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Ever feel like politics is one giant reality TV show?

Let me tell you about one of the most bizarre & fascinating interviews I've ever done - which airs today on BBC Radio 4 at 2.45pm. (Final episode of mine & @gemmanewby's series 'Watching Us'). 1/6
It's with Bill Pruitt - a producer on early seasons of The American Apprentice, which starred Donald Trump 2004 - 2015.

Reality TV 'made' Trump. I don't mean 'made him famous'. I mean the producers, including Bill Pruitt, created the Donald Trump you now know. 2/6
Trump wasn't a particularly successful or engaging businessman when they found him. But the TV format required that - so Pruitt & colleagues had to edit a 'version' of Trump into existence: making him look more shrewd & more impressive than he really was. Listen here: 3/6
The producers would also egg him on. And according to Bill Pruitt the nastier he was, the better the ratings.

"You're really good TV" they'd say. "Keep it real Don. Keep it all off the cuff... and if you don't like what she's saying to you - tell her!"

Ratings soared. 4/6
He took that faux-authentic behaviour - learned on reality TV - into his 2016 campaign. It just so happened that a cut throat say-it-as-you-see-it candidate was just what people wanted. And they'd seen a carefully edited version of that person for a decade on reality TV. 5/6
Our series "Watching Us" argues that reality TV helped create the modern world. It normalised surveillance as entertainment before Facebook, and blurred the lines between truth & fiction. By 2016 it created Trump too.

Catch up on previous eps here:
bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00…
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Jamie Bartlett
@JamieJBartlett
I can’t believe what I’m seeing! While running a facial recognition pilot, one man (understandably imho) covered himself up. The police forced him to show his face (& then fined him for disorderly conduct). This is dangerous & terrifying.
If this is rolled out, there will be hundreds - probably thousands - who will do exactly what this man has done: principled refusal to comply. What will the police do then?
And if you think this technology will be ‘objective’ or ‘neutral’ then I suggest you watch this:
Read 6 tweets
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Jamie Bartlett
@JamieJBartlett
Far too much in today's @CommonsCMS report on disinformation to discuss here. But a couple of quick thoughts that might be helpful. (Full report is here: publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201719/cm…). /thread.
It does not, as some seem to think, say that social media platforms should be defined as 'publishers'. Rather they are somewhere in between a platform & publisher & we need a new definition & rules for them. I agree with that. We can't always rely on old categories.
Looks like they're pushing something like the German NetzDG law, which basically introduces harsh penalties if illegal / harmful content isn't removed quickly. I expect the forthcoming White Paper ('early 2019', whatever that means) on online harms to propose something like this.
Read 11 tweets
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Jamie Bartlett
@JamieJBartlett
Question: who is it on here whose view / opinion you respect so highly that, if in conflict with your own, you revisit your position?
I'm getting ratioed here
[This is turning into a useful follow list....]
Read 6 tweets

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