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An upcoming story about Coinbase

blog.coinbase.com

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Re: An upcoming story about Coinbase

#221

Post by drewbug01 »

rrdharan wrote: post #196
drewbug01 wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you expand on that? Reading through the comment threads on this piece, I’ve noticed this idea of the NYT being intentionally misleading in various forms (“they lie,” “they mislead,” “they make implications,” etc). That isn’t my perception of the NYT at all - but I’d like to hear more of what you’re saying. Has any research been done on the overall veracity of the claims the NYT makes in their articles, or on the…

These aren’t exactly what you are asking about but some recent examples of what I consider to be disingenuous and manipulative: 1. The New York Times published a scathing critique of Google’s 4000 word privacy policy, neglecting anywhere to mention that their own privacy policy was 25% longer and sketchier. 2. The entire handling of the Caliphate podcast and subsequent backpedaling and retroactive reframing. 3. Simil…

I thank you for your reply - I phrased my question the way I did because I was curious if anyone had more than just anecdotes, but I do still find the anecdotes interesting on their own.

I suppose - absent more consistent evidence (they do a lot of reporting after all) - it’s not entirely convincing to me. A lot of other outlets made the same mistakes (especially stuff about the Iraq War, since you mentioned it - but I think that’s actually a different class of problem if I’m being honest).

I mainly try to judge on the overall pattern of behavior because focusing solely on the high-profile mistakes quickly leaves you with no real sources of news left. But, of course, that’s just how I see it and I respect that these examples convince you!

The long story short is: thank you, I genuinely do find the examples interesting.

Re: An upcoming story about Coinbase

#222

Post by [deleted] »

whakim wrote: post #187
ericpauley wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair, The Times is notorious for crafty implication. For the casual reader, these implications can ring far louder than the actual facts, without the piece being false, per se.

Not sure I agree that the NYT is particularly notable in the sense that they're a news organization with a perspective, and that perspective often comes through in the articles they publish. Every news org indirectly implies things in terms of which pieces of evidence they present, what order facts are presented in, what other content they cite etc. I don't think the NYTimes is secretly trying to influence their read…

[deleted]

Re: An upcoming story about Coinbase

#224

Post by lmeyerov »

julianmarq wrote: post #209
Taek wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you get accused of racism, what you should do is take the accusation seriously, assume that it is the result of genuine tension within the company, and then figure out places in your process where you were not being proactive enough about looking out for your employees and team chemistry. Happy employees don't accuse their employers of racism. If you are being accused of racism by your employees, surely something…

> If you are being accused [...], surely something went wrong This is "guilty until proven innocent", when exactly did this mentality catch on? Well, in any case I hope the trend reverses because it's directly opposite to how the law works.

Some things are bad enough that you don't even want to be in the grey zone. To be not that big and different people (from a likely already-small group) keep bringing it up... . People like to think of themselves as the hero, but if they keep getting misunderstood as the villain... well...

Re: An upcoming story about Coinbase

#225

Post by gamblor956 »

ajhurliman wrote: post #147
drewbug01 wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s not how I’ve understood the Streisand effect - nor how Wikipedia does either: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streisand_effect From the link: > The Streisand effect is a social phenomenon that occurs when an attempt to hide, remove, or censor information has the unintended consequence of further publicizing that information, often via the Internet. It’s not so much about whether a piece of information has been…

The wikipedia link backs the parent's point more than it does yours

No, Coinbase's preemptive post has simply drawn more attention to the allegations of racism than the (as of yet unpublished) NYT article on its own would have, which is the very definition of the Streisand Effect.

The fact is that they think the article is so damaging that they must do preemptive damage control speaks volumes.

Re: An upcoming story about Coinbase

#226

Post by [deleted] »

muglug wrote: post #87
jimmygrapes wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems to me that Coinbase is well aware of NYT's recent decline from paper of record to race-baiting propaganda, and knows that instead of being factual about numbers NYT will use weasel words to make it seem like Coinbase's entire company is run by "far right extremist racists" or whatever similar language. Of course, only time and the publication of the NYT article will tell, but given their recent track record…

> NYT's recent decline from paper of record to race-baiting propaganda Good newspapers must always speak truth to power. In a country where white people hold virtually all of it, sometimes that means speaking truth to white power. You’re sort of telling on yourself if you find that offensive.

[deleted]

Re: An upcoming story about Coinbase

#227

Post by rrdharan »

drewbug01 wrote: post #221
rrdharan wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These aren’t exactly what you are asking about but some recent examples of what I consider to be disingenuous and manipulative: 1. The New York Times published a scathing critique of Google’s 4000 word privacy policy, neglecting anywhere to mention that their own privacy policy was 25% longer and sketchier. 2. The entire handling of the Caliphate podcast and subsequent backpedaling and retroactive reframing. 3. Simil…

I thank you for your reply - I phrased my question the way I did because I was curious if anyone had more than just anecdotes, but I do still find the anecdotes interesting on their own. I suppose - absent more consistent evidence (they do a lot of reporting after all) - it’s not entirely convincing to me. A lot of other outlets made the same mistakes (especially stuff about the Iraq War, since you mentioned it - but…

I agree, it’s pretty easy to end up in a place where you don’t trust any source of news. Not sure that’s really a bad thing.

I still read the New York Times (though I’m no longer a paying subscriber). I don’t think they are as untrustworthy as like, Newsmax or Info Wars or what have you.

I just typically prefer the Washington Post or WSJ (sans crazy WSJ op-eds) since it’s hard to unsee the NYT slant in everything lately and I find their shrillness and shamelessness exhausting.

Re: An upcoming story about Coinbase

#228

Post by cma »

drewbug01 wrote: post #27

Well, the whole press release / internal email smells of a company desperately trying to spin what they expect to be a very, very bad article. But this line jumped out at me twice: > To be specific: Although the story will likely allege that a number of Black employees and contractors referenced in the story filed complaints with the company, only three of these people filed complaints during their time at Coinbase.…

> only three of these people filed complaints during their time at Coinbase.

I really hope that's not a corporate way of saying X - 3 number of people filed complaints after they were wrongly terminated.

Re: An upcoming story about Coinbase

#229

Post by ntsplnkv2 »

galaxyLogic wrote: post #202
theanarcrist wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suspect part of the motivation is to scoop the reporter's own story as a passive aggressive reprisal. It also serves to reduce the chance of future reporters on negative topics to talk directly to Coinbase since they've already showed they're willing to break stories before they publish.

Yes isn't this a rather common strategy, "Be pro-active, not reactive". When the actual story comes out it is not such a big news any more, because it is not news any more. First impressions often last, so now the first impressions is that the story is fake. So even if their response does amplify the story, it might amplify a good story rather than a bad one. So go even so far as to say "all publicity is good publici…

> When the actual story comes out it is not such a big news any more, because it is not news any more.

Why not? I was never going to read said article. Now I am, based on this post, alone. This was never going to be headline news.

> First impressions often last, so now the first impressions is that the story is fake.

Except my first impression is that it is real, not fake, based on this response, because companies lie all the damn time. I imagine many don't believe in company PR at all.

Re: An upcoming story about Coinbase

#230

Post by jolux »

gpm wrote: post #151
jolux wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That kind of thing would not hold up in court without a strong pattern proved or additional explicitly discriminatory behavior. Discrimination is surprisingly hard to prove, in fact.

We're not talking about court (or at least I'm not), we're talking about a newspaper article and reputation. (I edited a second half into my original comment that might make this clearer, though I did that before I saw your reply)

Well, I think people have to decide for themselves. If you accuse someone of bias without sufficient evidence, there’s no reason you should be believed. As for most instances of racism merely being bias, I don’t think this is the case, at least for allegations that make it into the NYT. Typically there is also evidence of a hostile environment provided. When there isn’t then the evidence of bias needs to speak for itself.
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