Taking Trump at his word

In September 2016, Salena Zito, who was then covering voters in The Heartland, wrote of the then-candidate Donald Trump, in a column for The Atlantic: “the press takes him literally, but not seriously; his supporters take him seriously, but not literally.” The phrase quickly slipped into Trumplore. Trump allies, such as Peter Thiel, invoked it to argue that while reporters and fact checkers obsessed over the fine print of Trump’s pronouncements on, say, banning Muslims from the US and building a wall at the southern border, his supporters were hearing more general pledges to, say, reform immigration. Trump critics, such as Dara Lind, then of Vox, complained about the moral and factual slipperiness of such logic—criticisms that were vindicated when Trump moved to literally ban Muslims and literally build his wall almost as soon as he took office. Ever since then, the literally/seriously motif has echoed, Zelig-like, through the press. We’ve heard of Trump being taken seriously and literally, seriously but not literally (by the media this time), and neither seriously nor literally—the latter because, as The Atlantic’s David Frum put it last year, the president’s “words are as worthless as Trump Organization IOUs.” In large part, the phrase and the many variations thereupon are hard to pin down because Trump himself is hard to pin down. Since taking office, he’s said literally tens of thousands of things that aren’t true while also pursuing his more extreme campaign... Continue reading at 'Columbia Journalism Review'

[ Columbia Journalism Review | 2020-08-03 12:05:46 UTC ]

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Letting another drastic climate report go by

Early yesterday, the United Nations Environment Program published its annual assessment of greenhouse gas emissions. It described its own findings as “bleak.” Global emissions have risen by 1.5 percent every year for the past decade; top polluters including the US—which is busy pulling out of... Continue reading at Columbia Journalism Review

[ Columbia Journalism Review | 2019-11-27 13:08:51 UTC ]
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Rupert Murdoch says 'there are no climate change deniers around' News Corp

Murdoch was responding to a question at AGM about time given to ‘climate deniers’ by News Corp outlets in AustraliaNews Corp executive chairman Rupert Murdoch has said “there are no climate change deniers around I can assure you” after he was asked at the corporation’s AGM why his company gives... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2019-11-21 01:47:18 UTC ]
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Facebook Reaches Deal With Wall Street Journal Publisher, Others for News Section

News Corp has reached a deal to let Facebook Inc. feature headlines from The Wall Street Journal and other Dow Continue reading at Editor & Publisher

[ Editor & Publisher | 2019-10-21 14:49:53 UTC ]
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Australian newspapers black out front pages to fight back against secrecy laws

United campaign by media companies highlights government moves to penalise whistleblowing and criminalise journalism • Lenore Taylor: Concrete action rather than nice words are needed on press freedomThe front page of every newspaper in Australia was blacked out on Monday as part of a campaign... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2019-10-20 22:51:36 UTC ]
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Publishers braced for potential no-deal Brexit

Even as the British government and the European Union wrangle on a withdrawal agreement, UK publishers have begun warning staff of the dire consequences of a no-deal Brexit, fearing it could lead to book stock being held up at ports, paper supply to UK printers threatened, and a fall in the... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-10-16 15:38:09 UTC ]
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Advertising lessons learned and reaffirmed by HBO’s ‘Succession’

As an abashed former News Corp employee (thankfully at HarperCollins, one of the Murdoch portfolio’s least-offensive holdings), HBO’s "Succession" is my straight shot of Sunday-night dopamine. The show’s great even if you aren’t attuned to the devastating, thinly veiled media and publishing... Continue reading at Advertising Age

[ Advertising Age | 2019-10-11 11:22:17 UTC ]
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What HBO’s ‘Succession’ can teach us about advertising

As an abashed former News Corp employee (thankfully at HarperCollins, one of the Murdoch portfolio’s least-offensive holdings), HBO’s "Succession" is my straight shot of Sunday-night dopamine. The show’s great even if you aren’t attuned to the devastating, thinly veiled media and publishing... Continue reading at Advertising Age

[ Advertising Age | 2019-10-11 11:22:17 UTC ]
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With the Help of Washington, News Publishers Fight to Recapture Advertising Dollars From Facebook and Google

Rupert Murdoch, the executive chairman of News Corp and co-chairman of Fox Corp., who built his fortune in the newspaper Continue reading at Editor & Publisher

[ Editor & Publisher | 2019-10-01 07:00:50 UTC ]
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What happens if they toss cookies?

There is an ad-tech fight playing out in Europe that could upend the entire real-time bidding system that most publishers use to fill their online ad inventory. It all centers on cookie matching—the syncing by ad exchanges of data about consumers online. On one side, privacy advocates and... Continue reading at Advertising Age

[ Advertising Age | 2019-09-25 19:00:00 UTC ]
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News Corp Answers Big Tech by Exploring its Own News Distribution Site

In a response to most news publishers’ checklist of needs from a digital conduit to their content, News Corp is Continue reading at Editor & Publisher

[ Editor & Publisher | 2019-09-12 18:30:12 UTC ]
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Democracy overboard: Rupert Murdoch's long war on Australian politics | Kevin Rudd

Australia has become a dangerously complacent country, dancing to the reactionary tune of the Murdoch pressAustralia has become the complacent country. Complacent about its future economic competitiveness. Complacent about climate change. Complacent about how to navigate our future in the region... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2019-09-06 20:00:48 UTC ]
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'Well done': home affairs chief Mike Pezzullo praised police for raiding journalist's home

Documents obtained by ABC show departmental secretary asked for his thanks to be passed on to AFP team involved The head of the Department of Home Affairs, Mike Pezzullo, congratulated the Australian federal police for conducting raids on journalists, new documents reveal.Correspondence obtained... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2019-08-29 04:27:34 UTC ]
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Geoffrey Rush loses bid to prevent News Corp from repeating allegations

Application for injunction preventing the publisher from repeating meanings in defamatory material dismissedActor Geoffrey Rush, who was awarded $2.9m in his defamation case against Nationwide News, has lost his bid to prevent the newspaper publisher from repeating the substance of its... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2019-08-28 07:48:07 UTC ]
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Jay Inslee’s out, but let’s keep climate in

On March 1, at the headquarters of a solar-panel company in Seattle, Jay Inslee, the governor of Washington, jumped into the Democratic presidential primary as a climate-focused candidate. The following week, amid a flurry of interviews, Inslee went on Rachel Maddow’s show, on MSNBC, to make the... Continue reading at Columbia Journalism Review

[ Columbia Journalism Review | 2019-08-23 12:09:26 UTC ]
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News Corp flashes teeth at Google with news-aggregation service

News Corp said it would not take a cut of ad revenue generated by articles from Knewz.com. Continue reading at Media Week

[ Media Week | 2019-08-23 08:34:39 UTC ]
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What Role Does Philanthropy Play in Reporting News?

When the Judith Neilson Institute for Journalism pledged money to News Corp and Nine Entertainment last month, some cynics wondered Continue reading at Editor & Publisher

[ Editor & Publisher | 2019-08-21 14:55:30 UTC ]
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Changing the journalistic climate: what role does philanthropy play in reporting news?

The fund behind the biggest grant ever given to the Sydney Opera House says it won’t play favourites in Australian mediaWhen the Judith Neilson Institute for Journalism pledged money to News Corp and Nine Entertainment last month, some cynics wondered why the $100m philanthropic outfit was... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2019-08-21 04:31:05 UTC ]
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Empire strikes back: News Corp turns blowtorch on former Australian reporter | The Weekly Beast

Former social affairs reporter Rick Morton attacked in print and online. Plus: Rowan Dean ignores police over Sydney stabbing attacksIt doesn’t take long for a top reporter at the Australian, with a regular presence on page one, to become the target of a front-page story in the combative... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2019-08-16 01:49:59 UTC ]
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AFP won't rule out charging News Corp journalist Annika Smethurst after raid

Commissioner Andrew Colvin tells MPs the investigation is ‘ongoing’The Australian federal police commissioner has not ruled out prosecuting the News Corp journalist Annika Smethurst, telling parliament’s intelligence and security committee the investigation into leaked material remains... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2019-08-14 00:57:26 UTC ]
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Dutton says AFP must take extra steps before launching raids on the media

Peter Dutton says federal police should consider ‘public interest implications’ before investigating leaks that involve journalistsHome affairs minister Peter Dutton has given new directions to the Australian federal police on investigations into journalists and media organisations.The decision... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2019-08-09 07:01:12 UTC ]
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