“Ideas Arena: The Future of News,” The Economist, https://www.economist.com/ideasarena/news
This collection of articles examines current issues in journalism. Many address the increasingly partisan nature of news, pointing to Fox as right-wing and MSNBC and CNN as left-wing. “The Foxification of News” and “Transparency Is the New Objectivity,” along with several similar articles, claim that, having given up on getting objective news, viewers now care more about transparency than objectivity. The writers point to increasing ratings for Fox News and decreasing ratings for CNN as a sign that viewers have given up on objective journalism, having realized that journalism is a for-profit industry led by elites who use reporting to advance specific political agendas. In the absence of objectivity, viewers are choosing the transparency Fox News offers by acknowledging its right-leaning political stance over the claims of objectivity that hide MSNBC and CNN's left-leaning political agenda. These biases are acknowledged by the graph updated (as of early 2022) and circulated regularly (see above), which places news organizations on a spectrum of political bias and currency. A simplified version of that chart appears above for reference. The organizations’ transparency—or lack thereof—is evident in how headlines are crafted and details are emphasized or omitted in coverage of the same events.
One of the most interesting and potentially useful elements of the series is a handful of articles and surveys that ask whether journalism requires more regulation. This could make for interesting in-class discussions and writing assignments to teach civic engagement, information literacy, narrative analysis, critical reading, and critical thinking. Those articles are summarized and reviewed individually within this site.