AP Story on Media Bashing Includes Comments from Prof. Jeff McCall '76

July 19, 2018

Attacks on news media outlets by President Trump and Fox News commentators are the subject of an Associated Press story this afternoon that quotes a DePauw faculty member.

"During his campaign and since, Trump has been able to galvanize voters who consider the media part of the establishment that they resent, said Jeff McCall, a communications professor at DePauw University," writes David Bauder.

"For the people who don't like the media to start with, they were glad to see that," Dr. McCall tells AP. "And these are the people who are in the audience watching Fox in prime time."

Bauder adds, "Fox's ratings indicate they know what works with their audience, (McCall) said."

ARW09 1514 RF Access the article, which is appearing at a number of media outlet websites, at the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Jeffrey M. McCall is a 1976 graduate of DePauw, where he was a Rector Scholar and speech (communication) major and worked on student radio station WGRE, which he now serves as faculty adviser. McCall earned a master's degree from the University of Illinois and a Ph.D. from the University of Missouri. He joined the DePauw faculty in 1985 and authored Viewer Discretion Advised: Taking Control of Mass Media Influences.

Regularly cited in reports on media matters, Professor McCall authored an op-ed column this week for The Hill and was quoted earlier this week in a Washington Post story on President Trump's relationship with Fox News. He was also cited recently in an Associated Press report previewing President Donald Trump's announcement of his nominee to replace retiring U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy.