21 Types of Political Spin You Should Know

Political spin and how journalists can spot it, from someone who’s worked both sides. Reporters know about “dog-whistling,” but what about “mediated authenticity,” controlling reporters with a “drip” or “the dead cat bounce”?
by Anne Godlasky, National Press Foundation
Politicians employ a number of spin tactics to try to control the narrative about themselves and their policies, Caroline Fisher, both a former journalist and a former “spin doctor,” told Paul Miller fellows March 7.
“In the social media era, politicians have regained a lot of control. They don’t need you like they used to, they can publish themselves to their own audiences,” said Fisher, a professor at the News & Media Research Centre at the University of Canberra, Australia. “That has completely influenced the spin tactics that they use.” For instance, social media makes it impossible for journalists to fact-check politicians’ statements before they reach a mass audience. Now, “they put the claim out there, it’s very hard to scrutinize it. The horse has vaulted, your job is catch up.”
Fisher and other researchers call an intentional lie that is designed to go viral on social media, “strategic lying.”
“It’s spread through social media. It’s amplified by the mainstream media, it keeps it alive. It’s very hard to scrutinize, very hard to debunk. I mean, the fact-checking really isn’t very effective, and so it just keeps spreading. And the repetition through rebuttal just keeps reinforcing the claim in people’s minds,” Fisher said, citing the false “birther” movement against President Barack Obama as an example. “The media is wedged on this,” Fisher said, because journalists are duty-bound to correct the false information, especially for the dwindling middle ground. (See USA Today Bureau Chief Susan Page’s advice to journalists for combating this with a “truth sandwich.”)
In addition to strategic lying, Fisher broke down another 20 types of spin politicians may use.
Speaker: Caroline Fisher, Deputy Director of the News and Media Research Centre; Associate Professor of Journalism, University of Canberra
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[@Fish-please]

That's a lot of talking without saying much of anything...Typical