What’s Wrong With Crystal-Ball Journalism?
INTERVIEW ON THE PRICE OF BUSINESS SHOW, MEDIA PARTNER OF THIS SITE.
Recently Kevin Price, Host of the nationally syndicated Price of Business Show, interviewed David Dozier who is a leading media authority.
News organizations do crystal-ball reporting or predictive journalism when they report something that may—or may not—happen in the future. Examples of crystal-ball reporting include seemingly endless predictions about the 2024 U.S. elections. In truth, nobody knows what will happen in November, 2024. If journalism is the “first draft of history,” then journalists would be wise to report on what’s already happened. When reporters write about future outcomes that never occur, they damage the sagging credibility of news organizations. Polling goes hand-in-hand with crystal-ball reporting. In David W. Moore’s book, The Opinion Makers, this Gallup insider details how media organization push pollsters to generate flashy headlines about future outcomes that don’t necessarily happen and “majority” opinions that don’t actually exist. At best, polls provide an imperfect snapshot of “opinions” in the moment. Pollsters can actually create faux majority opinion by asking questions of low-information respondents. As Moore details, such creation of faux “public opinion” can have disastrous outcomes, such as the false perception that most Americans favored the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Journalism would be well-served if reporters left predicting the future to psychics (DavidDozierBooks.com).
The Price of Business is one of the longest running shows of its kind in the country and is in markets coast to coast. The Host, Kevin Price, is a multi-award winning author, broadcast journalist, and syndicated columnist. He is Editor at Large for this site. Learn more about the show and its digital partners at www.PriceofBusiness.com.
David Dozier (DavidDozierBooks.com) is the author of the novel, The California Killing Field. He is a professor emeritus in the School of Journalism & Media Studies, San Diego State University. He’s an internationally recognized expert on communication management and public relations.
According to USA Business Radio, “David Dozier is a scholar of public relations and communication management, professor emeritus in the School of Journalism & Media Studies at San Diego State University, and author of The California Killing Field. He says fake news has become a phenomenon, political campaigns use the tactic to influence voters, and that it’s perplexing that a conspiracy-based group such as QAnon has gained national attention.
Kevin Price and David Dozier are doing a multi-part series on this important topic that will be on many different platforms, as well as on radio. Keep an eye out for the series throughout the Price of Business Digital Network and USA Business Radio.
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LISTEN TO THE INTERVIEW IN ITS ENTIRETY HERE
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