Windows open and windows close. Here’s one that seems to be open: "Establishment" news.
Fake news, said an interesting analysis by BuzzFeed, “outperformed” the real thing on Facebook during the election campaign.
In short, these may not be the best of times for Fox News or Breitbart, if the news establishment cared to press the case. And why the hell not?
Better news organizations ought to be doubling down on marketing and public relations efforts to remind the public that established news organizations got be established because they brought something to the laptop or smartphone: a version of news and facts that is reasonably free of out and out fabrication.
They ought to do it by getting better themselves. The news biz has gotten pretty sloppy trying to compete with provocateurs.
Indeed, that attitude change might be happening. Claire Atkinson at The New York Post reports ABC News is now contemplating launching (or more accurately, re-launching) a digital news channel. That would seem like odd timing--after the election, and presumably, after the swell of big news audiences and ample advertising have gone.
But maybe it is precisely the time for an old brand like that to jump in feet first.The concept had been that that American public--and American conservatives, particularly--have been lied to all along by the big, monied journalism interests. Now, in a flash, the fake news trickbag is being exposed, left and right. . . and center. The latest evidence: this anatomy of a fake news story, from The New York Times.
pj@mediapost.com
Having recently reported Hillary had a 98 percent chance of winning, you'd think the unfake media would be a little less sanctimonious. The good news is that New York Times only reported she had an 85 percent chance of winning.
Check out Bob Garfield's column today. It will round out some edges.