News Over Noise Penn State News Literacy Initiative, Matt Jordan, Leah Dajches

When it comes to election coverage, horse race journalism has become the norm. The focus has shifted from policies to polling data, leaving a void where citizens should be able to find meaningful information about the future of their democracy. But some news outlets are pushing back. Hosts Leah Dajches and Matt Jordan talk with news editors Elizabeth Estrada and Scott Blanchard about an approach to reporting that focuses on issues instead of candidates.

AI has been in the news a lot lately. But what happens when AI starts making the news? Generative AI–the type of artificial intelligence that pulls from existing data to create new content–presents a significant challenge to journalism. It can enable misinformation to spread like wildfire. How can the average consumer tell what’s real and what’s not? Hosts Leah Dajches and Matt Jordan find out by talking with Jack Brewster from NewsGuard, an organization that provides transparent tools to counter misinformation.

In 2014, the podcast Serial debuted, sparking a fascination with long-form reporting that continues to this day. Virtually every major news outlet has a podcast as part of their brand, some have multiple series, each dedicated to a different beat. What is it about this medium that captures our attention? Can this be a place where investigative journalism could find a viable outlet? Hosts Leah Dajches and Matt Jourdan find out by talking with researcher, journalist, and artist Dr. Chenjerai Kumanyika.

Although the US constitution guarantees the right to a free press, that right does not extend to indigenous nations, who have the sovereignty to make their own laws and constitutions. The documentary Bad Press explores what happens when the Muscogee Creek Nation faces a threat to its free press. Hosts Leah Dajches and Matt Jordan talk with director Rebecca Landsberry-Baker and Angel Ellis, one of the journalists featured in the film.

Climate change was once a bipartisan issue…until it wasn’t. What happened? To find out, hosts Leah Dajches and Matt Jordan talk with Geoff Dembicki, an investigative climate journalist about how fossil fuel companies used the public media system to sew skepticism and cynicism about climate change.

Newsroom leadership can make a big difference in what stories are told and how they're covered, and whose voices are elevated. So, what happens when the makeup of those positions is out of alignment with the demographics of the population? On the next episode of News Over Noise, hosts Leah Dajches and Matt Jordan talk with Emily Ramshaw, the CEO and co-founder of The 19th* about what news looks like when it's reported by the nation’s first independent nonprofit newsroom at the intersection of gender, politics and policy.