Pursuing veritas in a ‘post-truth’ era
For the beleaguered news media, it can seem the worst of times, and sometimes the best of them. The tumultuous 2016 election set record television ratings and spurred subscription jumps for many news organizations. But the election also deepened the disdain and skepticism that many Americans feel toward the mainstream media, with President Trump leading almost-daily attacks on the credibility of news outlets and individual reporters who don’t cover him to his satisfaction. Faced with a Washington administration intent on trying to script news coverage to its aims, and a growing audience dismissive of stories that contradict its views, top reporters and editors from major news outlets, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, CNN, and The Boston Globe, convened at Harvard on Tuesday afternoon to discuss the lessons learned, the challenges ahead, and the fresh opportunities that may accompany “the post-truth era.” In convening the event, alongside the Shorenstein Center...