Fraudcast News video interview

This is an interview I did at the Rebellious (RMC) Media Conference on October 8-9 in London, explaining a bit of the background to the book. The interview was conducted by the indefatigable Hamish Campbell of VisionOntv, an organisation using video for social change around the world. They were among the RMC organisers, working incredibly hard to record the event and make their materials available to the world via the internet.

I am inspired by their energy and example and reference their efforts in Fraudcast News as part of the solution to our bad journalism and bogus democracies.

If I had the tiniest quibble, it would be in the accompanying text introducing the interview:

Why traditional media is pathetic, from someone who worked there. Patrick Chalmers introduces to Hamish Campbell his book “Fraudcast News”, and gives some ideas for building better media sustainably.

I didn’t actually say traditional media are “pathetic”, even if I think the bulk of what they do does nothing to improve the quality of our democracies. What I said was that my survival in a staff reporting job for so long, without having a fundamental grasp on the meaning of democracy, was pathetic. That’s the media for you (joke).

The challenge for me as I push out the book in the next couple of months will be to explain the problems of journalism without alienating reporters who think they’re doing a great job. I used to think I was doing an okay job myself, but I was wrong.