Borkowski Weekly Media Trends 14-01-22
The News Cycle | Turkmen Crater's PR Glow-Up | 'You'll have to ask Sue Gray'
The News Cycle
For a newsletter that enjoys picking up on odd, left-field stories and making much ado about their larger implications on the media landscape, the news cycle in the last week feels—as it does increasingly often—‘too big’ and too daunting for the kind of analysis we like to do. Perhaps that is the story—the media landscape is now one of near-constant exception and emergency status. Pay too much attention to it, and you, like many, will be convinced the sky is falling. (Which it is.)
The UK government and royal family have plunged into simultaneous crises. As Mark said this week, the Prince Andrew scandal could cause a constitutional crisis for the monarchy. Meanwhile, it seems that our government fails to live up to the leadership standards of that venerable institution, the Queen. The pandemic continues to take its toll worldwide—and it could or could not be the end of the pandemic. Every day, the west edges closer to a conflict with Russia that now seems nothing can prevent. If you follow news across the pond, it is even more dire. The New York Times is a blitzkrieg of end-times reporting. Trump will win in 2024, the senate can’t function, and the capitol riot was just a practice round for the oncoming civil war.
What’s perhaps more dangerous is that all media institutions have now bought into the paradigm of negativity. Research has shown that we click more on negative stories. Doomscrolling is highly profitable. This is scary, partially because, as Barbara F Walter argues in her new book ‘How Civil Wars Start’, the more people there are thinking there is going to be a civil war, the more likely historically that there has been one. Doom is a self-fulfilling prophesy. Social divisions are self-perpetuating, based of how divided people perceive society to be. No reporting is neutral in its effects on the world.
Log in to Twitter, and it’s not looking good. There’s the Novak Djokovic saga, which has come to be a flashpoint for pandemic morality. As of today, Australia’s immigration minister has yet again revoked Djokovic’s visa, the latest episode in the dizzying drama which has pitted much of the tennis community against him. Twitter is awash with pro- and anti-perspectives. Reading the polemics makes one truly fear for possibility of consensus. It makes the indie pop singer and social commentator-raconteur Father John Misty seem premature when he sang about ‘Two Wildly Different perspectives’ in just 2017. ‘One side says ya’ll go to hell/ the other says, if I believed in God I’d send you there.’ It’s gotten worse since he wrote those words, fueled by crisis after crisis each drawing hateful divisions along cultural fault lines.
In a world where algorithms and clicks are biased toward polemical perspectives, we media folk must consider what role we play in fueling social divisions. Can the beast of doomsaying be tamed, or are we all just tweeting towards a dysfunctional world where can’t even agree on whether or not it’s ending?
Given the amount of money that is now generated by the news-negativity-division machine, this is an urgent discussion. Certainly, we cannot afford to turn away from the challenges we face. But it may still be possible to be a node of positivity while reporting the facts, as grim as they are. Clicks may go up while influence and authority decrease. And for whoever can help chart a way out of the misery of the culture wars, they will develop an influence that goes beyond clicks.
and in other Trends…
FIERY CRATER GETS PR MAKEOVER
Whether unwitting or ingenious, the prize for tourism stunt of this week goes to the Turkmen government for announcing its latest attempt to extinguish the Darvaza gas crater better known as the ‘Gateway to Hell’.
Speculated to be the result of a botched 50 year-old Soviet attempt to rid a cavern of natural gases by burning them, Darvaza is best described as a giant infernal hole in the earth that has been burning constantly for the past half-century.
The spectacular hellmouth images adorning the announcement of the news were ideal fodder for news outlets worldwide and tourist interest in the crater since the announcement of its supposed demise has skyrocketed.
This could conceivably have been the aim of releasing the story. Previous attempts to extinguish the crater have been unsuccessful so the chances of it going anywhere anytime soon are less than 100%.
‘But why not just promote it if that’s your aim, why hide behind stunts?’ we hear you ask. Well the crater is a massive environmental blight, releasing tons of energy into the atmosphere, so by publicly admonishing the hole, the Turkmen government is acknowledging its lack of green credentials and acting accordingly, while also - maybe unwittingly, maybe brilliantly - satiating the appetites of scores of adventure-tourists…don’t be surprise if that extinguishing job is a long, complex, multi-narrative process.
SUE GRAY BECOMES A MEME FOR THE MOMENT
As the world watches old clips of Boris Johnson dance and the memes from the Downing Street party scandal develop, there's been a name on everyone's lips; a humble civil servant who goes by Sue Gray.
Now, whilst there's no actual evidence to suggest Sue Gray even exists, she's become a powerful symbol for this ongoing independent inquiry into a string of parties the PM allegedly attended. Her brand is so strong she's even taken the brunt of the jokes and attention away from the guilty party. As a result, she's gone from absolute obscurity to a national treasure in record time.
But where does superstar Gray fit into this whole equation? Sadly for Sue Gray stans, this will be a short-lived moment in the sun. The political ramifications for Boris and those who attended the party will engulf Sue Gray faster than she appeared.
I doubt she'll drag this out in the same way Jackie Weaver did. She's rooted in the civil service, and that's where her heart lies. She has become an essential part of popular culture, and her legacy will live on. So next time you stumble in through the door late on a Friday night to an angry partner, you can now deny any involvement in degenerative behaviour that may have taken place, mumbling ‘No Comment’ and indicating that there is a pending investigation by Sue Gray.