Media on a Learning Curve

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Article in The New Republic by Michael Tomasky 10/14/24

Headline:  “The Media Has Three Weeks to Learn How to Tell the Truth About Trump”

Subhead:  “Is a constant stream of undiluted fascist rhetoric and violent threats as bad as an unsecured email server? The political press can’t seem to puzzle it out.”

“Donald Trump keeps getting worse and worse. Last Friday in Aurora, Colorado, he gave a speech that was both bonkers and fascist, asserting that the city—where crime is down 17 percent—had been “conquered” by Venezuelan gangs and announcing that he’d use a 1798 law to deport them. Sunday morning, he said on Fox that “the enemy within” who might be planning any Election Day chaos—“sick people, radical left lunatics,” but presumably for the most part citizens of the United States—should be handled by the National Guard or even the military.”

“. . . The bottom line is this. Trump simply can’t be covered like most candidates, for two reasons. One, he was president before (something that hasn’t happened since Grover Cleveland), so we have a track record to examine and reexamine. You could call Trump’s four years in office “old news” if you want, but that sample size is still the best guide for what his future presidency will be like.

“Two, the things he’s proposing are radical and dangerous. . .”

https://newrepublic.com/series/56/media-three-weeks-truth-trump

Media Tiptoe Through the Turnout With Candidate

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Article in Daily Kos by Lawrence Lewis, 10/15/24

Headline: “Trump glitches, and of course the legacy media make it seem he improvised a dance party”

“There were a couple medical incidents in an overheated crowd at a Trump rally last night, and Trump started glitching. Steve Benen has a good account, but he’s the exception:

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/lets-just-listen-music-trumps-townhall-event-gets-weird-rcna175449

” . . . We know what the media chorus would have been, had President Biden done something similar.”

“. . . The legacy media are complicit. The only people who can save this republic are us, the voters. So vote! Get every conscious adult you know to vote! This is not a drill!”

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/10/15/2276962/-Trump-glitches-and-of-course-the-legacy-media-make-it-seem-he-improvised-a-dance-party

Traditional Media in Crystal Ball

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Video in MEDIAite Press Club by Aidan McLaughlin, 10/11/24

Examination and outlook on the future of legacy mainstream media like New York Times, TV news.  Mediaite is a site for news and opinion on the intersection of media and politics.

Headline:  “Andrew Ross Sorkin on Elon Musk, the Election, and Why CEOs Fear Trump”

“In this episode of Press Club, Aidan McLaughlin speaks with Andrew Ross Sorkin, co-host of CNBC’s Squawk Box and renowned business reporter for The New York Times. They discuss the 2024 election between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, the state of the economy and the future of the media business, why Elon Musk and other tech titans are turning MAGA, and what happens after November.

“. . .How many news institutions can exist if you will in this environment, how many can exist where people are paying for them . . .”

. . . I do think you know it’s not going to be the old days I don’t think that every unfortunately I don’t think every town and every city necessarily can even necessarily support a full paper . . but I do think that there’s more news than there’s ever been . . .”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VrPUEc2GTc

Helpful Newspaper Bot Answers Questions About Candidates

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Wow! No need to use any humans!?

Article on Slashdot by Editor David, 10/12/24

Headline:  “California Newspaper Creates AI-Powered ‘News Assistant’ for Kamala Harris Info”

” ‘We’re introducing a new way to engage with our decades of coverage: an AI-powered tool designed to answer your questions about Harris’ life, her journey through public service and her presidential campaign,’ they announced this week . . .”

“. . . The tool’s answers are ‘drawn directly from decades of extensive reporting,’ according to a notice toward the bottom of the page. ‘The tool searches through thousands of Chronicle articles, with new stories added every hour as they are published, ensuring readers have access to the most up-to-date information.’ ”

“. . . If it’s ‘trained’ from articles in the Chronicle about Kamala Harris, then presumably it reflects the editorial stance of the publication over the time starting in 1995. Sounds useful, but like all things in the media, you shouldn’t get your info from just one source.”
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https://politics.slashdot.org/story/24/10/12/1823237/california-newspaper-creates-ai-powered-news-assistant-for-kamala-harris-info

Media Ignore, “If it walks like a . . . “

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Article by in Media Matters by Tyler Monroe, 10/14/24

Headline: “Broadcast news shows and print outlets largely ignored Gen. Milley calling Trump “fascist to the core”

Subhead: “Only one article from The Washington Post and one segment from NBC News covered the comments”

“National broadcast news networks and print outlets buried recent comments from Donald Trump’s former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff retired Gen. Mark Milley calling the former president “fascist to the core.” Almost all broadcast news shows and the major newspapers ignored the comments, with only NBC’s Meet the Press and The Washington Post covering Milley’s “fascist” remarks.

“Reporting surfaced on October 11 that Milley called Trump “fascist to the core” in comments reported in journalist Bob Woodward’s upcoming book War.”

“. . . Broadcast and print news almost completely ignored Milley’s characterization of Trump as ‘fascist’.”

https://www.mediamatters.org/donald-trump/broadcast-news-shows-and-print-outlets-largely-ignored-gen-milley-calling-trump

Media Cleansing

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Article in Dawn by Muna Khan, 10/13/24

Headline: “Disgraced Media “

A view from Pakistan

“LAST week, I wrote a piece on Western media’s coverage of the war in Gaza for Prism on the Dawn website. I re-read part of Edward Said’s 1981 book Covering Islam on how the Western media distorts the portrayal of Islam and depictions of Muslims as “fanatical, violent, lustful and irrational”. I often return to this book as it remains relevant. It’s a sad indictment on the Western media whose reporting on Muslims and Palestinians has resulted in their dehumanisation over the decades.

“Despite knowing all this, I felt foolish when I read how The New York Times told its staff to restrict using words like ‘ethnic cleansing’ and ‘genocide’ and avoid ‘occupied territories’ in their reporting on Gaza. This was revealed by The Intercept in April which received a copy of the internal memo the paper sent to its staff. They also told staff not to use the word ‘Palestine’ “except in very rare cases”. It is mind-boggling.”

https://www.dawn.com/news/1864892/disgraced-media

 

False Claims Spread in Some Media

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Article in Media Matters  by Gideon Taaffe, 10/11/24

Headline:  “Right-wing media spread false claim that Kamala Harris used a teleprompter during town hall”

This article lists media outlets that used the lie.

“After Vice President Kamala Harris’ Univision town hall, right-wing media incorrectly claimed that Harris was using a teleprompter. Even though the host of the town hall and the Univision News president quickly debunked the claim, the lie spread rapidly among prominent right-wing media personalities.”

https://www.mediamatters.org/kamala-harris/right-wing-media-spread-false-claim-kamala-harris-used-teleprompter-during-town-hall

 

 

Will Using Non-Mainstream Media Change an Election?

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Article in the Washington Post by Jennifer Rubin, 10/11/24

Headline: “Harris takes her message well beyond the usual venues. Good.”

Subhead: “She goes on podcasts, satellite radio and daytime TV, promoting her agenda to big audiences.”

“Vice President Kamala Harris, realizing the limited reach of mainstream news outlets, spent the week reaching millions of Americans through appearances on the podcast “Call Her Daddy,” CBS’s “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert,” the daytime chat show “The View,” Howard Stern on SiriusXM and even the Weather Channel.”

“. . . Mainstream media outlets might be irked by Harris’s strategy, but if she wants to get this substantive message out to the widest possible audience, she’s doing exactly the right thing in taking it to as many alternative media venues as possible.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/10/13/kamala-harris-interviews-podcasts/

 

 

News Desert in Florida During Hurricanes

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Article in Poynter by Janet Coats and Joy Mayer 10/11/24

Headline: “Where’s the coverage of communities that didn’t ‘dodge a bullet’ with Hurricane Milton?”

Subhead: “Local television news forecast the storm up and down the coast. But after it struck, the cone of coverage felt like it narrowed”

“For days leading up to the storm, local and national news coverage focused on a threat to Tampa and St. Petersburg that none of us have seen in our lifetime. The Tampa region is one of the most vulnerable in the world to the storm surge a major hurricane brings. Both cities could be inundated with water. So the urgent warnings and tense anticipation about what would happen there made sense.”

“. . . In journalism, we’ve talked a lot about news deserts. Those conversations have focused on the decline and even death of local newspapers. But we also have local television news deserts. And that is a very real, life-threatening problem when a big storm comes to Florida.”

“. . .It’s a stark example of what it means to be in a television news desert. News deserts in proximity to major television markets aren’t just a Florida thing. As a friend and former Sarasota journalist noted: If a tornado happens in southern Indiana, coverage often comes out of Louisville. This also isn’t just a problem for natural disasters. People who live two hours from a major market are accustomed to being undercovered. The concentration of journalists in urban areas is unavoidable.”

https://www.poynter.org/commentary/2024/hurricane-coverage-less-known-cities-lacking/

Documentaries on How Media Impact the World

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From the Media Education Foundation – documentary films on the media

The MEF has a variety of films about the media which.  They can be used for media community literacy efforts or as a part of school programs.

Headline: “Films That Inspire Critical Reflection on the Social, Political, & Cultural Impact of American Mass Media”

“Media Education Foundation produces and distributes documentary films and other educational resources to inspire critical thinking about the social, political, and cultural impact of American mass media.”

https://www.mediaed.org/