Hot Off the Press! Boler’s news analysis on How Media Produced Trump just published by Truthout.org: “Can Journalism Save Democracy? Salvaging Public Trust in News Media” http://www.truth-out.org/speakout/item/40377-can-journalism-save-democracy-salvaging-the-us-public-s-trust-in-news-media
This news piece reflects 3 months of my intensive analysis of news coverage and recent studies from think tanks and watchdog orgs. I aim to catalyze debate on questions largely unasked to date, regarding news media responsibility for producing and legitimizing Trump–and the consequent perils to representative democracy.
“Although the US corporate media helped to produce Donald Trump, his unpredicted rise to power delivered a shocking wake-up call to media professionals and catalyzed unprecedented global debates about “post-truth politics.” Yet news media continue producing the spectacular and lucrative reality television show, “Trump Making America Great Again.” While the crisis of polarized US is blamed on far-right news, filter bubbles and social media, traditional mainstream news media are not being held responsible. Business as usual is supremely risky in times of crisis: routinized reporting habits, amplification and repetition of lies dangerously normalize Trump and his administration. As the countdown of democracy’s slide into tyranny progresses, like it or not, the future of democracy rests in the hands of the journalism industry.”
**Please take a moment on the Truthout.org article to comment on and/or “Like” my news analysis, to help catalyze inquiry into media responsibility for producing and normalizing Trump!**
And many thanks to my fabulous 2016-17 team of Graduate Research Assistants, Elizabeth Davis, Maral Karimi, and Yara Kodershah, with whom I am currently tracking when and how traditional media re-evaluate their Fourth Estate responsibilities to informing citizen and democracy. We are conducting a content analysis comparing media attention to truthiness (Word of the Year 2005-06) and “post-truth” (Word of the Year 2016-17) to explore public opinion as shaped by longings for ‘truth’, collective emotions, and information warfare.