彩民宝典

By Joe Arney

Here鈥檚 a quiz for all you politics junkies: When was the last time you read or watched a thoroughly reported story on the policy positions of one of the Republican primary candidates seeking the 2024 presidential nomination?

Don鈥檛 spend too much time thinking about it. The mainstream media has been far more likely to write about Joe Biden鈥檚 age or Ron DeSantis鈥� culture wars. And that worries one 彩民宝典 scholar who鈥檚 concerned about how journalists will cover the race.

鈥淭he U.S. news media has blood on its hands from 2016,鈥� said Mike McDevitt, a former reporter and a professor of journalism at the College of Media, Communication and Information. 鈥淚t will go down as one of the worst moments in the history of American journalism.鈥澨�

That鈥檚 because, he said, reporters and media outlets failed to consider their role as a political institution鈥攖he so-called Fourth Estate鈥攁nd their responsibility to defend democracy against a rising tide of authoritarian thought. Oftentimes, the media inadvertently contributed to the normalization of extremism, by misreading their audiences or erring in how they balance their coverage of candidates.听

McDevitt pointed to a study of the 2016 election that found both candidates received the same amount of negative coverage. 鈥淵ou had a legitimate candidate playing by the rules of democracy, and an authoritarian,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e should be boycotting candidates who are authoritarian and anti-intellectual, and offering aggressive commentary to explain why.鈥�

From paperboy to newsman听

McDevitt is a longtime news hound鈥攈e worked as a paperboy for the Los Altos Town Crier and Peninsula Times Tribune, in California, before reporting for them full-time early in his career鈥攚hich feeds into his research into media and democracy. His work primarily looks at two interconnected threads鈥攁nti-intellectualism in U.S. media and its contribution to democratic backsliding, and a rise in authoritarian leanings among adolescents鈥攚hich he explored in some depth in his 2020 book, Where Ideas Go to Die: The Fate of Intellect in American Journalism.

Some of the causes are familiar to anyone who studies the mass media鈥檚 woes鈥攕horter attention spans in the age of social media, resource-strapped newsrooms, an emphasis on clicks at the cost of meaningful stories that educate readers, Gen Z鈥檚 distrust in institutions and frightening disengagement with the news.

鈥淚f the news media continue their fascination with anti-elitist elected officials鈥攚ho make extreme statements and stoke culture wars鈥攁nd don鈥檛 pay attention to policy, then it directly contributes to the dysfunction we鈥檙e seeing in Washington,鈥� McDevitt said. 鈥淚n terms of covering the nightmare we wake up to every morning, journalism is doing a good job. But it鈥檚 probably not how news media should operate as a political institution during an era of democratic backsliding.鈥澨�

That doesn鈥檛 mean journalism is helpless, and in fact, McDevitt said he鈥檚 seen some positive change. While cable news networks continue to lean on panels of pundits, more stations are replacing partisans with independent academic voices. And there is more collaboration among newsrooms, such as an August 2018 project where more than 300 newspapers published editorials on the same day denouncing the president鈥檚 description of the media as the enemy of the people.

鈥淚 know a lot of journalists would disagree with me, but I think news media in general should be less competitive amongst each other and find ways to collaborate, especially with the industry gutted,鈥� he said.听

Avoiding groupthink, tropes

One area to avoid collaboration, he said, is the groupthink that emerges when reporters subconsciously frame stories around tropes that perpetuate on the campaign trail, such as the year of the woman, or the election in which democracy recovers, or the year we need younger candidates.

He also wants to see reporters think more critically about their audiences. In 2016, journalists imagined a 鈥減opulist, anti-elitist audience hungry for change, which helps explain the relentless negativity during the cycle,鈥� he said.听

McDevitt is currently at work on another book exploring how to rethink journalism in an era of democratic backsliding. He鈥檚 looking at the increase in authoritarianism on school boards鈥攍ike book bans, bathroom restrictions and masking鈥斺�渁nd how reporters are covering them, because school board meetings used to be so boring. Not anymore.鈥澨�

He鈥檚 also curious to understand how the press understands its role in democratic backsliding, and how reporters feel they can turn the ship around鈥攊ncluding their limits in doing so.

鈥淭hese areas really pose an intellectual challenge for me,鈥� the former newsman said. 鈥淚f I want to be critical about journalism, I have to recognize that the cat is out of the bag鈥攖his authoritarian sentiment is out there and journalism can only do so much.鈥�