Three lessons for the future of public service broadcasting

Q4 Social Sciences
Precious Chatterje-Doody, Rhys Crilley
{"title":"Three lessons for the future of public service broadcasting","authors":"Precious Chatterje-Doody,&nbsp;Rhys Crilley","doi":"10.1111/newe.12296","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>In the context of the war in Ukraine, and as significant social and political debates continue to rage inside the UK, the BBC has had to tread a fine line between its commitment to providing due impartiality on topics of political contention and the dangers of implying false equivalence between evidenced and non-evidenced viewpoints in the name of balance.4 However, Russia's invasion of Ukraine has brought to the fore not only the importance of the constant striving towards impartial coverage, but also some of the broader reasons why this continues to matter. The war in Ukraine reveals three key issues about the future of public service broadcasting at times of global crisis.</p><p>Politicians and journalists are two of the least trusted professions in UK society.5 Although this reflects long-term social trends over time, the issue of trust has become even more marked online: across the globe, nearly 60 per cent of people are concerned about how to tell the difference between what is real and what is fake on the internet.6</p><p>Indeed, since the 1990s, Russia has gradually refined its approach to combining media and military operations.13 A catastrophic media free-for-all in the first Chechen campaign prompted restrictions on media access in the second. Foreign PR firms were employed during the Georgian war of 2018; blatant lies accompanied the 2014 annexation of Crimea by Russian troops; and a myriad of conspiracy theories and disinformation were spread around the 2018 Skripal poisonings.14</p><p>Russia clearly intended to apply its lessons learned from years of information campaigns to this year's invasion of Ukraine too, but after being on the back foot in recent years, political and media institutions in the West have begun to push back. As Russian troops congregated around Ukraine's borders, US and UK intelligence agencies leaked information to the media, pre-emptively and repeatedly debunking Russian denials of an imminent invasion. Once Russia did invade Ukraine, few in the West were convinced that anyone other than Russia was to blame for the war.</p><p>Russia's invasion of Ukraine comes at a time of widespread global smartphone and social media access. In this media ecology, a variety of news outlets, brands, individuals, influencers and institutions vie for our time on our personalised news feeds; it takes something special to go viral and grab our attention. Although Russian state-funded international broadcasters like RT and Sputnik had previously built up a reputation for being effective viral influencers, when Russia has most needed to convince foreign audiences that Putin's actions are legitimate, they have proven singularly ineffective – even before the various bans and blocks.</p><p>One of the key reasons for this has been the effectiveness of Ukraine's leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his communications team in touching people's hearts across the globe. As a former actor and comedian, Zelenskyy clearly understands how to engage different audiences. He has spoken directly to parliaments and peoples across the globe, incorporating personalised cultural references with a strong emotive pull. On social media his selfie videos direct to camera have captured the public imagination in ways that Russian state media never could – despite their cringeworthy attempts at influencing young people through comedy.18</p><p>After 100 years of broadcasting, the BBC has built an international reputation as a respected broadcaster even while, at home, conservatives attack it for being too progressive and progressives critique it for being too close to the establishment. For all of its failings, the BBC is still viewed internationally as the pinnacle of public service broadcasting.</p><p>The war in Ukraine has seen the BBC, and other well-respected state-funded international broadcasters like Germany's DW, come into their own by creating content that has resonated with audiences. According to the Meta-owned social analytics platform CrowdTangle, content published by both outlets falls within the top most interacted with Facebook posts about Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion. Blocked in Russia following a dramatic crackdown on independent media, these outlets are seeking new ways to reach Russian audiences – including by shortwave radio. By contrast, Russian state broadcasters have not only failed to gain much serious interaction on social media in the West, but have also generated catastrophic blowback.</p>","PeriodicalId":37420,"journal":{"name":"IPPR Progressive Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2022-05-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/newe.12296","citationCount":"1","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"IPPR Progressive Review","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/newe.12296","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q4","JCRName":"Social Sciences","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 1

Abstract

In the context of the war in Ukraine, and as significant social and political debates continue to rage inside the UK, the BBC has had to tread a fine line between its commitment to providing due impartiality on topics of political contention and the dangers of implying false equivalence between evidenced and non-evidenced viewpoints in the name of balance.4 However, Russia's invasion of Ukraine has brought to the fore not only the importance of the constant striving towards impartial coverage, but also some of the broader reasons why this continues to matter. The war in Ukraine reveals three key issues about the future of public service broadcasting at times of global crisis.

Politicians and journalists are two of the least trusted professions in UK society.5 Although this reflects long-term social trends over time, the issue of trust has become even more marked online: across the globe, nearly 60 per cent of people are concerned about how to tell the difference between what is real and what is fake on the internet.6

Indeed, since the 1990s, Russia has gradually refined its approach to combining media and military operations.13 A catastrophic media free-for-all in the first Chechen campaign prompted restrictions on media access in the second. Foreign PR firms were employed during the Georgian war of 2018; blatant lies accompanied the 2014 annexation of Crimea by Russian troops; and a myriad of conspiracy theories and disinformation were spread around the 2018 Skripal poisonings.14

Russia clearly intended to apply its lessons learned from years of information campaigns to this year's invasion of Ukraine too, but after being on the back foot in recent years, political and media institutions in the West have begun to push back. As Russian troops congregated around Ukraine's borders, US and UK intelligence agencies leaked information to the media, pre-emptively and repeatedly debunking Russian denials of an imminent invasion. Once Russia did invade Ukraine, few in the West were convinced that anyone other than Russia was to blame for the war.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine comes at a time of widespread global smartphone and social media access. In this media ecology, a variety of news outlets, brands, individuals, influencers and institutions vie for our time on our personalised news feeds; it takes something special to go viral and grab our attention. Although Russian state-funded international broadcasters like RT and Sputnik had previously built up a reputation for being effective viral influencers, when Russia has most needed to convince foreign audiences that Putin's actions are legitimate, they have proven singularly ineffective – even before the various bans and blocks.

One of the key reasons for this has been the effectiveness of Ukraine's leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his communications team in touching people's hearts across the globe. As a former actor and comedian, Zelenskyy clearly understands how to engage different audiences. He has spoken directly to parliaments and peoples across the globe, incorporating personalised cultural references with a strong emotive pull. On social media his selfie videos direct to camera have captured the public imagination in ways that Russian state media never could – despite their cringeworthy attempts at influencing young people through comedy.18

After 100 years of broadcasting, the BBC has built an international reputation as a respected broadcaster even while, at home, conservatives attack it for being too progressive and progressives critique it for being too close to the establishment. For all of its failings, the BBC is still viewed internationally as the pinnacle of public service broadcasting.

The war in Ukraine has seen the BBC, and other well-respected state-funded international broadcasters like Germany's DW, come into their own by creating content that has resonated with audiences. According to the Meta-owned social analytics platform CrowdTangle, content published by both outlets falls within the top most interacted with Facebook posts about Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion. Blocked in Russia following a dramatic crackdown on independent media, these outlets are seeking new ways to reach Russian audiences – including by shortwave radio. By contrast, Russian state broadcasters have not only failed to gain much serious interaction on social media in the West, but have also generated catastrophic blowback.

公共广播服务未来的三个教训
在乌克兰战争的背景下,随着重大的社会和政治辩论继续在英国国内激烈进行,BBC不得不在承诺对政治争论主题提供应有的公正性和以平衡的名义暗示证据和非证据观点之间的错误等同的危险之间走一条微妙的界限然而,俄罗斯对乌克兰的入侵不仅凸显了不断努力进行公正报道的重要性,也凸显了这一点继续重要的一些更广泛的原因。乌克兰战争揭示了全球危机时期公共广播服务未来的三个关键问题。政治家和记者是英国社会中最不受信任的两个职业尽管这反映了长期的社会趋势,但信任问题在网络上变得更加明显:在全球范围内,近60%的人担心如何分辨互联网上的真假。事实上,自20世纪90年代以来,俄罗斯已经逐渐完善了将媒体和军事行动结合起来的方法在第一次车臣战役中,灾难性的媒体自由放任导致了第二次车臣战役对媒体准入的限制。2018年格鲁吉亚战争期间雇佣了外国公关公司;伴随着2014年俄罗斯军队吞并克里米亚的公然谎言;围绕2018年斯克里帕尔中毒事件,无数阴谋论和虚假信息被传播开来。俄罗斯显然也打算将多年信息战的经验教训应用到今年入侵乌克兰的行动中,但在近年来处于守势之后,西方的政治和媒体机构开始反击。随着俄罗斯军队在乌克兰边境集结,美国和英国情报机构向媒体泄露了信息,先发制人,并一再揭穿俄罗斯否认即将入侵的说法。一旦俄罗斯入侵乌克兰,西方几乎没有人相信除了俄罗斯之外还有谁应该为这场战争负责。俄罗斯入侵乌克兰正值全球智能手机和社交媒体普及之际。在这种媒体生态中,各种新闻媒体、品牌、个人、网红和机构都在争夺我们在个性化新闻推送上的时间;只有一些特别的东西才能像病毒一样传播,吸引我们的注意力。尽管俄罗斯国家资助的国际广播公司,如RT和Sputnik,之前已经建立了有效的病毒影响者的声誉,当俄罗斯最需要说服外国观众普京的行为是合法的时候,他们已经被证明是非常无效的——甚至在各种禁令和封锁之前。其中一个关键原因是乌克兰领导人和他的沟通团队有效地打动了全球人民的心。作为一名演员和喜剧演员,泽伦斯基清楚地知道如何吸引不同的观众。他直接对世界各国的议会和人民讲话,将个性化的文化参考与强烈的情感吸引力结合起来。在社交媒体上,他直接对着镜头拍摄的自拍视频以俄罗斯官方媒体永远无法做到的方式抓住了公众的想象力——尽管他们试图通过喜剧来影响年轻人,这令人尴尬。经过100年的广播,英国广播公司作为一个受人尊敬的广播公司在国际上建立了声誉,尽管在国内,保守派攻击它过于进步,进步人士批评它过于接近建制。尽管有种种失败,英国广播公司在国际上仍被视为公共广播服务的巅峰。在乌克兰战争中,英国广播公司(BBC)和其他备受尊敬的国家资助的国际广播公司(如德国之声(DW))通过创作与观众产生共鸣的内容而脱颖而出。根据meta旗下的社交分析平台CrowdTangle的数据,自俄罗斯入侵乌克兰以来,这两家媒体发布的内容都在Facebook上与乌克兰互动最多的帖子之列。由于俄罗斯对独立媒体的严厉镇压,这些媒体在俄罗斯被封锁,它们正在寻找新的途径来接触俄罗斯观众——包括通过短波广播。相比之下,俄罗斯国家广播公司不仅没有在西方社交媒体上获得多少严肃的互动,而且还引发了灾难性的反弹。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
求助全文
约1分钟内获得全文 求助全文
来源期刊
IPPR Progressive Review
IPPR Progressive Review Social Sciences-Political Science and International Relations
CiteScore
0.50
自引率
0.00%
发文量
43
期刊介绍: The permafrost of no alternatives has cracked; the horizon of political possibilities is expanding. IPPR Progressive Review is a pluralistic space to debate where next for progressives, examine the opportunities and challenges confronting us and ask the big questions facing our politics: transforming a failed economic model, renewing a frayed social contract, building a new relationship with Europe. Publishing the best writing in economics, politics and culture, IPPR Progressive Review explores how we can best build a more equal, humane and prosperous society.
×
引用
GB/T 7714-2015
复制
MLA
复制
APA
复制
导出至
BibTeX EndNote RefMan NoteFirst NoteExpress
×
提示
您的信息不完整,为了账户安全,请先补充。
现在去补充
×
提示
您因"违规操作"
具体请查看互助需知
我知道了
×
提示
确定
请完成安全验证×
copy
已复制链接
快去分享给好友吧!
我知道了
右上角分享
点击右上角分享
0
联系我们:info@booksci.cn Book学术提供免费学术资源搜索服务,方便国内外学者检索中英文文献。致力于提供最便捷和优质的服务体验。 Copyright © 2023 布克学术 All rights reserved.
京ICP备2023020795号-1
ghs 京公网安备 11010802042870号
Book学术文献互助
Book学术文献互助群
群 号:481959085
Book学术官方微信