Half of Americans now believe that news organizations deliberately mislead them • Hacker News Board

Re: Half of Americans now believe that news organizations deliberately mislead them

#251

Post by ss108 » Thu, Feb 16, 2023, 3:41 PM UTC

barbariangrunge wrote: post #241

remote_phone wrote: post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you work during the Trump era? Because it’s clear to me that that’s when journalists believed that their moral obligation was to further the agenda of their respective political parties and not care about the absolute truth. That’s when things went from bad to worse and I abandoned the mainstream media entirely.

I was not a fan of trump, at all, but even I noticed this. If trump scratched his butt in public, figuratively speaking, the media jumped on him for it, and would then decline to cover any story about whether butt scratching (figuratively speaking) was ever appropriate. The media also cast his supporters in an incredibly dark light, which was worrying because that was roughly half of voters who voted for a major cand…

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Re: Half of Americans now believe that news organizations deliberately mislead them

#252

Post by PuppyTailWags » Thu, Feb 16, 2023, 3:41 PM UTC

I noticed there's a lot of affirmation of this belief but very little citations. So I'm going to ask HN: What is the news journalism or reporting you rely on to believe that other news organizations mislead you, and why did you believe the first over the second?

[This is also a way for me to discern news I should be listening to!]

Re: Half of Americans now believe that news organizations deliberately mislead them

#253

Post by MrMan » Thu, Feb 16, 2023, 3:42 PM UTC

lockhouse wrote: post #167

michaelt wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> So that makes me wonder how this is getting out. Hasn't Trump been talking about the 'fake news media' for 5+ years? And don't half of Americans lap that stuff up?

Is he wrong about this particular issue though? I know broken clocks and all, but just because you disagree with someone most of the time it doesn't mean that they are wrong about everything.

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Re: Half of Americans now believe that news organizations deliberately mislead them

#254

Post by BitwiseFool » Thu, Feb 16, 2023, 3:43 PM UTC

2OEH8eoCRo0 wrote: post #172

nivenkos wrote: post #16

They do. The only real investigative journalists these days - Edward Snowden and Julian Assange - face life in prison and exile. Even Seymour Hersh has been smeared to discredit him now he dared speak against the establishment. It is not journalists' role to be a mouthpiece for the government, but to challenge it.

Julian Assange is not a journalist https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/04/julian-ass...

He has to come from the Journal region of France, otherwise he's just a sparkling whistleblower. /s

From the tone of the article it seems like the author simply detests Julian Assange and Weiss puts forward no standard for who can rightly be called 'a journalist'.

Re: Half of Americans now believe that news organizations deliberately mislead them

#255

Post by 2OEH8eoCRo0 » Thu, Feb 16, 2023, 3:43 PM UTC

goodpoint wrote: post #247

2OEH8eoCRo0 wrote: post #227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would have used legal avenues afforded to whistleblowers. > Contrary to his public claims that he notified numerous NSA officials about what he believed to be illegal intelligence collection, the Committee found no evidence that Snowden took any official effort to express concerns about U.S. intelligence activities - legal, moral, or otherwise - to any oversight officials within the U.S. government, despite numerou…

And you believe this stuff?

Tell me why I shouldn't. What evidence do you have that refutes their findings?

Re: Half of Americans now believe that news organizations deliberately mislead them

#256

Post by Swizec » Thu, Feb 16, 2023, 3:44 PM UTC

soco wrote: post #110

dotnet00 wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think it takes much rational thought to realize that the news are incompetent at worst and intentionally misleading at best. Even without validating beliefs, there are so many cases of news organizations publishing incorrect or misleading information in a rush to cover a story, only to then issue a silent correction weeks later when the damage has been done. This weakens trust in two ways, first is just peopl…

Data set of one, but the people I met claiming they don't trust the news, all take their news from youtube and random taxi drivers. This doesn't say anything about the news outlets, just about those people and their peculiar ways to "think for themselves".

Try this experiment: Read old news for a while.

You’ll quickly learn not to trust the news. Not because it’s wrong – it’s pretty factual for the most part – but because it keeps trying to make you care about the wrong things. Whipping up an emotional reaction to matters that don’t affect you. Ignoring large elephants in small rooms. Talking juuuust slightly past the core issue hoping you won’t notice.

Much of news, especially daily news, is like discussing the color of a bike shed instead of the core design problems of the reactor it sits behind. Because talking about the big stuff isn’t sexy and doesn’t get the clicks.

And even when you do find a source of boring news, you’ll find that most of it affects your life not one bit. It’s just entertainment to keep you busy. In the words of a quote I once heard and can never find again: ”The news doesn’t tell you what to think, it tells you what to think about”.

Re: Half of Americans now believe that news organizations deliberately mislead them

#257

Post by MrMan » Thu, Feb 16, 2023, 3:44 PM UTC

GeekyBear wrote: post #250

I can remember seeing Walter Cronkite on a PBS panel discussion warning America that this would be the end result of the deregulation of media ownership. If a small number of people are allowed to own the vast majority of media outlets, those media outlets are no longer going to represent the interests of the public at large. Back when all television/radio was broadcast over the air, there used to be this quaint conc…

the public interest is dead, look at the sentiment here on HN. everyone has taken red pills from either Peter Thiel, Joe Rogan, or some influencer at the listener's socio-economic level, who propagandizes them about the Individual and how you cant trust anyone but other bros who also dont trust anyone.

Re: Half of Americans now believe that news organizations deliberately mislead them

#258

Post by jahsome » Thu, Feb 16, 2023, 3:45 PM UTC

jawns wrote: post #202

I formerly worked as a news editor at a metro daily newspaper, and before that I worked at various other news outlets and magazines. Here's the reality: The average journalist values the truth and desires to report on the news with accuracy and fairness. I worked with a bunch of really talented reporters and editors throughout my career, and almost without exception, they highly valued those things. Moreover, many ha…

Former journalist.

I have ranted to friends and family for decades about the lack of media literacy and the lack of understanding for the newsgathering and reporting processes.

I'm glad to see others continuing those rants because I gave up shortly after j school and transitioning careers.

Media literacy should be mandated in school.

Re: Half of Americans now believe that news organizations deliberately mislead them

#259

Post by tablespoon » Thu, Feb 16, 2023, 3:46 PM UTC

remote_phone wrote: post #225

jawns wrote: post #202

I formerly worked as a news editor at a metro daily newspaper, and before that I worked at various other news outlets and magazines. Here's the reality: The average journalist values the truth and desires to report on the news with accuracy and fairness. I worked with a bunch of really talented reporters and editors throughout my career, and almost without exception, they highly valued those things. Moreover, many ha…

Did you work during the Trump era? Because it’s clear to me that that’s when journalists believed that their moral obligation was to further the agenda of their respective political parties and not care about the absolute truth. That’s when things went from bad to worse and I abandoned the mainstream media entirely.

> Because it’s clear to me that that’s when journalists believed that their moral obligation was to further the agenda of their respective political parties and not care about the absolute truth.

For that to be harmful, it doesn't even have to be all journalists, just enough of them that people come across that bias often enough to be familiar with it.

I'm certain that many journalists value the truth and fairness over party, but I'm also certain that too many journalists put party/ideology over truth and fairness (in many areas), and the news organizations have become more tolerant of bias.

Re: Half of Americans now believe that news organizations deliberately mislead them

#260

Post by anovikov » Thu, Feb 16, 2023, 3:48 PM UTC

What's to "believe" about it? It's what they are, what they always existed for: shape public opinion in a way beneficial for its sponsors. I can see nothing wrong about it, read both a left-leaning and a right-leaning source and you will be able to figure out what really happened, more or less.