Media trust down, can be restored for some: Gallup and the Knight Foundation release new findings.
“These results indicate that attempts to restore trust in the media among most Americans may be fruitful, particularly if those efforts are aimed at improving accuracy, enhancing transparency and reducing bias,” they report.
About one-third of those on the political right have lost faith in the media and expect that to be permanent.
Investigating a journalist: The Houston Chronicle’s editor says “we have launched an investigation into the work of one of our own reporters” who is accused of quoting people who don’t exist.
“We owe our readers the truth and to tell you if, in fact, there were inaccuracies in anything we published,” he writes. “We simply don’t know the full story yet.”
Celebrity death hoaxes: Daniel Funke and Alexios Mantzarlis report that celebrity deaths are a popular subgenre of misinformation and offer 15 fact-checking links.
“At a time when we are at pains to distinguish ‘real news’ from ‘fake news,’ falling for these shallow fabrications undermines the argument,” they write.
An accuracy checklist: Mark Memmott lists 13 things to double-check in a story, followed at National Public Radio.
It is “a reminder of things we all know we should do,” he writes, like checking names, dates, quotes and locations.
“When an NPR journalist says something is ready for editing, that journalist is confirming that all such double-checking has been done,” he writes.
Doubting anonymity: David Frum challenges the New York Times decision to publish an anonymous anti-Trump op-ed.
“Previous generations of Americans have sacrificed fortunes, health and lives to serve the country,” Frum tells the anonymous writer. “You are asked only to tell the truth aloud and with your name attached.”
Spotting fake Facebook posts: Keith Collins and Sheera Frenkel report that Facebook discovered hundreds of fake pages and user accounts this summer.
The New York Times reporters show real and deceptive posts, asking if you can tell which is fake. It isn’t easy.
The latest influence campaigns imitated post by legitimate pages and groups on Facebook that advocate political beliefs, they report, “amking it difficult to tell what was a genuine post and what was not.” Such campaigns also are known as online disinformation.
Taxing tech giants to save journalism: Aiden White writes about a British proposal to fund public interest journalism.
In the end, journalism must rely on combination therapy, he writes, including traditional advertising, public subscription, charitable donations and philanthropic largess and new funds.
Stress management training for reporters: Tiffany Stevens writes that reporters covering tragic events might suffer depression, anxiety, post traumatic stress disorder or greater risk of substance abuse.
“Even journalists who don’t experience secondary trauma may lose enthusiasm for their profession or undergo burnout, leading to less productivity and a decreased sense of well-being at work,” she writes.
Interviewing dishonest people: Jason Schwartz says a pressing question in the Trump era is how journalists should handle powerful news makers who are known to be dishonest.
The issue is complicated “and there are distinctions to be found between interviewing sources with checkered histories off-camera, grilling them on-air on a newsworthy subject and bringing them on simply as a talking head,” he writes.
Guarding against online trolls: James Ball reports that journalistic thoughtfulness often “goes out the door when it comes to reporting events that begin on social media.”
Online celebrities and people on the internet often are manipulators with agendas, Ball writes.
“And journalists fall into their trap, time and time again; something about online messaging turns off our reporting instincts.”
Ethics AdviceLine for Journalists 