Study: Major media outlets' Twitter accounts amplify false Trump claims on average 19 times a day

[riversedge]

Source: media matters





3 hours 28 min ago ››› MATT GERTZ & ROB SAVILLO


Major media outlets failed to rebut President Donald Trump's misinformation 65% of the time in their tweets about his false or misleading comments, according to a Media Matters review. That means the outlets amplified Trump's misinformation more than 400 times over the three-week period of the study -- a rate of 19 per day.

The data shows that news outlets are still failing to grapple with a major problem that media critics highlighted during the Trump transition: When journalists apply their traditional method of crafting headlines, tweets, and other social media posts to Trump, they end up passively spreading misinformation by uncritically repeating his falsehoods.

The way people consume information in the digital age makes the accuracy of a news outlet’s headlines and social media posts more important than ever, because research shows they are the only thing a majority of people actually read. But journalists are trained to treat a politician’s statements as intrinsically newsworthy, often quoting them without context in tweets and headlines and addressing whether the statement was accurate only in the body of the piece, if at all. When the politician’s statements are false, journalists who quote them in headlines and on social media without context end up amplifying the falsehoods.

Anecdotally, it’s been clear for some time that journalists have not adjusted their practices for the Trump era in which, according to The Washington Post, the president has already made more than 10,000 false or misleading claims. In recent months, Media Matters has explored how news outlets have passively misinformed the public by passing along misinformation from Trump administration figures on topics like threats of violence against journalists, special counsel Robert Mueller’s report, potential conflict with North Korea, Special Olympics funding, and whether the Obama administration was “spying” on Trump associates.

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Read more: https://www.mediamatters.org/blog/2019/05/03/study-major-media-outlets-twitter-accounts-amplify-false-trump-claims-average-19-times-day/223572

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Matthew Gertz
‏Verified account @MattGertz
2h2 hours ago

New @mmfa study: Major media outlets fail to debunk President Trump's false or misleading statements in their tweets 65% of the time, amplifying his misinformation an average of 19 times per day.
34 replies 701 retweets 964 likes
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Matthew Gertz
‏Verified account @MattGertz
2h2 hours ago

.@TheHill was by far the worst actor, but Twitter feeds operated by @CBSNews and @ABC also stood out for passing on misinformation without debunking it.
13 replies 80 retweets 189 likes
Black Panther 2020
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‏ @lakesideliberal
28m

[marylandblue]

1. This is why it's important our candidate effectively use Twitter.

Because the media won't stop doing this. At least there will be a counter narrative for them to report.

[UpInArms]

2. No ... then it just becomes

“He said” and “(s)he said”

That is just not good enough

[marylandblue]

3. The media won't change, but a good counter tweet can change the conversation.

We can't fix the media, but our candidate can use it to hos or her advantage.

[Turbineguy]

4. So you multiply that by

the 23 lies per day, that a pile of bullshit 437 Trumps high.

The "trump" is my new unit of measurement. I haven't contacted the NIST about this yet.

[EleanorR]

5. not surprised about the (s)hill

And it's not just media outlets doing this.

[dalton99a]

6. Kick

[andym]

7. A most serious problem that needs to be addressed by the fourth estate

Last edited Sun May 12, 2019, 02:20 AM - Edit history (1)

beginning in journalism school.

[FakeNoose]

8. Tweets aren't news, they're propaganda

... especially when they come from Chump. When will the journalists figure this out?

[BlueIdaho]

13. When will we convince people to ignore Tweets

And stop treating them as news flashes - regardless of their source?

[trev]

9. Just another example

of why I said that the MSM are not pressing back against Trump as they ought to be.

And I got blasted for saying that. :/

[Ford_Prefect]

10. Contemporary MSM thrives on Infotainment & Gossip. Clickbait moves at light speed as does the money.

It's old news (no pun) that we rarely see or hear coherent, in-depth reporting, regardless of subject or source. Post-Reagan so much is repeated from the same source without comment or accurate attribution. I doubt I would hire today's J-school grads. They seem unable to speak without prompting and likely could not do follow-up questions even if they were handed a script. Sadly they appear to have editors who prefer it that way.

Local news is so constrained by their advertisers to avoid certain topics or content which would cause discomfort among shoppers. As such they often resemble a cheerleading squad steering viewer's emotions: rather too often like CNN and the others IMHO.

[ansible]

12. The media only cares about advertisement revenue $$$

I can't believe there are people here who honestly believe otherwise. They're just as complicit in supporting Trump as the GOP.

[trev]

14. Well, I wouldn't go that far.

But I am surprised that there isn't more outrage about the MSM being complicit.

Or is that what you meant? Your use of the word "they" is a little ambiguous....

[Aussie105]

11. Media report what Trump and the GOP come up with.

Straight out reporting. Any commentary regarding validity of page 1 headlines is editorial commentary.

Don't expect any media to NOT report on the latest, on the basis of a lack of truth or validity. If they don't, someone else will.

This effectively spreads the propaganda. It's up to the target of this avalanche - us - to be selective in our sources and be extremely sceptical.

But the media is doing itself a disservice, readers/viewers will get jaded or confused, and learn to doubt everything they read and see.
Twitter and Facebook are already in the realms of not worth reading or following because their connection to reality is tenuous. Printed and TV media are going the same way.