Our weekly roundup of news found at the intersection of media, politics, policy and technology, from the Shorenstein Center and from around the web.
This Week at the Shorenstein Center
Shorenstein Center Announces Spring 2017 Fellows. Adam J. Berinsky will research media and political polarization, Helen Boaden will examine the pressures facing public service broadcasters, Farai Chideya will write about race and gender in 2016’s political coverage, Zack Exley will write about media coverage of conservative Christians and secular progressives, Meighan Stone will focus on entrepreneurship, media and international refugee and migrant issues, and Rick Stengel will lead study groups on government and the press.
Fake news and the spread of misinformation, from Journalist’s Resource.
News from Our Faculty, Fellows and Students
Media Decisions on Reporting Claims About Trump Stir Controversy. Jeff Seglin, lecturer in public policy, director of the HKS Communications Program and faculty affiliate at the Shorenstein Center, weighs in on BuzzFeed’s decision to publish a document containing unsubstantiated claims about Donald Trump. “That does great damage to the media, and it raises suspicions in the minds of the readers and the viewers.”
Trump ‘compromising’ claims: How and why did we get here? Paul Wood, fall 2015 fellow, saw the allegations before the election, and reports on the fallout now they have come to light.
Trump’s Dismissal Of Intelligence Community Is “Madness,” Says National Security Expert Juliette Kayyem. Kayyem, who is the Belfer Lecturer in International Security and a faculty affiliate at the Shorenstein Center, expresses concern that Trump is undermining the intelligence community.
There are huge holes in how the U.S. states investigate politicians’ conflicts of interest. John Wihbey, consultant for Journalist’s Resource, analyzes state-level requirements for conflict of interest disclosures.
Liberals are reconsidering federalism in the wake of Trump. Renée Loth, fall 2011 fellow, writes about blue states that “are preparing rearguard actions against executive overreach.”
Seasons Greetings from Uncle Sam – Your Tax Dollars Made an Impact. HKS student Marie Lawrence argues that the U.S. federal government needs to better inform the public about its services and successes.
President Obama’s Farewell
How America Changed During Barack Obama’s Presidency, from Pew Research Center.
Obama’s right: in an age of unreality, democracy is in peril, from The Guardian.
Trump’s Press Conference, Russia and Journalism Ethics
- BuzzFeed publishes unsubstantiated Trump report, raising ethics questions, from The Guardian.
- Donald Trump’s News Session Starts War With and Within Media, from The New York Times.
- Trump berated a CNN reporter, and fellow journalists missed an opportunity, from Columbia Journalism Review.
- Hill Republicans demand probe of media leaks on Trump, from Politico.
Russian Hackers Find Ready Bullhorns in the Media, from The New York Times.
Covering the New Administration
- Advice for media and Trump from two former presidential press secretaries, from Columbia Journalism Review.
- The best way to cover President Trump? Stay out of the White House, from Poynter.
- The Internet Archive is building up a Trump presidential library — of everything he’s ever said, on video, from Nieman Lab.
- Jeff Sessions Doesn’t Commit To Not Jailing Journalists For Doing Their Jobs, from Huffington Post.
Views on Fake News
- It’s time to retire the tainted term ‘fake news’, from The Washington Post.
- Focus more on fighting bad journalism, less on fake news, from Columbia Journalism Review.
- Facebook and matters of fact in the post-truth era, from World Association of Newspaper and News Publishers.
- Germany’s plan to fight fake news, from The Christian Science Monitor.
Fresh Ideas and Trends for 2017
- Journalism, Media and Technology Trends and Predictions in 2017, from The Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism.
- Facebook, Nodding to Its Role in Media, Starts a Journalism Project, from The New York Times.
- Reader support is more important than ever. Here are 22 ways to connect with your community, from Poynter.
- Fighting online trolls with bots, from The Conversation.
- Fitting in the News: Tips on Creating Personalized Interactives, from MediaShift.
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