What's Wrong with Trending News?

Why is Journalism Important?

It Matters a Lot Really

NPR reported yesterday there are problems with having algorithms select news content for you. You may recall that Face Book fired its news curators after charges that the curators were biased toward liberal views. Congress got upset. Remember that congress is run by Republicans and they didn't like reports from The Times, The Post and the BBC.  An algorithm is now selecting stories. Instead of real news...something else is up there.

NPR's Aarti Shahani says about a million viewers clicked on a story from a dubious news source that claimed former Fox Commentator Megyn Kelly is a supporter of Hilary Clinton, and that is the reason she got fired by Fox. The story is false, but hundreds of thousands of people clicked on the story and believed it.

Part of the problem is ours. We seek and have friends that think like us and generally agree with our point of view. Social media enforces our opinions by selecting posts for us through algorithms that we 'like' further reinforcing our point of view. 

Trending is not Journalism. Accuracy and fairness in the news are extremely important. Otherwise we will be unable to ferret out the truth. Political candidates will often stretch the truth or omit context. Real  journalist do their job when they dig deeper.

Recently Donald Trump, in an effort to attract black voters, quoted unemployment figures for minority youth that were not even close to accurate. His devout followers believe him. They share his assertions on line with like minded people further cementing their belief in false information.

Trump's numbers are just plain wrong. Of course, Trump wants the facts to fit his narrative that the US is falling apart and only he can fix it. I wanted to know more. The numbers seemed out of whack. I dug deeper.

The actual youth unemployment figures are below as published by the Washington Post.

The economy has changed and become stronger since 2012. According to Pew's research, the economy is no longer the number on issue with voters. Security and safety in the face of growing violence is. Pew says The economy still is important, just not the top concern. Here's part of report published by NPR...

In 2012:

• Jobs. The unemployment rate was a painful 8.1 percent in August, 2012. Many voters feared that as the Affordable Care Act phased in, the job market would get even worse.
• Gas prices. The average price of gas in August, 2012, was $3.69 a gallon, the second highest average on record.
• Federal deficit. As the fiscal year was wrapping up, the annual deficit was $1.1 trillion, or 6.7 percent of GDP.

Since then, a lot has changed in those three areas. Here's how things look...

In 2016:

• Jobs. The unemployment rate has plunged to 4.9 percent.
• Gas prices. Gas prices have tumbled this year, and now average around $2.12 a gallon.
• Federal deficit. For fiscal 2016, the deficit will be $590 billion, or 3.2 percent of GDP.

As the report points out, serious issues remain, not the least of which is the growing income inequality. If you want to know more about the growing anger over income inequality, look at the success of the Trump and Sanders campaigns. And, once you go there, dig deeper to discover the reasons behind the disparity and what might be done to solve this issue.

A serious commitment to finding the truth leads an informed electorate. Search for it. Use it. Support it.

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Let Us Know What You're Thinking

In an ideal world the internet offers a free an open forum for thoughtful conversation among informed individuals. At least, that was the hope of the comments section on news sites. The continuing discussion was supposed to add value by expanding understanding of complex issues. That's not really happening. 

Be Careful What you Ask For

NPR is dropping the comments section on its website. What they found through analytics it was the same slice of audience saying the same things over and over. According to the report,

"the numbers showed an even more interesting pattern: Just 4,300 users posted about 145 comments apiece, or 67 percent of all NPR.org comments for the two months. More than half of all comments in May, June and July combined came from a mere 2,600 users. The conclusion: NPR's commenting system — which gets more expensive the more comments that are posted, and in some months has cost NPR twice what was budgeted — is serving a very, very small slice of its overall audience." 

The on-line comments were doing nothing to further the conversation. NPR says the conversation will continue on social media. You can find out more at NPR Website To Get Rid Of Comments

There used to be this debate about the significance of calls and letters in response to programming. I attended a panel on the subject at the Public Radio Conference (PRC) in the mid 80's These programming "experts" were on the panel and asserting that each call was worth five listeners and each letter was worth ten. I wondered where they got this metric. It turns out they just made it up. Each caller and letter writer represented them self and nobody else. The comments were personal opinion. They did not represent a larger trend.

This knowledge helped sustain me through a major programming shift at one of the stations I worked for. When we made the shift to news and information, we got 4,000 complaints from listeners and members. Some at the station saw this as significant. On the surface, it would seem so. If 4,000 were moved to complain, surely that represented an much larger trend. In raw numbers the 4,000 represented about 2% of the audience at that time. I believed the 4,000 represented the opinions of the 4,000. No more.

My thought...Patience...we'll know more soon.

We did know more within a year. The audience numbers increased by 30%. We had a slight dip in membership, but the dollars given rose because the average pledge grew by 50%. Underwriting grew 500%!

A Closed Loop

It's easy too be moved off target and away from a true community service by the withering response of a few. If you know what you're doing and why you're doing it, have faith in your decisions. Those responding may be a closed loop. The same group of people saying the same things. Instead of being inclusive...the respondents become exclusive. It's kind of like an all request music program. The same people asked for the same things week after week. There was nothing fresh or new. The concept became tired and unappealing for the majority of the audience and they eventually tuned away.

That seems to be what was happening in NPR's case.

Another Shoe Drops at KUSP

Current reports that KUSP is now off the air. Short on funds and no buyer leaves the board little choice.

There's more at Current.org.

Despite the low audience numbers and not enough listener support creating their large debt...some are mourning the loss of KUSP.

KUSP’s demise should be a wake-up call for all of us. Bradley Zeve

How KUSP changed Santa Cruz culture for good. Stephen Kessler

When KUSP asked listeners for support...they meant it. There just were not enough listeners.

Really Bad Public Radio

Remember way back when? 

We were encouraged to ditch the checkerboard schedule in public radio? There used to be quizzes about what our stations had on the air at a particular times. Many program directors had difficulty answering the question.

The next step was to run programming in strips so they would be on the same time everyday to take advantage of listening habits. It was the first step toward professional radio formatting and developing a sense of listener focus. The final step was consistency in programming over the entire schedule.

Well...I've been listening to a station that is moving away from a reliable schedule toward checkerboard programming. I guess they want to make it difficult for the listener. Or...they aren't really thinking about their listeners. Or...they love retro public radio and long for the bad old days of the 70's when public radio had few listeners and little public support.

Not having a PD or content director in place can lead to bad decisions. But then...if nobody is paying attention...if nobody is in charge...you might not be able to fix the problem before it is too late. It happens more than anybody cares to admit.

Does It Matter?

I'm afraid so. I have some apps on my phone. So do many other listeners. If I don't get what I want on the station above, I can get it elsewhere. The less time I spend with the station...the less likely I am to support it. A significant drop in listener support should be a wake up call. If management is looking in the right place, they might be able to reverse the trend. Unfortunately, with so much competition from so many platforms, the margin for error is much smaller.