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Politics, trust & the media in the age of misinformation
Ahead of the 2024 US presidential election, GZERO World takes a hard look at the media’s impact on politics and democracy itself.
In 1964, philosopher Marshall McLuhan coined the phrase, “the media is the message.” He meant that the way content is delivered can be more powerful than the content itself.
A lot’s changed since 1964, but the problem has only gotten worse. The ‘80s and ‘90s saw the rise of a 24/7 cable news cycle and hyper-partisan radio talk shows. The 21st century has thus far given us podcasts, political influencers, and the endless doom scroll of social media. And now, we’re entering the age of generative AI.
All of this has created the perfect ecosystem for information––and disinformation––overload. But there might be a bright spot at the end of the tunnel. In the world where it’s getting harder and harder to tell fact from fiction, news organizations, credible journalists, and fact-checkers will be more important than ever.
How has media changed our idea of truth and reality? And how can we better prepare ourselves for the onslaught of misinformation and disinformation that is almost certain to spread online as the 2024 US presidential election gets closer? Can trust in American’s so-called “Fourth Estate” be restored?
Ian Bremmer sits down with journalist and former CNN host Brian Stelter and Nicole Hemmer, a Vanderbilt University professor specializing in political history and partisan media.
Watch GZERO World with Ian Bremmer at gzeromedia.com/gzeroworld or on US public television. Check local listings.
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Podcast: The past, present and future of political media
Listen: Trust in journalism is rapidly eroding. At the same time, partisanship is skyrocketing.
Ahead of the 2024 US election, the GZERO World Podcast takes a look at the media’s role in politics and democracy itself. What lessons has the press learned since 2020 and how will the first election in the age of generative AI play out? Donald Trump’s presidency and role in contesting the 2020 election was a unique challenge for journalists. How do you reliably cover the US president and leader of the free world while he regularly repeats misinformation? And how to you challenge a politician whose entire brand is premised on the idea he’s being attacked by the press?
There's also the issue of covering some of the more extreme elements in both political parties. Politicians like Marjorie Taylor Greene and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. traffic in conspiracy theories and often, outright lies. But they have a growing constellation of media platforms, from NewsMax to Joe Rogan, to reach an increasingly fragmented audience distrustful of mainstream news sources.
What lessons did journalists and the media take away from 2016 and 2020? And how will generative AI tools like ChatGPT and Midjourney impact the upcoming US presidential election in 2024?
Media experts Brian Stelter, journalist and former CNN anchor, as well as Nicole Hemmer, a political historian specializing in partisan media break down the current media landscape in a conversation with host Ian Bremmer.
Subscribe to the GZERO World Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or your preferred podcast platform, to receive new episodes as soon as they're published.