Darren Bailey has announced another run for governor of Illinois. The downstate farmer easily won the Republican primary in 2022, but went on to lose to Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker by 13 points.

Bailey’s quick rise raises a question: How did a relatively obscure state lawmaker from rural Illinois end up with his party’s nomination? A new book argues the mainstream media bears much of the responsibility for giving Bailey the platform from which to launch his campaign. It’s called, “Amplifying Extremism: Small Town Politicians, Media Storms, and American Journalism.” We’ll talk about it with co-author and communications professor Nik Usher.

The 2016 presidential election results defied polling and pundits alike.  As a result, news organizations have been discussing how they can better cover elections going forward. NPR's Sarah McCammon covered the Donald Trump campaign, and spoke with Brian Moline about lessons reporters can learn from the campaign.

Friday night, President Trump took to Twitter to deliver one of his favorite insults to journalists: "The FAKE NEWS media (failing @nytimes, @NBCNews, @ABC, @CBS, @CNN) is not my enemy, it is the enemy of the American People!" he wrote.

There's an active debate inside newsrooms, and particularly within the NPR newsroom, about how to characterize the statements of President Trump when they are at odds with evidence to the contrary.

As we all know, Donald Trump's tweets have become a potent force in our new era. On the one hand, a single tweet can cripple opponents, activate supporters, move markets, and subsume the news cycle. On the other, they're a window into Trump's wee-hours, unfiltered id.