Second set of lecture slides for fake news class: Post-Truth World and Real News Coverage Characteristics

1. The Truth about Fake News
• Discussion Questions
• Post-Truth World
• News Coverage of Politics
• Fake News Case Study

2. 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?

3. 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?

4. 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?

5. 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

6. 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)

7. 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

8. 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 homophilous
sorting, through social networks
• Digital TV and radio = more
channels fueling “magical
thinking”

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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?

12. “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

13. Aspects of Political News
• 1. Content of Coverage
• 2. Political Bias
• 3. Effects on Viewers

14. 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

15. 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

16. Types of Coverage (Percentages)
2004 2008 2012 2016
Horse 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)

17. 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

18. 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.

19. 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"

20. 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

21. Tone of Coverage
(percent of good press)
2004 2008 2012 2016
Dem Nom 53 62 41 29
GOP Nom 38 37 33 17

22. 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

23. 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.

24. 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%)

25. 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

26. 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.

27. Media Believability

29. Partisan Gap in Media Trust

30. Dems More Interested
in National News

39. 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