On education the public, we should learn from Finnish efforts to prepare their public for disinformation, through the education system and in public information campaigns.
Full paper is here, financially supported by the BBC: www.smf.co.uk/wp-content/u... (6/6)
Is the bond market following the Labour leadership rumblings as closely as we are, and UK reporting implies? Not so according to an investment banker I spoke to at the weekend. He said it was all about Hormuz, and these swings are being seen elsewhere. Seems like a fair point from what I can see...
Jamie Gollings
How much time have you spent on local Facebook groups, X or Nextdoor recently?
Hopefully less than the @smfthinktank.bsky.social research team - we manually analysed 125,000 social media posts from 95 places in the UK to get a read on the extent and nature of local misinformation. (1/6)
Places with no/little local press had far worse misinformation density - 3x the national average that we found. Meanwhile, those with relatively high numbers of local news outlets has half as much misinformation as average. (2/6)
Jamie Gollings
Jamie Gollings
On big tech, platforms should flag AI-generated image/video, content by trusted news sources, and things being shared by bots/fake accounts. Ofcom should run tests and report on how well/quickly platforms take down misinformation and take action against poor performers. (4/6)
Local news needs to be strengthened to hold back fake news. The gvt should expand the Local Democracy Reporter Service, funding local journalists in more parts of the country, and with a wider investigative remit. Also, make it easier for independent local outlets to register as charities. (5/6)
Fruit Pastille Lolly flavour sweets...Do they mean...you know, fruit pastilles?
Jamie Gollings
New @smfthinktank.bsky.social report out today on family food insecurity and child hunger (research largely done by Jake Shepherd and @danihpayne.bsky.social, with a little from me).
Includes data from a new survey of 2,500 parents on their experiences of food insecurity (short 🧵)
Local news spiked during the May local elections (from 8.2% of news in those groups to 12.9%). We also found that Gorton and Denton had far more fake news than our national average as a share of post - by a factor of 26! (3/6)
