天美传媒

When George V acceded to the British throne in 1910, it was inconceivable that many of the world鈥檚 monarchies would soon be swept away by the rising tides of movements such as republicanism, communism and fascism. At the beginning of the 20th century, monarchs took their status for granted, just as a century later, some assume that democratic models of government will continue to prevail.

Nicco Mele, former director of Harvard Kennedy School鈥檚 Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy, is not one of them. 鈥淲e are living in such a moment right now; the institutions of democracy could be gone in a generation,鈥� he said during an alumni event organized by 天美传媒鈥檚 Center for Public Leadership and Government, together with the U.S. embassy in Spain.

Mele joined professor Pedro Videla to discuss how the digital era is eroding the traditional pillars of power, and the need for strong leadership, at the event on the Madrid campus this week.

One of the digital era鈥檚 most visible impacts on the erosion of power is in legacy media outlets. 鈥淎fter September 11th, most programming in the U.S. stopped twice a day for Mayor Rudy Giuliani鈥檚 press briefings. Some 15 years later, Keith Urbahn [a Republican staffer] tweeted to his 400 followers that Osama Bin Laden had been killed, bypassing journalists 鈥� This changes the nature of power in profound ways.鈥�

But it鈥檚 not just that legacy media鈥檚 scoops got blindsided by digital platforms: they also ate their lunch. lt is estimated that advertising on Google鈥檚 search engine represents some 85% of its parent company Alphabet鈥檚 total revenue. It owns the largest billboard on earth, allowing it to 鈥渁rbitrage the cost of advertising down to almost nothing,鈥� Mele said. For example, reaching 400,000 people via a full-page ad in a paper-and-ink legacy media outlet might cost $10,000; Google offers reaching the same number of pairs of eyeballs for $16. 鈥�$40 billion of revenue has evaporated in 40 years,鈥� he said.

It is perhaps understandable then, that Mele reported that there are now 21 states in the United States whose media outlets no longer send a dedicated correspondent to Washington D.C. As a result, their senators might serve out their six-year term without much media scrutiny. 鈥淚f you live outside the top five largest cities in the U.S., you live in a news desert,鈥� he said.

The danger of junk news

Revenue streams and business models aside, junk news or 鈥渋nformation pollution鈥� represents a further existential threat. Algorithms can create echo chambers, making it difficult to engage with people outside one鈥檚 circle.

So what can be done to talk back to fake news and what should the titans of Silicon Valley do? On one side, Mele suggested that there may be opportunities to change algorithmic platforms to surface quality news. But on the other, attempts to create an algorithmic solution to measuring truth in online content have proven problematic.

History may provide another perspective on the erosion of power in the digital era. The year after George V鈥檚 accession, the U.S .Supreme Court ordered the break-up of Standard Oil on anti-trust grounds. Since data is the new oil, should regulators seek to break up Facebook or Google?

鈥淚 don鈥檛 believe in breaking them up,鈥� Mele said. He pointed out that anti-trust legislation may have limited applicability to 鈥渇ree鈥� products. Instead he proposed leveraging the common law principle of 鈥渄uty to deal鈥�: companies have an obligation to share technologies required by competitors. For tech companies, this would mean opening up the data flows. Legislators also need to stunt their growth, by addressing the 鈥渒ill zones鈥� around the tech giants whereby they suck up potential competitors. 鈥淭here should be a temporary moratorium on acquisitions.鈥�

On top of that, tech companies need to open up about their challenges. 鈥淚 think we need much greater accountability 鈥� Platforms are opaque and they are also opaque about their problems, like hate speech 鈥� The EU is leading the way here; the GDPR is not without problems but it is a major step to bringing greater transparency to platforms.鈥�