Charlie Beckett

@charliebeckett.bsky.social

3.4K followers 270 following 1K posts

LSE journalism professor
I run the LSE Polis Journalism and AI project
Hammer

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Communication & Media Studies 37%

Political science 35%

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Charlie Beckett @charliebeckett.bsky.social · 6h

All the sessions from our journalism and AI Festival are now on YouTube: check out the case study demos and panels showing off innovation from around the world www.youtube.com/live/ocr--Gv...

JournalismAI Festival | Day 1

YouTube video by PolisLSE

www.youtube.com

Charlie Beckett @charliebeckett.bsky.social · 21h

And if she meant Ken Clarke, it was a fedora, not a trilby

Reposted by Charlie Beckett, Jutta Haider

Marcus Bösch @boesch.bsky.social · 22h

America’s Polarization Has Become the World's Side Hustle www.404media.co/americas-pol...

America’s Polarization Has Become the World's Side Hustle

The 'psyops' revealed by X are entirely the fault of the perverse incentives created by social media monetization programs.

www.404media.co

Reposted by Charlie Beckett, Paul Nightingale

Ben Stanley @benstanley.eu · 22h

Guardian doing Guardian things

Charlie Beckett @charliebeckett.bsky.social · 1d

Absolutely mad, if true

Charlie Beckett @charliebeckett.bsky.social · 2d

Yes, the Internet unbundles and at the same time mainstream brands become more focused on their subscribers, so more partisan. It's the journalism, not the social media that is 'polarising'

Charlie Beckett @charliebeckett.bsky.social · 2d

It was a lovely journey so I'm not complaining, but it seemed wonderfully incoherent / even in the original!

Charlie Beckett @charliebeckett.bsky.social · 2d

We should all go back and read John Birt's 1975 (!) Bias Against Understanding blogs.lse.ac.uk/polis/2017/0...

Journalism’s new mission: understanding the human - Polis

There is a bias in journalism. Not against any particular party or point of view - it is a bias against understanding. Sound familiar? It is from John Birt's seminal article in The Times in 1975. He w...

blogs.lse.ac.uk

Charlie Beckett @charliebeckett.bsky.social · 2d

We should all go back and read John Birt's 1975 (!) Bias Against Understanding blogs.lse.ac.uk/polis/2017/0...

Journalism’s new mission: understanding the human - Polis

blogs.lse.ac.uk

Charlie Beckett @charliebeckett.bsky.social · 2d

Fascinating workshop with Swiss media execs at St Gallen university - clever, committed people in an odd media market: lots of quality but v fragmented and competitive - AI will help but lots challenges

Charlie Beckett @charliebeckett.bsky.social · 2d

I don't understand your point. My fault I'm sure. Everyone has always complained about lack of general public interest in policy. Stephen is blaming the BBC, you are blaming social media (?). It could be that the policy is not understandable? (Tho I admire your efforts to make it more so)

Charlie Beckett @charliebeckett.bsky.social · 2d

You have wildly unrealistic expectations of journalism, let alone the BBC that has to appeal universally. Your lofty perch propped up by elite wealthy subscription income gives you a distorted prism on public understanding.

Charlie Beckett @charliebeckett.bsky.social · 2d

I don't think that's true. You are falsely assuming everyone cared about policy before. They didn't. It's just that 'our' conversation about policy was in glorious isolation from any other noise

Charlie Beckett @charliebeckett.bsky.social · 2d

'Cheer loud and savour the moment' is a lovely sentiment - but on a train?

Charlie Beckett @charliebeckett.bsky.social · 2d

Swiss trains are wonderful.
But I don't understand this advert. Is it just an odd translation or am I completely missing the point?

Charlie Beckett @charliebeckett.bsky.social · 2d

Why is it a 'problem'?

Charlie Beckett @charliebeckett.bsky.social · 4d

The New Yorker was good on this. Mamdani is positively sensible compared to previous NYC incumbents. He has sold himself as a radical, but he might end up being lauded for being practical (including dealing with a lunatic president.)

Charlie Beckett @charliebeckett.bsky.social · 4d

It is. So much going on. Like Lear's fool or an embarrassing wedding.

Charlie Beckett @charliebeckett.bsky.social · 4d

I find these novels by Balle utterly compelling (I listen to them while running- which makes them even more of a circuit) I love the Groundhog Day trope (Palm Springs was cute) but she really explores the trope in a dense, detailed way www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

Solvej Balle’s Novels Rewire the Time Loop

Most stories in the genre build to a moment of escape. “On the Calculation of Volume” imagines a woman making a life inside an infinitely repeating November 18th.

www.newyorker.com

Charlie Beckett @charliebeckett.bsky.social · 4d

Fellow populists

Charlie Beckett @charliebeckett.bsky.social · 4d

I like that Swiss TV weather forecasters have to present from outside. Very brave. It's literally freezing (and snowing) here.

Charlie Beckett @charliebeckett.bsky.social · 5d

The decline in population replacement is one of those mega trends - like migration, which is very much related - that will shape our world, yet we pay little attention to it. As with all mega change, it is frightening but also potentially positive despite this headline www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

David Runciman · Are we doomed? The End of the Species

Are we doomed to die out? We find ourselves at the only point in the history of the species when the rate of population...

www.lrb.co.uk

Charlie Beckett @charliebeckett.bsky.social · 6d

Certainly their lives are more mediated: there is more attention. And much more scepticism. Which isn't a bad thing. But I suspect the weight has shifted in terms of moral risk: consider the difference in shame between Carrington and Johnson for example

Charlie Beckett @charliebeckett.bsky.social · 7d

Sundar Pichai has played a blinder today. Warning everyone to take care about AI. Yet no one seems to ask him why he isn't doing anything about that.

Charlie Beckett @charliebeckett.bsky.social · 7d

I agree with what Martha says but is there any research evidence of the depletion of the standard of public service figures (a tough methodology) or is it a perennial complaint?

Charlie Beckett @charliebeckett.bsky.social · 7d

It's very relatable in context and funny

Reposted by Charlie Beckett

PolisLSE @polislse.bsky.social · 8d

🚀 Applications are open for the new #JournalismAI Innovation Challenge, supported by the Google News Initiative!

We’re funding AI projects that boost audience intelligence & revenue for small & mid-size publishers.

💰 $50K & $100K

🗓️ Deadline: 3 Dec, 23:59 GMT

👉 journalismai.info/programmes/i...

Reposted by Charlie Beckett

Reuters Institute @reutersinstitute.bsky.social · 12d

Did you miss the #JournalismAI Festival hosted by @charliebeckett.bsky.social @tshepotothet.bsky.social and @polislse.bsky.social?

Here's a summary by our own @marinaadami.bsky.social, with projects from Cuba, Zimbabwe, Spain and other countries
reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/news/journal...

JournalismAI Festival 2025: Four projects that caught our eye and a few rising trends

From Zimbabwe to Cuba, here are a dozen of initiatives presented at the conference from small and medium-sized newsrooms around the world.

reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk

Charlie Beckett @charliebeckett.bsky.social · 12d

What a good idea. Much cheaper than clearing up the mess of a squished cyclist.

Oxford Clarion @oxfordclarion.bsky.social · 12d

300 cyclists were stopped for riding without lights in the dark and were given temporary lights to get them home safely, as part of Oxfordshire County Council's (OCC) Vision Zero event on Broad St. at the weekend. The event aimed to provide road safety advice for the most vulnerable road users.

Andy Ford, Road Safety Manager at Oxfordshire County Council’s Fire and Rescue Service (Oxfordshire County Council)

Charlie Beckett @charliebeckett.bsky.social · 12d

12 lessons from this week's international LSE #JournalismAI Festival - very good summary of some key case studies www.journalism.co.uk/12-lessons-f...

12 lessons from news outlets on the cutting edge of AI

Here are the key points, ideas and tips from the first day of the JournalismAI Festival in London

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