Media, Heal Thyself

The media face major challenges in the age of Trump when they are labeled the “enemy of the people” and their work product is condemned as “fake news.” In the face of such attacks, it’s perhaps understandable that many journalists respond in kind. However, public confidence in the media has been on the decline for years, well before Trump came on the scene. If journalists want to regain their credibility, they need to move away from their fixation on Trump and take a hard look in the mirror. There are many root causes for poor perceptions of the media that have nothing to do with Trump’s bombast.

Self-absorption. While the media perform a vital service in our society, they tend to focus too much on themselves and exaggerate their own importance. Grandstanding reporters like CNN’s Jim Acosta draw media coverage but probably turn off most of the public. The recent organized campaign of anti-Trump editorials came across as overly defensive in bemoaning the victimization of journalists. At the same time, the media seem reluctant to assume responsibility when misreporting occurs as it inevitably does. Prominent retractions and corrections are rare. Also, several major newspapers weakened accountability by abolishing their in-house “ombudsmen.”

Over-reliance on anonymous sources. National political coverage today features too little original fact-gathering and too much regurgitation of leaks from anonymous sources. This incestuous process serves the interests of leakers pushing their own agendas, often through actions that are unethical or even criminal. Reporters also benefit since they invest little effort beyond cultivating their sources. However, it doesn’t serve the public, who are left with no way of assessing the credibility of the reports.

A striking example is CNN’s recent “bombshell” story that former Trump attorney Michael Cohen would attest to Trump’s prior knowledge of his son’s infamous Trump Tower meeting. (More on this below.) The story was quickly parroted by other media outlets but now has been largely debunked. Meanwhile, CNN still stands by its story. This episode violates many journalistic ethical standards, including the following:

• Take responsibility for the accuracy of work.
• Verify information before releasing it.
• Use original sources whenever possible.
• Identify sources clearly to give the public as much information as possible to judge the reliability and motivations of sources.
• Consider sources’ motives before promising anonymity. Reserve anonymity for sources who may face danger, retribution or other harm and have information that cannot be obtained elsewhere. Explain why anonymity was granted.
• Acknowledge mistakes and correct them promptly and prominently.

Unfortunately, much reporting today violates one or more of these standards although less dramatically than the CNN episode.

Insularity, superficiality, and groupthink. Much journalism today lacks context, critical analysis and insight. These shortcomings recur across the ideological spectrum and probably stem more from intellectual laziness than bias. A prime example, and the greatest single hit to media credibility in recent history, was their almost universal cluelessness over the 2016 presidential election. In the immediate aftermath of the election, most media types blamed poor polling. However, based on additional analysis, Nate Silver at FiveThirtyEight attributed the failure to–

“real shortcomings in how American politics are covered, including pervasive groupthink among media elites, an unhealthy obsession with the insider’s view of politics, a lack of analytical rigor, a failure to appreciate uncertainty, a sluggishness to self-correct when new evidence contradicts pre-existing beliefs, and a narrow viewpoint that lacks perspective from the longer arc of American history.”

A study published in the Columbia Journalism Review sounded similar themes, concluding that “fixing the information ecosystem is at least as much about improving the real news as it about stopping the fake stuff.”

There is little evidence of lessons learned from the 2016 debacle. Most media outlets still appear to  filter what and how they report through narrow paradigms and serve largely as echo chambers for those perspectives. Similar themes are repackaged day after day in news stories and opinion pieces. For example, much of the media have flogged the theme of possible Trump complicity in Russian 2016 election interference ever since the election despite the absence of any supporting evidence to date.

So wedded are they to the collusion narrative that they cite as confirmation facts that imply the opposite. A recurring example is the Trump Tower meeting in which Russians offered to provide “dirt” on Clinton but actually came to lobby on another issue. It defies common sense that this farcical bait-and-switch meeting would have occurred if there existed an actual collusive back channel between Trump forces and the Russians. (See here and here.)

Mixing fact and opinion. The line between factual reporting and editorializing is increasingly blurred. One troublesome example is “fact-checking.” A recent study found that almost 25 percent of the Washington Post’s fact-check columns over an extended period addressed opinions rather than statements of fact. The Post’s fact-checkers have come in for criticism even when they assess facts. In  one case they distorted and then assigned their worst rating of four “Pinocchios” to a statement by Trump that was factually accurate and straightforward. Considering that Trump spews falsehoods constantly, fact-checking him should be like shooting fish in a barrel. Yet fact-checkers undermine their credibility when they overreach like this.

Absence of engagement and analysis. There is plenty of ideologically tilted reporting and punditry to choose from; it’s easy to find content that suits every taste. However, these contrasting narratives are like ships passing in the night. What’s missing is substantive analysis that engages with and meaningfully explores competing viewpoints. The only media outlet I can think of that does this consistently is PBS. Sadly, the public now may be so polarized that there is no longer a commercially viable market for the kind of objective, in-depth coverage that programs such as the PBS News Hour provide.

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Surely the Trump era presents a critical need for objective, substantive, and credible journalism. However, much of our media descends to Trump’s level rather than rising to the challenges he poses. Unfortunately, journalistic excesses play into Trump’s hands by diverting attention from his actions, providing fodder for his supporters, and giving pause to those who are skeptical of him. This will only change if journalists get a grip, step up their game, and reform their practices.