At Media Revolution’s public ‘Disinformation and Democracy’ event at the Royal Society of Arts (RSA) in London, two legends of investigative journalism shared their insights into the omnicrisis and their views on the way forward.
Carole Cadwalladr is best known for exposing the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal of illegal data harvesting and election interference, and for her continuing investigations into the powerful machinations of US tech bros and their UK co-conspirators.
Eliot Higgins is the founder of Bellingcat, which uses open-source investigation to produce actionable intelligence on issues of public concern all over the world, revealing massive cover-ups and corruption by governments and state powers.
The hour-long debate on Thursday, February 26,, chaired by Media Revolution co-founder Liz Pendleton in front of a full house, could only scratch the surface of a complex mesh of issues. But it did demonstrate that Media Revolution’s work is motivated by the same principles as those of our two speakers: the need to combat multiple threats to democracy and humanity. Many of Media Revolution’s ongoing activities align with Bellingcat’s roadmap for ‘bending the arc of history back towards truth, participation and justice’.
The Omnicrisis
This is an era of what Carole Cadwalladr described as ‘total information collapse’ in which the mainstream news media are failing to present a narrative that makes sense to people. She talked about ‘performative accountability’ in which, even when wrongdoing is reported and inquiries are held, nothing actually changes. The lack of any real action against Facebook in the wake of Carole’s internationally-reported investigations is a case in point.
She and Eliot Higgins both recognise that the public distrust of institutions is often justified by people’s personal experience –and that by association, many see the ‘legacy’ media as part of the problem. Naturally, people have turned to online content creators who, Carole said, “are humanising what’s happening and filtering it through their own personalities” – appearing relatable, credible and trustworthy.
But we know social media is a minefield for information – as summed up by Bellingcat:
– Algorithmic platforms prioritise engagement over truth
– Discourse is no longer shaped by deliberation but by optimisation
– Opaque algorithmic systems act as the new gatekeepers – without standards, transparency or accountability.
Bellingcat summarises the challenge ahead as: “This is not just about fighting disinformation, it’s about reconstructing the systems, values and capacities through which people can reason, act and hold power to account – the conditions for a living democracy”.
Its ‘Arc framework’ for achieving this is grounded in the principles of verification (collective commitment to truth and evidence), deliberation (collective reasoning to solve problems and guide action), and accountability.
The framework comprises eight separate but inter-related ‘tracks for democratic renewal’, including education, civic empowerment, the rebuilding of shared values, and actions to restore evidence-based accountability to systems of governance.
Spot the similarities with Media Revolution’s intersectional Venn diagram, in which the eight areas of activity each have a different focus, but represent a collaborative approach to multiple, inter-related issues.
Empowerment through investigation
Within Bellingcat’s framework, the process of investigation is an exercise that flexes and strengthens the democratic muscle. Alongside its own deep delves into institutional wrongdoing, Bellingcat is actively equipping organisations with the tools and knowledge to do this for themselves – often at grassroots level. This has included student-led investigations resulting in reforms to council transparency, and community organisations using their findings as evidence in campaigns to bring about change.
Media Revolution recognises that access to reliable and accurate info is a human right intrinsic to democracy, and our work feeds into the same process. Media literacy activities including News Clubs empower people to become active, informed and critical consumers of news media rather than passive, overwhelmed recipients. They equip people to challenge disinformation and find sources of factual evidence to back up calls for action.
The creation of the media consumers’ union Touchpaper will do this on a larger scale, enabling the public to take collective action – including boycotts – against publishers and channels.
On the issue of restoring values and trustworthiness to media organisations, Media Revolution is collaborating with Hacked Off, the media reform campaign, and the independent regulator Impress, to campaign for effective press regulation in the UK and real powers to hold owners and publishers to account. The lack of follow-up to the Leveson Inquiry into phone-hacking and other media malpractice was yet another missed (or evaded) opportunity for investigation to bring about change.
Where do we go from here?
Although there wasn’t time during the RSA event to explore the details of Bellingcat’s Arc framework, the debate did shine a light on the way ahead.
The discussions confirmed that Media Revolution’s response to the information crisis tallies with Carole Cadwalladr’s experiences of deep-dive investigation – and our actions already align with Bellingcat’s plan of action. Media Revolution will continue to work with the Bellingcat framework, and with any luck we’ll stage a follow-up event, either at the RSA or somewhere else to continue the conversation with the public.
The debate also highlighted the fact that, in today’s malfunctioning media and information system, the quest for verification, deliberation and accountability is a form of activism. Refusing to accept the defeatist line about a ‘post-truth era’, developing skills to root out evidence, and sharing those tools and resources widely so that hidden facts can become public knowledge – this is an expression of rebellion as well as an exercise in democracy.
And finally ….
As the discussion drew to a close, a pivot point was unwittingly provided by an aggressive, attention seeking heckler who interrupted Carole as she talked about her own values as a journalist. Rather than submitting a live question for debate, he shouted: “Activism isn’t objectivity, Carole,” and accused her of ‘inappropriate bias’.
It’s significant that the heckler didn’t claim Carole’s investigations were flawed, or that their findings were inaccurate. And if he was suggesting that journalists shouldn’t be politically motivated, that would disqualify most national newspaper editors – not to mention their star columnists – from doing their jobs. Let’s not even start on GB News.
In fact, the interruption was more redolent of online trolling – an ad hominem attack, which, if launched into a febrile social media debate, would fire up the algorithms and escalate into the usual frenzied hate-fest.
At the RSA, though, it wasn’t going to land.
Instead, Carole calmly explained: “Trust comes from transparency and accountability … my bias is towards the truth, and it is towards democracy, and it is towards democratic accountability, and all of my journalism is based on those fundamental principles.”
It brought us neatly back to the mainstay of Bellingcat’s Arc framework: a commitment to verifiable evidence from clearly indicated sources, with the aim of increasing understanding, not performing, simulating or optimising an online audience.
It was also a reminder that active resistance to corruption and disinformation must live up to the standards it’s campaigning for. Activism must remain transparent and accountable.
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Philippa Davies is an independent journalist, and part of the Core Working Group at Media Revolution.
