OVERLOAD OVERLOAD Finding the Truth in Today’s Deluge of News Bob Schieffer with H. Andrew Schwartz ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD Lanham • Boulder • New York • London Published by Rowman & Littlefield A wholly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc. 4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706 www.rowman.com Unit A, Whitacre Mews, 26-34 Stannary Street, London SE11 4AB Distributed by NATIONAL BOOK NETWORK Copyright © 2017 by Center for Strategic & International Studies All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Schieffer, Bob author. | Schwartz, H. Andrew author. Title: Overload : finding the truth in today’s deluge of news / Bob Schieffer with H. Andrew Schwartz. Description: Lanham : Rowman & Littlefield, 2017. | Includes index. Identifiers: LCCN 2017021959 (print) | LCCN 2017034151 (ebook) | ISBN 9781538107225 (Electronic) | ISBN 9781538107218 (cloth : alk. paper) Subjects: LCSH: Journalism--Political aspects—United States—History—21st century. | Mass media—Political aspects—United States—History—21st century. | Press and politics—United States. Classification: LCC PN4888.P6 (ebook) | LCC PN4888.P6 S35 2017 (print) | DDC 070.4/49320973—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017021959 The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992. Printed in the United States of America The scarcest resource in journalism now is attention span. We used to live in a world governed by the laws of physics, time and space—time on the air, space in a newspaper—were our key constraints. The really controlling force in the world right now is how long can you keep your audience, your followers, consuming the journalism you create. —Michael Oreskes, NPR Contents Foreword Part I How We Got from There to Here 1. Are We Getting the Right Stuff? 2. The Challenge of Campaign 2016: How Do You Solve a Problem Like the Donald? 3. The Numbers Guys: What the Pollsters Missed 4 And That’s the Way It Is, er, Was: Newspapers, Gatekeepers, and a More Orderly Time 5. And Here’s the Way We Are: New Neighbors in the News Neighborhood 6. Fake News: A Clear and Present Danger Part II The Future Has Arrived 7. Walt Mossberg: Bridging the Gap 8. The Washington Post: New Culture, New Ways 9. The New York Times: Doing What They Do Best (but Faster) 10. The Wall Street Journal: Separating Church and State 11. The Texas Tribune: Filling a Texas-Size Void 12. Island in the Stream: CBS News Goes Digital 13. Andy Lack: Around the World and Back for More 14. The Cable Guy(s) 15. The Root: Straight Talk and a Little Shade 16. The Year of Living Righteously: NPR Gets Back to Basics 17. Podcast News: The Rebirth of Cool 18. Newsletters: So Old They’re New 19. Stephen Colbert: The Case of the Stolen Gig 20. Flying Solo Sooner: Training Reporters for the New Era Part III Final Thoughts 21. 2016: Reflections on the Year That Was Afterword Acknowledgments About the Authors and Contributors About the Center for Strategic & International Studies Foreword NOT SINCE THE NIXON ADMINISTRATION when Spiro Agnew called them “nattering nabobs of negativity” have reporters seen their integrity challenged with such reckless ferocity as during the first weeks of the Trump administration. From his White House podium, the new president regularly called them “dishonest,” purveyors of “fake news,” and finally “enemy of the American people.” His senior advisor Stephen K. Bannon called them “the opposition party” and told them to shut up. Although it never stooped to such name-calling, the Clinton campaign and its surrogates kept up a daily barrage of press criticism throughout the campaign. Other criticism came from beyond the campaign organizations and sometimes from within the profession. This book is not meant as a rebuttal, nor does it take exception to the right of any and all to criticize the press. That is as much a part of free speech as the right to publish. Rather, this is a series of chapters that examines journalism and those who practice it—how they see their profession, how it has been changed by new technology, and how well they believe they are carrying out their responsibility to provide Americans with the information they need to be good citizens. It is also an attempt to help those outside the profession to have a better understanding of reporters and how they go about their jobs. It is a subjective work. I have been a reporter for sixty years. I spent