In the days and weeks immediately afterward, an overwhelming majority of Americans understood that the former president had incited it, for the purpose of staying in the White House. Two years of Trump lies and lukewarm media pushback later, that percentage is far lower, and an increasing number of Republicans now believe Trump was not responsible for his own coup attempt.

How much deeper into the looking glass are we going to fall if journalists fail to provide the most basic of context to our audience?

In an age when most journalism is produced and consumed online, with no physical "column inch" limit like with print, there is simply zero excuse not to include just a sentence or two of context about Trump's Jan. 6 conduct in every news account about him. The relative clause "who attempted a coup to remain in power" adds precisely eight words to a story.

Journalism is broken in many ways, the "horse race" nature of political journalism being just one of them.

tags: politicsjournalism

posted by matt in Sunday, May 7, 2023

How does this happen? Blame for these "race to publish" errors seems to usually fall on the writer. Not here, though, where it seems Mr. Dow's "management team" had the itchy finger.

CNN previously reported an obituary on Tony Dow, after receiving a statement from his management team confirming his death. That statement has since been rescinded and a family friend has confirmed to CNN that Dow is in hospice care.

tags: newsjournalism

posted by matt in Tuesday, July 26, 2022

Fox News doesn't even try to hide its bias anymore. They actively embrace it these days. Case in point - they're launching a new personality (I can't remember the name, but it really doesn't matter…it's just the next one). In one of the promo spots for his forthcoming show, he reads a text while sitting at the news desk. It's from his mother, who offered him this motherly advice: "sit up straight, you're leaning to the right."

It's funny because it's true. And I'm fine with that, because it feels like a jump the shark moment for the network. It's not a news network, and everyone knows it. Even them.

But it's also sad because it's true. Fox isn't a news network. It's news-fueled entertainment. And so is CNN, and most of the others.

We really need a news network. Something that just presents good old-fashioned who, what, when, where, and why journalism. I think people want that, and I think there's room to innovate there, too. Integrate tv delivery with social media, show the pulse of comments from the left and right as the reporters just report the facts.

I'd watch it. I'm pretty sure my mom wouldn't, though.

tags: newsjournalism

postposted by matt in Saturday, January 22, 2022

Yes, we need to teach digital literacy to our kids. Everyone is ignoring the reality, though, that we really need to teach it to our parents.

tags: techmisinformationjournalism

posted by matt in Sunday, November 14, 2021

'Within the U.S., 19.9% of bitcoin’s hashrate – that is, the collective computing power of miners – is in New York, 18.7% in Kentucky, 17.3% is in Georgia, and 14% in Texas, according to Foundry USA, which is the biggest mining pool in North America and the fifth-largest globally.'

What a crappy headline. Texas is in fourth place according to the source cited in the article. Why is the fourth place state headline worthy, while the second (Kentucky) and third (Georgia) place states are not? Eyeballs and clicks, Texas apparently brings (or has the potential to bring) more of each.

And this is really sad when you consider that so many people "only read the headlines" these days. They don't walk away with only part of the story, as you would expect of someone only reading the headline. They actually walk away with a completely different story.

That's sad. And dangerous.

And it's not journalism. It's clickbaiting.

tags: journalismwebbitcoin

posted by matt in Sunday, October 10, 2021

People confuse journalism and entertainment all the time. Understandably so, the line is blurry and getting blurrier. Oprah Winfrey is no journalist. That interview was entertainment, pure and simple. Holding it out as journalism and reporting of actual news should be an embarrassment for CBS.

tags: journalismnews

posted by matt in Sunday, March 14, 2021

If the BBC's vetting process can't identify an impostor of a U.S. Senator, how will they deal with deepfakes? Trust in content is growing in importance, and will become more valuable as technology advances. Major publishers with brands that signify trust are in a great position to take advantage of this...until they aren't.

tags: deepfakenewsjournalism

posted by matt in Thursday, March 4, 2021