tag:theconversation.com,2011:/africa/topics/us-media-5296/articlesUS media – The Conversation2023-11-20T13:18:30Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2180022023-11-20T13:18:30Z2023-11-20T13:18:30ZGood profits from bad news: How the Kennedy assassination helped make network TV news wealthy<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560217/original/file-20231117-28-k0daxt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=4%2C4%2C2983%2C2436&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">President John F. Kennedy is seen shortly before his assassination on Nov. 22, 1963.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/TV-MemorableMoments/4239d513431b455cb8a35299340210b1/photo">Associated Press</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In journalism, bad news sells. “If it bleeds, it leads” is a famous industry catchphrase, which explains why <a href="https://www.routledge.com/If-It-Bleeds-It-Leads-An-Anatomy-Of-Television-News/Kerbel/p/book/9780813398198">violent crime</a>, <a href="http://cup.columbia.edu/book/terrorism-and-the-media/9780231100151">war and terrorism</a>, and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118841570.iejs0202">natural disasters</a> are ubiquitous on TV news.</p>
<p>The fact that journalists and their employers make money from troubling events is something researchers rarely explore. But even if it seems distasteful, the link between negative news and profit is important to understand. As <a href="https://cmj.umaine.edu/faculty-staff/michael-j-socolow/">a media historian</a>, I think studying <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00947679.2023.2195346">this topic</a> can shed light on <a href="http://doi.org/10.1007/s42761-021-00046-w">the forces</a> that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-023-01538-4">shape contemporary journalism</a>.</p>
<p>The assassination of John F. Kennedy 60 years ago offers a case study. After a gunman killed the president, television news offered wall-to-wall, nonstop coverage at considerable cost to the networks. This earned TV news a reputation for public-spiritedness that lasted decades.</p>
<p>This reputation – which may seem surprising now but was widely accepted at the time – obscured the fact that TV news would soon become enormously profitable. Those profits are due in part because awful news attracts big audiences – which remains the case today.</p>
<h2>The JFK assassination made Americans turn to TV news</h2>
<p>Shortly after Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963, the TV networks demonstrated their sensitivity to the tragedy by canceling commercials and <a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/C/bo3641671.html">devoting all their airtime to the story</a> for several days. CBS President Frank Stanton would later call it “the longest uninterrupted story in the history of television.” At one point, 93% of all U.S. TVs were tuned into the coverage.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="In a black and white image, a young woman is seen crying in front of half a dozen televisions." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560213/original/file-20231117-23-37j1d6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=64%2C0%2C3163%2C4132&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560213/original/file-20231117-23-37j1d6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=755&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560213/original/file-20231117-23-37j1d6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=755&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560213/original/file-20231117-23-37j1d6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=755&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560213/original/file-20231117-23-37j1d6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=949&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560213/original/file-20231117-23-37j1d6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=949&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560213/original/file-20231117-23-37j1d6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=949&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">As televisions report news of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, a woman weeps in a Sears department store in Levittown, Pa.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/as-televisions-in-the-background-report-news-of-the-news-photo/1396714258">Jack Rosen/Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>Estimates vary, but the networks’ decision to forgo ads <a href="https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/2023-11-14/kennedy-assassination-60th-anniversary-tv-news-viewers-walter-cronkite">may have cost them as much as US$19 million</a> – which is $191 million in 2023 dollars. </p>
<p>For decades, the networks presented their assassination coverage as <a href="https://search.worldcat.org/title/42593182">the epitome of public service</a>. And over and over, network executives and journalists argued that TV news was uniquely protected from the economic pressures found elsewhere in broadcasting. </p>
<p>TV news in the early 1960s was “the loss leader that permitted NBC, CBS and ABC to justify the enormous profits made by their entertainment divisions,” ABC News’ <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/12/AR2010111206508_pf.html">Ted Koppel reminisced</a> in The Washington Post in 2010. He added, “It never occurred to the network brass that news programming could be profitable.”</p>
<p>The public-service narrative that took root in November 1963 ignored the fact that the huge audiences turning to TV news for information and comfort would soon become very lucrative. </p>
<h2>How TV news became a money machine</h2>
<p>Only two months before Kennedy’s assassination, in September 1963, the networks expanded their evening newscasts to 30 minutes. They had previously been 15 minutes, offering little more than headlines. The expanded newscasts <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1464884910379707">sold out all their advertising opportunities</a> immediately, as television news drew the predictable daily mass audiences that sponsors craved.</p>
<p>The Kennedy assassination coverage, combined with the expanded newscasts, significantly increased the commercial value of TV news. Throughout the 1960s, broadcast journalism began to mature into the most lucrative genre of programming on American television. </p>
<p>By the 1965-1966 television season, NBC’s “The Huntley-Brinkley Report” <a href="https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,941023,00.html">generated $27 million in advertising a year</a>, making it the network’s most lucrative program – out-earning even “Bonanza,” the top entertainment show. “The CBS Evening News” was <a href="https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,941023,00.html">drawing in $25.5 million</a> in advertising, making it the second-most profitable program on U.S. television. </p>
<p>Around this time, networks were telling regulators that they had sacrificed millions of dollars for public service through journalism. For example, <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.30112068807905&seq=351&q1=a+direct+responsibility+to+the+public+in+news+and+public+affairs+which+is+not+necessarily+&start=1">in 1965 testimony</a> before the Federal Communications Commission, executives from ABC, CBS and NBC said their news divisions had loftier motives than simply making money. </p>
<p>But they were making money, and lots of it. By 1969, “Huntley-Brinkley” was <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00947679.2023.2195346">earning $34 million in advertising</a> on a production budget of $7.2 million, making the program – according to Fortune magazine – “the biggest source of revenue that the N.B.C. network has – bigger than ‘Laugh-In’ or ‘The Dean Martin Show.’” A decade earlier, “Huntley-Brinkley” had been making just $8 million in ad and sponsorship revenue.</p>
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<img alt="In a black-and-white photo, two news anchors, one smoking a pipe, are seen sitting in a broadcast studio at the Miami Beach Convention Center. In the background, conventioneers are seen milling around and a sign reads 'VICTORY IN 68'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560230/original/file-20231118-19-whuibz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560230/original/file-20231118-19-whuibz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560230/original/file-20231118-19-whuibz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560230/original/file-20231118-19-whuibz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560230/original/file-20231118-19-whuibz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560230/original/file-20231118-19-whuibz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560230/original/file-20231118-19-whuibz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Chet Huntley and David Brinkley broadcast from the Republican National Convention in 1968.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/chet-huntley-and-david-brinkley-broadcasting-for-nbc-at-the-news-photo/1297996689">Ben Martin/Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>The networks didn’t tout their profits, though. Instead, they <a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/T/bo12345529.html">continually promoted their efforts</a> covering the Vietnam War, civil unrest and the assassinations of the 1960s as service in the public interest. They also claimed that news production cost them millions, and they <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1464884910379707">hid ad revenues</a> accrued by news programming elsewhere in their corporate budgets. Doing this gave them a leg up on regulatory privileges, such as station license renewals. </p>
<h2>The birth of modern TV news</h2>
<p>Ultimately, the chaotic, cacophonous and confusing decade of the 1960s would end up launching the hyper-commercial media world we live in today. Chasing sensational investigative stories, such as Watergate and the Iran-Contra arms-for-hostages scandal, would <a href="https://www.upi.com/Archives/1987/07/08/Oliver-North-draws-big-ratings/8772552715200/">generate higher ratings</a> and <a href="https://niemanreports.org/articles/the-transformation-of-network-news/">more advertising revenue</a>, and turn broadcast journalists into national celebrities. </p>
<p>The original values animating network broadcast journalism at its inception would surrender to more lucrative formats. “60 Minutes” – a CBS News production – eventually became the most valuable network-owned programming property <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=n2c6DwAAQBAJ&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&dq=Tell+Me+a+Story+60+Minutes&source=gbs_navlinks_s">in the history of American television</a>, and by the 1980s almost every local news station had <a href="https://www.wiley.com/en-us/News+is+People%3A+The+Rise+of+Local+TV+News+and+the+Fall+of+News+from+New+York-p-9780813812076">launched its own</a> “I-Team” investigations group.</p>
<p>Eventually, the professionalism that drew audiences to TV news in the wake of the Kennedy assassination in 1963 would be supplanted by audience growth strategies <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=lyWiYgEACAAJ&dq=inauthor:%22Frank+N.+Magid+Associates%22&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwilh7nH9suCAxXOFFkFHY1GDZEQ6AF6BAgBEAE">sold by TV news consultants</a>. Audience analytics, minute-by-minute engagement metrics and Q-scores calibrating anchor “likability” would <a href="https://penguinrandomhousehighereducation.com/book/?isbn=9780143113775">standardize formats and homogenize newsgathering</a> in the drive to maximize profits.</p>
<p>Yet through the decades, one constant remains: Bad news sells. It’s a media-industry truism whether we’d like to study it or not, and the news broadcasts airing today, 60 years after the events of November 1963, prove it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/218002/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael J. Socolow does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The JFK assassination was a landmark event in TV news history.Michael J. Socolow, Professor of Communication and Journalism, University of MaineLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2142182023-11-01T12:35:32Z2023-11-01T12:35:32ZRupert Murdoch’s empire was built on a shrewd understanding of how media and power work<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555588/original/file-20231024-21-p46wd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=44%2C128%2C3579%2C2369&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The man at the center of the news.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/publishing-magnate-rupert-murdoch-at-the-printing-presses-news-photo/685183993?adppopup=true">Roger Ressmeyer/CORBIS/VCG via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When businesspeople retire at an advanced age, it seldom makes headlines.</p>
<p>But when 92-year-old Rupert Murdoch <a href="https://apnews.com/article/murdoch-fox-quit-emeritus-30286a4a3107b7bde612adbfc7891958">announced in September</a> that he was stepping away from his multicontinent media empire and <a href="https://apnews.com/article/lachlan-rupert-murdoch-fox-news-a5100d8bd20f72efe5a83eec32823f1f">turning it over to his son Lachlan</a>, it was breaking news that generated countless stories <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/22/briefing/rupert-murdoch.html">speculating about the futures</a> of two of his most storied holdings, Fox and News Corp.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://miamioh.edu/profiles/cas/bruce-drushel.html">scholar who studies media organizations</a> and their political and economic influence, I see this level of attention as an indicator both of the significance of the companies Murdoch built and the way he used them to alter the media and political landscape.</p>
<h2>Murdoch the believer … or opportunist?</h2>
<p>Murdoch infused his print and television properties, first in his native Australia and later in the U.K. and the U.S., with a generally right-of-center slant. </p>
<p>But his reputation as a promoter of conservative ideals was at odds with his past. While a student at Oxford University, Murdoch <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2011/11/rupert-murdoch-kept-bust-lenin-oxford-dorm-room/335908/">kept a bust of Lenin</a> in his room and annoyed his father, Sir Keith Murdoch, <a href="https://www.afr.com/companies/media-and-marketing/rupert-murdoch-was-a-socialist-before-he-built-fox-news-20230906-p5e2ev">with his socialist views</a>.</p>
<p>When his father <a href="https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/murdoch-sir-keith-arthur-7693">died suddenly in 1952</a>, Murdoch inherited a small newspaper in Adelaide and soon was using its profits to buy up suburban papers all over Australia, as well as licenses for television stations.</p>
<p>His conquest of the U.K. began in 1969 with the purchase of a majority interest in <a href="https://www.historic-newspapers.co.uk/blog/news-of-the-world-history/">News of the World</a>, a major circulation Sunday tabloid. Eventually, he would add to it the daily tabloid <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2013/aug/27/rupert-murdoch-the-sun">The Sun</a> and the redoubtable but financially struggling <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1981/02/14/world/murdoch-in-challenge-of-my-life-buys-london-times-for-28-million.html">Times and Sunday Times</a>. </p>
<p>Through the 1970s, his politics moved to the right, culminating in his support – and The Sun’s much <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/apr/28/how-margaret-thatcher-and-rupert-murdoch-made-secret-deal">sought-after editorial endorsement</a> – of Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative Party.</p>
<p>Despite the conservative outlook of his publications, there always has been nagging <a href="https://www.poynter.org/reporting-editing/2008/shafer-murdochs-a-political-opportunist-not-a-conservative/">speculation about the sincerity</a> of Murdoch’s ideological beliefs – whether they were tightly held or simply manifestations of political opportunism and his ability to anticipate the popular mood. Murdoch’s The Sun <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/20120528-liveblog-former-british-pm-tony-blair-faces-leveson-grilling-london-godfather-murdoch">backed the center-left Tony Blair</a> when Conservative Party prime minister John Major fell out of favor in 1997.</p>
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<img alt="Two men in suits are seen through the back window of a car." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555590/original/file-20231024-27-kds6e6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555590/original/file-20231024-27-kds6e6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555590/original/file-20231024-27-kds6e6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555590/original/file-20231024-27-kds6e6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555590/original/file-20231024-27-kds6e6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555590/original/file-20231024-27-kds6e6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555590/original/file-20231024-27-kds6e6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch, right, and his son Lachlan, center, in 2011.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/BritainPhoneHacking/140ab33fab704ff78a8a749681e4bf0f/photo?Query=murdoch%20lachlan&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:asc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=20&currentItemNo=2">AP Photo/Sang Tan</a></span>
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<p>His successes in the U.K. provided him with the strategic template for his eventual entry into the more lucrative U.S. market: Buy undervalued sources of content creation and then use their profits, along with a combination of emerging technology and political influence, to expand their distribution. </p>
<p>In the U.K., that meant the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2004/oct/12/rupertmurdoch.citynews1">secretive construction of a high-tech automated printing facility</a> that bypassed the labor unions. In the U.S., it might have contributed to a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1994/12/23/gingrich-45-million-book-deal-draws-fire/b6f90dae-1171-4401-899a-d0b6ca3c0b7d/">US$4.5 million book deal</a> for House Speaker Newt Gingrich with Murdoch’s publishing house HarperCollins. It came as the media tycoon was facing questions about where the money for his U.S. television properties was coming from – questions, it was suggested by critics, that the speaker’s influence could help smooth over.</p>
<h2>Building an American empire</h2>
<p>Murdoch’s American empire started in 1976 when he <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1976/11/20/archives/new-jersey-pages-dorothy-schiff-agrees-to-sell-post-to-murdoch.html">purchased the tabloid the New York Post</a>. There, borrowing from his experience in the U.K., he flipped the newspaper’s ideology from liberal to conservative and used splash headlines and prurient content to more than double its circulation.</p>
<p>Also echoing a strategy he had employed in the U.K., he added the more respected <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB118589043953483378">Wall Street Journal</a> to his holdings a number of years later, extending the reach of his influence from blue-collar to white-collar readers. </p>
<p>Anticipating the uncertain future of the newspaper business, Murdoch expanded his empire to include television.</p>
<p>He <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/business/1985/03/21/murdoch-agrees-to-buy-a-50-percent-share-of-20th-century-fox-film/8862819b-50de-4ad3-aeb5-70ca84f109f1/">purchased the Twentieth Century Fox film and television studio</a> in 1985 to provide both production facilities and a library of content. The following year, he bought the television station holdings of <a href="https://www.company-histories.com/Metromedia-Company-Company-History.html">Metromedia</a> to form the distribution nucleus of what would become the Fox television network. </p>
<p>Doing so required a series of moves to meet Federal Communications Commission regulations. First, Murdoch would have to <a href="https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-09-04-mn-23112-story.html">become a U.S. citizen</a>. Second, Fox would have to limit its hours of broadcast in order to avoid meeting the official definition of a network and in so doing break FCC rules that at the time stated that a single company could not be both a network and a syndicator of programs.</p>
<p>Third, he would have to sell the New York Post, since another rule prohibited common ownership of a daily newspaper and television station in the same city. The FCC would later allow him to <a href="https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-03-30-fi-17004-story.html">repurchase the Post</a> out of bankruptcy in 1993, rather than see the newspaper fold.</p>
<h2>The birth of Fox News</h2>
<p>Unable to secure licenses for terrestrial television stations in the U.K., Murdoch <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/dec/09/from-launch-to-takeover-rupert-murdoch-and-sky">launched the Sky satellite service</a> in 1989 as both a content provider and a distribution system. Among Sky’s channels was Sky News, the U.K.’s first 24-hour news channel. Once Sky News had become profitable, Murdoch announced he would bring his brand of 24-hour news to the U.S. By <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2020/04/08/five-facts-about-fox-news/">October 1996, Fox News Channel</a>, led by former Republican Party strategist Roger Ailes, was on the air. </p>
<p>While Fox News is now very much associated with a viewership that skews older, conservative and white, the Fox broadcast network’s path to success with audiences and advertisers was initially based in its appeal to underserved audiences among young adults and African Americans.</p>
<p>Shows like “The Simpsons” and “Married … With Children” were seen as edgy in their representation of dysfunctional families. Meanwhile, “In Living Color,” “Roc,” “The Bernie Mac Show,” “Martin” and “Living Single” followed “The Cosby Show” playbook of focusing on Black authorship and autobiography to attract not just African Americans but <a href="https://www.penguinbookshop.com/book/9780195106121">audiences of all races and ethnicities</a>.</p>
<p>When Fox secured rights to the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1993/12/18/fox-lands-contract-to-televise-the-nfl/7c20a84e-aa1b-4226-a0b4-fe724031cc17/">National Football League’s NFC games</a> in 1993, the network began targeting more mainstream audiences as well. As he had done in the newspaper business, Murdoch established his foothold in a niche market he perceived as being underserved and ripe for exploitation before setting his sights elsewhere.</p>
<h2>A less-than-graceful exit</h2>
<p>Despite his <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2012/feb/20/sun-rupert-murdoch">reputation as a buccaneer</a> who took huge risks in expanding his holdings, skirting regulations and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1991/11/25/business/the-media-business-murdoch-s-company-wins-extension-on-bank-loans.html">delaying repayments of loans</a> from financial institutions, Murdoch avoided major legal and business setbacks for most of his career.</p>
<p>That only began to change in the mid-2000s.</p>
<p>First there was Myspace. <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-newscorp-myspace/news-corp-sells-myspace-ending-six-year-saga-idUSTRE75S6D720110629">News Corp. bought</a> what was then among the world’s most popular websites in 2005. But it soon went into decline, weighed down by failures to update its technology and features. Then, in 2011, a backlash from a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2021/jul/10/news-of-the-world-10-years-since-phone-hacking-scandal-brought-down-tabloid">scandal involving the hacking</a> of cellphone accounts of a murdered teenage girl, British service personnel killed in action and a host of celebrities forced the closure of Murdoch’s first U.K. newspaper, the News of the World.</p>
<p>More recently, News Corp. <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/11/24/938545344/fox-news-settles-with-seth-richs-parents-for-false-story-claiming-clinton-leaks">settled a lawsuit</a> brought by the parents of the late Seth Rich, a Democratic National Committee staffer, after Fox News repeated right-wing conspiracy claims about the murdered man. It also <a href="https://time.com/6272910/dominion-settlement-fox-news-nightmare/">reached a $787.5 million settlement</a> with Dominion Voting Systems, which several Fox News hosts had accused of rigging the 2020 presidential election against Donald Trump. A <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/26/media/smartmatic-murdoch/index.html">similar defamation suit by Smartmatic</a> is pending.</p>
<p>For a man whose career was built on a shrewdness for reading the media landscape, such failures might well leave a bitter taste in retirement. But nonetheless, Murdoch will step down from his empire leaving mighty footprints.</p>
<p>It remains to be seen how his son Lachlan will fill them – or if he also inherited his father’s instincts and will lay down tracks for the empire in a new and unexpected direction.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/214218/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bruce Drushel does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>As Rupert Murdoch prepares to hand over the keys to his media empire, what will his legacy be?Bruce Drushel, Professor of Media, Journalism and Film, Miami UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2163092023-10-31T12:34:44Z2023-10-31T12:34:44ZAre journalists serving Virginia’s voters well? Election could offer insights on media on national level<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556325/original/file-20231027-21-u501nd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=826%2C71%2C5164%2C3907&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin gives a thumbs-up during an Economic Club of Washington event on Sept. 26, 2023. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/virginia-governor-glenn-youngkin-gives-a-thumbs-up-during-news-photo/1702783557">Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As Virginia holds elections on Nov. 7, 2023, to fill <a href="https://apnews.com/article/virginia-election-youngkin-e5ba1b4b0349ba7401722ab829b22f02">all 140 seats</a> in the state legislature, the results will likely offer insights on the nation’s political pulse. Voters’ preferences for Democrats or Republicans may well reflect how they feel about Joe Biden or Donald Trump – and about key issues such as <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/26/us/politics/abortion-virginia-republicans-youngkin.html">abortion</a>, the <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/538/virginias-legislative-contests-important-races-2023/story?id=104299286">economy</a> and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2023/10/22/virginia-education-poll-results/">public education</a>.</p>
<p>The election also will hold important lessons for the nation’s journalists as they gear up for the 2024 presidential race. </p>
<p>As a <a href="https://robertson.vcu.edu/directory/south.html">journalism professor</a> and diligent voter in Virginia, I’ve been closely following the news about the state’s upcoming elections. Much of the reporting has provided readers with stories about candidates’ qualifications and positions on critical issues – the kind of information voters need to cast their ballots.</p>
<p>But I also have seen articles that may discourage voting or undermine the democratic process. Those stories tend to <a href="https://nypost.com/2023/09/11/house-candidate-susanna-gibson-performed-sex-acts-on-webcam-for-tips/">hype fleeting scandals</a> and mostly serve to generate clicks on social media. </p>
<p>What I have learned in my years studying the role of journalism in civic discussion is that democracies are best served when media coverage focuses on issues that affect society and people’s everyday lives and minimizes “horse race” reporting that obsesses over who is ahead in opinion surveys or fundraising. </p>
<h2>At stake in Virginia</h2>
<p>Journalism matters because elections have consequences. </p>
<p>Virginia is the only Southern state that has not put new restrictions on abortion since the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/24/us/roe-wade-overturned-supreme-court.html">U.S. Supreme Court</a> overturned Roe v. Wade. The legislative elections probably will determine whether abortions remain <a href="https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacodefull/title18.2/chapter4/article9/">legal in Virginia through the second trimester</a>, or 26 weeks, of a pregnancy. </p>
<p>Virginia’s off-year elections carry national significance because the state is a deep shade of <a href="https://fredericksburg.com/news/local/government-politics/umw-poll-shows-virginia-has-rapidly-returned-to-purple-state-status/article_f46bd2ca-5e0e-11ee-9174-ff1be1fe1493.html">purple</a>. </p>
<p>Virginians <a href="https://rollcall.com/2021/11/16/so-what-color-is-virginia-now/">favored Democrats</a> in the past four presidential contests, but Republicans swept all three statewide races in 2021. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A white woman with blonde hair gestures with her hands as she stands in the middle of a crowd of people." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556335/original/file-20231027-25-zqb7mb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556335/original/file-20231027-25-zqb7mb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556335/original/file-20231027-25-zqb7mb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556335/original/file-20231027-25-zqb7mb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556335/original/file-20231027-25-zqb7mb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556335/original/file-20231027-25-zqb7mb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556335/original/file-20231027-25-zqb7mb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Virginia state Senate candidate Russet Perry, a Democrat, speaks to campaign volunteers on Oct. 8, 2023.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/leesburg-virginia-virginia-state-senate-candidate-russet-news-photo/1730513107?adppopup=true">Pete Marovich For The Washington Post via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>During the 2023 legislative session, Democrats had a 22-18 majority in the Virginia Senate, and Republicans had a 52-48 majority in the state House of Delegates. Because of redistricting and retirements, there are 11 open seats in the Senate and 33 in the House. </p>
<p>Gov. Glenn Youngkin and GOP donors have <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/gov-glenn-youngkin-courts-donors-ahead-high-stakes/story?id=104095977">poured money</a> and political capital into helping Virginia Republicans capture both chambers in order to advance his legislative agenda – and possibly <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/glenn-youngkin-anti-trump-donors-2024-presidential-run/">his presidential ambitions</a>. </p>
<p>As a swing state, Virginia is the testing ground for political parties’ future campaign strategies. </p>
<p>For instance, Virginia’s Republican legislative candidates have <a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2023/10/will-voters-buy-youngkins-15-week-abortion-ban-gambit.html">echoed Youngkin’s call</a> to prohibit abortion after the 15th week of pregnancy except in cases of rape or incest or to save the mother’s life.</p>
<p>Youngkin <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/10/25/youngkin-abortion-15-week-elections/">portrays that limit</a> as “reasonable” and “common sense” – an alternative to the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/us/abortion-laws-roe-v-wade.html">outright bans</a> that have drawn voter backlash in other states. But Democrats <a href="https://www.virginiamercury.com/2023/10/26/virginia-abortion-battle-could-come-down-to-how-voters-feel-about-the-word-ban/">have called</a> the 15-week proposal <a href="https://richmond.com/news/state-regional/government-politics/youngkins-pac-sets-1-4-million-ad-push-on-abortion-issue/article_2256a7ce-678c-11ee-93e8-1b49cbbcb646.html">a sign</a> that Republicans will impose stricter measures on abortion if they win control of the General Assembly. </p>
<p>Indeed, some Republican candidates say <a href="https://vademocrats.org/news/listen-swing-district-va-gop-candidate-pledges-support-for-100-abortion-ban/">their ultimate goal</a> is to ban all abortions, and Youngkin <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/06/29/youngkin-abortion-life-conception/">told an anti-abortion group in 2022</a>, “Any bill that comes to my desk I will sign happily and gleefully in order to protect life.”</p>
<h2>Informing the citizenry</h2>
<p>It’s my belief that the most useful news stories for voters are those that drill deep into candidates’ positions on pressing public policies.</p>
<p>What are they saying now, and what have they said in the past? Do they send different messages to different audiences? Have they voted or taken other actions on the issue? Have they courted endorsements, contributions and other support from groups with a vested interest in the matter?</p>
<p>Less useful are stories that treat politics as a competitive sport and fixate on who’s up or down in the polls or in campaign donations. Such “<a href="https://www.wbur.org/cognoscenti/2022/05/09/the-consequences-of-horse-race-reporting-rich-barlow">horse race</a>” journalism may appeal to political junkies, but <a href="https://journalistsresource.org/politics-and-government/horse-race-reporting-election/">research shows</a> that it leaves most people cynical, poorly informed and less likely to vote.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woman delivers a speech as stands behind a lectern surrounded by American flags." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556331/original/file-20231027-27-8ediim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556331/original/file-20231027-27-8ediim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556331/original/file-20231027-27-8ediim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556331/original/file-20231027-27-8ediim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556331/original/file-20231027-27-8ediim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556331/original/file-20231027-27-8ediim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556331/original/file-20231027-27-8ediim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Republican presidential hopeful Nikki Haley speaks on abortion in Virginia on April 25, 2023.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/republican-presidential-hopeful-nikki-haley-speaks-on-news-photo/1252167577?adppopup=true">Stefani ReynoldsAFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Further complicating election coverage is the blizzard of numbers found in polls and surveys that can make people feel that their votes won’t matter. Worse, journalists frequently misinterpret or oversimplify data – ignoring <a href="https://journalistsresource.org/media/margin-error-journalists-surveys-polls/">such factors</a> as the margin of error or methodology. </p>
<p>For example, several news organizations cited a <a href="https://www.wric.com/news/politics/virginians-prefer-youngkin-over-biden-in-hypothetical-presidential-matchup-poll-shows/">Virginia Commonwealth University poll</a> and reported that in a hypothetical presidential matchup, Virginians would favor Youngkin over Biden, 44% to 37%. </p>
<p>But the survey’s margin of error was <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Jjg0fNOrXLWovi-9UgCJGgyn3fFt9FGD/view">about 5.5 percentage points</a>. That means Youngkin’s support could have been as low as 38.5% and Biden’s as high as 42.5% – making the results too close to call.</p>
<p>Also problematic are salacious stories like the ones about <a href="https://www.susannagibson.com/">Susanna Gibson</a>, the Democratic Virginia House candidate who performed in <a href="https://apnews.com/article/susanna-gibson-virginia-house-of-delegates-sex-acts-9e0fa844a3ba176f79109f7393073454">livestreamed sex shows</a> with her husband.</p>
<p>In a competitive media environment driven by social networking, it is hard for journalists to ignore such scandals. But reporters should be honest about the story’s genesis – instead of <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/09/11/susanna-gibson-sex-website-virginia-candidate/">shielding the identity</a> of the Republican operative who tipped them off. </p>
<p>And some outlets seized any opportunity to revisit the controversy, no matter how trivial the <a href="https://themessenger.com/politics/virginia-dem-susanna-gibson-dips-in-polls-following-sex-show-scandal">news peg</a>.</p>
<p>A final step journalists can take in covering elections is to unpack the shorthand that politicians employ to curry votes. Candidates routinely use focus group-tested catchphrases that sound as appealing as apple pie but obscure far-reaching implications.</p>
<p>For example, when Democrats promote “<a href="https://apnews.com/article/virginia-election-prosecutors-primary-f3322cfed456ffbd7ba9d50f0b9d511a">criminal justice reform</a>,” do they mean eliminating cash bail even for people accused of violent crimes? </p>
<p>And when Republicans tout “<a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2023/03/24/glenn-youngkin-2024-parental-rights/11487311002/">parental rights</a>,” would they allow a minority of vocal parents to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2023/09/28/virginia-frequent-school-book-challenger-spotsylvania/">dictate the school curriculum</a> for all students?</p>
<p>After Virginia’s election, the focus of the national political coverage will turn to the 2024 presidential race – and what happens in Virginia may not stay in Virginia.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/216309/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jeff South does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>With the balance of political power at stake in the Virginia legislature, voters in this key swing state may reveal clues for the 2024 presidential election.Jeff South, Associate professor emeritus, Journalism, Virginia Commonwealth UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2044922023-05-04T12:10:32Z2023-05-04T12:10:32ZThe firings of Don Lemon and Tucker Carlson doesn’t mean the end of hyperpartisan cable news networks<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523059/original/file-20230426-20-hol5pe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=684%2C19%2C3747%2C2750&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Then-CNN anchor Don Lemon speaks during a Democratic presidential debate in Detroit on July 31, 2019.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/moderator-don-lemon-speaks-to-the-crowd-attending-the-news-photo/1165418659?adppopup=true">(Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Television host <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/the-view-celebrating-tucker-carlson-exit-mourn-don-lemon-termination">Sara Haines</a> of ABC’s “The View” spoke for many viewers when she celebrated the departure of right-wing television host Tucker Carlson from the Fox News Network.</p>
<p>“I am happy to know someone like him no longer has the platform he had built,” she exclaimed. </p>
<p>Similarly, CNN anchor Don Lemon’s ouster on April 23, 2023 – the same day as Carlson’s – generated an equal amount of celebration from conservatives. </p>
<p>One of them was <a href="https://nypost.com/2023/04/24/nikki-haley-trolls-don-lemon-over-firing-hawks-beer-koozies/">Nikki Haley</a>, the presidential candidate and former governor of South Carolina, whom Lemon had previously described as a woman past her prime when she <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/video/us/elections/100000008772357/nikki-haley-president-2024.html?searchResultPosition=2">launched her 2024 campaign</a>.</p>
<p>Lemon’s dismissal is “a great day for women everywhere,” Haley exclaimed. </p>
<p>In this age of hyperpartisan news programming, both Carlson and Lemon proved talented at providing perspectives that confirmed their audience’s view of the world.</p>
<p>It is not clear why Lemon and Carlson were fired, but in my view as a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=YBntiP0AAAAJ">media scholar</a>, they were removed because they no longer provided the benefits their employers expected. </p>
<p>Instead, I believe they had become potential threats to the networks’ audience shares and advertising revenue. Rather than a victory for women or truth, I view these firings as an effort to sustain and grow corporate profits. </p>
<h2>Hyperpartisan news media</h2>
<p>The advent of <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520347878/the-anatomy-of-fake-news">cable news</a> in the 1980s created more channels for audiences to watch, and thus fractured the audience long dominated by networks NBC, ABC and CBS.</p>
<p>The internet, smartphones and social media <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Lets-Agree-to-Disagree-A-Critical-Thinking-Guide-to-Communication-Conflict/Higdon-Huff/p/book/9781032168982">further fragmented audiences</a>. As <a href="https://www.orbooks.com/catalog/hate-inc/">journalists</a> and <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520347878/the-anatomy-of-fake-news">media scholars</a> have noted, the solution for many media companies in the 1990s was to target their programming to a single demographic instead of trying to attract a larger, general audience. </p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1538-165X.2009.tb01921.x">Scholars</a> and <a href="https://www.orbooks.com/catalog/hate-inc/">journalists</a> note that in order to attract a targeted demographic, cable news media relied on hyperpartisan reporting that framed news stories as liberal versus conservative. This approach proved viable, as subsequent studies found that television audiences preferred news outlets that confirmed <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/columnist/2018/05/15/fake-news-social-media-confirmation-bias-echo-chambers/533857002/">their political views</a> and attacked <a href="https://www.livescience.com/3640-people-choose-news-fits-views.html">their political rivals</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1538-165X.2009.tb01921.x">Liberal outlets</a> focused on <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520347878/the-anatomy-of-fake-news">confirming liberals’</a> <a href="https://www.orbooks.com/catalog/hate-inc/">views</a> by introducing <a href="https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/chris-hedges/empire-of-illusion/9780786749553/?lens=bold-type-books">caricatures</a> of conservatives who could be easily villainized. The inverse was true at conservative outlets.</p>
<p>By 2021, in my view, the unintended result of such partisan programming was that audiences perceived that the <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2021/01/17/poll-we-have-met-the-enemy-and-it-is-us-459948">No. 1</a> threat to their lives was other Americans.</p>
<h2>Carlson’s duplicity</h2>
<p>In this cable news environment, Carlson started working at <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/24/business/media/tucker-carlson-career-history.html">CNN</a> in 2000, moved to <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna8049787#.W6cJZVInaRs">MSNBC</a> in 2005 and arrived at Fox News Channel in 2009, where he became a megastar with his own program, “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” in 2016. </p>
<p>Whether it was accurate or not, “Tucker Carlson Tonight” provided far-right ideological content that drew an average of <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/tucker-carlsons-exit-fox-news-may-be-ratings-bane-advertising-boon-2023-04-25/">3 million nightly viewers</a>, and Carlson became the highest-rated personality in cable news media. </p>
<p>Among Carlson’s falsehoods were that <a href="https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2019/dec/18/tucker-carlson/carlson-falsely-claims-immigrants-are-dirtying-pot/">immigrants were mostly</a> responsible for polluting a U.S. river; that the <a href="https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2017/aug/17/tucker-carlson/tucker-carlson-wrongly-says-united-states-ended-sl/">U.S. ended slavery</a> around the world; and that <a href="https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2014/aug/15/tucker-carlson/carlson-guns-dont-kill-people-bathtubs-do/">more children died</a> from drowning in their bathtub than accidentally from guns.</p>
<p>Whether he actually believed any of those falsehoods remains unknown. </p>
<p>What is known is that Carlson did not personally believe Donald Trump’s claims that he won the 2020 presidential election – and yet he publicly echoed rather than challenged Trump’s baseless assertions. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A billboard shows an image of a white man wearing a necktie next to his words that read I hate Trump passionately." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523855/original/file-20230502-1802-jpfgdm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523855/original/file-20230502-1802-jpfgdm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523855/original/file-20230502-1802-jpfgdm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523855/original/file-20230502-1802-jpfgdm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523855/original/file-20230502-1802-jpfgdm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523855/original/file-20230502-1802-jpfgdm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523855/original/file-20230502-1802-jpfgdm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An image of former Fox News Channel host Tucker Carlson and his view of Donald Trump are displayed on a billboard in West Palm Beach, Fla.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/billboard-put-up-by-progressive-activist-group-moveon-that-news-photo/1479574560?adppopup=true">Alex Wong/Getty Images</a></span>
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</figure>
<p><a href="https://apnews.com/article/tucker-carlson-fox-news-dominion-lawsuit-trump-5d6aed4bc7eb1f7a01702ebea86f37a1">In a text message</a> to Sidney Powell, one of Trump’s most ardent lawyers, Carlson wrote:</p>
<p>“You keep telling our viewers that millions of votes were changed by the software. I hope you will prove that very soon. You’ve convinced them that Trump will win. If you don’t have conclusive evidence of fraud at that scale, it’s a cruel and reckless thing to keep saying.” </p>
<p>But in a text message to his Fox News colleagues, Carlson was less hopeful:</p>
<p>“<a href="https://apnews.com/article/tucker-carlson-fox-news-dominion-lawsuit-trump-5d6aed4bc7eb1f7a01702ebea86f37a1">Sidney Powell is lying</a>,” he wrote. </p>
<p>At the time, nearly 70% of <a href="https://www.poynter.org/fact-checking/2022/70-percent-republicans-falsely-believe-stolen-election-trump/">Tucker’s target audience</a> believed that the election was stolen. </p>
<p>As a result, despite knowing the 2020 election was not stolen, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2023/03/07/tucker-carlson-doubles-down-on-2020-election-fraud-claims-with-jan-6-footage-despite-fox-defamation-lawsuit/?sh=8679b345e75e">Carlson continued to report</a> the exact opposite of what he knew to be false.</p>
<h2>A boorish Lemon</h2>
<p>In stark contrast to Carlson, Lemon positioned himself as CNN’s chief <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzZGuFJTs1I">liberal scolder</a> of the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLctkkxEDTs">Trump era</a>. </p>
<p>Much like Carlson, Lemon manipulated evidence to create stories that confirmed liberal biases against conservative media personalities, such as falsely reporting that <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/media/3664744-hurricane-expert-brushes-off-don-lemon-climate-change-question-i-want-to-talk-about-the-here-and-now/">Hurricane Ian</a>’s size was a result of climate change; that President Joe Biden “<a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/cnn-don-lemon-partisan-biden-false-comments">misspoke</a>” rather than lied (which other <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/03/30/biden-falsely-claims-new-georgia-law-ends-voting-hours-early/">news outlets</a> claimed was the case) about Georgia’s voting procedures; that it is plausible that Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 disappeared into <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpVd7k1Uw6A">black hole</a>; and that <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/joe-rogan-don-lemon-cnn-ivermectin-sanjay-gupta-lying-1639240">CNN</a>’s <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/now/joe-rogan-considers-suing-cnn-190606533.html">reporting</a> on <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3043740/#:%7E:text=Discovered%2520in%2520the%2520late%252D1970s,of%2520billions%2520of%2520people%2520throughout">ivermectin</a> and popular podcaster Joe Rogan was <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/joe-rogan-don-lemon-cnn-ivermectin-sanjay-gupta-lying-1639240">accurate</a>.</p>
<p>CNN’s support for Lemon began to wane after a CNN broadcast on Feb. 16, 2023, when he declared that Haley was “past her prime.” </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woman stands on a stage holding a microphone surrounded by people sitting on chairs." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523859/original/file-20230502-16-k2bgvw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523859/original/file-20230502-16-k2bgvw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523859/original/file-20230502-16-k2bgvw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523859/original/file-20230502-16-k2bgvw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523859/original/file-20230502-16-k2bgvw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523859/original/file-20230502-16-k2bgvw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523859/original/file-20230502-16-k2bgvw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley speaks at a town hall event in New Hampshire on April 26, 2023.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/republican-presidential-candidate-and-former-u-n-ambassador-news-photo/1485559320?adppopup=true">Spencer Platt/Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>Feeling the disdain from his two female co-hosts, whom he had a long history of <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11716895/CNNs-Don-Lemon-seen-talking-host-ignoring-air-tension-builds-show.html">berating on and off camera</a>, <a href="https://msmagazine.com/2023/02/17/don-lemon-sexist-cnn/">Lemon clarified</a>: “That’s not according to me. … If you Google ‘when is a woman in her prime,’ it’ll say ‘20s, 30s and 40s.’” </p>
<p>Lemon was removed from the air so he could attend <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABG4fZSfIQQ">sensitivity trainings</a> to address his sexist attitudes. </p>
<p>An April 2023 <a href="https://variety.com/2023/tv/news/cnn-don-lemon-misogyny-history-nikki-haley-1235574286/">report from Variety</a> appeared to spell the end for Lemon on CNN. The report detailed other incidents of Lemon’s misogyny that included malicious texts, sexist mocking and vicious tirades aimed at <a href="https://tvline.com/2023/04/05/don-lemon-soledad-obrien-feud-cnn-controversy/">female co-workers</a>. </p>
<p>According to the report, <a href="https://variety.com/2023/tv/news/cnn-don-lemon-misogyny-history-nikki-haley-1235574286/">Lemon was accused</a> of threatening several female co-workers because they were hired for positions he felt he deserved. </p>
<p>In another incident, Lemon claimed during a 2008 editorial call with roughly 30 staffers that <a href="https://variety.com/2023/tv/news/cnn-don-lemon-misogyny-history-nikki-haley-1235574286/">Soledad O'Brien</a> should not host “Black in America” because she is not Black. O'Brien identifies as Afro-Cuban.</p>
<h2>Credibility gap</h2>
<p>In this age of hyperpartisanship, the revelations about Carlson and Lemon made it difficult for their networks to sell them as authentic ideological voices.</p>
<p>Furthermore, both of these individuals were a hassle for management. </p>
<p>At CNN, audience size for the show on which Lemon was co-host was shrinking for quite some time -– much like that for <a href="https://theconversation.com/cnn-was-just-the-latest-failed-attempt-of-the-cable-news-trailblazer-to-remain-relevant-182195">the network</a> in general. </p>
<p>At Fox News, Carlson’s texts revealed his disdain for the network’s <a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2023/04/tucker-carlson-fired-after-calling-fox-news-exec-the-c-word.html">leadership</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2023/may/01/tucker-carlson-fox-nation-streaming-service">streaming platform</a>. Furthermore, since 2021, major companies such as Disney, Papa John’s, Poshmark and T-Mobile had refused to advertise on Carlson’s program.</p>
<p>Although a <a href="https://today.yougov.com/topics/politics/articles-reports/2023/04/28/american-approval-tucker-carlson-fired-fox-news">YouGov poll</a> found that viewers who cite Fox News as the cable news network they watch most often are more likely to disapprove – 50% – than approve – 29% – of Carlson being fired, Fox News Channel had good reason to believe it could replace Tucker and still find success with conservative audiences. </p>
<p>For one, an <a href="https://www.ipsos.com/en-us/most-arent-familiar-tucker-carlson-don-lemon-exits">Ipsos poll</a> found that non-Fox News Channel viewers are more likely to consider the channel as a news source now that Carlson has been fired. This means that the absence of Carlson may attract more audiences. </p>
<p>Furthermore, Fox News Channel has developed a formula for creating and replacing conservative personalities for decades, such as <a href="https://www.npr.org/2011/04/06/135181398/glenn-beck-to-leave-daily-fox-news-show">Glenn Beck</a>, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/19/business/media/bill-oreilly-fox-news-allegations.html">Bill O'Reilly</a> and <a href="https://apnews.com/article/north-america-ap-top-news-entertainment-megyn-kelly-business-a84a7250b109411591ed6b976be800a0">Megyn Kelly</a>.</p>
<p>Rather than celebrate the removal of Lemon and Carlson, audiences should be questioning what truths have some of the current on-air personalities had to sacrifice in order to stay employed. </p>
<p>For cable news personalities, partisanship – not journalism – can be a job requirement.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/204492/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nolan Higdon does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Since the 1980s, cable news networks have focused on hyperpartisan news coverage to attract core audiences in an increasingly fragmented media market.Nolan Higdon, Lecturer of History and Media Studies, California State University, East BayLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2036492023-04-24T19:57:33Z2023-04-24T19:57:33ZTucker Carlson’s departure and Fox News’ expensive legal woes show the problem with faking ‘authenticity’<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522669/original/file-20230424-1075-lksybg.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=9%2C0%2C6390%2C4529&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Fox News Host Tucker Carlson speaks during the 2022 Fox Nation Patriot Awards on Nov. 17, 2022, in Hollywood, Fla.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/tucker-carlson-speaks-during-2022-fox-nation-patriot-awards-news-photo/1442331995?adppopup=true">Jason Koerner/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>For decades, Fox News thrived because the people behind it understood what their audience wanted and were more than willing to deliver: television news – or what Fox called news – from a populist perspective. </p>
<p>Fox is <a href="https://deadline.com/tag/ratings/">consistently the most-watched cable news channel</a>, far ahead of competitors like MSNBC and CNN. That’s in large part due to people like Tucker Carlson, whose show “Tucker Carlson Tonight” <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/markjoyella/2023/02/14/with-35-million-viewers-tucker-carlson-has-the-weeks-highest-rated-cable-news-show/?sh=c4328587f529">has been one of the highest-rated in cable news</a>. But on April 24, Fox announced that <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/24/business/media/tucker-carlson-fox-news.html">Carlson is leaving the network</a>, and while no explanation was provided, it’s safe to say it wasn’t a lack of viewers.</p>
<p>Carlson’s departure came on the heels of Fox News’ <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/04/18/business/fox-news-dominion-trial-settlement">US$787.5 million settlement of the lawsuit lodged by Dominion Voting Systems</a> over the network’s promotion of misinformation about the 2020 election. Dominion had <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/fox-news-media-tucker-carlson-part-ways-2023-04-24/#:%7E:text=Dominion%20had%20alleged%20that%20statements,in%20Biden's%20favor%20were%20false.">cited claims made on Carlson’s program</a> as well as on other shows as evidence of defamation, and Carlson <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2023/apr/04/fox-dominion-trial-tucker-carlson-sean-hannity-testify">was expected to testify</a> if the case had gone to trial. The settlement reveals Fox’s biggest strength and weakness: the network’s incredible understanding of what its audience wants and its unrelenting willingness to deliver exactly that. </p>
<h2>More real than elites</h2>
<p>I’m a journalism scholar who studies <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/imagined-audiences-9780197542606?cc=us&lang=en&">the relationship between the news industry and the public</a>, and I’ve long been interested in <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/19312431211060426">understanding Fox’s appeal</a>. As media scholar <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Yk3Elf0AAAAJ&hl=en">Reece Peck</a> observes in <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/us/academic/subjects/politics-international-relations/american-government-politics-and-policy/fox-populism-branding-conservatism-working-class?format=HB&isbn=9781108496766">his book about the network</a>, Fox’s success is less about politics than it is about style. Fox’s star broadcasters like Carlson <a href="https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/digital-news-report/2022/which-journalists-do-people-pay-most-attention-and-why-study-six-countries">found enormous success</a> by embracing an authenticity-as-a-form-of-populism approach.</p>
<p>They presented themselves as more “real” than the “out-of-touch elites” at other news organizations. Journalists have traditionally attempted to earn audience trust and loyalty by emphasizing their professionalism and objectivity, while people like Carlson earn it by emphasizing an us-against-them anti-elitism where <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/10/27/fox-news-tucker-carlson-elections/">expertise is more often a criticism than a compliment</a>. </p>
<p>As <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/us/academic/subjects/politics-international-relations/american-government-politics-and-policy/fox-populism-branding-conservatism-working-class?format=HB&isbn=9781108496766">Peck notes</a>, Fox broadcasters present themselves as “ordinary Americans … challenging the cultural elitism of the news industry.” So the allure of Fox is not just in its political slant, but in its just-like-you presentation that establishes anchors like Carlson as allies in the fight against the buttoned-up establishment figures they regularly disparage. </p>
<p>In short, NPR plays smooth jazz between segments, while <a href="https://www.cjr.org/tow_center/fox-news-partisan-progaganda-research.php">Fox plays country</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522671/original/file-20230424-18-r2qeby.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A large crowd of people surrounding a small group of people on a public plaza." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522671/original/file-20230424-18-r2qeby.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522671/original/file-20230424-18-r2qeby.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522671/original/file-20230424-18-r2qeby.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522671/original/file-20230424-18-r2qeby.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522671/original/file-20230424-18-r2qeby.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522671/original/file-20230424-18-r2qeby.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522671/original/file-20230424-18-r2qeby.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Reporters surround Dominion Voting Systems lawyers during a news conference in Wilmington, Del., after the defamation lawsuit by Dominion against Fox News was settled April 18, 2023.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/PicturesoftheWeek-NorthAmerica-PhotoGallery/b8917d7cb42c459396ef17fe971ddcc3/photo?Query=Fox%20News&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=4879&currentItemNo=8">AP Photo/Julio Cortez</a></span>
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</figure>
<h2>‘Authenticity’ became a trap</h2>
<p>This anti-establishment, working-class persona embraced by many of Fox’s broadcasters has always been a performance. </p>
<p>Back in 2000, Bill O'Reilly, whom the network would eventually <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/21/business/media/bill-oreilly-sexual-harassment.html">pay tens of millions of dollars a year</a>, called his show the “<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2000/12/13/the-life-of-oreilly/b9cd54fb-3edd-4e68-a489-2e990e3a7bca/">only show from a working-class point of view</a>.” </p>
<p>More recently, Sean Hannity, who is a friend of former President Donald Trump’s and makes about $30 million a year, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/09/28/hannity-slams-overpaid-media-elites-then-journalists-respond-noting-his-29m-salary-and-private-jet/">slammed “overpaid” media elites</a>. <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/us/academic/subjects/politics-international-relations/american-government-politics-and-policy/fox-populism-branding-conservatism-working-class?format=HB&isbn=9781108496766">Peck observes</a> that this posturing is purposeful: It emphasizes “Fox’s moral purity, a purity that is established in terms of a distance from the corrupting force of political and media power centers.”</p>
<p>However, the Dominion lawsuit revealed that, after decades of using this distinctly populist – and often misleading – brand of performative authenticity to earn the loyalty of millions of people, Fox became trapped by it. </p>
<p>Internal communications between Fox broadcasters that were revealed in the months leading up to the trial’s scheduled start date showed the network’s marquee acts trying to reconcile their audience’s sense that the 2020 election had been rigged with their own skepticism about that lie. </p>
<p>Messages made public as part of the Dominion suit show Carlson, for example, said that he believed that Sidney Powell, Trump’s lawyer, was lying about election fraud claims. But, he added “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/31/business/fox-dominion-defamation-case.html">our viewers are good people and they believe it</a>.” Fox wasn’t telling its audience what to believe. Instead, it was following its audience’s lead and presenting a false narrative that aligned with what its viewers wanted to be true.</p>
<p>Once Fox’s broadcasters and the Fox audience became bonded by the network’s outsider status, those broadcasters felt compelled to follow the audience off a cliff of election misinformation and right into a defamation lawsuit. The alternative would run the risk of sullying its populist persona and, ironically, its credibility with its audience. </p>
<p>As New York Times TV critic <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/19/arts/television/fox-news-settlement.html">James Poniewozik observed</a>, “The customer is always right. In fact, the customer is boss.” </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522679/original/file-20230424-26-11anhr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man in a suit sits at a desk in front of a bright-blue backdrop." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522679/original/file-20230424-26-11anhr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522679/original/file-20230424-26-11anhr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522679/original/file-20230424-26-11anhr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522679/original/file-20230424-26-11anhr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522679/original/file-20230424-26-11anhr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522679/original/file-20230424-26-11anhr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522679/original/file-20230424-26-11anhr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Bill O'Reilly was one of the earliest Fox News hosts to present an ‘everyman’ persona to the viewing public.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/TVOReillyAccuser/909647250fc34130acd81e7a9d51a191/photo">AP Photo/Richard Drew</a></span>
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</figure>
<h2>A trendsetter and a cautionary tale</h2>
<p>The Dominion lawsuit was more than a rare opportunity to see firsthand just how dishonestly Fox’s talent acted when the cameras were rolling. </p>
<p>It’s also a cautionary tale for those who see so-called authenticity as a marker of trustworthiness in journalism, and in the media more generally. </p>
<p>“As a society, we … love the idea of people ‘being themselves,’” <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2023/apr/02/social-media-analyst-emily-hund-influencer-authenticity-interview">says scholar Emily Hund</a>, a researcher at the University of Pennsylvania’s Center on Digital Culture and Society and the author of “<a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691231020/the-influencer-industry">The Influencer Industry: The Quest for Authenticity on Social Media</a>.” </p>
<p>The question that many seem to implicitly ask themselves when deciding whether to trust <a href="https://items.ssrc.org/beyond-disinformation/trust-and-authenticity-as-tools-for-journalism-and-partisan-disinformation/">journalists</a> and others within the media world seems to be shifting from “Does this person know what they are talking about?” to “Is this person genuine?”</p>
<p>Media workers have noticed: <a href="https://www.niemanlab.org/2023/03/social-media-policies-are-failing-journalists/">Journalists</a>, <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/celebrities/2023/03/03/stars-are-embracing-authenticity-taylor-swift-prince-harry/11152779002/">celebrities</a> and <a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/90768656/ugc-influencers-content-marketing">marketers</a> routinely share seemingly personal information about themselves on social media in an effort to present themselves as people first and foremost. These efforts are not always necessarily dishonest; however, they are always a performance.</p>
<p>For decades, Fox’s prolonged popularity has made it clear that authenticity is truly valuable when it comes to building credibility and audience loyalty. Now, the network’s settlement with Dominion has revealed just how manipulative and insincere that authenticity can be.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/203649/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jacob L. Nelson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Tucker Carlson and his employer, Fox News, had an incredible understanding of what their audience wants: a kind of authenticity that is not genuine but instead manipulative.Jacob L. Nelson, Assistant Professor of Communication, University of UtahLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2020592023-04-11T11:24:37Z2023-04-11T11:24:37ZJournalists needs to be more critical of the way governments use ‘nudging’ to change our behaviour – here’s why<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519567/original/file-20230405-1688-ujwzkl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/beer-glass-his-hand-illuminated-by-439134271">Oleg Shakirov/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Suppose you are in a pub with friends. You drink a few beers, have a good time, and head home. The following morning you realise your headache is milder than usual. You then discover that you were part of an experiment where the glasses at the pub were 25% smaller. </p>
<p>In their <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2008-03730-000">landmark 2008 book</a>, Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth and Happiness, behavioural economist Richard Thaler and legal scholar Cass Sunstein defined a “nudge” as an intervention “that alters people’s behaviour in a predictable way without forbidding any options or significantly changing their economic incentives”. </p>
<p>Imposing higher alcohol taxes is not nudging, because it changes the costs to the drinker. Offering smaller glasses, by contrast, is. It does not forbid alcohol. And since prices are adjusted for glass size, people still only pay for what they consume. </p>
<p>But, as a 2018 <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/add.14228">study</a> led by psychologist Inge Kersbergen <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/sifting-the-evidence/2018/may/18/how-smaller-drinks-could-reduce-the-uks-alcohol-consumption">shows</a>, it does encourage less drinking: 30% less, to be precise, when the glasses are a quarter smaller. This, Kersbergen’s team estimated, could lead to 1,400 fewer deaths and 73,000 fewer hospital admissions annually in the UK alone – the very definition of a successful nudge.</p>
<p>More than <a href="https://www.oecd.org/gov/regulatory-policy/behavioural-insights.htm">200</a> institutions (including the <a href="https://www.un.org/en/content/behaviouralscience/">United Nations</a> and the <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/programs/embed">World Bank</a>) and governments (from <a href="https://www.nsw.gov.au/behavioural-insights-unit/">Australia</a> to <a href="https://b4development.org/about/">Qatar</a>) use nudging to get us to behave in ways that – according to them, at least – are more beneficial.</p>
<p>But the question of who stands to benefit is where nudging courts controversy. If you’d spent the evening drinking out of smaller glasses, you might feel psychologically manipulated – even if, physically, you felt good. </p>
<p>So, given the popularity nudging has gained as a public policy tool, gauging how the media – whose remit is to hold authority to account – evaluates it, then, is crucial. <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/puar.13584">My research shows</a> that if governments like to nudge us in all spheres of public life, journalists largely applaud them for doing so. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Someone reaches for a pack of cigarettes from a large shop display." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519569/original/file-20230405-24-7en400.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519569/original/file-20230405-24-7en400.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519569/original/file-20230405-24-7en400.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519569/original/file-20230405-24-7en400.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519569/original/file-20230405-24-7en400.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519569/original/file-20230405-24-7en400.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519569/original/file-20230405-24-7en400.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The warnings on cigarette packs are a good nudge.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/meppen-germany-february-27-cigarette-packages-256658419">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>How the media views nudges</h2>
<p>The US and the UK are frontrunners in using nudging in policy-making. To gauge how the British and American press evaluate this, from 2008 to 2020, I analysed 443 newspaper articles (opinion pieces, editorials, news articles, reports) from major broadsheets, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Sunday Times, The Guardian and the Financial Times. </p>
<p>Of the 1,186 quotes I identified, 65% scored as positive coverage and 35% as negative. Positive coverage cut across partisan lines. Left-leaning newspapers had more positive than negative quotes (a 1.6 ratio: for every eight positive quotes, there are five negative ones). For rightwing outlets, the distribution was even more skewed (a 2.2 ratio: 11 positive quotes for every five negative ones).</p>
<p>When Thaler was awarded the 2017 Nobel prize for his contributions to behavioural economics, coverage was largely positive. Journalists highlighted nudge initiatives inspired by Thaler’s insights, including <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/richard-thaler-nobel-prize-winner-and-the-man-behind-david-camerons-nudge-agenda-vxhws65mk">text messages</a> sent to university students’ families on how they might help them succeed in their studies and <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/richard-thaler-nobel-prize-in-economics-winner-2017-behavioural-economics-nudge-theory-a7990291.html">a 2012 British policy</a> that auto-enrolled workers in pensions-saving programmes.</p>
<p>I found that the media often highlighted nudge victories. Writing in the Observer in 2018, journalist Ben Quinn <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/nov/10/nudge-unit-pushed-way-private-sector-behavioural-insights-team">described</a> some physicians cutting unnecessary antibiotic prescriptions by 3.3%, after they received a letter showing that they prescribe more than their peers. This, to Quinn’s mind, showcased the value of “social norm nudges”.</p>
<p>I also found the media often argued that both citizens and politicians favour nudging. Writing in The New York Times in 2018, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/06/opinion/sunday/behavioral-economics.html">about behavioural economics as a growing trend</a>, marketing expert David Gal noted: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>The popularity of such low-cost psychological interventions, or ‘nudges’, under the label of behavioral economics is in part a triumph of marketing. It reflects the widespread perception that behavioral economics combines the cleverness and fun of pop psychology with the rigor and relevance of economics.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/jgdj5505y00?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<h2>Political faultlines</h2>
<p>I found that when journalists did <a href="https://theconversation.com/nudges-four-reasons-to-doubt-popular-technique-to-shape-peoples-behaviour-174359">criticise nudging</a>, their political leanings became apparent. Early on, critics feared that governments would use nudges to their advantage. In his <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/nudge-improving-decisions-about-wealth-and-happiness-by-richard-h-thaler-and-cass-r-sunstein-hbqq9kt3r3p">review</a> of Thaler and Sunstein’s 2008 book, the Sunday Times’s Bryan Appelyard argued that “we are going to be manipulated all the time”. </p>
<p>In a New York Times magazine report from 2010, meanwhile, US political journalist Benjamin Wallace-Wells <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/16/magazine/16Sunstein-t.html">highlighted</a> that conservatives tended to see something nefarious – “a Big Brother strain” – in behavioural economics. He referred to rightwing political commentator Glenn Beck <a href="https://www.glennbeck.com/content/articles/article/198/30255/">calling</a> Sunstein “the most dangerous guy out there” because Sunstein’s expertise was, to Beck’s mind, making some things, such as buying a gun, more difficult. </p>
<p>In the UK, the <a href="https://www.bi.team/">Behavioural Insights Team</a> (BIT) – nicknamed the <a href="https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/article/explainer/nudge-unit">“Nudge Unit”</a> – was set up in 2010 as part of the UK Cabinet Office, before becoming an independent advisory body in 2014. In October 2017, BIT issued guidance for parents that said that praising children might stunt their progress. It was roundly criticised, with the conservative Scottish Daily Mail <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4979438/Government-asks-parents-not-tell-kids-clever.html">running a piece</a>, under the subhead (in the print version) “Nanny state tells us how to praise kids”.</p>
<p>Progressives, by contrast, attacked nudges for being too laissez-faire and inadequate as a tool for tackling deep-rooted problems such as poverty. As economics reporter Eduardo Porter <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/24/business/economy/nudges-arent-enough-to-solve-societys-problems.html">put it</a> in a 2016 New York Times report:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>It’s great to know that there are promising ways to improve society by developing a smarter email or changing the default choice on an application form. But if the question is whether policy makers can cheaply nudge Americans out of destitution onto a path to prosperity, the answer must be no.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Even as Thaler received the Nobel prize, The New York Times’s Aaron E Carroll <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/06/upshot/dont-nudge-me-the-limits-of-behavioral-economics-in-medicine.html">discussed</a> the limits of behavioural economics as made clear by healthcare. Researchers had used several techniques, including what they termed “social support nudges”, to get people to take their pills. All had failed. Carroll said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The problem is that health has so many moving parts. The health care system has even more. Trying to improve any one aspect can make others worse. Behavioural economics may offer us some fascinating theories to test in controlled trials, but we have a long way to go before we can assume it’s a cure for what ails Americans.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>It should be noted that many of the media proponents of nudging are actually academic experts. Those critical of the practice, however, get less exposure. </p>
<p>Nudging can be effective. It will not, however, fix all societal ills. And sometimes it can backfire. If the press is to fulfil its crucial role in holding politicians to account, it should be critically assessing how our governments are using this subtle tool to influence our behaviour.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/202059/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The author acknowledges funding from the Dutch Research Council (NWO), Grant 016.VIDI.185.017. </span></em></p>Instead of simply applauding nudges, journalists should critically assess when and why governments use this tool.Lars Tummers, Professor of Public Administration and Organizational Science, Utrecht UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2030202023-04-06T12:08:11Z2023-04-06T12:08:11ZReporting is not espionage – but history shows that journalists doing the former get accused of the latter<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519107/original/file-20230403-1415-caez98.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C35%2C2615%2C1706&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich being taken into custody on March 30, 2023.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/APTOPIXRussiaReporterArrested/5a81f4828dc5447686799b5b65fc7394/photo?Query=Evan%20Gershkovich&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=13&currentItemNo=2">AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/04/europe/russia-wall-street-journal-evan-gershkovich-lawyers-intl/index.html">detention of Wall Street Journal reporter</a> Evan Gershkovich in Russia on espionage charges marks an unusual throwback to the old Soviet tactics for handling foreign correspondents. </p>
<p>Authorities in Vladimir Putin’s Russia have increasingly used criminal <a href="https://ipi.media/alerts/?topic=russia-ukraine-war&alert_type=criminal-investigationcharges&incident_source=0&country=0&search=&">charges against their own journalists</a> as part of a “increasing crackdown on free and independent media,” as Jodie Ginsberg, the president of the Committee to Protect Journalists, <a href="https://autos.yahoo.com/why-russia-arrested-wall-street-164255981.html">has put it</a>. But prosecutions of international journalists in Russia are still rare enough. </p>
<p>Indeed, media historians <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=KB_e52gAAAAJ&hl=en">like myself</a> have to reach back decades to recall similar incidents. History shows that when they do occur, arrests of foreign journalists over espionage charges tend to provoke a diplomatic tempest.</p>
<h2>Tinker, tailor, soldier, journalist?</h2>
<p>Take, for example, the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1997/09/17/william-oatis-dies/bfd42eb0-670e-4447-87b8-29f4abb9b1f9/">Prague “show trial</a>” of Associated Press reporter William Oatis at the height of the Cold War in 1951. The prosecution of Oatis on spying charges was choreographed to suit the Soviet authorities, but the only real issue was that Oatis talked with Czechs and didn’t get government permission first. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="A man wearing glasses and a bow tie squints." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519593/original/file-20230405-558-tlioj4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519593/original/file-20230405-558-tlioj4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1010&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519593/original/file-20230405-558-tlioj4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1010&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519593/original/file-20230405-558-tlioj4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1010&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519593/original/file-20230405-558-tlioj4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1270&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519593/original/file-20230405-558-tlioj4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1270&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519593/original/file-20230405-558-tlioj4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1270&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Associated Press correspondent William Oatis.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/APStafferOatis/a9273c0392044c47a2781668c5c90de2/photo?Query=William%20Oatis&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=7&currentItemNo=0">AP Photo</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>“Reporting is not espionage,” The New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1953/05/22/archives/reporting-is-not-espionage.html">said in an editorial</a> at the time. “[Oatis] was doing what all good newspaper men do in countries whose governments have not chosen to crawl back into the dark recesses of pre-historic barbarism.” </p>
<p>The case <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/107769901008700203">became a cause celebre</a> from 1951 to 1953, and led to years of travel and trade embargoes between the U.S. and Czechoslovakia, which was then strictly controlled by the Soviet Union.</p>
<p>When Oatis was finally released in 1953, the journalist emerged weak and tubercular, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1953/09/18/archives/czech-jail-a-tomb-that-tests-sanity-oatis-describes-discomforts-and.html">describing his prison experience</a> as akin to being “buried alive.” Still he carried on reporting, returning to the U.S. to cover the United Nations for decades before retiring. </p>
<p>Oatis’ case was perhaps the most famous during the Cold War, but it was far from the only one. Other American journalists who were arrested in Soviet sweeps of countries behind the Iron Curtain included Oatis’ fellow Associated Press reporters Leonard Kirschen – arrested in 1950 in Romania and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1983/05/01/obituaries/leonard-kirschen-dies-at-74-reporter-jailed-by-rumanians.html">held in jail for a decade</a> – and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/02/nyregion/endre-marton-95-dies-reported-on-the-56-uprising-in-hungary.html">Endre Marton</a>, who was arrested in Hungary in 1955 along with his wife, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/09/world/europe/ilona-marton-92-who-wrote-of-56-revolt-dies.html">Ilona Marton</a>, who worked for United Press. They were released in 1956 and smuggled out of the country and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/02/nyregion/endre-marton-95-dies-reported-on-the-56-uprising-in-hungary.html">into the U.S. the following year</a>. Dozens of reporters from other agencies and other Western countries were also expelled from Eastern Europe around this time.</p>
<h2>The risks of reporting</h2>
<p>Of course, arrest wasn’t the only way to silence a reporter. Then – as now – there’s a risk of violence and death.</p>
<p>Dozens of journalists were killed around the world’s hot conflicts in every year of the Cold War. With the fall of the Soviet Union in the 1990s, <a href="https://cpj.org/data/killed/?status=Killed&motiveConfirmed%5B%5D=Confirmed&motiveUnconfirmed%5B%5D=Unconfirmed&type%5B%5D=Journalist&type%5B%5D=Media%20Worker&start_year=1992&end_year=2023&group_by=year">attacks on journalists slowed down</a>. Nonetheless, the global death toll since 1992 <a href="https://cpj.org/data/killed/?status=Killed&motiveConfirmed%5B%5D=Confirmed&motiveUnconfirmed%5B%5D=Unconfirmed&type%5B%5D=Journalist&type%5B%5D=Media%20Worker&start_year=1992&end_year=2023&group_by=year">stands at over 2,190</a>, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. And in nearly 8 out of 10 cases, the murderers go free. Of those deaths, at least 12 have involved <a href="https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/CoE_report_03-07-2023.pdf">journalists covering the war in Ukraine</a>, according to a March 2023 report by the human rights organization Council of Europe.</p>
<p>As part of its crackdown on free and independent media, Russia’s forces have been particularly hostile to journalists on the front lines of Ukraine, the Council of Europe report noted. Meanwhile, data from the Committee to Protect Journalists suggest an uptick in the number of Russian journalists being held behind bars. Of the 19 currently imprisoned, <a href="https://cpj.org/data/imprisoned/2022/?status=Imprisoned&cc_fips%5B%5D=RS&start_year=2022&end_year=2022&group_by=location">half were picked up by authorities</a> after the invasion of Ukraine.</p>
<p>Journalists working in hostile nations or in war zones do so knowing the risk that death or imprisonment may be used as diplomatic leverage or as a warning to other journalists. It is part of the job. </p>
<h2>Cover stories</h2>
<p>Yet not all reporters or editors are innocent observers. It is true that over the years, American journalists have indeed worked with, or even for, the U.S. government or intelligence services. Several hundred, at least, worked closely with the CIA and other intelligence agencies during World War II and through the course of the Cold War, according to <a href="https://www.carlbernstein.com/the-cia-and-the-media-rolling-stone-10-20-1977?rq=the%20cia%20and%20the%20media">evidence that emerged during the Watergate era</a>.</p>
<p>For many, the collaboration had laudable aims. American <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/04/18/711356336/a-woman-of-no-importance-finally-gets-her-due">journalist Virginia Hall</a> used her credentials as a New York Post reporter to help the French resistance in World War II, guiding downed Allied airmen to safety in neutral countries and arranging weapons drops. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="A black and white photo shows a woman in a black top." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519598/original/file-20230405-1644-qn2j08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519598/original/file-20230405-1644-qn2j08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=644&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519598/original/file-20230405-1644-qn2j08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=644&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519598/original/file-20230405-1644-qn2j08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=644&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519598/original/file-20230405-1644-qn2j08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=809&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519598/original/file-20230405-1644-qn2j08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=809&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519598/original/file-20230405-1644-qn2j08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=809&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">American journalist and spy Virginia Hall.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/virginia-hall-american-journalist-member-of-soe-for-f-news-photo/89864144?adppopup=true">Apic/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Her story was <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/558307/a-woman-of-no-importance-by-sonia-purnell/">told in the book</a> “A Woman of No Importance.” The <a href="https://journalistandspy.substack.com/p/erling-espeland">Norwegian journalist Erling Espeland</a> did similar work in World War II. </p>
<p>In some cases, like that of The <a href="https://journalistandspy.substack.com/p/donald-a-allan">New York Times’ Donald A. Allan</a>, American journalists transitioned from World War II reporting into work for intelligence agencies with relative ease. Allan quit the New York Times in 1952 and supposedly went to work for CBS and United Press. But later, he said that was <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1977/12/27/archives/a-young-reporters-decision-to-join-cia-led-to-strain-anger-and.html">nothing more than a cover</a> for his work with the CIA.</p>
<p>In 1975, the U.S. and Russia <a href="https://history.state.gov/milestones/1969-1976/helsinki">signed the Helsinki Final Act</a>, starting a process of detente and trade normalization, including guarantees of press freedom. Still, Western journalists were routinely harassed and detained in the Cold War Soviet Union. In a case that resonates with that of Gershkovich’s, in 1986 Nicholas Daniloff, the Moscow correspondent for U.S. News & World Report, was <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2023-03-30/nicholas-daniloffs-1986-arrest-in-russia-on-espionage-charges-from-the-archives">arrested and detained</a> on charges of espionage. He was later allowed to leave the Soviet Union.</p>
<h2>A totalitarian tool</h2>
<p>Most journalists today would reject the practice of being entangled with the work of the intelligence services. In 1996, Society of Professional Journalists President G. Kelly Hawes <a href="https://www.spj.org/news.asp?ref=455">rejected the use of American journalism</a> as a cover for intelligence. </p>
<p>“The public shouldn’t have to fear speaking to the press, and journalists shouldn’t have to fear for their safety,” she said. “Our integrity is compromised and our lives are endangered. That is wrong.” And to be clear, Gershkovich and The Wall Street Journal have <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/31/us/politics/russia-evan-gershkovich-arrest-wsj-reporter.html">denied the espionage claims</a>. </p>
<p>But to officials in an authoritarian government like that of Russia, journalists are not much different from spies. It is, after all, a reporter’s job to uncover uncomfortable truths, often hidden from the wider world.</p>
<p>Seen in that light, slapping a charge of espionage on a journalist is one of the more Orwellian tools in the authoritarian playbook.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/203020/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bill Kovarik does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich is far from the first American journalist to be accused of spying, a media historian explains.Bill Kovarik, Professor of Communication, Radford UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2008872023-03-02T13:23:43Z2023-03-02T13:23:43ZThe cautionary tale of ‘Dilbert’<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512736/original/file-20230228-16-g9ya3h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=67%2C40%2C2914%2C2065&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">What Adams writes and draws rarely attracts scrutiny – it's what he says that has gotten him in hot water.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/scott-adams-famed-creator-of-the-comic-strip-dilbert-stands-news-photo/866464926?phrase=scott adams dilbert&adppopup=true">Bob Riha, Jr./Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Dilbert, the put-upon chronicler of office life, has been given the pink slip.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.comicsbeat.com/dilbert-creator-scott-adams-dropped-from-andrews-mcmeel-syndicate-following-racist-statements/">On Feb. 26, 2023</a>, Andrews McMeel Universal announced that it would no longer distribute the popular comic strip after its creator, Scott Adams, engaged in what many people viewed as a racist rant on his YouTube channel. Hundreds of newspapers had by then decided to quit <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/26/us/dilbert-newspapers-racism.html">publishing the strip</a>.</p>
<p>It followed an incident in which Adams, on his program “Real Coffee with Scott Adams,” reacted to <a href="https://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/lifestyle/general_lifestyle/january_2023/not_woke_yet_most_voters_reject_anti_white_beliefs">a survey by Rasmussan Reports</a> that concluded only 53% of Black Americans agreed with the statement “It’s OK to be white.” If only about half thought it was OK to be white, Adams said, this qualified Black Americans as a “hate group.”</p>
<p>“I don’t want to have anything to do with them,” <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/25/business/dilbert-comic-strip-racist-tirade/index.html">Adams added</a>. “And I would say, based on the current way things are going, the best advice I would give to white people is to get the hell away from Black people, just get the f— away … because there is no fixing this.”</p>
<p>Adams later doubled down on his statements, writing on Twitter that “Dilbert has been cancelled from all newspapers, websites, calendars, and books because I gave some advice everyone agreed with.”</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1630181061543211009"}"></div></p>
<p>Adams is wrong. If everyone had agreed with him, “Dilbert” would still be appearing in newspapers. </p>
<p><a href="https://dilbert.com/strip/1989-04-16">The first “Dilbert” strip</a> – a comic centered on mocking American office culture – appeared in 1989. It became a hit, and until recently, “<a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/02/27/1159822857/newspapers-drop-dilbert-over-creators-racist-remarks">Dilbert” ran</a> in more than 2,000 daily newspapers across 65 countries. </p>
<p>Now, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/comics/2023/02/27/scott-adams-dilbert-reactions/">according to Adams</a>, his client list is “around zero.”</p>
<p>Therein lies the moral of the story: Know thy audience.</p>
<p>Adams failed to grasp that being a social critic means your freedom of expression only goes as far as your audience is willing to accept it. Adams could say whatever he wanted to his YouTube audience because his listeners may have agreed with what he said. </p>
<p>Unfortunately for him, what he said on his program did not stay on his program. </p>
<p>But Adams’ comfortable salary depended on his satisfying a wider audience – many of whom found his opinions intolerable. </p>
<h2>America’s tradition of free speech</h2>
<p>In a country that prides itself on its tradition of free expression, it’s important to explore the limits of free expression in the United States. This can be done in part by looking at social criticism, as I did in my book “<a href="http://cup.columbia.edu/book/drawn-to-extremes/9780231130660">Drawn to Extremes: The Use and Abuse of Editorial Cartoons</a>.”</p>
<p>Cartoonists are limited by their imagination, talent, taste and their senses of humor, morality and outrage. If they want an audience they must also consider the tastes and sensibilities of their editors and readers. </p>
<p>The United States may pride itself on its tradition of free speech, but cartoonists throughout the nation’s history have been jailed, beaten, sued and censored for their drawings.</p>
<p>In 1903, the governor of Pennsylvania, <a href="http://www.phmc.state.pa.us/portal/communities/governors/1876-1951/samuel-pennypacker.html">Samuel W. Pennypacker</a>, called for restrictions against journalists after a Philadelphia newspaper cartoonist had <a href="https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/4eIAAOSwS5ljYtue/s-l400.jpg">depicted him as a parrot</a> during the previous fall’s gubernatorial campaign. A state representative then <a href="http://cup.columbia.edu/book/drawn-to-extremes/9780231130660">introduced a bill</a> that made it illegal to publish a cartoon “<a href="https://www.chicagotribune.com/opinion/commentary/ct-opinion-editorial-cartooning-end-20211007-nen4hk7vjzfxdhzgzqh5r5omti-story.html">portraying, describing or representing any person</a> … in the likeness of beast, bird, fish, insect or other inhuman animal” that exposed the person to “hatred, contempt, or ridicule.” Another cartoonist then drew the governor as a frothy stein of beer and the bill’s author as a small potato. </p>
<p>The bill failed to pass.</p>
<p>Cartoonists working for the socialist magazine The Masses were accused of undermining the war effort during World War I with their anti-war opinions <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/845994">and prosecuted under the Espionage Act</a>. </p>
<p>And during the <a href="https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/jfk-in-history/cuban-missile-crisis">Cuban Missile Crisis</a> of 1962, newspapers canceled Walt Kelly’s “Pogo” comic strip <a href="https://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=1414205">after Kelly drew</a> Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev as a medal-wearing hog and Cuban leader Fidel Castro as a cigar-smoking goat because they thought the strip might jeopardize the peace process.</p>
<p>Perhaps no cartoonist – before the ax fell on “Dilbert” – has seen his strip canceled by more newspapers than <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/01/13/954095569/i-just-followed-my-interests-garry-trudeau-on-50-years-of-doonesbury">Garry Trudeau</a>, creator of “<a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Doonesbury">Doonesbury</a>.” In 1984, dozens of newspapers canceled a series of strips wherein which Doonesbury’s dim-witted newsman Roland Burton Hedley took readers on a trip through then-President Ronald Reagan’s brain, finding “80 billion neurons, or ‘marbles,’ as they are known to the layman.” And Trudeau’s syndicate, Universal Press, <a href="https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-05-25-mn-15468-story.html">refused to distribute a strip that satirized an anti-abortion documentary</a>.</p>
<p>In other countries, cartoonists <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-30708237">have been murdered</a> in retaliation for their work. Famously, on Jan. 7, 2015, two French Muslim terrorists entered the Paris office of the satirical French newspaper Charlie Hebdo <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Charlie-Hebdo-shooting">and killed 12 cartoonists, editors and police officers</a> after the periodical published satirical drawings of the Prophet Muhammad.</p>
<h2>The importance of context</h2>
<p>Such controversies were generally caused by what cartoonists said in their cartoons. There have been exceptions. Al Capp, who created the comic strip “Li’l Abner,” saw his popularity wane in the 1960s and 1970s <a href="https://www.newsfromme.com/2013/04/20/the-shame-of-dogpatch/">when he began expressing his far-right political opinion</a> in both his strip and particularly in his public appearances.</p>
<p>Adams was similarly punished not for what he included in his comic strip but rather what for what he said on his YouTube program. </p>
<p>The context here is important. This was not the first time Adams has been censured after saying something deemed to be offensive. In May 2022, around 80 newspapers canceled “Dilbert” after Adams introduced his first Black character in the 30-plus year run of the strip. The character <a href="https://www.dailycartoonist.com/index.php/2022/05/03/dilbert-presents-black-character-gets-dragged/">identified as white</a> to prank his boss’s diversity goals.</p>
<p>Adams lost some newspapers when he decided to mock diversity in the business world. He lost his strip when he used racist language to attack Black people on his YouTube program.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/200887/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chris Lamb does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Cartoonists throughout the nation’s history have been jailed, beaten, sued and censored. But Scott Adams’ work is being rejected for what he expressed off the page.Chris Lamb, Professor of Journalism, Indiana UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1971922023-01-05T13:27:38Z2023-01-05T13:27:38ZSports broadcasters have a duty to report injuries responsibly – in the case of NFL’s Damar Hamlin, they passed the test<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/503131/original/file-20230104-64877-4qdtfn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=7%2C11%2C2542%2C1686&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Medical personnel attend to Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin after he collapsed on the field during an NFL game in Cincinnati on Jan. 2, 2023.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/BillsBengalsFootball/cb4e320fc1b7472cbe0c692d94d07a6e/photo?Query=damar%20hamlin&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=453&currentItemNo=112">AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Injuries are an unfortunate part of any sport – none more so than in the NFL, where players can be felled in front of a TV audience <a href="https://espnpressroom.com/us/press-releases/2022/09/espns-monday-night-football-nabs-nearly-20-million-viewers-in-record-setting-season-opener/">in the tens of millions</a>.</p>
<p>Typically, when a player suffers an injury, the media cuts to commercial and returns with replays of the injury – sometimes running it over and over, using every available camera angle, while analyzing what might have happened and the ramifications for the player and team.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/35368372/damar-hamlin-collapses-field-bills-bengals-temporarily-suspended">But in the case of Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin</a>, who collapsed to the ground after a tackle during the “Monday Night Football” game between the Bills and the Cincinnati Bengals, it quickly became apparent that this was no broken arm or torn ACL. This was a matter of life and death. Paramedics worked to keep him alive on the field before he was transported to a hospital, where he <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/04/football/damar-hamlin-collapse-bills-status-wednesday/index.html">remains in critical condition</a>.</p>
<p>As the tragic scene played out, ESPN’s broadcasters and studio hosts were left to explain what was happening in real time, with virtually no information.</p>
<p><a href="https://comm.osu.edu/people/kraft.42">I am a professor of sports journalism</a> and spend much of my time teaching students how to cover games. As a sportswriter, I have covered many contests as if they were battles, <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-warspeak-permeating-everyday-language-puts-us-all-in-the-trenches-121356">with the language of war</a> interwoven with feats of extraordinary human accomplishment.</p>
<p>When crisis strikes sports, however, it is left to the media to report in, around, about and through the moment. Some do it well and some fail miserably.</p>
<p>In its coverage of Hamlin’s injury, ESPN was, I believe, a sound and responsible broadcaster during one of football’s darkest on-field moments.</p>
<h2>ESPN’s measured, restrained response</h2>
<p>ESPN’s broadcasting duo of Troy Aikman and Joe Buck, along with sideline reporter Lisa Salters, relayed the scene as it unfolded. But instead of filling the live airtime with rambling commentary and sensationalism, they responded with compassion and care. They avoided speculating about Hamlin’s condition and ultimately <a href="https://www.si.com/nfl/bills/news/damar-hamlin-collapse-injury-buffalo-bills-cincinnati-bengals-ambulance-nflpa-postponement">appealed to the NFL to suspend the game</a>, with Aikman asking, “How do you, as a member of the Buffalo Bills or the Cincinnati Bengals, continue on to play football?”</p>
<p><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2023/01/02/espn-damar-hamlin-bengals-bills/">As The Washington Post noted</a>, “The broadcast was measured, informative and emotional.” </p>
<p>From the studio, former NFL players Booger McFarland and Ryan Clark offered their perspectives on what it might feel like to be a player on the field, in that moment – whether as a member of the Bills or the Bengals. They reminded the audience that players are first and foremost people. McFarland <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/media/3797278-damar-hamlin-injury-tests-espn-with-terrifying-live-television-moment/">acknowledged the inherent violence of the game</a>, adding, “I think we reached a point where nobody is concerned about football anymore tonight.” </p>
<p>Clark, who himself was hospitalized for a splenic infarction in 2007 <a href="https://www.on3.com/news/ryan-clark-provides-unique-insight-reflection-terrifying-damar-hamlin-injury-collapsed-cpr/">shortly after playing a game for the Pittsburgh Steelers</a>, <a href="https://www.mediaite.com/opinion/espns-ryan-clark-earns-rightful-plaudits-for-powerful-handling-of-damar-hamlins-life-threatening-injury/">acknowledged</a> that part of living an NFL dream is “putting your life at risk.”</p>
<p>“Tonight we got to see a side of football that is extremely ugly, a side of football that no one ever wants to see or never wants to admit exists,” he said.</p>
<p>The gravity of the situation was reflected in ESPN curtailing all commercials for more than an hour to provide uninterrupted coverage. In doing so, the network <a href="https://awfulannouncing.com/nfl/damar-hamlin-collapse-espn-coverage.html">stressed the importance of a player’s life over the game or profit motive</a>. </p>
<h2>When the media misfires</h2>
<p>When disaster strikes on a live sports broadcast, it’s easy to say something wrong, especially in an age where words can be distributed widely, dissected and criticized on social media.</p>
<p>Just ask controversial sports commentator Skip Bayless, who wasn’t even on the air, but nonetheless went viral for all the wrong reasons <a href="https://twitter.com/realskipbayless/status/1610101204687949827">after tweeting</a>: “No doubt the NFL is considering postponing the rest of this game - but how? This late in the season, a game of this magnitude is crucial to the regular-season outcome … which suddenly seems so irrelevant.”</p>
<p>Bayless may have had a point – the NFL must now work out how to address the outcome of this game and the implications for the postseason – but his tone and timing led to <a href="https://www.mediaite.com/sports/skip-bayless-apologizes-after-tweet-on-bills-safety-damar-hamlin-sparks-outrage/">much criticism</a>.</p>
<p>Bayless is far from the only broadcaster to be accused of insensitively following the death or serious injury of sports stars.</p>
<p>The 2020 death of Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna was a model for what can go wrong, with TMZ breaking the news <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/media/480066-tmz-scolded-by-police-for-breaking-news-of-kobe-bryants-death-before-his/">before their family was notified</a>. ESPN relegated the news to ESPN2 <a href="https://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2020/01/27/kobe-bryant-media-coverage-espn-mike-breen-jay-williams">so as not to interrupt Pro Bowl coverage</a>. In their rush to break details from the story, some reporters trafficked in misinformation. <a href="https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/2020-01-29/abc-news-has-suspended-correspondent-who-said-four-kobe-bryant-daughters-were-on-his-helicopter-matt-gutman">ABC News ultimately suspended a reporter</a> who said on air that all four of Bryant’s daughters were among the crash victims, while the BBC ran footage of LeBron James instead of Bryant.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1221686041083613186"}"></div></p>
<p>Driver Kevin Ward, Jr. was killed during a 2014 sprint car race, but it was Tony Stewart, the man whose car struck him, <a href="https://www.indystar.com/story/opinion/2014/08/11/tony-stewart-crash-coverage-challenge-media/13916449/">who garnered most of the media coverage</a>. The media was quick to lay the blame squarely on Stewart before an investigation absolved the driver and revealed Ward was under the influence of enough marijuana to <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nascar/2014/09/24/column-tony-stewart-grand-jury-no-charges-kevin-ward-jr-death/16165885/">impair him at the time of the crash</a>.</p>
<p>Sports media was perhaps never more criticized for incident coverage than it was in 2020, when Danish soccer player Christian Eriksen suffered cardiac arrest on the field. BBC cameras <a href="https://theconversation.com/christian-eriksen-broadcast-the-bbc-and-the-question-of-public-interest-162726">showed not only medical professionals performing chest compressions as Eriksen struggled for life</a>, but also his crying life partner and traumatized teammates. Cameras lingered for a full 15 minutes before cutting to the studio hosts. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Man stands at podium speaking before a mass of reporters." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/503156/original/file-20230104-105135-rlymua.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/503156/original/file-20230104-105135-rlymua.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503156/original/file-20230104-105135-rlymua.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503156/original/file-20230104-105135-rlymua.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503156/original/file-20230104-105135-rlymua.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503156/original/file-20230104-105135-rlymua.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503156/original/file-20230104-105135-rlymua.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Tony Stewart, front right, speaks to the media three weeks after his car hit and killed sprint car driver Kevin Ward, Jr. during a dirt track race.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/tony-stewart-driver-of-the-bass-pro-shops-mobil-1-chevrolet-news-photo/454335928?phrase=kevin%20ward%20jr&adppopup=true">Jamie Squire/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Prioritizing mourning over moneymaking</h2>
<p>From the tragic deaths of basketball players Hank Gathers and Reggie Lewis, to the deaths of auto racers Dan Weldon and Dale Earnhardt and to Chuck Hughes who, in 1971, became the first and only NFL football player to die in a game, it is the media’s responsibility to navigate a tragedy on behalf of the public.</p>
<p>Research has shown that the <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/epdf/10.1177/0163443708098251">media is often responsible for modeling appropriate public displays of emotion</a> when traumatic or tragic events occur, be it respect for victims and their families or public mourning. It <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/17512780701275457">can be argued</a> that the media – especially in the digital age – is a key conduit to community connection amid a tragedy, when people seek to show their support and share their grief.</p>
<p>There is a fine line when it comes to sports and catastrophe, for much of what people love about football is its warlike nature. Players are depicted like gladiators in a coliseum. Media quote athletes saying <a href="https://twitter.com/bethhooleVNL/status/1599313686199345152?s=20&t=_2oFgUiDhSlJgUGe8BGcnA">they will die for their teammates</a>.</p>
<p>But when life and death become all too real, the athlete’s well-being takes precedence over wins and losses. At that point, the media, in my view, has one main job: help remind viewers of the player’s humanity.</p>
<p>As “SportsCenter” <a href="https://ftw.usatoday.com/2023/01/damar-hamlin-bills-espn-salters-ryan-clark-booger">host Scott Van Pelt put it</a>: “Sports is important. And suddenly it’s not.”</p>
<p><em>This article has been updated to correctly identify Skip Bayless.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/197192/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nicole Kraft does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>ESPN commentators avoided speculation and struck a compassionate tone.Nicole Kraft, Associate Professor of Clinical Communication, The Ohio State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1941222022-11-16T02:42:31Z2022-11-16T02:42:31ZHow the news media – long in thrall to Trump – can cover his new run for president responsibly<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495546/original/file-20221116-13-kj7lkp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=25%2C50%2C5582%2C3682&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Members of the media prepare for Donald Trump's announcement that he is running for president in 2024.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/Election2024Trump/bb59c32fe35f490ab74da7ca90d05520/photo">AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Now that he’s in the 2024 presidential race, the media circus that is Donald Trump is returning for a new season.</p>
<p>Trump is still newsworthy. He’s been weakened by his defeat in the 2020 presidential election, his attempt to overthrow its result and the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/11/14/coronavirus-midterm-elections-republicans/">underperformance of Republican candidates in the 2022 midterms</a>. Nevertheless, Trump is more than a party leader. “Make America Great Again,” known colloquially as “MAGA,” is a <a href="https://www.washington.edu/news/2021/02/05/new-nationwide-survey-shows-maga-supporters-beliefs-about-the-pandemic-the-election-and-the-insurrection/">political movement</a>. Trump has a <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-a-divided-america-including-the-15-who-are-maga-republicans-splits-on-qanon-racism-and-armed-patrols-at-polling-places-193378">legion of diehard followers</a>.</p>
<p>Then there’s Trump the storyline. Trump is to reporters as honey is to bears. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1077699018805212">Journalists prize conflict</a>, and Trump delivers it in abundance. It’s why he dominated news coverage <a href="https://shorensteincenter.org/news-coverage-2016-general-election/">nearly every week of his 2016 presidential run</a>; why he got <a href="https://shorensteincenter.org/news-coverage-donald-trumps-first-100-days/">three times as much news coverage during his first 100 days</a> as president as did his immediate predecessors; and why he has remained in the news since leaving the White House. </p>
<p>He’s also an easy “get.” In an era where politicians are increasingly scripted and walled off from the media, Trump is at their doorstep. As president, <a href="https://cpj.org/reports/2020/04/trump-media-attacks-credibility-leaks/">he answered more questions from reporters than any of his recent predecessors</a>.</p>
<p>There’s a third reason that Trump will get the news media’s attention: He’s good for ratings. During the 2016 presidential election alone, he boosted cable television viewership so much that its advertising revenue rose by <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/brettedkins/2016/12/01/donald-trumps-election-delivers-massive-ratings-for-cable-news/?sh=69f06841119e">hundreds of millions of dollars</a>. Broadcasters benefited, too: CBS CEO Les Moonves famously declared that Trump’s presidential run “<a href="https://www.politico.com/blogs/on-media/2016/10/cbs-ceo-les-moonves-clarifies-donald-trump-good-for-cbs-comment-229996">may not be good for America, but it’s damn good for CBS</a>.” <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/media/551210-tv-news-ratings-online-readership-plunge-during-bidens-first-100-days/">During Joe Biden’s presidency</a>, TV and online news viewership is <a href="https://www.axios.com/2022/07/12/news-media-readership-ratings-2022">down sharply from the Trump years</a>.</p>
<p>So the question is not whether Trump will get showered with news coverage, but how journalists should cover him. If they are to serve the public interest, journalists cannot apply the <a href="http://spj.org/ethicscode.asp">ordinary rules for covering</a> candidates. They are reporting on a politician who regularly defies democratic norms and lies with abandon. As a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10584609.1996.9963131">longtime scholar of political journalism</a>, I offer some recommendations for giving due respect to Trump’s candidacy without amplifying his false claims or promoting his anti-democratic beliefs.</p>
<h2>Don’t play into his hand</h2>
<p>Trump is a master at changing the story when it’s not going in his direction or favor. To do that successfully, he relies on journalists to take the bait. Racing to air Trump’s latest outrage serves only to give him disproportionate coverage and to divert the public from what’s more deserving of its attention.</p>
<h2>Do call out his falsehoods, but don’t dwell on them</h2>
<p>When it’s impossible to ignore one of Trump’s false claims, label it as such in the story. At the same time, to report yet again that Trump is playing fast and loose with the facts is to say nothing novel or unexpected. The latest untruth might be tantalizing, but that alone doesn’t make it news. A 2015 <a href="https://towcenter.columbia.edu/news/lies-damn-lies-and-viral-content-how-news-websites-spread-and-debunk-online-rumors-unverified">Columbia University study</a> found news outlets “play a major role in propagating hoaxes, false claims, questionable rumors, and dubious viral content.” Journalists don’t typically make false claims of their own, but do air those of newsmakers. And once aired, the falsehoods get amplified on social media, where they take on a life of their own in part because <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/biases-make-people-vulnerable-to-misinformation-spread-by-social-media/">people tend to accept false claims that align with what they’d like to believe</a>. Few examples illustrate the point more clearly than <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/meetthepressblog/poll-61-republicans-still-believe-biden-didnt-win-fair-square-2020-rcna49630">the continuing belief of a sizable Republican majority that the 2020 election was stolen</a>.</p>
<h2>Don’t play up his social media provocations</h2>
<p>When Trump was president, <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/13/trump-tweets-legacy-of-lies-misinformation-distrust.html">one third of his most popular tweets</a> contained a false claim. But many Americans wouldn’t have heard them directly from Trump. A study found that <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/trump-tweets-one-percent-mainstream-media-769207">only about 1% of his Twitter followers</a> saw a tweet directly from his Twitter feed. Most Americans heard of his tweets through news coverage.</p>
<h2>Don’t confuse access with newsworthiness</h2>
<p>The offer of a Trump interview might be enticing, but unless the reporter has a clear purpose and pursues it doggedly, it will work only to the advantage of Trump, who is <a href="https://video.foxbusiness.com/v/6311112708112#sp=show-clips">a master at manipulating the agenda</a>. Instead of speaking with Trump to get insights on him, the University of Colorado’s Elizabeth Skewes suggests <a href="https://ethics.journalism.wisc.edu/tag/ben-carson/">getting them from people</a> who have worked with him or studied him closely. </p>
<h2>Do notice when he trashes democracy</h2>
<p>Obeying laws, respecting institutions and following standard expectations – sometimes called “<a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/562246/how-democracies-die-by-steven-levitsky-and-daniel-ziblatt/">democratic norms</a>” – are all critical to a healthy democracy. Journalists, as watchdogs of the powerful, are duty-bound to hold the powerful accountable, including Trump’s attacks on democracy and its institutions. But the danger that Trump poses to democracy does not grant reporters – who are purveyors of facts, not opinion – a license to judge his substantive policies. Journalists break their own norms by taking sides in partisan debates over policy issues like immigration and trade. Leave those judgments to the voters.</p>
<h2>Do avoid false equivalence</h2>
<p>A story about a Trump transgression does not inherently need a mention of <a href="https://www.democraticunderground.com/100212486266">something similar</a> involving a political opponent. Doing so can make Trump’s behavior look normal when it is not. He’s a serial transgressor of social and political expectations.</p>
<h2>Do provide context</h2>
<p>It’s not safe for journalists to assume news consumers know what’s happening either on the surface or behind the scenes of what they’re reporting. As far back as the 1940s, journalists were being criticized for <a href="https://archive.org/details/freeandresponsib029216mbp">offering their audiences too little context</a>. In recent years, journalists have sought to restore public trust in their work by being more transparent about news decisions. Context is a key piece of that, explaining why the story is newsworthy and why it’s being told in the way that it is.</p>
<h2>Don’t lump all Trump loyalists in the same basket</h2>
<p>The Trump followers who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, <a href="https://www.washington.edu/news/2021/02/05/new-nationwide-survey-shows-maga-supporters-beliefs-about-the-pandemic-the-election-and-the-insurrection/">are not fully representative of his followers</a>. Overlooked in the turmoil that followed the 2020 election is the fact that Trump received the second-most presidential votes in history. <a href="https://thecorrespondent.com/790/not-every-trump-voter-is-racist-or-misled-theres-a-rational-trump-voter-too">Simplistic portrayals</a> <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/04/24/the-nasty-effect-and-why-donald-trump-supporters-mistrust-the-media/">of Trump’s supporters</a> deepens their mistrust of the media and its reporting. </p>
<p>None of this will be easy. A century ago, journalist Walter Lippmann wrote that the press, rather than bringing order to political chaos, <a href="https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315127736">tends to “intensify” it</a>. Trump personifies chaos, and his news coverage has indeed been chaotic. As one analyst described it as far back as 2018, “<a href="https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/395230-freak-show-coverage-of-trump-creating-media-chaos/">The press rushes from one out-of-proportion headline to the next</a>, focusing on the weird, the sensational and the polarizing.” More disciplined reporting would benefit the American people as the Trump circus takes its 2024 show on the road.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/194122/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Thomas E. Patterson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>There is a lot about Donald Trump that makes him attractive to the public, and alluring to the media. A scholar of political journalism has some suggestions about how to cover him.Thomas E. Patterson, Bradlee Professor of Government and the Press, Harvard Kennedy SchoolLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1924032022-11-02T04:50:36Z2022-11-02T04:50:36ZThe first biography of Lachlan Murdoch provides some insights, but leaves important questions unanswered<p>The title of Paddy Manning’s <a href="https://www.blackincbooks.com.au/books/successor">The Successor: The High-Stakes Life of Lachlan Murdoch</a> tells us what is good and not so good about this biography.</p>
<p>It is a smart play on the title of the much-applauded HBO television series, <a href="https://www.hbo.com/succession">Succession</a>, which everyone except the show’s creators says is modelled on the decades-long corporate psychodrama within the Murdoch family. The Murdochs have said little about the Emmy Award-winning show, but in a knowing wink they chose to use Succession’s grandly jarring theme music in a tribute to Rupert at his 90th birthday party.</p>
<p>I say “Rupert” because he has long since joined the small club of globally famous figures known by their first name. Not so Lachlan Murdoch, Rupert’s third child but, importantly for him, his eldest son.</p>
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<p><em>Review: The Successor: The High-Stakes Life of Lachlan Murdoch – Paddy Manning (Black Inc.)</em></p>
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<p>The book’s subtitle is the giveaway. If a “high-stakes life” was Lachlan Murdoch’s defining feature, would it need to be spelt out? The subtitle of a biography of, say, Don Bradman, does not need to inform us of his “high-stakes” life as a cricketer.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/492502/original/file-20221031-19-a0kbeu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/492502/original/file-20221031-19-a0kbeu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/492502/original/file-20221031-19-a0kbeu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=917&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492502/original/file-20221031-19-a0kbeu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=917&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492502/original/file-20221031-19-a0kbeu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=917&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492502/original/file-20221031-19-a0kbeu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1153&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492502/original/file-20221031-19-a0kbeu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1153&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492502/original/file-20221031-19-a0kbeu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1153&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<p>Lachlan Murdoch turned 50 last year. He is executive chair and chief executive of Fox Corporation, co-chair of News Corporation, founder of the investment company Illyria Pty Limited, and executive chair of Nova Entertainment. He was in his mid-twenties when he first headed the Australian arm of News Limited, as it was then known. In recent years, after several twists and turns, he has become the anointed heir to Rupert’s global media empire. But he still sits deep in the shadow of his father.</p>
<p>In June, the small independent news website Crikey published an <a href="https://www.crikey.com.au/2022/06/29/january-six-hearing-donald-trump-comfirmed-unhinged-traitor/">opinion piece</a> arguing the Murdoch-owned Fox Corporation bore at least some responsibility for the January 6 riots at the Capitol in Washington. Many read it as referring to Rupert, but it was Lachlan who <a href="https://www.crikey.com.au/2022/08/24/crikey-statement-lachlan-murdoch/">sued for defamation</a>.</p>
<p>The ensuing commentary noted that Rupert has never sued a journalist for defamation and asked whether Lachlan is thin-skinned. It is a fair question, given Lachlan has sued a journalist before for inaccurately reporting his use of the company’s private jet. </p>
<p>But it vaults over at least one reason Rupert has not sued: he has an army of his own journalists, who can be deployed to fight battles on his behalf. And they do. A relevant example is what happened to an authorised biographer, who slipped his minders and published a far less flattering portrait than had been anticipated.</p>
<p>Rupert gave more than 50 hours of interviews to Michael Wolff and greenlit his access to key senior people in News Corporation, but the resulting biography, <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4846256-the-man-who-owns-the-news">The Man Who Owns the News: Inside the Secret World of Rupert Murdoch</a> (2008), reportedly infuriated Murdoch. It revealed, for instance, that the ageing media mogul was dyeing his hair to impress Wendi Deng, who is the same age as his second daughter, and who became his third wife in 1999. </p>
<p>The biography was not mentioned in News Corporation’s US outlets until March 2009, when the Murdoch-owned tabloid the New York Post reported Wolff’s marital troubles in its <a href="https://pagesix.com/2009/03/30/bald-truth-divorce-for-wolff/">Page Six gossip column</a>. “The bald, trout-pouted Vanity Fair writer, 55,” as Wolff was described, had been carrying on a “steamy public affair” with a 28-year-old intern, prompting his wife to evict him from their Manhattan apartment. So there.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/rupert-murdoch-at-90-why-the-old-mogul-may-have-one-final-act-in-him-yet-156901">Rupert Murdoch at 90: why the old mogul may have one final act in him yet</a>
</strong>
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<h2>An unauthorised account</h2>
<p>At least a half a dozen biographies have been written about Rupert, but The Successor is the first biography of Lachlan Murdoch. That alone makes it noteworthy. It is unauthorised and Lachlan was not interviewed for it, so it draws primarily on interviews with friends, colleagues and enemies, and on secondary sources, notably a good use of overseas media sources. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/492503/original/file-20221031-15-8wzpb6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/492503/original/file-20221031-15-8wzpb6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/492503/original/file-20221031-15-8wzpb6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=881&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492503/original/file-20221031-15-8wzpb6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=881&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492503/original/file-20221031-15-8wzpb6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=881&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492503/original/file-20221031-15-8wzpb6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1107&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492503/original/file-20221031-15-8wzpb6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1107&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492503/original/file-20221031-15-8wzpb6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1107&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Lachlan Murdoch at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party, February 2020.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Evan Agostini/AP</span></span>
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<p>It draws less heavily on the voluminous academic literature about the Murdoch media, though when it does, Yochai Benkler, Robert Faris and Hal Roberts’ book <a href="https://academic.oup.com/book/26406">Network Propaganda</a> (2018) is quoted to good effect. Discussing the role of the Fox News television network, they write: “Conspiracy theories that germinate in the nether regions of the internet stay there unless they find an amplification vector”.</p>
<p>What do we learn about the person who wields so much media power and influence? About Lachlan himself, not much. About Lachlan as a businessman, a bit more. About how Lachlan compares with Rupert and what that might mean for the media – and us, the audience – a good deal more.</p>
<p>The portrait that emerges of Lachlan is drawn in bright colours – he has an adventurous spirit, tattoos, boyish good-looks; he is friendly and easygoing – but it does not have much depth. There are endless descriptions, in real-estate brochure mode, of overlong yachts and stylishly appointed bathrooms in multi-million dollar mansions dotted across the globe. And there are numerous gossipy accounts of parties with Tom and Nicole and Baz. </p>
<p>Manning plumbs the standard biographical sources of his subject’s formative years, but they yield little of much import. At several points Joe Cross, a futures trader friend, is wheeled in to provide testimonials that are the verbal equivalent of eyewash. Here he is on Lachlan meeting his future wife, Sarah O’Hare:</p>
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<p>It was on […] he’s like, hook, line and sinker gone. And fair enough! With Sarah, she’s the whole package, she’s like a completely down-to-earth knockabout Aussie, being a supermodel didn’t hurt, and she loves all the things that Lachlan loved […] and she’s got a whole group of fabulous friends that now come together with his tight group of mates, and everyone gets on.</p>
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<p>More fruitfully, Manning recounts how Lachlan, for his final year thesis in an arts degree at Princeton, wrote about Immanuel Kant’s categorical imperative as inflected by the ideas in the Bhagavad Gita. The thesis was good, according to his supervisor, Professor Beatrice Longuenesse. But what stayed with her, as reported by a journalist who interviewed her many years later, was how Lachlan resembled many other graduates of elite universities, who “glide to the highest reaches of the business world, which they do not tend to disrupt with the lofty ideas they explored as undergraduates”. </p>
<h2>Family business</h2>
<p>Perhaps the most interesting insight is the extent to which Lachlan is conscious of his family and its history. The family business and the business of the family are pillars around which his life revolves, both by birthright and by choice. He remembers everything negative written about his father, and is fiercely protective of both him and the memory of his grandfather, Keith Murdoch, who for many years headed the Herald and Weekly Times. </p>
<p>Surprisingly for an accomplished journalist, Manning tacitly accepts an abiding myth of the Murdoch family – Keith’s heroic role in writing the so-called “Gallipoli letter” during the first world war. Lachlan retold the story when his grandfather was inducted into the Melbourne Press Club’s Hall of Fame in 2012. </p>
<p>That Sir Keith’s letter was, in important ways, misleading and sensationalised has been discussed by several journalists and authors, including Les Carlyon in his bestselling book <a href="https://www.panmacmillan.com.au/9781743534229/">Gallipoli</a>, Mark Baker in his biography of another Gallipoli correspondent, <a href="https://insidestory.org.au/the-myth-of-keith-murdochs-gallipoli-letter/">Phillip Schuler</a>, and by Tom Roberts in his award-winning 2015 <a href="https://theconversation.com/book-review-before-rupert-keith-murdoch-and-the-birth-of-a-dynasty-49491">biography of Keith Murdoch</a>. </p>
<p>Not that Lachlan has always deferred to his father. Manning recounts his subject’s fury when, in 1999, Rupert reneged on an agreement with his second wife Anna, Lachlan’s mother, who had “given up her claim to an equal share of Rupert’s fortune precisely to ensure that Prudence, Elisabeth, Lachlan and James would not have to share the control or assets of the Murdoch Family Trust with any children from Rupert’s marriage to Wendi Deng”.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/492903/original/file-20221102-28436-59h8xy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/492903/original/file-20221102-28436-59h8xy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/492903/original/file-20221102-28436-59h8xy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=772&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492903/original/file-20221102-28436-59h8xy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=772&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492903/original/file-20221102-28436-59h8xy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=772&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492903/original/file-20221102-28436-59h8xy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=970&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492903/original/file-20221102-28436-59h8xy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=970&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492903/original/file-20221102-28436-59h8xy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=970&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Lachlan Murdoch’s parents, Rupert and Anna, in 1997.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Alan Berliner/AP</span></span>
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<p>Manning’s biography shows it is not well known that Lachlan and Anna, whose marriage to Rupert lasted much longer than his other three wives, staved off an attempt by Rupert and Elisabeth to sack James after the News of the World phone-hacking scandal. The unfolding scandal overlapped with the period between 2005 and 2014 when Lachlan had left the family company, because his father had not backed him when he was being monstered by executives in the US arm of the business.</p>
<p>Manning also recounts scenes from this period seemingly drafted for Succession. The then head of News Limited in Australia, John Hartigan, was forced to mediate between father and son over the amount of access Lachlan could have to the company’s Sydney headquarters. “Don’t let him into the fucking building,” Rupert is reported as saying. “When you’re out, you’re out.” </p>
<p>Later, the Murdoch siblings began attending family counselling, where they discussed working together to “hold Rupert to account to be a mentor to James and not undermine him, as he had done with Lachlan so many years before”.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/fox-news-donald-trumps-cheerleaders-and-the-journalists-who-challenged-his-narrative-149575">Fox News, Donald Trump's cheerleaders and the journalists who challenged his narrative</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<h2>Failures and successes</h2>
<p>Even Rupert Murdoch’s foes concede he has been a highly successful media businessman; what about Lachlan?</p>
<p>He has had some searing failures. He led News’ role in the 1990s rugby league wars. With James Packer, he made a multi-million dollar losing investment in the internet service provider OneTel. Worst of all, he lost his $150 million investment in Channel Ten, which for a time he headed. </p>
<p>He has also had some notable successes. He invested around $10 million early in a standalone online classified advertising site, realestate.com.au, that is today worth billions. He bought a share of an Indian Premier League cricket team, the Rajasthan Royals, whose value increased dramatically. And he bought into Nova Entertainment, successfully re-setting the pitch of its radio stations, notably Smooth FM. </p>
<p>On the evidence presented in Manning’s biography, Lachlan is a good businessman, if not in the same league as his father, which is admittedly rarefied air. He was given a start in business few others have enjoyed. Sifting the benefits of privilege from natural ability and hard work is not straightforward, but Manning lays out a telling statistic. In 2022, Lachlan’s wealth was estimated at $3.95 billion in the Australian Financial Review’s annual rich list. The same list gave the wealth of his older sister Prudence at $2.58 billion. She “had not worked a day for their father’s business and had mostly escaped the Murdoch spotlight”.</p>
<p>Prudence may well be a savvy investor, and her second husband worked for many years in News Corp. She may also have an eye to what happens to News and Fox in the future. The latest speculation among Murdoch watchers, which Manning discusses, is the possibility that after Rupert Murdoch’s passing, three of the four siblings who retain shares in the family company, Prudence, Elisabeth and James, will combine to oust Lachlan. According to one Wall Street analyst, who has followed News for decades and is privy to the breakdown in the relationship between the siblings, it is “fair to assume Lachlan gets fired the day Rupert dies”.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/492891/original/file-20221101-23-53u5du.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/492891/original/file-20221101-23-53u5du.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/492891/original/file-20221101-23-53u5du.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492891/original/file-20221101-23-53u5du.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492891/original/file-20221101-23-53u5du.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492891/original/file-20221101-23-53u5du.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=549&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492891/original/file-20221101-23-53u5du.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=549&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492891/original/file-20221101-23-53u5du.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=549&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Lachlan, Rupert and James Murdoch at the Television Academy Hall of Fame, Beverly Hills, California, March 2014.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dan Steinberg/AP</span></span>
</figcaption>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/courting-the-chameleon-how-the-us-election-reveals-rupert-murdochs-political-colours-149910">Courting the chameleon: how the US election reveals Rupert Murdoch's political colours</a>
</strong>
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</p>
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<h2>Right and wrong</h2>
<p>It is hard to know whether this is real or just speculation. It is also not clear how much of the breakdown in family relationships is sibling rivalry and how much is fuelled by ideological differences. James Murdoch has severed ties with News and Fox. He is on the record criticising the company’s reporting on climate change and its coverage of former president Trump’s efforts to reject the electorate’s decision in the 2020 election.</p>
<p>The core question The Successor raises in this reader’s mind, though, is how the portrait of Lachlan as a decent, socially progressive family guy in the first half of the book squares with the picture in the second half of a hard-nosed businessman who endorses the extreme, inflammatory opinions broadcast nightly on Fox News. Does he do this because it attracts viewers or because he actually believes Tucker Carlson’s ravings about the racist “great replacement” theory? </p>
<p>Where does Lachlan stand on these issues? Like his father, he has an abiding love of newspapers, but appears most engaged with them as a business, where Rupert has always had an almost visceral sense of news, both for itself and for what it can do for him and his companies. Manning reports Lachlan’s speeches espousing the virtues of press freedom and his interviews defending Fox, but the speeches are boilerplate and the comments unconvincing. Asked in one interview about Fox’s role in polarising America, Lachlan pointed to criticism of Fox from the far right, saying: “If you’ve got the left and the right criticising you, you’re doing something right.”</p>
<p>Or something profoundly wrong. This is the evidence of several media analyses reported in The Successor. Manning acknowledges that at a key point in the vote-counting for the 2020 presidential election, Fox News correctly called the result. But in the following two weeks the network cast doubt on the result at least 774 times, according to the watchdog group Media Matters. </p>
<p>Media Matters is a left-leaning organisation, so its count might be dismissed as partisan, but an investigation earlier this year by the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/30/us/tucker-carlson-gop-republican-party.html">New York Times</a> of 1100 episodes of Tucker Carlson Tonight found that he had amplified the great replacement theory 400 times. The number of guests who disagreed with Carlson was found to be decreasing, while the length of his monologues was increasing to double, even triple their earlier length. </p>
<p>When the US congressional hearings into the January 6 riot at the Capitol were held earlier this year, Lachlan, according to Manning, decided to air them not on Fox News, but on the little watched Fox Business channel. This was in stark contrast not only to the prominence other television networks gave to the historic hearings, but to the vast amount of airtime previously given on Fox News to the </p>
<blockquote>
<p>wild and false claims of a rigged election by Rudy Guiliani and Sidney Powell […] once again calling into question whether the channel was really in the news business at all. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Lachlan has argued that, however florid the opinions aired on Fox, the network’s news coverage is professional and balanced. Its coverage of the congressional hearings belied this claim. It was aired late at night, from 11pm. Apart from muted acknowledgement of the force of some of the testimony, Manning writes, “the rest was about sowing doubt and trying to move on”. </p>
<p>By this point, most have realised that Lachlan is further to the right than his father, whose primary outlets in America, the Wall Street Journal and the New York Post, have denounced as shameful former president Trump’s role in the Capitol riot. The effect, then, of the second half of The Successor is to undermine the portrait of Lachlan in first half, rendering it almost meaningless. The two can’t be squared. </p>
<p>Ultimately, Lachlan has to take responsibility for what Fox News does and the impact of its broadcasts. If he won’t, there are two multi-billion dollar lawsuits underway to focus his attention. The voting-machine companies, Smartmatic and Dominion, are alleging Fox News knowingly and maliciously spread a false narrative accusing them of election fraud.</p>
<p>Lachlan is still young by the family’s standards. His grandmother, Dame Elisabeth Murdoch, died aged 103, which Rupert described, perhaps apocryphally, as an early death. As the first biography of the current head of a powerful media empire, The Successor is well worth reading. It probably won’t be the last biography; nor should it be, as there is more to know about Lachlan Murdoch, the enterprise he heads, and the siblings who appear to covet it. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/cruelty-pettiness-and-real-estate-in-confidence-man-maggie-haberman-wields-eye-popping-anecdotes-to-plumb-the-trump-phenomenon-191684">Cruelty, pettiness and real estate: in Confidence Man, Maggie Haberman wields eye popping anecdotes to plumb the Trump phenomenon</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/192403/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Matthew Ricketson is the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance's representative on the Australian Press Council. </span></em></p>He is the heir-apparent of a global media empire, but how much to we really know about Lachlan Murdoch?Matthew Ricketson, Professor of Communication, Deakin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1901042022-09-23T12:34:10Z2022-09-23T12:34:10ZUS and Russia engage in a digital battle for hearts and minds<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485652/original/file-20220920-18-mgviae.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=8%2C0%2C5455%2C3645&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">RT, a Russian government-operated media outlet, is just one of the players in the global information war.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/russian-state-controlled-international-television-russia-news-photo/1241380961">Sefa Karacan/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The battle over Ukraine extends across the world: <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1464884920941967">Information warfare</a> is quickly evolving as key nations seek to influence public opinion and gain political support. </p>
<p>As during the Cold War, Russia and the United States are the two main combatants. <a href="https://theconversation.com/us-military-steps-up-cyberwarfare-effort-113100">Some efforts are clandestine</a>, but plenty of material is broadcast to the public as each country attempts to, in the words of political linguists, <a href="https://utorontopress.com/9781442606227/language-capitalism-colonialism/">“constrain the power and influence of the other</a> … and win ‘hearts and minds’ … around the world.”</p>
<p>Key government-sponsored media outlets in the current battle are Russia Today, often known as RT, and two U.S. government-backed operations, Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. </p>
<p>But it can be hard for many people to tell the difference between these outlets and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2017.1360143">independent news</a>. As a <a href="https://newhouse.syr.edu/people/jennifer-grygiel">propaganda scholar</a>, I believe citizens of all nations deserve to know <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/20/us/politics/russia-rfe-free-press.html">how their media have been filtered</a> and when governments are seeking to influence their views.</p>
<p>My colleague <a href="https://www.sagersmith.com/weston-sager-attorney/">Weston Sager</a> and I developed a <a href="https://scholarship.law.uci.edu/ucilr/vol11/iss2/7/">test for determining whether</a> a particular media outlet is, or is not, a government mouthpiece. We examine key factors such as government control, funding, attribution and its resemblance to news.</p>
<p>At their best, these types of outlets provide official government information – at worst, blatant propaganda. Here’s how the main players in the U.S. and Russia measure up. </p>
<h2>Russia Today: Propaganda with some facts sprinkled in</h2>
<p>RT is a multilanguage international media broadcaster that claims to be an “<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220907233054/https://www.rt.com/about-us/">autonomous, non-profit organization</a>.” But in reality, it has officially declared to the U.S. State Department <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/rt-files-paperwork-with-justice-department-to-register-as-foreign-agent/2017/11/13/20271468-c8ad-11e7-8321-481fd63f174d_story.html">that it is an arm of the Russian government</a>. </p>
<p>In <a href="https://theconversation.com/ukraine-war-rt-coverage-is-biased-and-misleading-but-banning-the-network-may-not-be-a-good-idea-178128">lockstep with the Kremlin</a>, RT has supported the 2008 Russian invasion of Georgia, the 2014 Russian invasion of the Crimean peninsula of Ukraine and the 2022 Russian invasion of mainland Ukraine.</p>
<p>The outlet has a <a href="https://archives.cjr.org/feature/what_is_russia_today.php">history of publishing sensationalized</a> and biased articles promoting Russian policies and accentuating the perceived failings of the United States and its allies. For example, in 2015, RT devoted extensive coverage to the <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/v7dj73/russia-propaganda-rt-ban-ukraine-invasion">Occupy Wall Street movement</a>. Not only did this storyline allow RT to selectively showcase people protesting in the United States, it helped further Russia’s narrative that its economic system is superior to U.S. capitalism. </p>
<p>More recently, RT has, without credible evidence, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/04/technology/russia-bioweapons-geneva.html">accused the United States</a> of developing bioweapons in Ukraine and testing them on people there.</p>
<p>But this doesn’t mean that RT is “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1464884920941967">able to dispense with facts all together</a>,” as propaganda often leverages <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2017.1360143">truthful bits of information</a>, nor that it is strictly anti-American. In 2010, for instance, RT published an interview containing accusations that the Republicans were exploiting racial fears ahead of midterm elections. Then RT publicly <a href="https://archives.cjr.org/feature/what_is_russia_today.php">defended the Obama administration</a> against Fox News host Glenn Beck‘s accusations that Obama was turning the United States into a socialist country. Propaganda works by supporting <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1464884920941967">themes that are in popular discourse at the time</a>. It does not necessarily follow a linear path and may be <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/18/us/womens-march-russia-trump.html">counterintuitive at times</a>. </p>
<p>In the wake of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, <a href="https://theconversation.com/ukraine-war-rt-coverage-is-biased-and-misleading-but-banning-the-network-may-not-be-a-good-idea-178128">RT was blocked</a> in many nations around the world <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2022-09-01/ukraine-war-propaganda-from-russia-today-rt-thrives-despite-sanctions">to limit the spread of Russian propaganda</a>. Nevertheless, RT continues to publish its content, especially in <a href="https://theconversation.com/%20merica-influence-operations-extend-into-egypt-111167">less developed countries</a> where the Russian government is working to increase its international reputation and influence. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485655/original/file-20220920-11487-ppvp23.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A large stone building with long vertical windows." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485655/original/file-20220920-11487-ppvp23.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485655/original/file-20220920-11487-ppvp23.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485655/original/file-20220920-11487-ppvp23.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485655/original/file-20220920-11487-ppvp23.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485655/original/file-20220920-11487-ppvp23.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485655/original/file-20220920-11487-ppvp23.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485655/original/file-20220920-11487-ppvp23.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Voice of America is headquartered in the Wilbur J. Cohen Federal Building in Washington, D.C.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/VOABuilding/49a5c28c24874594a189ee5676def4b8/photo">AP Photo/Andrew Harnik</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Major US outlets present mostly facts – that support American values</h2>
<p>Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty are the U.S. government’s primary international media outlets, though <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220727233718/https://www.usagm.gov/who-we-are/organizational-chart/">there are other channels</a> as well. </p>
<p>In 1942, during World War II, the <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220513105818/https://www.insidevoa.com/a/3794247.html">U.S. government established VOA</a> to broadcast pro-Allied messages and to combat Nazi propaganda abroad. In the 1950s, the CIA founded <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20201016170050/https:/www.cia.gov/news-information/featured-story-archive/2007-featured-story-archive/a-look-back.html">RFE/RL</a> to counter Soviet propaganda in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. </p>
<p>Both outlets are now overseen by the <a href="https://www.usagm.gov/">U.S. Agency for Global Media</a>, a <a href="https://www.usagm.gov/who-we-are/oversight/">part of the executive branch</a> of the federal government. The agency receives <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220601130038/https://www.usagm.gov/our-work/strategy-and-results/strategic-priorities/budget-submissions/">over US$800 million in annual funding from Congress</a>.</p>
<p>Similar to RT, <a href="https://www.wnyc.org/story/voice-of-america-vows-independence-as-trump-calls-for-worldwide-network/">VOA</a> and <a href="https://pressroom.rferl.org/about-us">RFE/RL</a> claim that they are independent media outlets. In support of that claim, they often point to a vaguely defined “<a href="https://www.usagm.gov/who-we-are/firewall/">firewall</a>” that is supposed to shield their editorial integrity from U.S. government influence.</p>
<p>But the firewall is often strained under the weight of political pressure. In 2020, President Donald Trump’s newly appointed CEO of the U.S. Agency for Global Media <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/27/us/politics/trump-michael-pack-voice-of-america-firewall.html">rescinded the firewall regulation</a>, which compromised VOA’s independence in advance of the 2020 U.S. presidential election. In 2021, the firewall was legislatively strengthened, but <a href="https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-22-104017.pdf">questions remain about its effectiveness at preventing government influence</a>. </p>
<p>Governmental influence over the editorial direction of U.S. state media can also come through legislation. In 2021, Congress introduced a bill that would instruct the agency to “<a href="https://www.congress.gov/117/bills/hr4785/BILLS-117hr4785ih.pdf">facilitate the unhindered dissemination of information</a> to Islamic majority countries on issues regarding the human rights and religious freedom of Uyghurs.”</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485657/original/file-20220920-3608-bie9z6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Satellite dishes adorn a roof, with church spires in the background" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485657/original/file-20220920-3608-bie9z6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485657/original/file-20220920-3608-bie9z6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485657/original/file-20220920-3608-bie9z6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485657/original/file-20220920-3608-bie9z6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485657/original/file-20220920-3608-bie9z6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485657/original/file-20220920-3608-bie9z6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485657/original/file-20220920-3608-bie9z6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">From this rooftop in Prague, RFE/RL broadcasts across Eastern Europe and into Russia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/prague-czech-republic-satellite-dishes-are-pictured-13-news-photo/55393416">Michal Cizek/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Additional editorial pressure comes from federal law. VOA material must be “consistent” with U.S. foreign policy objectives, “represent America,” “<a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/22/6202">present the policies of the United States clearly and effectively</a>” and include <a href="https://www.cjr.org/opinion/broadcasting_board_of_governors_house_trump.php">editorials</a> that reflect <a href="https://editorials.voa.gov">the views of the U.S. government</a>. Under the same law, RFE/RL is required to support the U.S. government abroad. Additionally, federal law also more pointedly provides a new pathway for folding this into a larger outlet that would be expressly required to “<a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/22/6209">counter state-sponsored propaganda</a> which undermines the national security or foreign policy interests of the United States and its allies.”</p>
<p>VOA and RFE/RL have a history of providing slanted and incomplete portrayals of major events and issues. Scholarship has highlighted how, during the Cold War, RFE spread “<a href="https://thebaffler.com/salvos/an-american-tale-ghodsee">rumors as fact</a>” and displayed a “<a href="https://thebaffler.com/salvos/an-american-tale-ghodsee">consistent pattern of downplaying or ignoring evidence that contradicted RFE’s vision</a> of Eastern Europe as a totalitarian dystopia” early in the Cold War. </p>
<p>U.S. government editorial pressure has also come indirectly through funding cuts, which VOA experienced after senators balked at spending tax money to produce <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1973/05/21/archives/voice-of-america-is-candid-in-reporting-on-watergate.html">“unpleasant news”</a> surrounding Watergate. The Reagan administration was known to object to critical VOA coverage and also steered its <a href="https://thebaffler.com/salvos/an-american-tale-ghodsee">“editorial voice”</a> to align with the administration’s political agenda.</p>
<p>Today, VOA often publishes stories about the United States that promote American values, such as recent articles titled “<a href="https://projects.voanews.com/refugees/world-refugee-day-2022/">Refugees Shape America</a>” and “<a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/international-festival-celebrates-traditional-food-and-dance-/6728071.html">US International Festival Celebrates Traditional Food, Dance</a>.” </p>
<p>On the other hand, RFE/RL is more focused on <a href="https://www.usagm.gov/2022/02/25/audiences-turn-to-rfe-rl-for-truthful-reporting-about-russias-invasion-of-ukraine">countering propaganda</a>. It includes coverage that is often critical of U.S. adversaries, such as “<a href="https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-soldier-deserter-filatyev-interview/32019717.html">‘We Have To Pay For Our Indifference’: A Russian Deserter Speaks Out After Ukraine War Memoir Hits A Nerve</a>” and “<a href="https://www.rferl.org/a/putin-ukraine-grain-exports-changins-routes/32022295.html">Putin Hints At ‘Changing Routes’ For Ukrainian Grain Exports, Warns Of Food ‘Catastrophe’</a>.” </p>
<p>Even though VOA and RFE/RL sometimes publish pieces that show unflattering aspects of the United States, such as “<a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/the-global-legacy-of-january-6/6384891.html">The Global Legacy of January 6</a>,” this is <a href="https://www.abc-clio.com/products/b4258c/">by design</a>, as the outlets would lose credibility if they ignored important topics covered in independent media.</p>
<h2>Concealed influence</h2>
<p>Because VOA and RFE/RL rely on facts, the U.S. State Department has argued that U.S. government media are less threatening than Russian “<a href="https://www.state.gov/report-rt-and-sputniks-role-in-russias-disinformation-and-propaganda-ecosystem/">disinformation</a>.” But the U.S. approach is still risky: VOA and RFE/RL content more closely resembles independent news, so <a href="https://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1203&context=nulr">it is more difficult for readers to identify it as government-run media</a>. This is especially problematic in cases in which the outlets are <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/19/technology/facebook-ads-propaganda.html">targeting U.S. citizens</a>, who may not be able to tell that they’re interacting with their own government. </p>
<p>Despite what VOA and RFE/RL claim, they are not independent. Both are funded by the U.S. government and are used to deliver U.S. policy abroad. Even though VOA and RFE/RL may look like news, they aren’t; like RT, their underlying purpose is to bolster their government’s influence around the world.</p>
<p><em>Weston Sager contributed to this article.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/190104/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jennifer Grygiel does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Russian government media are frequently criticized as being blatant propaganda. How do US government media measure up?Jennifer Grygiel, Associate Professor of Communications (Social Media), Syracuse UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1838622022-06-03T12:14:47Z2022-06-03T12:14:47ZUS moves to rename Army bases honoring Confederate generals who fought to defend slavery<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466425/original/file-20220531-26-bt5sl1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=851%2C333%2C2021%2C1661&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Named after Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg, Fort Bragg, outside Fayetteville, N.C., is one of the U.S. bases under consideration for a name change. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/sign-shows-fort-bragg-information-may-13-2004-in-news-photo/50837592?adppopup=true">Logan Mock-Bunting/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>For decades, nine U.S. Army bases have carried the names of men who fought against the U.S. Army – in a war waged to defend and perpetuate the slavery of people of African descent.</p>
<p>These military installations, all in Southern states, were named to honor such figures as Gen. <a href="https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/lee-robert-e-1807-1870/">Robert E. Lee</a>, who commanded the Confederate Army; <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/american-civil-war/john-b-hood">John Bell Hood</a>, an associate of Lee’s known for being both brave and impetuous; and <a href="https://www.nps.gov/people/leonidas-polk.htm">Leonidas Polk</a>, an Episcopal bishop who, thanks to his friendship with Jefferson Davis, began the war as a major general. All three enslaved Black people. </p>
<p>Created by Congress in 2021 to recommend names that exemplify modern day U.S. military and national values, <a href="https://www.thenamingcommission.gov/home">a federal panel</a> took a major step on May 24, 2022, toward removing this remnant of “<a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Lost-Cause">lost cause” ideology</a>. </p>
<p>That ideology is the discredited notion that the Confederacy’s rebellion was an honorable struggle for the Southern way of life and that what Confederates viewed as the “war of northern aggression” was over states’ rights, not slavery.</p>
<p>What the government called the <a href="https://www.thenamingcommission.gov/names">Naming Commission proposed</a> rechristening nine of the Confederate-themed bases, mostly after men and women of diverse ethnic and racial backgrounds – people who “would be inspirational to the soldiers and civilians who serve on our Army posts, and to the communities who support them.”</p>
<p>For example, Fort Lee in Virginia would become Fort Gregg-Adams in honor of <a href="https://www.moaa.org/content/publications-and-media/news-articles/2021-news-articles/logistics-officer-rose-through-the-ranks-during-36-year-career/">Lt. Gen. Arthur Gregg</a> and <a href="https://www.thenmusa.org/biographies/charity-adams-earley/">Lt. Col. Charity Adams</a>, African Americans who excelled at logistics and other military support functions during World War II.</p>
<p>Fort Hood in Texas would become Fort Cavazos, commemorating <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/fort-hood-renamed-fort-cavazos-first-hispanic-four-star-general-rcna30317">Richard Cavazos</a>, who received the Purple Heart and other awards for valor in Vietnam and <a href="https://valor.militarytimes.com/hero/5075">became the first Latino</a> to reach the rank of general.</p>
<p>And Fort Polk in Louisiana would become Fort Johnson in recognition of <a href="https://www.cmohs.org/recipients/henry-johnson">Sgt. William Henry Johnson</a>, who was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart in 1996 and the <a href="https://www.defense.gov/News/Feature-Stories/Story/Article/2201270/medal-of-honor-monday-army-sgt-henry-johnson/">Medal of Honor</a> in 2015 for heroism during World War I. As a Black man in the Jim Crow era, <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/remembering-henry-johnson-the-soldier-called-black-death-117386701/">Johnson was denied</a> those honors during his military service.</p>
<p>“We wanted names and values that underpin the core responsibility of the military, to defend the Constitution of the United States,” said Michelle Howard, a retired Navy admiral <a href="https://www.thenamingcommission.gov/names">who chairs the commission</a>. </p>
<h2>Unquestioned for too long</h2>
<p>Four of the bases had been named for Confederate leaders at the start of World War I, and the others at the start of World War II.</p>
<p>Until recently, the military installations honoring Confederate leaders received little scrutiny from the media. As a newspaper reporter four decades ago, <a href="https://robertson.vcu.edu/people/emeriti-and-affiliate-faculty/south.html">I gave the names</a> a free pass.</p>
<p>In 1981, I covered the <a href="https://oa-bsa.org/history/1981-national-jamboree">Boy Scouts Jamboree</a> at Fort A.P. Hill in Virginia without mentioning that the base was named for a <a href="https://www.battlefields.org/learn/biographies/p-hill">man who had turned against the United States</a> and fought to defend slavery. </p>
<h2>Movement to rename the bases</h2>
<p>In recent years, more Americans, including those living in the South, have reconsidered the use of Confederate iconography. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.ajc.com/news/crime--law/after-dylann-roof-what-the-fate-the-confederate-flag/HaCtiPvplkXOdQbn6jAhAN/">Such concerns escalated</a> in 2015 after Dylann Roof, a self-avowed white supremacist, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/death-sentence-upheld-man-who-killed-9-south-carolina-church-n1277667">shot and killed</a> nine Black people during a Bible study at a church in Charleston, South Carolina. Investigators later <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/21/us/dylann-storm-roof-photos-website-charleston-church-shooting.html">found a website</a> registered in the name of Roof containing images of Roof posing with the Confederate battle flag.</p>
<p><iframe id="3nI9P" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/3nI9P/2/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>The issue gained momentum in the U.S. Congress after the George Floyd protests in 2020, <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/02/23/970610428/nearly-100-confederate-monuments-removed-in-2020-report-says-more-than-700-remai">when many communities</a> started taking down statues and renaming buildings that honored Confederate figures. </p>
<p>Congress included the creation of the Naming Commission in the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act. Then-President Donald Trump <a href="https://fcw.com/2020/12/trump-vetoes-2021-defense-bill/258615/">vetoed the bill</a>, but Congress overrode the veto.</p>
<h2>Coming up with new names</h2>
<p>The Naming Commission received more than 34,000 suggestions from the public for new base names.</p>
<p>“Every name either originated from or resonated with the local communities,” said Ty Seidule, a retired Army general and the panel’s vice chair.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="An old black and white photograph depicts a white woman wearing a dark hat and dress in a formal pose next to a table." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466673/original/file-20220601-49512-it5y52.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466673/original/file-20220601-49512-it5y52.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=853&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466673/original/file-20220601-49512-it5y52.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=853&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466673/original/file-20220601-49512-it5y52.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=853&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466673/original/file-20220601-49512-it5y52.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1072&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466673/original/file-20220601-49512-it5y52.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1072&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466673/original/file-20220601-49512-it5y52.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1072&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Full-length portrait of Mary Edwards Walker, 1832-1919, American physician and advocate of women’s rights.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/full-length-portrait-of-mary-edwards-walker-1832-1919-news-photo/515219782?adppopup=true">Mathew Brady/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In addition to the previously mentioned names, the commission proposed renaming bases for:</p>
<ul>
<li><p><a href="https://www.army.mil/article/182389/vietnam_war_hero_hal_moore_dies_at_age_94">Lt. Gen. Hal Moore</a>, who served in Vietnam and other assignments, and his wife, <a href="https://www.fortmoore.com/summa">Julia Moore</a>, who has been an advocate for military families and reformed the military’s death notice procedures. </p></li>
<li><p><a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/about-the-white-house/presidents/dwight-d-eisenhower/">Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower</a>.</p></li>
<li><p><a href="https://www.army.mil/article/183800/meet_dr_mary_walker_the_only_female_medal_of_honor_recipient">Dr. Mary Walker</a>, the Army’s first female surgeon, who received the Medal of Honor for her service during the Civil War.</p></li>
<li><p><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/van-t-barfoot-va-medal-of-honor-recipient-who-won-fight-to-fly-flag-in-front-yard-dies-at-92/2012/03/05/gIQARDTdtR_story.html">Sgt. Van Barfoot</a>, a <a href="https://www.army.mil/nativeamericans/barfoot.html">Choctaw Indian</a> who served in World War II, Korea and Vietnam.</p></li>
<li><p><a href="https://memory.loc.gov/diglib/vhp-stories/loc.natlib.afc2001001.89754/">Michael Novosel Sr.</a>, a pilot who volunteered in his 40s to fight in Vietnam and subsequently rescued his son, who had been shot down and was stranded near the enemy. <a href="https://www.cmohs.org/recipients/michael-j-novosel">Novosel’s selection</a> recognizes “generational service,” the panel said.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>The commission also proposed renaming Fort Bragg, North Carolina, <a href="https://www.armytimes.com/news/pentagon-congress/2022/05/24/panel-to-push-for-fort-bragg-to-be-renamed-fort-liberty/">as Fort Liberty</a>. </p>
<p>Congress and the U.S. secretary of defense <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/24/us/politics/army-bases-confederate-names.html">still must sign off</a> on the new names. But people like Troy Mosley, who for years has pushed to erase the Confederate names, is encouraged.</p>
<p>Mosley, who formed a group called <a href="https://www.citizensagainstintolerance.org/">Citizens Against Intolerance</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/troy.mosley/posts/pfbid0Y4UyZjcxA8JzbNCcCPUvdV3dFsTmE3HZstgpdxcARHAWt1V3Q7KUuuaEbKu8XUfjl">said</a> the commission “did a fantastic job selecting name replacements from the rich tapestry of diverse and distinguished military service.”</p>
<p>To people who have anguished over the prevalence of Confederate symbols in the U.S., the commission’s proposals are long overdue.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/183862/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jeff South does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>One of the last relics of ‘lost cause’ ideology is nearing its end as a federal panel has recommended renaming US military bases now honoring Confederate generals.Jeff South, Associate professor emeritus, Virginia Commonwealth UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1830772022-05-16T18:30:04Z2022-05-16T18:30:04ZHow media reports of ‘clashes’ mislead Americans about Israeli-Palestinian violence<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463332/original/file-20220516-15-bbvezx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=5%2C22%2C3715%2C2454&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">When does a 'clash' become an 'assault'?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/PicturesoftheWeek-Global-PhotoGallery/bc862b042976498580767f551fd3e35f/photo?Query=Shireen%20Abu%20Akleh%20funeral%20police&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=20&currentItemNo=8">AP Photo/Maya Levin</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/5/13/why-is-israel-afraid-of-the-palestinian-flag">Israeli police attacked</a> mourners carrying the coffin of slain Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh on May 13, 2022, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/shireen-abu-akleh-journalist-funeral-west-bank-bb71e2ec64dd034066bc6df4a9aa2fb3">beating pallbearers with batons and kicking them</a> when they fell to the ground.</p>
<p>Yet those who skimmed the headlines of initial reports from several U.S. media outlets may have been left with a different impression of what happened. </p>
<p>“Israeli Police Clash with Mourners at Funeral Procession,” read the <a href="https://www.msnbc.com/morning-joe/watch/israeli-police-clash-with-mourners-a-funeral-procession-for-journalist-139944517790">headline of MSNBC’s online report</a>. The Wall Street Journal <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/israeli-forces-palestinians-clash-in-west-bank-before-funeral-of-journalist-11652471399">had a similar</a> headline on its story: “Israeli Forces, Palestinians Clash in West Bank before Funeral of Journalist.”</p>
<p>Fox News <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/world/israeli-police-clash-al-jazeera-journalist-shireen-abu-akleh-mourners">began the text of its article</a> with “Clashes erupted Friday in Jerusalem as mourners attended the burial of veteran American Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh who was shot dead Friday when covering a raid in the West Bank city of Jenin.”</p>
<p>There is no mention in the headlines of these articles about who instigated the violence, nor any hint of the power imbalance between a heavily armed Israeli police force and what appeared to be unarmed Palestinian civilians.</p>
<p>Such language and omissions are common in the <a href="https://theconversation.com/when-it-comes-to-media-reporting-on-israel-palestine-there-is-nowhere-to-hide-160992">reporting of violence conducted by Israel’s police or military</a>. Similar headlines followed an incident in April in which <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-palestine-jerusalem-aqsa-mosque-storm-attack-worshipper">Israeli police attacked worshippers</a> at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Then, too, police attacks on worshippers – in which as many as 152 Palestinians were injured by rubber bullets and batons – were <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/04/17/1093233899/jerusalem-violence-al-aqsa-mosque">widely</a> <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israeli-police-palestinians-clash-jerusalem-holy-site-2022-04-15/">described</a> as “clashes.”</p>
<p>And headlines matter – many Americans <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2014/03/19/americans-read-headlines-and-not-much-else/">do not read past them</a> when consuming news or <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2016/06/16/six-in-10-of-you-will-share-this-link-without-reading-it-according-to-a-new-and-depressing-study/">sharing articles online</a>.</p>
<h2>Neutral terms aren’t always neutral</h2>
<p>The use of a word like “clashes” might seem to make sense in a topic as contentious as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, in which violent acts are perpetrated by both sides.</p>
<p>But as a <a href="https://menas.arizona.edu/people/maha-nassar">scholar of Palestinian history</a> and an <a href="https://www.972mag.com/us-media-palestinians/">analyst of U.S. media coverage of this topic</a>, I believe using neutral terms such as “clashes” to describe Israeli police and military attacks on Palestinian civilians is misleading. It overlooks instances in which Israeli forces instigate violence against Palestinians who pose no threat to them. It also often gives more weight to official Israeli narratives than to Palestinian ones.</p>
<p>U.S. media have <a href="http://cup.columbia.edu/book/pens-and-swords/9780231133487">long been accused</a> of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1525/jps.2001.30.2.61">misleading their audience</a> when it comes to violence committed against Palestinians. A 2021 <a href="https://web.mit.edu/hjackson/www/The_NYT_Distorts_the_Palestinian_Struggle.pdf">study from MIT of 50 years of New York Times coverage</a> of the conflict found “a disproportionate use of the passive voice to refer to negative or violent action perpetrated towards Palestinians.” </p>
<p>Using the passive voice – for example, reporting that “Palestinians were killed in clashes” rather than “Israeli forces killed Palestinians” – is language that helps shield Israel from scrutiny. It also obscures the reason so many Palestinians would be angry at Israel. </p>
<p>It’s not just The New York Times. A <a href="https://theintercept.com/2019/01/12/israel-palestine-conflict-news-headlines/">2019 analysis by data researchers in Canada of more than 100,000 headlines</a> from 50 years of U.S. coverage across five newspapers <a href="https://vridar.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/416LABS_50_Years_of_Occupation.pdf">concluded that</a> “the U.S. mainstream media’s coverage of the conflict favors Israel in terms of both the sheer quantity of stories covered, and by providing more opportunities to the Israelis to amplify their point of view.”</p>
<p>That 2019 study also found that words associated with violence, including “clash” and “clashes,” were more likely to be used in stories about Palestinians than Israelis.</p>
<h2>Competing narratives</h2>
<p>One problem with using “clash” is that it obscures incidents in which Israeli police and security forces attack Palestinians who pose no threat to them. </p>
<p>Amnesty International, a human rights advocacy group, <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2022/05/israel-opt-increase-in-unlawful-killings-and-other-crimes-highlights-urgent-need-to-end-israels-apartheid-against-palestinians/">described the recent incident at the Al-Aqsa Mosque</a> as one in which Israeli police “brutally attacked worshippers in and around the mosque and used violence that amounts to torture and other ill-treatment to break up gatherings.”</p>
<p>The word “clashes” does not convey this reality.</p>
<p>Using “clashes” also gives more credibility to the Israeli government version of the story than the Palestinian one. Israeli officials often accuse Palestinians of instigating violence, claiming that soldiers and police had to use lethal force to stave off Palestinian attacks. And that’s how these events are usually reported.</p>
<p>But Israeli human rights group B'Tselem’s database on Israeli and Palestinian fatalities <a href="https://statistics.btselem.org/en/all-fatalities/by-date-of-incident?section=participation&tab=overview">shows that</a> most of the roughly 10,000 Palestinians killed by Israel since 2000 did not “participate in hostilities” at the time they were killed.</p>
<p>We saw this attempt to shift the blame to Palestinians for Israeli violence in the killing of journalist Shireen Abu Akleh. According to <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-palestine-al-jazeera-journalist-shireen-abu-akleh-shot-dead-jenin">her colleagues at the scene of her death</a>, an Israeli military sniper <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/shireen-abu-akleh-killing-al-jazeera-journalist-eyewitness-account?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1652294662">deliberately shot and killed the veteran journalist</a> with a live bullet to her right temple, even though she was wearing a “PRESS” flak jacket and helmet. One or more snipers also shot at Abu Akleh’s colleagues as they tried to rescue her, <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-palestine-al-jazeera-journalist-shireen-abu-akleh-shot-dead-jenin">according to eyewitness accounts</a>. </p>
<p>At first, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/05/11/israel-jazeera-journalist-jenin/">said</a> that “armed Palestinians shot in an inaccurate, indiscriminate and uncontrolled manner” at the time of her killing – implying that Palestinians could have shot Abu Akleh. Then, as evidence mounted <a href="https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20220512-btselem-israel-narrative-about-killing-shireen-abu-akleh-untrue/">disproving this account</a>, Israeli officials changed course, <a href="https://www.jta.org/2022/05/11/israel/benny-gantz-al-jazeera-journalist-may-have-been-killed-by-israeli-or-palestinian-fire">saying that</a> the source of the gunfire “cannot yet be determined.”</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A women walks past a mural depicting slain journalist Shireen Abu Akleh and a helmet with 'PRESS' on it." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463376/original/file-20220516-14-m92a0k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463376/original/file-20220516-14-m92a0k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463376/original/file-20220516-14-m92a0k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463376/original/file-20220516-14-m92a0k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463376/original/file-20220516-14-m92a0k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463376/original/file-20220516-14-m92a0k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463376/original/file-20220516-14-m92a0k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A mural of slain Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/PalestiniansIsraelJournalistKilled/80b0af70f3b34da798c415d95ce8c952/photo?Query=Shireen%20Abu%20Akleh&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=140&currentItemNo=14">AP Photo/Adel Hana</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The New York Times initially <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/11/world/middleeast/al-jazeera-journalist-killed-west-bank.html?searchResultPosition=7">reported that</a> Abu Akleh “was shot as clashes between the Israeli military and Palestinian gunmen took place in the city.” Further down in the same story, we read that Palestinian journalist Ali Samudi, who was wounded in the same attack, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/11/world/middleeast/al-jazeera-journalist-killed-west-bank.html?searchResultPosition=7">said</a>, “There were no armed Palestinians or resistance or even civilians in the area.” Yet this perspective is missing from the headline and opening paragraphs of the story. </p>
<p>A few days later, an <a href="https://www.bellingcat.com/news/mena/2022/05/14/unravelling-the-killing-of-shireen-abu-akleh/">analysis of available video footage</a> by investigative journalism outlet Bellingcat concluded that the evidence “appears to support” eyewitnesses who said no militant activity was taking place and that the gunfire came from Israeli military snipers.</p>
<p>The New York Times has not updated or corrected its original story to reflect this new evidence.</p>
<p>It provides an example of why the use of “clash” has been widely <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/04/28/jerusalem-al-aqsa-media-coverage-israeli-violence-palestinians/">criticized by Palestinian and Arab journalists</a>. Indeed, the Arab and Middle Eastern Journalist Association in 2021 <a href="https://static1.squarespace.com/static/56f442fc5f43a6ecc531a9f5/t/60a7f4b94dcb02030b448fc2/1621619899348/Guidelines+for+Palestine+%3A+Israel+Coverage+-+AMEJA.pdf">issued guidance for journalists</a>, urging that they “avoid the word ‘clashes’ in favor of a more precise description.” </p>
<h2>An incomplete picture</h2>
<p>There is another problem with “clashes.” Limiting media attention to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict only when “clashes erupt” gives Western readers and viewers an incomplete picture. It ignores what B’Tselem describes as the “<a href="https://www.btselem.org/routine_founded_on_violence">daily routine of overt or implicit state violence</a>” that Palestinians living in the Occupied Territories face.</p>
<p>Without understanding the daily violence that Palestinians experience – as documented by groups such as <a href="https://www.hrw.org/report/2021/04/27/threshold-crossed/israeli-authorities-and-crimes-apartheid-and-persecution">Human Rights Watch</a> and <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campaigns/2022/02/israels-system-of-apartheid/">Amnesty International</a> – it is harder for news consumers to fully comprehend why “clashes” take place in the first place.</p>
<p>But the way people get their news is changing, and with it so are Americans’ views on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This is especially true among younger Americans, who are <a href="https://www.digitalnewsreport.org/survey/2019/how-younger-generations-consume-news-differently/">less likely</a> to receive their news from mainstream outlets. </p>
<p>Recent polls show that younger Americans generally <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/04/24/a-new-perspective-on-americans-views-of-israelis-and-palestinians/">sympathize with Palestinians</a> more than older Americans. That shift holds among <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/israelstudies.22.3.08#metadata_info_tab_contents">younger Jewish Americans</a> and <a href="https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/evangelical-youth-losing-love-for-israel-by-35-percent-study-shows-671178">younger evangelicals</a>, two communities that have traditionally expressed strong pro-Israel sentiments.</p>
<p>U.S. journalists themselves are also working to change how outlets cover Israeli violence. Last year several of them – including reporters from The Boston Globe, the Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post and ABC News – issued an <a href="https://medialetterpalestine.medium.com/an-open-letter-on-u-s-media-coverage-of-palestine-d51cad42022d">open letter</a> calling on fellow journalists “to tell the full, contextualized truth without fear or favor, to recognize that obfuscating Israel’s oppression of Palestinians fails this industry’s own objectivity standards.” So far, over 500 journalists have signed on.</p>
<p>Accurate language in the reporting of Israeli-Palestinian violence is not only a concern for journalists’ credibility – it would also provide U.S. news consumers with a deeper understanding of the conditions on the ground and the deadly consequences.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/183077/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Maha Nassar is a 2022 Palestinian Non-Resident Fellow at the Foundation for Middle East Peace.</span></em></p>In trying to present violent events in ‘neutral’ language, media reports may be ignoring power imbalances when it comes to Israeli police or military violence against Palestinian civilians.Maha Nassar, Associate Professor in the School of Middle Eastern and North African Studies, University of ArizonaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1820112022-04-29T12:21:51Z2022-04-29T12:21:51ZWhat’s at stake for Trump, Twitter and politics if the tweeter-in-chief returns from banishment<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460375/original/file-20220428-12-ko7s56.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=76%2C0%2C5596%2C3785&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Could the former tweeter-in-chief make a Twitter comeback?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/president-donald-trump-looks-at-his-phone-during-a-news-photo/1250536011?adppopup=true"> Alex Wong/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Any speculation about <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/04/25/musks-twitter-takeover-biden-officials-worry-trump-will-return-to-platform.html">whether Donald Trump will return to Twitter</a> after <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/08/technology/twitter-trump-suspended.html">his permanent suspension</a> in 2021 must begin with two caveats. First, we do not know for sure if, or when, the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/04/25/business/elon-musk-twitter">presumed new owner of the social media platform, Elon Musk</a>, will lift the ban. Second, Trump <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2022/04/25/trump-wont-return-to-twitter/">has said he will not come back</a>. </p>
<p>“I was disappointed by the way I was treated by Twitter,” <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/04/25/donald-trump-says-he-wont-return-to-twitter-if-elon-musk-reverses-ban.html">Trump told CNBC on April 25, 2022</a>. “I won’t be going back on Twitter.”</p>
<p>But if Musk, Trump and social media have taught us anything, it is that the half-life of such caveats can be seconds. It is worth at least considering the premise: What’s at stake for Trump, Twitter and politics if he does return.</p>
<p>The pull of Twitter <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/04/25/trump-twitter-elon-musk-reinstatement/">might be irresistible</a> for Trump. Before being kicked off the platform for <a href="https://blog.twitter.com/en_us/topics/company/2020/suspension">what Twitter described as</a> “the risk of further incitement of violence” after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, Trump was a prolific user of the site. I know this firsthand: Between 2017 and 2021, <a href="https://theconversation.com/i-analyzed-all-of-trumps-tweets-to-find-out-what-he-was-really-saying-154532">I collected and analyzed all of his tweets</a> – some 20,301, excluding retweets and links without comment.</p>
<h2>Different platform, same narrative</h2>
<p>Trump was a potent narrator-in-chief on Twitter. Reaching <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/04/25/trump-twitter-elon-musk-reinstatement/">nearly 89 million followers</a> by the time of his suspension was only the beginning. In analyzing his use of Twitter, I found that he built a passionate base of loyalists through a <a href="https://theconversation.com/i-analyzed-all-of-trumps-tweets-to-find-out-what-he-was-really-saying-154532">consistent narrative that reflected their grievances</a>. He <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-shares-tweet-mocking-biden-face-mask-coronavirus-2020-5">attacked his rivals with mockery</a>, sold himself as the solution to all problems and used the day’s news to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/17/business/trump-calls-the-news-media-the-enemy-of-the-people.html">warn of enemies</a> near and far. </p>
<p>This high-emotion, high-stakes approach seemed impossible for journalists to ignore. That meant his message often jumped from Twitter to <a href="https://firstdraftnews.org/long-form-article/cable-news-trumps-tweets/">much larger audiences</a>, usually thanks to media outlets that treated his tweets as news. </p>
<p>Sometimes it was news. He <a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/usa_trump-fires-defense-secretary-twitter/6198148.html">hired and fired on Twitter</a> and announced many other major decisions there.</p>
<p>Twitter allowed him <a href="https://doi.org/10.1086/694755">to speak directly</a>, without a filter, to his base. At the same time, it was a production plant for a never-ending news cycle. It is hard to imagine the Trump presidency without Twitter. And it might be even harder to imagine that he could <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/22421396/donald-trump-social-media-ban-facebook-twitter-decrease-drop-impact-youtube">command the same level of attention</a> without it. </p>
<p>Would the public see a different Trump if he returned? Trump’s 16 months in the Twitter wilderness suggest that won’t happen. Examining his primary forms of communication post-Twitter – <a href="https://www.donaldjtrump.com/news/news-d38qgpn9ym1903">press releases</a> on his website and <a href="https://www.rev.com/blog/transcripts/donald-trump-delivers-keynote-speech-in-florida-4-21-22-transcript">speeches</a> – the former president has attacked others, defended himself, picked favorites and enumerated grievances just like he did on Twitter.</p>
<p>Trump seems to be the same digital yarn-spinner who sold a large swath of Americans on his basic premise, <a href="https://theconversation.com/i-analyzed-all-of-trumps-tweets-to-find-out-what-he-was-really-saying-154532">which I summarize as</a>: “The establishment is stopping me from protecting you against invaders.”</p>
<p>Analyzing those post-Twitter communications, it is clear that Trump hasn’t changed this narrative. If anything, the story has become even more potent because the establishment and the invaders are now more regularly one and the same in Trump’s rhetoric. A <a href="https://www.donaldjtrump.com/news/news-hdmbe2yxku1877">sample press release</a> from April 18 indicates as much: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“… the racist and highly partisan Attorney General of New York State, failed Gubernatorial candidate Letitia James, should focus her efforts on saving the State of New York and ending its reputation as a Crime Capital of the World, instead of spending millions of dollars and utilizing a large portion of her office in going after Donald J. Trump and the Trump Organization (for many years!), who have probably done more for New York than virtually any other person or group …” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>All the elements that characterize Trump’s messaging are there: mocking a supposed persecutor, aggrandizing his own accomplishments and ultimately creating a narrative in which he, and everyone who agrees, is a victim. It taps into a larger narrative that institutions, such as journalists and politicians, have ruined America and harmed its “real” citizens in every way from economics to popular culture. Trump’s presentation of himself as both victim and hero clearly gratifies people who believe that story. </p>
<p>You do not have to look that hard for indicators as to how a Trump return to Twitter could play out – they are seen in the multiple press statements he releases on a daily basis. In four such statements released the day after Musk’s Twitter announcement, Trump railed against the <a href="https://www.donaldjtrump.com/news/news-vu55yk5pjk1946">changing of the Cleveland Indians name</a>, <a href="https://www.donaldjtrump.com/news/news-256kdr5knb1948">endorsed a pro-Trump candidate</a> for Congress and <a href="https://www.donaldjtrump.com/news/news-xnek5yzzjs1949">encouraged supporters to watch a new film</a> made by “incredible Patriots” who were “exposing this great election fraud.” That last statement ended with a rallying call to spread the message that “the 2020 Election was Rigged and Stolen!”</p>
<h2>Blue checks and red lines</h2>
<p>While Trump has stated he will not return to Twitter, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/04/25/trump-twitter-elon-musk-reinstatement/">former advisers</a>, speaking anonymously, are not so sure. That might be because his website where the press releases are posted <a href="https://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/donaldjtrump.com">ranked 34,564th for engagement</a> on April 27, according to Alexa. Twitter, that same day, ranked 12th. <a href="https://truthsocial.com/">Truth Social</a>, the social media app founded by Trump, would have to be wildly successful to offset the power of attention and influence that Trump enjoyed on Twitter.</p>
<p>[<em>Over 150,000 readers rely on The Conversation’s newsletters to understand the world.</em> <a href="https://memberservices.theconversation.com/newsletters/?source=inline-150ksignup">Sign up today</a>.]</p>
<p>What would a Musk-owned Twitter do if Trump, allowed back on the platform, continued to say false and misleading things?</p>
<p>Tagging tweets as false or misleading, <a href="https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2020-11-03/twitter-trump-2020-election-night-tweet-disclaimer">as Trump’s</a> <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/twitter-flags-trump-tweet/story?id=72970494">frequently were</a> toward the end of his time on Twitter, may, for the “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/apr/14/how-free-speech-absolutist-elon-musk-would-transform-twitter">free speech absolutist</a>” that Musk claims to be, cross some perceived line. In any case, it might not be that effective. A <a href="https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2022/02/fact-checks-effectively-counter-covid-misinformation">recent experiment</a> at Cornell University found that tagging false claims on a platform such as Facebook or Twitter “had no effect on survey participants’ perception of its accuracy and actually increased their likelihood of sharing it on social media.” </p>
<p>The same study found that fact checking and “rebutting the false claim with links to additional information” was more successful, making people less likely to believe the false information. And Twitter has <a href="https://blog.twitter.com/en_us/topics/product/2021/introducing-birdwatch-a-community-based-approach-to-misinformation">begun experimenting with a fact-checking</a> feature to correct false information on the platform. Paying attention to what happens to that feature might give some indication as to how much will be tolerated from Trump should he go back on Twitter. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, despite Musk’s <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1517215066550116354">desire to go after Twitter bots</a> – the presence of which are thought to have amplified Trump’s voice and <a href="https://time.com/5286013/twitter-bots-donald-trump-votes/">potentially his share of the vote</a> – <a href="https://blog.twitter.com/common-thread/en/topics/stories/2021/four-truths-about-bots">that may prove a difficult undertaking</a>. </p>
<h2>I’ve changed … really</h2>
<p>How will the media respond should the former president return to Twitter, given his previous success in using the platform <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444819893987">to spark media coverage</a>. Research has found that not only was Trump successful in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444819893987">boosting coverage of himself through tweeting</a>, he was also able to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-19644-6">divert media from reporting on potentially negative topics</a> that could hurt his standing by tweeting about something completely different.</p>
<p>It’s not clear whether the media will again choose to follow and amplify Trump’s tweets with the same frequency.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, changing a platform like Twitter to address some of the concerns associated with a returning Trump is a massive undertaking. And the chances of Trump himself changing seem even less likely. So should it happen, don’t be surprised if a Trump-Twitter reunion looks a lot like the first go-round.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/182011/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael Humphrey does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Analysis of Trump’s post-Twitter communications suggest that the former president has not moderated his messaging style. So what does that mean if he were to go back on Twitter?Michael Humphrey, Assistant Professor of Journalism and Media Communication, Colorado State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1819362022-04-27T12:34:46Z2022-04-27T12:34:46ZElon Musk and the oligarchs of the ‘Second Gilded Age’ can not only sway the public – they can exploit their data, too<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/459868/original/file-20220426-18-aesf0o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C231%2C5313%2C3337&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A new Gilded Age of media barons?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/People-ElonMuskGrimes/277e1005c6aa4aafa63b2bdb963f3dca/photo?Query=elon%20musk&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=1179&currentItemNo=66">Charles Sykes/Invision/AP</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>During the Gilded Age of the late 19th century, and the early decades of the 20th century, U.S. captains of industry such as <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520347878/the-anatomy-of-fake-news">William Randolph Hearst and Jay Gould</a> used their massive wealth to dominate facets of the economy, including the news media. They were, in many ways, prototype oligarchs – by <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=oligarch">the dictionary definition</a>, “very rich business leaders with a great deal of political influence.”</p>
<p>Some have argued that the U.S. is in the midst of a <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/B014AEA559FC026265748E10E9DE78E9/S1537781419000616a.pdf/div-class-title-a-second-gilded-age-the-promises-and-perils-of-an-analogy-introduction-div.pdf">Second Gilded Age</a> defined – like the first – by vast <a href="https://www.history.com/news/second-gilded-age-income-inequality">wealth inequality</a>, <a href="https://www.history.com/news/second-gilded-age-income-inequality">hyper-partisanship, xenophobia</a> and a <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/video/15-richest-media-owners-world-105350162.html">new crop of oligarchs</a> using their vast wealth to purchase media and political influence. </p>
<p>Which brings us to the announcement on April 25, 2022, that Tesla billionaire <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/04/25/twitter-accepts-elon-musks-buyout-deal.html">Elon Musk</a> is, barring any last-minute hitches, purchasing the social media platform Twitter. It will put <a href="https://www.forbes.com/real-time-billionaires/#37e8d8b63d78">the wealthiest man on the planet</a> in control of one of the most influential means of communications in world today.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://www.csueastbay.edu/directory/profiles/hist/higdonnolan.html">media scholar</a>, I suspect Musk’s desire in buying Twitter goes beyond a desire to control and shape public discourse. Today’s equivalent of the Gilded Age oligarchs – the handful of <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-slippery-slope-of-the-oligarchy-media-model-81931">super-rich Americans gobbling up</a> increasing chunks of the media landscape – will have that, but they will also have access to a trove of personal data of users and news consumers.</p>
<h2>All the newspapers fit to buy</h2>
<p>Over the past decade, numerous American billionaires have purchased news media outlets such as the <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/briansolomon/2013/08/03/billionaire-red-sox-owner-john-henry-buys-boston-globe-for-70-million-from-new-york-times/?sh=56c451214daa">Boston Globe</a>, <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/12/why-did-sheldon-adelson-buy-nevadas-largest-newspaper/421035/">Las Vegas Review-Journal</a>, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/noahkirsch/2020/05/21/journalists-are-angry-about-layoffs-at-the-atlantic-owned-by-billionaire-laurene-powell-jobs/?sh=691707c04b4b">The Atlantic</a> and the <a href="https://www.latimes.com/business/hollywood/la-fi-ct-patrick-soon-shiong-latimes-sold-20180616-story.html">Los Angeles Times</a>. Perhaps the most famous example is <a href="https://www.forbes.com/real-time-billionaires/#5c003c4d3d78">Jeff Bezos</a>, the founder and executive chairman of Amazon, who <a href="https://money.cnn.com/2013/08/05/news/companies/washington-post-bezos/index.html">spent US$250 million</a> of his roughly $170 billion net worth to purchase <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-the-washington-post-changed-after-jeff-bezos-acquisition-2016-5">The Washington Post</a> in 2013. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/?id=c024481">Media</a> <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/78912/manufacturing-consent-by-edward-s-herman-and-noam-chomsky/">scholars</a> have aired concern for decades that unfettered wealth and tepid government regulation have <a href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2004/08/the-media-monotony.html">enabled a handful</a> of corporations to dominate news media coverage in the U.S. Indeed, the companies that produce the majority of news media in the U.S. has dwindled from 50 in the <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/206221/the-new-media-monopoly-by-ben-h-bagdikian/">1980s</a> to roughly <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/stock-market/market-sectors/communication/media-stocks/big-6/#:%7E:text=Some%20estimates%20claim%20as%20much">six</a> today.</p>
<p>This <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-slippery-slope-of-the-oligarchy-media-model-81931">consolidation of the media industry in the hands of wealthy individuals</a> is, as media scholar <a href="https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/?id=c024481">Robert McChesney</a> has argued, especially <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Lets-Agree-to-Disagree-A-Critical-Thinking-Guide-to-Communication-Conflict/Higdon-Huff/p/book/9781032168982">concerning for a healthy democracy</a>, which necessitates that the electorate has access to an abundance of diverse views and free-flowing information. </p>
<p>The public relies on journalists to relay stories that they can interpret to determine how they vote; if they will vote; and if they should organize and engage in civil disobedience. The negative consequences of this concentration of ownership are that it can enabled a handful of corporate news outlets to normalize baseless or false reporting that turns out to be misleading, such as the reporting on <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520347878/the-anatomy-of-fake-news">weapons of mass destruction</a> prior to the 2003 invasion of Iraq.</p>
<p>Just like the U.S. oligarchs of the 19th century and early 20th century, today’s billionaires recognize that by controlling the free flow of information they can control or shape the electorate’s democratic participation. For example, soon after casino mogul Sheldon Adelson purchased the Las Vegas Review-Journal <a href="https://www.politico.com/media/story/2016/02/sheldon-adelson-tightens-grip-on-review-journal-004384/">reports surfaced</a> that stories about the billionaire were being censored or altered so he could manage the public’s image of his businesses in the gambling-centric city.</p>
<p>Similarly, some critics have suggested that after Bezos purchased The Washington Post, the newspaper’s coverage became noticeably <a href="https://www.cjr.org/the_new_gatekeepers/washington-post-bezos-amazon.php">soft in its coverage of Amazon</a>, and <a href="https://fair.org/home/washington-post-ran-16-negative-stories-on-bernie-sanders-in-16-hours/">tough</a> on Bezos’ political opponents. The Washington Post <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/03/08/has-the-washington-post-been-too-hard-on-bernie-sanders-this-week/">denies</a> <a href="https://www.poynter.org/ethics-trust/2016/washington-post-denies-jeff-bezos-sways-coverage/">both</a> of these claims. </p>
<h2>The user as a product</h2>
<p>With an estimated fortune of <a href="https://www.forbes.com/real-time-billionaires/#5c003c4d3d78">$268 billion</a> as of April 2022, Musk is just the latest and wealthiest to purchase a media platform. In opting to buy into social media rather than a traditional news outlet, the Tesla CEO is getting control of an important news delivery system. A <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/2021/11/15/news-on-twitter-consumed-by-most-users-and-trusted-by-many/">2021 Pew survey</a> found that 23% of Americans use Twitter – and 7 in 10 Twitter users said they received news from the platform. </p>
<p>But the potential threats posed by an individual billionaire controlling Twitter are much more complicated and dangerous than that of earlier wealthy media proprietors, who primarily could only sway the news. </p>
<p>Even before Musk vied to buy Twitter, Silicon Valley was already controlled by <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrickcai/2021/10/05/richest-us-tech-billionaires-2021-forbes-400-list/?sh=2af196966de9">billionaires</a> who operated a handful of companies known as the FAANGs – Facebook (now Meta), Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Google (now Alphabet). These companies’ profits are derived from a new economic order that Harvard Professor Shoshana Zuboff has dubbed “<a href="https://www.publicaffairsbooks.com/titles/shoshana-zuboff/the-age-of-surveillance-capitalism/9781610395694/">surveillance capitalism</a>.” Under surveillance capitalism, the user is the product – that is to say, companies collect and sell information about users to those interested in predicting, or in some cases nudging, <a href="https://www.publicaffairsbooks.com/titles/shoshana-zuboff/the-age-of-surveillance-capitalism/9781610395694/">human behavior</a>. </p>
<p>In this new economic order, tech companies constantly surveil users on and off their platforms for the purpose of collecting and analyzing data – which include audio, video, typed words, GPS or <a href="https://nyupress.org/9781479892822/the-rise-of-big-data-policing/">even</a> <a href="https://www.routledge.com/The-Future-of-Digital-Data-Heritage-and-Curation-in-a-More-than-Human/Cameron/p/book/9780367690588">DNA</a> – to open a window into a user’s thoughts and cognitive processes. </p>
<p>In order to keep the data pouring in, big tech companies rely on techniques from the <a href="https://www.publicaffairsbooks.com/titles/shoshana-zuboff/the-age-of-surveillance-capitalism/9781610395694/">gambling industry</a> to <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/04/capitalisms-addiction-problem/606769/">keep people addicted</a> to their screen. Essentially, they keep users chasing the initial dopamine rush that comes from a “like” or “friend request” on Facebook, on a “retweet” or “new follower” on Twitter. Similar to the gambling industry, <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-facebook-files-11631713039">reports</a> have found that these <a href="https://www.publicaffairsbooks.com/titles/shoshana-zuboff/the-age-of-surveillance-capitalism/9781610395694/">techniques</a> are used with little regard for users’ <a href="http://www.jeantwenge.com/igen-book-by-dr-jean-twenge/">mental health</a>.</p>
<p>In 2022, for example, a <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-facebook-files-11631713039">Facebook whistleblower</a> revealed that the company was aware that its platform design was harming users, particularly young people, but refused to make any changes out of fear it would weaken profitability.</p>
<h2>A free speech enthusiast?</h2>
<p>In this context, Musk is not simply a modern version of a 19th century oligarch. His power goes beyond shaping public discourse with narrowly framed stories and the removal of select content. Yes, he may be able to do this. But in addition, he will have a vast amount of personal data under his discretion. For example, when using <a href="https://developer.twitter.com/en/docs/twitter-for-websites/privacy#:%7E:text=When%20you%20view%20Twitter%20content,operating%20system%2C%20and%20cookie%20information">Twitter content or products</a>, including those integrated into other websites, Twitter collects data and stores what web pages the user accessed, as well as their IP address, browser type, operating system and cookie information.</p>
<p>Musk has said his purchase of Twitter is motivated by his support of <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/04/25/elon-musk-and-free-speech-track-record-not-encouraging.html">free speech</a>. But this runs counter to his <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-elon-musk-ruthlessly-fired-anyone-who-disagreed-spacex-report-2021-8">reputation for actively seeking revenge</a> against those who criticize his businesses. Furthermore, under his <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/04/25/elon-musk-and-free-speech-track-record-not-encouraging.html">leadership</a> Tesla has maintained contracts that prevented former employees from criticizing the company. </p>
<p>Moreover, as it has been argued by computer scientist and philosophy writer <a href="http://www.jaronlanier.com/tenarguments.html">Jaron Lanier</a> and free-expression activist and author <a href="https://www.versobooks.com/books/4034-silicon-values">Jillian York</a>, social media platforms such as Twitter are not conducive to “true” free speech, which is loosely defined as <a href="https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/free-speech">the right</a> to express one’s opinions without interference. </p>
<p>Moreover, by making decisions about what content users do and do not see, social media companies, it could be argued, are interfering with speech. Indeed, social media platofrms’ algorithms <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/309214/the-filter-bubble-by-eli-pariser/">customize</a> news feeds with content that they believe the user will find the most engaging, to the exclusion to other content.</p>
<p>The era of surveillance capitalism has created new opportunities for billionaires to influence the electorate. Like his predecessors in the first Gilded Age, Musk can determine which reporting users see and do not see on his platform. Unlike his predecessors, he can also track and surveil users – collecting lucrative data that can be used to predict or nudge their behavior.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/181936/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nolan Higdon does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Media ownership has consolidated around a handful of billionaires – and that might not be great for democracy.Nolan Higdon, Lecturer of History and Media Studies, California State University, East BayLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1756042022-04-13T19:10:00Z2022-04-13T19:10:00ZNews media heeding call to limit naming perpetrators in mass shootings<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456646/original/file-20220406-16-grqk9p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C20%2C3494%2C2305&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">At times taking their lead from police, journalists are naming shooters less often and less prominently.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/collierville-police-chief-dale-lane-center-speaks-with-the-news-photo/1235455696">Brad Vest/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The day after a man opened fire at a Collierville, Tennessee, grocery store, killing one person and wounding 13 others before turning the gun on himself, local police conducted an impromptu news conference to identify the perpetrator.</p>
<p>But instead of saying the suspect’s name out loud on that sunny morning in September 2021, Collierville Police Lt. David Townsend <a href="https://www.commercialappeal.com/story/news/2021/09/24/collierville-kroger-shooting-tennessee-updates/5837930001/">held up a yellow piece of paper</a> with the name “Uk Thang” and the birth date “10-17-91.”</p>
<p>Nothing else was said about the suspect at the press conference, other than that he was a “third-party vendor” for the store. Later reporting determined he was the <a href="https://www.commercialappeal.com/story/news/2021/10/07/collierville-police-release-new-details-kroger-shooting-injured-15/6041845001/">franchise operator for the sushi counter</a> at the store, but he was not a Kroger employee.</p>
<p>That press conference has become typical of the way law enforcement has reacted after mass shootings: Never mention the suspect’s name or offer much information about the person. The goal is to encourage the news media to avoid using the perpetrator’s name and thus deprive the perpetrator of publicity. As my research has found, for the past 10 years the news media has followed suit by reducing the number of times the name of a mass shooter is reported.</p>
<p>Now that the suspect has been arrested, it will be interesting to see how the news media handles the reporting of the name of the alleged perpetrator of the <a href="https://www.cnn.com/us/live-news/brooklyn-subway-shooting-nyc/index.html">April 12, 2022, Brooklyn subway shooting</a>. Many <a href="https://everytownresearch.org/maps/mass-shootings-in-america/">mass shootings end</a> with suspects turning the weapons on themselves or being killed by police. The Brooklyn suspect <a href="https://www.cnn.com/us/live-news/day-2-brooklyn-subway-shooting-nyc/">initially evaded capture</a>, so police revealed the name as part of efforts to arrest him.</p>
<p>But is reducing the number of times the perpetrator’s name is used in news coverage in the public interest? It certainly diminishes the notoriety of the perpetrator and reduces any incentive to become famous. </p>
<p>Yet when the name is not used, <a href="https://www.poynter.org/ethics-trust/2019/not-naming-mass-shooters-much-is-now-the-norm/">other more relevant details</a>, such as the person’s motives and background, may also not be reported. </p>
<h2>Change came in 2012</h2>
<p>I got interested in the issue after several high-profile mass shooting perpetrators were not named out loud by police in the aftermath of attacks. And it seemed that the news media followed suit.</p>
<p>I analyzed how often perpetrators were named in news articles within a week of mass shootings between 1999 and 2021. </p>
<p>The research, not yet published, examined mass shooting news coverage starting with the Columbine High School killings in 1999 and ending with the <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/multiple-people-shot-indianapolis-fedex-facility-police/story?id=77109792">Indianapolis FedEx hub killings</a> in 2021. My findings confirmed what previous research had shown: The more deaths there were, the more news reports used the perpetrator’s name. That was true for the entire time period.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456654/original/file-20220406-14533-qzpt1y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A police officer stands at a lectern facing people holding microphones and cameras" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456654/original/file-20220406-14533-qzpt1y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456654/original/file-20220406-14533-qzpt1y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=183&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456654/original/file-20220406-14533-qzpt1y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=183&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456654/original/file-20220406-14533-qzpt1y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=183&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456654/original/file-20220406-14533-qzpt1y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=230&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456654/original/file-20220406-14533-qzpt1y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=230&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456654/original/file-20220406-14533-qzpt1y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=230&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">When police use alleged mass shooters’ names less often, the media follow suit.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/orange-police-lt-jennifer-amat-address-the-media-during-a-news-photo/1310344238">Jeff Gritchen/MediaNews Group/Orange County Register via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But there was a turning point in 2012. Taking into consideration the number of people killed in a mass shooting, the number of times the news media used the perpetrators’ name in news reports started to decline.</p>
<p>After a July 2012 mass shooting at a <a href="https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-orlando-shooting-media-20160618-snap-story.html">Colorado movie theater</a>, relatives of the victims asked that the state’s governor not to mention the perpetrator’s name at a memorial service where the victims’ names would be read. Victim advocates and family members wanted to give no publicity to the killer out of concerns that <a href="https://nonotoriety.com">notoriety was one of the perpetrator’s motives</a>.</p>
<p>The governor’s public remarks referred to the shooter only as “Suspect A.” Later that year, the mass shooting of elementary school children and school staff in Newtown, Connecticut, shocked the nation. In that case, the name of the perpetrator in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting was <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/disturbing-things-learned-today-sandy-hook-shooter-adam/story?id=27087140">widely circulated in news reports</a>.</p>
<p>The decision to avoid naming mass shooting perpetrators is based on the idea that people who engage in mass shooting attacks do it out of the desire for publicity. Certainly, there is anecdotal evidence that some mass shooters <a href="https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-orlando-shooting-media-20160618-snap-story.html">use the media to gain notoriety</a> from their attacks. The 2007 Virginia Tech shooter paused his killing spree to <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna18195423">mail photos of himself</a> to NBC News. The <a href="https://www.hfa.ucsb.edu/news-entries/2019/12/1/moving-the-lens-from-shooter-to-victims-isla-vista-2014">2014 Isla Vista shooter</a> posted a manifesto on YouTube before he began killing.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456656/original/file-20220406-18668-bd5h6l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman in a police uniform stands at a bank of microphones" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456656/original/file-20220406-18668-bd5h6l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456656/original/file-20220406-18668-bd5h6l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456656/original/file-20220406-18668-bd5h6l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456656/original/file-20220406-18668-bd5h6l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456656/original/file-20220406-18668-bd5h6l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456656/original/file-20220406-18668-bd5h6l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456656/original/file-20220406-18668-bd5h6l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Police statements are the most common way journalists find out the identities of alleged mass shooters.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/santa-clara-county-sheriff-laurie-smith-addresses-the-media-news-photo/1233120997">Philip Pacheco/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Is there a risk of not knowing?</h2>
<p>Certainly news organizations can dig deep into the backgrounds of mass shooters without ever naming the person. My research did not determine whether reducing the times a mass shooter is named was connected with reducing the amount of coverage of mass shooters’ background and motives. But the name is a concrete, basic piece of information about a person.</p>
<p>Supporters of <a href="https://www.dontnamethem.org">not naming perpetrators</a> make the case that the less written, spoken or known about the perpetrators, the better. It also eliminates any incentive for perpetrators to become famous from such horrific acts. Whether this trend of reducing the naming of mass shooters helps reduce mass shootings or perhaps makes them more likely is not something my research can determine.</p>
<p>Mass shootings happen for a host of reasons. <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2021/04/01/mass-shootings-georgia-colorado-expose-lax-gun-laws-amid-cries-reform/7061512002/">Lax gun laws</a> in the U.S. and the <a href="https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/blogs/stateline/2019/08/08/one-third-of-mass-shootings-committed-by-people-with-mental-illness-study-says">lack of mental health services</a> are two of the most discussed reasons. Some say they are unavoidable random events that <a href="https://rockinst.org/issue-area/can-mass-shootings-be-stopped">cannot be stopped</a>.</p>
<p>It is not yet clear how much notoriety is a factor for potential shooters. But we do know that the news media is heeding the call to limit naming perpetrators in mass shootings.</p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Thomas J. Hrach does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The more deaths there were, the more news reports used the perpetrator’s name. But something changed in 2012. The Brooklyn subway shooting may be an exception.Thomas J. Hrach, Associate Professor, Department of Journalism and Strategic Media, University of MemphisLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1744242022-04-13T12:14:20Z2022-04-13T12:14:20ZConservatives feel blamed, shamed and ostracized by the media<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456620/original/file-20220406-18-d0kw5a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4824%2C3610&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Some conservatives view media as biased and take it personally.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/stadium-crowd-jeering-open-mouthed-and-pointing-low-royalty-free-image/200244723-011">John Rowley/The Image Bank via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Tune in to a conservative podcast or scroll through conservative Facebook feeds and there is a decent chance you’ll encounter the terms “mainstream media,” “liberal media” or just “the media,” used in a tone suggesting that the audience all should know exactly who that refers to and exactly what they did wrong.</p>
<p>Polling shows that <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/08/30/partisan-divides-in-media-trust-widen-driven-by-a-decline-among-republicans/">trust in the media among conservatives</a> is low and dropping. Much of the American right is <a href="https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/why-being-anti-media-is-now-part-of-the-gop-identity/">hostile toward the press</a>, but there’s not much research seeking to understand why, or what it means.</p>
<p>Sometimes, journalists and academics view research into conservative communities as disrespectful and <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/10/on-safari-in-trumps-america/543288/">tinged with condescension</a>. Other times this research is viewed as too respectful, focusing on a group whose influence on American politics is <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/09/the-left-behind-trump-voter-has-nothing-more-to-tell-us">greater than its proportional share of the population</a>.</p>
<p>We understand these objections. But in studying political media, <a href="https://www.ursinus.edu/live/profiles/4139-doron-taussig">we</a> <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=enHWCaoAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=sra">have</a> come to believe that the alienation of conservatives from journalism presents a problem in a society where people are supposed to govern themselves using shared information. And we view that problem as worth exploring to understand it.</p>
<p>So, for a research paper <a href="https://www.cjr.org/tow_center_reports/polarization-covid-conservative.php">published by the Tow Center for Digital Journalism</a>, we and our collaborators <a href="https://klein.temple.edu/faculty/andrea-wenzel">Andrea Wenzel</a> and <a href="https://towcenter.columbia.edu/content/natacha-yazbeck">Natacha Yazbeck</a> held focus groups and conducted individual interviews from September 2020 until May 2021 with 25 people in the greater Philadelphia region who identified themselves as conservatives. Our questions focused on their perceptions of, and feelings about, coverage of the coronavirus pandemic.</p>
<p>Our interviewees expressed animosity toward the press. But they were not primarily upset that the media get facts wrong, nor even that journalists push a liberal policy agenda. Their anger was about their deeper belief that the American press blames, shames and ostracizes conservatives. </p>
<p>Our research did not investigate whether these perceptions are rooted in reality. What we can say is that they appeared deeply felt, and they colored the way our interviewees perceived media coverage of important issues – like, for example, COVID-19.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456219/original/file-20220404-15-odd2jr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man yells and raises both middle fingers" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456219/original/file-20220404-15-odd2jr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456219/original/file-20220404-15-odd2jr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456219/original/file-20220404-15-odd2jr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456219/original/file-20220404-15-odd2jr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456219/original/file-20220404-15-odd2jr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456219/original/file-20220404-15-odd2jr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456219/original/file-20220404-15-odd2jr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Strong feelings against the media are deeply felt, a research study finds.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/trump-supporter-screams-at-the-media-during-a-rally-on-news-photo/692604548">Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>‘Expunged from our society’</h2>
<p>Our interviewees described mainstream media operations like The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN and network news as “liberal.” What “liberal” meant to them was mostly a contempt for what they viewed as traditional American culture generally and conservatives specifically. </p>
<p>One college student, who joined our Zoom wearing a MAGA hat, said that in mainstream media, conservatives are “basically seen now as the outcasts, the savages.” Another interviewee, who worked as a manager at a retail store, offered as an example of the media’s attitude toward conservatives what he described as <a href="https://twitter.com/keitholbermann/status/1347150996804423682">a “rant” from political commentator Keith Olbermann</a> after Jan. 6, 2021. Our interviewee characterized this as a message that “all Trump supporters and those around him need to be expunged from our society.”</p>
<p>The people we spoke with said this ostracism was happening right now. The college student said he couldn’t express his views in his workplace or his classes for fear of retribution or shaming.</p>
<p>A real estate agent who described herself as a “millennial conservative” said political disagreement had caused old friends to unfollow her on Facebook. </p>
<p>“When I get going, politically, on my Facebook, I’m like, ‘Here I go, I’m calculating 10 [lost friends] by the end of the day.’” </p>
<p>She said the level of “tolerance” she felt from the liberals in her life “has definitely dwindled … I’m just seeing, ‘Okay, I’m just done with dealing with people like you.’”</p>
<h2>‘Completely overdramatized’</h2>
<p>As our interviewees tell it, media coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic primarily blamed conservatives and President Donald Trump for the virus’s toll. The interviewees accused the media of exaggerating the problem and suggesting Trump’s policies and conservative recalcitrance were responsible for much of the death and suffering COVID-19 had inflicted on Americans.</p>
<p>Most interviewees didn’t dismiss the threat of COVID-19 entirely. But they said journalists obscured the degree to which the danger was limited to vulnerable groups. Then, they said, those same journalists dwelt on negative statistics and downplayed the economic impacts of lockdown measures.</p>
<p>“What they’re doing is actually laying guilt on certain people,” said a retiree who had owned a gas station. A college student said, “The only real fact I’m hearing from them is the death toll … then they go off on how bad Trump is.”</p>
<p>Several interviewees said journalists’ apparent concerns about COVID-19 were shown to be insincere when – in their view – virus fears were absent from media coverage of the protests that followed George Floyd’s murder in the summer of 2020. </p>
<p>“When we have the riots that were occurring, we had those groups that were not wearing masks, and again that wasn’t exactly emphasized as a negative, but when you have pool parties or people at beaches who weren’t wearing masks, it was completely overdramatized,” said a university instructor.</p>
<p>Their perception that COVID-19 was hyped to damage Trump was so powerful that it could withstand what seemed to us like contrary evidence. We asked interviewees why the press continued to sound the alarm about COVID-19 with similar fervor after Joe Biden was inaugurated. One interviewee admitted he was perplexed. </p>
<p>“I wish I knew,” he said. “That’s the ultimate question I don’t have an answer for. There’s no reason that I can see, statistically, legitimately, factually, for keeping up that narrative now.” </p>
<p>We are not able to say how representative, or not, the views of these 25 people are. But they are consistent with key themes in conservative media, including the <a href="https://theconversation.com/fox-news-uses-the-word-hate-much-more-than-msnbc-or-cnn-145983">general notion of anti-conservative animus</a> and the specific story line that <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/03/fox-news-dear-leader-donald-trump-coronavirus-coverage">COVID-19 was overhyped to hurt Trump</a>.</p>
<h2>Telling a new story</h2>
<p>Since the 2016 election, connecting better with conservatives has <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2021/09/inside-ag-sulzbergers-top-times-project">become a goal</a> for some major media outlets. </p>
<p>It is tempting to imagine that journalists could win trust with <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/media-bias-against-conservatives-real-part-reason-no-one-trusts-ncna895471">rigorous accuracy or conspicuous evenhandedness</a>. But our conversations suggest that these measures alone will not be enough to change attitudes. </p>
<p>Aided by <a href="https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/the-great-anti-left-show/">years of prodding by conservative politicians and pundits</a>, many conservatives are deeply skeptical of journalists’ motivations. </p>
<p>Our interviewees view mainstream news outlets as part of a group of liberal institutions dedicated to making conservatives into pariahs. The misinformation often at the heart of conservative responses to COVID-19 is a symptom, rather than a cause, of this distrust. </p>
<p>If there’s a chance of improving the situation, journalists will need to develop strategies for challenging these emotionally powerful stories that portray professional news media as disdainful of conservatives and their communities. Journalists may or may not see conservative estrangement as their fault. But if their goal is to inform a wide swath of the public, they’ll need to convince more of the public that this is, in fact, their goal.</p>
<p>[<em>The Conversation’s Politics + Society editors pick need-to-know stories.</em> <a href="https://memberservices.theconversation.com/newsletters/?nl=politics&source=inline-politics-need-to-know">Sign up for Politics Weekly</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/174424/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Doron Taussig is affiliated with the Germantown Life Enrichment Center. He receives funding from the Tow Center for Digital Journalism and Project Pericles.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anthony M. Nadler has received funding from the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia University. </span></em></p>A series of in-depth interviews with self-described conservatives found concerns that go beyond concerns about selective facts or obvious partisanship.Doron Taussig, Assistant Professor in Journalism, Ursinus CollegeAnthony M. Nadler, Associate Professor of Media and Communication Studies, Ursinus CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1732052022-02-04T13:08:31Z2022-02-04T13:08:31ZNew forms of advertising raise questions about journalism integrity<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/444123/original/file-20220202-17-dvum8z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=12%2C8%2C2659%2C1350&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Is this a paid ad or a news story? Can you tell?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/brand-studio/wellsfargo/investing-in-a-cleaner-future/">Screenshot from washingtonpost.com</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Mainstream news media outlets have, in recent years, begun to <a href="https://www.orbooks.com/catalog/black-ops-advertising-by-mara-einstein/">create advertisements that look like news articles</a> on their websites and on social media. <a href="https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/17824">My research</a> raises questions about whether this modern form of advertising might influence those outlets’ real journalism. </p>
<p>These specific advertisements are called “native advertising,” but are also tagged as “<a href="https://www.orbooks.com/catalog/black-ops-advertising-by-mara-einstein/">sponsored content</a>,” “partner post” or other labels <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1464884918754829">consumers don’t understand</a>. They look like news articles, with headlines, photos with captions and polished text. But really they are ads created by, or on behalf of, a paying advertiser.</p>
<p>With declining revenue from traditional display advertising and classified ads, news outlets are <a href="https://www.orbooks.com/catalog/black-ops-advertising-by-mara-einstein/">increasingly relying on</a> native advertising – a sector in which U.S. spending was expected to reach <a href="https://www.outbrain.com/blog/21-native-advertising-statistics-for-2021/">$57 billion by the end of 2021</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/paidpost/cole-haan/grit-and-grace.html">Fashion</a> and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/paidpost/netflix/women-inmates-separate-but-not-equal.html">entertainment</a> companies buy native advertising. So do corporations that produce products with potentially significant environmental or health connections, such as <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/environment/media-fossil-fuel-ads/">fossil fuels</a>, <a href="https://www.statnews.com/sponsor/2019/02/07/leveraging-technology-to-help-address-the-opioid-crisis/">opioid medications</a> and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/brand-studio/wp/2021/05/25/lost-amid-misinformation-real-people-real-science-real-progress/">cigarettes</a> – including in attempts to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/02650487.2021.1914445">counter negative news coverage</a>.</p>
<h2>Deceiving audiences</h2>
<p>In one example from spring 2021, Philip Morris International – the tobacco company – ran a native advertising campaign across many media outlets, including <a href="http://sponsored.bostonglobe.com/pmi/science-leading-to-a-smoke-free-future/?s_campaign=bg:article:tease">The Boston Globe</a>, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/paidpost/philip-morris-international/embracing-science-for-better-if-not-now-when.html">The New York Times</a>, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/sponsored/we-cannot-let-misinformation-get-in-the-way-of-progress">Reuters</a> and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/brand-studio/wp/2021/05/25/lost-amid-misinformation-real-people-real-science-real-progress/">The Washington Post</a>. </p>
<p>The ads complained about the “<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/brand-studio/wp/2021/05/25/lost-amid-misinformation-real-people-real-science-real-progress/">disinformation campaigns that muddy the truth</a>” regarding the benefits of vaping products while themselves muddying the truth. </p>
<p>In the past, the tobacco industry sought to <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/doubt-is-their-product-9780195300673?cc=us&lang=en&">manufacture public uncertainty</a> about the harms of its products. This time, Philip Morris is using a practice that <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/feb/25/yahoo-opens-gemini-native-advertising">media critics</a> say is deceptive and media scholar Victor Pickard calls “<a href="https://archives.cjr.org/behind_the_news/qa_victor_pickard.php">subterfuge … creating confusion between editorial and advertising content</a>,” to make claims about the benefits of its products.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439374/original/file-20220104-23-aobs3m.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439374/original/file-20220104-23-aobs3m.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=283&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439374/original/file-20220104-23-aobs3m.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=283&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439374/original/file-20220104-23-aobs3m.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=283&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439374/original/file-20220104-23-aobs3m.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=355&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439374/original/file-20220104-23-aobs3m.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=355&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439374/original/file-20220104-23-aobs3m.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=355&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Screenshot of a native advertisement appearing in The Washington Post from Philip Morris International.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/brand-studio/wp/2021/05/25/lost-amid-misinformation-real-people-real-science-real-progress/">Washington Post</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These advertisements that look like real news are <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/business-center/guidance/com-disclosures-how-make-effective-disclosures-digital">labeled as ads</a>, as required by the Federal Trade Commission. But <a href="https://www.doi.org/10.1080/00913367.2015.1115380">research studies</a> have <a href="https://www.doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2017.1293488">repeatedly</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1464884918754829">shown</a> that those labels are largely ineffective at helping readers distinguish between the two types of content.</p>
<h2>Made by journalists</h2>
<p>Many media companies have created <a href="https://thetrust.wsjbarrons.com/">content</a> <a href="https://www.tbrandstudio.com/">studios</a>, separate from their newsrooms, to <a href="http://mediashift.org/2017/10/advertisers-underwrite-new-york-times-content/">create native advertising</a> on behalf of corporate and special interest groups. While newspapers traditionally had ad departments that designed and mocked up advertisements for their clients, today’s native ads are in the form of a “story” that often does not focus on – and sometimes <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10496491.2017.1323264">does not even mention</a> – its sponsor in order to resemble the seemingly objective journalism it imitates.</p>
<p>Sometimes those efforts have the help of intermediaries such as so-called “product marketing” teams that work between the newsroom and studios. A former “creative strategist” at The New York Times says that arrangement allows publishers “<a href="https://www.cjr.org/tow_center_reports/native-ads.php">to skirt the implication that news staff work directly with brands to craft commercial content</a>.” In other cases, journalists write for <a href="https://thebaffler.com/salvos/rest-advertising">both the newsroom</a> <a href="https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/blurred-lines-and-black-ops-disappearing-divide-between-uk-news-and-adverti/">and their publisher’s content studio</a>.</p>
<p>Because native advertising typically has <a href="https://www.cjr.org/tow_center_reports/native-ads.php">no bylines</a>, most people are unaware that advertisements may be created in such close connection with mainstream newsrooms. <a href="https://www.cjr.org/special_report/digital-age-the-new-york-times-slippery-path-news-advertising.php">Former</a> <a href="https://www.cjr.org/tow_center_reports/native-ads.php">employees</a>, including a <a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/01/jill-abramson-merchants-of-truth-book-excerpt.html">former executive editor of The New York Times</a>, say most publishers are not transparent about it with their audiences. One digital journalist told researchers, “Some people will say the ad is labeled so it’s not bad. That’s crap … the unsophisticated won’t get it and then <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764216660135">they’ll click on something meant to look exactly like a story</a>. That’s a problem.”</p>
<h2>Disappearing disclosures</h2>
<p>When native ads are <a href="https://www.cjr.org/tow_center_reports/native-ads.php">shared on social media</a>, they’re often distributed in ways that further confuse or deceive audiences.</p>
<p>The Wall Street Journal, for instance, has <a href="https://twitter.com/WSJ/status/890327274062577664">retweeted posts from its Custom Content studio</a> from the same Twitter account that promotes its news content. While this particular retweet disclosed the commercial nature of the original tweet, this is not always the case.</p>
<p>More than half the time, the FTC-required advertising disclosures disappear when the content leaves the publisher’s website and is shared on <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/joca.12212">Facebook</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2021.1906298">Twitter</a>. For example, when I recently shared an <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/brand-studio/api-can-natural-gas-be-the-key-to-lowering-emissions/">American Petroleum Institute native ad</a> on Twitter, the disclosure disappeared – a violation of the FTC’s labeling mandate. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/440939/original/file-20220115-19-1q3i1qz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/440939/original/file-20220115-19-1q3i1qz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440939/original/file-20220115-19-1q3i1qz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440939/original/file-20220115-19-1q3i1qz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440939/original/file-20220115-19-1q3i1qz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=545&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440939/original/file-20220115-19-1q3i1qz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=545&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440939/original/file-20220115-19-1q3i1qz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=545&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">When retweeted, native advertising appearing in The Washington Post from the American Petroleum Institute was no longer labeled as a paid ad.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Michelle Amazeen</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>I believe it is the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2021.1906298">responsibility of publishers, not consumers</a>, to ensure that sponsored content is accurately labeled when shared online. Otherwise, <a href="https://hal.inria.fr/hal-01281190">people will amplify</a> undisclosed commercial content <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/jcom.12232">they think is genuine news</a>.</p>
<h2>Suppressing news coverage?</h2>
<p>I have another concern about this type of potentially deceptive advertising. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/08821127.2005.10677638">Since as early as 1869</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1464884917725162">anecdotal</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2017.1397531">evidence</a> has indicated that reporters are hesitant to write about advertisers that are lucrative to their news outlet. My <a href="https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/17824">recent research</a> with <a href="https://www.colorado.edu/business/leeds-directory/faculty/chris-vargo">digital advertising scholar Chris Vargo</a> signals that similar concerns may occur with this new form of advertising.</p>
<p>We counted all the native advertisements between 2014 and 2019 we could find from The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal, by looking at native ads those news outlets posted on Twitter and with a custom search process we built on top of Bing. We noted what dates the native ads were published and what company sponsored them. </p>
<p>We also used the <a href="https://github.com/chrisjvargo/gdelt/blob/master/GDELT%20sources.ipynb">GDELT database</a>, which collects online news stories from those three outlets and many other mainstream, partisan, and emerging news sites across the U.S. In that data, we noted the number and dates of news stories naming major companies. </p>
<p>We found 27 companies for which there was enough information in both data sets to make a meaningful connection. For each of those 27 companies, we charted how many mentions they had in news stories over time, and compared those time periods with the timing of that company’s releases of native advertising. </p>
<p>We found that for 16 of the companies, news coverage noticeably decreased after a native advertisement was published. For just three companies, news coverage noticeably increased after a native ad was published.</p>
<p>These results suggest that advertiser-driven “news” stories – <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/environment/media-fossil-fuel-ads/">written and approved by paying sponsors</a> – often go unchallenged. </p>
<p>For example, Wells Fargo – a multinational financial services company plagued by a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wells_Fargo#Lawsuits,_fines_and_controversies">litany of scandals</a>, such as <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/09/business/wells-fargo-sales-culture.html">deceiving customers with fake bank accounts</a> – engaged the content studios of The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal to create nearly a dozen native ads. One, created by The Washington Post’s BrandStudio, touted how Wells Fargo was <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/brand-studio/wellsfargo/investing-in-a-cleaner-future/">investing in a cleaner environmental future</a>. If it had been a real news article, it would have reported that the company was also financing <a href="https://www.yesmagazine.org/democracy/2016/09/29/how-to-contact-the-17-banks-funding-the-dakota-access-pipeline">the controversial underground oil transport system, the Dakota Access Pipeline</a>.</p>
<p>Our study found statistically less reporting on Wells Fargo not only within those three elite news organizations but across all U.S. online media following the native advertising campaigns.</p>
<p>[<em>Over 140,000 readers rely on The Conversation’s newsletters to understand the world.</em> <a href="https://memberservices.theconversation.com/newsletters/?source=inline-140ksignup">Sign up today</a>.]</p>
<p>Native ads are potentially very deceptive to consumers, in their content, their presentation and how they are shared on social media. Our research does not prove a direct connection, but when we add it to the anecdotes that <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/democracy-without-journalism-9780190946760?cc=us&lang=en&">news management discourages stories critical of important advertisers</a>, we also wonder about the power of native ads over journalists’ supposedly independent decisions regarding what to cover and when.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/173205/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle A. Amazeen has received funding from The American Press Institute, the Democracy Fund, and The Rita Allen Foundation. </span></em></p>When news outlets also publish so-called ‘native advertising,’ their journalistic reputations suffer – and their news coverage shies away from the companies that paid for the ads.Michelle A. Amazeen, Associate Professor of Mass Communication, Boston UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1740342022-01-18T13:40:48Z2022-01-18T13:40:48ZFact-checking may be important, but it won’t help Americans learn to disagree better<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/440135/original/file-20220110-23-1ml31og.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=49%2C0%2C5472%2C3628&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">You're not the only one having trouble discerning the truth.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/pregnant-woman-with-pc-tablet-remembering-important-royalty-free-image/1210098351">nicoletaionescu/iStock/Getty Images Plus</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Entering the new year, Americans are increasingly divided. They clash not only over differing opinions on COVID-19 risk or abortion, but basic facts like election counts and whether vaccines work. Surveying rising political antagonism, journalist George Packer recently <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2022/01/imagine-death-american-democracy-trump-insurrection/620841/">wondered in The Atlantic</a>, “Are we doomed?”</p>
<p>It is common to blame people who are intentionally distributing false information for these divisions. Nobel Prize-winning journalist Maria Ressa says Facebook’s “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/oct/09/facebook-biased-against-facts-nobel-peace-prize-winner-philippines-maria-ressa-misinformation">[bias] against facts</a>” threatens democracy. Others lament losing the “<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/11/26/democracy-requires-shared-sense-reality-america-is-failing-test/">shared sense of reality</a>” and “<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/11/why-obama-fears-for-our-democracy/617087/">common baseline of fact</a>” thought to be a prerequisite for democracy.</p>
<p>Fact-checking, the rigorous independent verification of claims, is often presented as vital for fighting falsehoods. Elena Hernandez, a spokesperson for YouTube, <a href="https://www.poynter.org/fact-checking/2022/youtube-misinformation-fact-checking-letter/">states that</a> “Fact checking is a crucial tool to help viewers make their own informed decisions” and “to address the spread of misinformation.” Ariel Riera, head of Argentina-based fact-checking organization Chequeado, <a href="https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/medialse/2020/03/27/fact-checking-matters-now-more-than-ever/">argues</a> that fact checking and “quality information” are key in the fight against “the COVID-19 ‘infodemic.‘”</p>
<p>Many people, including TV commentator <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/john-oliver-tackles-whatsapp-misinformation-immigrants-rcna2861">John Oliver</a>, are <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/10/28/misinformation-spanish-facebook-social-media/">demanding</a> that social media platforms better flag and combat the “flood of lies.” And worried Twitter engineers sought to “<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/11/01/twitter-climate-disinformation/">pre-bunk</a>” viral falsehoods before they arose during the United Nations’ Glasgow climate summit in 2021. </p>
<p>As a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=pgIYWJUAAAAJ">social scientist</a> who researches the role of truth in a democracy, I believe this response to Americans’ deepening political divisions is missing something. </p>
<p>Fact-checking may be vital for media literacy, discouraging politicians from lying and correcting the journalistic record. But I worry about citizens hoping for too much from fact-checking, and that fact checks oversimplify and distort Americans’ political conflicts. </p>
<p>Whether democracy requires a shared sense of reality or not, the more fundamental prerequisite is that citizens are capable of civilly working through their disagreements. </p>
<h2>Curing misinformation?</h2>
<p>Misinformation is no doubt troubling. COVID-19 fatalities and vaccine refusal are <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/12/05/1059828993/data-vaccine-misinformation-trump-counties-covid-death-rate">much higher</a> among Republicans, who are more likely to believe unproven claims that COVID-19 deaths are intentionally exaggerated or that the vaccine harms reproductive health. And studies find that exposure to misinformation is <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-021-01056-1">correlated with a reduced willingness</a> to get vaccinated. </p>
<p>Brookings Institution researchers found fact-checking <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/techstream/when-are-readers-likely-to-believe-a-fact-check/">mostly influences the politically uncommitted</a> – those who do not have much information about an issue, rather than those who have inaccurate information. And debunking can <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/12/vaccine-myth-busting-can-backfire/383700/">backfire</a>: Informing people that the flu shot cannot cause the flu or that the MMR injection is safe for children may make vaccine skeptics even more hesitant. Some participants in a study appeared to reject the information because it threatened their worldview. But some scientists <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7462781/">say</a> that fact-checking only very rarely backfires. </p>
<p>A 2019 experiment found that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-019-0632-4">carefully crafted rebuttals to misinformation</a> could dull the effects of false claims about vaccines or climate change, even for conservatives. </p>
<p>Still, a 2020 meta-analysis, a study that systematically combines dozens of research findings, concluded that fact-checking’s impact on people’s beliefs is “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10584609.2019.1668894">quite weak</a>.” The more that a study looked like the real world, the less fact-checking changed participants’ minds.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/440136/original/file-20220110-17-17d86us.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A group of people sit and stand in a meeting room" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/440136/original/file-20220110-17-17d86us.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/440136/original/file-20220110-17-17d86us.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=318&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440136/original/file-20220110-17-17d86us.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=318&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440136/original/file-20220110-17-17d86us.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=318&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440136/original/file-20220110-17-17d86us.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440136/original/file-20220110-17-17d86us.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/440136/original/file-20220110-17-17d86us.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">When citizens of differing views meet up, getting them working together may be more effective than getting them to agree on specific facts.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/the-jackman-town-office-was-filled-with-50-residents-to-news-photo/909720354">David Leaming/Portland Portland Press Herald via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Not that simple</h2>
<p>The task of fact-checking also comes with its own set of problems. In my view, when the science is complex and uncertain, fact-checking’s biggest risk is exaggerating scientific consensus. </p>
<p>For example, the idea that COVID-19 might have emerged, or escaped, from a Wuhan, China, laboratory was labeled as “<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/05/01/was-new-coronavirus-accidentally-released-wuhan-lab-its-doubtful">doubtful</a>” in 2020 by The Washington Post’s fact-checkers. Facebook flagged it as “<a href="https://unherd.com/thepost/facebook-censors-award-winning-journalist-for-criticising-the-who/">false information</a>” in early 2021. But <a href="https://undark.org/2021/03/17/lab-leak-science-lost-in-politics/">many scientists</a> think the hypothesis <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-02903-x">merits investigation</a>.</p>
<p>Or consider how <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2021/08/13/fact-check-vaccine-has-benefits-even-those-past-covid-19-infections/5545009001/">USA Today has labeled as “false”</a> the idea that “natural” immunity protects as well as vaccination. The newspaper’s fact-checkers only cited a recent <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/covid-vaccines-offer-five-times-more-protection-immunity-catching-virus-cdc-1644106">Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study</a> and did not address earlier <a href="https://www.science.org/content/article/having-sars-cov-2-once-confers-much-greater-immunity-vaccine-vaccination-remains-vital">Israeli research</a> suggesting the exact opposite. When fact-checkers show limited views of the facts in a scientific debate, they can leave citizens with the impression that the science is settled when it really may not be.</p>
<p>Exaggerating the certainty of science can undermine public trust in science and journalism. When <a href="https://factcheck.afp.com/coronavirus-protection-masks-hawked-misleading-video-ad-facebook">fact checks</a> about masking <a href="https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2020/12/15/fact-check-covid-19-tests-real-and-masks-do-work/3824781001/">flip-flopped</a> in 2020, some people wondered whether the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/05/opinion/omicron-covid-testing-cdc.html">experts behind the fact checks were being genuine</a>. </p>
<p>Also lost in worries about the dangers of misinformation is the reality that factually dubious speech can be politically important. A screed against the MMR vaccine might repeat a discredited claim about immunization causing autism, but it also contains <a href="https://upittpress.org/books/9780822966906/">vital political facts</a>: Some people distrust the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the pharmaceutical industry and resent the amount of control they feel that state health officials wield over them. </p>
<p>Citizens don’t just need to be alerted to potential misinformation. They need to know why other people are skeptical of officials and their facts.</p>
<h2>No winners, no losers</h2>
<p>The problems that Americans face are often too complex for fact-checking. And people’s conflicts run far deeper than a belief in falsehoods. </p>
<p>Maybe it is better to let go, at least a little, of the idea that Americans must occupy a shared reality. The point of political systems is to peaceably resolve conflicts. It may be less important to our democracy that the media focus on factual clarity, and more vital that it helps people to disagree more civilly. </p>
<p>Psychologist Peter Coleman studies how people discuss contentious issues. He has found that those conversations <a href="https://www.yesmagazine.org/social-justice/2019/07/11/hard-conversations-solve-conflicts">aren’t constructive</a> when participants think of them in terms of truth and falsehood or pro and con positions, which tend to spur feelings of contempt. </p>
<p>Rather, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jun/27/make-america-talk-again-how-to-bridge-the-partisan-divide">productive discussions</a> about difficult topics happen by encouraging participants to see reality as complex. Simply reading an essay highlighting the contradictions and ambiguities in an issue leads people to argue less and converse more. The focus becomes mutual learning rather than being right. </p>
<p>But it isn’t clear how best to bring Coleman’s findings out of the laboratory and into the world. </p>
<p>I propose that news outlets offer not only fact checks but also “disagreement checks.”</p>
<p>Rather than label the “lab leak” hypothesis or “natural immunity” idea as true or false, disagreement checkers would highlight the complicated sub-issues involved. They would show how the uncertain science looks very different depending on people’s values and level of trust. </p>
<p>Disagreement checks would be less concerned, for instance, with <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/cnn-don-lemon-joe-rogan-horse-dewormer-ivermectin">the correctness</a> of calling ivermectin a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/10/21/joe-rogan-cnn-ivermectin-statement-gupta/">“horse dewormer”</a>. Instead they would focus on exploring why some citizens might favor untested treatments over the vaccine, focusing on reasons other than misinformation.</p>
<p>Maybe some combination of fact-checking and other tools can <a href="https://www.poynter.org/fact-checking/2018/the-week-in-fact-checking-these-people-are-trying-to-solve-fake-news/">curb the public’s susceptibility to</a> being misled. But by focusing a little less on the facts and more on the complexities of the problems that divide them, Americans can take one big step back from the abyss, and toward each other.</p>
<p>[<em>Get the best of The Conversation, every weekend.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/weekly-highlights-61?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=weeklybest">Sign up for our weekly newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/174034/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Taylor Dotson receives funding from the Fulbright Scholar Program.</span></em></p>Fact-checking risks oversimplifying and distorting Americans’ political conflicts, while not actually helping people find ways to work together productively.Taylor Dotson, Associate Professor of Social Science, New Mexico TechLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1720232021-12-20T20:48:41Z2021-12-20T20:48:41ZDon’t care about the Build Back Better Act? Hearing people’s personal stories might change that<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/438249/original/file-20211217-15-1fct5iz.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=8%2C26%2C5982%2C3961&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Reporters waiting outside a private meeting between advisers to President Biden and Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema about the Build Back Better Act on Capitol Hill, Sept. 30, 2021.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/CongressBudget/8eaf42ddb30d4536807c656f6a36f998/photo?Query=Manchin%20Sinema&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=97&currentItemNo=45">AP Photo/Andrew Harnik</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/19/politics/joe-manchin-build-back-better/index.html">said</a> that he wouldn’t support President Joe Biden’s signature Build Back Better Act, he set off a wave of breaking <a href="https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Alert-White-House-accuses-Sen-Joe-Manchin-of-16713948.php">news alerts</a>. </p>
<p>It was fitting. For months, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/02/politics/joe-manchin-biden-build-back-better/index.html">media coverage</a> has breathlessly focused on the behind-the-scenes wrangling and hour-by-hour negotiations around the legislation. How much has been slashed from the bill today? What does it mean for the future of the Democratic and Republican parties?</p>
<p>The roughly <a href="https://apnews.com/article/climate-immigration-joe-biden-health-lifestyle-bff841da156cb12cd47a564f9e0267eb">US$2 trillion proposal</a> is designed to bolster what is widely seen as a frayed social safety net. But most Americans don’t think it will benefit people like them, a recent <a href="https://maristpoll.marist.edu/polls/npr-marist-national-poll-biden-economic-stimulus-december-2021/">NPR/Marist poll</a> shows. And a quarter of Americans can’t even say whether they like or dislike the legislation.</p>
<p>It’s no wonder the nation is so indifferent about the <a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/12/13/22799436/build-back-better-senate-manchin-parliamentarian">sweeping bill, which would change</a> the country’s tax system, increase social services and ramp up efforts to combat climate change.</p>
<p>Largely omitted from news coverage – and consequently, from the national conversation – are the voices and stories of individuals who would be affected by the legislation. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/438535/original/file-20211220-19-18oyus5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, masked, leaving an office in the Senate, surrounded by people." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/438535/original/file-20211220-19-18oyus5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/438535/original/file-20211220-19-18oyus5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/438535/original/file-20211220-19-18oyus5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/438535/original/file-20211220-19-18oyus5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/438535/original/file-20211220-19-18oyus5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/438535/original/file-20211220-19-18oyus5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/438535/original/file-20211220-19-18oyus5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The comings and goings of Senate Democratic holdouts Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, seen here after leaving a meeting with Manchin, have been obsessively covered by the press.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/sen-kyrsten-sinema-leaves-her-office-after-meeting-with-sen-news-photo/1347942834?adppopup=true">Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Focusing outside D.C.</h2>
<p>What if daily media coverage instead featured those voices? What if reporters and talk show hosts ditched the pundits and issue experts and instead explored the problems that led to the proposed policies – through the eyes and voices of those living with those problems? </p>
<p>That means we would hear from parents who need help paying for <a href="https://www.ffyf.org/faq-on-the-child-care-and-preschool-provisions-in-the-build-back-better-act/">child care</a> and elderly people who can’t afford <a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/story/build-back-better-whats-in-it-for-seniors-11637696775">medicines</a> or <a href="https://www.kff.org/health-costs/issue-brief/potential-costs-and-impact-of-health-provisions-in-the-build-back-better-act/">hearing aids</a>. </p>
<p>We would hear from people who can’t afford <a href="https://www.cbpp.org/research/health/build-back-better-increases-health-coverage-and-makes-it-more-affordable">health care</a>, people living in their cars or <a href="https://time.com/6121415/build-back-better-spending-bill-summary/">on the streets</a>, and yes, those who earn more than $400,000 a year. Multimillionaires, billionaires and corporations would pay more under the new tax plan. </p>
<p>What if news stories shined a spotlight on these voices, rather than just throwing in an occasional anecdote? Would people tune in? Would they engage in conversations or take action around the legislation? </p>
<p>Research shows that they likely would. And that would be good for democracy.</p>
<h2>Real stories can spark real engagement</h2>
<p>It’s well documented that <a href="https://methods.sagepub.com/reference/encyclopedia-of-survey-research-methods/n211.xml">horse-race journalism</a> – which treats politics as a sport, focusing on who’s ahead or behind, rather than the substance of issues – is associated with an uninformed electorate and elevates <a href="https://journalistsresource.org/politics-and-government/horse-race-reporting-election/">public cynicism</a> about politics. Such coverage doesn’t help people understand what proposals could mean to them. </p>
<p>Policy overviews filled with large numbers don’t engage people, either. When discussing the Build Back Better Act, proponents understandably focus on the scope of the problem: <a href="https://www.cbpp.org/research/health/closing-medicaid-coverage-gap-would-help-diverse-group-and-narrow-racial">2.2 million</a> low-income Americans couldn’t get health insurance subsidies in 2019 but also weren’t eligible for Medicaid. </p>
<p><a href="https://time.com/6121415/build-back-better-spending-bill-summary/">Just 23%</a> of civilian workers can take paid family leave, and <a href="https://time.com/6121415/build-back-better-spending-bill-summary/">more than 800,000 seniors and disabled</a> people seeking home health care are on state Medicaid waiting lists. </p>
<p>But science tells us that discussing large-scale suffering makes people turn away. The phenomenon is called <a href="https://www.arithmeticofcompassion.org/psychic-numbing">psychic numbing</a>. It means the problem is so big that people disengage, because they feel powerless to help. And individuals find it <a href="https://theconversation.com/millions-billions-trillions-how-to-make-sense-of-numbers-in-the-news-86509">hard to understand the scale of large numbers</a>.</p>
<p>The way to combat this? Journalists can tell <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6paG7dwhLHI">stories about real people</a>. Personal stories quickly bring big issues into focus and make them relatable. They make people care. </p>
<p>In 2015, for example, the Syrian refugee crisis had been raging for four years. But it took a picture of 3-year-old <a href="https://time.com/4162306/alan-kurdi-syria-drowned-boy-refugee-crisis/">Alan Kurdi</a>, whose corpse washed up on a Turkish beach after his family fled Syria by boat, to generate international horror. </p>
<p>After the photo of the young Syrian boy went viral, donations to refugee organizations <a href="https://www.kgw.com/article/tech/science/psychic-numbing-why-we-stop-caring/283-35da22bd-0fc3-4880-909b-8b3c4053476a">skyrocketed</a>. The story and photo engaged people who had not yet paid attention to the crisis. </p>
<p>Research backs up the notion that including real people in news stories can spark reader engagement.</p>
<p><a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1077699012439020">A 2012 study</a> compared people’s reactions after they read two versions of a news story detailing how the lack of health care affected one of three groups: immigrants, prisoners or the elderly. </p>
<p>[<em>Understand what’s going on in Washington.</em> <a href="https://memberservices.theconversation.com/newsletters/?nl=politics&source=inline-politics-most">Sign up for The Conversation’s Politics Weekly</a>.]</p>
<p>One version presented the issue using quotes from experts. The other version included a story about a specific person’s experiences dealing with that health care issue. </p>
<p>The news pieces that featured people’s stories elicited emotions in readers that the policy pieces did not. That led the participants to be more willing to help the people they read about. </p>
<p>Including real people in news stories doesn’t mean that engaged readers will only feel sympathy for the characters profiled. Engagement could produce support or opposition to proposed policies. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437634/original/file-20211214-17-cl5rdj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Joe Biden speaks at a lectern in front of large Building Back Better posters. American flags flank him on the podium." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437634/original/file-20211214-17-cl5rdj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437634/original/file-20211214-17-cl5rdj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437634/original/file-20211214-17-cl5rdj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437634/original/file-20211214-17-cl5rdj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437634/original/file-20211214-17-cl5rdj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437634/original/file-20211214-17-cl5rdj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437634/original/file-20211214-17-cl5rdj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Build Back Better bill has been a top priority of the Biden administration. But most Americans have not closely followed the legislation.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/president-joe-biden-speaks-at-the-nj-transit-meadowlands-maintenance-picture-id1236125547?s=2048x2048">Photo by Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Looking beyond the political play-by-play</h2>
<p>The Build Back Better Act – which the U.S. House of Representatives <a href="https://time.com/6121415/build-back-better-spending-bill-summary/">passed</a> in November – comes as civic engagement in the U.S. <a href="https://www.prri.org/research/american-democracy-in-crisis-civic-engagement-young-adult-activism-and-the-2018-midterm-elections/">is low</a>. </p>
<p>Considering the scope and potential impact of this bill, it’s a disservice to the country for news coverage to focus on the play-by-play in Washington, D.C. </p>
<p>If the press eases up on the machinations occurring in the marble halls of Washington, D.C., and instead focuses on real people, the U.S. could perhaps build back something else: civic engagement, a necessary part of our democratic system.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/172023/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Angela Bradbery does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A quarter of Americans don’t know how they feel about the Build Back Better Act. Focusing on Americans’ individual stories – and not just political theater – could help fuel civic engagement.Angela Bradbery, Frank Karel Endowed Chair in Public Interest Communications, University of FloridaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1680392021-10-19T16:42:24Z2021-10-19T16:42:24ZThe antidote to Trump: how ‘anti-celebrity’ politicians can still thrive in a world driven by stardom<p>Celebrity met statesmanship in the form of Arnold “the Governator” Schwarzenegger, and more recently, in the presidency of former reality star Donald Trump.</p>
<p>Celebrities entering politics is an international pasttime. Brazilian footballer-turned-senator <a href="https://cris.brighton.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/360777/Rom%C3%A1rio+and+Football+Politics+in+Brazil+-+Final+Submission.pdf">Romário de Souza Faria</a>, singer <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-55689665">Bobi Wine</a> as runner-up in the (contested) Ugandan presidential elections, and comedian <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Volodymyr-Zelensky">Volodymyr Zelensky</a> as Ukrainian president are all examples.</p>
<p>The ceaseless struggle for media attention in our modern political environment has given rise to another phenomenon: politicians who become celebrities themselves. These politicians style themselves as appealing public personae, and constantly seek publicity through social appearances and proactive engagement with media.</p>
<p>The charismatic Barack Obama and <a href="https://theconversation.com/boris-johnson-fails-the-showman-to-statesman-test-in-party-conference-speech-169150">clownesque Boris Johnson</a> have both successfully converted the resulting media attention into political power. US congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez regularly goes viral on social media, and recently attempted to promote progressive policymaking by flaunting a “Tax the Rich” dress at the Met Gala.</p>
<p>Amid the Trumps and Johnsons of the world, can “traditional” politicians still compete for power? This is where the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19392397.2021.1968918">anti-celebrity politician</a> comes in. Dressing and behaving inconspicuously, and ostensibly lacking media savviness, the anti-celebrity politician embodies the opposite qualities to celebrity stardom. He or she avoids the limelight, and flourishes when fatigue with celebrity figures sets in.</p>
<p>The recent German election gives us two examples. The Social Democratic election winner <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/09/world/europe/olaf-scholz-merkel-germany-election.html?action=click&module=RelatedLinks&pgtype=Article">Olaf Scholz</a> displayed an uncharismatic and technocratic air that earned him the nickname “Scholz machine”. </p>
<p>Scholz carefully copied the image of stability projected by Chancellor <a href="https://www.springer.com/de/book/9783658075996">Angela Merkel</a> – the quintessential anti-celebrity. Merkel’s politics appeared nonstaged and she was known for her apparent sincerity, neutral appearance, avoidance of media show and controversy, and lack of emotion and impulsiveness.</p>
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<p>The histories of celebrity politicians and their anti-celebrity counterparts are intertwined. Anti-celebrity politics only appeals in contrast to celebrity politics. </p>
<p>Celebrity culture, in which media showcase public figures’ personalities and private lives to an expanding consumerist audience of “fans”, emerged in the late eighteenth century. Politicians like the first American president <a href="https://www.wiley.com/en-us/The+Invention+of+Celebrity-p-9781509508747">George Washington</a> bolstered their popularity by avoiding celebrity stardom, seeking strategic publicity instead. </p>
<p>A century later, the emerging modern press industrialised this culture, with stories about celebrities now reaching a mass audience. Photography and film meant that this audience could now “see” these celebrities, making the relationship between idol and fan more intimate. </p>
<p>This translated to politics as well. International newspapers heralded Paul Kruger, president of the South African Republic during the Boer War, as a simple, devout and traditional man – in stark contrast to the obsession with a new “modernity” around 1900. This was in comparison to his British celebrity nemeses, the colonial secretary Joseph Chamberlain and mining magnate Cecil Rhodes. </p>
<p>In the 20th century, new forms of mass media such as radio, television and the internet further bolstered celebrity politics. However, this reinforcement also contributed to a saturation with celebrity politicians, and demand for “authentic” alternatives. </p>
<h2>Comparisons and contrasts</h2>
<p>Anti-celebrity politicians are often defined in contrast to their predecessors and contemporaries. Following the media frenzy surrounding <a href="https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.898.4068&rep=rep1&type=pdf">Nicolas Sarkozy</a>, the mediagenic and attention-seeking French president, the public welcomed his dull successor François Hollande as a return to normality (though he quickly became <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/29/francois-hollande-most-unpopular-president">incredibly unpopular</a>).</p>
<p>This also occurs in international politics. John F. Kennedy’s glamorous “Camelot” presidency enabled Hồ Chí Minh to adopt the role of the anti-celebrity leader during the Vietnam War. Merkel has appeared favourably in media in contrast with both her celebrity predecessor <a href="https://www.springer.com/de/book/9783658075996">Gerhard Schröder</a> within Germany, and her contemporary Donald Trump on the world stage.</p>
<p>The effect of anti-celebrity politics depends on the local political and media system. In a presidential system with a highly commercialised media market, like the US, there is a strong focus on individual politicians and celebrity culture. While this situation initially favours celebrity politicians, it can also create a backlash and consequent demand for anti-celebrities. </p>
<p>Media loved the saxophone-playing Bill Clinton, but their overexposure of his scandals paved the way for George W. Bush, who, despite his well-known family name, constituted a rather nondescript politician. </p>
<p>In a parliamentary system with a more regulated media environment, like the UK, the public votes for a party rather than an individual, and broadcasters must adhere to stricter regulations on political coverage. This system enables the less showy to climb the political ranks relatively protected from a commercial media logic. </p>
<p>The British system thus enabled the uncharismatic Gordon Brown to take over the premiership from the celebrity Tony Blair in 2007 through the “internal route” of winning the Labour Party leadership. Brown admired the anti-celebrity prime minister Clement Attlee, who succeeded the larger-than-life Winston Churchill. However, Brown’s lack of media appeal prevented him from winning a second term in the 2010 general election. </p>
<h2>Rising stars</h2>
<p>Recent weeks have brought the fall of one celebrity politician and the rise of another. Austrian Chancellor <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/17/world/europe/austria-sebastian-kurz-scandal-chancellor.html?searchResultPosition=2">Sebastian Kurz</a> resigned following allegations that he financed his media glitz with tax money. Meanwhile, French writer and pundit <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/12/world/europe/eric-zemmour-macron-france-election.html">Éric Zemmour has surged</a> in the polls, fashioning himself as a Trump-like outsider who may trade TV stardom for a presidency. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/eric-zemmour-the-far-right-polemicists-ideas-have-a-long-history-in-france-169430">Éric Zemmour: the far-right polemicist’s ideas have a long history in France</a>
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<p>The anti-celebrity image offers traditional politicians an attractive path to power amid the media savvy methods of many populists. Yet constructing and maintaining this image actually requires great media skill, navigating carefully measured media exposure to claim political successes and avoid publicity of failures.</p>
<p>Aided by a loyal team of PR advisors, Merkel sustained her anti-celebrity reputation for 16 years, but will her successor? And rather than a glitzy Kurz or Zemmour, another anti-celebrity might yet shake up the Austrian and French elections.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/168039/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Betto van Waarden does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Anti-celebrity politicians succeed by styling themselves as authentic alternatives to more showy statesmen.Betto van Waarden, Historian of media and politics, Lund UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1664012021-08-25T12:27:47Z2021-08-25T12:27:47ZUnverified reports of vaccine side effects in VAERS aren’t the smoking guns portrayed by right-wing media outlets – they can offer insight into vaccine hesitancy<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/417267/original/file-20210820-19-1ul7s7t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C2121%2C1412&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Studying trends in public adverse event reporting could help researchers address vaccine hesitancy and misinformation.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/illustration/symbol-of-the-manipulation-of-information-on-royalty-free-illustration/1287191706">Pict Rider/iStock via Getty Images Plus</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Chances are you may not be not familiar with <a href="https://vaers.hhs.gov/about.html">the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, or VAERS</a>. Co-managed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration, VAERS was established in 1990 to detect possible safety problems with vaccines.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, the anti-vaccine movement has used this once-obscure database to spread <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/qjpmp7/anti-vaxxers-misuse-federal-data-to-falsely-claim-covid-vaccines-are-dangerous">misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccine</a>.</p>
<p>VAERS is ripe for exploitation because it relies on unverified self-reports of side effects. Anyone who received a vaccine can submit a report. And because this information is publicly available, misinterpretations of its data has been used to <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/06/14/1004757554/anti-vaccine-activists-use-a-federal-database-to-spread-fear-about-covid-vaccine">amplify COVID-19 misinformation</a> through <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/06/14/1004757554/anti-vaccine-activists-use-a-federal-database-to-spread-fear-about-covid-vaccine">dubious social media channels</a> and mass media, including one of the <a href="https://www.factcheck.org/2021/05/scicheck-tucker-carlson-misrepresents-vaccine-safety-reporting-data/">most popular shows on cable news</a>.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1389966364530515970"}"></div></p>
<p>We are <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=v6UjvxIAAAAJ&hl=en">political scientists</a> <a href="https://scholar.google.ca/citations?user=05S4uMoAAAAJ&hl=en">who study</a> the social, political and psychological underpinnings of vaccine hesitancy in the U.S. In our <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0256395">recently published research</a>, we argue that VAERS, despite its limitations, can teach us about more than just vaccine side effects – it can also offer powerful new insights into the origins of vaccine hesitancy in the U.S.</p>
<h2>What the side effects database was designed to do</h2>
<p>Medical experts at the Department of Health and Human Services are <a href="https://apnews.com/article/fact-checking-afs:Content:9957832237">well aware of</a> <a href="https://vaers.hhs.gov/data/dataguide.html">VAERS’ limitations</a>. Rather than taking each individual report at face value, regulators remove clearly fraudulent reports. Demonstrating this, anesthesiologist and autism advocate James Laidler once used the system to report that a vaccine <a href="https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/data-analytics/some-self-reported-cdc-data-fueling-the-anti-vaccination-movement.html">turned him into the “Incredible Hulk,”</a> which was only removed <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130419004549/http://neurodiversity.com/weblog/article/14/chelation-autism">after he agreed to have the data deleted</a>.</p>
<p>Regulators also look for <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2021-04-28/is-covid-vaccine-safe-doubt-around-shots-threatens-to-extend-the-pandemic">reporting patterns</a> that can be corroborated by additional evidence. For example, reports of Guillain-Barré syndrome should be <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/vaccinesafety/concerns/guillain-barre-syndrome.html">more common in people over 50</a> than in younger adults. This can <a href="https://theconversation.com/new-covid-19-vaccine-warnings-dont-mean-its-unsafe-they-mean-the-system-to-report-side-effects-is-working-164455">help researchers</a> identify potential adverse events that were not detected in clinical trials.</p>
<p>Because VAERS claims are self-reported, they tell us something about what ordinary people, as opposed to doctors and medical researchers, think about vaccine safety. In other words, people who feel that a vaccine is responsible for a side effect they might be experiencing can log that concern with the federal government, whether or not those claims would stand scrutiny in rigorous clinical testing.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/417462/original/file-20210823-17-1mp2j8y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Red breaking news banner behind two vials of COVID-19 vaccine." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/417462/original/file-20210823-17-1mp2j8y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/417462/original/file-20210823-17-1mp2j8y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/417462/original/file-20210823-17-1mp2j8y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/417462/original/file-20210823-17-1mp2j8y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/417462/original/file-20210823-17-1mp2j8y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/417462/original/file-20210823-17-1mp2j8y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/417462/original/file-20210823-17-1mp2j8y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Media stories on vaccine side effects can influence public sentiments toward vaccination.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/covid-19-vaccine-in-the-tv-studio-royalty-free-image/1288842567">MikeMareen/iStock via Getty Images Plus</a></span>
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<p>Consequently, VAERS reports might not only document people’s negative experiences with vaccination, but also their attitudes toward vaccination. People may be more likely to report side effects, for example, in response to media stories about vaccine safety concerns. If reports to VAERS increase following these stories, then the reporting system may be functioning similarly to a public opinion poll. It could reflect, in part, public attentiveness to and concern about potential side effects. To see if this is the case, we examined a well-known case of vaccine misinformation: the since-retracted paper that claimed a link between the Measles, Mumps, and Rubella (MMR) vaccine to childhood autism.</p>
<h2>Is a fraudulent study responsible for MMR vaccine skepticism?</h2>
<p>In 1998, former physician Andrew Wakefield and his colleagues published a <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1503%2Fcmaj.109-3179">since-retracted</a> paper claiming that the MMR vaccine could cause autism in children. Although the study was rife with unreported conflicting interests and data manipulation, it nevertheless garnered <a href="https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2007-1760">significant media attention</a> in the late 1990s. <a href="https://time.com/5175704/andrew-wakefield-vaccine-autism/">Some journalists</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vaccine.2010.02.052">researchers</a> have since argued that the paper played a major role in inspiring <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S1473-3099(20)30522-3">MMR vaccine hesitancy</a>.</p>
<p>While this is plausible, there hasn’t been evidence to support the argument. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0256395">Virtually no opinion polling about MMR</a> existed prior to the publication of Wakefield’s paper. Consequently, researchers have not been able to directly observe whether or not the study influenced how Americans think about the MMR vaccine.</p>
<p>VAERS data, however, could offer some clues. In our study, we examined whether the number of VAERS reports following publication of Wakefield’s paper was significantly greater than expected based on typical report numbers prior to its publication. We found that the number of adverse event reports for MMR <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0256395">increased by about 70 reports per month</a> following publication of the paper. This is significantly greater than what we would expect by chance based on previous reporting frequencies. Notably, we did not find a similar effect for other childhood vaccines in the same time period. This further underscores the power this since-debunked study has had in shaping public opinion about the MMR vaccine.</p>
<p>Importantly, we also found that adverse event reporting rates <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0256395">rose in tandem with negative media coverage</a> of the MMR vaccine. Following the publication of Wakefield’s paper, television and print news published significantly more stories about MMR than before the paper was published. These results suggest that Wakefield’s article influenced how much more attentive Americans were about the MMR vaccine.</p>
<h2>VAERS: A double-edged sword</h2>
<p>In recent months, interest in the side effects reporting system has been growing exponentially. Google search engine trends suggest that more <a href="https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?geo=US&q=VAERS">Americans have been looking up VAERS</a> than ever before. The trend began shortly after <a href="https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-takes-key-action-fight-against-covid-19-issuing-emergency-use-authorization-first-covid-19">emergency use authorization of the first COVID-19 vaccines</a> in the U.S. and has continued to increase until a peak in early August.</p>
<p><iframe id="wmWx2" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/wmWx2/3/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>This search behavior is likely a result of increased media attention to VAERS, particularly by right-leaning news outlets. According to the data from media research platform <a href="https://mediacloud.org/about">Media Cloud Explorer</a>, there have been 459 stories in mainstream national news outlets, such as CNN or the USA Today, mentioning VAERS since December 2020. In right-wing media outlets such as Fox News, The Daily Caller and Breitbart, however, coverage soared to 3,254 stories – over seven times more than mainstream news media.</p>
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<p>Consequently, VAERS data could be seen as something of a double-edged sword. On one hand, it has been <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abj6981">weaponized by the anti-vaccine movement</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0008423920000396">political actors on the right</a> to sow doubt and distrust about COVID-19 vaccinations. On the other hand, this data could also tell public health researchers something useful about how American vaccine skepticism might ebb and flow in response to events like the brief <a href="https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-and-cdc-lift-recommended-pause-johnson-johnson-janssen-covid-19-vaccine-use-following-thorough">pause in Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine administration</a>, or fluctuations in the tone of media coverage about COVID-19 vaccines.</p>
<p>VAERS data may even offer an important advantage over public opinion polls which, with the exception of <a href="https://morningconsult.com/covid19-vaccine-dashboard/">weekly vaccine uptake polls</a>, have typically been administered much less frequently. Our research cautions that media attention to discredited vaccine-related claims may undermine public confidence in vaccination.</p>
<p>[<em>Understand new developments in science, health and technology, each week.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/science-editors-picks-71/?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=science-understand">Subscribe to The Conversation’s science newsletter</a>.]</p>
<h2>How to avoid another wave of misinformation</h2>
<p>To ensure that VAERS is used properly, journalists and scientific researchers can team up to guide the public on how to interpret new findings. Journalists should, in our view, contextualize their coverage within a broader body of scientific evidence. Scientific researchers can aid in this by helping journalists <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0248328">accurately portray studies on vaccine side effects</a>, clearly outlining their methodologies and results in accessible language.</p>
<p>By <a href="https://www.aaas.org/resources/communication-toolkit">working together</a>, researchers and journalists can take constructive action to address vaccine hesitancy before it has a chance to germinate.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/166401/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Anti-vaccine activists are using the side effect reporting system to spread fear and misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccines. But the database could also be used as a gauge for public concerns.Matt Motta, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Oklahoma State UniversityDominik Stecuła, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Colorado State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1651432021-07-30T12:21:46Z2021-07-30T12:21:46Z‘Outing’ of priest shines light on power – and partisanship – of Catholic media<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413756/original/file-20210729-23-b75arx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=15%2C15%2C5176%2C3456&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The pope is big news, and provides plenty of column inches in the US.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/on-21-june-2018-the-world-council-of-churches-receives-a-news-photo/1132276780?adppopup=true">Godong/Universal Images Group via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>It had all the hallmarks of a sensationalist tabloid sting.</p>
<p>On July 21, 2021, an <a href="https://www.pillarcatholic.com/p/pillar-investigates-usccb-gen-sec">article appeared alleging</a> that a senior U.S. priest, Monsignor Jeffrey Burrill, had used the hook-up app Grindr, with data from the app placing him at a number of gay bars. Burrill, the now former General Secretary of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2021/07/20/bishop-misconduct-resign-burrill/">promptly resigned</a>.</p>
<p>But the report was not published by an outlet that many Americans would associated with such sex “exposés.” Indeed, most would have never have heard of it at all. It was The Pillar, a <a href="https://www.pillarcatholic.com/about">small newsletter founded in early 2021</a>, that makes up just a tiny part of the Catholic media landscape in the U.S.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://americanstudies.nd.edu/faculty/peter-cajka/">scholar of American Catholicism and culture</a>, I take a keen interest in Catholic media. My recent book, “<a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/F/bo77932169.html">Follow Your Conscience: The Catholic Church and the Spirit of the Sixties</a>,” draws upon dozens of articles in the Catholic media as primary sources for historical analysis. While many Americans may be familiar with evangelical outlets like <a href="https://www.christianitytoday.com/">Christianity Today</a> or the <a href="https://www.christianpost.com/">Christian Post</a> – not to mention the hundreds of evangelical radio stations across the nation – the Catholic media seems to have less prominence on the national stage. </p>
<p>But as The Pillar’s reporting on Burrill shows, Catholic journalism can nonetheless be influential – and can split opinion in just the same way as media with a wider audience. </p>
<h2>A newspaper for every diocese</h2>
<p>The Catholic mediascape is made up of a series of publications at the local, national and global level. Almost <a href="http://www.ourcatholicneighborhood.com/faith/evangelization/media/newspapers/u.s.-diocesan-newspapers">every diocese has its own newspaper</a> that covers local events like first communions – when a Catholic receives the Eucharist, the bread and wine transformed into Christ’s body and blood, for the first time – or the construction of a new school gym.</p>
<p>But many Catholic readers also like to be informed on the bigger picture of Catholicism, and notably the Pope. In 2014, the Boston Globe, with the help of journalist John Allen, <a href="https://cruxnow.com/">founded Crux</a> to report on the Vatican for an American Catholic audience. </p>
<p>Catholic journalists not only report on the church itself, they aim to offer a Catholic perspective on broader American stories. That was the founding premise behind important Catholic <a href="https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/">magazines like Commonweal</a>, founded by laypeople in 1924, and <a href="https://www.americamagazine.org/">America, a monthly publication</a> run by Jesuits in New York City. </p>
<p>Increasingly, like the secular media, Catholic outlets have been polarized and drawn into the culture war. They too have taken positions that <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/01/24/like-americans-overall-u-s-catholics-are-sharply-divided-by-party/">divide readers and win constituents</a> with particular worldviews. <a href="https://www.ncronline.org/">National Catholic Reporter</a>, in the spirit of <a href="https://www.npr.org/2012/10/10/162573716/why-is-vatican-ii-so-important">the Second Vatican Council</a> – the meeting of the world’s bishops 1962 to 1965 that introduced changes like Mass in the vernacular and a new respect for the religious liberty of members of other faiths – is a liberal outlet that cut its teeth on criticism of the Vietnam War and continues to promote social justice. </p>
<p>Its counterpart, the <a href="https://www.ncregister.com/?gclid=CjwKCAjwo4mIBhBsEiwAKgzXODmopvSLuybqeOEoP_SY9efcHkArwWf6CAa87lbegATtskNEeH8CxRoCqTkQAvD_BwE">National Catholic Register</a>, prefers the moral clarity and conservative positions offered by Popes like John Paul II and Benedict XIV, particularly on matters of gender, sexuality and politics. Its readers overlap with viewers of the <a href="https://www.ewtn.com/">Eternal Word Television Network</a>, a network critical of the more liberal Pope Francis.</p>
<p>On the issue of homosexuality, Catholic media similarly expresses a variety of views. America magazine consistently features the writings of <a href="https://www.americamagazine.org/voices/james-martin-sj">Father Jim Martin</a>, a Jesuit priest who has encouraged the church to treat the gay community with more dignity. The periodical <a href="https://www.firstthings.com/">First Things</a>, meanwhile, delights in offering readers searing critiques of secular modernity by Catholic conservative writers. </p>
<h2>Ethical concerns</h2>
<p>Into this partisan media mix emerged The Pillar in 2021 and its recent report on Burrill. The investigation prompted ethical <a href="https://nypost.com/2021/07/25/reporting-that-outed-catholic-priest-reveals-data-is-not-private/">concerns over the use of data privacy</a> – The Pillar’s report relied on geolocation data from the Grindr app that it legally bought. There were also complaints that the reporting appeared to <a href="https://religionnews.com/2021/07/20/the-pillar-investigation-of-monsignor-burrill-is-unethical-homophobic-innuendo/">conflate Burrill’s apparent homosexuality with the child abuse scandal</a> in the Catholic church.</p>
<p>The ethics of The Pillar’s article aside, the reporting does tap into a tradition of Catholic media shining a light on church issues and elevating it to national attention.</p>
<p>A generation ago, Catholic media reporting was crucial in helping expose the sexual abuse of children by priests.</p>
<p>On June 7, 1985, an article by investigative journalist <a href="https://www.ncronline.org/authors/jason-berry">Jason Berry in the National Catholic Reporter</a> exposed not only the <a href="https://minnesota.publicradio.org/collections/catholic-church/betrayed-by-silence/ch1/">pedophilia of priest Gilbert Gauthe</a>, but also the church’s complicity to cover it up. Berry, a practicing Catholic who covered the case initially for a local Louisiana paper, detailed for a national readership how Gauthe had abused dozens of children in the Diocese of Lafayette starting in 1972. He charted the local hierarchy’s efforts to keep the case out of the public eye and how church officials ignored reports of the abuse. Berry’s article ran for several pages, replete with headlines like “PEDOPHILE PRIEST: STUDY IN INEPT CHURCH RESPONSE” and “MANY KNEW OF FATHER’S PROBLEM BUT NO-ONE STOPPED HIM.” </p>
<p>The national press picked up the story only after it appeared in National Catholic Reporter.</p>
<p>The publication of Berry’s writings on Gauthe marked the beginning of a new, vigorous mode of national criticism in the Catholic press of church hierarchy for allegedly covering up sex abuse scandals.</p>
<h2>Reporting on scandals</h2>
<p>Without journalists like Jason Berry, the exposure of the clergy abuse crisis may have played along very different lines. To put it simply, it moved the interpretation of the crisis away from a “bad apple” paradigm – it which individual priests were to blame – towards a much more systemic approach which looked at a Catholic culture that facilitates abuse.</p>
<p>The Pillar has tried to frame its investigation of Burrill in a similar light. It implies that Burrill’s use of hookup apps might further develop a culture of abuse in the church. The Pillar’s article quotes <a href="https://dunwoodie.edu/people/fr-thomas-v-berg">moral theologian Father Thomas Berg</a> and the late psychological and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/09/nyregion/aw-richard-sipe-a-leading-voice-on-clergy-sex-abuse-dies-at-85.html">clergy sex abuse expert Richard Sipe</a>, both of who argue that there is a connection between a cleric violating his vows of celibacy with other adults and a potential abuse of adolescents. The suggestion is that it encourages “networks of protection and tolerance among sexually active clerics,” as The Pillar suggests.</p>
<p>But this argument requires a fine dance that risks falling into the trap of connecting the act of homosexuality with pedophilia. <a href="https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/pillar-investigation-monsignor-burrill-unethical-homophobic-innuendo">Not everybody is convinced</a> that The Pillar’s article drew this line sufficiently.</p>
<p>Nonetheless, it has rekindled a debate over the role of Catholic media.</p>
<p>In his 1996 book, “<a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/pedophiles-and-priests-9780195145977?cc=us&lang=en&">Pedophiles and Priest</a>,” <a href="https://www.baylor.edu/history/index.php?id=87862">historian Philip Jenkins</a> criticizes Berry’s landmark reporting for making it appear as if everyone in Louisiana Church structure, from the bishops to fellow priests, were at fault for Gauthe’s prolific abuse. Jenkins argues that the June 1985 article provided a formula for future reporting: first a journalist details some rumors, then he or she writes about how the allegations troubled parents, then the reporter mentions a transfer of a priest to a new parish and, finally, the investigator quotes an expert who comments on the structural nature of the crisis. In this way, Jenkins suggested, journalists make abuse appear more pervasive than it is. Although Jenkins book was written in the mid-1990s, his analysis, while problematic, remains important.</p>
<p>[<em>Over 100,000 readers rely on The Conversation’s newsletter to understand the world.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=100Ksignup">Sign up today</a>.]</p>
<p>The abuse crisis is not the only challenge the Catholic Church faces – it is currently in the midst of struggle between <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/27/opinion/pope-francis-catholic-church.html">conservative and more progressive elements</a>. In <a href="https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/pillar-investigation-monsignor-burrill-unethical-homophobic-innuendo">tying to draw a connection between Burrill’s apparent homosexuality and his potential future complicity</a> in the clergy abuse crisis, The Pillar, one of the newest entrants in the Catholic media landscape, has waded into the church’s culture war and placed itself among the outlets that will be reporting on it in the months and years to come.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/165143/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter Cajka does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>An article that used geolocation data to place a priest at gay bars raises questions over journalistic ethics, and shines a light on the Catholic media landscape.Peter Cajka, Professor of American Studies, University of Notre DameLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1600702021-06-21T12:19:21Z2021-06-21T12:19:21ZHow to consume news while maintaining your sanity<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/406499/original/file-20210615-3785-15a3wsj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=220%2C196%2C2890%2C1736&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Too much news can overwhelm consumers and promote anxiety.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/control-room-operators-at-fox-news-studios-in-new-york-news-photo/142740560?adppopup=true"> The Washington Post / Contributor/ Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The amount and variety of news produced today often tests people’s ability to determine its value and veracity. Such a <a href="https://theconversation.com/when-too-much-news-is-bad-news-is-the-way-we-consume-news-detrimental-to-our-health-146568">torrent of information</a> threatens to drown news consumers in a river of confusion. </p>
<p>Media coverage of the coronavirus, for example, illustrates how news may overwhelm and confuse consumers, and even <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-media-may-be-making-the-covid-19-mental-health-epidemic-worse-153616">contribute to mental health woes</a> by escalating anxiety.</p>
<p>The overabundance also undermines Americans’ ability to <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2017/10/19/the-future-of-truth-and-misinformation-online/">decipher fact from misinformation</a>.</p>
<p>But techniques exist for ferreting out what we can trust and what we should question, and there are steps we can take to help determine where the news comes from. </p>
<p>The owners of news media outlets often bring their own view of the news they want their organization to focus on. Some see themselves as information providers. Others may want to advance agendas they believe in. </p>
<p>One example of what should be covered in the news was provided by New York Times publisher Adolph Ochs in 1897. It still appears on the newspaper’s masthead: “<a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/All-the-News-Thats-Fit-to-Print">All the News That’s Fit to Print</a>.” </p>
<p>This statement of values enables us to understand what the journalist or news organization wants to convey and why. Understanding the messenger helps us understand the message. </p>
<p>As a longtime journalist, and as a <a href="https://my.wlu.edu/directory/profile?ID=x7968">journalism professor</a> who teaches media ethics, I believe news consumers should bring a critical eye to the news.</p>
<p>Here’s a list you can use when reading, listening to or watching news. It offers steps to bring better focus and context to the relentless news feed.</p>
<h2>1. What’s news to you?</h2>
<p>What is news? News, at its core, focuses on information that is “new.” It conveys the latest knowledge about local, state, national and international occurrences. Other definitions can be found <a href="https://www.masscommunicationtalk.com/definition-of-news.html">here</a>, <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/news">here</a> and <a href="https://www.dictionary.com/browse/news">here</a>.</p>
<p>What’s the difference between your definition of news and that of news providers? The <a href="https://www.americanpressinstitute.org/journalism-essentials/makes-good-story/">American Press Institute notes</a> that journalism seeks to determine “newsworthiness.” That, it says, involves verification and value. </p>
<h2>2. Learn more about the news you turn to</h2>
<p>What news organization produces the news you turn to, and what does its mission statement disclose about its purpose and promises?</p>
<p>Who does it identify as the audience it serves?</p>
<p>What a news organization says it stands for can be found online. For examples, search for an “About” heading, a mission statement or “<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/policies-and-standards/">policies and standards</a>.”</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/407054/original/file-20210617-17-1r29br0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Stacks of newspapers." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/407054/original/file-20210617-17-1r29br0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/407054/original/file-20210617-17-1r29br0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/407054/original/file-20210617-17-1r29br0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/407054/original/file-20210617-17-1r29br0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/407054/original/file-20210617-17-1r29br0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/407054/original/file-20210617-17-1r29br0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/407054/original/file-20210617-17-1r29br0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Stacks of newspapers on a New York City street.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/copies-of-the-new-york-times-on-a-newsstand-contain-the-news-photo/526660826?adppopup=true">Richard Levine/Corbis via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>3. Become familiar with journalists your news comes from</h2>
<p>What are the names of the journalists associated with the news story, and what’s their background? Check online.</p>
<p>How accurate has their work been? You can turn to news research organizations like <a href="https://www.poynter.org/news/fact-checking/">Poynter</a> and other independent groups focused on transparency and fact-checking.</p>
<p>What approach do they take? Is it straight, interpretative or personal? Straight news focuses on verifiable facts. The interpretive approach adds the journalist’s understanding of the subject matter. And the personal approach offers the journalist’s opinions.</p>
<h2>4. Compare different sources of news on the same subject</h2>
<p>Consume news from sources across the news spectrum when possible – from local to regional to national and international.</p>
<p>Ask yourself the following questions: How do they frame the same news from their vantage point? What, if any, slant seems apparent? What’s the focus of their lens on the news?</p>
<h2>5. Compare notes with others you trust and maybe don’t trust</h2>
<p>Ask your friends, and even those who aren’t friends, what their take is on the news. What news sources do they turn to that they trust? How do they evaluate their news?</p>
<p>Seek out different perspectives so you can compare them with your own.</p>
<h2>6. Seek out commentary from those who analyze news</h2>
<p>Look for columnists or commentators whose views you share. Seek out columnists and commentators whose views you don’t share.</p>
<p>Here is a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/syndication/columnists/">list provided by The Washington Post</a> of columnists across the political spectrum, with a brief description of their focus. </p>
<p>The New York Times has a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/section/opinion/columnists">host</a> of them, too. And so does the <a href="https://tribunecontentagency.com/premium-content/opinion/">Tribune Content Agency</a>.</p>
<p>Try to understand where they are coming from and why.</p>
<h2>7. Decide what news matters to you, and what doesn’t</h2>
<p>Be open about the news you consume.</p>
<p>Contact news producers when you think their news is incomplete or incorrect. Professional news producers welcome constructive feedback. They see it as beneficial to improving.</p>
<p>Consult other sources of news and knowledge for more insight on the news: magazines, books, podcasts and Instagram, for example.</p>
<p>Consume a variety of news: the good, the bad and, if necessary, the ugly.</p>
<p>Finally, take a break from news. Too much news overwhelms. The right diet of news enlightens.</p>
<p>[<em>Over 106,000 readers rely on The Conversation’s newsletter to understand the world.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=100Ksignup">Sign up today</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/160070/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Aly Colón does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The daily deluge of information produced by the news media can drown consumers in confusion and anxiety, but there are steps you can take to filter out the noise and remain enlightened.Aly Colón, Knight Professor of Journalism Ethics, Washington and Lee UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.