Oct 3, 2022·edited Oct 3, 2022Liked by Jack Walton
The reaction was a little unprofessional. But it was disinformation, and of the kind that has done a fair bit of damage to the city in recent times.
A general portrayal of the city as small, not so significant, unimportant, uneconomic... and now un-cultural.
I do think Glasgow's cultural offer is better than ours. But that doesn't mean we don't have an awesome cultural offer of global magnitude too. And we have an astonishing general city offer to boot that only London can match (and London lacks the beach).
Despite this offer, and despite being at the centre of the musical world, at the outset from Eurovision coming to the UK our city was at the bottom of the list. An unlikely also-ran than the bookies discounted and no-one in official circles was talking about. That's the power of the insididous, subtle disinformation that has been going unanswered and unchallenged for about 10 years.
What has potentially saved us this time is a disconnect nationally and internationally between the thinking of people at large - who often love Liverpool - and those in government and the likes of the telegraph and BBC who get to make decisions.
Liverpool topped that Eurovision poll and then some.
Getty images VisualGPS insights are also revealing. Over the past 3 months (and beyond) no other UK city receives as many searches as Liverpool. And only Liverpool received significant searches from Ukraine.
Glasgow's geographic reach in this data is limited exclusively to the UK.
Against this backdrop, there are some out there who want a reason - any reason - not to go with what most other people want to see: Eurovision in Liverpool. And that means clutching at straws and disinformation.
Things ride on perceptions. That's why disinformation is created, and why we should counter it (professionally)
Loads of great points here (especially about the Getty insights from Ukraine - that's really interesting) Mark and I do agree, Liverpool's cultural offer is obviously great in many ways. We should have a piece out soon on exactly why this is the right place to host.
But I just think, given that "hot takes" and opinion pieces are everywhere in the media and often utilise slightly weak points whilst straining to make some kind of argument, to have a mass outpouring of anger at an article that says more nice things about Liverpool than negative ones is over the top. I'm not sure I buy that the piece was "deliberate" in its attempt to misinform people about Liverpool, just a bit lazy perhaps and by getting that irritated and threatening to have "MPs" look into it you just look very defensive.
I think that you're right that these things can be countered in the right way. The Walker Gallery's response was good though, just outlined the strength of Liverpool's art offer and made the "no galleries" line look ridiculous by comparison.
Excellent reply Mark, could not have said it better myself. It never ceases to amaze me why certain people think Liverpool does not deserve anything. Maybe it’s because we skip to the beat of our own drum.... no pun intended.
I agree with what you seem to be suggesting. Life really is too short for demanding apologies and retractions for opinion pieces in the Telegraph. Apologies and retractions are for lies, surely?
Should do an article about how the City of London launders drug cartel and authoritarian regimes money next door to some of the poorest neighbourhoods in the country in Tower Hamlets but apparently that’s fine because Bamber and Tarquin go to the opera and ballet with Hattie and Porsche.
The reaction was a little unprofessional. But it was disinformation, and of the kind that has done a fair bit of damage to the city in recent times.
A general portrayal of the city as small, not so significant, unimportant, uneconomic... and now un-cultural.
I do think Glasgow's cultural offer is better than ours. But that doesn't mean we don't have an awesome cultural offer of global magnitude too. And we have an astonishing general city offer to boot that only London can match (and London lacks the beach).
Despite this offer, and despite being at the centre of the musical world, at the outset from Eurovision coming to the UK our city was at the bottom of the list. An unlikely also-ran than the bookies discounted and no-one in official circles was talking about. That's the power of the insididous, subtle disinformation that has been going unanswered and unchallenged for about 10 years.
What has potentially saved us this time is a disconnect nationally and internationally between the thinking of people at large - who often love Liverpool - and those in government and the likes of the telegraph and BBC who get to make decisions.
Liverpool topped that Eurovision poll and then some.
Getty images VisualGPS insights are also revealing. Over the past 3 months (and beyond) no other UK city receives as many searches as Liverpool. And only Liverpool received significant searches from Ukraine.
Glasgow's geographic reach in this data is limited exclusively to the UK.
Against this backdrop, there are some out there who want a reason - any reason - not to go with what most other people want to see: Eurovision in Liverpool. And that means clutching at straws and disinformation.
Things ride on perceptions. That's why disinformation is created, and why we should counter it (professionally)
Loads of great points here (especially about the Getty insights from Ukraine - that's really interesting) Mark and I do agree, Liverpool's cultural offer is obviously great in many ways. We should have a piece out soon on exactly why this is the right place to host.
But I just think, given that "hot takes" and opinion pieces are everywhere in the media and often utilise slightly weak points whilst straining to make some kind of argument, to have a mass outpouring of anger at an article that says more nice things about Liverpool than negative ones is over the top. I'm not sure I buy that the piece was "deliberate" in its attempt to misinform people about Liverpool, just a bit lazy perhaps and by getting that irritated and threatening to have "MPs" look into it you just look very defensive.
I think that you're right that these things can be countered in the right way. The Walker Gallery's response was good though, just outlined the strength of Liverpool's art offer and made the "no galleries" line look ridiculous by comparison.
Searches for city in VisualGPS over the past 3 months:
Liverpool: searches from 36 global regions, including from Ukraine.
Leeds: 12 regions
Manchester: 8 regions
Birmingham, Sheffield and Glasgow < 4 regions
Excellent reply Mark, could not have said it better myself. It never ceases to amaze me why certain people think Liverpool does not deserve anything. Maybe it’s because we skip to the beat of our own drum.... no pun intended.
I agree with what you seem to be suggesting. Life really is too short for demanding apologies and retractions for opinion pieces in the Telegraph. Apologies and retractions are for lies, surely?
My friend, Everton supporter, tells me a lot of fans think 6 weeks for something so trivial is way over the top. He was at the match, by the way.
Should do an article about how the City of London launders drug cartel and authoritarian regimes money next door to some of the poorest neighbourhoods in the country in Tower Hamlets but apparently that’s fine because Bamber and Tarquin go to the opera and ballet with Hattie and Porsche.
Ignoring what the Telegraph has to say on most subjects feels like a good starting place to me.