MA U3: ‘News’ art – Why The FT? Is it the right choice?

BACKGROUND

One of the key learning from my MA is to think carefully about our choice of materials and the content of our work. Especially if it is to be exhibited in public. We need to be sensitive to the audience and have reasons for the choices that we have made in our making. When I first started thinking about making work on newspapers, an important decision was which newspaper or newspapers to use. I have become very disillusioned with the news media in recent years so it was hard to choose. I have had a long relationship with The Financial Times (FT) because I always felt it was more balanced and factual than most media channels – it’s one of a few newspapers that I could bear to buy or read. I used to use The FT a lot for work when compiling economic reports about the UK for international meetings. I was happy to stand by its facts and figures as they were considered credible. I am increasingly tired of unsubstantiated claims by news media as well as those in public life, hence I crave a news channel that I feel I can trust. I wanted a non-controversial newspaper as I don’t want the choice of newspaper to dominate the conversation rather than the art.

Also, the salmon colour of the paper works very well with the Chinese black ink. I believe aesthetically it works better than the usual white newsprint paper. Hence I started to paint on The FT.

Now that the ‘News’ body of work is growing and I am committed to using The FT so much so that I have purchased a print-subscription, I feel I should do some more background research to ensure I have chosen the correct newspaper.

METHOD

I have become very aware that I should have a reason to choose certain materials in my making. Since the choice of newspaper is such a key part of this body of work, I feel I should retrospectively verify that my instinctive choice of The FT was correct.

I should start by considering what I would want from the newspaper in this body of art work:

– Trusted: My aim is to express my grief for the lost world order in recent months and to share the grief of those close to me whose lives have been deeply affected. I do not intend to be overtly political – my art is not a political campaign in an activism-way. I want to look for news headlines that are to do with this topic and bring attention to them but I will leave the viewers to decide for themselves how they feel about it. To do this, I need news headlines and articles that I can trust to be as factual as possible as I just want to present facts and figures. I am not planning to influence the viewers’ judgement. That means quality journalism with substantiated facts. I cannot fact-check every article, so I need a journal that I can trust in general. I don’t want to be anyone else’s mouthpiece.

– Uncontroversial / unbiased: I am despaired by the political polarisation that exists in our society and I do not want to contribute to that as it is not the aim of this body of work. Therefore, I want to choose a newspaper that is not too controversial, perhaps as politically-central and unbiased as possible accepting that it is not possible to be 100% unbiased when a newspaper has contributions from many people. The aim of the art work is to share what has caused my grief. If the newspaper has to have a leaning then a liberal leaning would be preferred especially regarding the topics in question.

To start my research, I did several Google searches – for the most trusted and unbiased news media channel in the UK. Below are screen captures of some of my findings.

Firstly a 2023 YouGov poll result:

Link to above webpage:

https://yougov.co.uk/politics/articles/45744-which-media-outlets-do-britons-trust-2023

I then researched the bias of the top three newspapers on the trustworthy chart (shown above by YouGov) for comparison using this website:

https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/

Results for The Financial Times:

Results for The Times and Sunday Times:

Results for The Guardian:

There are additional supplementary reports on The FT that largely reflect this finding and they are shown at the end of the blog.

From this quick online research, the findings showed that The FT was found to be the most trusted and unbiased UK newspaper relative to other newspapers (relative position as derived from the YouGov poll) with a central position politically.

REFLECTIONS

This research was done as a sense-check to ensure I have chosen the correct newspaper for the purpose of my art work – I believe I have because The FT findings showed that it addresses my requirements for a newspaper for this body of work.

However, as one of the reports said ‘central does not mean it is good’ and I feel that is an important point. It is not my intention to make this body of work overtly political, hence requiring a centrally positioned newspaper with a balanced view. One could argue that could contemporary art be truly central? I think my position on that point is that I am not ready to pick a political fight with the world – yet. I want to find my way into this part of the art world in a way that I feel I can manage especially given a lot of my ‘News’ art has been about my emotions and grieving – I need to process and make sense of that first. I am not ready for political debates. Hence remaining central is a stance that I want to adopt – for now. The most important thing is the trustworthiness and unbiased reporting of the newspaper which I believe I have with The FT.

Also, it is salmon colour. So I am relieved with my findings and satisfied with my choice. I will continue to use The FT whilst continuing to monitor its credibility.

LEARNING

I am glad I carried out the research. I believe that if I am going to show my art in a public place (Degree Show), I need to be doubly careful about the content and my reasons for choosing the materials. So this research has partly been to prepare me for the Show as I anticipate someone would ask me ‘Why The FT?’.

The main learning here is that researching all aspects of the materials used is essential. Especially when the subject matter could be sensitive, political or emotionally-triggering in any way. If I want to take my art practice onto addressing societal issues as I do, then I need to be more careful, considered, informed and mindful in these respects. I don’t want to rush into something that I am not ready to handle or my credibility as an artist could be called into question. Hence research and preparation is important. This is a key learning for me.

NEXT STEPS

– Continue to use The FT for my News art.

– Carefully consider all aspects of the materials I choose for my work and be thorough especially with exhibited work.

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ADDITIONAL RESEARCH RESULTS

Below are additional reports found online on The FT.

Report #1:

https://adfontesmedia.com/financial-times-bias-and-reliability/