Debunking Sarah Palin: Mainstream news coverage of ‘death panels’

Abstract

On 7 August 2009, Sarah Palin posted two words to her Facebook page that would come to define a summer of discord around health care reform. This study examines how traditional media reported on the 'death panels' claim that was immediately debunked by several fact-checking organizations. Our content analysis of over 700 newspaper and television stories shows that, to a significant degree, journalists stepped outside the bounds of procedural objectivity to label the 'death panels' claim as false, often without attribution. Many stories, however, simultaneously covered the claim in typical 'he said/she said' fashion, thus perhaps extending some legitimacy to the claim. Our study illustrates the challenges to fact-based public deliberation in the contemporary media environment, and suggests that competing practices of objectivity undercut the ability of mainstream media to help the public separate truth from fiction.

The Nature and Origins of Misperceptions: Understanding False and Unsupported Beliefs About Politics

“…Journalistic norms also play a key role in media coverage of factual controversies. For instance, so‐called “balanced” news reports that do not adequately represent the evidence in a policy or scientific debate are common and can contribute to misperceptions (e.g., Boykoff, ; Boykoff & Boykoff, ; Dixon & Clarke, ; Lawrence & Schafer, ; Malka, Krosnick, Debell, Pasek, & Schneider, ) . In other cases, the content of media coverage is not just balanced but actively misleading.…”

How Do They Debunk “Fake News”? A Cross-National Comparison of Transparency in Fact Checks

“…Moreover, journalists often do not have sufficient time for verification and factchecking due to a fast-paced publishing environment and a lack of resources (Brandtzaeg, Lüders, Spangenberg, Rath-Wiggins, & Følstad, 2016;Silverman, 2015). This insufficiency can lead to uncritically publishing incorrect statements that fuel the dissemination of hoaxes, erroneous claims, and unverified rumors (Lawrence & Schafer, 2012;Silverman, 2015). As a result, trust in traditional media outlets, already at a historical low across several countries, might be further reduced (Jones, 2004;Newman, Fletcher, Kalogeropoulos, Levy, & Nielsen, 2017;Vosoughi et al, 2018).…”

Tweeting Conventions

“…In addition, many studies have documented the rise of an interpretive style of political journalism that features a more prominent and analytical journalistic voice (Patterson 1993;Salgado & Strömbäck 2012). And "objective" reporting has often been characterized by a lack of basic fact-checking, as journalists pass some campaign claims on to voters without much scrutiny (Jamieson & Waldman 2003;Kovach & Rosenstiel 2010;Lawrence & Schafer 2012;Pingree 2011).…”