First and foremost: Chuck Todd isn’t wrong. The NBC News stalwart’s column in the Atlantic ably assesses the state of American media and, more specifically, the long-term effort by political conservatives to breed distrust in objective journalism. He isn’t wrong that this is not new to President Trump, and he […] Read more »
It’s Time for the Press to Stop Complaining—And to Start Fighting Back
I’ve devoted much of my professional life to the study of political campaigns, not as a historian or an academic but as a reporter and an analyst. I thought I’d seen it all, from the bizarre upset that handed a professional wrestler the governorship of Minnesota to the California recall […] Read more »
‘Totally dishonest’: Trump asserts only he can be trusted over opponents and ‘fake news’
Over roughly the past day, President Trump has decried the “totally dishonest” media, with its “fake news” and “fake books.” He has argued that Google is biased against conservatives. And he has accused NBC News of “fudging” the tape of an interview with him that has been available online for […] Read more »
How will the Michael Cohen and Duncan Hunter scandals affect the November election?
… Do voters care about campaign finance violations? Yes. In new research, we argue that campaign finance violations inform voters’ views about the elected official’s character. Members of Congress who were randomly audited and found to have violated campaign finance law fared about 5 percentage points worse in their general […] Read more »
Finally some good news: Trust in news is up, especially for local media
After decades of declining trust in the press, coupled with relentless rhetorical attacks on the media by President Trump, there’s finally some good news: Trust in media is up since last year, and the great majority of Americans trust their local news sources. The new Poynter Media Trust Survey found […] Read more »
Young women: What’s on their minds as midterm elections approach?
Women ages 18-35, place a high priority on a candidate who shares their culture and values; it’s more important to them than party labels. They cite health care as their top issue in the 2018 election, with more calling it very important, compared to other issues. Most say they see […] Read more »