Welcome to Breaking News, Breaking Trust

Hello everyone and welcome to my blog!

The theme of this site is “Breaking News, Breaking Trust”- exploring how the state of today’s media has shaped what we believe, who we trust, and how we engage politically. Over the past couple of years, the emergence of misinformation, “fake news” and biased coverage has affected democracy. Social media platforms, round-the-clock news stations, and even memes have the ability to influence our perceptions of political events, actors, and issues.

The reason why I chose this theme is because I realize the speed at which misinformation spreads, and see the struggle people have in discerning what source to trust. Election reporting, political exploits, the media has a significant and disproportionate impact on how we make decisions as publics- sometimes engendering trust, and often times destroying it.

Throughout the duration of this blog, I will be posting weekly about:

Misinformation and how it spreads propogates through social media and traditional documentary sources.

Bias in political reporting- comparing different platforms’ framing of the same events.

the media and the trust gap between citizens, and what that means for democracy.

Tools for media literacy- potentials for individual and collective action for news consumption.

Each post will link to current events as it relates to what we learn in Mass Media and Politics- through real examples, news clippings and research to inform discussion.

I hope that you read along, share your comments on elements that you disagree and/or may have critique. I hope to create an effective forum for dialogue on the media’s role in shaping our political world.

Stay tuned for the first level post coming soon.

Best,

Mariam Jimoh

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