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Record Breaking Number of Journalists Arrested in the U.S. This Year

freedom.press

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Re: Record Breaking Number of Journalists Arrested in the U.S. This Year

#131

Post by user764743 »

cronix wrote: post #96

All you need to do is write "press" in sharpie somewhere visible on your person and upload cell phone videos to youtube, twitch, dlive, etc. to be considered a "journalist" in 2020. Maybe set up a venmo/cashapp account. That's what the vast majority of live streamers in Portland do covering the riots, and most who were arrested were breaking the law. There are many more "livestreamers" than accredited journalists who…

"Journalist Andy Ngo"

That's a good one, you mean the man who constantly steals the work of other journalists and pass it off as his own? The same 'journalist' who passed on kill lists of protesters' names to neo-nazi groups [0]? You need better sources.

[0] https://emilygorcenski.com/post/andy-ngo-and-the-atomwaffen-...

Re: Record Breaking Number of Journalists Arrested in the U.S. This Year

#132

Post by oblio »

dgritsko wrote: post #122
hilbertseries wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> On one side, the death of traditional journalism really has opened up folks' eyes to bias in reporting. Having one or two main-stream news sources really opens up the possibility for bias becoming truth. This is not what I see happening. Instead what happens is people see news they disagree with and deem it biased. So they find a news outlet that they agree with and decide that’s the real news.

So here's the dilemma I'm faced with. As someone who wishes to consume news that is as factual as reasonably possible, while also being aware that at least some bias is inevitable (no matter how well-intentioned the author may be)... how does one evaluate a news source for its trustworthiness, short of physically observing an event for yourself?

Well, there are some standard ways, just like when you do research:

1. Check out a bunch of their articles on various topics, the more controversial the better. That way you can kind of gauge which way they lean.

2. Find some other source, preferably several, check out their biases they same way.

3. Then compare some articles about the same thing, from all these sources.

Look for stuff like references, sources, lack of weasel words or outrage inducing phrasing, aggrandizing vocabulary, etc. The more boring an article sounds, the more likely it is that the reporting is solid.

Yes, it's a lot of work, but you don't have to do it for every article, you do it maybe once every few years, to re-evaluate the options.

Re: Record Breaking Number of Journalists Arrested in the U.S. This Year

#133

Post by ultrarunner »

jimmar wrote: post #59
ultrarunner wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I could be wrong, but the wrinkle I see is that their raking him over the coals is perceived to be in pursuit of their own political goals, not in pursuit of the truth. Their criticisms were trivial (as an extreme example, Melania's performance redesigning the rose garden). Arguably, stories of substance such as police violence were actively suppressed by the state through intimidation. I largely agree, but this isn'…

> "stories of substance such as police violence were actively suppressed by the state through intimidation." Maybe we're thinking of different events, but there was a tremendous amount of news coverage about police violence this past year.

Yes, despite how the police treated journalists.

I am not a journalist, so I do not know how they respond to this pressure first-hand. I suspect, though, that there is a silencing effect when it's easier, safer, and less costly to report on celebrity gossip and easily-obtainable police reports than things the police prefer they don't report on.

My point is, I suppose, that the media can appear fully engaged and "busy" without generating any of the "fourth estate" corrective pressure that is so vital for a healthy society. We may never know what was not reported on.

Re: Record Breaking Number of Journalists Arrested in the U.S. This Year

#134

Post by chrisseaton »

tines wrote: post #95
nickff wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a completely circular definition (as far as I can see).

How’s that? Seems like it’s just saying “we’re not going to treat you like a journalist if you don’t claim to be one, and you can’t claim to be one without having done any work before.”

If someone asks you for a definition of 'rabbit' and you tell them it's 'something that is rabbity' then they're going to ask you what is 'rabbity'... and likely you'd reply 'it's like a rabbit'. Goes in a circle, see?

A journalist is someone who does journalistic things. What are journalistic things? Well they're things a journalist does.

Re: Record Breaking Number of Journalists Arrested in the U.S. This Year

#135

Post by nickff »

riazrizvi wrote: post #127
indigochill wrote: post #18

One line from the report jumped out at me as I was skimming it: > About half the journalists here are freelancers, who may lack the institutional support of a newsroom and the financial resources for a potentially expensive legal defense. I hadn't really thought of the value of legal defense from journalism institutions (as opposed to non-institutional platforms like Substack) before.

Isn't it common knowledge that Gawker was a media company that irreverently covered silicon valley until it was bankrupted through litigation? The law courts are the main way that journalism is attacked in non-autocratic countries. Strong freedom of the press laws are celebrated, because they are constantly under siege by powerful people, who once targeted, would rather not have them.

Gawker is a bad example... Nick Denton was known for being happy to gossip and libel; he always said his victims loved the attention, and that if they hated it so much, they could always sue him. Eventually, some did.

Re: Record Breaking Number of Journalists Arrested in the U.S. This Year

#136

Post by underseacables »

boopmaster wrote: post #128

This is because Black Lives Matter™, and because black lives matter. This isn’t a hyper escalation against freedom of the press, per se, it’s an escalation of police on citizen violence that came about when police felt threatened when folks got a little extra vocal about how the racist cops boys club has little to no accountability when harming citizens they’re supposed to protect. I think this narrowly focuses on tr…

When a journalist steps beyond being a journalist and turns into an activist, of course they’re going to get arrested if they break the law. Just because someone is a journalist does not give them a pass from breaking the law.

Re: Record Breaking Number of Journalists Arrested in the U.S. This Year

#137

Post by oblio »

cpr wrote: post #113

The "record number" seems to be (as the article says) mostly related to the rioting--reporters getting arrested as part of the rioting response. Doesn't seem like an institutional crisis at all.

Wasn't there a video of clearly identified Australian press in Washington DC getting assaulted by the police? If that's normal...

Re: Record Breaking Number of Journalists Arrested in the U.S. This Year

#138

Post by elmomle »

dgritsko wrote: post #122
hilbertseries wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> On one side, the death of traditional journalism really has opened up folks' eyes to bias in reporting. Having one or two main-stream news sources really opens up the possibility for bias becoming truth. This is not what I see happening. Instead what happens is people see news they disagree with and deem it biased. So they find a news outlet that they agree with and decide that’s the real news.

So here's the dilemma I'm faced with. As someone who wishes to consume news that is as factual as reasonably possible, while also being aware that at least some bias is inevitable (no matter how well-intentioned the author may be)... how does one evaluate a news source for its trustworthiness, short of physically observing an event for yourself?

I think this philosophical discussion is important, but just want to take a moment to point out that it often buries a pretty obvious lede and gives an out for aggressive bias.

For example, last night every major news site had a headline about Biden's electoral college victory, or about Biden's speech, or about the virus. Fox News's huge banner headline was that Joe Biden had "a bit of a cold". This to me indicates an extreme bias.

This is not to say other MSM sources aren't rife with bias--for example, all are staunchly pro-corporate, as they are owned by corporations. But bias does come in degrees; we must continually try to be aware of biases in our media, but we shouldn't treat all MSM as "equally biased and equally bad".

Re: Record Breaking Number of Journalists Arrested in the U.S. This Year

#139

Post by secondcoming »

hilbertseries wrote: post #104
Loughla wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, it's a double-edged sword. On one side, the death of traditional journalism really has opened up folks' eyes to bias in reporting. Having one or two main-stream news sources really opens up the possibility for bias becoming truth. On the other side, now that everyone is a reporter, people roll around inside whichever cocoon of bias makes them feel the best. It's very frustrating, and overwhelming.

> On one side, the death of traditional journalism really has opened up folks' eyes to bias in reporting. Having one or two main-stream news sources really opens up the possibility for bias becoming truth. This is not what I see happening. Instead what happens is people see news they disagree with and deem it biased. So they find a news outlet that they agree with and decide that’s the real news.

What I see happening is people experiencing news being delivered in a way that uses obviously biased language and phrasing and, not impressed with being taken for an idiot, they go elsewhere. There they will probably find the same sort of bias and then conclude that MSM is generally useless.

Re: Record Breaking Number of Journalists Arrested in the U.S. This Year

#140

Post by Miner49er »

cronix wrote: post #96

All you need to do is write "press" in sharpie somewhere visible on your person and upload cell phone videos to youtube, twitch, dlive, etc. to be considered a "journalist" in 2020. Maybe set up a venmo/cashapp account. That's what the vast majority of live streamers in Portland do covering the riots, and most who were arrested were breaking the law. There are many more "livestreamers" than accredited journalists who…

What's your bar for being a journalist? Andy Ngo is one of those guys who goes out with his cell phone and records stuff and you seem to think he qualifies. Is it just agreeing with you politically?
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