Media Literacy

Article in The Righting by Howard Polskin, 1/22/25

Headline:  “10 Questions About Right Wing Media in 2025”

“Right wing media backed the right pony in 2024. After many websites and pundits flirted with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in 2023, almost all outlets planted themselves behind Donald Trump and against the aging Joe Biden who became a right wing media punchline and punching bag. On the surface, all seems well in MAGA media world today. But there are questions large and small that could reshape the conservative landscape for years to come. Some questions may seem crazy, but in a world where Matt Gaetz was nominated as the country’s Attorney General, anything is possible.

https://therighting.com/original/10-questions-about-right-wing-media-in-2025/

Article in Poynter by Mark Caro, 1/23/25

Headline:  “In America’s news deserts, Meta’s retreat from fact-checking severs a last link to fact-based news”

Subhead:  “Meta’s policy reversal and increase in political content could mean more misinformation for communities lacking local news”

“Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s announcement that Facebook is eliminating fact-checking may amount to a double whammy for people living in this country’s ever-expanding news deserts.

“Having lost their primary local news sources, these communities often turn to social media and other alternatives to try to stay informed. Now one of those key sources is removing safeguards against the spread of misinformation.

“It’s absolutely correct that it’s in areas that are underserved by professional journalism that this move will have the harshest impact,” said Lucas Graves, author of the 2016 book ‘Deciding What’s True: The Rise of Political Fact-Checking in American Journalism.’ ”

https://www.poynter.org/fact-checking/2025/effect-facebook-fact-checking-partnership-news-deserts/

Article in Media Matters by Allison Fisher, 1/10/25

Headline:  “Right-wing media push Trump’s false claim that California water policies are hurting efforts to suppress LA fires”

Subhead:  “Casting blame on environmental policies in an attempt to distract from increasingly deadly climate impacts is core to right-wing media’s extreme weather playboo”

“Right-wing media are falsely blaming the reports of low water pressure or dry hydrants in Los Angeles on state and local mismanagement – including suggesting that local authorities refused to fill the reservoirs – and conflating the hydrant issue with the false claim that Gov. Gavin Newsom’s water policies are to blame.

“On January 8, the Los Angeles Times reported that “as wildfires raged across Los Angeles on Tuesday, crews battling the Palisades blaze faced an additional burden: Scores of fire hydrants in Pacific Palisades had little to no water flowing out.” Later that day, President-elect Donald Trump in a post on Truth Social falsely claimed that Newsom had deprived Southern California of water in order to protect the smelt fish.”

https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/right-wing-media-push-trumps-false-claim-california-water-policies-are-hurting-

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Article in Huff Post by Lee Moran, 1/10/25

Headline:  “Donald Trump’s Disaster-Hijacking Playbook Exposed By Expert On Right-Wing Media”

Subhead:  “Nicole Hemmer also explored the potent cocktail — involving the president-elect — that means ‘everything just feels worse all the time.’ “

“Nicole Hemmer — an expert on conservative and right-wing media, and the effect they have had on American politics — this week explained Donald Trump’s penchant for whipping up anger and causing division amid tragedies and disasters.

“ ‘It definitely is the case that this is something Trump does, right?’ Hemmer, an associate professor of history at Vanderbilt University, asked The New Republic’s Greg Sargent in the latest episode of his podcast, ‘The Daily Blast,’ which was released Thursday.”

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/nicole-hemmer-donald-trump-talent_n_6780e6cde4b01ffef2482ddd

Article in Mediaite by Phillip Nieto, 10/1//25

Headline:  ” ‘I Was Ill-Prepared’: Zuckerberg Blames Anti-Trump Media For Facebook Fact-Checking Measures in Marathon Joe Rogan Interview”

“Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg claimed he was “ill-prepared” to face anti-Trump media pressuring him to fact-check misinformation on social media.

“During a nearly three-hour-long podcast interview with Joe Rogan, Zuckerberg said he received pressure over the last decade to start censoring material on Facebook based on political ideology. He cited Trump’s 2016 victory and BREXIT for the increase in political censorship.”

https://www.mediaite.com/podcasts/i-was-ill-prepared-zuckerberg-blames-anti-trump-media-for-facebook-fact-checking-measures-in-marathon-joe-rogan-interview/

Article in the Washington Post by Erik Wemple, 12/9/24

Headline:  “Will anyone hold the media to account? I answered your questions.”

Q by guest – “. . . Why don’t reporters ask real follow-up questions?
As a former newspaper reporter/editor, my heart remains in the field and with the reporters trying to cover some of the strangest times in our history.

“I am frustrated that reporters rarely ask sufficient follow–up questions when a politician, like a president-elect, lies. Kristen Welker’s interview with Donald Trump is an example.

A – : “. . . Welker then challenges Trump by saying that the figure he cited goes back 40 years; Trump then plows ahead with his narrative, which a subsequent NBC News fact check calls false. Your critique is a good one: This point is significant enough to essentially halt the flow of the interview and say something like, “Please cite your source.” Because even though NBC News later fact-checked it (as did other outlets), there’s value in standing firm on principle in real time, when possible.. . ”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/12/09/erik-wemple-media-live-chat/