How information voids can fuel a crisis: lessons from Southport's media response

David Lush (above) media consultant and research associate on the 'Lessons from Southport' project

Credit: Rasmus Steen / IMS

The upcoming anniversary of the murders of three girls by Axel Rudakubana in Southport on 29 July is a moment to reflect on how both mainstream and social media have responded to crises like this before, during and after the events themselves. The unrest that followed the 2024 tragedy exposed fault lines in our information ecosystem, and the consequences of miscommunication were stark.

I've been part of a project that set out to examine those fault lines. 'Lessons from Southport – Crisis, Disinformation and Public Trust' brought together editors, media regulators, researchers, and civil society activists to reflect on what went wrong—and how we might do better next time. 

Led by Dr François Nel at the University of Lancashire's Media Innovation Studio, the project is part of the News Futures Forum initiative. 

The project was sparked by conversations with editors serving the region in and around Southport, many of whom were deeply concerned that the trial last January of Rudakubana could trigger a repeat of last summer’s unrest.

Our shared aim was to help ensure that the same mistakes aren't made again. In particular, we focused on the communication breakdown between police and the press during the original incident. While mainstream media outlets were adhering to contempt of court restrictions, an information vacuum formed. And it was quickly filled by speculation, rumour and disinformation online.

Research by data scientists Sohan Dsouza and Marc Owen Jones has since found that some of this disinformation was spread by phoney social media accounts run by “cyber mercenaries” in the Middle East and Asia looking to exploit racial and political tensions in Europe.

The solutions proposed by the 'Lessons from Southport' project look to:

• strengthen crisis communication mechanisms
• rebuild trust in institutions, including the media
• improve media regulation
• and reinforce the relevance of journalism - particularly during moments of public disruption

We have identified practical steps all of us with a stake in the media can take to help make news coverage a more relevant and appealing alternative to disinformation. These range from: improving news literacy in classrooms and communities throughout the UK; to making the public more aware of how journalism strives for accuracy, fairness and public service; to addressing the often harmful and alienating ways in which media frame stories, particularly during a crisis; to proactively calling out disinformation.

• Listen: Supporting Southport's recovery after tragedy, with Andrew Brown of Stand Up For Southport

We also identify ways to overcome the voids in reliable, factual information that create space for confusion and disinformation during a crisis. And we highlight ways of improving existing policies, laws and regulations to limit the harm done by disinformation, particularly on social media.

These approaches go hand-in-hand and build on existing initiatives to push back against disinformation. Therefore, we also propose the establishment of "MOBRA" - a mechanism to help co-ordinate the media sector’s planning, communication and response during moments of public crisis.

"To me journalism is about revealing what is happening," said one participant in the workshop we held ahead of Rudakubana's trial. "But increasingly it's also about saying what is not happening."

For example, the Liverpool Echo has run liveblogs that check and, if necessary, counter rumours during periods of heightened tension, such as in the aftermath of the Southport attacks and, more recently, when a car was driven into the crowd during Liverpool football club’s victory parade through the city.

"There was a huge spike in search for Liverpool Echo in the aftermath of the parade crash," said the Echo's editor, Maria Breslin, during last week’s launch of the 'Lessons from Southport' findings. 

“I think that is really reassuring because people were turning to a trusted news source for accurate information. Obviously we have to earn that trust, but since Southport we've moved from just reporting the news to being much more a part of the conversation that's taking place by, for example, answering the questions that have been posed on social media channels, and explaining things in our articles."

• Listen: Maria Breslin, editor of The Liverpool Echo, on covering the Southport stabbings and UK riots

Also speaking at last week’s launch, Jabeer Butt, chief executive of the Race Equality Foundation, said that that last summer’s unrest, as well as recent rioting in Ballymena, Northern Ireland, was accompanied by “institutional silence” around the racism and Islamophobia that drove the violence.

Butt pointed out that there were places in the UK where there had not been violence in the wake of the Southport attack. "Places like Bradford, where the local authority, the police and the local community have been working for about 20 years to share information. Those trusted relationships are able to deal with rumours, disinformation and misinformation, and perhaps that's the model we all need to build on?”

The on-going Francis review of the school curriculum in England provides an opportunity to embed critical thinking and media literacy throughout the education system. This should be to help young people feel confident about navigating information rather than being frightened of what’s online, particularly during a crisis, said Fran Yeoman, Head of Journalism at Liverpool’s John Moores University.

"Media literacy does need teaching more fundamentally, but from a perspective that there's lots of good out there and there is reliable information," said Yeoman at last week’s launch, adding that this involved "some rebuilding of public understanding around journalistic principles and practices".

But let’s not pass the problem entirely onto individual members of the public, Yeoman added. "Media literacy is part of a broader package of things that needs to happen to improve the information ecosystem."

Our recommendations form part of that package. There are other solutions too. In her new book, for example, journalist Jenny Taylor calls for religious literacy to be integrated into journalism training so that journalists better understand the beliefs that shape so many stories. Meanwhile, research just published by Peter Cunliffe-Jones and the University of Westminster constructs a model for identifying potentially harmful information.

MOBRA would help give coherence and scale to these and the many other initiatives that address the lessons from the Southport tragedy and its aftermath.

Now these have been identified and shared with government officials and parliamentary inquiries, "those who can respond can no longer say they did not know," says Dr Nel.

The 'Lessons from Southport' project was convened by the News Futures Forum, which grew out of the News Futures 2035 research project. If you are interested in keeping in touch with and taking part in this initiative, please complete this short form, or email the team.

Read next: Lessons from Southport, difficult conversations close to home

David Lush is a media consultant and a research associate on the ‘Lessons from Southport’ project.

Free daily newsletter

If you like our news and feature articles, you can sign up to receive our free daily (Mon-Fri) email newsletter (mobile friendly).