -­‐  had  thought  of  this  and  so  we  were  having  to  rush  to  install  concrete  landing   pads  at  UK  bases  for  the  planes  in  yet  another  defence  cock-­‐up.     Sadly  for  the  Sunday  Times  and  its  scandalised  readers,  the  story  was  wrong  on  every  count.   Of  course  we  knew  it  got  hot  when  an  F35  lands  and  we  had  always  budgeted  for  and  planned   these  landing  pads.  But  don’t  let  the  facts  get  in  the  way  of  a  good  story.    
  • 9. CIPR FELLOWS’ LUNCH JULY 25th 9 And  let  me  repeat  that  point  about  investigative  journalism  –  great  scoops  like  the  Sunday   Times’  hard  work  on  the  Qatar  World  Cup  story.         We  need  the  occasional  brilliance  of  this  paper  to  manifest  itself  more  often,  but  it  lets  itself   down  every  time  it  runs  a  story  like  the  F35  one.         How  can  I  believe  its  investigative  scoops  when  I  know  its  routine  news  is  so  often  just   wrong?     How  can  a  democracy  flourish  if  the  voters  are  so  grievously  misled  or  only  partially  informed   at  best?     So  the  traditional  media  –  newspapers,  television  and  radio  -­‐  facing  a  daily  battle  for  survival,   have  become  more  varied,  less  coherent.  Our  news  now  is:     • Fragmented   • Transitory   • Sensationalised  and   • Often  just  wrong     Thank  God,  you  may  say,  for  the  extraordinary  decline  in  national  newspaper  circulations.ii     Every  single  national  daily  and  Sunday  paper  has  seen  serious  falls  since  2010,  typically  after   long  periods  of  decline.     Only  the  good  old  Daily  Mail  has  held  its  head  high,  bobbing  around  the  two  million  mark  for   the  last  fifty  years  –  but  it’s  still  down  from  2.3  million  in  2000  to  1.7  million  now.iii     But  the  fact  is  that,  while  newspapers  remain  very  important  sources  of  views,  if  not  news,   nowhere  near  enough  newspapers  are  now  sold  in  the  UK  to  use  simply  printed  media  to   communicate  your  political  philosophy,  your  policies  or  your  views  sufficiently  widely.     Indeed,  unfair  criticism  or  plain  error  of  the  kind  I  have  described  may  be  less  significant  to   politicians  and  parties  than  once  it  was.  We  can  shrug  off  what  the  papers  say  more  readily   than  our  predecessors  ever  could.       Apparently  Andy  Coulson’s  successor  at  Downing  Street,  Craig  Oliver,  a  former  television   journalist,  doesn’t  think  newspapers  matter  much  and  avoids  speaking  to  them  if  possible.    Ed   Miliband  has  let  it  be  known  he  doesn’t  read  them  often.     Downing  Street  does,  though,  worry  about  the  television  and  social  media  –  and  they  are  right.   As  The  Economist  put  it  recently,     “For  the  tyranny  of  the  leader  column,  Mr  Oliver  has  substituted  the  terror  of  the  tweet.”     But  television  offers  a  ray  of  democratic  hope  –  step  forward  the  BBC.     BBC  TV  News  reaches  around  two  thirds  of  UK  adults  every  week.    This  reach  has  remained   remarkably  resilient  over  the  last  decade.    
  • 10. CIPR FELLOWS’ LUNCH JULY 25th 10   Radio  One  Newsbeat  reaches  42%  of  all  15-­‐24  year  olds  with  its  two  daily  programmes.     And  the  BBC  website  is  a  remarkably  reliable  source,  attracting  some  20%  of  all  UK  news   website  visits.iv     Over  80  per  cent  of  people  consume  some  BBC  news  every  week  –  and  it  seems  many  of  them   use  the  BBC  to  verify  stories  they  have  first  head  from  social  media  or  less  authoritative   websites.       Encouragingly  for  the  BBC,  it  is  by  far  the  most  trusted  news  source  in  the  country  –  58%  of  us   say  it  is  the  single  most  trustworthy  source  of  news  –  no  newspaper  scores  more  than  2%  on   that  measure.     The  other  sources  of  national  news  are  also-­‐rans  by  comparison  -­‐  although  honourable   mentions  must  go  to  ITV  News  and  Sky.     And  I  must  note  the  magnificent  role  of  local  papers  in  supporting  a  sense  of  community  at   local  level  –  a  healthy  relationship  between  those  hard  pressed  institutions  and  their  local   BBC  radio  station  is  crucial.       Much  of  the  health  of  our  democracy  really  does  rest  on  the  shoulders  of  the  BBC,  to  spread  a   measure  of  common  experience  that  is  mediated,  contextualised,  interpreted,  all  of  which  is   essential  for  our  democracy  to  work.     SOCIAL  MEDIA     So  what  of  the  social  media?     For  me,  and  I  suspect  for  you,  they  are  often  my  prime  source  of  news.     But  the  problem  with  the  social  media  is  that  they  amplify  something  that  was  also  true  of  the   conventional  printed  media  –you  choose  your  sources  of  information  and  you  tend  to  choose   things,  sources,  people  you  agree  with.     As  constituency  parties  decay  the  real  danger  for  MPs  is  that  they  hear  too  much  from  a   smaller  and  smaller  and  less  representative  section  of  their  electorate.     One  of  my  least  favourite  phrases,  and  one  often  used  to  trump  opposition  to  a  contrary  point   of  view  is  “And  all  my  friends  agree  with  me”.    Well,  they  would,  wouldn’t  they?  That’s  why   they’re  your  friends.     As  we  all  use  social  media  more  and  more,  just  like  the  decaying  political  parties  in  our  nation,   we  retreat  into  ghettos  of  mutual  reinforcement,  only  choosing  as  “friends”,  or  only  to   “follow”,  those  who  share  our  view  of  the  world.     This  is  a  mistake  made  by  both  politicians  and  the  public  –  as  Simon  and  Garfunkel  so   famously  put  it  in  The  Boxer,     “A  man  hears  what  he  wants  to  hear  and  disregards  the  rest.”  
  • 11. CIPR FELLOWS’ LUNCH JULY 25th 11   But  to  be  in  politics,  to  understand  politics  is  to  need  to  listen  to  conflicting  points  of  view  and   to  reach  judgements  on  them.  Not  just  to  do  what  your  friends  would  like  you  to  do.     Even  the  most  strident  newspaper  forces  you  to  look  at  stories  that  didn’t  immediately   interest  you  and  exposes  you  to  opinion  pieces  from  writers  dissenting  from  the  paper’s   editorial  line.     Not  only  do  the  social  media  build  ghettos  of  mutual  reinforcement,  they  also  lend  themselves   to  brevity  and  assertion,  often  abuse,  more  than  to  reason  and  explanation.    140  Twitter   characters  are  just  too  few  for  the  complexity  of  most  important  arguments.     But  it  is  surprising  just  how  abusive  you  can  be  within  that  limit.    One  recent  favourite,  from   my  near  namesake  Davie  Tuff,  and  directed  at  me  and  on  or  two  others  just  for  canvassing  in   the  Newark  by-­‐election  said  simply,     Evil  scum  who  prey  on  the  disabled.  #nazis     Pathetic  and  harmless?  Perhaps  not.    Davie  Tuff  or  @bigtwix  has  108,000  followers.     Social  media  are  not,  in  fact,  media  at  all.    They  are  publishing  technologies,  and  the  views  in   them  are  unmediated  –  that  is  a  large  part  of  their  problem.       Companies  with  reputations  to  protect  have  to  maintain  a  close  watch  on  the  potentially   ruinous  rumour  or  libel  that  can  “trend”  on  a  social  media  platform  in  nanoseconds.     And  the  skilful  modern  politician  will  work  out  how  to  exploit  the  lack  of  mediation  in  social   media  to  promote  his  or  her  cause  without  the  tiresome  intermediation  of  the  public  spirited   journalist  –  and  that’s  what  many  of  them  still  are.     This  is  not  just  a  British  problem,  of  course.    It  can  be  a  much  more  serious  problem  in  the   developing  world  or  in  cases  of  extreme  social  disorder  where  there  are  no  established  news   sources  local  people  can  rely  on.     The  experience  of  newspapers,  radio  and  TV  stations  in  Kenya  in  the  wake  of  the  disputed   2007  Presidential  Election  was  a  case  in  point:  many  regular  journalists  reported  that  they   felt  'left  behind'  or  'irrelevant'  as  SMS  and  web-­‐based  systems  to  report  and  track  the  violence   of  the  post-­‐election  crisis  rapidly  overtook  their  conventional  journalism  techniques.     Skip  forward  to  2011  and  the  events  of  the  Arab  Spring,  and  there  was  an  explosion  in  the  role   of  social  media  in  not  just  overtaking  legacy  media  correspondents  but  in  the  very  organising   and  mobilising  of  revolutionary  movements  leading  to  regime  change.       The  media  development  organisation  Internews  Europevi  observed  across  the  region  a   dramatic  void  rapidly  open  up  between  the  discredited  remnants  of  state-­‐media  propaganda   machines  and  the  all-­‐powerful  social  media  across  Libya,  Tunisia,  Egypt  and  Syria.    
  • 12. CIPR FELLOWS’ LUNCH JULY 25th 12 The  freedom  of  speech  and  free  expression  seemingly  being  offered  by  digital  media  rapidly   led  to  citizens  regularly  citing  social  media  as  their  primary  source  of  news,  information  and   analysis.         Internews  has  witnessed  both  the  dramatic  success  of  social  media  journalism,  but  also  the   pitfalls  and,  at  worst,  abuses  where,  for  example,  actuality  and  images  from  one  place  are   passed  off  as  events  elsewhere  some  months  later.           This  has  led  Internews  Europe  to  test  and  deploy  the  first  versions  of  a  highly  sophisticated,   semi-­‐automated,  News  Verification  tool  to  make  sense  of  the  social  media  chaos  in  the   region.      The  algorithm  and  editorial  principles  behind  it  are  being  trialed  directly  with   newsrooms  and  media  outlets.       The  system  is  felt  to  be  helping  editors  distinguish  rapidly  fact  from  fiction  and  also   preventing  them  falling  behind  the  agenda.    In  time,  greater  citizen  education  of  the  need  for   the  curation  of  social  media  and  for  news  verification  is  absolutely  critical.     Perhaps  technology  can  help  to  authenticate  the  accuracy  and  reliability  of  social  media  and   make  the  news  these  media  propagate  trustworthy.  But  perhaps  that  has  dangers  of  its  own.   Who  writes  the  algorithm?  He  or  she  is  the  new  but  anonymous  editor  with  immense  power.   What  subjective  judgments  have,  knowingly  or  unknowingly,  been  written  in  to  them?     VOLUME  AND  NOISE     And  the  other  challenges  prompted  by  technology  include  volume  and  immediacy.         We  live  in  a  transactional  world  where  the  customer  is  king.  Our  on-­‐line  gratification  through   Amazon  is  immediate  and  we  expect  the  same  service  from  our  politicians.       Campaign  groups  like  38  Degrees  who  bombard  us  with  emails  from  constituents  who  have   been  hoodwinked  by  brief  campaign  messages  from  the  organisers  do  harm,  not  good.     They  breed  a  sense  of  entitlement  that  their  view  should  prevail  on  the  bogus  basis  that   volume  outweighs  reason  -­‐  and  that  anything  short  of  acquiescence  to  their  often  ill-­‐ considered  demands  is  a  rejection  of  democracy  –  when  quite  the  opposite  is  generally  the   case.     My  contention  is  that  democracy  is  diminished,  not  enhanced  by  electronic  communications  –   but  the  perception  is  very  different.     Electronic  communications  have  created  a  false  sense  of  access  and  engagement  but  have   actively  separated  MPs  from  direct  personal  responsibility  to  respond  to  all  communications;   the  sheer  volume  makes  it  impossible  to  do  so.     The  volume,  the  aggression,  the  ability  for  your  enemies  to  transmit  one  of  your  unguarded   thoughts  to  the  world  at  the  press  of  a  button,  makes  politicians  seem  more  remote,  more   guarded.     I  am  by  nature  a  glass-­‐half  full  man  so  on  reflection  I  do,  just,  remain  optimistic.    
  • 13. CIPR FELLOWS’ LUNCH JULY 25th 13 Most  obviously,  people  contact  MPs  in  increasing  numbers  to  solve  their  problems  or  to   address  their  concerns.    An  institution  experiencing  such  sharp  increases  in  demand  cannot   be  said  to  be  irrelevant.     People  still  form  opinions  on  political  issues  and  of  politicians,  but  do  we  understand  how  this   happens?     Fresh  ideas  can  still  be  communicated  powerfully  but  it  requires  a  new  approach  –  or  is  it   largely  a  question  of  being  diligent  about  the  tried  and  tested  methods?       Twenty  year  ago  in  my  teenage  magazine  campaign  I  learnt  for  myself  the  power  of  advice  I   was  always  giving  to  my  clients.  And  if  you  have  a  message  to  communicate  that  advice  is  still   powerfully  valid.     The  message  matters  most     Get  the  message  right  and  everything  else  falls  into  place.     You  can’t  repeat  the  message  too  often       As  I’ve  done  on  many  campaigns  since  –  and  as  I’ve  seen  politicians  so  often  forgetting  to  do  -­‐   repeat  the  message  until  you’re  heartily  sick  of  it.    Don’t  make  a  speech  and  move  on  as  we  so   often  seem  to  do     Repeat,  repeat,  repeat.     Be  relevant  and  authentic     Don’t  sound  like  just  another  politician.  Don’t  condescend,  don’t  lecture,  and  don’t  parrot  lines   to  take  -­‐  but  be  human,  authentic.    Say  what  you  believe.  Be  more  like  Boris.     Understand  the  media  landscape     In  a  sense  this  is  the  same  as  it  always  was  -­‐  learn  how  the  media  work  and  use  them.  But   proliferation  and  the  social  media  have  made  this  much  more  complicated     So  there  are  my  four  rules.  On  reflection  they’re  no  different  from  the  old  ones,  just  more   important  than  ever.     These  golden  rules  answer  the  problem  of  how  to  communicate  your  view,  your  proposition,   and  your  message.     They  don’t,  though,  guarantee  that  democracy  will  be  well  informed.     So  still  I  worry  –  we  face  a  dangerous  combination  of  circumstances.       Newspapers  that  say  things  that  are  not  true  to  sell  copies,  social  media  that  isolate  and   reinforce  prejudice,  and  politicians  who  can  exploit  the  unmediated  social  media  to  their  own   ends.      
  • 14. CIPR FELLOWS’ LUNCH JULY 25th 14 That’s  the  bad  news.       The  good  news  is  that  this  all  makes  work  for  public  relations  professionals  like  you.         So  continue  to  do  your  job  with  pride  and  passion.       And  two  final  thoughts.     Crucially,  whatever  else  you  do,  be  careful;  never  Tweet  after  a  drink.  Always  pause  before   pressing  send,  post  or  tweet.  So  put  your  phones  down  –  now!     And  never  forget,  something  you  won’t  hear  many  fellow  Conservatives  say;  we  democrats   should  thank  God  for  the  BBC.     To  return  to  Enoch  Powell’s  warning  about  politicians  who  complain  about  the  media  being   like  sea  captains  and  the  sea  –  the  BBC  is  our  democracy’s  lifeboat.     ENDS   i i Or  again  from  Shakespeare,  as  Hamlet  contemplates  poor  Yorrick’s  skull  he  muses,       It  might  be  the  pate  of  a  politician,  one  that  would  circumvent  God.     In  the  interests  of  etymological  exactitude  I  should  explain  that  “politician”  meant  something  rather   different  in  Elizabethan  times.     One  source  says  it  meant  a     “...  trickster,  one  who  follows  Machiavelli’s  ‘policy’  “     Another  source  offers  a     “…  schemer,  intriguer,  plotter”.     So  perhaps  it  did  mean  much  the  same  thing  after  all.   ii At  its  peak  in  1960  the  Daily  Express  had  a  circulation  of  over  4  million.  Now  it’s  just  half  a  million.     In  1965  the  Daily  Mirror  sold  nearly  five  million  copies.  Now  it’s  just  a  million.     In  1980  the  Daily  Telegraph  managed  1.5  million  copies.    Now  it’s  half  a  million.     In  1990  The  Guardian  was  selling  over  400,000  copies,  now  it’s  half  that.     The  circulation  of  The  Times  is  actually  up  on  1960,  1970  and  1980  –  but  it’s  still  down  from   678,000  at  its  peak  in  2000  to  under  500,000  today.   iii iii And  of  course  its  website  is  a  phenomenon.  In  May  it  attracted  4.7  million  browsers  daily  in  the  UK   and  a  further  6.3  million  in  the  rest  of  the  world.  This  makes  it  the  world’s  biggest  news  website.   • iv  iv  iv  Average  daily  audience  for  6pm  &  10pm  bulletins  (2014  figures):  5m  and  4.6m  respectively  
  • 15. CIPR FELLOWS’ LUNCH JULY 25th 15 • The  combined  weekly  audience  for  both  bulletins  is  22m   • Both  bulletins  skew  marginally  more  female  (53%).    And  both  are  slightly  older  (62%  over  55s  for   the  Six,  52%  over  55s  for  the  Ten)   • The  8pm  one  minute  news  bulletin  has  a  weekly  reach  of  12m  and  an  average  daily  audience  of   3.9m.  The  audience  for  the  8pm  bulletin  skews  even  more  female  (61%),  is  younger  than  the  6pm   and  10pm  news  bulletins  (54%  under  55)  and  slightly  more  C2DE  (53%)     • Radio  1  Newsbeat  reaches  8.9m  weekly  –  within  that,  the  15  min  Newsbeat  bulletins  at  lunchtime   and  in  the  evening  reach  2.1m  and  1.8m  respectively.    R1  total  news  audiences  are  balanced  in   terms  of  gender  and,  as  you  would  expect,  younger  (59%  under  35)iv   vi vi "Internews Europe is an international development organisation specialising in supporting independent media, freedom of information and free expression around the globe"