Disambiguation

• The Blitz dissembles
• The ‘T’ word and the ‘I’ word
• Lessons in loathing the poor
• Fox vs the World narrative (or bored photojournalists?)
• MSNBC enters the swamp

Reflect values and beliefs of audience

• Entitlement nation (Fox)
• Regulation nation (Fox, with a bonus 3rd party ‘expert’)
• Howard Kurtz runs interference for the Pentagon (CNN)
• The in-depth post-mortem (and other spinoffs)
• the 2008 election–the main issue

Accommodate informational needs and habits

• MSNBC–The game is on: Koch Bros and GOP, two years out
• CNN:Does partisan agitation lead to partisan violence?

Distance propaganda from its source

• Trump candidacy announcement
• Howard Kurtz doubles down on source filtering (CNN)
• Fake News Videos (hook, target audience, ‘testimonial,’ ‘expert,’ lack of attribution, persuasion strategies [like appeal to fear], often ‘investigative’-looking)

Personalize / dehumanize as appropriate

• Obama SOTU speech: Rebecca and the economy
• Bush SOTU: Personalizing Iraq
• Clinton SOTU: Science and Math (we’re no. 1)
• Trump’s go-to target: Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar

Social proof

• The global warming petition (Fox)
• ‘Some people say‘ (Fox)
• Mothers against Obamacare (MSNBC)
• Trump disputes inauguration crowd estimates (unfortunately at a tribute to honor fallen CIA agents)
• Censorship and public opinion–the opposite of social proof
  • Revisiting 9/11 attacks