Uncategorized
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New at CJR: Improving data storytelling in politics
My new column describes the innovations in data-based storytelling that are emerging from the sportswriters for ESPN’s Grantland site and suggests what lessons they might suggest for political and policy coverage. Here’s how it begins: We’re in a boom time for analytical Web journalism that uses data to make politics and policy compelling to readers.
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New at CJR: Christie scandal and the invisible primary
My new CJR column explains why the Chris Christie bridge scandal is likely to be a significant news story and how it could damage him in the GOP invisible primary. Here’s how it begins: Would Chris Christie’s administration block traffic lanes from Fort Lee, NJ, onto the George Washington Bridge to retaliate against its Democratic
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New at CJR: Political centrism is not objectivity
My new CJR column examines how the media often confuses centrism with objectivity in its coverage of budget politics, which frequently suggests that deficit reduction is a value-neutral priority that should take precedence over other possible objectives: How should the United States choose among the difficult tradeoffs it faces in setting the federal budget? There’s
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New at CJR: Stories vs. evidence on Obama’s fate
My new CJR column is on the media’s tendency to construct simplistic stories about President Obama’s political standing. Here’s how it begins: Journalists rightly seek to tell compelling stories, which can bring abstract or dry topics to life, but the need to create a compelling narrative can be dangerous in politics. As we’ve seen in
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New at CJR: Pizza parties won’t fix DC
My new column at CJR examines the claim that members of Congress are so divided because they don’t spend time together and shows how an excellent story in the Boston Globe illustrates the problems with that hypothesis. Here’s how it begins: Why can’t members of Congress just get along? Critics of polarization often suggest that
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David Gergen calls for more David Gergens
David Gergen is the prototypical Washington wise man, an experienced operative who has served under four presidents and was famously brought into the Clinton White House to provide more experienced leadership. When he’s not working in the White House, though, he often makes the rounds as a pundit – and you’ll never guess how he
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New at CJR: Media needs to own its mistakes
My new CJR column is on how media organizations can do a better job correcting their own mistakes. Here’s how it begins: The most controversial media error in recent months came in a 60 Minutes report by Lara Logan about the attack on the US mission in Benghazi, which ran for more than 15 minutes
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New CJR columns on media hype and fact-checking
I’ve been remiss in updating this blog – here are my three most recent CJR columns: The extrapolation fallacy (11/21) Is the sky falling for Obamacare? You might think so from reading the press these days. On Monday, National Journal published a piece by Josh Kraushaar with the headline “Why Obamacare Is On Life Support”
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New research on correcting misperceptions
Jason Reifler and I released a New America Foundation report today titled “Which Corrections Work? Research results and practice recommendations.” Here’s the executive summary: Social science research has found that misinformation about politics and other controversial issues is often very difficult to correct. However, all corrections are not necessarily equal— some approaches to presenting corrective
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New at CJR: Factcheck lower-level politicians!
I recently wrote a column for Columbia Journalism Review based on my field experiment with Jason Reifler testing the effectiveness of fact-checking on state legislators. Here’s how it begins: Factcheckers often struggle to change the minds of skeptical voters. But what effect do they have on the politicians under scrutiny? Can the threat of being