Fake News & Real Bias | FRAY 004

An Adversarial President Meets An Adversarial Press

The 2016 election cycle was rife with misinformation, misleading news articles, and outright falsehoods. Both author and reader bias affect our perceptions and preconceived notions. What’s the deal with bias and “Fake News?”

Ed. Note: This is a real, active debate among the FRAY team. Instead of having it in our private Slack channel, we decided to subject it to the same factual, bias-neutral approach and debate rules to which we subject every topic we discuss, and then to share it with you.

The Facts

• Everyone is biased (Management Science). Every writer of every news article and every reader of every news article is biased. It’s inescapable (Fivethirtyeight).
• “Fake News” originally arose as a moniker for intentionally misleading or fabricated articles on websites presenting themselves as legitimate news outlets (NY Times).
• These “Fake News” sites contained no legitimate stories and were created for political or financial gain, not for satirical entertainment (NPR).
• “Fake News” was then co-opted by the Trump campaign and subsequent administration as a rhetorical device with a meaning ranging from this news story is false to the mainstream media is not legitimate.
• President Trump has expanded his use of “Fake News” as a blanket label for multiple mainstream media outlets, including CNN and The New York Times.
• Trump’s derision of the media’s truthfulness is not novel, but his level of action against the media is uncommon (Washington Post, NY Post). Other presidents chose to circumvent the media (Nixon [Packaging the Presidency]), and question the motives of media outlets (Obama [Rolling Stone]), but none have restricted press access to unfavorable outlets (Washington Post).
• According to a Stanford study, social media and fake news did not have a significant impact on the outcome of the 2016 election, with only 14% of Americans indicating social media as their “most important” news source. There were a higher number of pro-Trump than pro-Clinton false stories, but the study concludes that a single fake news story would need to be as effective as 36 professionally produced campaign ads in order to alter the election results. (Stanford).

And that’s where we stand today. Now, we ask our opinion writers: Are Trump’s actions against the mainstream media dangerous to freedom of the press?

CONSERVATIVE OPINION

by Oscar Silva

The Fourth Estate is vital to the Republic, and a war between a free press and the president is dangerous indeed. Americans should be concerned any time presidents do things like seize the phone records of reporters, label a reporter a criminal “co-conspirator,” disallow media photographers access to the President, or block unfriendly outlets from attending press briefings.

The biggest threat to the free press is not the president, but the lack of public trust, a trust which has been declining steadily for over a decade. The lack of ideological diversity among journalists, with 7.1% of journalists identifying as Republicans and 28% identifying as Democrats, should explain why only 14% of Republicans “express trust” in the media (as opposed to 51% of Democrats who do). During a GOP Primary Debate in late 2015, Senator Ted Cruz sharply criticized the moderators: “Let me say something at the outset. The questions asked in this debate illustrate why the American people don’t trust the media.” Cruz got a standing ovation, and Frank Luntz tweeted that the comment received the highest approval rating of any debate focus group ever.

Major media outlets are based primarily in liberal areas, and perhaps that is one reason that the liberal bias exists. Nevertheless, voters have placed Republicans in charge of 32 state governments. If the media networks want to gain trust, they could start by better representing their communities through adding conservatives for balance. In the meantime, the media and the Trump administration are at war with one another, and the media are losing.

PROGRESSIVE OPINION

by Jessica Hall

President Trump has taken a bold, unprecedented approach in his relationship with the press. By berating progressive-leaning media outlets, calling them “shameful,” “disgraceful,” and “failing piles of garbage,” and excluding them from press conferences, Trump not only disregards political norms, but also endangers the freedom of the press.

In his frequent cry of “fake news,” Trump blatantly draws a line in the sand by targeting dissenting opinions and creating the illusion of a dishonest, crooked press corps, while simultaneously crafting his own “truthful hyperboles” and untruths. Here is the great danger to freedom of the press: the Trump administration categorizes the media as his “opposition party” and “the most dishonest people on earth,”calling the New York Times a danger to the country. This inappropriately reinforces mistrust in the organizations built to inform the public.

His public stream of invective toward mainstream media on Twitter advises his supporters to disregard sources that speak out against his administration. This bias disenfranchises organizations whose right to report has been guaranteed by the first amendment and Article 19 in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. As demonstrated in the slew of tweets and remarks, President Trump and Press Secretary Sean Spicer have no qualms about bullying news outlets who publish content that doesn’t support their agenda.

Trump’s decision to select FOX News and other conservative-leaning outlets as his preferred news sources indicates that he only tolerates favorable bias. This choice, along with that of manipulating the public to ignore other news sources, is a growing danger to freedom of the press and, in turn, to the American people.

There’s more than two sides to everything.

These are just Jess’ and Oscar’s opening statements. To read the whole debate, including thoughts from the rest of the FRAY contributors subscribe and invite your friends with the unique link in your next email.

You’ll get our full debates and tons of other perks from FRAY.

More to Broaden Your Mind and Widen Your Perspective

TO READ:

Whatever You Think, Think the Opposite by Paul Arden
The title says it all: a veteran of the creative industry advocates for new approaches and radical perspectives with precise wit and a bend toward the unconventional.

TO WATCH:

What is the Real Unemployment Rate? by John Green
This short video walks you through the myriad numbers you’ve been hearing about the unemployment rate, helping to explain the wide range of unemployment rates that have been thrown around.

TO LISTEN:

The Daily, Monday Feb 27 by The New York Times
When policy becomes personal: hear rural Trump voters reckon with the recent detention of a core, well-loved member of their town, who happened to be an undocumented immigrant.

TO DO:

Take An Implicit Bias Test by Project Implicit
We talk a lot here about political biases, but this series of tests helps to enlighten you about your own implicit biases regarding issues such as race, gender, and sexuality. Only by knowing your implicit biases can you make strides to address them.

*Some links in the Broaden Your Mind section may contain affiliate codes.