The Truth Is Paywalled but the Lies Are Free • Hacker News Board

Re: The Truth Is Paywalled but the Lies Are Free

#401

Post by m0zg » Mon, Aug 03, 2020, 7:02 PM UTC

javajosh wrote: post #213

andrewtbham wrote: post #173

> it is not that the facts it reports tend to be inaccurate yes it is. I really lost faith in nyt when they ran article about running out of running out of charge in a Tesla. When they were caught red handed lying they still wouldn't admit to it. Their response was: "Problems With Precision and Judgment, but Not Integrity, in Tesla Test" They just don't get it. People are sick of their BS and they need to just comp t…

It's a mistake to judge an organization on one, or even a handful of incidents. There should be a pattern of inaccuracy and bias before you "cancel" a news source. This is one of the unsung problems of the modern world, the growing impossibility of keeping an accurate "reputation" in your brain. Virtually everyone and everything has been accused of being evil, in general, or specifically. It's no longer good enough t…

Bill Clinton was allegedly a guest on Epstein's island according to recently unsealed court documents. Try to find any mention of this in recent NYT reporting:

https://www.google.com/search?q=clinton+epstein+maxwell&tbm=...

Is this "The Truth"?

Re: The Truth Is Paywalled but the Lies Are Free

#402

Post by UhDev » Mon, Aug 03, 2020, 7:02 PM UTC

symlinkk wrote: post #371

JMTQp8lwXL wrote: post #268

Please get a library card if you wish to read quality (often paywalled) news sources for free. Your tax dollars (going to your city/county) are already paying for access. Best of all, it's digital. Your library card number will grant you huge access to all of this digitally and in near real time (e.g., the databases are updated daily).

Are you referring to digital scans or what? My library card doesn’t allow me to access nytimes.com.

If your library offers access it will be through a portal, you won't use your library credentials to authenticate with NYT.

Re: The Truth Is Paywalled but the Lies Are Free

#403

Post by mips_avatar » Mon, Aug 03, 2020, 7:03 PM UTC

Reminds me a lot of google's effort to create high-quality scans of every book ever written. They got pretty far before the publishers stopped them. They now sit on a sizeable percentage of all books published, locked away in their servers where nobody can access it.

Re: The Truth Is Paywalled but the Lies Are Free

#404

Post by jimkleiber » Mon, Aug 03, 2020, 7:03 PM UTC

gonehome wrote: post #392

jimkleiber wrote: post #360

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I first read it, I didn't get the impression that the author was implying PG said FB stock wouldn't go up. In reading the PG post, it seems that a conversation with prominent investor, who was confident that FB's bad stock performance would hurt the IPO, led PG to write a post exploring how that may happen. In re-reading the NYT blurb, I still don't see it as the author saying PG said the FB stock would not go u…

> "By you saying, "they're actively misleading," I'm assuming you're attributing malice to the NYT author." Not so much malice, but having what they want to say predetermined and looking to frame support in what they already believe to be true. (Rather than trying to find out what's true and reporting that). Basically the writer believes X to be true or wants to write a story that X is true and digs through things to…

Ahhh, yes, I think that may have been the case. I still think if the author just put "might" instead of "would," then the article would be quite accurate.

However, to your point, I find myself doing that sometimes without even realizing it and I wonder what drives it internally and externally.

Re: The Truth Is Paywalled but the Lies Are Free

#405

Post by RandallBrown » Mon, Aug 03, 2020, 7:05 PM UTC

symlinkk wrote: post #371

JMTQp8lwXL wrote: post #268

Please get a library card if you wish to read quality (often paywalled) news sources for free. Your tax dollars (going to your city/county) are already paying for access. Best of all, it's digital. Your library card number will grant you huge access to all of this digitally and in near real time (e.g., the databases are updated daily).

Are you referring to digital scans or what? My library card doesn’t allow me to access nytimes.com.

It might (depending on your library) https://www.lapl.org/new-york-times-digital

Re: The Truth Is Paywalled but the Lies Are Free

#406

Post by cbar_tx » Mon, Aug 03, 2020, 7:06 PM UTC

more like "The Left Charges for it's Fantastic Narrative"

Re: The Truth Is Paywalled but the Lies Are Free

#407

Post by mkolodny » Mon, Aug 03, 2020, 7:07 PM UTC

hinkley wrote: post #341

I wonder sometimes if all of those people who sat around dreaming about what the Web would do for the world ever get together and ask what the hell happened. What's worst is that a lot of these conversations happened when memory of Eternal September were still relatively fresh. For my own part, I was maybe 22, new to the industry, and had not yet begun to appreciate Carlin's, "Scratch any cynic and you will find a di…

The fact that I can read your comment suggests that the Web has done something pretty incredible - it has made it possible for anyone with internet access to share information with billions of people.

I think that this article is written from an idealist perspective. It's asking: How can we take this accessible Web of journalistic information, and make access to it free, while still providing professional journalists with an income?

The author's answer to that question is: have the government pay journalists rather than citizens. One way to make that happen could be to centralize journalism in a non-profit, Spotify-esque app, and have donors and government sponsor the app.

Another similar, less ideal option is to create this centralized, Spotify-esque app for journalism, and then paywall the app. Since paying a monthly fee for dozens of individually paywalled newspapers/websites seems unreasonable to me, I don't pay for any of them. Yet, I do pay for Spotify. And if I could pay a monthly fee to read all journalism on the web, I probably would.

Re: The Truth Is Paywalled but the Lies Are Free

#408

Post by clarkmoody » Mon, Aug 03, 2020, 7:08 PM UTC

tossthere wrote: post #379

GenerocUsername wrote: post #298

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The more you know about a subject, the more false reporting you will find related to that subject. Remember that next time you read news about something you are not already well versed in.

The first time the media reported on an event and subject where I knew more than them, I was in my late 20s (I think you have to be at least that old to know a lot about something ... could explain why younger people seem to have such blind faith in popular narratives). I was absolutely shocked by the basic inaccuracy and skewed writing in literally every single story that was written, every single video that was rec…

As someone involved in the Bitcoin space, I can relate.

Highly-technical subject + lots of nuance + financial journalism = absolute disaster for the truth.

Re: The Truth Is Paywalled but the Lies Are Free

#409

Post by cbar_tx » Mon, Aug 03, 2020, 7:08 PM UTC

hugh-avherald wrote: post #68

rawfan wrote: post #22

I just want Netflix for journalism. I don't want a super expensive sub to a dozen papers. I want one subscription, they all should be included (maybe offer different tiers if you are an arse) and it shouldn't be more than $20/month. Go.

The problem with a model like Netflix for journalism is that it will take the same path Netflix did.

you mean get into the fictional entertainment business?

Re: The Truth Is Paywalled but the Lies Are Free

#410

Post by jimkleiber » Mon, Aug 03, 2020, 7:09 PM UTC

sukilot wrote: post #393

jimkleiber wrote: post #360

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I first read it, I didn't get the impression that the author was implying PG said FB stock wouldn't go up. In reading the PG post, it seems that a conversation with prominent investor, who was confident that FB's bad stock performance would hurt the IPO, led PG to write a post exploring how that may happen. In re-reading the NYT blurb, I still don't see it as the author saying PG said the FB stock would not go u…

The NYT was bullshiting, writing an article with no thesis and no meaningful evidence to push a vague opinion, which is pretty normal for them. PG was mad that they replaced his thoughtful letter with a junk article and pretended there was a connection.

I thought the thesis was that some prominent startup investors have proclaimed the end of startup investing throughout history and often it hasnt happened, so how does one know it will happen this time?

Again, I can understand why PG would be upset they misrepresented his words, but I admittedly am confused you don't seem to think that other investors, including the one PG referenced in his post, have boldly proclaimed that the bubble will burst and then it doesn't. I think if I were PG I'd feel frustrated the author lumped me into the category of bold predictors, especially if I had written such a qualified essay.