Is that a fact?

Our guest this week is Gilbert Bailon, the editor-in-chief of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Our host spoke to Bailon about the importance of local news to American democracy. Local news organizations have been gutted in recent years, leaving communities across the country with little to no coverage and stripping them of their watchdogs. What are the consequences for American democracy and why should everyday Americans care? 

Bailon joined the Post-Dispatch as editorial page editor in 2007 and then in 2012, became the paper’s editor. Before that, he was executive director of the Dallas Morning News and the founding editor and publisher of Al Dia, a daily Spanish-language newspaper owned by the Dallas Morning News. He has served as president of the American Society of News Editors, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, and Unity Journalists of Color. 

By some estimates, 1,300 communities across the country now have no local news outlet at all, leaving them with no independent oversight of local government and corporate activities. Some cities, such as Pittsburgh, New Orleans and Youngstown lost their daily newspapers, while some papers like the Cleveland Plain Dealer, that used to provide award-winning, robust local coverage, are now operating on a shoestring with reduced staffs. 

Our guest this week is Rebecca Aguilar, a multiple Emmy award-winning reporter who recently became the first Latina president-elect of the Society of Professional Journalists. Our host spoke to Aguilar about how the gatekeeping role of journalists has been altered by the internet and social media, what’s been lost, but also what’s been gained. They also discussed the need for greater diversity in American newsrooms and what needs to be done to achieve it.

In her 39 years in journalism Aguilar has worked in Toledo, Chicago, Corpus Christi, San Antonio, Phoenix, Los Angeles and Dallas. Today she is a freelance reporter and consultant. She is also the social media columnist for Latina Style Magazine, a national publication. When Rebecca is not working on a story, she is leading two of the largest Latina groups on Facebook. “Latinas in Journalism” has close to 2,000 Latina journalists who have found a place online to network, share advice and find work. Rebecca also created “Wise Latinas Linked” in 2009 for Latinas of all backgrounds. Today, that networking group consists of more than 9,000 members.

Our guest this week is Deen Freelon, an associate professor at the Hussman school of Journalism and Media at Univesrity of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Our host spoke to Freelon about how foreign adversaries, and particularly the Internet Research Agency in Russia, are using social media platforms against us. We explore how foreign governments wage disinformation campaigns against us, who they target and why. Are they succeeding? And what can we do as news and information consumers to avoid falling for this nefarious form of misinformation?

Freelon is known for his coding and computational methods to extract, preprocess and analyze large sets of data. He has researched how misinformation is spread and what people can do to prevent the spread of false information. Freelon has published over 30 peer reviewed journal articles and contributed extensive research to the Knight Foundation.  In the past few years, Freelon has done substantial analyses about the impact of state-sponsored disinformation campaigns on Twitter related to our elections and the Black Lives Matter movement.

Our guest is Kara Swisher, one of the premiere tech columnists in the country. Our host spoke to Swisher about how social media platforms have affected our ability to talk to one another. Have platforms like Facebook contributed to the rise of misinformation. Do social media platforms have a responsibility to police certain content? Swisher has been a long-time critic of the power of tech companies, their use of personal data and the industry’s lack of accountability. In our interview she said, “We are cheap dates to the data companies.”

Swisher has been chronicling the rise of Silicon Valley since the early ‘90s. In 2003, Swisher launched the D: All things Digital Conference with Walt Mossberg, and later co-founded the website Recode with him, which was acquired by Vox in 2015. Swisher has written for The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal, and she is currently an editor-at-large for New York Media and a contributor to the New York Times, where she recently launched a new podcast called “Sway: A Podcast about Power.” She is the author of two books, AOL.com (1999) and There Must Be a Pony in Here Somewhere: The AOL Time Warner Debacle and the Quest for a Digital Future (2003).

Within journalism circles, Maria Ressa is a hero.  She is a veteran journalist, as well as the co-founder, executive editor and CEO of  Rappler , a popular online news website in the Philippines. Ressa is celebrated for her critical coverage of President Rodrigo Duterte and for enduring legal challenges to her site’s reporting.

She has experienced first-hand how hard it is for journalists to hold the line against an authoritarian leader when press freedoms are threatened. In June, Ressa and her former Rappler colleague were found guilty of “cyber libel.” She is currently fighting the government’s move to revoke Rappler’s license and faces up to 100 years in prison for her work as a journalist.

Ressa is the subject of a recent PBS documentary, “A Thousand Cuts,” about the fight between the government and the press in the Philippines. She was named Time Magazine’s 2018 Person of the Year, was among its 100 Most Influential People of 2019, and has also been named one of Time's Most Influential Women of the Century. She is the author of two books: From Bin Laden to Facebook: 10 Days of Abduction, 10 Years of Terrorism;  and Seeds of Terror: An Eyewitness Account of Al-Qaeda's Newest Center.

Our host spoke to Ressa about the rise of misinformation, the role of tech in
misinformation and, of course, her battles with Duterte. The interview was edited for brevity and clarity.
 
Additional credit: Suzannah Gonzales provided producing assistance, Zoe Denckla provided research assistance and Miranda Shafer provided production assistance.

Michael Luo is the editor of the newyorker.com. We spoke to him about a piece he wrote on The Hutchins Commission which was formed during World War II to decide how the press could serve democracy during a period of intense political strife and distrust in the media. At the time tribalism was fueling division in the country, and the press was seen as further sowing discord. The piece was written for The New Yorker’s series on “The Future of Democracy”  We spoke about the role of journalism in American democracy, the need for viewpoint diversity in media, and the future of media.

This is episode two of our ten-part series, Is that a fact? In each episode we’ll bring in an expert to discuss an aspect of our current information environment that is threatening the promise of American democracy. Visit our website for more information and find additional links on our guests.

Additional credit: Zoe Denckla provided research assistance and Miranda Shafer provided production assistance.

Today, a core element of American democracy — access to reliable information — is threatened. How did this happen? And how can American democracy survive the impact of misinformation? Our guest is Brendan Nyhan. He is a contributor to The Upshot at the New York Times and a co-founder at Bright Line Watch, a group that monitors the status of American democracy. He is a professor of government at Dartmouth College.

Is that a fact? is brought to you by the nonpartisan, non-profit News Literacy Project. In each episode of this 10-part series, we’ll bring in an expert to discuss an aspect of our current information environment that is threatening the promise of American democracy. We’ll also ask our experts to share some solutions, so you can become a more informed voter.

For more information about the News Literacy Project, go to newslit.org.

Relevant interviews and links:

• The Dartmouth, 2/5/2020 Discussing coverage of Trump’s impeachment trials
• Albright Institute at Wellesley College, 01/11/2018 Talk titled: Why Facts and Science Don’t Always Change People’s Minds 
• NHPR 5/24/2017 Talking about political misinformation and "fake news" post-Trump
• WNYC, 7/20/2017 Interview about the backfire effect on WNYC’s On The Media 
• The Communications Network (no date) Talking about research on misinformation

Additional credit: Zoe Denckla provided research assistance and Miranda Shafer provided production assistance.

Welcome to Is that a fact?, a new podcast brought to you by the News Literacy Project.