Generation YouTube: a challenge to MSM?

ORIGINAL INTRODUCTION

When asked where they get their news from, an increasing number of people are likely to surprise you. Rather than reaching for a paper or turning on the television, a recent study found that YouTube reaches more people aged 18 to 49 than all linear TV networks combined. The success of cult figures like Jordan Peterson and Joe Rogan, who use long-form podcasts and videos on the site to explore contemporary political issues, seems to point to a desire for a different kind of media.

Some suggest that this trend goes beyond style, pointing to bigger questions about censorship and bias in the so-called ‘mainstream media’. Rows about failures of objectivity, started among those in both Left and Right camps, have become the norm. And yet, a YouGov poll conducted during the height of lockdown measures seemed to show resilience among viewers, with 47 per cent of people expressing ‘trust in BBC News journalists to tell the truth’. Although mainstream news outlets such as Sky News, CNN and ABC enjoy their services being included on YouTube, it is in fact individual YouTubers who outreach them in viewership, subscribers and overall content. Extolling the virtues of free speech and open debate seems to be popular, with many punters arguing that the need to search for alternative media is fuelled by a stifling conformity among traditional channels.

How long will the YouTube boom last? With a focus on misinformation and calls for regulation now a key feature of the modern news landscape, can a truly independent media survive? Could the snobbishness around sites like YouTube be challenged by a new and exciting mode of political engagement? Or is this all just a storm in an online teacup?

SPEAKERS

Callum Breese
freelance writer

Baroness Stowell
chair, Communications & Digital Select Committee

Mahyar Tousi
political YouTuber, MT Media

CHAIR
Oli Foster
broadcast journalist, GB News