Amy M. Damico - Media, Journalism, and Fake News

Dennis Lein

Journalism Sean R. Sadri

Julie Frechette

Lori Bindig Yousman

Nahed Eltantawy

Erica Drzewiecki

Randall Livingstone

Bill Yousman

Kate Felsen

The amount of news and information in the United States is overwhelming. Newspapers, television shows, radio programs, blogs, and digital news sites provide news reports, investigative journalism, commentary, and opinion on a regular basis. Popular television talk shows discuss information of interest to viewers, while political talk radio presents perspectives on current happenings in government. Facebook news feeds, a variety of news aggregators, Twitter, and YouTube steadily recommend content to users, and some on social media and web platforms share their own ideas, perspectives, and reporting. In this information landscape, one must be skeptical. Accompanying the sheer amount of quality news is information that is sensationalized, misleading, or outright false. Heightened awareness of problematic information has, in part, contributed to perceptions among some that the news cant be trusted and that news reporting may be too partisan or otherwise biased. Additionally, while legacy and digital media provide more content than one can realistically engage with, quality reporting in communities across the United States is decreasing as more and more local newspapers close their doors or make other cutbacks. Some larger news organizations are also struggling to find sustainable business models that keep their news organizations running at a time when the subscription- and advertising-generated business model for news has been disrupted in the digital age that has marked changes in news production, distribution, and consumption as a result of the internet.

These specific challenges might be contemporary ones, but the news industry has always faced challenges and dealt with change. As the news and information industries in the United States developed, new technologies threatened, and ultimately disrupted, aspects of previously held status quos of news production and distribution. Different forms of reporting evolved. Problems of financially challenged news organizations, unreliable information, partisan news, and less-than-perfect reporting are part of the industrys history.

News and information that is reliable and verifiable is central to a functioning democracy. In the United States, journalists and others are relied on to report the news, share worthy information, investigate relevant issues, provide context for current events, and uncover truths those in power may want hidden. High-quality journalism provides people with the information needed to help understand the world, the nation, and regional and local communities. Those informed by a variety of reputable news sources are positioned to make informed choices that impact aspects of their lives. The system, however, is not perfect. News consumers, and particularly those who are in the early stages of integrating news as a part of their media diet, would benefit from cultivating a set of news and media literacy skills that empower them to critically assess content. An understanding of the basic history of news media and an awareness of contemporary issues in the production, distribution, and consumption of news and information in the United States can assist news consumers in better navigating the immense amount of information that is available every day.