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%
Pinned
The wait is over: the #JournalismAI Festival 2025 programme is here! 🎉
Speakers from @reuters.com, @theguardian.com, @financialtimes.com, BBC, @code4africa.bsky.social & more.
📋 See the full line-up: journalismai.info/festival
⏰ In-person reg closes 12 Oct — seats going fast!
Speakers from @reuters.com, @theguardian.com, @financialtimes.com, BBC, @code4africa.bsky.social & more.
📋 See the full line-up: journalismai.info/festival
⏰ In-person reg closes 12 Oct — seats going fast!
Please register to watch our Journalism AI Festival online - two days of debate and demonstrations of the technology that's changing news around the world
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'
It was a lovely journey so I'm not complaining, but it seemed wonderfully incoherent / even in the original!
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
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
We should all go back and read John Birt's 1975 (!) Bias Against Understanding blogs.lse.ac.uk/polis/2017/0...
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
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)
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.
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
'Cheer loud and savour the moment' is a lovely sentiment - but on a train?
Swiss trains are wonderful.
But I don't understand this advert. Is it just an odd translation or am I completely missing the point?
But I don't understand this advert. Is it just an odd translation or am I completely missing the point?
Why is it a 'problem'?
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.)
It is. So much going on. Like Lear's fool or an embarrassing wedding.
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
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...
Fellow populists
I like that Swiss TV weather forecasters have to present from outside. Very brave. It's literally freezing (and snowing) here.
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
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...
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
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.
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?
It's very relatable in context and funny
Reposted by Charlie Beckett
🚀 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...
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
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
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...
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...
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.
What a good idea. Much cheaper than clearing up the mess of a squished cyclist.
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
www.journalism.co.uk
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...
Reposted by Richard Fletcher, Charlie Beckett
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.
My incredible #journalismAI crew who have not only delivered the world's best journalism and AI Festival but have spent a whole year working with thousands of journalists around the world on literacy and innovation programmes - amazing people doing great work
The conversation continues this afternoon at the #JournalismAI Festival 2025! 🎥
Join us live from London for a line-up exploring how AI is reshaping newsrooms: from small-scale innovation to major transformations.
🗓️ Sessions below will be live-streamed.
journalismai.info/festival
Join us live from London for a line-up exploring how AI is reshaping newsrooms: from small-scale innovation to major transformations.
🗓️ Sessions below will be live-streamed.
journalismai.info/festival
Don't worry if you are not physically here, you can follow online or catchup on recordings later #journalismAI
Reposted by Charlie Beckett
The conversation continues this afternoon at the #JournalismAI Festival 2025! 🎥
Join us live from London for a line-up exploring how AI is reshaping newsrooms: from small-scale innovation to major transformations.
🗓️ Sessions below will be live-streamed.
journalismai.info/festival
Join us live from London for a line-up exploring how AI is reshaping newsrooms: from small-scale innovation to major transformations.
🗓️ Sessions below will be live-streamed.
journalismai.info/festival
FWIW I think Mark Damazer gets it about right on the BBC.