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Journalism schools should teach this article as a egregious example of false equivalence in an age of asymmetric polarization. The reporter & editors do not provide sufficient context nor verification to inform the public, rendering “both sides” the same. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/13/us/politics/impeachment-partisan-trump.html
Compare to @isaacstanbecker’s piece, focused on the social media bubble of illiberalism surrounding the impeachment hearings, which accurately reports on the dynamic of facts vs partisan distraction, deflection, & furor https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/fact-based-impeachment-cant-penetrate-the-pro-trump-web/2019/12/13/6319317c-1db8-11ea-87f7-f2e91143c60d_story.html False equivalency masks this dynamic
I'd flag this to a public editor, if the Times had one. (Sadly, @sulliview has left the building.)
The @NYTimes did neither itself nor the public favors by reporting out the dynamics of impeachment this way. Making "both sides" equivalent in this debate implicitly favors the GOP.
The @NYTimes did neither itself nor the public favors by reporting out the dynamics of impeachment this way. Making "both sides" equivalent in this debate implicitly favors the GOP.
Meta Coda: Journalism professors may note AN egregious error I made with the article in the first tweet. It's a painful reminder that everyone needs an editor, and to seriously consider reading every paragraph out loud before you hit send.
This journalism professor (whose class I've visited: http://pressthink.org/2014/11/how-to-be-literate-in-whats-changing-journalism/) concisely pulled out all of the rhetorical tells to illustrate how asymmetric political polarization has bedeviled the @NYTimes: https://twitter.com/jayrosen_nyu/status/1205865866291810309
If it’s Sunday, it’s bothsidesism on @MeetThePress https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/both-sides-impeachment-trump.php
Reporting in ways that create false equivalency in an effort to be “balanced” disinforms the public. Editors must do better, now.
Illiberal partisans will critique journalists in bad faith *no matter what*
Reporting in ways that create false equivalency in an effort to be “balanced” disinforms the public. Editors must do better, now.
Illiberal partisans will critique journalists in bad faith *no matter what*
“Lincoln says we fight to end slavery & preserve the Union. Confederates say it’s about states’ rights & heritage.”
“Suffragists say they march for equality & equity. Men say women can’t be trusted with the vote.”
“Starfleet says the Borg is dangerous. The Collective disagrees.”
“Suffragists say they march for equality & equity. Men say women can’t be trusted with the vote.”
“Starfleet says the Borg is dangerous. The Collective disagrees.”
“…at some point the light bulb has to flick on. This isn’t debate club. It’s an attack on the institutions of American democracy.”— @jayrosen_nyu https://pressthink.org/2020/06/battleship-newspaper/
“The movement Trump represents…has drifted into a racialized authoritarianism that is increasingly incompatible with liberal democracy. And because it is part of the core purpose of journalism to defend liberal democracy, that is the story it should tell” https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/21281309/new-york-times-op-ed-editor-tom-cotton-is-trump-authoritarian
“The rise of right-wing authoritarianism is the headline story of US politics, but the domestic mainstream media is prevented by its own anachronistic habits and norms from telling it.”- @drvox https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/21281309/new-york-times-op-ed-editor-tom-cotton-is-trump-authoritarian
“The American public, by and large, does not understand this asymmetry & its implications. They do not understand that right-wing authoritarianism is perilously close to toppling US democracy because they are not able to pick that signal out of the noise” https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/21281309/new-york-times-op-ed-editor-tom-cotton-is-trump-authoritarian
As @drvox highlights, if you cover the USA as a foreign country, the descent into illiberalism & an authoritarian threat are clearer: https://twitter.com/digiphile/status/1179033883960107008?s=21
But most US journalists don’t.
Editors, aware of (bad faith) claims of “bias,” tell “both sides,” which obscures the truth https://twitter.com/digiphile/status/1179033883960107008
But most US journalists don’t.
Editors, aware of (bad faith) claims of “bias,” tell “both sides,” which obscures the truth https://twitter.com/digiphile/status/1179033883960107008
“Trump and his allies in Congress, in the service of his kleptocratic ambitions, are weakening much of the architecture that stands between us and boundless executive power.”- @waltshaub https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2020/07/02/trump-corruption-ransacking-republic/
Ethical journalists seek truth & report it:
https://www.spj.org/ethicscode.asp
File the @AP's attempt at balance in 2020 as a case study not just in false equivalence but unethically misleading readers about what the facts are. There is only 1 reality.
https://apnews.com/780b2edfd25af18c0107ee382356194f
https://www.spj.org/ethicscode.asp
File the @AP's attempt at balance in 2020 as a case study not just in false equivalence but unethically misleading readers about what the facts are. There is only 1 reality.
https://apnews.com/780b2edfd25af18c0107ee382356194f
“Taken together, his attacks on the integrity of the coming election suggested [the United States of America] now faces the gravest challenge in its history to the way it chooses a leader and peacefully transfers power.”- @SangerNYT https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/30/us/politics/trump-debate-election.html
![“Taken together, his attacks on the integrity of the coming election suggested [the United States of America] now faces the gravest challenge in its history to the way it chooses a leader and peacefully transfers power.”- @SangerNYT https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/30/us/politics/trump-debate-election.html](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EjNBCu0WAAA9-d0.jpg "“Taken together, his attacks on the integrity of the coming election suggested [the United States of America] now faces the gravest challenge in its history to the way it chooses a leader and peacefully transfers power.”- @SangerNYT https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/30/us/politics/trump-debate-election.html")
![“Taken together, his attacks on the integrity of the coming election suggested [the United States of America] now faces the gravest challenge in its history to the way it chooses a leader and peacefully transfers power.”- @SangerNYT https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/30/us/politics/trump-debate-election.html](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EjNBCu0WoAA05LW.jpg "“Taken together, his attacks on the integrity of the coming election suggested [the United States of America] now faces the gravest challenge in its history to the way it chooses a leader and peacefully transfers power.”- @SangerNYT https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/30/us/politics/trump-debate-election.html")
![“Taken together, his attacks on the integrity of the coming election suggested [the United States of America] now faces the gravest challenge in its history to the way it chooses a leader and peacefully transfers power.”- @SangerNYT https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/30/us/politics/trump-debate-election.html](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EjNBCu0XYAEU8jC.jpg "“Taken together, his attacks on the integrity of the coming election suggested [the United States of America] now faces the gravest challenge in its history to the way it chooses a leader and peacefully transfers power.”- @SangerNYT https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/30/us/politics/trump-debate-election.html")
As good as @WashingtonPost reporting has been, it engaged in false equivalence today. A distorted perception of an existential threat is not reality: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/end-of-democracy-election/2020/10/25/3b8c0940-13d0-11eb-ba42-ec6a580836ed_story.html
“Both sides” do not pose the same threat to liberal democracy in 2020: https://twitter.com/BrendanNyhan/status/1320457842499952641?s=20
“Both sides” do not pose the same threat to liberal democracy in 2020: https://twitter.com/BrendanNyhan/status/1320457842499952641?s=20
STUDY: The @GOP “has become dramatically more illiberal in the past two decades and now more closely resembles ruling parties in autocratic societies than its former centre-right equivalents in Europe”— @julianborger https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/oct/26/republican-party-autocratic-hungary-turkey-study-trump <— Foreign correspondent
Dear @NPRGreene,
Decades-long @MorningEdition listener here. Armed, far-right militias are our primary domestic terrorism threat. Quakers…aren't.
https://www.npr.org/2020/10/28/928556249/as-election-suspicions-increase-experts-warn-conditions-are-ripe-for-conflict
"All sides" are not equivalent.
"Both sides" do not pose equal threats for lethal political violence today.
Decades-long @MorningEdition listener here. Armed, far-right militias are our primary domestic terrorism threat. Quakers…aren't.
https://www.npr.org/2020/10/28/928556249/as-election-suspicions-increase-experts-warn-conditions-are-ripe-for-conflict
"All sides" are not equivalent.
"Both sides" do not pose equal threats for lethal political violence today.
The @nytimes morning briefing documents the @GOP trying to make it harder for people to vote & trying to prevent votes from being counted in courts, not competing for votes. It is one of the biggest stories in America, but false equivalence & “both sides-ism” hinders reporting it https://twitter.com/aaronrhanlon/status/1321460351167352832
“In almost every instance, Democrats are trying to make it easier for Americans to cast ballots, & Republicans are trying to make it harder.”
Credit to @DLeonhardt for clear reporting: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/28/briefing/los-angeles-dodgers-hurricane-zeta-keith-raniere.html But it’s missing the context of the @GOP’s hard turn to illiberalism.
Credit to @DLeonhardt for clear reporting: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/28/briefing/los-angeles-dodgers-hurricane-zeta-keith-raniere.html But it’s missing the context of the @GOP’s hard turn to illiberalism.
"In PA what we are seeing is a quintessential campaign that combines disinformation with institutional hardball leveraging narrow points of anti-majoritarian control to maintain that control"- @ybenkler
https://twitter.com/YBenkler/status/1324017144057778177
Trying to invalidate legal ballots is anti-democratic
https://twitter.com/YBenkler/status/1324017144057778177
Trying to invalidate legal ballots is anti-democratic
The @nytimes could have included phrases like “undermined democracy,” “unprecedented corruption,” “turned a major political party towards illiberalism,” “tapped into authoritarian inclination,” & “rose to power on a racist lie,” but didn’t: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/04/us/politics/trump-post-presidency-influence.html
Enforcing disinformation & civic integrity policies disproportionately affects folks who lie, suppress the vote, or spread misinformation after elections.
Seeking the truth & reporting it without fear or favor informs the public of those outcomes, without false equivalencies.
Seeking the truth & reporting it without fear or favor informs the public of those outcomes, without false equivalencies.
Getting there: "With his re-election chances fading as more votes are counted in a handful of battleground states, …President Donald Trump launched an extraordinary assault on the country’s democratic process from the White House"– @Reuters https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election/vote-counts-push-biden-closer-to-victory-as-trump-falsely-claims-election-being-stolen-idUSKBN27L0VI
President Trump made frantic legal claims & lied about voter fraud in a tirade from the White House filled with lies about how American democracy works. He provided no evidence in remarks that had so much lying that many news networks stopped airing them. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/biden-trump-election/2020/11/05/1dd15c6c-1f82-11eb-ba21-f2f001f0554b_story.html
Fiction: “Both sides are playing politics”- @HowardKurtz, misinforming Americans: https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2020/11/01/americas-press-and-the-asymmetric-war-for-truth/
Fact: No @POTUS in American history has lost re-election, refused to concede defeat, lied about widespread fraud, & abused state power to keep power
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/10/us/politics/trump-election-results.html
Fact: No @POTUS in American history has lost re-election, refused to concede defeat, lied about widespread fraud, & abused state power to keep power
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/10/us/politics/trump-election-results.html
“The [ @GOP] has retreated from upholding democratic norms in recent years”—Anna Lührmann
“Its rhetoric* is closer to authoritarian parties, such as AKP in Turkey & Fidesz in Hungary”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/11/12/republican-party-trump-authoritarian-data/
*Not just rhetoric: Trump is not ceding power, & his party supports him
![“The [ @GOP] has retreated from upholding democratic norms in recent years”—Anna Lührmann“Its rhetoric* is closer to authoritarian parties, such as AKP in Turkey & Fidesz in Hungary” https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/11/12/republican-party-trump-authoritarian-data/*Not just rhetoric: Trump is not ceding power, & his party supports him](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Emo81PjWEAcv9Jh.jpg "“The [ @GOP] has retreated from upholding democratic norms in recent years”—Anna Lührmann“Its rhetoric* is closer to authoritarian parties, such as AKP in Turkey & Fidesz in Hungary” https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/11/12/republican-party-trump-authoritarian-data/*Not just rhetoric: Trump is not ceding power, & his party supports him")
“Its rhetoric* is closer to authoritarian parties, such as AKP in Turkey & Fidesz in Hungary”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/11/12/republican-party-trump-authoritarian-data/
*Not just rhetoric: Trump is not ceding power, & his party supports him
The @GaSecofState said fellow Republicans, including @LindseyGrahamSC & @RepDougCollins, have pressured him to question the validity of legally cast absentee ballots to reverse Trump’s loss: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/brad-raffensperger-georgia-vote/2020/11/16/6b6cb2f4-283e-11eb-8fa2-06e7cbb145c0_story.html
A corrupt attempt to deny democracy by Chairman of @senjudiciary
A corrupt attempt to deny democracy by Chairman of @senjudiciary
If you read @nytimes @wsj @washingtonpost @FT front pages today, is it clear this @POTUS & leaders in his regime are pressuring state election officials to invalidate legal ballots to reverse the election?
Alt headline:
GOP LIES ABOUT FRAUD, TRIES TO DENY LEGAL VOTES IN GEORGIA
Alt headline:
GOP LIES ABOUT FRAUD, TRIES TO DENY LEGAL VOTES IN GEORGIA
This @WashingtonPost story ran on A7. What if it were another country? cc @KarenAttiah
NATIONALISTS TARGET GEORGIA VOTES TO KEEP POWER
FEDERALISTS PRESSURE OFFICIALS TO DENY VOTES
TRUMP REGIME SEEKS TO DISENFRANCHISE GEORGIANS
IN GEORGIA, FAR-RIGHT LOYALISTS PUTSCH OFFICIALS
NATIONALISTS TARGET GEORGIA VOTES TO KEEP POWER
FEDERALISTS PRESSURE OFFICIALS TO DENY VOTES
TRUMP REGIME SEEKS TO DISENFRANCHISE GEORGIANS
IN GEORGIA, FAR-RIGHT LOYALISTS PUTSCH OFFICIALS
