Goodbye!So has soft power been adapted well enough as platforms and technology have evolved?

My name's Nick Newman.

I'm a senior research associate at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, and before that I used to work at World Service many years ago and at the BBC News website.

I think the key way of delivering soft power in the future is going to be through multiple channels.

We know that more attention, particularly for younger people, comes through accessing news through social media or through digital channels.

I think the biggest change right now is not the end of soft power or of international broadcasters.

It's more about the fragmentation of the information ecosystem, and it's really about how these things coexist.

Start with the one-

Chows at the votes

He's in form with the votes, so carry on.

Oh, thank you.

Um, one vote, uh, I gave Bayley Smith.

I thought, um, his ability to run all day, get up and down, thirty-four disposals, five tackles, eight score involvements.

It was a pretty standard Bayley Smith game.

Sean Mather for two votes.

It's a bit of a tough one to cop.

Yeah, mate.

For me, clearly I've got a bias view as a player, but to be commenting on medical information without any knowledge I think is a no-go.

Yeah, I know there was a little bit of commentary around Harry's As I've said, he's got a small meniscus tear in his knee, so it's clearly something that was there, and it was a smart move for him not to play the rest of that game.

So, yeah, he's going well, mate.

to look into the media stuff or take too much note of it, but I think any time they're talking about players' pain tolerance or medical injuries without having much evidence or any evidence or knowledge behind it is a bit of a dangerous game.

Some of the players that... um play with some injuries they're incredibly brave and incredibly tough and harry's been one of those he's played with a lot of injuries um which a lot of people wouldn't know um but we do behind closed doors so he's been enormous for us and um yeah he won't sort of he won't stress too much about it but yeah hopefully he'll be available this week or next week.

What has he done anything differently? Has he, has he, is the strategy any different or is it just more the connection piece?

But it is one as a, you know, I reckon it's a bit of a, It's a bit of a tough one to cop.

Yeah, for me, clearly I've got a bias view as a player, but to be commenting on medical information without any knowledge I think is a no-go.

Yeah, I know there was a little bit of commentary around Harry's as I've said, he's, um, got a small meniscus tear in his knee.

So, um, it's clearly something that was, that was there and it was the smart move for him not to play the rest of that game.

Um, So, yeah, he's going well, mate.

He doesn't look into the media stuff or take too much note of it.

But, yeah, I think any time, you know, they're talking about players' pain tolerance or, you know, medical injuries without having much evidence or any evidence or knowledge behind it is a bit of a dangerous game.

Has he done anything differently? Is the strategy any different, or is it just more the connection piece? He

so has soft power been adapted well enough as platforms and technology have evolved

my name is nick newman i'm a senior research associate at the reuters institute for the study of journalism and before that i used to work at world service many years ago and at the pbc news website where i was the founding international news editor i think the key way of delivering soft power in the future is going to be through multiple channels We know that more attention, particularly for younger people, comes through accessing news through social media or through digital channels.

And so you have to basically take your messages to where audiences are spending their time.

I think the biggest change right now is not the end of soft power or of international broadcasters.

It's more about the fragmentation of the information ecosystem and it's really about how these things coexist.

global broadcasters like the bbc continue to be important for many audiences highly trusted in many countries you also have state broadcasters but now on top of that we've got everything else through social media and that includes activists it includes influencers and creators it also includes diaspora media that quite often is highly trusted by people inside the country so The BBC and others are really competing for attention with many, many more sources of information and that also creates confusion

for audiences as well in terms of who to trust.

We're certainly seeing significant change in the way in which state actors are trying to get their messages across so not just through traditional state broadcasters but increasingly through working with influencers or using sort of what's called network propaganda with creators where individuals are often working together often in a coordinated way to sort of flood the zone with messages and get round algorithms so there's new forms of disinformation One of the things that comes out of research again and again is that people really want trusted, impartial, accurate and transparent news.

How did you approach it this time?

Yes, this time we've identified a number of different creator ecosystems, we're calling them.

And what we've done is we've analyzed the names that respondents mentioned most, and we've found interesting patterns, which I think cast more light on differences between countries and some of the reasons for it.

So we've identified four ecosystems.

Firstly, politically polarized ecosystems.

This is where we tend to find creators engaged in political opinion from both sides of the political debate.

And these individuals most mentioned by respondents, we can think of the US, Brazil, Serbia, many more.

And then there's the second category, Nick, which is sort of that this is the space to be critical of those impositions of power with the belief that mainstream media or traditional media is either controlled by the government or is co-operative.