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October 2017

Early coverage of the Trump presidency rarely included citizen voices

Just 5% of the more than 3,000 news stories studied during the first 100 days of the Donald Trump presidency cited a member of the public, one of nine source types analyzed. That figure compares with about three-quarters of stories that cited Trump or a member of his administration, 35% that cited another news outlet or journalist, 26% that cited a Republican member of Congress and 21% that cited a Democratic member. Stories that cited a member of the public also are less common than those that cite an expert or an interest group. The low level of citizen voices held true for the five most prominent topic areas studied: the president’s political skills, immigration, appointments and nominations, U.S.-Russia relations, and health care. Across these five topics, which accounted for two-thirds of the coverage, citations of everyday Americans never rose above 7%.

Pew: Key trends in social and digital news media

Digital news and social media continue to grow, with mobile devices rapidly becoming one of the most common ways for Americans to get news. As journalists and media practitioners gather for the annual Online News Association conference, here are 10 key findings from recent Pew Research Center reports about today’s digital news media landscape:

Los Angeles Times Newsroom, Challenging Tronc, Goes Public With Union Push

Newsroom employees at The Los Angeles Times are trying to form a union, setting up a potential clash with the newspaper’s parent company, Tronc. After months of organizing, the committee behind the push for a union drafted a one-page letter laying out its reasoning and left printouts on employees’ desks the night of Oct 3.The unsigned letter calls for improved working conditions, higher pay, more generous benefits and protections for staff members against “unilateral change by Tronc.” The letter also says “a majority of the newsroom” had signed union cards supporting representation by the NewsGuild, which represents 25,000 reporters, editors, photojournalists and other media workers at news organizations across the United States.

Google: Coming Soon -- A New Approach in Louisville and San Antonio

We’re trying something new in our next two Fiber cities. When we begin serving customers in Louisville (KY) and San Antonio (TX), we’ll focus on providing superfast Internet - and the endless content possibilities that creates - without the traditional TV add on.

If you’ve been reading the business news lately, you know that more and more people are moving away from traditional methods of viewing television content. Customers today want to control what, where, when, and how they get content. They want to do it their way, and we want to help them. For our existing markets with TV as a part of their product offerings, nothing is changing -- although more and more of you are choosing Internet-only options from Google Fiber. We’ve seen this over and over again in our Fiber cities. Louisville and San Antonio -- our superfast Internet service will be there soon. We’re excited to see what you do with Google Fiber in your own way.

FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel Announces Staff

Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel announced the appointment of Travis Litman as Chief of Staff and Senior Legal Advisor, with primary responsibility for wireline and public safety issues. She also announced the appointment of Kate Black as Policy Advisor, with primary responsibility for media issues. In addition, she announced that Lashion Pratt will join the office as a Staff Assistant.

Travis Litman is a Commission veteran, who returns to the office after previously serving as Commissioner Rosenworcel’s Senior Legal Advisor for wireline and consumer issues. Travis has held a variety of roles in the agency’s Kate Black joins the office from EMILY’s List, where she most recently served as Chief of Staff. Lashion Pratt joins the office from the Office of Managing Director after starting with the Commission as a Staff Assistant in the former Chairman’s office in 2016.

Fight for the Future Targets Democratic Sens Who Voted for Pai

Fight for the Future is going after the four Democratic Sens who joined with Republican Sens in voting to confirm Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai to another term at the FCC. Many Democrats took to the floor during vote to decry Pai's deregulatory policies, particularly his proposal to roll back Title II classification of ISPs and rethink the Open Internet order's rules against blocking, throttling and paid prioritization; those against the confirmation said loudly they would vote against him, suggesting his policies were anti-consumer and anti-net neutrality. But Sens Joe Manchin (D-WV), Claire McCaskill (D-MO), Gary Peters (D-MI), Jon Tester (D-MT) voted to confirm Pai for another five-year term at the agency. Fight for the Future said it was targeting those lawmakers with crowdfunded billboards to be placed in their districts calling them out for their votes.

David-vs-Goliath Battle Ahead for CBRS Spectrum, Better Fixed Wireless Broadband in Play

The Federal Communications Commission will vote later in Oct to explore rule changes for the 3550-3700 MHz spectrum band, known as the CBRS band, including the possibility of larger license areas for longer time periods. According to supporters, CBRS spectrum rule changes would facilitate the deployment of 5G services. But such rule changes could make it more difficult for rural carriers to obtain licenses to support fixed broadband wireless service in remote areas where high costs have prevented the deployment of traditional wired broadband infrastructure.

Can the First Amendment save us?

[Commentary] The most distressing aspect of the recent period of aggression toward freedom of speech and press in this country is the willing rejection of Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.’s starting premise: that overcoming the natural and, in his terms, “logical” impulse to persecute others who disagree with or are different from us is the hallmark of a civilized society. When you relish intolerance, you are reversing course on one of the most profound tenets of modern thought. So that when a president stokes the fears and prejudices that exist beneath the surface, he models a different—and divisive—kind of behavior for citizens.

In this way, just as our unparalleled protections of speech and the press have over decades laid the foundation for a broader ethos of tolerance, so can the lack of respect for these same rights quickly send us careening backward toward a pathos of intolerance that reaches far beyond speech, infecting all of our decision-making.

[Lee C. Bollinger became Columbia University’s 19th president in 2002.]

CJR: A note from the editor

[Commentary] Months ago, when we started planning this issue and framing our subject as “The Year That Changed Journalism,” we thought we might be accused of hyperbole. Now it’s understatement that has us worried. The world of journalism is a fundamentally different place as a result of the election of Donald J. Trump. In this issue of the Columbia Journalism Review, we’ve set out to catalogue what’s changed—and to chart where we’ll go from here.

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