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To protect democracy, journalists need to learn to think like hackers and spies

thecorrespondent.com

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Re: To protect democracy, journalists need to learn to think like hackers and spies

#41

Post by pelliphant »

the_only_law wrote: post #13
hintymad wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Tucker Carlson just broke the record for most-watched month of any cable news show ever. If that offends you as a journalist, it's probably time for some introspection. I admire your optimism, but there won't be introspection. They will and already have labeled Carlson far-right, bigot, racist, sexist, liar, and you name it. His show broke the record because more than half of American population are basket of deplo…

Tucker Carlson thinks marijuana legalization is a massive conspiracy to pacify the youth and make them more compliant. I dont particularly give a damn about the mainstream media, but I'm not going to pretend Carlson is a paragon of intelligent political analysis either.

Isn't he mainstream media?

Re: To protect democracy, journalists need to learn to think like hackers and spies

#42

Post by [deleted] »

tathougies wrote: post #21
postpawl wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is “the Bill of Rights, high trust, and rule of law” doing any lifting? You have to vote for people to implement those things. Ideally you’d have a well educated populace and a functional media to make sure the best people get elected though... Is there a better system for making politicians accountable to citizens?

> You have to vote for people to implement those things. Not really. We didn't vote for Amy Coney Barrett, or anyone else on the supreme court, but ultimately, they -- and the myriad other judges -- are the ones who protect the populace, via rule of law, from a government of any political party interfering in the fundamental rights -- as outlined in the Constitution -- over which the government has no authority to le…

[deleted]

Re: To protect democracy, journalists need to learn to think like hackers and spies

#43

Post by harimau777 »

hintymad wrote: post #12
dropit_sphere wrote: post #3

It feels insanely presumptuous to hear this stuff. Democracy? Since when are we a democracy? Oh, because it's a popular term used in media and vernacular? So are Fruit Loops, who cares? Let me try an alternate framing: democracy is a brand, a feel-good term for political rhetoric. This is what democracy looks like: https://media2.s-nbcnews.com/j/msnbc/Components/ArtAndPhoto-... What is actually (though unpopularly) v…

> Tucker Carlson just broke the record for most-watched month of any cable news show ever. If that offends you as a journalist, it's probably time for some introspection. I admire your optimism, but there won't be introspection. They will and already have labeled Carlson far-right, bigot, racist, sexist, liar, and you name it. His show broke the record because more than half of American population are basket of deplo…

The problem is that Carlson is a far right, bigot, racist, and liar (I don't know that I've personally heard of sexism on his part).

The fact that half the population agrees with him doesn't change any of that.

Re: To protect democracy, journalists need to learn to think like hackers and spies

#44

Post by harimau777 »

dropit_sphere wrote: post #3

It feels insanely presumptuous to hear this stuff. Democracy? Since when are we a democracy? Oh, because it's a popular term used in media and vernacular? So are Fruit Loops, who cares? Let me try an alternate framing: democracy is a brand, a feel-good term for political rhetoric. This is what democracy looks like: https://media2.s-nbcnews.com/j/msnbc/Components/ArtAndPhoto-... What is actually (though unpopularly) v…

I'm not sure I understand what changes you are advocating. Can you explain?

It seems to me that people like Tucker Carlson are precisely those who are a threat to rights and trust.

Re: To protect democracy, journalists need to learn to think like hackers and spies

#45

Post by throwawaygh »

dredmorbius wrote: post #40

Seems to me there's much discussion not related at all to the substance of the article. I was hoping for better than this. The recommendation: the big national news providers – ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, NPR, PBS, AP, Reuters, The New York Times, The Washington Post – should have threat modelling teams, just as they all have pollsters. These teams would try to identify the most serious threats to a free and fair election an…

I'm assuming it's because of the time the article was posted. Comments are always pretty garbage in the early morning on anything remotely political. They will get better and upvotes will adjust to represent substantive discussion as we enter the waking hours in the USA.

Re: To protect democracy, journalists need to learn to think like hackers and spies

#46

Post by pelliphant »

dropit_sphere wrote: post #3

It feels insanely presumptuous to hear this stuff. Democracy? Since when are we a democracy? Oh, because it's a popular term used in media and vernacular? So are Fruit Loops, who cares? Let me try an alternate framing: democracy is a brand, a feel-good term for political rhetoric. This is what democracy looks like: https://media2.s-nbcnews.com/j/msnbc/Components/ArtAndPhoto-... What is actually (though unpopularly) v…

? Sure, america isn't very democratic compared to other democracies, but what are you actually saying?

That since the american democracy is already weak, it should be abandoned?

Sure, more people watch some crazy person on fox rather than actual news, but is that a reason to stop with news altogether?

The TLDR of this would be: this is a call to action for people who value democracy to stand up for it. If you dislike democracy, then this is obviously not for you...

Re: To protect democracy, journalists need to learn to think like hackers and spies

#47

Post by pelliphant »

coagmano wrote: post #2

I've always thought hackers/security folks have better politics (in both directions) because they're used to thinking in terms of systems. I would love if journalists also took the time to think about how the parties use the equivalent of social engineering to control the news cycle and bring about changes that aren't healthy for journalism or democracy

I think they already do.

But they have to convince management to publish important stories instead of the stories that pay their bills. Is it really that surprising that it's an uphill battle?

The question we need to answer is "how are we going to pay the salaries of investigative journalists?"

Re: To protect democracy, journalists need to learn to think like hackers and spies

#49

Post by pelliphant »

dredmorbius wrote: post #40

Seems to me there's much discussion not related at all to the substance of the article. I was hoping for better than this. The recommendation: the big national news providers – ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, NPR, PBS, AP, Reuters, The New York Times, The Washington Post – should have threat modelling teams, just as they all have pollsters. These teams would try to identify the most serious threats to a free and fair election an…

Same here...

But what can you do when a large part of commenters are arguing against democracy?

Re: To protect democracy, journalists need to learn to think like hackers and spies

#50

Post by harimau777 »

redis_mlc wrote: post #22
the_only_law wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you know anything about marxism or are you just repeating words you heard someone say on the internet. Id be interested to hear you explain how the Democratic party, who's politicians range from center right neoliberals to vaguely leftist progressives as a Marxist organization.

[flagged]

Do you have any evidence for that?

Between voter suppression, gerrymandering, the electoral college, and Citizens United the Republicans seem much more hostile to bottom up democracy than the Democrats.

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