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
Journalist’s Resource has collected and analyzed research on some of this week’s pressing policy areas:
- The Mexico City Policy and abortion funding: International impacts
- NAFTA: Reviewing the research
- Voter fraud, perceptions and political spin: Research roundup
News from Our Faculty, Fellows and Students
Listening Deeply. Last week, Shorenstein Center Director Nicco Mele moderated a panel hosted by the Knight Foundation and Civic Hall. How can journalists do a better job of reporting the whole picture? What roles do data, storytelling and geography have in reporting? How can media organizations listen beyond the echo chamber? Amalie Nash of USA Today, Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight, and Sally Buzbee of The Associated Press discuss.
What happens to Donald Trump’s Twitter account now that he’s president? Nicco Mele, Shorenstein Center director, says to expect Trump to use Twitter “in the same way he did during the campaign,” as a primary vehicle of communication with the public—instead of traditional interviews and press conferences.
A Look Back At Other Marches In History, And What They Accomplished. Leah Wright Rigueur, Assistant Professor of Public Policy, discusses the significance of the Women’s March and how it compares to other marches in history.
Why I Joined the Women’s March on Washington. HKS student Brynna Quillin reports on her experience at the Women’s March.
Trump’s bogus border wall. Juliette Kayyem, Belfer Lecturer in International Security, writes that Trump’s promise to build a wall on the Mexican border will face serious geographical and political barriers.
Trump to environment: This is war. Derrick Z. Jackson, fall 2016 fellow, argues that Trump’s pledge to “refocus” the mission of the Environmental Protection Agency and his Cabinet nominees “take us back to a flat earth.”
Election Experts Dismiss Trump’s Repeated Claims Of Illegal Voting. Pippa Norris, Paul F. McGuire Lecturer in Comparative Politics, says that Trump’s claims of voter fraud are unfounded, and if millions of votes were cast illegally, “many states would have found that out and would have revealed it, as would the press.”
Send the interns. Jay Rosen, spring 1994 fellow, advises news outlets to put their “most junior people in the White House briefing room,” since “the real story is elsewhere, and most likely hidden.”
USDS = taxpayer value, former White House deputy CTO says. Nick Sinai, Adjunct Lecturer in Public Policy, weighs in on the future of the U.S. Digital Service under Trump’s administration.
Meeting President Obama: A Farewell to Representation. HKS student Elorm Avakame reflects upon Obama’s presidency and legacy.
“Alternative Facts”
- In a Swirl of ‘Untruths’ and ‘Falsehoods,’ Calling a Lie a Lie, from The New York Times.
- The traditional way of reporting on a president is dead. And Trump’s press secretary killed it. From The Washington Post.
- Trump’s real war isn’t with the media. It’s with facts. From Vox.
- Don’t ridicule ‘alternative facts.’ Fact-check them, from Poynter.
- ‘Alternative facts’ are just lies, whatever Kellyanne Conway claims, from The Guardian.
- Professionalism, Propaganda, and the Press, from The Atlantic.
Media and Communication in the New Administration
- Trump moves to put his own stamp on Voice of America, from Politico.
- Trump’s FCC Pick Doesn’t Bode Well For Net Neutrality, from Wired.
- Breitbart writer expected to join White House staff, from Politico.
- Information lockdown hits Trump’s federal agencies, from Politico.
- How far will President Trump’s media blackout spread? The Sunlight Foundation is trying to find out, from Poynter.
- The Right Is Building A New Media “Upside Down” To Tell Trump’s Story, from BuzzFeed News.
Press Freedom
- Felony Charges for Journalists Arrested at Inauguration Protests Raise Fears for Press Freedom, from The New York Times.
- Don’t Expect the First Amendment to Protect the Media, from The New York Times.
- Student journalists especially vulnerable to Trump’s press-as-enemy rhetoric, from Columbia Journalism Review.
- For Journalists Who’ve Worked In China, New White House Tactics Seem Familiar, from NPR.
Investigating Trump
- We broke the Panama Papers story. Here’s how to investigate Donald Trump, from The Guardian.
- Journalists around the country are joining a Slack channel devoted to FOIA and Trump, from Poynter.
Where the President Gets His News
- Trump 101: What he reads and watches, from Axios.
- Fake Think Tanks Fuel Fake News—And the President’s Tweets, from Wired.
Credibility, Community and Trust
- The Tempting of the Media, from The New York Times.
- What does a news organization optimized for trust look like? From Poynter.
- With Indivisible, public radio stations hope the call-in format will help Americans find common ground, from Nieman Lab.
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