Americans and the Media: Sorting Fact from Fake News
On Tuesday, January 23, The Washington Post brought together top journalists, scholars and thought leaders to discuss how Americans view the media’s role in our modern democracy.
The program built upon a survey of more than 19,000 adults in the United States, conducted by Gallup, Inc. and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, that reveals the most comprehensive picture to date of Americans' usage and attitudes toward the media. The program explored what makes people trust some news sources over others, the debate about regulating digital and social media platforms, and whether the concept of a neutral press can survive in an era of hyper-partisanship.
By the numbers: What Americans really think about the media
By the numbers: What Americans really think about the media
Jennifer Preston, Vice President, Journalism at the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and Frank Newport, Editor-in-Chief of Gallup, Inc., discuss the findings and implications of the largest-ever public opinion survey of Americans’ attitudes about the media and its role in our democracy.
Knight Foundation's Jennifer Preston: 'Improve the flow of accurate information'
Jennifer Preston, Vice President, Journalism at the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, describes the foundation’s efforts to battle misinformation and encourage organizations across the country to rebuild trust in journalism on a local level.
Gallup Editor-in-Chief Frank Newport on the public’s attitudes about the press
Frank Newport, Editor-in-Chief of Gallup, Inc., explains key findings of the largest-ever public opinion survey of Americans’ attitudes about the media and its role in our democracy.
Editor-in-Chief, Gallup, Inc.
Frank Newport, Ph.D., is Gallup’s Editor-in-Chief and past president of the American Association for Public Opinion Research. Gallup has monitored American public opinion continuously since 1935 and now conducts more than 350,000 interviews with Americans each year; Gallup also conducts ongoing interviews in more than 150 countries worldwide.
Vice President, Journalism, John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
Jennifer Preston joined Knight Foundation in October 2014. Previously, Preston was an award-winning journalist for The New York Times for almost 19 years. Since 2007 she has taught journalism, primarily at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and the City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism. She frequently speaks about the role of social media in journalism at media and technology industry conferences.
The Washington Post
Margaret Sullivan is the media columnist for The Washington Post.
Behind the camera: The people who bring you the news
Behind the camera: Bret Baier and Judy Woodruff on reporting in an era of political polarization
Bret Baier, Chief Political Anchor at Fox News and Judy Woodruff, Anchor and Managing Editor of the PBS NewsHour, discuss the challenges of reporting the news in an increasingly polarized political environment.
Judy Woodruff: ‘We swim in a sea of news'
Judy Woodruff, Anchor and Managing Editor of the PBS NewsHour and Bret Baier, Chief Political Anchor at Fox News, discuss how technology has changed the media landscape and why they think it's difficult for Americans to decipher fact from fiction across digital platforms.
Bret Baier and Judy Woodruff share their concerns about 'fake news'
Bret Baier, Chief Political Anchor at Fox News and Judy Woodruff, Anchor and Managing Editor of the PBS NewsHour, share their concerns with the phrase "fake news."
Chief Political Anchor, Fox News
Bret Baier currently serves as FOX News Channel’s chief political anchor and anchor of Special Report with Bret Baier. Based in Washington, DC, he joined the network in 1998 as the first reporter in the Atlanta bureau.
Anchor and Managing Editor, PBS NewsHour
Judy Woodruff is the Anchor and Managing Editor of the PBS NewsHour. She has covered politics and other news for more than four decades at CNN, NBC and PBS. For 12 years, Woodruff served as anchor and senior correspondent for CNN and at NBC News, Woodruff was White House correspondent from 1977 to 1982.
The Washington Post
Dan Balz is Chief Correspondent at The Washington Post.
Bridging the gap: Rebuilding trust in media
Bridging the gap: Journalists, experts discuss rebuilding trust in media
Stephen Hayes, Editor-in-Chief of The Weekly Standard, Indira Lakshmanan, Newmark Chair in Journalism Ethics at The Poynter Institute and April Ryan, White House Correspondent and Washington Bureau Chief of American Urban Radio Networks, explore the erosion of trust in the media and what steps the press can take to reverse the trend.
Poynter Institute’s Indira Lakshmanan: ‘Trump has capitalized on the existing distrust of the media'
Indira Lakshmanan, Newmark Chair in Journalism Ethics, at The Poynter Institute, describes how she thinks President Trump uses the phrase "fake news" to his advantage, but suggests that distrust in the media pre-dates the current administration.
White House Correspondent April Ryan: 'The vast majority of us are not fake'
Reporters and thought leaders describe their efforts to enhance transparency in the press so that Americans stop viewing the news media as "fake news".
Editor-in-Chief, The Weekly Standard
Stephen F. Hayes is the editor-in-chief of The Weekly Standard and a FOX News Contributor. His work has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Reason, National Review and many other publications.
Newmark Chair in Journalism Ethics, The Poynter Institute; Columnist, The Boston Globe
Indira Lakshmanan, the Newmark chair in journalism ethics and a Boston Globe columnist, has covered coups, campaigns and revolutions, reporting from the US and 80 countries for the Globe, Bloomberg, the International New York Times, NPR, PBS and Politico Magazine. At Poynter, Indira is spurring thought leadership on restoring trust in media across the political spectrum through transparency and accountability.
White House Correspondent and Washington Bureau Chief, American Urban Radio Networks
April Ryan is a White House Correspondent and the Washington Bureau Chief of American Urban Radio Networks. Ryan has a unique vantage point covering urban issues from the White House, a position she has held since the Clinton era.
The Washington Post
Libby Casey is the politics and accountability anchor for The Washington Post.
Reshaping the news: The power and perils of social platforms
Reshaping the news: The power and perils of social media platforms
Nuala O’Connor, President and CEO of Center for Democracy & Technology, Jay Rosen, Professor of Journalism at New York University, and Craig Silverman, Media Editor at BuzzFeed News, take a deep dive into the role and responsibility of digital and social media platforms as purveyors and shapers of news and information.
Experts respond: Who are the news media today?
Nuala O’Connor, President and CEO of Center for Democracy & Technology, Jay Rosen, Professor of Journalism at New York University, and Craig Silverman, Media Editor at BuzzFeed describe the differences between a verified news source and an opinion-based news blog.
Media experts explore Washington’s role in regulating media platforms
Nuala O’Connor, President and CEO of Center for Democracy & Technology, Jay Rosen, Professor of Journalism at New York University, and Craig Silverman, Media Editor at BuzzFeed News, describe what it’s like to cover the current administration and explore Washington’s role in regulating media platforms.
President and CEO, Center for Democracy & Technology
Nuala O’Connor is the President & CEO of the Center for Democracy & Technology, a global nonprofit committed to advancing our digital rights. She leads a team that is driving policy solutions that advance the rights of the individual in the digital age. O'Connor has experience working in the federal government, multinational corporations, tech start-ups, and law firms.
Professor of Journalism, New York University
Jay Rosen is the author of PressThink, a weblog about journalism and its ordeals, which he introduced in September 2003. In June 2005, PressThink won the Reporters Without Borders 2005 Freedom Blog award for outstanding defense of free expression. In 1994 he was a fellow at the Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard University, and in 1990-91 he held a fellowship at the Gannett Center for Media Studies at Columbia University.
Media Editor, BuzzFeed News
Craig Silverman is an award-winning author and journalist and one of the world's leading experts on online misinformation, fake news, and content verification. He is the media editor of BuzzFeed News where he leads a global beat covering platforms, online misinformation, and fake news.
The Washington Post
Sarah Ellison is a media reporter for The Washington Post.
