Shad and co say bots play a particularly significant role in the spread of fake news soon after it is published. What’s more, these bots are programmed to direct their tweets at influential users. “Automated accounts are particularly active in the early spreading phases of viral claims, and tend to target influential users,” say Shao…
After using examples from Warsaw and Prague, the 2007 edition of my journalism textbook predicts: The threat is no longer simply from government censorship. With new technology, government is more likely to subvert the press by trying to discredit its integrity and dilute its influence. It has more tools to do that in the twenty-first…
The journalist chose to spotlight a little girl who’s both a Trump supporter and an aspiring journalist. This is how journalists can be creative — by choosing what details to focus on. “What happened in Charlottesville strikes at the core of America,” Trump said, appearing to read from the teleprompters placed on stage. “And tonight,…
A judge has ordered Montana Rep. Greg Gianforte to be photographed and fingerprinted for assaulting a reporter in May, opening the door for the congressman’s mug shot to be plastered in opponents’ campaign ads in next year’s election. […] The day after the assault, Gianforte defeated Democrat Rob Quist in the special election to replace Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke…
Donald Trump’s persona as a man who doesn’t like to be told what to do feeds into the spread of this image of him staring directly at the eclipse without protective glasses. I’ve seen it portrayed as if an aide warned Trump not to do it, and then he immediately did it anyway, on impulse.…
New instructional web page — Verify or Duck! Confirm all details you didn’t witness. #fridaynight #partylikeaprofessor. Similar:The Ascent #StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch (Season 5, Episode 9) Odo and Quark bicker their way up …Things Past #StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch (Season 5, Episode 8) Odo confronts his reputation as a…Trials and Tribble-ations #StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch (Season 5,…
Towards the end of my year-long radio news internship, I scolded a local TV reporter for filing a one-sided fluff story about ice cream at a summer festival. “Maybe you could have gotten an opposing view from someone in the natural foods store,” I said. “Or interviewed someone who’s lactose intolerant.”
“Comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.”
I first heard that quote from a newsroom mentor. It’s now one of many pithy sayings I often used in my journalism classes. As I was prepping for this fall, I realized I had never researched its origin. Boy was I surprised!
I have covered protests where people shouted angry slogans and waved signs at each other for as long as I had my microphone or camera out, but as soon as I put my gear away both sides went back to standing or marching silently. This article, written by two journalists with experience covering community conflicts…
It’s frustrating and terrifying that the current cultural climate makes this website necessary. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is a project that aims to comprehensively document press freedom incidents in the United States — such as the arrests of journalists, seizures of their equipment, interrogations and searches at the U.S. border, subpoenas to testify about…
The Onion reminds us not to normalize Spicer’s behavior. Similar:The Ascent #StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch (Season 5, Episode 9) Odo and Quark bicker their way up …Students are trusting software like this to do their work.‘People are rooting for the whale’: the strange American tradition of Moby-Dick reading ma…I’ve been teaching with this handout for over…
The only reason Facebook is paying attention to fake news is because it wants to monetize real news. (Monetize = control.) After initially dismissing the idea that Facebook plays a role in disseminating fake news, the company and CEO Mark Zuckerberg have been working to remedy the problem. Facebook partnered with third-party fact-checkers such as…
The pressures on local news outlets have been building for years, driven by the twin devils of recession and the disruption caused by the shift to digital media. The impact was noted in a federal study in 2011. It concluded, “A shortage of reporting manifests itself in invisible ways: stories not written, scandals not exposed,…
Catherine Palmer was already a seasoned student journalist at The Johns Hopkins News-Letter when Freddie Gray, a Baltimore native and black man, died in police custody, provoking protests across the city that swelled into what would be called the Baltimore Uprising. Even so, she was only 19 when she found herself one of the first reporters on…
Real or fake? At a time when the reading public daily grapples with the question of fake news, the American University Game Lab/JOLT has created an accessible, easy-to-play game that helps you sort fake news from real. The brainchild of former AU JOLT Fellow Maggie Farley and designed by AU game professor Bob Hone, Factitious is a quick game that can…
CNN is protecting the identity of the Reddit user who made the infamous GIF that depicts Trump wrestling with a man whose face has been replaced with the CNN logo — an image that Trump himself tweeted with the label “FraudNewsCNN.” Journalists are not perfect. They do make mistakes. But they also follow a code…
It’s risky to get your news from a social media algorithm. Facebook and Twitter exist to make money for themselves, not inform the public with accurate, fair, and thorough news. Facebook is the big culprit here, and it’s admitted it needs to take steps to improve, but Twitter isn’t far behind. While the company has…
Bret Stephens of the NYTimes says by accepting the resignations of three staff members who erred, CNN is supporting Trump’s rhetoric that (inevitable) errors in journalism are evidence of a conspiracy. If nothing else, Trump has the bully’s cunning to pick on a target more unpopular than he is. And like a bully, he knows…
CNN is pretty upfront; three journalists resign after an internal investigation determines a story depending on an anonymous source was posted to the CNN website without undergoing standard checks. In the rush to publish, the editorial structure broke down. (CNN retracted the story before it was aired on cable TV; whatever they can verify will,…
Donald Trump has a lot to say about “fake news” — a label he hurls at almost any journalism that portrays him in unflattering light. It seems he’s been using a fake Time magazine cover in his clubs. The news organization has asked him to take down the fake covers. “Donald Trump: The ‘Apprentice’ is…