scholarly journals The Presidents vs. the Press: The Endless Battle between the White House and the Media from the Founding Fathers to Fake News

2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Meg Groeling
2012 ◽  
Vol 45 (04) ◽  
pp. 625-629 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael S. Lewis-Beck ◽  
Charles Tien

Election forecasters face increasing turbulence in their relevant environments, making predictions more uncertain, or at least apparently so. For US presidential contests, economic performance and candidate profiles are central variables in most statistical models. These variables have exhibited large swings recently. Before the 2008 US presidential election, the economy fell into a Great Recession, and the candidate of one of the two major parties was, for the first time, a black man. These unprecedented conditions were trumpeted in the media, with heightened frenzy over the “horse race” question of who was going to win the White House. In the press, many forecasts appeared, taking different forms—polls, models, markets, pundits, to name some—offering a broader range of possible outcomes than ever before. Just looking at the predictions of the statistical modelers alone, we find that for 2008 many teams offered estimates of the incumbent (Republican) vote, ranging over an 11 percentage point spread. At one extreme, Lockerbie (2008) forecast 41.8% while at the other extreme Campbell (2008) forecast 52.7%. Of course, other methodologists offered their own, different, forecasts. The media, in its various forms, added to the hyperbole, aggressively reporting different forecasts on an almost daily basis.


2020 ◽  
pp. 152-162
Author(s):  
Angèle Christin

This chapter explores the implications of web analytics for further studies of digital metrics beyond the case of journalism. At a time when nearly every domain is affected by analytics and algorithms, the chapter also provides an overview of what kinds of changes are to be expected and what should not be taken for granted whenever metrics take over. It describes how online media became a different place following the election of Donald Trump as the forty-fifth president of the United States in which news organizations and digital platforms entered into a political and economic maelstrom. It investigates the moral panic surrounding the uncovering of “content farms” and the stream of tweets from the White House labelling mainstream news organizations as “fake news” that caused the media ecosystem to become the center of new controversies about the future of information and democracy. The chapter also shows how news websites can bear some responsibility for problematic developments in journalism.


2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 123
Author(s):  
Catiane Souza ◽  
Priscila Chéquer

O principal objetivo deste artigo é discutir sobre o fundamentalismo religioso enquanto emblema de posições políticas durante o período da pandemia no contexto brasileiro. Nesse intuito, inicialmente apresentamos a compreensão do fundamentalismo religioso, comentando os efeitos de sentidos que circulam em plataformas midiáticas do Brasil. Na sequência, analisamos um pronunciamento do Presidente Jair Bolsonaro. Para isso, nos apropriamos da noção de Formações Imaginárias, conceito teórico/analítico da Análise do Discurso da escola francesa. No terceiro item do artigo, ressaltamos os mecanismos que significam a ciência e a mídia como inimigas, sobretudo, em plena pandemia da COVID-19. No último item de discussão, refletimos sobre a circulação midiática de fake news que sustentam valores do fundamentalismo político-religioso. A aceleração da capacidade de circulação midiática, no cenário político de negacionismo científico, desvalorização da imprensa e imposição dos valores ultra tradicionais, destaca novos aspectos dos discursos fundamentalistas que contribuem para a ascensão e manutenção de um governo com tendência ao autoritarismo. Por fim, destacamos as reverberações sobre mídia e ciência identificadas nesse breve estudo como alvo de maior descrédito entre parcelas dos evangélicos e dos católicos. AbstractThe main objective of this article is to discuss religious fundamentalism as an emblem of political positions during the pandemic period in the Brazilian context. In this regard, we initially presented the understanding of religious fundamentalism, commenting on the effects of meanings that circulate in Brazilian media platforms. Following this, we analyzed a statement by President Jair Bolsonaro. For this, we appropriated the notion of imaginary formations, a theoretical/analytical concept of the French School’s Discourse Analysis. In the third item of the article, we highlight the mechanisms that turn science and the media as enemies, above all, in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic. In the last item of discussion, we reflected on the media circulation of fake news that support values of political-religious fundamentalism. The acceleration of the capacity of media circulation, in the political scenario of scientific denialism, devaluation of the press and imposition of ultra traditional values, highlights new aspects of fundamentalist discourses that contribute to the rise and maintenance of a government with a tendency towards authoritarianism. Finally, we highlight the reverberations on media and science identified in this brief study as the target of greater discredit among parcels of Evangelicals and Catholics.


2019 ◽  
Vol 97 (1) ◽  
pp. 188-210
Author(s):  
Kelsey N. Whipple ◽  
Jeremy L. Shermak

When U.S. President Donald Trump called the press the “enemy of the American people” and “FAKE NEWS” in a February 2017 tweet, his statement inspired a robust debate about the credibility, institutional norms, and national significance of the press, which were debated on social media by both journalists and non-journalists using the popular hashtag #NotTheEnemy. Because previous research suggests that elite discourse of “fake news” decreases public trust in the press, this tweet presented a unique danger to the journalistic paradigm and public trust in American journalism. Through a mixed-method approach combining quantitative content analysis and qualitative textual analysis, this research explores the major themes and dominant sentiments of this public discourse about the press and analyzes #NotTheEnemy’s contributions to reinforcing the journalistic paradigm in the wake of the president’s attack and its impact on American public opinion of and trust in the media.


2008 ◽  
Vol 29 ◽  
pp. 85-108
Author(s):  
Jeff Peake ◽  
Amanda Jo Parks

American presidents routinely use pseudo-events in their attempts to generate positive news coverage and build a favorable image in the press. Despite their prevalence, we know little about how pseudo-events are covered by the American press. We content analyze front-page coverage of seven White House events during 2006 and early 2007 in 96 U.S. newspapers. We compare the amount and tone of coverage given each event, as well as the framing provided by headlines and lead paragraphs. Moreover, comparisons across newspapers suggest that newspapers slant to their coverage of presidential pseudo-events, which correlates with endorsement behavior and the political leanings of its potential market. Our results suggest that the coverage of presidential pseudo-events is shaped by the national political and policy context as well as the local context of the newspaper, thus limiting the ability of the White House to positively influence media coverage. However, effective staging and symbolism can result in positive coverage, even when the president faces difficult political circumstances.


MedienJournal ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 37
Author(s):  
Li Xiguang

The commercialization of meclia in China has cultivated a new journalism business model characterized with scandalization, sensationalization, exaggeration, oversimplification, highly opinionated news stories, one-sidedly reporting, fabrication and hate reporting, which have clone more harm than good to the public affairs. Today the Chinese journalists are more prey to the manipu/ation of the emotions of the audiences than being a faithful messenger for the public. Une/er such a media environment, in case of news events, particularly, during crisis, it is not the media being scared by the government. but the media itself is scaring the government into silence. The Chinese news media have grown so negative and so cynica/ that it has produced growing popular clistrust of the government and the government officials. Entering a freer but fearful commercially mediated society, the Chinese government is totally tmprepared in engaging the Chinese press effectively and has lost its ability for setting public agenda and shaping public opinions. 


2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 114-133

Since the 2016 U.S. presidential election, attacks on the media have been relentless. “Fake news” has become a household term, and repeated attempts to break the trust between reporters and the American people have threatened the validity of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. In this article, the authors trace the development of fake news and its impact on contemporary political discourse. They also outline cutting-edge pedagogies designed to assist students in critically evaluating the veracity of various news sources and social media sites.


2021 ◽  
pp. 000276422110055
Author(s):  
Marçal Sintes-Olivella ◽  
Pere Franch ◽  
Elena Yeste-Piquer ◽  
Klaus Zilles

What is the opinion held by the European press on the U.S. election campaign and the candidates running for president? What are the predominant issues that attract the attention of European print media? Does Europe detest Donald Trump? The objective of the present study is to analyze the perception European commentators had of the 2020 race for the White House. The media, the audience, and European governments were captivated more than ever before by how the U.S. election campaign unfolded, fixing their gaze on the contest between Donald Trump and Joe Biden. Through a combined quantitative and qualitative methodology, a combination of content analysis and the application of framing theory (hitherto scarcely applied to opinion pieces), our research centers on exploring the views, opinions, and analyses published in eight leading newspapers from four European countries (France, Germany, Spain, and the United Kingdom) as expressed in their editorials and opinion articles. This study observes how the televised presidential debates were commented on, interpreted, and assessed by commentators from the eight newspapers we selected. The goal was to identify the common issues and frames that affected European public opinion on the U.S. presidential campaign and the aspirants to the White House.


2021 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 237802312110247
Author(s):  
Alexandrea J. Ravenelle ◽  
Abigail Newell ◽  
Ken Cai Kowalski

The authors explore media distrust among a sample of precarious and gig workers interviewed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Although these left-leaning respondents initially increased their media consumption at the outset of the pandemic, they soon complained of media sensationalism and repurposed a readily available cultural tool: claims of “fake news.” As a result, these unsettled times have resulted in a “diffusion of distrust,” in which an elite conservative discourse of skepticism toward the media has also become a popular form of compensatory control among self-identified liberals. Perceiving “fake news” and media sensationalism as “not good” for their mental health, respondents also reported experiencing media burnout and withdrawing from media consumption. As the pandemic passes its one-year anniversary, this research has implications for long-term media coverage on COVID-19 and ongoing media trust and consumption.


2018 ◽  
Vol 50 ◽  
pp. 01127
Author(s):  
Aleksandr Pastukhov

The paper reflects important features and developments of doping affair with Russian sportsmen as a media scandal. This communicative event is introduced through the current examples taken from the German national and regional press. The mechanisms of the formation and topicalization of the event are revealed in the paper. The global context of the scandal is covered and exampled by co-referential areas “Sport” and “Olympics”. Their presentation and interpretation occur under conditions of so-called “fake news” and “media performance” strategies. The examples presented in chronological order reflect the communicative dynamics of the media event ‘doping scandal’. The remarkable features of the distinguishing journalistic style and informative media genres are covered in the paper.


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