TV critic says how we cover lies is the biggest media issue; Poynter writer says it's lack of resources to cover local news

Media writer Tom Jones speaks as TV critic Eric Deggans
listens Tuesday. (Poynter Institute photo by Mel Grau)

"How journalists cover lies is the most important issue in news media," the Poynter Institute headlines over a story about an event at its St. Petersburg, Fla., campus Tuesday. "More politicians are taking advantage of people’s willingness to believe based on gut rather than fact. Solutions for journalists are sparse."

The headlines were based on remarks by NPR TV critic Eric Deggans, who said “Donald Trump took that to the extremes and challenged how journalists cover someone. Typically, when someone is lying, journalists report that they’re lying and then they get embarrassed and stop doing it. That stopped happening.”

"Deggans cited the challenges to fact-based truth as the No. 1 problem that journalists face today," Poynter's Ren LaForme reports. "Solutions are sparse. CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins attempted to fact-check Trump live during the network’s infamous town hall in May, only for Trump to steamroll her, leveraging the audience of supporters for momentum. 

“People think it’s a magic act, where you can fact-check someone the minute they say something,” but that’s not true, Deggans said.

LaForme writes, "As the 2024 presidential election cycle ramps up, news media aren’t doing themselves any favors by covering politics in the same broken ways they have in the past, Poynter senior media writer and event co-speaker Tom Jones said. . . . From his point of view, dwindling resources in local news is the most pernicious issue in news media."

“What’s going on at school boards? City councils? There are fewer and fewer reporters to cover them,” Jones said. “We’re trying to do the same things with a lot less. … These are hard-working journalists, but we can’t cover everything. And it affects each and every one of us.”