I Am Deleting the Blog • Hacker News Board

Re: I Am Deleting the Blog

#361

Post by huffmsa » Tue, Jun 23, 2020, 10:43 AM UTC

stared wrote: post #353

Uhrheber wrote: post #75

I stopped trusting reporters about 35 years ago, when I personally witnessed an occurrence, where a reporter was at the scene, and later read what he had written about it in the newspaper. It had practically nothing to do with what really happened, but was written in a way that most of their readers would most likely expect and endorse. I was still very young then, but it opened my eyes, and from then on, I mostly st…

First and foremost, I hope that the journalist gets revealed and fired. NYT is a reputable journal and shouldn't tolerate such unprofessional and potentially dangerous behavior. The person breached a few lines of ethical journalism, and for no justified reason: First, purposefully using an incorrect name (and Scott Alexander's online identity is Scott Alexander). In many other cases, even if the name is known publicl…

The NYT isn't reputable anymore. Haven't been for a while. Case in point, this article they might publish.

They fired most of their senior editors in 2017 because they were both too expensive and enforcing old school journalist standards and integrity which doesn't generate clicks like hot handed opinion pieces followed by reverse opinion pieces does.

Though mind you that senior group was one of the biggest cheerleaders for the invasion of Iraq, so take their integrity with a grain of salt.

Re: I Am Deleting the Blog

#362

Post by kaibee » Tue, Jun 23, 2020, 10:44 AM UTC

zuppy wrote: post #247

sansnomme wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A New York Times reporter was also involved in that incident. https://medium.com/@therealsexycyborg/shenzhen-tech-girl-nao...

Wow, i’ve read all her 3 long blog posts about what happened and it angers me so much. I knew Vice was shit, but I had higher expectations from NY Times, Google or Twitter. Here are the other parts: - part 2: https://medium.com/@therealsexycyborg/shenzhen-tech-girl-nao... - part 3: https://medium.com/@therealsexycyborg/shenzhen-tech-girl-nao... There was a positive outcome too, though, check out this video where she…

That is very fucked.

Re: I Am Deleting the Blog

#363

Post by simonh » Tue, Jun 23, 2020, 10:45 AM UTC

Uhrheber wrote: post #75

I stopped trusting reporters about 35 years ago, when I personally witnessed an occurrence, where a reporter was at the scene, and later read what he had written about it in the newspaper. It had practically nothing to do with what really happened, but was written in a way that most of their readers would most likely expect and endorse. I was still very young then, but it opened my eyes, and from then on, I mostly st…

News organisations pander to their audience, so I think it's really important to understand what that audience is. If you happen to be in that target audience, then of course there's a real risk you'll end up in an echo chamber that becomes increasingly far away from anything resembling a consensus reality.

I've come up with several strategies to try and minimise this. One is to read multiple sources with different target audiences. I occasionally read the Daily Mail (my mother gets it, don't judge) and the Guardian. My main source of general news is the BBC news site, but I also regularly read The Economist. From time to time I pop on to the Fox News site, partly to remind myself that the Daily Mail could actually be a lot worse. I listen to LBC in the car (A London based politics and current affairs talk radio show).

Genuine question - I'd be interested in how others approach this. Is my set of sources too skewed one way or another? Am I missing a decent balanced source, or should I add a credible source on any particular political leaning?

Re: I Am Deleting the Blog

#364

Post by norswap » Tue, Jun 23, 2020, 10:45 AM UTC

shalmanese wrote: post #61

I had no idea The Last Psychiatrist stopped writing because he got doxxed. I enjoyed his blog and was sad it stopped updating.

psst: https://hotelconcierge.tumblr.com/

Might or might not be the same guy, but it's close enough to not matter.

Re: I Am Deleting the Blog

#365

Post by dredmorbius » Tue, Jun 23, 2020, 10:46 AM UTC

barry-cotter wrote: post #157

cameldrv wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The NYT's institutional values died when A.G. Sulzberger became publisher at the beginning of 2018.

The NYT published Walter Duranty’s denials of the Ukrainian Holocaust, and other warmed over Soviet propaganda. They were full on in their support for the Iraq war. Far less has changed about them than about your knowledge of them.

Whilst true[1], that's history wholly irrelevant to the pressent story.

The Times has explored and admitted its error.[2]

________________________________

Notes:

1. Generally: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denial_of_the_Holodomor

2. One of numerous articles: "Times Should Lose Pulitzer From 30's, Consultant Says" (2003) https://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/23/us/times-should-lose-puli...

Re: I Am Deleting the Blog

#366

Post by michaelt » Tue, Jun 23, 2020, 10:47 AM UTC

Angostura wrote: post #278

I was a journalist for 20 years working in the B2B IT magazine sector in the UK. We took what we did seriously, strove for accuracy and took pride in informative reporting. There are lots of journalists like this, so I am sad to see how many people are dismissive of the work. I can understand the anger at the NYT journalist's stance here, but I suppose I would say that we only have the blog author's view at the momen…

> I can think of situations where exposing an identity would be justified.

Sure, but is this one of them?

I can think of situations where killing a guy would be justified - that doesn't mean it's justified in any other circumstance, though.

Re: I Am Deleting the Blog

#367

Post by masklinn » Tue, Jun 23, 2020, 10:48 AM UTC

dbt00 wrote: post #335

dmix wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FWIW the publisher/top editor of NYTimes changed in 2017 and Arthur Ochs Sulzberger's [1] stepped down letting his son AG Sulzberger take over [2]. This is around the time it started becoming really clickbaity and 24/7 news channel level intentionally misrepresenting or spinning stories for reactions. I believe his father took on a more old school approach to keeping the news as neutral as possible, while still havin…

I mean, the NYT during the Clinton and Bush years was hardly some golden age of journalism. Off the top of my head, there was Whitewater, Wen Ho Lee, the Jayson Blair thing, and the Judith Miller / Curveball / Iraq war stuff.

Did the NYT ever have any sort of golden age of journalism? They were publishing glowing profiles of one Adolf H. in the runup to WWII.

They've had good pieces but pretty much every publication other than tabloids got those, Playboy published a number of great interviews and articles.

Worse, assuming they did have a golden age they’re using that reputation in laundering the likes of Brett Stephens.

Re: I Am Deleting the Blog

#368

Post by cstross » Tue, Jun 23, 2020, 10:48 AM UTC

camillomiller wrote: post #326

mrweasel wrote: post #261

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I first heard this explained by John C. Dvorak and it has terrified me ever since. Originally I just believe that journalist just had a terrible understanding of IT, but when you think about it, there's no reason why it's just IT. Why would journalist have a better understanding of medicine, politics, climate, finance or any other topic covered. Basically you're left it a situation where you can only trust highly spe…

As a journalist who's a CS dropout, then later a BoA, and who works as a web dev on the side: I agree. BUT: 1) The journalist's work is sometime a soul-crushing effort to turn complex things that can't really be made simple into a readable summary. I cover Quantum tech as someone who has at least a grasp of physics: it's insanely difficult. 2) Journalists that behave like the ones you describe, are bad for the whole…

> Journalism schools are also part of the problem. They form a cohort of people who think they can do exactly that: write about anything. It's bullshit, and it does not work well for the category.

This.

100% this.

(I spent about a decade in the trenches as first a part-time then full-time tech journalist -- wrote a column for the UK Computer Shopper for several years -- and the reason CS's feature quality stayed high was because the editors recruited techies who could write and trained them in the basics of journalism, rather than hiring generalist journalists and expecting them to pick up a CS degree by osmosis.)

Re: I Am Deleting the Blog

#369

Post by aj3 » Tue, Jun 23, 2020, 10:50 AM UTC

m0zg wrote: post #216

Uhrheber wrote: post #75

I stopped trusting reporters about 35 years ago, when I personally witnessed an occurrence, where a reporter was at the scene, and later read what he had written about it in the newspaper. It had practically nothing to do with what really happened, but was written in a way that most of their readers would most likely expect and endorse. I was still very young then, but it opened my eyes, and from then on, I mostly st…

It baffles me when people trust the "news", _especially_ if they only consume news within their own little bubble. I was interviewed a couple of times on technological topics (once by a NYT journalist), and was once in the middle of events that were reported on, so I knew what actually happened. In all three cases what was printed was total clickbait horseshit that had nothing to do with reality. So if a journalist w…

You can always agree for an interview on a condition of receiving final draft before it gets published and having a say on it. Whether they agree or not depends on how many other sources they have for that story.

Re: I Am Deleting the Blog

#370

Post by hn_check » Tue, Jun 23, 2020, 10:50 AM UTC

This story provided the perfect opportunity for HN's seedy MAGA crowd to pour out of the dirt to tell us how terrible reporters are, the "MSM", etc. What a delightful set of ridiculous anecdotes and tales of personal awakening.

"The day I stopped listening to the lyin' MSM and started getting all of my bullshit from blogs, infowars and Joe Rogan." - HN

Because of a story that we know close to nothing about. By one side giving their very biased take. Because an investigative reporter literally did their job.

Note that they didn't get him to reveal his identity and then break his trust. They literally simply did what anyone could do and did a small amount of investigation, which surely anyone plying such "death threats" would do.

And of course the death threat thing is farce. No, he isn't worried about death threats. He's worried about professional and personal embarrassment.

LOL.