Introduction
Greetings to the curious and welcome back to those who have returned to read part three of my diary. This installment covers entries for July, August and September during my attempted 'news free' year. It captures the news and news-like information that made it through to me during this period despite my attempt to avoid it. It also documents my ongoing thoughts on the modern hellscape/news-scape that I am trying to avoid.
I won't repeat my motivations for this ‘no news’ odyssey here - you can find them in my first post. I will however repeat the warning. The following is not news but a record of some of the news-like impressions that made it through to me - someone actively trying to avoid news coverage. What follows is certainly not verified or checked against third party sources. These are just ‘glimpses’ of possible news captured by a fallible news-avoiding human. It is likely riddled with misunderstandings. It is not, I repeat not, news - but then what is these days?
Day 184 - 1st July
Told by my daughter that there's a chance there will be ‘more Millibands in the cabinet than women’ with talk of the potential return of David Miliband to government. I allude to my preference for Ed from the Miliband brothers. When I was on a climate march years ago I saw Ed Miliband, then a minister, unassumingly talking with protestors with no media in sight. I reply I’d sooner have Gordon Brown back than Ed's brother David. There's a laugh: Gordon Brown is already an advisor apparently.
Day 185 - 2nd July
News free. Yipee!
Day 186 - 3rd July
Kids are visiting us at a caravan rally when their phones ping almost simultaneously. They look in shock in parallel. I'm waiting to be hit by momentous news and it turns out there is talk of moving the start time of the Mexico England football game from 1 AM BST to 7AM due to forecast thunder storms.
I arrive on a rare visit to the Bluesky app to post about my news free blog and see a headline from Reuters that a magnitude 5.5 earthquake has hit near the coast of central Chile.
Day 187 - 4th July
I'm told the Mexico England game hasn't been moved.
Day 188 - 5th July
My brother tells me about a state-led American independence day anniversary party that ended in mayhem due to a lightning storm. Warnings to cancel the event had been ignored. Trump appears unable to control the weather like the democrats are alleged to be able to do it would seem…
Day 189 - 6th July
Didn't stay up late to watch the England game the previous night as camping in a field in Wales without a television, but watched it first thing on the BBC iplayer app on a phone. It stutters and buffers to a magnificent victory.
Later at a pub I’m told that FIFA has overturned a match ban for a USA player ahead of their knock out game with Belgium. Trump has announced his intervention with FIFA against the ban on social media to widespread condemnation.
Day 190 - 7th July
Enjoy the match highlights on BBC as a fired up Belgium dispatch USA 4 1.
Day 191 - 8th July
When discussing crossing busy shipping lanes in a yacht, I'm told a Russian frigate recently shot across the bows of a yacht that had lost power and was drifting towards it in the English channel. I wonder what the frigate was up to in the channel.
Day 192 - 9th July
I have noticed various memes on social media over the last few days concerning Count Binface the famous costumed by-election candidate, but without context I am not sure why. I have seen some have mentioned Clacton, the seat held by Reform UK leader Nigel Farage. Today I catch a post by someone I've never heard of that implies Farage has resigned as an MP in the face of various parliamentary investigations into his conduct and finances. The suggestion is he has resigned and is seeking the backing from the local electorate again to challenge the investigations. If true, this would explain the Binface memes. I would doubt the mainstream parties would want to play along with this obvious diversionary tactic by contesting a by-election... Oh Farage! The wealthy manipulative chancer who is still playing the victim.
I again wonder what the Russian frigate was up to in the English Channel.
Day 193 - 10th July
I hear Anne Widdicome has died and someone has been arrested on suspicion of murder.I hear Bonnie Tyler has died too. RIP.
We see various emergency vehicles with sirens on and blue lights flashing, speeding towards Llangollen town - one towing a boat. Having seen groups of young people jumping off the bridge into the cool river below on previous visits there is concern something bad has happened.
Day 194 - 11th July
Something very bad appears to have happened the previous day. We are told by a fellow camper that someone died after apparently taking a running jump from the bridge and miscalculating fatally.
Day 195 - 12th July
A friend brought a TV to the field so we watched the England game the previous night staying up to see England eventually progress to the semi final of the world cup in the early hours of this morning.
Realising I'm seeing far too many Binface memes, which in reality means Reform UK and Farage are never far away from my attention too, I resolve to double down on social media avoidance. It's time for a cleaner break if I'm going to benefit from more news free days.
Day 196 - 13th July
Mostly news free. Took radical action. Switched the phone screen to monochrome to make things less enticing and loaded a new minimal launcher so there is also more friction between me and apps that would hold my attention addictively.
Did catch a brief snippet on local tv news about wildfires before I could exit the living room.
Day 197 - 14th July
Strong smell of smoke this morning. For real.
I seriously recommend going ‘monochrome’ to make a smart phone less enticing - find it under accessibility settings.
My wife tells me the news has confirmed it was a 46 year old male who died in Llangollen on Saturday after jumping from the bridge. RIP.
Day 198 - 15th July
The heatwave has yet to break.
No news beyond being told it was Keir Starmer's last Prime Minister's Question Time.
England are beaten by Argentina in the world cup semi final so it is a good time to avoid the media fall-out.
Day 199 - 16th July
Feeling a general flatness in the wake of England's defeat.
I learn little on pub night beyond Rachael Reeves, the Chancellor, looked like she was on the verge of tears during Kier Starmer's final PMQs.
Day 200 - 17th July
Put on my noise cancelling headphones and music to avoid hearing Andy Burnham's speech, presumably now leader of the Labour Party. By necessity I am sharing a room with my daughter who is watching proceedings on her laptop.
Later I leave the living room as the tv is switched on during a local news bulletin. I learn that Andy Burnham will keep his Everton season ticket before making it out of the room.
Day 201 - 18th July
I learn through conversation with friends that Chester Zoo was on the news campaigning for updates to the way the weather is presented. A single symbol with rain can result in reduced visitors when there may be little or no rain. This then contributes to congestion on days when the symbol is sunshine.
Day 202 - 19th July
As I am driving to see the in-laws my wife asks ‘Do you want to hear some news you'll like? Then after a pause: ‘Andy Burnham is to ditch plans for digital id’. Good news indeed if real. Enriching tech companies on the promise of ‘security’ but in reality delivering mass surveilance: no thanks!
Later when at the in-laws we are confronted by a copy of the Daily Mail lying on the living room chair with a headline along the lines of ‘Burnham to drag us back to the 1970s’. My wife opens the offending poisonous ‘news'-paper and reads various story headlines with contempt including: ‘Never have we had a prime minister with such little democratic legitimacy’. Short selective memories, or offshore tax pandering shithouse hypocrites? I'm thinking the latter.
She also calls out the appalling use of language in a piece about plans to “dump” asylum seekers at a military base.
Whilst watching the world cup final, I learn Kier Starmer has stayed on as Prime Minister until today. This was linked to earlier hopes of an England win. Spain rightly beat Argentina eventually.
Day 203 - 20th July
Today it's my daughter who asks ‘Do I want to hear some news?’ Her announcement that follows is ‘Andy Burnham is now prime minister’. I reckon that makes him the first Labour and Co-operative Prime Minister of the UK .
Talk turns to Farage and the Clacton by-election. There are many candidates but no mainstream ones, it appears.
Not going to lie, I would quite like to watch the news today. I won't, but it's important to acknowledge this here. Significant events still interest me. They always have. I happen to know about this one, but not potentially many I have missed this year. The challenge after this experiment ends will be how to access news in a way that informs not constantly demands attention.
On reflection I probably wouldn't enjoy the coverage today which I guess would soon sink into speculation and gossip.
In the evening I hear snippets about new cabinet appointments from my daughter's comments. John Healy is now Chancellor.
Day 204 - 21st July
Today I'm asked ‘Do you want to hear some news that's not really news’. The story title from Metro online is read out to me: ‘How unlubricated wooden butt plugs finally turned me on to musicals’, an attention grabbing click bait piece that would no doubt work wonders for my algorithm, if not my musical appreciation.
Day 205 - 22nd July
News free.
Day 206 - 23rd July
I learn at the pub that our local Labour MP is now a backbencher again following Prime Minister Andy Burnham's reshuffles.
Wes Streeting is now Defence Minister and Yvette Cooper is heading up Health.
Day 207 - 24th July
A Friday excursion to Crewe and I fail to avoid instore radio news whilst shopping. The news comes on and I can't hum enough to block it all out. As a result I hear fragments of a piece about how near and prepared the country is for war. It seems the news item is drawing attention to the active use of US bases on British soil for military action in the middle east and how this makes Britain a target in the conflict. Waiting to be served in the same shop, I hear a feature about the lack of rainfall and its impact on farming.
When meeting some sustainability colleagues for lunch, a piece from Private Eye is shared about the ‘straits of sunshine’ remaining open - oh if Britain had completed the shift to renewables! Very funny if not so tragic.
I later hear Andy Burnham has held his first ‘number 10 in the north’ meeting.
Day 208 - 25th July
Andy Burnham remains a talking point when out with friends but I don't hear anything new.
Day 209 - 26th July
No news.
Day 210 - 27th July
Late on I learn via social media that Bill Oddie has died. RIP.
Day 211 - 28th July
Driving down to Chepstow and I turn the volume down when the radio news begins successfully avoiding the headlines.
Day 212 - 29th July
Camping and awaiting the start of the Green Gathering Festival , so relatively easy to avoid news but I do see a ‘suggested post’ from BBC weather showing parts of the country where drought has been declared. The festival has had to ban fires. It's dry.
Day 213 - 30th July
My football infused algorithm ensures I see several Instagram posts about FIFA's plans for private investment in a new commercial arm. It seems they are not content with robbing sports fans blind. Hopefully enough of the member associations will see this move for what it is and not be bought off to enrich the already wealthy.
Day 214 - 31st July
No news during a full day of activities at the festival.
Day 215 - 1st August
I take part in a workshop on ‘the long journey of leaving big tech’. In summary, if we are to escape the tightening grip of our tech bro overlords and divert from the path they are leading us along to techno feudalism it's going to be hard. The sooner we start the better. In its wake I start to research how to switch off AI from search results without much success.
Day 216 - 2nd August
News free at The Green Gathering learning how to ferment food. It seems more straightforward than changing app settings.
Day 217 - 3rd August
Back from Chepstow, I’m told by the kids that Count Binface is polling 20% and is now something of an internet sensation. I'm also told the Welsh and English Football Associations will not be backing Gianni Infantino as president of FIFA when he comes up for re-election. His plans are now seemingly dead in the water.
Day 218 - 4th August
Catching up on announcements from bands I follow and I discover Count Binface is being touted by football fans as a successor to Gianni Infantino.
Day 219 - 5th August
News free.
Day 220 - 6th August
I'm told, whilst watching Pointless, that the actor Sam Neil, a lead character in Jurassic Park, died the previous week.
Day 221 - 7th August
Travelling to Birmingham on route to Mallorca for a family holiday.
There is some ‘news baiting’ from family members on the car journey, but I can't remember what was mentioned now. Binface probably.
Day 222 - 8th August
Awake in Palma. It’s like an oven stepping outside the hotel’s aircon.
News free.
Day 223 - 9th August
It's hot. News free. Paella for tea.
Day 224 - 10th August
Baking hot. Walk to the old town where narrow streets afford some shade and cool.
Spend some time indoors back at the hotel trying to establish where might be a good spot to watch the upcoming total solar eclipse.
Between music releases and festivals my social feed features Binface. I laugh when I read a headline with Reform UK casting Binface as ‘the establishment’.
Day 225 - 11th August
I learn via my daughter that some capibaras have been born at Hertfordshire zoo. Other than that I am news free.
Day 226 - 12th August
Today my main interaction with media is trying to find out the arrangements for viewing the total eclipse of the sun in the Palma area. It's not that clear but we learn enough to make it to the recommended beach using the recommended buses. We are rewarded with an unforgettable experience seeing the total eclipse cloudless just above the horizon.
Day 227 - 13th August
My social media is awash with Count Binface who despite the online interest in my bubble is still likely to lose the Clacton by-election by a substantial margin. The by-election takes place today. That said, he will also be a ‘winner’ I guess having helped to make a mockery of Farage and the unnecessary waste he has caused by calling the by-election in the first place. As soon as he is back as an MP the investigation into his conduct will resume presumably. Who is the real clown here?
Day 228 - 14th August
Told at breakfast that Farage didn't bother turning up at the count claiming it wasn't safe, although the police apparently reported no threat. Probably fearful of dying of embarrassment under scrutiny. What a knob. Glad I haven't experienced this by-election's regular coverage. Just knowing about it second hand reminds me what a dysfunctional state we are in.
Day 229 - 15th August
Learn of wildfires back home in the UK and the use of the national alert system to warn people against activities that contribute to wildfires. Linkedin is a stream of posts from angry sustainability professionals furious about the continual denial and misdirected blame over our predicament. Rewilding is amongst the new scapegoats being blamed by some in the right wing press. It’s almost like there's a lobby protecting the interests of people who want to keep a particular type of countryside that's been massively altered to support their lifestyles. Don't mention the (rewilded) elephant in the room climate change. Maybe perhaps, just maybe, the billions behind the oil industry has a part in our misinformation streams too.
I let the Linkedin anger drift away whilst sweating in an airconditioned hotel room waiting to catch a flight home. The hypocritical contradictions are plain. The vested interests behind the status quo must also be laughing that in liberal democracies they've succeeded in helping make humanity's survival a matter of individual personal choices. In the meantime they can continue to profit beyond serious reproach whilst feeding our guilt for choosing flights that are often cheaper than a train to the airport!
Later our flight is delayed due to forest fires in France. Must be big on rewilding there. More irony and hypocrisy.
Day 230 - 16th August
Mainly news free. Ironically, in an effort to start de-googling my internet use I encounter a news story via Bing instead. Bing sadly seems to have all the superfluous non search-related news fluff google has too. The news story headline reads “NATO fighter jet opens fire as warplanes scramble to intercept 'Russian' drone”. I have hopefully now stopped Microsoft deciding which news I see but once again the settings are not obvious.
For the first time in a while I watch a documentary about the changing news-scape: ‘Post truth times. we the media.’ It is relatively old. It was released in 2017. For the most part it tells the story of the impact on news journalism of the shift from ‘paid for’ print news to online sources of often free to access ‘news’.
The documentary reinforces some of the thinking from my own news free reflections and adds some extra ideas too. A key message: for journalism to play a vital role in democracy, verifiable facts are sacrosanct. There will always be variations in interpretation of these facts but they must be verifiable.
Unfortunately, in the internet age, starved of resources and under pressure to serve more content across different media, there is now less time for journalists to verify stories or even go out and find stories at all. We are shifting to a world where simplifying messages is becoming more important than verifying facts. There is now less specialist subject expertise in news rooms. Many media trained people now work outside of journalism, their job to present their organisations favourably in order to further their interests. In effect, more trained journalists are becoming involved writing stories to favour particular interests and less scrutinising them independently.
One argument advanced in the documentary is that television news programmes have accelerated the process of turning news into entertainment. On TV, the focus is more on ‘the show’ than the story. There is more reliance on instant opinion from a relatively small pool of commentators, often not subject experts. The ‘show’ warps the story.
Reflecting on the fundamental changes, one journalist argues we need to shift away from what they term ‘broadcast journalism' where everything is told as it happens to a more ‘reflective journalism’. To paraphrase them: good journalism explains the context and establishes the facts that enable the audience to understand and make their own conclusions. It should not be about ‘arriving first’ to then ‘broadcast’ events as they happen, the focus should be ‘remaining afterwards’ to find out and tell the story of what actually happened. This approach appeals to me: informed insight based on facts and illuminating the context, not the overwhelming continuous chatter of running commentaries in real time whether anything has happened or not.
Turning the ‘blame the media' argument on its head, one key point advanced by a journalist featured is that there isn't really a shortage of good journalists but of people willing to pay for decent journalism. We -the public - jumped onto the internet train and for the most part stopped paying for journalists who used to verify facts behind the news. If we are happy to cede our responsibility to pay then we actually give even more away to the powerful. They can - and have - stepped into the vacuum to capture our attention and shape what we hear or see. The focus has become simplifying messages rather than verifying facts. The newsrooms were never perfect. There has always been a role of the media in ‘manufacturing consent’ by communicating a particular world view. There has also always been subconscious ‘editing’ in the favour of advertiser or proprietor interests. But back when more people paid for journalists there was perhaps more good journalism too?
Day 231 - 17th August
No news.
Day 232 - 18th August
Over a family meal with my parents there's talk of the passing of a lead actor from the series Heroes. The conversation moves on to discuss another passing but I'm not sure who it is, other than an academic hounded by the media. The Telegraph is mentioned.
Day 233 - 19th August
No news.
Heavy rain in Chester
Day 234 - 20th August
Limited news. I'm told in the pub that Harry and Meghan are moving back to the UK,
More rain today. It's been a while - water butts filling finally.
Day 235 - 21st August
Don't get far before I hear from my wife there has been successful cancer surgery on a python at Chester Zoo.
Day 236 - 22nd August
News free camping in Oxfordshire with family.
Day 237 - 23rd August
Sent the previous day's Chester game report by my mum. Chester beat Spalding 1 0 at the death and are unbeaten after four games and currently top of the league.
I learn late on that a rail company has been hacked and the power is out impacting trains across the country.
Also told that Kevin Keegan died. RIP.
Day 238 - 24th August
No news. Or rather I get a partial comment on a news item about young people and social media videos but without enough to make sense of it. Perhaps a new dangerous craze?
Day 239 - 25th August
News free until I'm told by my son late in the evening that Dolly Parton has died. RIP.
Day 240 - 26th August
Dolly fills my social media: anecdotes, remembrances, all positive, many political. It seems it is possible to be successful, maintain your humanity, and do right in the world.
In the evening out with friends, I am told that actor Tim Curry, famous for the Rocky Horror show, is also dead. Never knew he was born in Warrington. RIP.
Day 241 - 27th August
No news.
Day 242 - 28th August
No news.
Day 243 - 29th August
Amongst posts from various musicians performing at or promoting their shows at various summer festivals, I stumble on one post about an American company arguing in court their right to use the name Twitter, since miserable Musk abandoned the brand. They've apparently reclaimed the brand under a website called twitter.now. Intrigued, I try to visit it but the site is broken, presumably because too many of us are eager for Twitter's rebirth as a sociable media platform.
Day 244 - 30th August
Sitting in the dining room I hear the 10pm news from the living room because the door is open. It's about the number of people killed and missing due to major flooding in Nepal.
Day 245 - 31st August
Chester lose at home in front of a bumper bank holiday crowd.
Diverting my attention with Instagram and I see a post suggesting social media platform Myspace is planning a comeback. Its pitch is based on reverting to an earlier era with chronological feeds not algorithmic slop. Another post, this from the Daily Express is focused on pressuring Andy Burnham on electric vehicle rules. Stuff the algorithm and the Daily Express!
Day 246 - 1st September
I get an email from Kier Starmer. Not a direct personal one, but from the Labour Party. It tells me of his decision to step down as an MP. More by-elections ahead.
Day 247 - 2nd September
Travelling to another music festival. This one in Portugal. Data switched off. No news.
Day 248 - 3rd September
Arrived at said music festival in Paredes. Phone battery rationing. Too busy enjoying music to let news ruin it.
Day 249 - 4th September
News free festivities.
Day 250 - 5th September
News free, music full.
Day 251 - 6th September
News free travelling to Porto.
Day 252 - 7th September
Recovering after the festival and a ‘suggested post’ featuring the Daily Mail's front page ruins my news free streak. It's not really news at all, just political spin trying to make a comment from the Tory leader a talking point. Not going to give it any air by repeating it here. This is how the system I despise works: newspaper owners shape the front pages which are then picked up by others to divert attention from actual events.
Day 253 - 8th September
News free sampling port in Porto.
Day 254 - 9th September
Poor night's sleep when it sounded like someone in the room above was bathing a herd of cattle from 4:30 AM onwards. Eventually I give up trying to sleep and get stuck in an endless Instagram scroll instead. The latter was probably worse.
In the Instagram stream there are several snippets of news-like content and opinion that appeared between the stuff about the music I actually follow. This ‘bonus' content includes a cartoon about organised fascist disruption in Dover. It gives testimony from a local witnessing balaclavaed mobs being transported into Dover to terrorise the community. The cartoon says it was reported on the news as a spontaneous and peaceful protest against immigration. There's other stuff too, too depressing to detail. Feels like a severe relapse after several idyllic days. The algorithms feed us our own personal addictive hell. In my case this content is tailored to my nightmares.
Later we are asked by two different sides of the family if our flight home is disrupted with problems reported on the news. It wasn't.
Day 255 - 10th September
Back home. My daughter remarks why is the story that England's mayors are to be given powers to levy a tourist tax in the news today when it was announced ages ago? I can imagine the right wing headlines about a tax on the holidays of ‘hard working British families’, despite such a tax being commonplace elsewhere. They probably don't mention it's a seemingly sensible way to ensure the cost of services in places visited by millions of tourists don't fall entirely on local tax payers alone.
Day 256 - 11th September
Leave the room twice when unexpected news items come on. Fighting to be news free.
Day 257 - 12th September
On the way to an away match in my friend's car and I catch a snippet of radio news. Something about a second £32 million donation to Reform UK.
Get an email from the Labour Party at half time confirming the record shattering two donations of £32 million to Reform UK, both from crypto-billionaires. It is titled: ‘What we do next matters’ and it asks for donations. I reply ‘put a cap on donations then’. An automated reply tells me this in an unmonitored email address.
I wonder what £64 million of microtargetted social media manipulation can buy: the next election? Call me old fashioned but crypto sounds dodgy to me.
Chester lose 3 1.
Day 258 - 13th September
News free.
Recovering from a late night I watch a Netflix documentary on AI called The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist. The filmmaker explores what AI is and as the title suggests its potential to destroy humanity or herald a new Utopian age. It's worth a watch. I'm less convinced by the techno optimists in the programme and am left somewhat concerned about how we seem locked in an arms race between corporations and rival countries to create a ‘super intelligence’ without any real consideration about what this might mean.
I'm left reflecting afterwards that humanity is more than intelligence but that some of the tech bro billionaires and political leaders racing to develop AI seem by their actions markedly lacking in these wider qualities: empathy, compassion and an innate sense of fairness. The application of AI in its current iterations can of course be used to do good or evil. When it comes to news it seems to me to be more likely to be used for the latter. There's plenty of deepfake content already being created with its capacity to do untold harm. Then there's our personal AI driven algorithm that feeds on our hopes and fears delivering content that alters our perceptions the longer we reside in our online cages.
Day 259 - 14th September
Full of cold and feeling sorry for myself, Instagram exposes me to a story about artist Macklemore being dropped from Ed Sheeran's US tour for using the stage to speak out on Gaza/Palestine. Apparently the owner of several US stadiums threatened to withdraw permission for their use unless Macklemore was dropped. How did we get to a position when expressing any kind of solidarity with civilian victims of indiscriminate military aggression is deemed hate speech? I fear freedom will remain out of reach if the meaning of words can be so distorted to suppress expressions of humanity.
Day 260 - 15th September
More Ed Sheeran posts seen today. Seems his backing band and other support acts have dropped out of the tour in solidarity. Trying to be apolitical turns out to be a political stance after all as the online pile on follows. Trying to raise a serious point on the other hand and attention soon focuses on the celebrity fall out, not the issue raised. Our news is not allowed to dwell ‘there' but to bring us back to a celebrity fantasy world ‘here’.
Day 261 - 16th September
No new news.
Day 262 - 17th September
Walk in and immediately out of the living room when I realise my son has the BBC news channel on - something about AI.
He later shouts to tell me the news is now off. On my return my son makes clear he ‘just wanted to hear what Mark Carney had to say’. Apparently Canada has agreed to some sort of associate EU status and the US government is not happy.
Learn via an email from the local MP that Merseyrail has banned ebikes across the network. Ironically I can carry my ebike battery on a plane but not local trains any more. Sustainable travel in action…
Day 263 - 18th September
Will this cold never end?
I'm told the price of fuel is up and the conflict in the Middle East never really ended, it just flares up repeatedly. Time to get ourselves weaned off fossil fuels.
Day 264 - 19th September
Away in Liverpool watching Chester FC beat Lower Breck in an FA cup qualifier and I'm told Jim Radcliffe the Monaco registered tax ‘migrant’ billionaire has been on radio spouting his hypocritical hard done to anti immigrant nonsense again. Why the hell do we keep giving these people airtime? Time to recast billionaire so-called wealth creators as the wealth sucking money hoarders and keep them away from a microphone.
On an unexpected night out I'm introduced to a group of my friend's family and friends as someone living news free, I subsequently use the excuse of living news free as a reason why I can't offer an up to date opinion on some of the conversations that follow. One conversation I do participate in concerns AI.
Day 265 - 20th September
News free. Yipee!
Day 266 - 21st September
I'm told, when visiting my parents, that Andy Burnham is travelling to New York today to meet Donald Trump. Poor Andy, I suppose it’s a hazard of the new job.
The rising price of fuel comes up in conversation associated with Trump's Iran war. I'm told shipping is not just at risk in the Strait of Hormuz. Houthis in Yemen are attacking shipping in the Red Sea to stop Saudi Oil too. I'm thinking back to the Private Eye Straits of Sunshine item…
Scam calls come up in conversation, particularly the harnessing of AI to perpetrate scams.
Day 267 - 22nd September
News free.
Day 268 - 23rd September
The radio is on in another room. I hear the news headline before I can shut the door. Andy Burnham has given or is to give a speech calling for stricter rules on the use of AI. Trump has previously spoken opposing AI regulation.
Day 269 - 24th September
Happen upon an Instagram reel about rage bate news. I follow it up to see a complete video about the topic on Youtube. A fascinating story is presented drawing together the emerging toxic triad of news, social media and AI.
The programme starts showing someone spouting anti-immigration hatred at a demonstration of angry flag waving ‘British patriots' on an apparently ‘UK loving' Facebook page with thousands of followers. Then it reveals that it's an entirely AI generated video. The exact same speech appears in multiple different AI generated videos posted by similar apparently ‘patriotic’ UK accounts, all fake.
Long story short, following an investigation, many of the pages posting the material are not UK-based at all. Scratching further the investigation reveals there are several ‘make money with AI’ gurus operating out of other countries, in this case Sri Lanka. These ‘gurus’ tutor people on how to get rich quick by using AI prompts to generate engaging social media content. Rage bate news just happens to be engaging and therefore lucrative. The deliberate target for this AI created hate slop tends to be other countries with a higher financial return for social media engagement notably the UK, USA, and Australia. In effect Facebook pays more for clicks in these countries. The graduates of these gurus are now indiscriminately using AI to generate immigrant hating rage bate ‘news' that enough people in the target countries click on to make it worthwhile. A deluge of hateful content appears as ‘news’ stories that Facebook actually rewards the creators for! By ‘creators’ we are talking about people who know very little about the countries being targeted. They are not news reporters with any particular knowledge. What they are are people who have learned how to use the right AI prompts to create fake news-like videos that people lap up to enable them to earn some extra money. It's frightening - and if true another example of dereliction of duty by the tech bros.
In other news I'm told by my wife that some former Love Island contestant is in trouble with HMRC for undeclared millions as an ‘influencer’.
Day 270 - 25th September
In a pub in Liverpool with my back to the big screen so as not to see news but my wife laughs and tells me the headline says Manchester City has been found to have broken many of the financial rules they were being investigated for.
Day 271 - 26th September
On the way to the match, the topic of Manchester City comes up in conversation. There will be an appeal, but what sanctions will apply if the findings are upheld? Apparently teams are already lining up with their compensation claims. Money! Money! Money!
Day 272 - 27th September
The hotel TV is sadly tuned to the BBC and so the Laura Kuensberg political show comes on unexpectedly. Though I have developed lightning fast reactions, the mute button on the remote control doesn't work! As a result I am exposed to a Laura ‘story’ before I can change the channel or switch it off. The story is about Andy Burnham wanting to sort out social care. He's prepared to raise taxes so it becomes free at the point of use as with NHS treatments. It cuts to an interview just as I regain control.
Later at home I catch the headline ‘five men arrested in major incident near RAF Fairford’. This is because ‘comedy' is below ‘ live and latest news’ on the menu. I am thus exposed to the former whilst trying to access the latter. Not very funny.
Day 273 - 28th September
The home TV is playing up today and whilst trying to watch the Channel 4 catch up app, live news comes on instead. The news shows a burning building before I can switch it off. ‘Hit at 12’, I think they said, implying an attack but I'm off before finding out more.
Later I receive an email from John Healy, chancellor of the exchequer, telling me about his speech at the Labour Party conference earlier in the day: new apprenticeships, investment at Rolls Royce and in British ship yards.
Day 274 - 29th September
Get an email from Andy Burnham today after his conference speech. It's focused on hope and making a difference. Andy tells me housing, water and energy is to be under more public control. He relates there will be a National Care Service so that every pensioner gets the care they need. He tells me Labour will seek a new relationship with Europe. He also mentions Labour will set up a National Commission on electoral reform.
Day 275 - 30th September
Final day of September and three quarters of the year in!
Maintaining this diary feels like it's been a real slog this quarter. I think I underestimated the amount of second hand news I'd encounter and the addictive nature of social media apps. I've thought ‘I can't be bothered writing that down’ on several occasions. I've tried none-the-less but there's definitely some snippets I haven't captured. It might be something that's not the full picture, a piece of a puzzle that only becomes clearer as other snippets come to light, like the emerging Binface Clacton by-election story. I'd add that by committing to share this diary publicly I have made more of an effort than if it was just for me alone. I've created a rod for my own back so to speak.
So thinking back on my developing ideas this quarter, the impact of AI appears to have risen in prominence in my thoughts on news. Beyond being used to create fake news to hijack our attention, the deployment of AI to spread addictive slop in our ‘social’ feeds is truly playing with our heads and altering the newscape in the process.
Looking back, I think that the documentary ‘Post truth times. we the media’ has been particularly significant in my thinking over this period. Three ideas in particular spring to mind now:
(i) Making the news a broadcast programme prioritises ‘the show’ over the story and warps the news stories accordingly. This resonates with my earlier reflections on news becoming entertainment. It also makes me think of the day when the BBC had no news to report so they didn't bother. These days we are more likely to get ‘the show’ regardless. It’s more likely that the news programme will be lengthened around particular events deemed significant, not shortened or abandoned.
(ii) A better news would be one where journalist's stay longer to verify and truly understand what has happened before telling the story, rather than race to be the first to report before or as an event is happening. Does a running commentary about what someone has decided to be important in advance really illuminate? Or is it simply filling in ‘the show'?
(iii) As many of us stopped paying for newspapers, those willing to pay to advance their interests have continued to shape the news media: print, broadcast and online. These ‘interests’ still shape the stories we see, yet do so with less professional independent scrutiny than previously. At a time when our attention has become the main currency, fewer independent journalists are now paid to pay attention. Add online distribution channels that pretend not to be publishers but whose interests are served by supplying us with tailor made sensational news-like content regardless of its veracity, human or AI generated, it comes as no surprise that modern news seems locked into a race to the bottom. In effect we stopped paying for journalists, so now we will all pay through our diminished capacity for independent thought!
Sorry to leave you on such a depressing point, but hopefully I didn't put you off coming back for the final installment. Long live independent thought!
.
