mass media

Obfuscate me: media face-plant on shutdown coverage

Media analyst and critic Tracie Powell is the creator of AllDigitocracy.org, and she’s looking intensely at the way the media is covering the shutdown of the US government.

Unfortunately, the media is not properly informing the US population of the factors at work in the shutdown. As happens so often, too many reporters are claiming a false equivalency between the GOP and Democrats, and frankly, they’re not serving democracy with such weak analysis.

 

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Jittery reporting of the Navy Yard shooting

VOR reporter Justin Mitchell was at Washington DC’s Navy Yard for much of this tragic day.

Twelve victims are dead, and one of potentially three gunmen are dead in a mass shooting at a Naval office building near the Washington National’s baseball stadium. Justin and I make a point of going over some “reporting 101” techniques that would prevent news organizations from relying on unverified police scanner broadcasts, and frankly, taking every statement as gospel.

 

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