Algorithms are the new gatekeepers of information. The news industry needs to get its act together

Credit: Daniel Ionescu (above)

The fuss that arguably the UK's biggest podcaster and star entrepreneur has allowed guests on his show to make wild claims related to sensitive health subjects got sharp tongues wagging.

Many argue, rightfully so, that with great influence, comes great responsibility. If you have people's eyes and ears, you will start influencing the subconscious of even the most discerning consumers.

But the Steven Bartlett debate and his shift from business oriented content into health topics (amid alleged harmful misinformation, which his team defended) — a pivot which almost doubled his audience in the past year — is a symptom of a much wider problem with media and the platforms distributing content while capturing most of the value.

Remember the podcast election frenzy in the US? Well, this is Bartlett’s own Joe Rogan moment, where sensationalism trumps substance, and the quest for audience overshadows a perceived duty to inform responsibly.

This is really the big difference between journalism and content.

Speaking on a recent episode of my show, the Millennial Masters podcast, Lexie Kirkconnell-Kawana, CEO of IMPRESS, the UK's independent press regulator, told me about the consequences of this shift.

"We're seeing the rise of news influencers, news personalities, and people who don’t recognise what they’re doing as news and journalism, but nevertheless becoming the main sources of news for others," she explains.

Almost 40 per cent of US adults under 30 say they regularly get news from influencers on social media. Traditional newsrooms are fading fast, replaced by a new ecosystem of influencers and AI-driven platforms which prioritise engagement and enragement, over informing users. It poses uncomfortable and urgent questions about accuracy, accountability, and the survival of responsible reporting.

Breaking open the black box

Big tech holds much of the power in the information space. Algorithms on social media platforms dictate what content is shown to users. Search engines like Google now use AI to generate summaries for queries. The problem is that these algorithmic systems often operate within a black box.

Kirkconnell-Kawana continues: "If people are relying on the information produced through AI-assisted platforms, and that information isn't accurate, it doesn't have integrity, it is breaching people's rights, then we need to act on that now."

At the same time, regulating such tech platforms is almost impossible. How do you maintain editorial standards and accountability with so many sources generating and sharing content?

Part of the problem lies in the disconnect between AI developers and the industries where their tools are deployed.

"An AI company is not necessarily developing software that is going to spread misinformation. And yet when it ends up in a search engine and the data it’s been trained on is entirely corrupted by bias and is incomplete, then misinformation is the obvious consequence of its application," she continues.

And yet, efforts to self-regulate are not sufficient either. The reticence of tech platforms to take responsibility will lead to them having a continued influence over public opinion without accountability.

Where are the media leaders?

The immediate next steps are understanding the market, tracking emerging tools, and regulating integrations where harm is already evident and will be perpetuated by it.

But what we also require is leadership and vision, but there are no signs that the media has such visionaries. If we are asking tech platforms and influencers to step up to the plate, we must surely do the same.

Kirkconnell-Kawana put it well: "There's a temptation for markets, the regulators and bodies that sit around them, to try and self-perpetuate and go 'let's just keep things as they are; let's try and preserve them as much as possible as they are.

“The biggest challenge right now is for everyone in the media sector to recognise that change is happening. But there isn't a lot of leadership on what is changing to, and how do we keep control over the parts that we want to preserve, to ensure that those are still standing on the other side of this change.”

You can listen or watch the whole discussion with Lexie Kirkconnell-Kawana in this episode of Millennial Masters with Daniel Ionescu and sign up for the Millennial Masters newsletter so you do not miss the next episode.

Daniel Ionescu is an award-winning journalist, editor, and entrepreneur with over 16 years of experience in the media world. He was the founder and managing director of The Lincolnite and MyLocal. He is now the founder of the Millennial Masters newsletter and podcast, spotlighting millennial entrepreneurs, covering strategies for growing your business, boosting productivity, and levelling up personally

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