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jayrosen_nyu

@jayrosen_nyu@mastodon.social

I teach journalism at NYU, critique the press, try to suggest reforms. PressThink is the name of my subject and my site. "Chill before serving" is my social media motto. Elvis Costello's version of "What's so funny 'bout peace, love, and understanding" is my theme song.

jr3@nyu.edu

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jayrosen_nyu, to journalism
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Read this item from today's Politico. It describes how false equivalency and both-sides-ing are not just a lazy habit in journalism, but a tool of politics that incorporates the bad journalism into party behavior, thus making a mockery of the images of detachment on which the press sells itself.

jayrosen_nyu, (edited ) to journalism
@jayrosen_nyu@mastodon.social avatar

CNN headline today:

"McCarthy starts to plot Biden impeachment strategy while GOP skeptics remain."

What the GROUNDS for impeachment might be is addressed in paragraph nine. CNN thus buries the lede of a more striking story: a vibes-based approach, where you establish first the feeling, "we wanna impeach," relegating the small matter of "impeachment for what?" to later stages.

That's news! Instead CNN frames for us another strategy story.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/28/politics/mccarthy-biden-impeachment-strategy/index.html

jayrosen_nyu,
@jayrosen_nyu@mastodon.social avatar

Note to repliers. I"m not trying to suss out what McCarthy is up to. It's pretty obvious.

My concern is with the journalists at CNN, and what they do in response to this kind of maneuver.

Do they make a strategy story from it? Is that the right frame?

Or is the news the outlandish idea of impeachment in the abstract, with evidence to come later in the process?

First the action, then the cause of action, is pretty Alice in Wonderland of them. To me that's the news.

jayrosen_nyu,
@jayrosen_nyu@mastodon.social avatar

@zachvat

I don't know.

TryshHQ, to journalism

Yup...

"Focus on the Stakes, Not the Odds" ( 👈 @jayrosen_nyu ) https://kottke.org/23/08/focus-on-the-stakes-not-the-odds





jayrosen_nyu,
@jayrosen_nyu@mastodon.social avatar

@TryshHQ

Thanks, Jim. I had missed that.

jayrosen_nyu,
@jayrosen_nyu@mastodon.social avatar

@TryshHQ 😎

jayrosen_nyu, to journalism
@jayrosen_nyu@mastodon.social avatar

I have a high tolerance for repetition, so I consumed a lot of post-debate discussion among journalists.

I don't recall any that tried to rank the candidates — or moderators — on the quality of their connection to observable reality.

Political realities, yes. Any other kind, no.

jayrosen_nyu,
@jayrosen_nyu@mastodon.social avatar

@jason

You're 1.) blocked and 2.) an asshole.

jayrosen_nyu,
@jayrosen_nyu@mastodon.social avatar

@darrelplant

From 17 yeats ago: http://archive.pressthink.org/2006/12/18/suskind_empiricism.html

jayrosen_nyu,
@jayrosen_nyu@mastodon.social avatar

@AnotherDayInHell

Okay, but I was commenting on the post-debate discussion among journalists.

guacamayan, to random
@guacamayan@journa.host avatar

@jayrosen_nyu are you still around here? I've been curious how you would cover the Trump trials. I have seen way too much "here's what the polls say" and speculation about criminal process, and pretty much nothing about the stakes for the country or policy.

jayrosen_nyu,
@jayrosen_nyu@mastodon.social avatar

@guacamayan

I am, yes. There is nothing so dangerous or momentous that it cannot be put in the backround while "what does this mean for the midterms?" takes center stage.

jayrosen_nyu, to journalism
@jayrosen_nyu@mastodon.social avatar

"Describing [RFK's] views as ‘controversial,’ I think, is dishonest. They’re not controversial. They’re false. He’s not spreading controversial views, he’s spreading lies. And so the framing matters enormously, and that’s something that I foresee being a huge, huge issue in the 2024 campaign."

Agreed!

Some key distinctions made by journalist Seth Mnookin in this sharp interview. (He wrote a book about the anti-vaccine movement in 2011.)

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/robert-f-kennedy-jr-seth-mnookin-panic-virus-deadly-immunity-interview_n_64c137b7e4b0ad7b75fadc32

jayrosen_nyu, to journalism
@jayrosen_nyu@mastodon.social avatar

"Not the odds, but the stakes."

That's my shorthand for the organizing principle we most need in 2024 election coverage. Not who has what chances of winning, but the consequences for our democracy— given what's possible in this election. Not the odds, but the stakes.

Here is an example of stakes commentary. Its analysis is both plausible and terrifying.

https://newrepublic.com/article/174535/people-arent-facing-horrors-new-trump-term-bring

jayrosen_nyu, to journalism
@jayrosen_nyu@mastodon.social avatar

Amazing story. Have you followed it?

Texas A&M announces a new journalism dean. She's black and she's qualified— and an alum of the school! Ex-New York Times too.

They announce her appointment in a splashy event.

Dark forces of reaction mobilize.

The offer is watered down to one year, with no tenure. She says no way, and withdraws. National news is made. It's negative. And today, the president of A&M resigns!

https://www.texastribune.org/2023/07/21/tamu-president-resign-journalism/

https://www.texastribune.org/2023/07/11/texas-a-m-kathleen-mcelroy-journalism/

jayrosen_nyu,
@jayrosen_nyu@mastodon.social avatar

@aburtch

Indeed I did.

jayrosen_nyu,
@jayrosen_nyu@mastodon.social avatar

An even more incredible turn in the Texas A&M story, after the president of the University resigned July 20.

The current chair of the journalism department, who recruited Dr. McElroy, released a statement accusing the former president of rank duplicity.

More serious: he says someone altered the draft offer letter to reduce the McElroy appointment from five years to one, without telling him.

It's his signature on the letter.

Read his statement:

jayrosen_nyu,
@jayrosen_nyu@mastodon.social avatar

@walshman23

Now that you say that, I realize I should have worded my post more carefully. I don't know that he signed the draft; rather he was the signatory.

jayrosen_nyu,
@jayrosen_nyu@mastodon.social avatar

@numbercrow

Yes, that was observed by many people yesterday— and it is weird. Especially when you have a law firm involved.

jayrosen_nyu,
@jayrosen_nyu@mastodon.social avatar

@havhmayer

From the statement it's not clear.

Using what would happen at my university as a guide. The department chair would do the recruitment, organize the search process, and communicate the terms the university is offering to a successful candidate. There could be back and forth with the higher-ups and the candidate, which the chair would be in the middle of.

The draft offer would be a way of saying "is this everything we agreed on?" The final letter would come from a dean or provost.

jayrosen_nyu,
@jayrosen_nyu@mastodon.social avatar

@maria

Lots more to come, I'd bet.

_silversmith, to random
@_silversmith@mastodon.social avatar

@jayrosen_nyu Wanted to thank you, & give you some perspective on how your principle of "Not the odds, but the stakes." is making a positive difference.

In the past week, three times, unbidden, that principle has come up in conversations I've had with other media professionals in national media.

The context of all three conversations was that there's a debate going on in newsrooms, with that axiom at the core, in both publications and at broadcast outlets…

jayrosen_nyu,
@jayrosen_nyu@mastodon.social avatar

@_silversmith

Thank you. I would not have known.

Horse race journalism is frustrating to many journalists, too, which is something that is not widely known among the producers of it.

jayrosen_nyu, to journalism
@jayrosen_nyu@mastodon.social avatar

"Not the odds, but the stakes."

That's my shortand for the organizing principle we most need from journalists covering the 2024 election. Not who has what chances of winning, but the consequences for our democracy. Not the odds, but the stakes.

Today the New York Times published an example of stakes reporting:

"Trump and his allies are planning a sweeping expansion of presidential power over the machinery of government...."

[Gift link] https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/17/us/politics/trump-plans-2025.html?unlocked_article_code=xIs5r1zxAGDN77xg08Q6JavrMvRWiHM1qkcSOpZuSM1w3HhnuTEvnoDYE8wxn8-T7BDriP-s9Gg0ju8GI4YLZbUZiMPR7q-Lv4m3WQcUnACBLKks9mdNNoYvIqVyaoBle2ia-SVbVu7FOCVqPz6UZqNpq6sMh5ENSeofvlR0Gf54_6vKhTlltjsnziTYJr1VSxV7HEYWidqMbZGbe9q7hRdIuxrTwv0dGVo1JcTwioLTq8koLvh5XayNTbD6UX_sJF1DIrE6MsB1Jp_H-r4ZtAqL-0hwruzhprU_9aLnsdEUgIw-T1tWEARDQY2VvJLc6ZjCoPA2WncaHE_rMnk&smid=url-share

jayrosen_nyu,
@jayrosen_nyu@mastodon.social avatar

@fridlund

On Twitter search the keywords jayrosen_nyu and "not the odds" and you will find more examples

jayrosen_nyu,
@jayrosen_nyu@mastodon.social avatar

@DemocritusDiscoBall

Thanks, DDB. To answer your "why" question, read my post, "Why political coverage is broken."

https://pressthink.org/2011/08/why-political-coverage-is-broken/

jayrosen_nyu,
@jayrosen_nyu@mastodon.social avatar

@stilkov

Not sure.

jayrosen_nyu,
@jayrosen_nyu@mastodon.social avatar

@kingkaufman

I agree with this... "The headline soft-soaps it more than the story, but the story doesn't frankly and truthfully call it what it is."

One factor might be this: Charlie Savage has been covering the expansion of executive power for a long time. One of his themes is that this is a long term trend and presidents of both parties contribute to it. The act of allowing for this fact might have contributed to the underplaying you and others noticed.

Not an explanation, just a factor.

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