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Nothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper (1807)

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Re: Nothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper (1807)

#11

Post by goodluckchuck »

> Truth itself becomes suspicious by being put into that polluted vehicle.

Damn.

> I really look with commiseration over the great body of my fellow citizens, who, reading newspapers, live & die in the belief, that they have known something of what has been passing in the world in their time;

Double Damn.

Re: Nothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper (1807)

#12

Post by busterarm »

mrfusion wrote: post #8

As an exercise, go read the front page of cnn.com right now. Do you still believe all of it?

Conspiracy-theories and fear-mongering.

Tribalism coming out in force with these downvotes. This is why there's a walkaway movement.

This is a network that literally had to settle a libel suit and has more coming.

Re: Nothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper (1807)

#13

Post by onorton »

dimitrios1 wrote: post #2

> The real extent of this state of misinformation is known only to those who are in situations to confront facts within their knolege with the lies of the day Well ain't this the cold, hard truth, eh HN? How many times have we seen science and technology just completely butchered, twisted, manipulated, or sometimes, all three, by the "truth-seeking journalists" over there at the establishment media companies? Yet we…

There's a name for this cognitive bias but I always forget what it's called. Something to do with the reader's expertise in one field being able to pick out flaws but not in other fields from the same source.

Re: Nothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper (1807)

#15

Post by gxqoz »

By the American Revolution, newspapers were getting closer to our modern perception of them. But for the hundreds of years between their ostensible invention in Germany and the late 18th century they were quite different. Many only reported foreign news (in part to avoid domestic topics that may have been more sensitive). They offered very little in terms of editorial. In France, one particularly dull one was granted a monopoly, stopping competition.

Andrew Pettegree's Invention of the News covers this in much greater detail: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/feb/19/invention-news...

One other interesting anecdote from the book: For quite some time, the identity of who was conveying the news was paramount. A nobleman's wild story would be given more stock from contemporary audiences than several eyewitness accounts from commoners.

Re: Nothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper (1807)

#16

Post by anchpop »

mrfusion wrote: post #8

As an exercise, go read the front page of cnn.com right now. Do you still believe all of it?

on cnn.com, these are the biggest headlines

> Trump suggests voters should commit fraud

> Bill Barr's indefensible defense of 2020 voter fraud

> Officers covered a Black man's head before he stopped breathing, video shows

> Dr. Fauci says it's conceivable but not likely a vaccine will be ready in October

The only one I think is questionable is the second, but even that one doesn't seem like it contains factual inaccuracies to me

Re: Nothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper (1807)

#17

Post by deadalus »

mrfusion wrote: post #8

As an exercise, go read the front page of cnn.com right now. Do you still believe all of it?

I get very frustrated, sad and emotional when I read CNN or any of the major news sites. So I avoid it.

Instead I use Wikipedia once a month : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:August_2020_events

Re: Nothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper (1807)

#19

Post by krapp »

anchpop wrote: post #16
mrfusion wrote: post #8

As an exercise, go read the front page of cnn.com right now. Do you still believe all of it?

on cnn.com, these are the biggest headlines > Trump suggests voters should commit fraud > Bill Barr's indefensible defense of 2020 voter fraud > Officers covered a Black man's head before he stopped breathing, video shows > Dr. Fauci says it's conceivable but not likely a vaccine will be ready in October The only one I think is questionable is the second, but even that one doesn't seem like it contains factual inaccu…

Bear in mind some of those may be opinion pieces and some may be journalism, those need to be considered separately.

Re: Nothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper (1807)

#20

Post by umvi »

mrfusion wrote: post #8

As an exercise, go read the front page of cnn.com right now. Do you still believe all of it?

How CNN currently works:

    if (makesTrumpLookBad() || makesBidenLookGood())
        pushToFrontPage();
    else if (recentDeadPerson.skinColor != 'white' && recentDeadPerson.causeOfDeath == 'police')
        pushToFrontPage();
    else
        pushToFrontPage(numNewCovidCases(getRandomState()))
Apply DeMorgan's Law to see how Fox News works.
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