No, the “new media” won’t save us
The new media is, in essence, anything but new. It is an old dog and– as the saying goes –you can’t teach it new tricks.
Fed up with the partisan drivel we’ve come to expect from the mainstream media, we the people have taken matters into our own hands. By ‘taking matters into our own hands’, I mean offering up our own hodgepodge of bad takes and ingloriously glib partisanship. This is what the ‘new media’ offers us: a diluted, milquetoast copy of the downfalls of the mainstream media – on a budget.
What has been touted as ‘new media’ is in reality a rougher version of television and radio news, stripped of all standards and traditional gatekeeping. While new media (podcasts, YouTube videos, etcetera) has an advantage in not being constrained to strict air times, it often fails to do anything of note to stake its claim. Longer audio pieces or videos may come as an advantage when delivering an interview with an interesting guest (á la the Joe Rogan Experience Podcast), but the digital space provides little cause to shirk the mainstream media. The goal of the new media space is to provide a platform for diverse viewpoints and forgotten voices, in an era where the mainstream media seems to be stuck in its own bubble. It no longer represents the people, nor does it adhere to traditional practices of fairness and impartiality. The new media is an attempt to overcome this.
The problem with this new landscape lies not in its ambition but its execution. New media personalities want to fix the ills of mainstream journalism but frankly lack the erudition and execution to do it all on their own. Instead of offering us a robust, thoughtful media ecosystem, the new media merely replicates the worst of traditional formats. Take the case of Carl Benjamin, the controversial YouTuber and former UKIP candidate who recently launched his own new media venture in the form of an analysis website. Of course, those with ambition are perfectly entitled to start their own media venture, but Benjamin’s project is founded on a bogus claim. It claims to be above the partisanship of broadcasters like Sky News, but it delivers nothing but its founders’ opinion on its own YouTube channel.
This is one of the trappings of the new media: those who consume content which they agree with feel a sense of vindication, finally finding in what they watch a voice which speaks to them. It may feel good to consume media which speaks to you, but no more honesty or impartiality is found in this model. It is hard to say what this new landscape offers.
Owen Jones recently announced his own new media venture – a YouTube channel which will supposedly take the ‘corporate media’ head on. Fed up with the mainstream media being dragged ‘further to the right’, Jones is seeking to take the entire industry head on with an independently funded YouTube channel – how exciting does that sound? Unfortunately, the channel offers nothing new. It is shaped by interviews and Jones’ own commentary; hardly a revolutionary new format.
Regurgitation isn’t the new media’s only vice. A big problem lies in the fact that it opens its doors to anyone. Theoretically, anyone plucked off a pedestrian street can become the next online news personality – which sounds endearing, but do people want that? Those who lack erudition and skills in a role which could see them addressing an audience of millions should probably be vetted and trained.
Part of the appeal of the new media is that it looks personable. The cosy charm of seeing your presenter in their own living room adds a down-to-earth façade which is seldom matched on television news. And yet, the new media space is becoming more professionalised than ever. Phillip DeFranco, a prominent YouTube news presenter, exploits this mood by shielding his expensive studio with a bedroom façade. A more powerful piece of symbolism cannot be found. The new media is, in essence, anything but new. It is an old dog and – as the saying goes – you can’t teach it new tricks.
