Bridging the digital divide


Jenny Sims looks at the democratic deficit and the need for online inclusion for all


F


ears were expressed that if Donald Trump won the 2020 US presidential election and gained a second term in office, it would be ‘the end of democracy’ in that country, with harmful knock-on effects around the world.


He lost, but democracy is still not safe in either the US – or


the UK. US media coverage exposed many flaws in the voting system and the need for reform. And widespread misinformation and disinformation, particularly through social media and the internet, also showed the need for media literacy among voters. The NUJ has long campaigned on media literacy and


warned governments about the danger of a democratic deficit arising from the changing and shrinking media landscape, with poor media plurality, widespread closure of local newspapers and the increasing moves to online risking a


THE NUJ has 6,730 members aged over 60 years, who include working, unemployed and retired journalists. Many new training


opportunities have arisen during lockdown (see Learn While in Lockdown, The Journalist August- September, page 8, The Journalist’s archive on the NUJ’s website) but none have specifically focused


10 | theJournalist


on upskilling older journalists, who may have the greatest need. The Federation of


Entertainment Unions (FEU) was offering an online workshop in December to ‘Unleash the potential of your technology’, which included computers, phones and smartphones. Sadly, the FEU’s


training project is under threat because the government has announced it is pulling the plug on the English Union Learning Fund from April 2021. The NUJ has joined a


politically uninformed public, ill-equipped to vote knowledgeably in elections. In 2019, The Cairncross Review: a Sustainable Future for


Journalism, considered the different ways the press was adapting to the digital environment and, as part of its evidence, the NUJ called for media literacy to be taught in schools. In September 2019, members of the NUJ 60+ council appointed to the National Pensioners Convention’s (NPC) new digital working party were influential in getting that same proposal included in its submission to the House of Lords’ inquiry into democracy and digital technologies. For education to play a part in helping to create a healthy,


active, digitally-literate society, the NPC said: “Media/data literacy should be part of the national curriculum. From primary school to university, continuing professional education and adult education/lifelong learning courses should enable children and adults to learn new digital skills, to receive advice and guidance on ‘staying safe’ online, and to discern, distinguish and guard against false news.” Covid-19 had hit hard by the time the select committee’s report, Digital Technology and the Resurrection of Trust, was published in June this year with its 45 recommendations for government action. Lord Puttnam, committee chair, said in his foreword it was being delivered “in the middle of an unprecedented health and consequential economic crisis”. But the report focused on a different form of crisis, he added. This was “one with roots that extend far deeper, and are likely to last far longer than Covid-19. This is a virus that affects all of us in the UK – a pandemic of ‘misinformation’ and ‘disinformation.’ “If allowed to flourish, these counterfeit truths will result in the collapse of public trust and, without trust, democracy as we know it will simply decline into irrelevance.” Lord Puttnam went on to warn: “In the digital world, our belief in what we see, hear and read is being distorted to the point we no longer know who or what to trust. The prospects of building a harmonious and sustainable society on that basis are, to all intents and purposes, nonexistent.” The report addressed concerns including “the urgent case for reform of electoral law and our overwhelming need to


Training aimed at older journalists


campaign to get the government to reverse its decision, and members are being asked to support it by signing the petition at https://www. megaphone.org.uk/


petitions/uk-gov-dont- cut-union-learning. NUJ Training Wales is


planning a similar event to the FEU’s on February 1 with older journalists in mind, having recently included such a proposal in a successful bid for a slice of additional funding offered by the Welsh government. Details have not been


yet been finalised, but it is likely to focus on helping journalists to


use technological tools and apps more efficiently and effectively, online safety and methods of verifying news stories. Rachel Howells,


NUJ Training Wales project manager, says: “Covid has highlighted the benefits and opportunities online training has brought to some journalists, but we have been very mindful that we don’t want anyone to be left behind.”


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