Category: Election

Media trends complicate Democrats’ goal to win statewide races

Democrats hoping to break the Republican lock on Missouri statewide races are likely to face a daunting media landscape of news silos, “news deserts” and a decline in newspaper endorsements in the years ahead. In November, every statewide Democratic candidate lost by a substantial margin to his or her Republican opponent – even though the…

Reporter’s Notebook: Rain or shine, the world had messages to share this Inauguration Day

On Jan. 19 and Jan. 20, 2025, thousands upon thousands of people from all over the world gathered in Washington, D.C. for President Donald Trump’s second inauguration. Some were there in celebration and others in opposition, but they had one thing in common: expression through symbols.  Worries of inclement weather moved Trump’s inaugural celebrations indoors,…

Facts, lies, elections and the press: In search of a shared national story

“Facts can’t fix this.” That was the headline that emerged from a post-election discussion recently at the Berkman Klein Center at Harvard Law School about how the press fell short covering the presidential election. The point: The press constantly repeating facts and pointing out lies won’t stop a man like Donald Trump from building a…

Former leaders of America’s top newsrooms dissect Trump victory, look ahead at what’s in store for press

The press failed to understand the voters who are returning Donald Trump to the White House, former Washington Post executive editor Marty Baron said. As in 2016, when Donald Trump was first elected president, “we didn’t understand the country well enough,” Baron said during a recent conversation with former New York Times executive editor Dean…

​​Rebooting the disinformation machine for Trump 2.0

It looks like America is going back after all. Since the Democratic convention in August, Vice President Kamala Harris often declared, “we are not going back,” as a reference to the many ills of Donald Trump’s first term in office, which saw a woefully mismanaged response to a global pandemic, the Big Lie about election…