Our weekly roundup of news found at the intersection of media, politics, policy and technology, from the Shorenstein Center and from around the web. Sign up to receive Media and Politics Must Reads in your inbox each week. Also connect with us on Twitter and Facebook for more updates.
Recently at the Shorenstein Center
Bob Schieffer: Finding the Truth in Today’s Deluge of News. Bob Schieffer, CBS News contributor, former Face the Nation host, and 2015-2016 Walter Shorenstein Media & Democracy Fellow, discussed his new book, Overload: Finding the Truth in Today’s Deluge of News. He also shared his thoughts on the 2016 election, media coverage of the White House, and the future of news.
South China Morning Post’s Gary Liu on Digital News and Transforming a Legacy Media Company. Gary Liu, CEO of the South China Morning Post, discussed the Hong Kong-based news outlet and its audience, and how he thinks about organizational transformation. Prior to joining SCMP, Liu was the CEO of Digg, where he led the startup’s transformation from aggregator to news platform.
News from Faculty, Fellows, and Students
Liberals Must Find the Right Tone on Guns. Walter Shapiro, spring 2005 fellow, writes that “Nothing in the Constitution prevents a massive investment in mental health in the immediate wake of Las Vegas.”
It’s not madness, terrorism, or ‘evil’ that’s killing people — it’s guns. Derrick Z. Jackson, fall 2016 fellow, writes that “A singular man armed with a mere knife cannot take out nearly 60 people and slash 500 more.”
Massive gun violence terrorizes us all. Juliette Kayyem, Belfer Lecturer in International Security and Shorenstein Center affiliate, writes that “Our national security policy should focus on making it harder for terrorists to arm themselves—doing so increases the likelihood that attacks of all kinds might be thwarted or exposed.”
First Draft, founded by Claire Wardle, took home an Online Journalism Award for its CrossCheck project during the French election. They also recently produced a new resource for newsrooms, 10 questions to ask before covering misinformation.
To rebuild, Trump must show civility after the storm. Donna Brazile, current Joan Shorenstein Fellow, writes that “The Trump administration must take the lead in helping hurricane-struck Americans recover and rebuild. Unity springs from mutual respect—from setting aside the blame game—and working together in faith and trust.”
The N.F.L.’s Workplace Dodge. Andrew Rosenthal, Visiting Murrow Lecturer of the Practice of Press and Public Policy, writes that Goodell’s letter to NFL teams is full of coded language, where “‘Positive and unified’ means, ‘Do it my way.’”
Finnish Fake News. Adam J. Berinsky, spring 2017 fellow, discusses how he worked with the Finnish government to fight misinformation on an episode of Full Frontal with Samantha Bee.
Want to Know What Divides This Country? Come to Alabama. Diane McWhorter, A.M. Rosenthal Writer-in-Residence at the Shorenstein Center in 2014, writes about the complexities of class, race, and politics in Alabama.
How Germany Shifted To The Far-Right In Less Than Two Years – A Personal Journey. HKS alum and former German journalist writes about Germany’s changing political climate in the Kennedy School Review.
President Trump and the Media
- Trump’s threat to yank TV licenses looks a lot like a Nixon move. Here’s why. From Poynter.
- Trump threatens to cancel NBC’s broadcast license over critical reporting: A terrifying threat, if it were remotely credible, from Vox.
- Covering President Trump in a Polarized Media Environment, from Pew Research Center.
- Trump and the Watergate effect, from Columbia Journalism Review.
Misinformation
- The science behind why fake news is so hard to wipe out, from Vox.
- Fake News and Partisan Blowhards Were Invented in the 1800s, from Splinter.
- The scientist who spots fake videos, from
- When Facebook and Google are ‘weaponized,’ the victim is reality, from The Washington Post.
Social Media Platform Accountability
- Pierre Omidyar: 6 ways social media has become a direct threat to democracy, from The Washington Post.
- What if Platforms Like Facebook Are Too Big to Regulate? From The New York Times Magazine.
- UK government considers classifying Google and Facebook as publishers, from The Guardian.
- Facebook tells advertisers more scrutiny is coming, from Axios.
Media Diversity
- ASNE’s latest diversity survey shows some progress, but newsrooms are still mostly white and male, from Poynter.
- The share of women in newsrooms has increased barely 1 percentage point since 2001, ASNE data shows, from Nieman Lab.
- How can collaborations between ethnic and mainstream outlets serve communities in the digital age? From American Press Institute.
