Critical thinking for a quick-fire world
Mission
At a time when open and civil public debate faces threats on many fronts, from polarising algorithms to the manipulative tactics of anti-democratic forces, it is essential to provide people with media literacy and critical thinking tools to question, decipher, and unravel the narratives and assumptions they encounter.
Through its analysis and opinion, WordWatch seeks to identify the tropes, stereotypes, and spin present in news reporting and political speech. It sets out to explore how words and language shape public perceptions and debate, and to challenge shortcuts and assumptions by confronting them with the evidence available.
WordWatch seeks to make us better writers but also more critical readers and reflective thinkers.
Objectives
WordWatch is built around three main aims:
- Right of reply: Setting out critical responses and counter-points to media framings and political discourse that perpetuates harmful, dehumanising narratives, based on evidence and expert analysis.
- Building an inventory: Bringing together resources and pedagogical tools for journalists, communicators and everyone else, from across the web, and connecting them to current debates.
- Making cases: Providing a space for sharing perspectives and ideas related to issues in contemporary public debates around Europe, and building on these to propose constructive paths ahead.
The platform aims to make a contribution to the growing sector of “solutions journalism” – a current of media creation that seeks not only to apply journalistic principles of ethical reporting and “doing no harm” in their coverage, but to go beyond this and steer us towards positive, just alternatives.
History and values
WordWatch was founded in summer 2024, following a spate of elections at national and European levels in which the far right made unprecedented gains. Its creation comes in response to the increasing normalisation of far-right concepts, terms, and talking points in political discourse, public debate, and the media.
Underpinning the project is a commitment to democracy and social, economic and environmental justice. WordWatch emerges from the conviction that if injustice persists, it is because we collectively allow it to. We do so because of distorted, damaging received ideas that have permeated public discourse to the extent that they are considered “common sense.” Assumptions such as: “we cannot afford to help all those in need”, “there simply isn’t enough to go around”, “inequality is the price to pay for freedom and opportunity”, “individual outcomes are a function of hard work and merit”, and “rampant, wasteful consumption is a desirable part of a prosperous, growing society” – to name just a few. Often, these pernicious ideas are maintained and reinforced by the words printed by the media and spoken by politicians and public figures.
We believe representations are not abstract. They inform how we as a society perceive and respond to one another, the political solutions we support, the vision for a common project that we opt for when electing our leaders.
Recurring deaths at European borders, genocidal wars waged with the support of our political leaders, further victimisation of survivors of sexual and racial violence and discrimination. It is dehumanising rhetoric that underpins the passive acceptance of, or in some cases active support for, all these phenomena.
Get involved
We welcome pitches and proposals for short-form analysis looking at coverage of current events, as well as for longer-form pieces such as op-eds and reviews. Don’t hesitate to get in touch with your ideas, or to find out more!