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New @mmfa study: Major media outlets fail to debunk President Trump's false or misleading statements in their tweets 65% of the time, amplifying his misinformation an average of 19 times per day. mediamatters.org/blog/2019/05/0…
@mmfa Journalists including @Sulliview @ThePlumLineGS @ddale8 @DKThomp have explained why it's a problem for media to spread Trump's falsehoods in headlines and tweets without debunking them. But there was little data on the scope of the problem before now.
From an initial universe of 50,000+ tweets from 32 Twitter feeds operated by major national news outlets, we identified 2,000+ tweets that referenced Trump comments. 30% of those tweets referenced false claims, but roughly two-thirds of the time, the outlets didn't note that.
The extent to which outlets’ Twitter feeds passively spread Trump’s misinformation depended on the platform in which Trump made his comments. 
Outlets performed better covering the State of the Union than they did at any other time, suggesting that when they prioritize fact-checking they can avoid passing on Trump's misinformation.
Why does this matter? Studies show 60% of Americans don't read past the headlines, and the same proportion share tweets without clicking through. Media practices should reflect the way people consume news.
I discussed our study with @CJR, you can read more about it here: cjr.org/covering_trump…
As I pointed out in the interview, we at @mmfa have been urging journalists to stop privileging politicians' lies for more than a decade. Make sure to read @jamisonfoser from 2008: mediamatters.org/research/2008/…
And @ParkerMolloy from last year: mediamatters.org/blog/2018/11/0…
And @ParkerMolloy from last year: mediamatters.org/blog/2018/11/0…
