Charlie Beckett
@charliebeckett.bsky.social
LSE journalism professor
I run the LSE Polis Journalism and AI project
Hammer
Communication & Media Studies
37%
Political science
35%
'Noticeably' is annoying. I wonder how many were tourist Man U fans who don't know the etiquette or actual fans who should know better?
Ratcliffe says sorry his language 'offended some people' after criticism of immigration comments - live updates
The Man Utd co-owner says it's important to talk about
www.bbc.co.uk
Why is the BBC amd other media goving such prominence to factually inaccurate remarks of a unelected Monaco resident? And it wasn't 'an apology' www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cd...
Gallup to stop tracking presidential approval ratings after 88 years
Public opinion polling agency says decision ‘solely based on Gallup’s research goals and priorities’
www.theguardian.com
Another respected institution caves in to political pressure. It takes years to build a reputation and just days to lose it. Every trustworthy company should now boycott Gallup. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
Great to see 1st proofs of my new book, Media Change: Contemporary Cases, Consequences & Conceptualizations. Thanks to @nallen2.bsky.social & Wiley's Social Sciences Team for their help thus far. Pre-ordering is already possible at your favourite online bookseller:
www.wiley.com/en-us/Media+...
www.wiley.com/en-us/Media+...
Pre-ordered.
Reposted by Charlie Beckett
Great to see 1st proofs of my new book, Media Change: Contemporary Cases, Consequences & Conceptualizations. Thanks to @nallen2.bsky.social & Wiley's Social Sciences Team for their help thus far. Pre-ordering is already possible at your favourite online bookseller:
www.wiley.com/en-us/Media+...
www.wiley.com/en-us/Media+...
Go back to 1975 and future BBC DG John Birt was complaining about the UK media's (esp broadcasting) 'bias against understanding'. He did improve the 'mission to explain' and there's much good explainer journalism around now. Just not much in the Westminster Lobby.
blogs.lse.ac.uk/polis/2017/0...
blogs.lse.ac.uk/polis/2017/0...
What the Media Do to Our Politics
Nothing more grimly highlights the terrible state of relations between the British press and the Government than the autumn 2003 Hutton Inquiry into the trag...
www.littlebrown.co.uk
This predates social media. In 2003 John Lloyd made a similar critique of an elite, over-powerful bubble 'dedicated to a theatrical distrust of individual politicians and a furious and calculated indifference to the real-life intricacies of world policy-making." www.littlebrown.co.uk/titles/john-...
Did the Lobby Misread the Starmer Story?
Our political press can be an asset or liability
markurban.substack.com
Good critique by Mark Urban of the Westminster lobby esp because he doesn't attack the quality of their journalism per se. I'm surprised how defensive Lobby journos have been about any criticism. It's not personal, but about the viscious vortex they inhabit
markurban.substack.com/p/did-the-lo...
markurban.substack.com/p/did-the-lo...
And his football team is famous for only hiring homegrown talent...
Meet 12 publishers awarded AI innovation grants — JournalismAI
These publishers will, over the next nine months, develop AI based products that boost audience intelligence and revenue growth, through the JournalismAI Innovation Challenge, supported by the Google ...
www.journalismai.info
Meet the 12 news orgs from 11 countries selected to innovate with AI and audiences as part of our latest Innovation Challenge programme. From Brazil to Taiwan they will be creating AI tools and systems to improve their business sustainability #JournalismAI #LSE www.journalismai.info/blog/meet-12...
BREAKING NEWS: We’re absolutely thrilled to announce that the Southbank Centre - the Hayward Gallery, Purcell Room, Queen Elizabeth Hall and skaters undercroft - has finally been Grade II listed by DCMS after a 35 year long campaign.
➡️ c20society.org.uk/news/southba...
➡️ c20society.org.uk/news/southba...
Crazy it's taken so long. The Hayward Gallery alone is a global masterpiece of functionality and elegant use of a remarkable set of textures and masses
Here There Are Blueberries
A mysterious album featuring Nazi-era photographs arrived at the desk of a U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum archivist.
www.stratfordeast.com
This is compelling history as drama and a deeply serious exploration of memory, morality, responsibility and inhumanity - the panel after was excellent too. What these times needs. If you can get a ticket, go www.stratfordeast.com/whats-on/all...
BREAKING NEWS: We’re absolutely thrilled to announce that the Southbank Centre - the Hayward Gallery, Purcell Room, Queen Elizabeth Hall and skaters undercroft - has finally been Grade II listed by DCMS after a 35 year long campaign.
➡️ c20society.org.uk/news/southba...
➡️ c20society.org.uk/news/southba...
No Other Choice review – sensational state-of-the-nation satire from Park Chan-wook
An unemployed paper worker hatches a cunning plan to murder his way back into the job market in this continually surprising black comedy from the director of The Handmaiden and Oldboy
www.theguardian.com
Loved No other Choice. Sumptuous direction, taut acting, clever narrative but 20 minutes too long. Also,
I want that house www.theguardian.com/film/2025/au...
I want that house www.theguardian.com/film/2025/au...
The cartoon that appeared this week on the front page of France’s most influential national newspaper, Le Monde
Brilliant work by the cartoonist, Guffo.
Brilliant work by the cartoonist, Guffo.
Winter Olympic skiers to get microchipped crotches after penis enlarging scandal
IN the age-old question of whether size truly matters, various sources will give you different answers. However, if you happen to be a Winter Olympic skier, then yes, size DOES matter. It matters s…
www.thesun.co.uk
The SEO on this Sun article about the Winter Olympics is gold-medal winning level. Even the URL is wonderfully optimised to snare online attention www.thesun.co.uk/sport/381160...
www.barbican.org.uk
This was so enjoyable and moving: immersive drama at its least pretentious and most direct: sold out but catch any repeat you www.barbican.org.uk/whats-on/202...
That's a good article
Actor Riz Ahmed: ‘I want to tell my own stories’
The Oscar winner on the liberating power of film, what Hollywood still has to offer — and realising his 20-year ambition to produce and star in his own ‘Hamlet’
giftarticle.ft.com
And some local news. The Lunch with the FT this week is at the wonderful Italian restaurant where we had our wedding reception giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...
Should we ban the over 65s from social media?
The government are considering banning the elderly from social media as their brains haven't properly developed. But is a ban a step too far?
The government are considering banning the elderly from social media as their brains haven't properly developed. But is a ban a step too far?
I mean, seriously, they have a point. Oldies cause far more damage and n social media than under 16s
Let's ignore slashing of teen mental health services, disinvestment in education, and increased child poverty - it must be social media to blame!
Reposted by Charlie Beckett
Should we ban the over 65s from social media?
The government are considering banning the elderly from social media as their brains haven't properly developed. But is a ban a step too far?
The government are considering banning the elderly from social media as their brains haven't properly developed. But is a ban a step too far?
Another horrific ICE shooting in Minneapolis. Man wrestled to the ground by federal agents, then shot multiple times.
www.reddit.com/r/Minneapoli...
@startribune.com is there: www.startribune.com/ice-raids-mi...
www.reddit.com/r/Minneapoli...
@startribune.com is there: www.startribune.com/ice-raids-mi...
Warning: this video is horrific.
ICE are just mobs of murderous thugs.
America is out of control.
ICE are just mobs of murderous thugs.
America is out of control.
Drew Harwell
@drewharwell.com
· 20d
Another horrific ICE shooting in Minneapolis. Man wrestled to the ground by federal agents, then shot multiple times.
www.reddit.com/r/Minneapoli...
@startribune.com is there: www.startribune.com/ice-raids-mi...
www.reddit.com/r/Minneapoli...
@startribune.com is there: www.startribune.com/ice-raids-mi...
See also Putin's Russia
This is one of the strangest and most screwed-up stories I’ve worked on. www.londoncentric.media/p/tiktok-lon...
Who's secretly filming fake TikToks inside Londoners' homes?
We tracked down the viral video account invading people's houses to spread false claims about immigrants.
www.londoncentric.media
Incredible the work put in by this person to stir up race hate - another great story from Londoncentric
Reposted by Jonathan Portes, Ben H. Ansell, Will Jennings , and 12 more Jonathan Portes, Ben H. Ansell, Will Jennings, Steve Peers, Andrew Scott, Charlie Beckett, Paul Davies, Lesley A. Hall, Sabine Pahl, Michelle Everson, Jonathan Hopkin, Philip Cowley, Stephen Jones, Lisa Tompson, Maria Sobolewska
Who's secretly filming fake TikToks inside Londoners' homes?
We tracked down the viral video account invading people's houses to spread false claims about immigrants.
www.londoncentric.media
This is one of the strangest and most screwed-up stories I’ve worked on. www.londoncentric.media/p/tiktok-lon...
Trump is the last chance to save the decaying West from terminal decline
It had started to feel as if civilisation had fallen, but the cavalry may now have arrived in the nick of time
www.telegraph.co.uk
Interesting to contrast that article with what Allister was saying just over a year ago: "Trump is the last chance to save the decaying West from terminal decline". I suppose opinions change when the facts change? www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/11...
Trump’s imperial delirium could trigger a catastrophic chain reaction
The US president is playing a zero-sum game and shattering the old world order
www.telegraph.co.uk
This was written before the 'deal' at Davos over Greenland but interesting how Allister Heath's usual apocalyptic vitriol is aimed at Trump. Trump is a state-capitalist kleptocrat imperialist. www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/01...