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Half of Americans now believe that news organizations deliberately mislead them

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

#321

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.

It's not so much that as 'everything he says is a confession'...He's pointing out fake news, because he's one of the biggest sources. He can't be wrong if he's to blame.

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

#323
I read a book called "The Fourth Turning"(published 1996) quite awhile ago. It ended up predicting many of these recent events and generally tries to bring awareness of the eternal recurrence of "turnings" in one's life.

> If the Crisis catalyst comes on schedule, around the year 2005, then the climax will be due around 2020, the resolution around 2026.

> The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announce the spread of a new communicable virus. The disease reaches densely populated areas, killing some. Congress enacts mandatory quarantine measures. The president orders the National Guard to throw prophylactic cordons around unsafe neighborhoods. Mayors resist. Urban gangs battle suburban militias. Calls mount for the president to declare martial law.

Civic virtue tends to get lost in the daily news cycles during the climax of a crisis, but it is frequently regained. Moral and cultural standards are increasing and thus the news will have to adapt to it as it always has. People are slowly returning to classic virtues.

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

#324
post #295

There are literal mountains of sociological studies on how (state and corporate) media have been in service of the powers that be, for decades, and how exactly this works. With a mountain of examples. So, for sociologists, this feels like "wow, it only took half a century to trickle through." Though of course this is the wrong reaction; it has always trickled through. Only that, in the past, it took a few years or de…

This is such a black and white spin. First: I don't know which sociological studies you refer to, but most of it is politically colored arm chair philosophy. These insights didn't come from sociology, but from political movements. Second: there's a difference not providing a full picture of a war or a new economic policy, and outright lying. I expect news organizations to provide me with the basic info: incomplete, b…

This comment is well intended, I'm sure. I always respect anyone trying to 'stick to the facts.' Unfortunately, it's just not history. Easy to google history. You are simply not familiar with how this all works.

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

#325
post #284
post #253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

The actual news on Fox News, i.e. not Tucker and the rest of the talk shows, is not fake news, even remotely. Absolutely has a conservative bias, but not to the extent it would qualify as fake news. It's even listed on Wikipedia a reliable source. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Reliable_sources/Per...

There's no way to distinguish between the fake news Fox broadcasts and the non-fake news. It's not like Fox puts a disclaimer up on the screen saying which stories are for entertainment purposes only.

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

#326
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…

People should be more educated, but blaming misinformation on uninformed people is like blaming climate change on consumers for driving and not recycling. Why doesn't 'real' news get more views and better advertising money? Wouldn't a trustworthy brand be more valuable for advertizers? Why don't more media orgs have independent funding? Are there any reporter / user owned media?

I wouldn't say misinformation is caused by 'uninformed people,' it's just that people tend to click on garbage. It's a slide into tabloid-ness as media focuses on their marketing ROI.

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

#327
Reminds me of a Richard Pryor joke: “Who you gonna believe? Me or your lying eyes?”

There’s been many times when news articles have been easily discredited by simply looking at the original source(video, image, research papers).

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

#329
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…

This is exactly what it looks like to me as a layman—that editors/publishers are the real problem. They choose what stories to run and the edits to those stories, but also choose what type of journalists to hire and fire, which helps guide toward a certain narrative or bias. The latter point is basically what Chomsky said in Manufacturing Consent if I recall.

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

#330
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…

People should be more educated, but blaming misinformation on uninformed people is like blaming climate change on consumers for driving and not recycling. Why doesn't 'real' news get more views and better advertising money? Wouldn't a trustworthy brand be more valuable for advertizers? Why don't more media orgs have independent funding? Are there any reporter / user owned media?

A major factor here is trustworthy news organizations are extremely vulnerable to being bought as propaganda platforms.
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