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Why is Mail Online going after the fact checkers?

theguardian.com

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Re: Why is Mail Online going after the fact checkers?

#71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

According to the epistemological principle of not being proved wrong while containing a reasonable amount of evidence to indicate that their report is in all probability true. Why are you asking such a vague, open-ended question?

A great deal of what Snopes does (particularly in recent years) is much closer to "opinion" than "fact", especially when they start labeling things "mostly false" or "mostly true" or whatever. You can't do that when you're dealing with actual facts.

Yes you can. What in the world? You can definitely say something that is partially true. That's what conspiracy theories are built off of: a tinge of truth.

"The sky is blue because other stars reflect blue light onto our atmosphere." How would you rate that, given Snopes' scales?

Do you have any specific examples where there was a concise yet opinionated decision on any published articles from Snopes that don't rely on hard evidence for their conclusion?

Re: Why is Mail Online going after the fact checkers?

#72
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a lawyer's saying that when the facts are against you, you pound on the table. The Guardian won't even repeat, let alone attempt to refute, anything published in the Daily Mail. Just let that sink in for a moment: the Guardian is unable to dispute the Daily Mail on a factual level on this one. Instead they talk about everything and anything else rather than discuss the actual subject matter in the reports. "N…

OK, but why should we take the Daily Mail's say-so that this factual subject matter is of great significance? (And if it is, would they be OK with similar investigations into the private lives of the Daily Mail's editors or publishers?) Seems to me you're in such a hurry to have a trial that you've decided not to wait for a crime to take place.

I don't and I haven't. My point is more to how they're creating a Streisand effect via their conduct.

No one is on trial here (unless there are still court proceedings I don't know of), but my point is more around how trying to refute something without discussing the allegations or any kind of evidence just makes it look like you're doing a cover-up, even if that's not your intent.

But there was a crime alleged here: embezzlement. Whether that was true or not I do not know, but it would seem like someone could check the legal documents. There might even be two (or more) crimes if any of these documents were sealed by the court.

I'm kind of surprised no one is interested in checking that out or discussing this for what is to be one of the biggest and most important fact-checking outfits on the planet with the upcoming Facebook deal.

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