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The Obama administration’s first scandal: GSA spending
The first Obama scandal has arrived. Last May, I wrote a column on how the Obama administration had managed to avoid scandal* for longer than we might otherwise expect: My research (PDF) on presidential scandals shows that few presidents avoid scandal for as long as he has. In the 1977-2008 period, the longest that a
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New at CJR: Does fact-checking work?
I have a new post for Columbia Journalism Review answering media coverage about the effectiveness of fact-checking. Here’s how it begins: Politics today seemingly has more fact-checking than ever before. As a result, reporters are asking a new question: Does fact-checking work? At the national level, USA Today’s Martha T. Moore described it as “an
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New at CJR: The Etch-a-Sketch press
My new post for Columbia Journalism Review examines how the press has covered the Romney/Etch-a-Sketch controversy. Here how it begins: Yesterday, Etch-a-Sketch became the media’s favorite metaphor for Mitt Romney’s ideological flexibility. But the iconic children’s toy is an equally good representation of the media’s tendency to draw the picture it wants of our political
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The effects of health care reform in 2010 and beyond
Why did Democrats do so poorly in the 2010 elections? The median academic forecast was 44 to 45 seats (PDF). However, Republicans significantly outperformed expectations in picking up 66 seats in the House and six seats in the Senate. After the election, John Sides, Eric McGhee, and I found that Democratic incumbents who voted the
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New at CJR: Arpaio coverage may worsen birtherism
My new CJR column examines coverage of Maricopa County sheriff Joe Arpaio’s birther press conference as a case study in how news reporting can reinforce misperceptions: Last Tuesday, the New America Foundation released a report (PDF) I co-authored with Georgia State’s Jason Reifler on how to most effectively combat misperceptions (summarized here at CJR). Two
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New America report on countering misperceptions
Yesterday, the New America Foundation Media Policy Initiative released a report (PDF) that I co-authored with Jason Reifler titled “Misinformation and Fact-checking: Research Findings from Social Science.” The report reviews academic research on misperceptions and makes recommendations for how to most effectively correct them. Reifler and I summarize the report and our recommendations in a
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New at CJR: The elusive hunt for the ‘real Romney’
I have a new column up at CJR on the causes and consequences of the media’s search for a candidate’s true self: Though he launched his first run for president more than five years ago, Mitt Romney is still widely seen as an enigmatic figure. With opponents for the GOP presidential nomination raising questions about
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Counterterrorism official smears drone strike critics
After going dormant for a while, attacks on dissent against the Obama administration have returned. As Salon’s Glenn Greenwald points out, a “senior American counterterrorism official” suggested that critics of US drone strikes in Pakistan want to help Al Qaeda (emphasis added): British and Pakistani journalists said Sunday that the C.I.A.’s drone strikes on suspected
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New at CJR: A State of the Union media prebuttal
My new column at CJR warns journalists about overhyping the effects of tonight’s State of the Union address on public opinion: Tonight, President Obama will address Congress and the nation in his 2012 State of the Union address. The SOTU has become both an important civic and political ritual and a signal about the administration’s
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New at CJR: The out-of-context quote as gaffe
I have a new post up at CJR looking back at the way the press took Mitt Romney’s statement about health insurance out of context: Michael Kinsley famously wrote that “A gaffe is when a politician tells the truth—some obvious truth he isn’t supposed to say.” But in the 24/7 media age, another type of