Media as Referee? Not Anymore; New York Times, 8/23/16

[Podcast] Michael Barbaro, New York Times; Media as Referee? Not Anymore:

"The syringe started off as a conspiracy theory about Hillary Clinton’s health posted on a fringe right-wing website. It traveled to the legitimizing megaphone of prime-time cable news. And it ended, after an agonizing journey through the new realities of the campaign media, with a single phone call that debunked its entire existence. There was no syringe.

Along the way, the syringe that wasn’t revealed everything there is to know about the truth, the media and this topsy-turvy presidential campaign. On the latest episode of The Run-Up, we explore what happened to truth in this campaign and who’s to blame for the new world of truth-shading and outright falsehoods."