The Truth about Fake News

• Discussion Questions

• Post-Truth World

• News Coverage of Politics

• Fake News Case Study

Discussion Questions

1. Why is Fake News a salient contemporary topic?

2. What do Americans report about fake news in

surveys?

3. What was Pizzagate?

4. How has Pres. Trump used fake news claims to

attack the media?

5. Why were 2016 election polls wrong?

Discussion Questions

6. What are the differences among misinformation,

disinformation, and malinformation?

7. Describe and give an example of the 5 types of fake news.

8. Why was fake news an issue in the 2016 election campaign?

• What were some fake news stories?

• Who benefitted from fake news?

• What motivated producers of fake news?

9. Why has Pres. Trump attacked news media as fake?

Discussion Questions

11.Explain and describe the five factors contributing to the

spread of fake news.

12.How do Trump’s fake news attacks reinforce his base of

support and weaponize distrust?

13.Describe the tensions between the first amendment and

fake news (be sure to address):

• How does the First Amendment contribute to the spread of fake news?

• How does fake news threaten First Amendment freedoms?

Post-Truth World

• Post-truth: “relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief” (Oxford Dictionaries, 2016)

• Obama founded ISIS

• British voted to leave EU so savings would go to health care system March 1, 2009 Time cover

Causes of Post-truth Politics

1. Declining trust in

governments and

institutions

• Across western world, trust at

an all-time low

• Misleading information: from

dietary choices (studies

show…) to invasion of Iraq

Climate change deniers and

anti-vaxers (vaccine

conspiracy theories)

Causes of Post Truth Politics

2. Belief that there is no

objective reality or truth

• Perception is reality

• Grew out of 1960s cultural

movement

3. Humans are cognitive

misers

• Lack of critical thinking skills

• Lack of ideological constraint

Causes of Post-Truth Politics

4. Explosion of new media sources for information• Disruption to media ecosystems

• We rely on mediated information

• Repeal of the Fairness Doctrine: 1949-1987

• Eliminated traditional gatekeepers

• No trusted arbiters of facts

• Echo chambers, or homophiloussorting, through social networks

• Digital TV and radio = more channels fueling “magical thinking”

Causes of Post-Truth Politics

5. Fake News Entrepreneurs• Foreign Sources: Macedonian

Millennials in addition to other, mostly

eastern European and Asian sources

such as Russia

• Social Media Sources

• Political Talk, Editorial, and/or

Entertainment Shows, Movies, &

Websites

• Radio & TV shows, podcasts,

documentaries, websites, social media

Causes of Post-Truth Politics

6. Increasingly Polarized

Society

• Hatred of opposition more

than love for position

• Increasing role of primaries in

selecting party nominees for

all government positions

• Gerrymandering and

districting

• Partisan policy votes in

Congress

Causes of Post-Truth Politics

7. Fake news attacks reframe

media’s role

• From 4th Estate to Special

Interest

• Do the media have an agenda:

one more player on the Washington power scene

• “the media have now moved on

from Russia to cover

themselves”

• Skepticism vs cynicism?

“Real News” Coverage of Politics

Analyses of News Media

1. Content: topics, valence, frames

2. Bias: Negative, Commercial, Partisan

3. Effects: limited, but focus on:• Cognitive: learning:

issues/officials/candidates

• Affective: attitudes such as favorability of candidate/policy; information efficacy and voter enthusiasm

• Behavior: vote, protest, participate/engage

Aspects of Political News

• 1. Content of Coverage

• 2. Political Bias

• 3. Effects on Viewers

5 Characteristics of the Content of News Coverage

1. Personalization – (Candidate Image)

2. Drama and Conflict – horserace/strategy

3. Action—specific happening or event

4. Novelty and Deviance – the unusual

5. Link to On-going themes—scandals, good vs. evil,

cyclical themes

3 Types of Political News Coverage

1. Campaign Strategy: Horse Race Coverage, esp. POLLS, Game Frame

2. Candidate Images—background, images, conduct in office, in campaign

3. Policy Issues – specifics and details about policies and proposals/campaign promises

Types of Coverage (Percentages)

2004 2008 2012 2016Horse Race 42 48 51 46

Issues 33 28 30 25

Image 25 24 19 29

Cand. Sound Bite 8.4 8.2 7.8 6.2(in seconds)

Political News Biases:If It Bleeds, It Leads

1. Negative: most news is bad news or about bad decisions, loss, tragedy, gaffes, scandals

2. Commercial: news is largely for-profit, commercial enterprise dependent on readers or viewers for revenue

3. Political Bias in Campaign Coverage

Newspapers historically reflected the partisanship of their owners/publishers. Frequently editorialize.

TV originally perceived as neutral and objective.

Public airwaves gave TV and radio a special obligation to be objective.

Accusations of Bias

Surfaced particularly after the 1968 presidential campaign.

Vice-President Spiro Agnew made a series of speeches in

1969 that accused the media of bias. He particularly attacked

the broadcast media for:

1. Instant analysis of presidential speeches--president should have the right

to speak directly to the people.

2. Media's power to "select" allowed them to:

• elevate men to fame

• make certain issues salient

3. Media have a near monopoly.

4. Always emphasize the bad: "nattering nabobs of negativism"

Media Bias Research

• 1972 campaign was subjected to considerable analysis

looking for media bias.

• Early studies concluded there was not much political

bias, although some found that McGovern got more

favorable close-ups and smiling pictures/visuals than did

Nixon.

• A change began to emerge in research findings in 1988

and continuing through today

Tone of Coverage(percent of good press)

2004 2008 2012 2016

Dem Nom 53 62 41 29

GOP Nom 38 37 33 17

Negative Coverage of Presidential Candidates

Since 1980, Democrats

have gotten significantly

better (more positive) press

Particularly true in 2008

when Obama got 37%

positive press coverage

Most Candidates Get Negative Coverage

Overall, from 1980 to 2016, most candidates got negative coverage, including all Republican candidates.

Only Mondale in 1984, Bill Clinton in 1992 and 1996, Kerry in 2004, and Obama in 2008 got positive press coverage.

WHAT ABOUT FOX?

• In "Special Report" news segments, the campaign coverage has been balanced

• 37% positive for GOP

• 24% positive for DEMs

• Also more balanced issue coverage

• 30% positive for GOP (networks 23%)

• 28% positive for DEMs (networks 41%)

Limited Effects Theories: News Media

1. Agenda-Setting: the agenda of issues covered by the news media will be the agenda of issues viewers believe are important

2. Framing (Second Level Agenda-Setting): Selecting a particular viewpoint and evidence to frame a story in terms of causes/effects, impact/significance, or interpretative angle

Practical Effects of News Coverage of Politics

1. Memory of News Coverage—higher for visual than for

verbal content

2. Memory is highest when the verbal and visual message

are congruent.

3. Memory for verbal information is worse before but better

after a highly emotional visual image.

4. Coverage of Terrorism may legitimize it or encourage it.

5. May distort viewer perceptions of candidates and of

issues.

Media Believability

Partisan Gap in Media Trust

Dems More Interested in National News

Internet Disrupted Media Ecosystem

• Printed page and TV screen no longer gatekeepers or agenda-setters

• The Truth is more difficult to define, to locate, or to find agreement upon

• Social media may polarize society & threaten democracy