Journalism

PEN America files lawsuit against President Trump for First Amendment Violations

PEN America, the leading national organization representing writers and literary professionals and defending free expression, filed a lawsuit against President Donald Trump for using the powers of the federal government to retaliate against journalists and media outlets he finds objectionable, in violation of the First Amendment.

Sponsor: 

Brookings

Date: 
Wed, 10/17/2018 - 20:00 to 21:15

The American press has long been an institution seeking to uphold the integrity of our democracy. Past presidential administrations may have criticized the media at times, but the Trump administration has elevated such attacks to unprecedented levels, declaring the press as being an “enemy of the American people.” As President Trump fuels the “fake news” fire and a general distrust of journalists, the power of the press is weakening in some segments of society.



The Expanding News Desert

For residents in thousands of communities across the country – inner-city neighborhoods, affluent suburbs and rural towns– local newspapers have been the prime, if not sole, source of credible and comprehensive news and information that can affect the quality of their everyday lives. Yet, in the past decade and a half, nearly one in five newspapers has disappeared, and countless others have become shells – or “ghosts” – of themselves. Our research found a net loss since 2004 of almost 1,800 local newspapers.

Majority of Americans say President Trump is just venting when he calls the press 'enemies of the people'

A staple of President Donald Trump’s rallies is criticism of the news media, which he has often labeled as “enemies of the people.” What do the people think? Asked if President Trump’s words were an example of his expressing frustration or whether he was issuing a serious warning when he makes those kinds of remarks, 45% said they believed he was serious compared to 55% who said he was expressing frustration, according to a recent USC-Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll. The public also split closely on whether President Trump’s remarks are potentially harmful.

How do you know what’s ‘fake news’?

The term “fake news” has become a cudgel for political leaders trying to discredit reporting, but disinformation – false content created explicitly to deceive or misinform – runs rampant online. Politico is trying to identify and trace the origins of political disinformation and debunk it.

Trump media frenzy grows: Politics on steroids, 24/7

You think the insane flow of politics in your newsfeed, on your TV and lighting up your iPhone will slow when the Trump Show ends? Think again: Media companies are doubling down on even more politics, to generate even higher ratings and more clicks, as audiences seem to crave all politics, all the time. This is your life on politics. National newspapers and magazines are already staffing up for 2020 with some of their biggest field teams yet. 

Smaller outlets reduce, scrap Facebook promotion over new political ad rules

When Facebook announced in April that it would create a public database of political advertising, it seemed like a meaningful step—something that might make it harder for Russian trolls and other bad actors to try to manipulate public opinion using the company’s self-serve ad platform. But it soon became obvious the move would cause problems for media companies: In a follow-up post, Facebook said that any news stories on political topics that were promoted or “boosted” to extend their reach in the News Feed would also be labeled as political ads and put in the database.

Sponsor: 

Freedom to Read Foundation

Date: 
Fri, 10/12/2018 - 18:00

"Fake news" has always been part of the communication landscape. The difference now is that we are inundated with social media that makes it possible to disseminate "fake news” quickly and easily. In the past "fake news" was used as propaganda to isolate individuals or groups of people, destabilize governments, and foment anarchy. "Fake news" may be inaccurate, dishonest, misleading, intentionally untrue, and even intended to damage the paradigm of factual information. But is it illegal? Is it protected by the First Amendment?



President Trump eliminates the middleman in his war against journalists

One component of the traditional relationship between the media and the president is that, when the president isn’t available to answer questions, his press secretary will do so.

Journalists Make Case for President Trump Interference in AT&T-Time Warner Deal

Journalists are telling a federal court that there were solid reasons to believe that President Donald Trump's animus toward CNN played a role in the Administration's attempt to block the merger of CNN parent Time Warner with AT&T and that a lower court should have allowed that "selective enforcement" defense to be introduced and evidence of that claim presented.

Biased News Media or Biased Readers? An Experiment on Trust

Gallup survey data indicates that Americans are increasingly distrustful about potentially biased news. But they should also worry about the partiality of their own judgment as well as how their news consumption habits may affect it. The bias consumers bring with them distorts their rating of news content, new research shows, and those who are most distrustful of the news media tend to be the most biased readers. The evidence also suggests that people are at greater risk of bias if they habitually turn to more extreme sources — such as those least often preferred by political moderates.

The Surprising Reason the Right Doesn’t Trust the News

Journalism has changed measurably since the 1960s, media scholar Matthew Pressman writes, and those changes have altered how we regard the news and why opinion surveys show that fewer and fewer people seem to trust it. The evolution of the press into an adversarial—sometimes activist—institution may have played a role in the declining trust in news media reflected in polls. It’s not just the perceived liberal slant in journalism that puts some readers off.

President Trump predicts media outlets are 'all going to endorse me'

President Donald Trump predicted that news organizations that he routinely attacks as "fake news" would endorse him in the future, saying that they would go out of business if he weren't in office. "The [New York] Times, I think they’re going to endorse me," he said. "I think that ABC, I think  — well Fox, I like Fox, I really do." "But I think ABC, CBS, NBC, The Times, they’re all going to endorse me," he added. "Because if they don’t they’re going out of business.

Bringing the FCC to the People and the People to the FCC

"Our media is precious. It’s how, outside of our strictly personal spheres, we speak to each other, inform each other, learn from each other, entertain each other, increasingly how we govern ourselves." With these words, Michael Copps opened a public hearing on media ownership rules. The hearing was not in Washington, DC, but Chicago, Illinois. Copps was not a local official, but a commissioner at the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

The Media Democracy Agenda: The Strategy and Legacy of FCC Commissioner Michael J. Copps

This report, part history, and part strategy playbook, examines the tactics and policy priorities of former-Commissioner Michael J. Copps during his 10 years at the FCC. An analysis of Commissioner Copps’s tenure, his political strategies, and his legacy is a timely endeavor, both for its historical importance and for its contemporary relevance. As a commissioner in the minority during the George W.

Partisans Remain Sharply Divided in Their Attitudes About the News Media

After a year of continued tension between President Donald Trump and the news media, the partisan divides in attitudes toward the news media that widened in the wake of the 2016 presidential election remain stark, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis. Specifically, strong divisions between Republicans and Democrats persist when it comes to support of the news media’s watchdog role, perceived fairness in political coverage, trust in information from both national and local news organizations, and ratings of how well the news media keep people informed.

News Site to Investigate Big Tech, Helped by Craigslist Founder

With a $20 million gift from the Craigslist founder Craig Newmark, investigative journalist Julia Angwin and her partner at ProPublica, data journalist Jeff Larson, are starting The Markup, a news site dedicated to investigating technology and its effect on society. Sue Gardner, former head of the Wikimedia Foundation, which hosts Wikipedia, will be The Markup’s executive director. Angwin and Larson said that they would hire two dozen journalists for its New York office and that stories would start going up on the website in early 2019. The group has also raised $2 million from the John S.

First Amendment group sues DOJ over seizure of New York Times reporter's phone, email records

A CA-based First Amendment group is suing the Justice Department in federal court over the agency's seizure of phone and email records from Ali Watkins, a reporter at The New York Times. In a lawsuit filed Sept 19 in US District Court for the Northern District of California, First Amendment Coalition (FAC) alleged that the Justice Department had violated the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) by withholding documents related to the seizure of Watkins's email and phone records. Watkins, at the time, covered national security for the Times.

Silicon Valley won’t promise to protect journalists. Lawmakers, you’re up.

Will I go to prison for violating the terms of service? This is the question journalists must ask themselves, now, when writing data stories based on public information collected from a website, such as Facebook or Twitter. Violating a terms of service that prohibits scraping can carry with it possible criminal liability under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA). No journalists have been prosecuted under this statute, but their sources have, and some journalists have been asked to stop using specific reporting tools by Facebook.

American Democracy Is in Crisis

In the roughly 21 months since he took the oath of office, President Donald Trump has sunk far below the already-low bar he set for himself in his ugly campaign. As I see it, there are five main fronts of this assault on our democracy. First, there is Donald Trump’s assault on the rule of law. Second, the legitimacy of our elections is in doubt. Third, the president is waging war on truth and reason. Lesley Stahl, the 60 Minutes reporter, asked Trump during his campaign why he’s always attacking the press.

Bezos and the Elephant in the White House

Jeff Bezos finally talked about “the president.” After months of President Donald Trump berating Bezos’ two most visible companies, the Amazon CEO and Washington Post owner fired back. “It's really dangerous to demonize the media,” he said. “It's dangerous to call the media lowlifes. It's dangerous to say they're the 'enemy of the people.'" Bezos suggested President Trump take the high road and accept media scrutiny. "You don't take that job thinking you're not going to get scrutinized," he added. "You're going to get scrutinized.

Quinnipiac Poll: 54% of voters trust media compared with 30% for President Trump to tell the truth about important issues

According to a Quinnipiac University National Poll, American voters trust the news media more than President Donald Trump 54 - 30 percent to tell the truth about important issues. Republicans trust Trump more than the media 72 - 12 percent, the only group that trusts Trump more. White voters with no college degree are divided as 45 percent trust Trump more and 43 percent trust the media more. The news media is an important part of democracy, 69 percent of voters say, as 21 percent say the media is the enemy of the people.

Indicators of News Media Trust: A Gallup/Knight Foundation Survey

In this report, part of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation’s Trust, Media and Democracy initiative, Gallup asked a representative sample of U.S. adults to discuss key factors that make them trust, or not trust, news media organizations. Key findings:

News Use Across Social Media Platforms 2018

About two-thirds of American adults (68%) say they at least occasionally get news on social media, about the same share as at this time in 2017, according to a new Pew Research Center survey. Many of these consumers, however, are skeptical of the information they see there: A majority (57%) say they expect the news they see on social media to be largely inaccurate. Still, most social media news consumers say getting news this way has made little difference in their understanding of current events, and more say it has helped than confused them (36% compared with 15%).