Spinsanity's New Book -- Shining A Light on "He-Said, She-Said" Journalism

On the surface, All the President's Spin, the new book by Spinsanity.com founders Ben Fritz, Bryan Keefer, and Brendan Nyhan is a critique of the Bush Administration's misleading statements.

However, the real story of the book is its deconstruction of modern "he-said, she-said" news reporting.

Here's how it works.

Suppose a Democratic leader in Congress holds a press conference to announce that we could save Social Security and Medicare via neighborhood bake sales.

The papers would report something like this:

"Democrat Robert Matsui (D-California), brandishing a new study by the nonpartisan Center for American Liberals, announced today that the Social Security and Medicare trust funds could be brought into 'long-term actuarial balance' through neighborhood bake sales.

Republicans immediately denounced the study, saying that revenue from bake sales would amount to a 'tax increase on ordinary citizens' and would be a 'woefully inadequate' source of funds for the troubled entitlement programs."

Suppose, on the other hand, that President Bush announced that by eliminating all taxes, the federal budget could be balanced in 5 years.

TV news would report:

"In a speech today before the conservative Hemorrhoid Foundation, President Bush unveiled a new study by the Council of Economic Advisors arguing that by collecting no taxes at all, surging job creation and economic growth would 'balance the budget' in only five years.

Democrats in Congress pounced on the study, saying its calculations were 'inaccurate and absurd.'"

You get the picture. By substituting a retort from political opponents for their own analysis of the original statements, the media reduce even the most ridiculous claims by public figures to a "balanced" back and forth argument. The reader (or viewer) gains little information about the validity of each side's claims.

In an article for the Columbia Journalism Review, Bryan Keefer explains the thesis:

President Bush, Senator Kerry, and their operatives are deliberately using a cynical combination of calculated deception, speed, and volume to exploit the press’s reluctance to call a lie a lie. Rather than sorting through the facts and pointing out what is true and what is not -- something good reporters are qualified to do -- we too often treat the truth as something the reader or viewer should be able to discern from competing bits of spin. In doing so, we encourage the candidates to mislead the public. And when the “facts” are coming from every conceivable angle and around the clock, it makes it even more unlikely that the press will sort through it all and render a judgment... The rules of engagement on the campaign trail have changed, and the press must change the way it covers the race or risk drowning -- along with the voters -- under a toxic tsunami.

Links:
Spinsanity.com

All the President's Spin by Ben Fritz, Bryan Keefer, and Brendan Nyhan (2004, Touchstone Books)

Bryan Keefer Tsunami Columbia Journalism Review (2004:4) Summary: The Campaign '04 information war is fast, deep, and fraught with lies. The press must rethink its coverage, or drown in a toxic tidal wave.

Posted by Jeff Lemieux at August 5, 2004 12:41 AM