Media Literacy

Is Manufactured News, News?

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Article in The Contrarian by Josh Levs, 6/12/25

Headline:  “Avoiding the media trap of the military parade”

Subhead:  “Help Americans see that standing against authoritarianism is patriotic.”

The military parade and protests planned for this Saturday present the media with a big opportunity to educate America. . .”

“They can explain why any hint of this being a birthday celebration for President Donald Trump rather than a celebration of the Army’s 250th birthday is not befitting a democracy, in which the people — not one person — rule. . .”

The media can help Americans who don’t follow the news closely understand why moves from the Trump administration endanger our democracy . . . And, crucially, the media can fact check those who try to use this Saturday to push anti-democratic movements under simplistic slogans.”

But instead, here’s what we’re likely to see: two-dimensional reporting that fails to dig into the issues and partisan reporting that casts the two sides as good guys vs. bad guys. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://contrarian.substack.com/p/avoiding-the-media-trap-of-the-military

Public Media Could be in Trouble

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PUBLIC MEDIA IS NOT STATE-CONTROLLED MEDIA

Article in The Washington Post by Patrick Marley, 6/10/25

Headline:  “Rural Republicans used to back NPR. Then MAGA changed everything.”

Subhead:  “Public media is facing its biggest challenge as it fights off a vote to eliminate its federal funding.”

“. . .Polarized views of public broadcasting, along with a splintered and increasingly online media environment, pose a problem for NPR, PBS and their audiences, who will need some Republicans to break ranks to prevent the cuts that Trump is demanding as part of a larger package of budget reductions that the House will consider as soon as Tuesday. . .”

“According to a Pew Research Center poll conducted in March, 43 percent of Americans supported continuing federal funding for NPR and PBS, 24 percent backed ending funding and 33 percent were unsure. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/06/10/npr-cuts-rural-congress/

 

Robot Journalists Need Chance?

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Article in Poynter, 6/9/25

Headline:  “AI is giving local news a second chance. Will it be ready this time?”

Subhead:  “Journalism professor Tom Rosenstiel urges newsrooms to avoid the mistakes of the internet era and build smarter, more useful AI tools”

“In April 2024, the Local News Initiative, in conjunction with the Knight Lab at the Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Communications and Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung USA, published a report titled, ‘Impact of AI on Local News Models: AI Is Disrupting the Local News Industry. Will It Unlock Growth or Be an Existential Threat?’

“Based on discussions with more than 25 local news and AI experts worldwide, the report explored the potential benefits and perils presented by this revolutionary technology. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.poynter.org/tech-tools/2025/ai-impact-on-local-newsrooms/

Preparing Journalism for the Future

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Article in Poynter by Nicole Slaughter Graham, 6/5/25

Headline:  “ASU is launching a $14.5 million center to speed up journalism’s transformation”

Subhead:  “The Knight Center for the Future of News aims to help strengthen local and regional journalism by bringing educators, research and newsrooms together”

“Journalism’s many issues are longstanding and well-known, and with its new center, Arizona State University is ready to take sweeping action to implement solutions.

“On July 1, ASU’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication will open the Knight Center for the Future of News thanks to a $10.5 million grant from the Knight Foundation and a $4 million investment from the university. . .

Read the full article at:

“https://www.poynter.org/business-work/2025/asu-knight-center-future-of-news/

When Free Press is Gone

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Article in Poynter by Ren LaForme, 6/3/25

Headline:  “Opinion | We’re tracking the rising threats to press freedom”

Subhead:  “Because the warning signs are no longer subtle”

“There’s a saying: Health is a crown the healthy wear that only the sick can see. Most of us don’t recognize the treasure of good health until it’s gone.

“I wonder whether, when the dust settles, America will feel the same about press freedom — a right our Founding Fathers valued so deeply that they made it the First Amendment. . . .”

Read the full article here:

https://www.poynter.org/commentary/2025/press-freedom-watch/

 

Learn About AI Generated Journalism

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Article in Poynter by Jennifer Orsi, 5/29/25

Headline:  “Journalists are using AI. They should be talking to their audience about it.”

Subhead:  “A new toolkit from Poynter’s MediaWise, in collaboration with AP, aims to make that easier, reduce consumer anxiety through AI literacy”

“Even as newsrooms are increasingly using the power of artificial intelligence in their reporting, research is telling them that AI makes their audience anxious and worried. It’s a potentially bad combination for audience trust — which isn’t so hot to begin with.

“To help, MediaWise, the Poynter Institute’s media literacy initiative that focuses on online information, has created new tools for newsrooms to talk with their audiences about AI, both for ethical transparency and to demystify how AI is used. The effort was funded by Microsoft and was produced in collaboration with The Associated Press. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.poynter.org/from-the-institute/2025/journalists-are-using-ai-they-should-be-talking-to-their-audience-about-it-microsoft-associated-press/

Journalism Requires Evidence?

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Article in Daily Kos by Bison, 5/26/25

Headline:  “On anonymous sources, aging presidents, and the media’s eternal craving for redemption from Damnation”

“Yes, the recent book Original Sin introduces new reporting that escalates concerns about President Biden’s mental and physical decline to near-scandalous levels. But that’s precisely the problem. Much of the content is based on anonymous sources. This approach might hold in journalism but fails the standard of evidence required in history and political science, where claims must be transparent and verifiable. Instead of offering clarity, the book ends up echoing a long-standing, distorted narrative promoted by right-wing media: that Biden is a hollowed-out figure, mentally absent and manipulated by shadowy figures. At that point, it veers into propaganda—not journalism. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/5/26/2324415/-The-Gospel-According-to-Whispers-How-Original-Sin-Became-Scripture-for-Media-Reckoning?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web

Both Sides Are OK – Right?

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Article in FAIR by Jim Naureckas, 5/23/25

Headline: “An ‘Objective’ Press Won’t Alert You to Threats to Democracy”

“. . .if you follow the Times‘ approach to journalism, in which you must never say that something is happening if someone in power claims it is not happening, then your audience won’t know when their government is acting illegally, or denying truth and reality. . .”

“. . .Journalists inevitably, inescapably, have values, and those values necessarily affect what they communicate to their audiences. If they value democracy, then they communicate to their audience that arrests of opposition lawmakers are dangerous. If, on the other hand, they value the appearance of neutrality above all else, then the message readers will get is: Who’s to say?”

Read the full article at:

https://fair.org/home/an-objective-press-wont-alert-you-to-threats-to-democracy/

No Journalistic Standards for Bots?

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Laura Preston, 5/13/25

Headline:  “Study Guide Supremacy”

Subhead:  “Getting my news from ChatGPT”

“If you spend any time among people in the AI space, you’ll hear a common refrain. Large language models (LLMs) like Google’s Gemini, Anthropic’s Claude, and OpenAI’s ChatGPT are handy tools for searching the internet, separating facts from the chaff, and delivering information objectively. Of course, we’ve already invented a system for dispatching neutral information, and that system is called journalism. Herein lies a serious irony. Many LLMs are trained on content produced by journalistic institutions, but do not adhere to journalistic standards when rehashing the material. . .”

https://www.cjr.org/feature-2/getting-my-news-from-chatgpt-ai.php

Money-Truth on the Radio

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Josh Hersch 4/11/25

Headline:  “Kai Ryssdal Was America’s Economic Voice of Reason This Week”

Subhead:  “The Marketplace host on Trump’s economic policies, and telling it like it is.”

“Kai Ryssdal has been the host of Marketplace, a leading daily radio show and podcast about the economy, produced by American Public Media, since 2005.

“He delivers the news—from the bitter latest on our 401(k)s to unexpected interviews about the modern-day resurgence of train robberies—with an affable, direct tone. . .”

“This week on The Kicker, Ryssdal explains what, exactly, just happened with the economy, and why he feels it’s so important for Marketplace to call it like they see it. . .”

https://www.cjr.org/kicker/kai-ryssdal-marketplace-trump-economy.php