After a career in newspaper, radio and online journalism here in Devon, I’ve defected to Westcountry Voices because I strongly believe that local news and comment should be trustworthy, accountable and connected to its readers – as an antidote to the national and international media scene. There’s so much deliberate disinformation and distraction out there that people don’t know who or what to believe any more, and this confusion is gleefully exploited by corrupt politicians and businesses. Independent, ethical, high-quality local journalism helps to ground people in reality and expose the flimsiness of fake news. I’m really proud to be part of this movement.
Elon Musk doesn’t like it. Stronger legal measures are in the pipeline to rein in the spread of dangerous lies and misleading claims on social media platforms including X, YouTube, Facebook, TikTok and Google. The racist riots last summer, following the Southport murders, didn’t only show how social media disinformation can provoke real-life violence on […]
Could there have been a more topical time to focus on social media disinformation? The day after Donald Trump was sworn in (again) as US President, a live online event on the issue took place, co-organised by West Country Voices. We saw how Elon Musk’s X became a MAGA mouthpiece during Trump’s 2024 election campaign, […]
You almost had to feel sorry for the far right. Having planned an afternoon rally in Torquay on Saturday, November 30, the handful who turned up found themselves vastly outnumbered by a crowd of around 200 counter-protesters, mainly from local unions and anti-racism groups. Outside the town hall, amid dozens of banners and placards proclaiming […]
If you’ve looked at a local news website lately, you may have got the feeling that something’s not quite right. Seeking stories about your own area, you click on an interesting headline and find yourself reading about a completely different place. You probably see a lot of content about motoring, shopping and so on, but […]