A new podcast industry watchdog group has been started by Oxford Road CEO Dan Granger. Called the Media Roundtable, the mission is to mobilize marketers to support truth and civility in journalism. Podcasting is part of that overall directive, and one output is a chart created in association with Ad Fontes Media that will rank podcasts according to most and least bias. (Ad Fontes Media has done this sort of ranking before, most recognizably in its Media Bias Chart which plots dozens of media brands by left/right and fact/rumor considerations — see HERE.)
Below is the descriptive language used on the Media Roundtable website, with more detail about its purpose:
“The Media Roundtable consists of Media, Brands, and Marketers coming together to change the way we express our differences in News Media and Opinion Journalism. Our approach is different than keyword blocking, public shaming, and reactive boycotts that drive people further apart. Based on proactive, direct, and collaborative engagement between brands, creators, networks, and platforms we aim to shift the incentive structure away from supporting outrage, accusation, and vilification and toward media that fosters truth and civility in journalism. Our goal is to help our members balance their business objectives with brand values by supplying tools to enable brand safety and suitability through proactive planning and strategic responses around controversial coverage.”
The organization asks participants to sign this pledge: “To replace the vicious cycle of media with a virtuous one,” and lists six key virtue attributes: Clarity, Truth, Fairness, Respect, De-Escalation, Tolerance.
Dan Granger, the initiator of this watchdog venture, is CEO of ad agency Oxford Road, and himself a podcaster (Media Roundtable). His show self-describes as ” a movement dedicated to dismantling the Outrage Industrial Complex, where industries are incentivized for ripping the fabric of our democratic republic in two. Who’s to blame? Everyone, probably, but our focus is on the industry we serve as professionals: Media.” Granger says: “Media is rewarded for pitting red against blue, exploiting our differences, and sending relationships from D.C. to Main Street cratering into the abyss.”