World-class journalists reporting from the Age of Shit

During the NHH Symposium this March, K7 Bulletin sat down with two heavyweights in international journalism: Tom Standage, Deputy Editor of The Economist, and Simon Robinson, Global Managing Editor at Reuters. 

Representing very different media organizations – one slow and analytical, the other fast and reactive – both agree on one thing: the current information landscape is designed to confuse.

When all is true, nothing is

Trust in the media has been falling for several years, in most places.

To understand this development, many have referred to the now famous quote “Flood the zone with shit, and you can do whatever you want”. 

The quote has been attributed to the MAGA ideologist Steve Bannon, and describes distributing contradicting information at large scales, making media take the bait, resulting in desensitized and polarized societies.

Standage attributes this philosophy to Putin’s Russia:

– They immediately float six possible explanations and when anything could be true, nothing is true. Classic Putin.

Robinson agrees that the media has a responsibility of not taking the bait and points out the importance of distinguishing between noise and actual, important information.

How do you build trust in an age of noise?

– Correcting mistakes is the single thing that most gives readers the feeling that they should trust you, Robinson says.

Standage supports this. He points out that a certain number of corrections in any media outlet should in fact be reassuring.

Standage also points out the importance of being transparent with biases and pre-emptive views on the world.

– I think if you are going to take a position, be honest about it and say what it is.

Sanctioned by the U.S – and proud of it 

Among more specific threats to the press, both Reuters and The Economist have been sanctioned by the U.S. government. 

– We were both banned by the State Department, which I thought was a sort of badge of honour, Standage laughs.

He continues.

– The Economist, The New York Times, Politico, Bloomberg, Reuters, and the AP [were banned]. And it wasn’t an alphabetical list, we were first. The Washington Post was not on that list. I think they have been quite annoyed.

The threat of the algorithm

Robinson points out that social media gives the opportunity for politicians and other actors to reach millions of people however they want.

– In some ways, traditional media has kind of been disintermediated.

– Seeing one video from one place, almost viscerally feels like you got the real picture. But in some ways, you got less of the real picture, he states, referring to videos from tense conflicts like the Middle East and Ukraine.

What about the future of press and media?

Standage answers based on a historical perspective.. Trust in the media has only been a reality in modern times, he says. Following this, the argument is that partisanship and disinformation might be the natural state of the world, and not ultimately fixable.

– Figure out who you trust and trust them, he says.

Robinson stands loyal to his craft and is clear in his message.

– I think that there is a really important role for old fashioned journalism covering the world. And I firmly believe that for the good of countries around the world, it remains an incredibly important mission.

God, who wants to work in consulting?

And to all the students who might be pessimistic about the world, Tom Standage will get the last words on the future.

– I could have made more money if I'd gone and worked for KPMG, but God, who wants to work in consulting? What motivates me is something rather deeper, which is I want to know what the future is going to look like. 

Journalists get to see the places in the world where the future unfolds right now, according to him. 

Perhaps some food for thought for the students reading this?