The power of words in the aftermath of tragedy in Southport where fact and fiction have intertwined

News, events and opportunities: Media Freedom Awards deadline, News Futures Forum, Booker Prize longlist, Kindle Storyteller award closes soon

My dear wordsmiths,

I write during a very sombre week here in Lancashire and one in which I consider has underlined the need for factual journalism. So bear with me, I’m starting out a little more seriously than usual. As always if you are simply here for opportunities - scroll down - I don’t mind. And don’t forget to subscribe, it’s free.

For me, fact and fiction are inextricably linked and the words we use are the fuel. Yes, I work in fact a I’m a journalist, and I write fiction as well. But without facts to inform fiction we are without context. Fiction writers write from experience whether they/we like it or not. We write according to the unconscious subtext of our lives, from experience, from the people around us, from the words we’ve learned and used and what we understand them to mean according to our own values. I strongly believe we also write from what we have read and the more we do, the greater our understanding of the world.

Of course, there’s a flip side to this , and after a week as a journalist in Lancashire where the absolutely horrendous attack on young children and the subsequent disorder has made the headlines, the power of words has never been more critical. We live in a world of saturation of information and microscopic attention spans where few people are reading past the headlines or the hot takes on social media. So it’s critical that journalists report factually and compassionately despite the noise of those wanting to weaponize grief and anger for their own ends.

As has been seen in Southport, a town just a few miles from my house, we have witnessed how a story about real people can be manipulated from a tragedy to a politically or ideologically-heavy issue. Social media makes this easy as many people are swayed in two words and an image far faster than in 700 words. It’s convenient and any unconscious bias is amplified with little work and a bit of old-school rabble rousing given flight by the algorithms which dictate what we see and reinforce lightly held opinions/thoughts into passions and hatreds. They influence us - see a pair of shoes a few times and you want them - it’s the same with ideology.

Meanwhile, most journalists work unfashionably hard to stick to the facts and make the right content decisions, particularly regional journalists, as the majority of local or regional brands remain community-led and politically neutral and are heavily monitored by standards boards - in our case IPSO. We are also subject to media law, which is valid but rarely enforced on social media (there are occasional exceptions particularly for the high profile), so our journalists are trained in law and ethics. Of course, here in UK, there are many national brands which openly have a political bias, which is fine as long as it’s open, which it rarely is on social media. News brands are all VERY different but in the UK the same media laws apply to them all.

My opinion only: The convenient and generic use of the phrase ‘mainstream media’ to apply to any media who live within the law, pay people salaries, and try to stick to facts is simply a useful mechanism to undermine those who want to sway opinion without pesky facts getting in the way of their bias and agenda.

The other issue is cost. Social media is ‘free’ while often journalism costs money as you need it to pay trained journalists and with exception of the BBC, funded by a compulsory licence fee, we are businesses. People don’t want to pay, though of course the costs of not paying is much higher with fake news, computer-generated news, undeclared paid information and bias campaigns and even certain social media sites themselves now come with their own questionable agendas. Thought- leadership has been hijacked. It’s harder and harder, with the now application of AI, to know what’s real. Of course AI has its uses in identifying fake news and verifying facts but that’s a story for another day.

All of that is of little use now in Southport where the grief of losing innocent children has been overtaken by incoming-chancers in what is a lovely, community-led, leafy town where people from lots of backgrounds and beliefs usually live together peacefully. As the court system deals with the young man charged with this horrific attack we can only hope that the world looks away from those attention seekers and focuses on the tremendous tragedy suffered by families in Southport as the facts come to light. They need the world to support them but not like this. Choose your words carefully as parents and a community navigate grief and shock.

Podcast launches:

It’s been a ‘podcasty’ sort of week here at National World..

The Parched Pea Pod: Named after a Preston delicacy traditionally consumed on bonfire night, this podcast is a collaboration between Lancashire Post and Blog Preston, aiming to celebrate the people that make the city. Post by broadcasting legend John Gilmore (former BBC Lancashire) it features chats with characters from across the city.

The Athletics Weekly podcast: Launched ahead of the Olympics Athletics and hosted by the expert team in Paris, the launch episode of the AW pod host sees AW Editorial Director Euan Crumley joined by Managing Director and Olympic medallist Wendy Sly, as well as Head of Digital Jason Henderson with a special guest appearance from 2004 double Olympic champion Dame Kelly Holmes. Quick fire daily podcasts recorded by the team in Paris will be available daily as the Olympics progress and the pod will continue post-event.

News, events and opportunities:

Journalism

Media Freedom Awards: Journalists have just over one week left to submit their entries for the Society of Editor’s Media Freedom Awards for 2024. With 22 categories celebrating excellence in public interest and campaigning journalism, the deadline for putting forward submissions is close of play on Friday August 9, 2024. The awards, now in their third year, will culminate with more than 300 news leaders and editors coming together for a high-profile ceremony at the iconic Globe Theatre in London on 12 November 2024.

News Futures Forum: The news Future 2035 report is available to read HERE. To express your interest in joining any of the News Futures Forum working groups, email the team on newsfutures@uclan.ac.uk

Books & writing

Booker Prize Longlist: The 2024 longlist for the Booker Prize has been announced. The longlist of 13 books – the ‘Booker Dozen’ – has been chosen by the 2024 judging panel. The panel is chaired by artist and author Edmund de Waal, who is joined by award-winning novelist Sara Collins; Fiction Editor of the Guardian, Justine Jordan; world-renowned writer and professor Yiyun Li; and musician, composer and producer Nitin Sawhney. It features blackly comic page-turners, multigenerational epics, meditations on the pain of exile – plus a crime caper, a spy thriller, an unflinching account of girls’ boxing and a reimagining of a 19th-century classic.

The Kindle Storyteller Award closes soon: A £20,000 literary prize recognising outstanding writing, it’s is open to writers publishing in English in any genre, who publish their work through Kindle Direct Publishing. Readers play a significant role in selecting the winner, helped by a panel of judges including various book industry experts. Open for entries until 31st August 2024.

Amazon 100 most-sold books: The fourth instalment of Richard Osman’s The Thursday Murder Club series is among the UK’s most purchased books of the past 12 months, according to sales data from Amazon Books. The company has examined the top 100 most sold books on Amazon in 10 cities between June 1 2023 and June 1 2024 and found that The Last Devil To Die is the highest selling in seven of them. The book series, which follows a group of friends who attempt to investigate murders in their sleepy English village, is set to be made into a Netflix movie with stars including Dame Helen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan, Richard E Grant and Sir Ben Kingsley.

Thanks for reading! Take care..