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The Truth Is Paywalled but the Lies Are Free

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441–450 of 503 posts

Re: The Truth Is Paywalled but the Lies Are Free

#442
post #192

> 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…

That's 7 years ago? I don't know anything about that entire story so I can't comment specifically, but the NYT publishes about 150 articles a day, so there are bound to be some stinkers over the years. It's not great, but dismissing an entire publication over it doesn't strike me as fair.

This whole thread feels like I am taking crazy pills. It seems odd that so many people are on the contrarian juice in this thread against one of the best journalism outlets in the world.

I am right there with you. There are bound to be stinkers, but on the whole the reality that the Times operates in is miles ahead and closer to the truth than most reporting out there, if not all.

Re: The Truth Is Paywalled but the Lies Are Free

#443
post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's more than just whether or not the events are true; I'll assume they are, but the commentary of "protests and riots are [..] an attempt to dismantle all of Western Civilization and upend centuries of tradition and freedom of religion" and "flag burning at the antifa/BLM gathering" most certainly is not. The problem with that last one, to be clear, is that it's trying to associate some alleged terror organisation…

I agree, but I don't consider that remarkable in news media: pretty much all events are spun and presented in some way while intentionally removing context that suggests a different interpretation. It's "technically correct" but it's not in the spirit of truth and neutral reporting. I wish journalists had higher standards, but they don't. I wish the same for consultants, but they typically recommend whatever they're…

I couldn't disagree more. "A little bit wrong" is not the same as "profoundly wrong".

Re: The Truth Is Paywalled but the Lies Are Free

#444
post #359

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't readily find this either, but the New York Times employs 1,700 journalists and publishes about 150 stories every day. I don't think treating it as a big singular monolithic entity is helpful.

And those 1700 journalists and 150 stories per day go through their much smaller editorial board before they get published. There can be costly legal ramifications if they do not have their editors carefully go over stories. Stop giving them excuses.

I'm not excusing anything; I'm just saying that a single bad article from 7 years ago from a single reporter and the newspaper not appropriately rectifying it – which is certainly a very bad thing – is not a good reason to dismiss the entire newspaper out of hand, especially not considering the scale of the NYT. Things are just not that black/white.

Re: The Truth Is Paywalled but the Lies Are Free

#445
post #357

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please propose a system whereby facts can be collected, interpreted, verified and distributed for free. If it is not free, who funds it? How do we prevent the organization funding it from perverting the facts to serve its own interest? If we cannot prevent perversion by the financing organs, then we have propaganda. These blue-sky pronouncements about truth being a public good do not move the discussion forward. "Tru…

In Europe we often have public service media, paid for by the public. Here in the Czech Republic the public service media is not perfect (what is?), but they do a very good job. (Which is also why they are under constant attacks by politicians.) Of course, this is not “free”, but it’s high-quality journalism that’s not behind a paywall.

Hungary also as a public service media. In fact, I am not certain there is any independent media still existing in Hungary. Which goes to show that public media is not always the best.

Re: The Truth Is Paywalled but the Lies Are Free

#446
post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been looking for an alternative to the NYT that has as good or better writing and reporting. Do you have any suggestions?

WSJ

NYT leans slightly left, WSJ leans slightly right, and I feel like reading both gives you a fairly balanced view on the issues of the day.

The opinion sections of each publication can get fringey, but that's just the clickbait that pays the bills - it's obvious that the rest of the articles try hard to adhere to journalistic standards.

Re: The Truth Is Paywalled but the Lies Are Free

#447
post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been looking for an alternative to the NYT that has as good or better writing and reporting. Do you have any suggestions?

WSJ

WSJ news section is pretty good, but their focus is a little narrow. The opinion pages? Just tear those out and trash them before any of the words can accidentally leak into your brain.

The space between the news side and opinion side of the WSJ is wider than the space between Fox News and Fox and Friends.

Re: The Truth Is Paywalled but the Lies Are Free

#448
The OP is a well-written, well-reasoned, thought-provoking article which I would recommend reading in full before passing judgment on it. Quoting from the first few paragraphs, which I found compelling:

> But let us also notice something: The New York Times, the New Yorker, the Washington Post, the New Republic, New York, Harper’s, the New York Review of Books, the Financial Times, and the London Times all have paywalls. Breitbart, Fox News, the Daily Wire, the Federalist, the Washington Examiner, InfoWars: free!

> You want “Portland Protesters Burn Bibles, American Flags In The Streets,” “The Moral Case Against Mask Mandates And Other COVID Restrictions,” or an article suggesting the National Institutes of Health has admitted 5G phones cause coronavirus—they’re yours.[a] You want the detailed Times reports on neo-Nazis infiltrating German institutions, the reasons contact tracing is failing in U.S. states, or the Trump administration’s undercutting of the USPS’s effectiveness—well, if you’ve clicked around the website a bit you’ll run straight into the paywall.[b]

> This doesn’t mean the paywall shouldn’t be there. But it does mean that it costs time and money to access a lot of true and important information, while a lot of bullshit is completely free.

--

[a] Free links: https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/08/01/portland-prote... | https://thefederalist.com/2020/07/31/the-moral-case-against-... | https://www.infowars.com/nih-admits-5g-can-actually-create-c...

[b] Paywalled links: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/01/world/europe/germany-nazi... | https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/31/health/covid-contact-trac... | https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/31/us/politics/trump-usps-ma...

Re: The Truth Is Paywalled but the Lies Are Free

#449
post #401

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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"?

There are plenty of mentions for Bill Clinton: https://www.google.com/search?tbm=nws&sxsrf=ALeKk01S6XwWBraA...

Re: The Truth Is Paywalled but the Lies Are Free

#450

> 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…

Focusing on a small part of one sentence which is only tangentially related to the OP's main topic seems... unfair to me.

I found the OP to be a well-written, well-reasoned, thought-provoking article and would highly recommend reading it in its entirety before passing judgment on it.

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