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

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.

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