YouTube is no replacement for old media
With 720,000 hours of video uploaded every day, this explosion of content provides the viewer with virtually unlimited choice. It has democratised content creation and allowed an extraordinary diversity of voices to bypass almost all editorial oversight.
There is much to celebrate in the media revolution. Artists, musicians, commentators and performers can now build and interact with their audiences directly, relying on their own creativity alone. Consumers have a range of content undreamt of just a few decades ago when the only question was which of the four terrestrial TV channels to watch.
At the same time, however, the lack of any filter or editorial control provides real risks to democracies which rely on an informed public and high quality journalism.
Without any kind of moderation, platforms like YouTube provide fertile ground for misinformation and disinformation, allowing conspiracy theorists and hostile states equal space with professional reporting and properly resourced high quality content.
Unlike the public service broadcasters (PSBs) which are bound by strict editorial standards and regulatory oversight, YouTube, TikTok and other platforms rely on algorithms which prioritise engagement over accuracy. Sensationalist, misleading or outright false content often garners more views, likes and shares, amplifying its reach. This distorts the information and facts which voters need to have in order to make informed decisions at election time.
Despite this huge increase in the number of competing providers of video content, the need for reliable and trusted public service broadcasting remains greater than ever. The range of entertainment across the TV channels and streaming services is vast, benefiting viewers and creators alike. However, consumers also need to have sources of trusted and factual information on which they can rely.
Public service broadcasters are governed by the Broadcasting Code and are required to be impartial and not to give undue offence. The quality press like the Telegraph survive on a reputation for accuracy and properly researched investigative journalism.
Yet both are threatened by the rapid growth of unregulated and often unreliable social media platforms. The steady decline in the reach of public service broadcasters that we have seen in the past 10 years is likely to accelerate as we approach the time when terrestrial transmission will cease and all TV viewing will be via the internet. Sales of physical newspapers will continue to fall, with some already shifting to digital-only distribution.
As viewers and readers move to online platforms, advertisers inevitably follow. Last year, YouTube made more than $36 bn from advertising. With so much free content available, it is tougher to persuade consumers to pay subscriptions for news content or to pay a compulsory licence fee in order to watch live TV. The latest BBC annual report records that the number of licence-fee payers fell yet again, by another 300,000 last year.
Governments of both colours have struggled to support professional media. The latest Media Act, which I took through parliament just 18 months ago, requires that the PSB channels are given prominence (appearing at the top of the programme guide) on connected TV platforms, set-top boxes and streaming sticks. This has already been overtaken as more and more consumers reject scheduled TV and turn straight to on-demand services. Ofcom warned this week that the future of public service media is at stake and called for YouTube in particular to do more to ensure that this content is prominent and easy to find.
There are other steps that government and regulators can take. More needs to be done to improve media literacy and to encourage consumers not to accept every claim online and instead to rely upon trusted news providers.
The Competition Authority will need to use its new powers to ensure that those who create news content are properly rewarded by the tech platforms that disseminate it. And, as AI offers greater competition by scraping news content and re-presenting it, robust copyright laws must ensure that those who created it are able to control its use and receive appropriate payment.
The challenge for policy makers and news organisations remains how best to adapt to a rapidly changing media landscape while protecting the principles of accuracy and impartiality on which a functioning democracy depends.
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