Ok bracing for an election that. Just alters us might think it really matters. Tremendously. Like kill the cat but i. Say. Why should we. Hello im Richard Geres bird and youre at the listening post here are some of the media stories that were covering this week the british are in election mode once again and their news outlets are proving to be no more adept at dealing with a lying politician than american ones are my beauty my purpose advertising those feel good ads designed to make you feel good about buying something filipino president roderigo do territory is taking on the media once again specifically the countrys biggest broadcaster and representing the unrepresented. A song for the politically dispossessed britain is about to vote in what has come to be known as its bricks at election the one Prime MinisterBoris Johnson called after failing to get parliament to agree to his deal to leave the European Union this is the case 3rd election in just 5 years and that does not include the bracks at referendum of 2016 which is how we got here the media angles in this story are too numerous for comfort johnsons conservatives are doing what front runners tend to do keeping exposure to a minimum shunning interviewers and channels that might give them a rough ride but theyre also leading the way in spreading misinformation even blatantly misrepresenting themselves online. Both Boris Johnson and his main rival Jeremy Corbyn of the labor party know that most of the countrys newspapers are conservative that is a given in any British Election but it goes further than that the perception of bias is not limited to the papers it has bled into the broadcast sector and that includes the publicly owned National Broadcaster the b. B. C. Our starting point this week is london. Time. The elections in the digital age can be confusing often that is by design take this supposed Fact Checking twitter account posted just after the 1st debate of the British Election campaign it was not what it claimed to be and this site set up to look like the opposition labor partys election manifesto complete with the partys leader and colors it was not what it appeared to be. Fake platforms were created by the governing conservatives a party that has moved beyond Old Fashioned spin and stretching the truth embracing misrepresentation and outright misinformation you use the misinformation i would be stronger than that id be. Lying. And theres been a great deal of this in the campaign particularly i have to say from the conservative party its a departure from truth departure from reality the creation of a fake universe making a series of claims. Starting at 10 downing street in the Prime Ministers office Boris Johnson is a british throne born into privilege and schooled at eton dam which is as a leak as it gets and he knows what law is one can get past a news outlet he used to do it from the inside in the early 1990 s. Johns. I was a journalist covering brussels for the telegraph sensationalizing and sometimes inventing stories about the difficult bureaucracy the papers owner said he was so a fact of the johnson greatly influenced british opinion on relations with europe by 2016 that came full circle johnson campaigned on the bracks outside in the referendum repeatedly telling voters that leaving the e. U. Would result in a financial windfall for the National Health service the n. H. S. Untrue lots of politicians lie few splash those lies complete with fabricated numbers all over a campaign once he got into downing street in july johnson vowed over and over that by october 31st britain would be out of the e. U. That failure just wasnt an option id rather be dead. Boris johnsons constant life has divided conservatives hes alienated some like this long time columnist and even those who still back him this former editor for example are troubled by what they hear this is a real change politics and i think it is somewhat from across the atlantic the lying has become much more blatant again and again and again he said to me last time to come out on the 31st call to. Us and he says that he didnt have the power to make that happen saying something that you know to be on true doesnt quite carry the consequence the. Is a 0 tolerance of islamophobia in the conservative party actually the problem is right inside conservative but thats before you get to the Prime Minister. For the robot we have the continual. Claim by Boris Johnson that hes building for the new hospitals for new hospitals. Be billed as a as a result the notion as you calculate there not new hospitals all day hes actually building a single not you know hospital one of many many lies which the Prime Minister has offered when you have a situation where there is this massive concentration of ownership in the print media. And that is overwhelmingly weighted towards its henris by pro tory billionaires staffed by people who are in their positions because of their political contacts usually with tory politicians that is a system that fundamentally in my view is unlikely to produce proper scrutiny and accountability. The progun servant of bias is most obvious and problematic in the british print sector 65 percent of the newspaper market is controlled by just 2 companies the murdoch familys news u. K. Which publishes the sun and the times and the daily mails Parent Company the daily mail and general trust throw in other right wing papers like the telegraph the express the daily star and the field tilts even further in Boris Johnsons favor the evidence of the pro conservative bias of those papers is more than anecdotal a headline here or an oped their love for a University Conducted a study of print coverage article by article of the Election Campaign each positive story was graded with a plus one negative story with a minus one the study concluded that over the past 3 weeks johnsons conservatives averaged plus 21 germany corbins labor party minus 73 there always has been particularly in this Election Campaign there is a heavy bias in favor of the conservatives because the off on the neva side is as hard left wing as we have seen for decades and many people stand to lose and who for lots of money these prices included remember newspapers and businesses have to make money so weve seen a much heavier from newspapers across the board and i am watching the press preview of whats on the front pages the net effect of that is the newspapers which are unregulated and therefore. Allowed to be biased tend to set the news agenda for the broadcasters that are regulated and are supposed to be balanced. There have been plenty of cases of broadcasters asking tough questions of conservatives including absent ones asking things like sky news having been stood up by a Party Official interviewed an empty chair instead of channel 4 which hosted a Leaders Debate on Climate Change that Boris Johnson refused to attend instead remind the arts council put an Ice Sculpture in his place it was melted however any measure of british broadcasting output starts with the publicly funded b. B. C. As the campaign has unfolded criticism of the b. B. C. And allegations about pro johnson pro conservative bias have mounted. A number of. The b. B. Edit to raise very serious questions about craftsmanship and it was. One is why mr johnson was. About whether he believed that truth mattered. For so many years position of power to always tell the point my audience. Thank you the following day. The audience only saw the applause. For you tonight i dont think. There have been other similar incidents that the b. B. C. Has publicly admitted were editorial mistakes in an article published in the guardian its director of news and Current Affairs said critics who call those incidents evidence of a pro conservative agenda are mistaken it is too late we have an interview prepared of the b. B. C. s most prominent interviewer andrew neil has also shamed Boris Johnson for refusing to take his questions as all the other party lead. Questions of us questions wed like to put to mr johnson so you can hear his replies the pentagon of the b. B. C. s Campaign Coverage was going to be grilling each of these Party Leaders are 100. All right. They should have done quite frankly is they should have said Boris Johnson doesnt get another interview on the b. B. C. On telly agrees a date with under thats the kind of response a Public Service broadcaster would have that we securing some degree of fairness of this election at least the same degree of scrutiny for the sitting Prime Minister as the person whos challenging them. But the b. B. C. Obviously doesnt feel that it can do that. d d d d some of the tactics britons are seeing in this bracks it based on election have never been seen before d a party in government flagrantly misrepresenting itself online some aspects are more familiar conservative newspapers backing their candidate excoriating his rivals and then there was the constant Boris Johnson relying on the same tactics that he honed as a journalist then used in the Referendum Campaign and took all the way into number 10 lying its not just what he does its what got him where he and his country are today. We discussing other media stories that are on our radar this week with one of our producers. In the philippines president rodriguez territory is once again going after the countrys biggest news and Entertainment Network a. B. S. In what way hes threatening to strip the network of its license which comes up for renewal next year saying if you. Expecting it to be renewed im sorry i will see to it that your out its not safe threaten to do this before back in 2016 he accused a. B. S. E b. N. Of swindling me for not airing paid political advertising hes also complained of biased reporting much of it which is being done on ditto its a socalled war on drugs and the extra did it judicial killings of thousands of people filipino lawmakers and now being used to revive this efforts to shut down the Network Human Rights watch says deterred say misusing the governments regulator to school parts of a broader crackdown on Media Outlets and Civil Society groups that dare criticize it ok onto a story that we touched upon last week Bloomberg News in the us owned by the newly declared democratic candidate for president Michael Bloomberg announcing that it would not be investigating its owner joining the course of this campaign whats the fallout as we reported last week no investigative reporting on bloomberg by Bloomberg News nor will they be doing Investigative Journalism on other Democratic Candidates the Trump White House is not impressed its rescinded the press credentials of bloomberg reporters so they cant cover the president either the trunk campaign called bloomberg editorial policy troubling and wrong and its hard to argue that the other democratic contender is just as deserving of scrutiny as President Trump and one of the democratic hopefuls Elizabeth Warren went on Bloomberg News to talk about the billionaire class running for Public Office and for me whats broken in america is weve got a country that is working great for those at the top an economy thats working great for those at the top and a democracy that is working great for those at the top each just not working for much of anyone else and thats why im so concerned about Michael Bloomberg jumping into this race dropping 30. 7000000. 00 in one week on advice i dont believe that elections ought to be for sale with one already in the oval office and another one a media mogul spending big money to replace him its hard to argue that running for president is not a billionaire the game ok thanks to our turning now to an advertising trend technique that more and more companies are adopting to sell their goods purpose marketing in the 21st century traditional product focused Marketing Campaigns no longer get the clicks the likes and the shares that advertisers crave as a result companies have turned to a socio political kind of brand of messaging one that adopts a cause in order to boost profits however that approach can backfire earlier this year an ad produced by jumped on the need to hash tag bandwagon and the subsequent movement to protect women from Sexual Harassment in the workplace tweaked its long time slogan the best a man can get turning it into the best men can be and then got beat up online for appropriating a social movement for the sake of sales and to lets not the only brand to be caught out with its purpose marketing listening posts johannah whos now in a marketing trend and the challenge of striking a balance and the right tone between purpose and profit. Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything racial equality my beauty my beauty my be any less female empowerment this is what happens when ice cream is just 2 degrees warmer than it should be the realities of Climate Change oh you think to me to argue against a shooting match if you live for big brands just selling a product is no longer enough. Is this the best american get advertising doesnt work like it used to and getting peoples attention is really difficult companies cant just talk about what they make anymore because weve seen it before and were not paying attention so what so many brands are doing is show up with conversations that we want to be part of and if they can go out for the ride thats the best food available to them where experience in shifting generational values thats leading to a younger people in particular buy from work for companies that are more conscientious into the Bigger Picture what young people can see is rising inequality increased Political Polarization and because if there is no need for businesses to consider more than just profit not something theyve ever been particularly good ads that you say you said i said no way which begs the question is social political causes companies pick the stances they take to be amount to anything more than on screen publicity stunts strategically a doctor to do all the clicks and likes the shares their businesses rely on. In the case of a pap smear the answers seems to be no. In 2017 the company put out an ad appropriating the black lives Matter Movement to sell its product but it backfired and i since been held up as a prime example of how not to do purpose marketing because pepsi attempted to challenge decades of Police Brutality and racial inequality with a can of soda and a supermodel a white one so we have a serious issue here thats meaningful to people and theyd be little bit by using one of the most. Wealthy women in the world as their spokes model. Makes it seem trite and certainly opportunistic it didnt seem authentic it seemed like just climbing onto a cause and it really rang false for people who care about those issues at no point i guess have pepsi every night from barack to tyson on marketing that theyre aligned with the black flies Much Movement and because of the out it was seen as reductive and making a pop culture moment of. Protest against Police Brutality weve seen one after another disastrous outcome of brands that tried to you know use fake purpose opportunistically to connect with consumers and it backfires. Pepsi is not the only brand trying to master the art of purpose marketing is to this brain going on far too in january this year razor brinton let it get famous for its longtime slogan the best and then can get switched up its cant trace to right the need to wait releasing it the best man can be a campaign aimed at addressing toxic masculinity and then hoping to sell a few razors in the process because we. We believe in the best in men he added caused a huge backlash not least because gillettes new found more compass is somewhat over the parchin from the message the company has spread for decades to say the right thing. To act in the right way so lets think about history for a minute theyre one of the very 1st mass marketers but then i havent heard of them theres that man joel showed up in our living room uninvited for years and years of high profile molding the idea that what a man is supposed to do is either another mans sense of joy that shows up today in a world where they cant buy or attention. And seeks to earn it by putting a message into the world yes you can be a cynic and say theyre trying to manipulate us but what i see is a heartfelt effort to say lets think about this so i think the reason why there was such backlash to this is because it came off like gillette was lecturing and to still skiing men for not being the right kind of father the right kind of man i think what they meant to be was aspirational like lets be better as the boys watch today but if they did it so badly. To me it came up it was opportunistic like they were just trying to find a cause and all of this one will do what. Is unhealthful is flash in the pan type of activity say what you want to see is a broader business where they believe in a cause and commits a supporting character brahmans can really make a difference using the power that they have through their platforms and their resources and use it to shape mindsets and address social challenges and color injustice and in doing our brands can help shes moved on a lot more quickly than they would have done without that kind of exposure. Bringing disagrees he works like greenpeace in charge of campaigning for forestry last year a british Supermarket Chain iceland approached the organization wanting to use one of its Campaign Videos for an ad on the consequences of the farming of dirty palm oil destroying natural habitat theres a wrong turn in my tank and i dont know what to do she plays with only techies and keeps pouring with greenpeace allowed iceland to use debate and while the u. K. Regulator responsible for vetting ads banned it for allegedly breaking the rules of political advertising it went viral and reignite discussions over the consequences of de forestation why were you in my picture written. As a human in my forest and i dont know what. Piece we often say no permanent friends no permanent enemies so if a company is doing the right thing in taking positive action that is genuine theres visibility and deserves praise to protest this with cynicism and with scrutiny and the fact is that they felt like the actions on the part of islam represented a legitimate raise in trying to address the problem they sent their c. E. O. To go to indonesia and see firsthand the scale of the problem with dirty pablo production he took away my mother and us one brand to get it right they can prove a useful ally in the fight for social justice. And its not bad for profits either following the ads iceland sales rose and its Brand Perception amongst consumers improve significantly calling a dream crazy is not an insult similarly a commercial produced by sports brand nike featuring n. F. L. Quarterback calling capper nick who lost his job taking a stance on racial inequality but the black lives Matter Movement back in the spotlight to dont ask if your dreams are crazy. As if theyre crazy. And at the same time the company saw it share price shoot up nights was the voice someone actively engaged and the black guy its not me that gave the out a lot more often sissy but still its important to ask questions about this is brought a part is a nice working conditions in the press and that still meets the question at the same time that nike is coming out championing women athletes and saying they should stand up and you know growl and make noise so if they want to call you crazy. Show them what crazy can do. They have Class Action Lawsuit for you know underpaying their female employees we dont hear that what we hear is all the marketing noise around the cause of championing women as consumers you dont have to its not your job to fully understand an issue which means you may not be hearing the whole issue everyone is different one measure of how far this trend in marketing is com its now reached a point of being satirized imagine if a single bottle could be enjoyed by. The same little at the same time so weve got drink from it together together or you kill to. Get away says to the subject drink companies produced this idea and koos it refreshing to be honest what the true purpose of purpose marketing really is. Just a few 1000000 sales away in shops doesnt fit on shelves. And finally for months now resentment and anger have boiled over on to the arab streets of the middle east and north africa from baghdad to beirut to algiers each of the countries has its own unique political issues the various protests reflect that but theres a Common Thread here citizens have turned against the regions aging corrupt ineffective Political Class which does not serve or represent them and neither do state institutions the news media included joe one suffered he is a palestinian israeli he knows what its like to go on represent it and while he hails from nazareth a song that he wrote and posted earlier this year could just as easily have describe the state of affairs elsewhere in the arab world will leave you now with a clip from what soften he calls the police and well see you next time here at the listening post. Would be. Nice nice. Nice nice not. Easy. For me. As. Talked to all jews there oh we were told to get to that between russia has this been addressed by took a listen what is the proposal of spain for a couple on you know we meet with global news makers and talk about the stories that matter to 0. Hello im sue tess and on them with the top stories on aljazeera at least 23 people have been killed in an attack by an unidentified gunmen on protestors in baghdad they stormed one of the main protest sites in cologne the square on friday nights less than 24 hours after that attack gunfire has again been head in the capital and there are reports the home of shia leader how theyre all saddam was hit by a drone strike door such a binary reports from baghdad. Among the crowds of protesters as gunfire echoes around central baghdad. Moments earlier gunmen