The News Is Information Junk Food (2022)

Post by Levitz » Thu, Aug 08, 2024, 2:43 PM UTC

mistermann wrote: post #156

loudmax wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People really need to understand how journalism works as a business model. When you only consume news that reinforces your beliefs, that creates an incentive to produce news that conforms to your beliefs. This doesn't mean your beliefs are wrong, just that you should be aware of your own biases and guard against them. Excessive cynicism is a real danger too. Democracies rely on an informed electorate to guide decisio…

What if our aversion to pursuing absolute truth, insisting on stopping at true enough (like democracy being our most sacred institution) is the problem though? I would like us to strive for better, not keep it the way it is now.

Post by Levitz » Thu, Aug 08, 2024, 2:50 PM UTC

mistermann wrote: post #161

outime wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We should start understanding that "independent" rankings won't ever work. Let's not even get started with "fact-checking" places which we can count by dozens per country now, as they all have their own interpretations (or otherwise a single one alone would be enough). For such a thing to work, it needs to be funded. At the end, it doesn't matter if it comes from public or private hands, it's going to be leaning towa…

> If humans cannot possibly be objective What if we were to try? Humans also could not run a 4-minute mile, or build a machine that can fly.

Post by Levitz » Thu, Aug 08, 2024, 2:55 PM UTC

freddie_mercury wrote: post #101

axpvms wrote: post #44

I think most journalists these days are not much more than poorly informed and poorly paid professional sh*tposters/provocateurs who learned how to write an inverted pyramid in j-school. I can easily find poorly informed and attention-grabbing opinions from a number of places, including even here :). Disclosure: I learnt to write an inverted pyramid in j-school but dropped out after a year, I didn't want to work in t…

I think this makes a common mistake that this has anything to do with "journalists these days" or editorial slants or anything else. I mean, go back and read some random New York Times issues from the 1950s and you'll see the same thing. The simple reality is that there is not enough happening every day that is relevant to our lives that people actually need to pay attention to. If you're not actually making some cha…

Post by freddie_mercury » Thu, Aug 08, 2024, 3:35 PM UTC

Levitz wrote: post #185

freddie_mercury wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this makes a common mistake that this has anything to do with "journalists these days" or editorial slants or anything else. I mean, go back and read some random New York Times issues from the 1950s and you'll see the same thing. The simple reality is that there is not enough happening every day that is relevant to our lives that people actually need to pay attention to. If you're not actually making some cha…

>I mean, go back and read some random New York Times issues from the 1950s and you'll see the same thing. I've got to really disagree and I can provide proof. This is The New York Times, today: https://www.nytimes.com/ This is The New York Times, May 3rd, 2001: http://web.archive.org/web/20010503145505/https://www.nytime... This is The Washington Post, today: https://www.washingtonpost.com/ This is The Washington Pos…

Post by CuriouslyC » Thu, Aug 08, 2024, 4:06 PM UTC

gosub100 wrote: post #149

passion__desire wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One problem with mixing comedy with serious news is we undermine the gravity or seriousness with which we should respond. Hardtalk on BBC should be common format so that people go into the show with belief that these are not laughing matter

The other problem was the overwhelming bias. There was one approved narrative, and the comedians always made jokes that promoted it and disparaged the opposite.