Is the free press free? Using truth claims to examine fake news
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to discuss the relationship dynamics between the executive office and the free press; and how these dynamics have been altered under the Trump administration. Donald Trump has questioned the validity and accuracy of claims, even going as far to call some organizations (CNN and The New York Times) “fake news.” The authors discuss the historically contentious relationship between the executive office and the free press as well as the ways in which Donald Trump has altered the dynamics of this relationship.
Design/methodology/approach
In this paper, the authors explore the role of the free press in American politics. The authors designed two classroom-ready activities by drawing on the best teaching practices advocated for in the C3 Framework. To elaborate, both activities allow students to research and analyze arguments made by Donald Trump and challenge false claims. This enables students to engage in the four dimensions of the Inquiry Arc in the C3 Framework.
Findings
The authors provide two activities that can be utilized in the high school social studies classroom to enable students to dissect American politicians’ messages. These two activities can be adapted and utilized to enable students to examine political candidate’s messages. By completing the steps of these two activities, students are better prepared to be critical consumers of political media messages and take civic action to challenge false claims.
Originality/value
Donald Trump has attempted to undermine the free press in the USA. He objects to stories that do not paint his administration in a positive light. This manuscript uses the media literacy position statement from NCSS and Ochoa-Becker’s framework for truth claims to explore Trump’s statements and claims.
Keywords
Citation
Clabough, J. and Pearcy, M. (2018), "Is the free press free? Using truth claims to examine fake news", Social Studies Research and Practice, Vol. 13 No. 3, pp. 357-368. https://doi.org/10.1108/SSRP-04-2017-0018
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited