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PEOPLE & ARTS Friday 17 august 2018

As our media environment blurs, confusion often reigns

By DAVID BAUDER five opinions and asked
Associated Press them to identify which was
NEW YORK (AP) — A gener- which. Only 26 percent of
ation ago, the likes of Wal- respondents correctly iden-
ter Cronkite, Peter Jennings tified the five facts, and 35
and Diane Sawyer were the percent identified the five
heroes of television news. opinions as such.
Now the biggest stars are The survey suggested that
arguably Sean Hannity and people are in different re-
Rachel Maddow. alities. For instance, 63 per-
Notice the difference? cent of Republicans cor-
Cronkite, Jennings and rectly said the statement
Sawyer reported the news. “Barack Obama was born
Hannity and Maddow talk in the United States” was
about the news, and oc- a fact. Meanwhile, 37 per-
casionally make it. But you cent of Democrats incor-
never doubt how they feel rectly identified the state-
about it. ment “increasing the fed-
In a chaotic media land- eral minimum wage to $15
scape, with traditional an hour is essential for the
guideposts stripped away health of the U.S. econo-
by technology and new my” as fact, not opinion.
business models, the old “Overall, Americans have
lines between journalism some ability to separate
and commentary are grow- This photo shows MSNBC television anchor Rachel Maddow at Harvard University, in Cambridge, what is factual from what
ing ever fuzzier. As Presi- Mass. on Oct. 16, 2017 , and Sean Hannity of Fox News at Conservative Political Action Conference is opinion,” says Amy Mitch-
dent Donald Trump rewrites in National Harbor, Md. on March 4, 2016. ell, Pew’s director of jour-
the rules of engagement to Associated Press nalism research. “But the
knock the media off stride, ished, with sections clearly orable journalism that the by CNN. Both of Sanders’ gaps across population
he’s found a receptive au- marked for news and edi- Trump era has produced all references had nothing groups raise caution, es-
dience among his support- torial pages for opinion. The across the country. Many to do with news reporting, pecially given all we know
ers for complaints about one cable network, in its newspapers are far from and a lot to do with expres- about news consumers’
“fake news” and journalists infancy, followed the play- “failing,” as Trump often sions of opinion. One of tendency to feel worn out
who are “enemies of the it-straight rules of the big claims about the scoop- them, for example, came by the amount of news
people.” broadcasters. There was no hungry shops at The New from an MSNBC appear- there is these days, and to
In such a climate, is it any Internet, no social media York Times and The Wash- ance by Jennifer Rubin, a dip briefly into and out of
wonder people seem to be feed, no smartphone with ington Post. The number Washington Post columnist news rather than engage
having a hard time distin- headlines flashing. of digital subscribers to the paid specifically to give her deeply with it.”
guishing facts from points Today, many newspapers Times has jumped from be- take on things. Another contributing fac-
of view, and sometimes are diminished. People low 1 million in 2015 to more But that kind of distinction tor to confusion is the way
from outright fiction? It’s a are as likely to find articles than 2.4 million now. blurs when it’s decoupled news articles often lose
conclusion that is driving through links on social me- For many years, those net- from the newspaper col- their context when spread
anger at the news media dia posted by friends and work executives did a deli- umns and appears in the on Twitter feeds and other
as a whole. On Thursday, it celebrities. Three TV news cate dance. The stations wild of social media feeds. social media, Jamieson
produced a coordinated channels, two with firmly were news during the day, “I don’t blame the public said. Opinion and news sto-
effort by a collection of the established points of view, opinion at night. But with for being confused,” said ries live in the same space,
nation’s newspapers to hit air an endless loop of po- the opinion shows so suc- Kathleen Hall Jamieson, sometimes clearly marked,
back at perceptions that litically laced talk. There’s cessful — shouting what communications professor sometimes not.
they are somehow unpatri- no easy escape from a you believe tends to “pop” and director of the Annen- One Facebook feed, for
otic. 24-hour-a-day news cul- more than facts — it has berg Public Policy Center example, linked to a Los
“We don’t have a commu- ture. become harder to suppress at the University of Penn- Angeles Times article with
nications and public sphere The internet’s emergence those identities. Even when sylvania. In a heated news the headline, “In a strikingly
that can discern between has made the media far different sides are given, environment, journalists are ignorant tweet, Trump gets
fact and opinion, between more democratic — for the hours are filled with left to find descriptions for almost everything about
serious journalists and pho- good and ill. There are opinionated people giving things they haven’t seen California wildfires wrong”
nies,” says Stephen J.A. many more voices to hear. their takes. before. CNN’s Anderson and gave no indication
Ward, author of 10 books But the loudest ones fre- A recent White House brief- Cooper called Trump’s per- that it was an opinion
on the media, including the quently get the most atten- ing illustrates how the Trump formance in a joint news piece.
upcoming “Ethical Journal- tion. administration has plucked conference with Russia’s For many people, the edi-
ism in a Populist Age.” “No one can control the examples from the endless Vladimir Putin “disgraceful” tors and news producers
Not long ago — think back flow of information across talk feed in its campaign after both leaders left a Hel- who were once media
30 years — the news busi- social media and the inter- against the media. sinki stage this summer. For gatekeepers have been
ness had a certain order to net media,” says George When press secretary Cooper, it was a moment replaced by opinionated
it. Campbell, a 53-year-old Sarah Sanders rebuffed of truth-telling. For the presi- uncles and old high-school
Evening newscasts on business consultant from CNN reporter Jim Acosta’s dent’s supporters, it was a classmates who spend all
ABC, CBS and NBC gave Chicago. “This has led to attempt to have her re- brash embrace of bias. The their time online. Russian
straightforward accounts a confusion about fact vs. nounce Trump’s attacks Pew Research Center con- trolls harnessed the power
of the day’s events, and fake. But mostly, it has re- on the press, she noted ducted an experiment ear- of these changes in news
morning shows told you sulted in a cash cow for that she’s been attacked lier this year. It presented consumption before most
what happened while you conspiracy makers.” personally by “the media” more than 5,000 adults with people realized what was
slept. Newspapers flour- Let’s not neglect the mem- more than once, including five statements of fact and happening.q