The media took a beating in 2016, with journalists taking jabs from the left and the right over their political coverage and fake news flooding Facebook and other social sites. Check out The Hill’s Top 8 Contributors posts about the media, and stay tuned to see what happens in 2017.
The biggest loser in 2016? The mainstream media and journalism
By Patrick Maines, Nov. 15, 2016
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“Is it possible to restore objective journalism? The guess from here is that the answer is no.”
Donald Trump is American journalism’s great failure
By Gregory J. Wallance, March 18, 2016
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“Trump uses the same techniques as McCarthy. … Trump has gotten away with this even though there are many more journalists and forms of journalism than existed in the 1950s.”
The media is rigging the election by reporting WikiLeaks emails
By Allan J. Lichtman, Oct. 26, 2016
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“By selectively leaking illegally obtained documents that the media dutifully covers, the Russians have proven that they have nothing to lose and everything to gain from such meddling in our elections.”
Is it only ‘fake news’ when a Trump voter says it?
By John Gibbs, Dec. 2, 2016
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“How exactly does one determine what is ‘fake?’ Were the projections that Hillary would win in a landslide, shared nearly universally by the traditional media outlets, also fake news? Were assertions that Trump would get zero percent of the black vote also fake news?”
Strange bedfellows: The press and the political parties, tied together since birth
By Susan Campbell, July 26, 2016
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“For better or worse, the press and politics remain intrinsically tied. One does not exist without the other, and in the spirit of all great codependent relationships, they finish each other’s sentences, too often walk in sync, and perhaps forget what should be the true nature of their dealings.”
Without trust in media, democracy is doomed
By Vlad Remmer, Dec. 6, 2016
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“Proponents of the liberal media like us to think that the information they disseminate is informed by the surrounding reality and has been crafted by those who serve the people by means of journalism. Reality does inform the inquisitive mind of a journalist — but it’s his or her interpretation of reality that’s being questioned.”
Is today’s political journalism just ‘infotainment’?
By Ross Rosenfeld, Feb. 4, 2016
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“Is this the best that we can do? Is this the sorry state that the American media have deteriorated into?”
Trump victory spells the end of traditional media influence
By Joe Concha, Nov. 9, 2016
“I’d like to write that traditional media undoubtedly has learned its lesson after embarrassing itself time and again during this long campaign. I truly would. But without any hint of contrition or any attempt at accountability when sacred rules of journalism are broken, nothing changes. In fact, it will just keeping getting worse. Letting the inmates run the asylum will do that.”
The views of Contributors are their own and are not the views of The Hill.