Fact-checking may be American journalism’s most influential export. What began in the United States in the early 2000s has now spread to more than 50 counties. Some 113 independent fact-checkers operate today. While accuracy is a foundational element of modern journalism, the fact-checking movement focuses almost solely on evaluating the veracity of newsworthy claims made…
The presidential primary debates have been big business this election cycle. Viewership records have been set for Fox News (24 million viewers), CNN (23 million), CNBC (14 million) and Fox Business (13.5 million), destroying old marks across the board. Viewers also have begun live-tweeting the broadcasts in record numbers, a practice sometimes called second screening.…
Jesse Singal is a senior editor at New York Magazine, where he runs The Science of Us, a website about the science of human behavior. He wrote a series of articles about the Michael LaCour scandal as it unfolded. A former science writer, Sharon Dunwoody is Evjue-Bascom Professor Emerita in the School of Journalism and…
Compiled by BEN LYONS / The media have turned their attention to Donald Trump in recent weeks, and now columnists are in turn opining on Trump coverage itself.
BEN LYONS / Hollywood still casts the media in powerful roles, even while satirizing their tabloidization. Journalists in film are capable of bringing down regimes and crushing Broadway shows single-handedly. But changes to the news environment have not gone unnoticed. Social media competes side-by-side with the New York Times. It’s no coincidence sensationalism has seeped back on-screen, where celebrity gossip and gory crime often displace serious issues and ethics are seen as quaint. While still incorporating our classic images of journalists, both heroes and fools, scriptwriters have updated Hollywood’s mirror to more accurately reflect today’s fragmented and sometimes troubling media landscape.