skip to main content
School of Journalism and New Media
University of Mississippi

Posts Tagged ‘The Washington Post’

The Truth About Fake News: Washington Post columnist speaks at Overby event

Posted on: March 18th, 2019 by ldrucker

With the phrase “fake news” increasingly used in jokes and memes, the Overby Center for Southern Journalism and Politics covened a panel of journalists Wednesday, March 20, at 5:30 p.m. at the University of Mississippi for a conversation on the sobering truth about fake news and how the phenomenon is undercutting the foundation of our democracy.

Margaret Sullivan, the media columnist for The Washington Post, who has called on the media to retire the phrase, led the discussion. “ ‘Fake news’ has had its 15 minutes of fame,” she wrote in a column. “Let’s put this tainted term out of its misery.”

Although Sullivan agrees that the media must deal with problems like mistakes, disinformation and conspiracies, she wrote that “putting them all in a blender and slapping on a fuzzy name doesn’t move us forward.”

Before joining The Washington Post, Sullivan was the fifth public editor of The New York Times, and the first woman to hold that job. She was also the first woman to be top editor and managing editor of the Buffalo News, her hometown paper. She began there as a summer intern and went on to become a distinguished reporter and columnist before running the paper.

Charles L. Overby, chairman of the Overby Center and a long-time newspaper executive, joined Sullivan for the conversation. He is also the former chairman and CEO of the Freedom Forum, Newseum and Diversity Institute.

In addition, Greg Brock, a senior fellow at the Overby Center joined Sullivan, with whom he worked at The New York Times. Brock was an editor for 20 years at The Times before retiring in 2017. In his final role as senior editor for standards, he worked closely with Sullivan during her time as public editor.

A conversation about “fake news” would have been impossible to have without taking into account President Trump’s use of the term, which Sullivan noted in a column in February he has used at least 400 times since becoming president. Wrote Sullivan: “It’s as simple as this: Trump doesn’t believe that the news about him is fake. No matter how many times he says it. He merely objects to the fact that it doesn’t reflect well on him.”

The program was the fourth in the Overby Center’s schedule for the spring. It was free and open to the public, like all of the center’s events.

Covering politics in the Trump era: New York Times correspondent Jonathan Martin speaks at UM

Posted on: October 20th, 2017 by cjoyce

New York Times national correspondent, Jonathan Martin, visited students in an advanced reporting class at the Meek School of Journalism and New Media Monday, Oct. 23, offering advice and sharing details about his path to becoming one of the nation’s leading political reporters.

For the past four and half years, Martin has crossed the country to cover campaigns, elections and the larger political trends behind them. Prior to joining the Washington bureau of The Times, he worked as a senior writer for Politico, and has also been published in The New Republic, National Journal, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal.

New York Times national political correspondent Jonathan Martin joins a Meek School advanced reporting class Monday, Oct. 23.

Following a weekend touring the town of Oxford with his family and taking in the Ole Miss vs. LSU pre-game festivities in the Grove, Martin stayed in town an extra day to speak with students from the Meek School and the Trent Lott Leadership Institute.

Martin said some of his favorite parts of the job are traveling to places all over the country to write stories. He explained how his job works around the presidential cycle and that he is much busier “in the even years.”

“I kind of look at [this job] in two ways,” he said. “One, I’ve got campaigns and elections. Those have a start, a middle, and an end. It’s pretty straightforward: somebody wins, somebody loses…The other thing I do, which I think is so much more challenging, also it’s more enriching, is sort of looking at what’s happening in the country with the lens of our politics and how that’s informing what’s going on.”

Martin said covering national politics has become particularly complex in the past few years, as both the Democratic and Republican parties have faced challenges from within. He spoke about his experience working with the Trump administration, and said President Trump had come after him personally two to three times throughout the campaign.

Most recently, President Trump accused Martin of setting Tennessee Senator Bob Corker up by taping him without his awareness and capturing him saying, among other things, that Trump was recklessly tempting “World War III.”  The Times later published the audio tape in which Corker could be heard asking to be recorded. 

Martin also talked about how The Times correspondents respond to the President’s social media. He said The Times reporters have learned to discern whether: “This is an extraordinary moment in American history vs. He’s blowing off steam on Twitter once again; let’s see what’s actually happening.”

Offering some insider insight into The Times’ new policy on social media, which prohibits journalists from expressing partisan opinions, political views, or candidate endorsements, Martin said, although there has been a little pushback, most people support the new policy. He personally believes it offers useful guidance, and ultimately encourages people to think twice before they post.

Offering advice to anyone who wants to pursue a career in journalism, Martin said good reporting requires cultivating reliable sources: “It’s not complicated. Treat people like you want to be treated. Don’t always call them when you need something. And over-report…make more phone calls than you think you need. It’s easier to get things done working ahead, and your story (is)New going to be better for it.”

Article written by Savannah Smith