The news of the week has of course focused on the assassination attempt on Donald Trump. The incident so encapsulates the breakdown of American politics that it arrived almost with an air of inevitability. The rolling coverage here has sought to make sense of it for an Australian audience, but along with the many expressions of shock and deep concern, much of the rhetoric suggests that something deep is at stake in Australian politics as much as in America’s. That what happens in America not only affects Australia in a geopolitical sense, but in a way which strikes at our own political self-image.
Sussan Ley, deputy leader of the opposition conveyed in sombre tone on the ABC how the assassination attempt was a shocking and shameless breach of ‘our democratic values, and not who we are.’ It was time, she said, for all Australians to show how much they care about the issue, but without ‘raising the temperature’, a sentiment reflected also by Anthony Albanese at a specially convened media conference.
It’s an interesting question just how much Australia should see any implications for itself in a very American political event. But the point about political temperature is an important one. It indicates a recognition of how readily not only news and information, but also rhetoric, communication strategies and political talking points, flow between our nations in the digital age. The same is of course seen in the way that misinformation and conspiracies narratives fly around the virtual globe, insinuating their way into local political discourse.
These were of course in no short supply after the events in Butler, Pennsylvania. Screenshots of mainstream media headlines -- appropriately cautious in the wake of the breaking news -- were circulated on social media as supposed evidence of a leftist plot. As Charlie Warzel notes in the Atlantic, such caution can have the ‘unfortunate side effect of sometimes seeming absurd’. Warzel goes on to argue that ‘perhaps the core of the fight over misinformation isn’t so much about the increase of fake news or alternate realities as it is about a societal devaluing of restraint, rigor, and other hallmarks of the journalistic process’.
We can extend this point beyond journalism. So much of our conceptualisation of the misinformation problem focuses on truth. But it is not a problem that can be solved by reducing our exposure to falsehoods, if that were even feasible. We would do better to focus on restraint, judiciousness, and civility. Even in our regulatory focus, we should be demanding that our information ecosystem be calibrated to encourage these intellectual virtues, rather than the vices that currently plague us online. More on that in a future newsletter!
Turning to this week’s newsletter, Chris Hall looks at how some Australian journalists and smaller newsrooms could benefit not only from adopting more social-media-savvy production values, but also from the business model adopted by many YouTube content-producers. Ayesha Jehangir casts a critical eye on the news that the Washington Post has released its own climate-change chatbot. And Simon Levett examines the potential investigation by the International Criminal Court of journalists’ deaths in Gaza – which number 108 as of 15 July.
In other CMT news, on 1 and 2 August we will host the Information Integrity Forum 2024 with 16 senior news editors from India, the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia. We have partnered with the U.S. Embassy & Consulates in Australia to deliver the forum, which will examine challenges to regional information environments posed by mis- and disinformation and GenAI, as well as regulatory responses.
On 7 August, we are hosting an online panel looking at the state of regional news in Australia after a decade of cutbacks and closures. More on that below.
Finally, it is with great sadness, but also pride, that we are soon to say goodbye to CMT postdoctoral fellow Ayesha Jehangir. Ayesha will be taking up a lecturer position at University of New South Wales. What is our loss will be UNSW’s gain. We wish her the best of luck.
Michael Davis, CMT Research Fellow