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Half of Americans now believe that news organizations deliberately mislead them

fortune.com

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

#361

Post by deepsquirrelnet »

cramjabsyn wrote: post #25

Why is it that propaganda somehow has become a new idea? Is it because the phrase “fake news” dumbed it down? Either way its always been a factor, and was likely worse before the age of information. The big problem now is there are multiple competing false narratives, instead of just the one in the paper.

Except that the purpose of the phrase “fake news” was, in fact, to create propaganda itself. It is certainly not better for the president of the country to be the gatekeeper of truth based on what aligns with their political motivations. It is the very definition of propaganda.

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

#362

Post by Retric »

fidgewidge wrote: post #331
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…

> The average journalist values the truth and desires to report on the news with accuracy and fairness The average journalist thinks they value the truth, accuracy and fairness. Observed behavior is very different to this flattering self portrait which is why they aren't trusted. Actual behaviors of real journalists that create distrust which can't be blamed on advertisers or editors: - Accepting large grants from bi…

Average doesn’t mean everyone all the time.

Given enough samples you can find every form of bias in every single news organization.

Yes, that means there are some pro right stores on NPR and pro left stories on Fox News. What’s really fascinating is when you find oddballs supporting fascism etc. It’s not intentional but simply passing along stories from other groups is so much easier than doing an in depth investigation on each and every little thing.

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

#363

Post by giantg2 »

GoblinSlayer wrote: post #333
bigger_inside wrote: post #47

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…

Objectivity is easy to access if you're not totally censored. Propaganda works by concealing alternative opinions - once you know the trick, it's easy to hack, even a weak effort can work.

Sounds weird, but one of the easiest paths to objectivity is not to seek objective sources. One can look at multiple sources with obvious opposing spins to form your own understanding. Even the sources labeled as most objective tend to miss the nuance behind the main few arguments.

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

#365

Post by jmyeet »

bigger_inside wrote: post #47

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…

Once people acept media bias the next jump they make that this is a partisan issue. It's easy to understand why, particularly now when there are major news outlets who deliberately lie.

But the problem is way more insidious and pervasive than performative partisan issues, which are generally manufactured culture wars. Those issues serve two purposes:

1. To make people angry and keep them angry. Angry people are "engaged"; and

2. To sow division and prevent class solidarity.

One of the most wildly successful examples of propaganda is the idea of the middle class. This serves to demonize the so-called "lower classes", typically labeling them as lazy, criminal, morally bankrupt and drains on the state.

There are only two classes: labor and capital owners.

Yet propaganda has been so successful that labor will defend the interests of billionaires to the detriment of their own interests. The number of people who would die on the hill of opposing Musk and Bezos paying slightly more taxes is depressing.

Media is a key tool in this endeavour. It's why you see wall-to-wall coverage of the China balloon (which literally does not matter at all) and a virtual media blackout of the environmental catastrophe and massive corporate failings that underpin the East Palestine train derailment.

Media represents and advocates for corporate interests and systemic interests.

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

#366

Post by ROTMetro »

user3939382 wrote: post #310
yks wrote: post #300

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> don't apply to independent journalists What a naïveté. Independent journalists are even more beholden to their audiences, if they start talking up something those audiences don’t like, their incomes dwindle. I’ve yet to see a prominent independent media figure that changed their position on any topic, regardless of real life events or evidence.

> I’ve yet to see a prominent independent media figure that changed their position on any topic, regardless of real life events or evidence Jimmy Dore supported the official narrative on COVID when it started. Matt Taibbi just did a long, explicit mea culpa on Rogan about being wrong about the Russian invasion of Ukraine. That's just off the top of my head, and those are two of the biggest.

And both of those position changes feed INTO their 'Independent' thinker audiences not contradict with them.

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

#367

Post by wincy »

recyclelater wrote: post #337
wincy wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My lived experience is I sit safely in my suburban home with my children, comfortably collecting a salary to argue points of planning for software development. I work from home and very rarely leave the house. I am unwilling to go down to the local protests or whatever to “see what’s up” because I’m essentially willing to accept zero risk to my person while my children are growing up. I need accurate news to know wha…

I am not weighing in on the article or any commentary with this statement…You don’t sound healthy and might want to do a little self evaluation. Never leaving the house, not trusting anyone, thinking your wife is glitching, all sound outside the norm, even if what you are observing is true. You should still be able to do basic risk analysis and leave the house. Sorry for the bluntness here.

Maybe I was being a little dramatic and hyperbolic for effect.

I don’t mean I never leave the house. I go to concerts and the zoo with my kids and whatever. I went on vacation across the country the other day. None of those things are helping me discern what’s going on in the world, unless “Disneyworld is a fun place” and “the ocean is a nice place to laze around” count as my lived experience.

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

#368

Post by kneebonian »

aww_dang wrote: post #276
twelve40 wrote: post #136

So much bitterness here in the comments like "duh", "took them long enough", etc. So, honest question: if, you know, a pillar of democracy is by default laughed at, how can then this democracy function? If half the country thinks they are getting brainwashed, and the other half doesn't think they are getting brainwashed (while possibly getting brainwashed right in that same moment). How can such people make educated…

Educated people disagree on all kinds of things. There are various schools of thought. Perhaps smaller polities would be less controversial. Perhaps mass democracy or democracy generally is disfunctional.

Hmm if only the founding document of America was written in such a way as to divide the country into smaller polities that could focus on their own issues, we could I don't know divide the country into 50 geographical areas and have them manage within their borders pretty much anything that isn't defense, foreign policy, or weights and measures. But that's nonsense of course, why shouldn't voters in SF decide the best way for the people of Bismark to live.
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