How can you know what news is real? • Hacker News Board

Re: How can you know what news is real?

#51

Post by jl6 » Thu, Nov 28, 2019, 12:49 PM UTC

tekmate wrote: post #36

joaodlf wrote: post #26

I have, sadly, given up. I can't stand watching/reading the news and feeling that I am quite possibly being manipulated, so I have completely given up. Anything I do read, I mistrust. I don't want to be ignorant towards what is happening around me, but I feel like I have no choice, I don't want to become bitter and "pick a side", I prefer to remain ignorant. Even when friends say "Oh, but try this source, they are so…

identify potential biases in a source and then filter the information of that source through a bias lense, then use another source and do the same thing to triangulate "the truth" giving up on consuming news because everything might be biased is simply lazy

Beware that the truth is not necessarily the midpoint between opposing opinions. Sometimes a source with a general bias gets it exactly right in a specific case.

Re: How can you know what news is real?

#52

Post by insickness » Thu, Nov 28, 2019, 12:51 PM UTC

There was a post going around showing a screenshot of CNN versus Fox after Sonderland's testimony at the impeachment hearings. Each had a wildly different take on what was said, at least in the headline. It was posted as a complaint that one of these sites was fake news and the other reflected reality more accurately.

I don't see a problem with two wildly different takes on the same incident, particularly when it is political. In fact, I would say this is a sign of a healthy democracy. Compare it to the alternative: a single, typically state-sponsored viewpoint in a totalitarian state.

This isn't to say there aren't problems with fake news, the corporatisation of media, sensationalism, etc. But competing narratives imposes at least some checks and balances.

Re: How can you know what news is real?

#53

Post by tekmate » Thu, Nov 28, 2019, 12:51 PM UTC

jl6 wrote: post #51

tekmate wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

identify potential biases in a source and then filter the information of that source through a bias lense, then use another source and do the same thing to triangulate "the truth" giving up on consuming news because everything might be biased is simply lazy

Beware that the truth is not necessarily the midpoint between opposing opinions. Sometimes a source with a general bias gets it exactly right in a specific case.

true, triangulating doesn't mean the middle necessarily

Re: How can you know what news is real?

#54

Post by Joe-Z » Thu, Nov 28, 2019, 12:52 PM UTC

joaodlf wrote: post #26

I have, sadly, given up. I can't stand watching/reading the news and feeling that I am quite possibly being manipulated, so I have completely given up. Anything I do read, I mistrust. I don't want to be ignorant towards what is happening around me, but I feel like I have no choice, I don't want to become bitter and "pick a side", I prefer to remain ignorant. Even when friends say "Oh, but try this source, they are so…

I've done exactly the same and have the complete opposite feeling of you. Why not 'be ignorant'? What are you really ignorant towards when ignoring the news? Most of its use, it seems to me, is to have something to talk about, with people you otherwise have have nothing to talk about. If you really need certain/real news (like investors basing decisions on earnings reports) you will have your quality, non-mass-media sources anyway.

Re: How can you know what news is real?

#55

Post by DanielBMarkham » Thu, Nov 28, 2019, 12:54 PM UTC

If you think about it, this is the same problem faced by any student of history. Some facts are "solid", some are squishy, interpretations are vague and/or self-serving, much is made up to support various narratives the participants are peddling.

I wonder if we'll start seeing 1) better tools for historians, and 2) tools historians currently used accelerated/improved to do more real-time news.

Re: How can you know what news is real?

#56

Post by Joe-Z » Thu, Nov 28, 2019, 12:56 PM UTC

frankbreetz wrote: post #50

lm28469 wrote: post #41

The real question is why are people following the news anyway? It's pure entertainment at that point. "Hey Karen have you seen that a girl was raped and murdered 1000 miles away from you ? Have you heard what _unknown politician of a third world country you couldn't even place on a map_ said ! that's outrageous. A cop killed an innocent man today #thoughtsAndPrayers". The world would be a much better place if everybo…

News also includes what laws are passed, what court decisions were made, it's a citizen's responsibility to be an informed citizen.

Yes, but these 'real news' as we could call them, will probably have a legal requirement to be posted on a government-owned source also (and I'm assuming this source would be free of twisted profit incentives). So, still not required to immerse yourself in the constant stream of noise and manipulation that is 'the news'.

Re: How can you know what news is real?

#57

Post by dexen » Thu, Nov 28, 2019, 12:58 PM UTC

tekmate wrote: post #36

joaodlf wrote: post #26

I have, sadly, given up. I can't stand watching/reading the news and feeling that I am quite possibly being manipulated, so I have completely given up. Anything I do read, I mistrust. I don't want to be ignorant towards what is happening around me, but I feel like I have no choice, I don't want to become bitter and "pick a side", I prefer to remain ignorant. Even when friends say "Oh, but try this source, they are so…

identify potential biases in a source and then filter the information of that source through a bias lense, then use another source and do the same thing to triangulate "the truth" giving up on consuming news because everything might be biased is simply lazy

>giving up on consuming news because everything might be biased is simply lazy

Not at all; it's a valid strategy. The events and the state of the world can be deduced from observing the (near) past just as well as from reading the news, perhaps even better. A person can stay reasonably well informed by skipping on the news, and instead observing actual events, actual outcomes, that is the (near) history. Both in person and through social circles, in particular friends and family. You could call it "the slow way" of getting the news.

As noted in OP and elsewhere in discussion, the news are rife with misinformation. It follows news listeners, subject to the misinformation, end up with various misconceptions and strong emotions, thus prone to doing things no well informed person would do. Having a sizable segment of population not subject to the news, and instead informed via others means is a natural counter-balance, a safety mechanism against single mindedness imparted by the centralized news.

Re: How can you know what news is real?

#58

Post by lowmagnet » Thu, Nov 28, 2019, 12:58 PM UTC

jl6 wrote: post #51

tekmate wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

identify potential biases in a source and then filter the information of that source through a bias lense, then use another source and do the same thing to triangulate "the truth" giving up on consuming news because everything might be biased is simply lazy

Beware that the truth is not necessarily the midpoint between opposing opinions. Sometimes a source with a general bias gets it exactly right in a specific case.

And there aren't always "two sides" to an issue; there are arguments made in bad faith and those in good faith and it's hard to tell the difference.

Re: How can you know what news is real?

#59

Post by jl6 » Thu, Nov 28, 2019, 12:58 PM UTC

zabana wrote: post #38

krapp wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think one problem is that, due to general mistrust and paranoia regarding the "mainstream media," people tend to conflate bias with intentional fabrication and propaganda.

there have been numerous examples of fabricated information or outright propaganda in mainstream media in the past. Most recently the fake news stories regarding ISIS from ABC. https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/dan-gainor-fake-news-abc-fal...

Good to see Fox News holding other media to the same high standard of fact-based neutrality and political independence to which it holds itself.

Re: How can you know what news is real?

#60

Post by zouhair » Thu, Nov 28, 2019, 12:59 PM UTC

lm28469 wrote: post #41

The real question is why are people following the news anyway? It's pure entertainment at that point. "Hey Karen have you seen that a girl was raped and murdered 1000 miles away from you ? Have you heard what _unknown politician of a third world country you couldn't even place on a map_ said ! that's outrageous. A cop killed an innocent man today #thoughtsAndPrayers". The world would be a much better place if everybo…

Well that's short sighted. It's because of this flawed logic that a lot of Americans think they have the best education/healthcare in the World.

Just now that they started to look at what is happening elsewhere that they are starting to understand what they are lacking.

Here is the thing, and it works for everything in life: Knowing a thing is almost always better than not knowing it, even if it is not clear what use to make of it.

This said knowing what is happening near you is also very important.