The Major Shift in Media has Arrived

We live in the information age. There is a never-ending, overwhelming, over-exaggerated stream of news, media and opinions. But this can’t last and there is a welcomed major shift in how we consume media. When our decisions and judgements count for more than ever, obtaining a correct, reflective, truthful world view becomes more important.

I have, especially recently, become very careful of what I consume. I avoid the news and carefully select and curate a list of trusted individuals who I use as information sources. Not to the point where I am in an echo chamber or where I only hear a narrow amount of views; but one which eliminates consistently poor sources of information particularly where they are incentivised to earn money from my viewership.

This is all in the aim of building a world view which reflects reality. About obtaining truthful, accurate, unopinionated information surrounding topics I care about. I share why you should do the same too, before being forced to through the major shift in the creation and consumption of media that has arrived.

The Age of Mis-Information

People previously had to go to Med school for many years before they could have an opinion on a vaccine – now anyone can just sit on Twitter. 

With ever-increasing headline notifications popping up all day, people claiming to be experts, and social media allowing anyone to share an opinion, it is easier than ever to believe you understand everything there is to know. 

A google search will confirm anything we want. And then there are platforms where we can influence each other on important topics. 

But with an increasingly dynamic and complex environment with everything constantly changing, we rarely know much at all in the grand scheme of things. We don’t know everything, and we don’t know what we don’t know either. 

We probably never will. However, I think it is important to appreciate the fact that usually we don’t know. That ‘experts’ may turn out to spread mis-information, that social media is full of fake news and just because you’ve read a headline does not mean you understand a topic area. 

Usually, the less people know about a subject, the more ignorant and sure they are on that subject. The more people know, the more they realise what they don’t know and they have more doubts. Amateurs know what they know; experts know what they don’t know. 

In summary, the internet has meant we mistake quantity of knowledge, for quality of knowledge. As much as there is an abundance of information, there is also an abundance of mis-information. 

The Issue with Traditional News

There is currently a general avoidance of the traditional press with individuals and companies preferring to make announcements on places like Twitter instead. This prevents the media from twisting words, which then are out in the open, static forever. It also avoids the need to attempt to counter the facts made in the media, as this can often be near impossible even for high profile individuals and companies. Therefore, it is all about speaking directly to the customer and audience without the press, meaning the narrative is crafted by the creator. Social media is the perfect place for this.

Social media has made for fierce competition with traditional media. Google and Facebook take their ad money whilst the likes of Netflix and Spotify take their subscription money. This soon eroded media companies’ revenues. It has also resulted in media needing to increase the number of posts a day. The media who were originally focused on gathering facts suddenly had no time or money to research or collect opinions or fact-check. The sole focus is a fight for clicks and no-one is worried about seeking the truth.

The internet commoditised the reporting of facts, so the media went into the wholesale of opinions – Naval

This has made the press present an unfair, biased view of the world. The media present a solely opinionated view and yet claim and discuss ideas as if they were fact. No-one wants to report positive stories. For example, the only time Tesla is reported it is where Elon has made a mistake or there has been an accident with one of their cars or technology. This medias creation of sensationalism is a market perfect for their model.

There is also a complexity issue. Reading original academic papers and research takes time and a certain skill set. Geo-political issues take a long time to investigate, and the content required is going to be more than a five-paragraph article, contrary to popular belief. Therefore, there will be a natural shift in the craving for depth and understanding through long form content with nuance and texture. Real depth of what is going on will be chosen over an over-simplified piece that misses the real point.

Despite realising that this is taking place, that the news is far too often seriously incorrect we happily read article after article and forget our scepticism, treating the medias view as fact. We turn the pages, forget what we know including that journalists get so much wrong. There is so much mis-information that is shared even on official channels.

Journalism no longer buys into the key ethics and idea that allowed it to thrive in the first place – a need for objectivity. Instead hidden agendas roam free. Quick bucks from short, poor quality articles that create rage among viewers, in the hope they get plastered over social media sadly seems to win amongst carefully thought-out, detailed, neutral pieces that would be far better for us and society in general. It is now acceptable to call a piece that includes three random anecdotes, a trend piece but the reality is that this is not research despite what it may look like on a glance.

The Shift in Creation and Consumption

There is a decreasing level of trust placed in institutions and companies, as seen with the shift towards decentralisation. Nowadays it has boiled down to the fact that we only have trust on an individual person level. As they have ownership and accountability and are not incentivised to be untruthful.

We like people who are real. We will shift to a world where it will be us finding our own truth-tellers, people that we want to get behind. We can be selective and find the best in the field and learn directly from them. This is ultimately a change for the better. It is a further democratisation of views and news.  

Individuals are likely to become known for a few key areas. Take Elon Musk for example who stands for exploration, engineering and climate change. He has undoubtedly accumulated vast amounts of specific knowledge in this field and is a clear leader in this space. We are going to be wanting to get information from him instead of the intermediary middle-man of a reporter sharing his views. 

News through traditional media were once arbiters of the fact. But with individuals taking their place, this could result in people saying whatever they want and driving large change without being objective. It doesn’t take much to think of a few key examples where a tweet has caused significant commotion off the back of faceless claims.

Therefore, in order to counteract this, a free marketplace of ideas is required where everyone is competing. To counter bad speech and bad ideas, we need more speech to find better ideas. Given no-one has monopoly of the truth, the only way we can arrive there is through this free marketplace of ideas finding the best, most truthful, accurate views - there is no better alternative.

The Importance of Good Information

So the internet has resulted in lots of mis-information and there is a shift away from the media giants who once controlled societal narratives. But why does this matter to us?

Well, the information we consume impacts how we are feeling and directs our decisions. We can all think of a time where a news headline pop-up has altered our mood for the worse, or where we have read an article only to find out it was actually fake news all along. We now have the opportunity to seek out the highest quality information that we can as well as information that makes us feel good. Surely we should take advantage of this.

We wouldn’t keep going back to a restaurant that serves poor quality food, so why do we keep returning to traditional media that is feeding us the equivalent of trash.

When there is so much information we can choose from – we can more carefully select who we listen to and rule out those that consistently fuel feelings of anxiety and mis-information.

Our judgment on key decisions involves information and requires experience. If we can improve the quality of our inputs we can improve the quality of our outputs meaning better decisions, choices that are more aligned with our values and finding good information that we value and care about.

A shift is taking place beneath our feet, so we should jump on the benefits this brings to us.

Becoming a First-mover and Improving your Worldview

Top tips on seeking better information:  

1.    Have a goal of not knowing things – its ok not to know 

2.    Seek out long form content – i.e books or content that will take >30 mins to consume 

3.    Credentials matter – but not too much 

4.    Be less certain of our own opinions 

5.  Come up with a list of things we don’t know around an area we think we know well  

6.  Authenticity always wins out in gaining trust – so look for realness

7. Find a few trusted people you trust around topics you care about

8. When judgement is everything – look for ways to improve this and eliminate that which detracts

With a trend towards narratives being sought after on an individual level, we can take note of this and become focused on sharing our thoughts on a few key areas and topics we love. There is a great opportunity to define a narrative around a topic you care about and become a leader in the space, and this will keep accelerating. Naval says: “Technology democratizes consumption but consolidates production. The best person in the world at anything gets to do it for everyone.”

Please note that parts of this article were inspired by the All in Podcast Episode 21.