Journalism

President Donald Trump on Oct 12 again slammed the “fake news” media, saying it has “such hatred.” “The Fake News Is going all out in order to demean and denigrate!" the president wrote on Twitter. "Such hatred!” The tweet from President Trump comes one day after he blasted NBC News over the network’s story that the president wanted to expand the United States’ nuclear arsenal.

The rise of fraudulent news and the erosion of public trust in mainstream journalism, due in part to a deliberate campaign of denigration, pose a looming crisis for American democracy and civic life. It is our hope in this report to spotlight the dimensions of the problem, call out its serious implications, and stimulate greater urgency across multiple sectors of society that have a role to play in addressing it.

Among PEN America's recommendations:
Educators should “adopt news literacy education as a core part of school curriculums.”
Social media networks such as Twitter and Facebook should “identify purveyors of fraudulent news . . . and take steps to ensure that they are not able to sustain themselves and profit from access to advertising services on your platforms.”
Social media networks also should “develop additional ways to offer users content that may differ from their own beliefs or views, in ways that are transparent to users and sustain their control over what they see.”
News outlets should “emphasize transparency of operations as a high priority, including finding new ways to be more open with readers about the journalistic and editing processes and the handling of errors.”
News outlets also should “clearly label different types of content as reporting, commentary, opinion, analysis, etc.”

[Commentary] Ultimately, the power of fake news is in the minds of the beholders — namely, news consumers. We need a news consumers’ equivalent of the venerable Consumers Union that, starting in the 1930s, mobilized millions behind taking an informed approach to purchases, or the more recent drive to empower individuals to take charge of their health by reading labels, counting steps, and getting tested for risk factors.

Recognizing fraudulent news as a threat to free expression cannot be grounds to justify a cure — in the form of new government or corporate restrictions on speech — that may end up being worse than the disease. Unscrupulous profiteers and political opportunists may never cease in their efforts to infect the global information flow of information to serve their purposes. The best prescription against the epidemic of fake news is to inoculate consumers by building up their ability to defend themselves.

[Suzanne Nossel is executive director of the Pen American Center and was formerly deputy assistant secretary of state for international organizations at the U.S. State Department.]

President Donald Trump took a moment during his interview with Fox's Sean Hannity to praise the host for his recent ratings rise since moving into the 9 p.m. timeslot to directly challenge MSNBC's Rachel Maddow. “I will say this, you have been so great,” President Trump said to Hannity during their Oct 11 interview. "I’m very proud of you.” “I am a ratings person. Has anyone seen his ratings? What you are doing to your competition is incredible," Trump said to Hannity. "Number one, and I am very proud of you. An honor to be on your show.”

President Donald Trump has threatened press freedoms before, but on Oct 11 he went a step further: suggesting that television networks lose their federal broadcast licenses for what he considers “fake news.” In comments to reporters in the Oval Office, President Trump said, “It is frankly disgusting the way the press is able to write whatever they want to write, and people should look into it.”

The remarks alarmed 1st Amendment advocates for suggesting the use of government power to punish the media, recalling for many the threats of President Richard Nixon. “The founders of our nation set as a cornerstone of our democracy the 1st Amendment, forever enshrining and protecting freedom of the press," said Gordon Smith, president of the National Association of Broadcasters and a former Republican senator from Oregon. “It is contrary to this fundamental right for any government official to threaten the revocation of an FCC license simply because of a disagreement with the reporting of a journalist,” he said. Asked whether there should be limits on what journalists can write, President Trump softened his tone. “No. The press should speak more honestly,” he said. “I’ve seen tremendously dishonest press. It’s not even a question of distortion.”

President Trump’s threat to pull NBC’s license doesn’t make sense for a lot of reasons — starting with the fact that NBC doesn’t have a license to begin with. But it is still alarming to news outlets, because federal regulations aren’t clear about whether federal regulators can intervene to stop “fake” news.

You might assume the First Amendment protects all reporting. But current Federal Communications Commission language leaves open the possibility of government intervention, under certain narrow conditions. “The president has no authority to direct the FCC to revoke a broadcast license,” said former Federal Communications Commission lawyer Robert Corn-Revere. “The FCC is an independent regulatory agency.” But presidents can still exert influence — especially since they appoint all five FCC commissioners. And the FCC may exert influence, too. But no one can say for sure how heavy its hand might be. The FCC states on its website that it will investigate stations accused of deliberately distorting the news, but that the burden of proof is high. The commission says it will generally not intervene in cases in which viewers believe stations have “aired inaccurate or one-sided news reports or comments, covered stories inadequately, or overly dramatized the events that they cover” because “it would be inconsistent with the First Amendment to replace the journalistic judgment of licensees with our own.” The FCC’s policy on intentional “distortion” is a troubling one for television companies, according to Mark Schnieder, a former FCC lawyer and adjunct law professor at Georgetown University Law School.

NBC News is defending its report that President Donald Trump wanted a massive expansion of the US nuclear arsenal after Defense Secretary James Mattis pushed back on those claims. Courtney Kube, a national security producer for NBC News, said the report never said President Trump "called for" more nuclear weapons, rather only that he "said he wanted more." NBC reported earlier Oct 11 that Trump suggested dramatically expanding the country's nuclear capabilities — from roughly 4,000 to 32,000 warheads — after seeing data that showed the US weapons stockpile decreasing from that level since the 1960s.

Defense Secretary James Mattis in a statement hit back at the NBC report, saying President Trump never "called for" an increase in the nuclear arsenal. "Recent reports that the President called for an increase in the U.S. nuclear arsenal are absolutely false. This kind of erroneous reporting is irresponsible,” Sec Mattis said.

President Donald Trump made two things clear when he told reporters gathered in the Oval Office that “it's frankly disgusting the way the press is able to write whatever they want to write, and people should look into it.” One: He does not value a free press. Two: He does not even understand how a free press works.

It is simply untrue that “the press is able to write whatever they want to write.” News outlets that defame or invade the privacy of the people they cover can be sued into extinction. Just ask Gawker, which went bankrupt and shuttered last year after losing a case brought by Hulk Hogan.

Two former commissioners with the Federal Communications Commission threw cold water on President Donald Trump’s suggestion to “challenge” the broadcast licenses of networks over news reports he considers to be “fake” and “bad for country.” “To me it’s just incomprehensible that because of the content of NBC News that somehow their license would be at risk,” said Alfred Sikes, a Republican who chaired the FCC under President George H.W. Bush. “Any kind of action would require a majority of commissioners and I find it very, very unlikely that based on arguments about the foundations of NBC News content that those licenses would be put up for review,” he added.

Michael Copps, a Democrat who served as FCC commissioner from 2001 to 2011, was similarly disturbed by President Trump’s tweet, which followed criticism of a series of NBC News reports critical of his administration and whose facts he disputed. “If such a threat were carried out it would be a blatantly unacceptable intervention in the jurisdiction of an independent federal agency,” said Copps. “It would have a chilling effect not just on NBC but maybe even worse, small and independent stations who might not have the resources of NBC to fight back such an effort.”

President Donald Trump’s suggestion that NBC should potentially have its broadcast license challenged has prompted a wave of condemnation from both sides of the aisle, with many saying that such a move would violate the First Amendment.

“The president’s threat against NBC and other media outlets is far from empty,” said Sen Brian Schatz (D-HI), referencing a similar proposal from President Nixon, who wanted to crack down on the Washington Post. “In confirmation hearings for Ajit Pai, we raised this possibility,” Sen Schatz said. “Now, the FCC must show that it is loyal to the law, not the president, and make clear that it rejects this kind of interference.”

“This threat alone could intimidate the press and lead to skewed and unfair reporting,” said House Commerce Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ). “I therefore call on FCC Chairman Ajit Pai to immediately condemn this unwarranted attack. I also call on the Chair to announce publicly that he will not follow through on his orders from the President. Chairman Pai should not act in any way to undermine free speech on our airwaves.”