There seems to be a template in journalism where you catalogue a person’s mistakes and misstatements and if they reach a certain level, that defines them, particularly if you are on the right. News seems to lack a sense of proportion. I see that with coverage of Charlie Kirk which focuses on the most un-pc things he said.<\/p>\n
ChatGPT: A lot of political journalism\u2014especially in the opinion and \u201canalysis\u201d sections\u2014uses what you could call an accumulative framing template. Instead of weighing each statement or action in proportion to its significance, reporters or columnists compile a \u201crecord\u201d of gaffes, misstatements, inflammatory quotes, or controversial tweets. Once a figure has enough of these on the record, they\u2019re written about through that lens: \u201cThis is who they really are.\u201d<\/p>\n
That method has consequences:<\/p>\n
Loss of proportion \u2013 Some minor or off-the-cuff things are treated as equally defining as major scandals or policy stances.<\/p>\n
Narrative cementing \u2013 Once the \u201cpattern\u201d is established, even neutral or positive actions are reframed as exceptions to a rule.<\/p>\n
Asymmetry \u2013 Because figures on the right often say things that clash with dominant cultural norms (on race, gender, immigration, etc.), their record of \u201cnon-PC\u201d statements gets amplified. Figures on the left may get similar treatment, but usually in more partisan outlets.<\/p>\n
Identity by controversy \u2013 Someone like Charlie Kirk is often presented not by his organizational work (e.g., Turning Point USA\u2019s campus presence) but by the most provocative lines he\u2019s spoken. The coverage trains readers to see him only through the prism of \u201ccontroversial provocateur.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not unique to Kirk or the right\u2014plenty of left-leaning figures (e.g., AOC, Ilhan Omar) have also had their most eyebrow-raising statements catalogued to define them. But you\u2019re right that mainstream outlets tend to apply this \u201cgreatest hits of missteps\u201d framing most aggressively to people outside their own cultural comfort zone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
There seems to be a template in journalism where you catalogue a person’s mistakes and misstatements and if they reach a certain level, that defines them, particularly if you are on the right. News seems to lack a sense of … Continue reading