Not Exactly Lying

Not Exactly Lying
Author: Andie Tucher
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Total Pages: 243
Release: 2022-03-29
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 0231546599
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Winner, 2023 Columbia University Press Distinguished Book Award Winner, 2023 Frank Luther Mott / Kappa Tau Alpha Research Award Winner, 2023 Journalism Studies Division Book Award, International Communication Association Winner, 2023 History Book Award, Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication Long before the current preoccupation with “fake news,” American newspapers routinely ran stories that were not quite, strictly speaking, true. Today, a firm boundary between fact and fakery is a hallmark of journalistic practice, yet for many readers and publishers across more than three centuries, this distinction has seemed slippery or even irrelevant. From fibs about royal incest in America’s first newspaper to social-media-driven conspiracy theories surrounding Barack Obama’s birthplace, Andie Tucher explores how American audiences have argued over what’s real and what’s not—and why that matters for democracy. Early American journalism was characterized by a hodgepodge of straightforward reporting, partisan broadsides, humbug, tall tales, and embellishment. Around the start of the twentieth century, journalists who were determined to improve the reputation of their craft established professional norms and the goal of objectivity. However, Tucher argues, the creation of outward forms of factuality unleashed new opportunities for falsehood: News doesn’t have to be true as long as it looks true. Propaganda, disinformation, and advocacy—whether in print, on the radio, on television, or online—could be crafted to resemble the real thing. Dressed up in legitimate journalistic conventions, this “fake journalism” became inextricably bound up with right-wing politics, to the point where it has become an essential driver of political polarization. Shedding light on the long history of today’s disputes over disinformation, Not Exactly Lying is a timely consideration of what happens to public life when news is not exactly true.

Fake News

Fake News
Author: Melissa Zimdars
Publisher: MIT Press
Total Pages: 413
Release: 2020-02-18
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0262538369
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New perspectives on the misinformation ecosystem that is the production and circulation of fake news. What is fake news? Is it an item on Breitbart, an article in The Onion, an outright falsehood disseminated via Russian bot, or a catchphrase used by a politician to discredit a story he doesn't like? This book examines the real fake news: the constant flow of purposefully crafted, sensational, emotionally charged, misleading or totally fabricated information that mimics the form of mainstream news. Rather than viewing fake news through a single lens, the book maps the various kinds of misinformation through several different disciplinary perspectives, taking into account the overlapping contexts of politics, technology, and journalism. The contributors consider topics including fake news as “disorganized” propaganda; folkloric falsehood in the “Pizzagate” conspiracy; native advertising as counterfeit news; the limitations of regulatory reform and technological solutionism; Reddit's enabling of fake news; the psychological mechanisms by which people make sense of information; and the evolution of fake news in America. A section on media hoaxes and satire features an oral history of and an interview with prankster-activists the Yes Men, famous for parodies that reveal hidden truths. Finally, contributors consider possible solutions to the complex problem of fake news—ways to mitigate its spread, to teach students to find factually accurate information, and to go beyond fact-checking. Contributors Mark Andrejevic, Benjamin Burroughs, Nicholas Bowman, Mark Brewin, Elizabeth Cohen, Colin Doty, Dan Faltesek, Johan Farkas, Cherian George, Tarleton Gillespie, Dawn R. Gilpin, Gina Giotta, Theodore Glasser, Amanda Ann Klein, Paul Levinson, Adrienne Massanari, Sophia A. McClennen, Kembrew McLeod, Panagiotis Takis Metaxas, Paul Mihailidis, Benjamin Peters, Whitney Phillips, Victor Pickard, Danielle Polage, Stephanie Ricker Schulte, Leslie-Jean Thornton, Anita Varma, Claire Wardle, Melissa Zimdars, Sheng Zou

The Anatomy of Fake News

The Anatomy of Fake News
Author: Nolan Higdon
Publisher: Univ of California Press
Total Pages: 247
Release: 2020-08-04
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 0520975847
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Since the 2016 U.S. presidential election, concerns about fake news have fostered calls for government regulation and industry intervention to mitigate the influence of false content. These proposals are hindered by a lack of consensus concerning the definition of fake news or its origins. Media scholar Nolan Higdon contends that expanded access to critical media literacy education, grounded in a comprehensive history of fake news, is a more promising solution to these issues. The Anatomy of Fake News offers the first historical examination of fake news that takes as its goal the effective teaching of critical news literacy in the United States. Higdon employs a critical-historical media ecosystems approach to identify the producers, themes, purposes, and influences of fake news. The findings are then incorporated into an invaluable fake news detection kit. This much-needed resource provides a rich history and a promising set of pedagogical strategies for mitigating the pernicious influence of fake news.

Ghosting the News

Ghosting the News
Author: Margaret Sullivan
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 2020-07-28
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9781733623780
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Coloring the News

Coloring the News
Author: William McGowan
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2003
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9781893554603
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"This is the provocative argument that drives William McGowan's Coloring the News, a brave, searching work that examines journalism's most controversial issue. McGowan presents a fascinating insider's analysis of how a well-intentioned attempt to accommodate minorities and minority viewpoints has been overtaken by political correctness, which determines what stories get reported in the "elite" media and how. Along the way he dissects how the press has "mistold" key stories including California's Proposition 209 vote, the allegedly "racist" burnings of black churches in the South, the military's ongoing problems with the integration of women and gays, and the consequences of a chaotic immigration policy."--BOOK JACKET.

News for the Rich, White, and Blue

News for the Rich, White, and Blue
Author: Nikki Usher
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Total Pages: 232
Release: 2021-07-06
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 0231545606
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As cash-strapped metropolitan newspapers struggle to maintain their traditional influence and quality reporting, large national and international outlets have pivoted to serving readers who can and will choose to pay for news, skewing coverage toward a wealthy, white, and liberal audience. Amid rampant inequality and distrust, media outlets have become more out of touch with the democracy they purport to serve. How did journalism end up in such a predicament, and what are the prospects for achieving a more equitable future? In News for the Rich, White, and Blue, Nikki Usher recasts the challenges facing journalism in terms of place, power, and inequality. Drawing on more than a decade of field research, she illuminates how journalists decide what becomes news and how news organizations strategize about the future. Usher shows how newsrooms remain places of power, largely white institutions growing more elite as journalists confront a shrinking job market. She details how Google, Facebook, and the digital-advertising ecosystem have wreaked havoc on the economic model for quality journalism, leaving local news to suffer. Usher also highlights how the handful of likely survivors—well-funded media outlets such as the New York Times—increasingly appeal to a global, “placeless” reader. News for the Rich, White, and Blue concludes with a series of provocative recommendations to reimagine journalism to ensure its resiliency and its ability to speak to a diverse set of issues and readers.

American Journalism and "Fake News"

American Journalism and
Author: Seth Ashley
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Total Pages: 260
Release: 2018-12-07
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1440861846
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This book provides a comprehensive and impartial overview of the state of American journalism and news-gathering in the 21st century, with a special focus on the rise-and meaning-of "fake news." A part of ABC-CLIO's Examining the Facts series, which uses evidence-based documentation to examine the veracity of claims and beliefs about high-profile issues in American culture and politics, this volume examines beliefs, claims, and myths about American journalism and news media. It offers a comprehensive overview of the field of American journalism, including contemporary issues and historical foundations, and places modern problems such as "fake news" and misinformation in the context of larger technological and economic forces. The book illustrates the strengths and weaknesses of journalistic practices so readers can feel empowered to navigate the complex information environment in which we live and to understand the level to which various news sources can (or can't) be trusted to provide accurate and timely coverage of issues and events of import to the public and the nation. These skills and knowledge structures are necessary for any citizen who wishes to be an informed participant in a self-governing democratic society.

American Pravda

American Pravda
Author: James O'Keefe
Publisher: Macmillan + ORM
Total Pages: 313
Release: 2018-01-16
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1250154650
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The one real difference between the American press and the Soviet state newspaper Pravda was that the Russian people knew they were being lied to. To expose the lies our media tell us today, controversial journalist James O’Keefe created Project Veritas, an independent news organization whose reporters go where traditional journalists dare not. Their investigative work–equal parts James Bond, Mike Wallace, and Saul Alinsky—has had a consistent and powerful impact on its targets. In American Pravda, the reader is invited to go undercover with these intrepid journalists as they infiltrate political campaigns, unmask dishonest officials and expose voter fraud. A rollicking adventure story on one level, the book also serves as a treatise on modern media, arguing that establishment journalists have a vested interest in keeping the powerful comfortable and the people misinformed. The book not only contests the false narratives frequently put forth by corporate media, it documents the consequences of telling the truth in a world that does not necessarily want to hear it. O’Keefe’s enemies attack with lawsuits, smear campaigns, political prosecutions, and false charges in an effort to shut down Project Veritas. For O’Keefe, every one of these attacks is a sign of success. American Pravda puts the myths and misconceptions surrounding O’Keefe’s activities to rest and will make you rethink every word you hear and read in the so-called mainstream press.

Critical Media Literacy and Fake News in Post-truth America

Critical Media Literacy and Fake News in Post-truth America
Author: Christian Z. Goering
Publisher: Brill
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2018
Genre: Fake news
ISBN: 9789004365353
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Winner! 2019 Divergent Award for Excellence in 21st Century Literacies Research! Critical Media Literacy and Fake News in Post-Truth America confronts the reasons that so many Americans were susceptible to widespread media misinformation campaigns leading up to and during the 2016 Presidential Election.