An “Assumption of Bad Faith”: Using Fake News Rhetoric to Create Journalistic Teaching Moments

ABSTRACT

Given rising levels of hostility and distrust toward the press, this project explores how journalists negotiate, adapt, and work to transform this social climate to both get what they need for their stories and (ideally) improve relations with community members. Interviews with 38 journalists who frequently encounter anti-media rhetoric from sources revealed strategies for mitigating distrust and hostility. Although some strategies were counterproductive, others were transformative, as journalists turned conversations with community members into teaching moments. By doing this, journalists can educate the public about the purpose of the press and journalists’ routines, thereby spreading news literacy knowledge with sources and members of their community.

KEYWORDS:

• Fake news
• anti-media rhetoric
• hostility
• media literacy
• news literacy
• news trust

Acknowledgements

This work began as part of my dissertation project, and I’d like to thank my committee members, Drs. Fred Vultee, Stine Eckert, Rahul Mitra, and Lars Johnson for their support along the way. I’d also like to thank the two anonymous reviewers who helped greatly improve this manuscript.

Manuscript re-submitted to Journalism Practice on May 24, 2022.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).