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This election cycle has seen the proliferation of new organizations devoted to fact-checking, as well as new fact-checking desks at established media outlets. But has this increased scrutiny done anything to quell the untruths? The Politico's Daniel Libit says all these truth-squaders might drown each other out and have little effect on keeping the campaigns honest.
When immigration issues brought millions of Latino protesters across the country into the streets in 2006, their signs read ‘Today We March – Tomorrow We Vote.’ That tomorrow is now and both presidential candidates are courting Latinos with Spanish-language outreach. Federico Subervi , author of The Mass Media and Latino Politics , explains the parallel presidential campaigns in English and Espanol.
In an effort to answer the question What do undecided voters think?, CNN took a focus group of fence-sitters and measured their real-time reactions during the presidential debates. Wall Street Journal media reporter Sam Schechner says those squiggly lines at the bottom of your TV screen may be more influential than you think.
Should reporters lie or misrepresent themselves in order to get an important story? Undercover reporting has long been an effective, exciting and, some would argue, necessary journalistic tool. But at a time when the public's trust in the press is waning, can journalists afford to lie? Brooke talks with undercover reporters and their critics.
Journalist Ted Conover went undercover for nearly one year working as a prison guard at Sing Sing Correctional Facility in upstate New York. His work was praised and criticized. Conover says his time undercover was incredibly stressful, painfully isolating and ethically fraught but nonetheless it was necessary to get the story out.
Fact-checkers have been diligently pointing out all the untruths from the campaigns this election cycle, but what can be done to prevent the candidates from lying in the first place? Bob proposes a measure to do just that. He calls it "The Oath."
Highlights from Past Shows
Think you know the real Barack Obama? The McCain campaign has no idea who he is or what his plans are for America. Baltimore City Paper columnist Vincent Williams believes “unknown” is code for “other.”
It was billed as nothing less than an epic battle - Palin v. Biden. Expectations were raised and lowered, gaffes and non-answers were played and replayed, moderators were accused of bias. But according to Mark Jurkowitz, associate director of the Pew Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism, the real winner isn’t so much a presidential ticket as cable news itself.
On the Media is funded by The Bydale Foundation, The Ford Foundation, The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Overbrook Foundation.
