BS: Good reasons to mistrust the press

Subject: RE: BS: Good reasons to mistrust the press
From: Thompson
Date: 26 Dec 16 - 12:47 AM

No! This friend (and indeed another) send me emails with nutty links! And since they're both dear, kind people, I put up with it, and rarely even say "Ah wouldjever have a bitta sense".

I ditched Facebook years ago after a single week in which I had to change my privacy settings several times after 'updates' - each time, they'd hidden the privacy settings in a new place. I figured that any organisation that wanted my account not to be private so badly wasn't for me.

Subject: RE: BS: Good reasons to mistrust the press
From: Greg F.
Date: 26 Dec 16 - 10:54 AM

"Over the years, we've effectively brainwashed the core of our audience to distrust anything that they disagree with. And now it's gone too far," said John Ziegler, a conservative radio host, who has been critical of what he sees as excessive partisanship by pundits.

"Fake news was a term specifically about people who purposely fabricated stories for clicks and revenue," said David Mikkelson, the founder of Snopes, the myth-busting website. "Now it includes bad reporting, slanted journalism and outright propaganda. And I think we're doing a disservice to lump all those things together."

The right's labeling of "fake news" evokes one of the most successful efforts by conservatives to reorient how Americans think about news media objectivity: the move by Fox News to brand its conservative-slanted coverage as "fair and balanced." Traditionally, mainstream media outlets had thought of their own approach in those terms, viewing their coverage as strictly down the middle. Republicans often found that laughable.

As with Fox's ubiquitous promotion of its slogan, conservatives' appropriation of the "fake news" label is an effort to further erode the mainstream media's claim to be a reliable and accurate source.

"What I think is so unsettling about the fake news cries now is that their audience has already sort of bought into this idea that journalism has no credibility or legitimacy," said Angelo Carusone, the president of Media Matters, a liberal group that polices the news media for bias. "Therefore, by applying that term to credible outlets, it becomes much more believable."

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/25/us/politics/fake-news-claims-conservatives-mainstream-media-.html

Subject: RE: BS: Good reasons to mistrust the press
From: Greg F.
Date: 26 Dec 16 - 10:56 AM

Apologies, but one wonders if truly "dear, kind people" would deal in that sort of lunatic garbage and the very real damage that it causes.

YMMD

Subject: RE: BS: Good reasons to mistrust the press
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 26 Dec 16 - 12:37 PM

"Journalism is, almost by definition, a reasonably well-paid middle-class profession which requires a reasonably good education."

That's a bit like saying footballers by definition earn massive amounts, when in fact that's only true of a small elite. The large majority of journalists work in understaffed local papers earning pretty low wages.

Subject: RE: BS: Good reasons to mistrust the press
From: Mr Red
Date: 27 Dec 16 - 05:26 AM

you can quite often block the source of information and then you won't see any more posts they put up -
I do it as a policy. Mind you my Farcebook account is for Folk information, so I "Friend" good sources and hide all else. Farcebook hasn't really figured my preferences - It still fires the most varied ads at me. Fair mix of music, rarely Folk!

One day I will hit their limit on "hides" - a sort of challenge!

But, and it has to be a prominent BUT:
I am using a process that others use and have since the dawn of language, the end result is divisive. Farcebook & Twatter moreso.

The difference now it that newspapers have to be paid for, can be re-read and the content digested. Farcebook is free and worth a little less than that. Throwaway, the content is linear and not digested to such an extent. And not disseminated with much thought.
Farcebook is doing what has always been done, but doing it far faster with infinitely less oversight. That makes it insidious.

The lunatics have taken over the asylum. And we (how can I not be included?) are the loonies!

Subject: RE: BS: Good reasons to mistrust the press
From: Thompson
Date: 27 Dec 16 - 11:31 AM

Greg F, in the immortal words of the prophet Bonzo Dog, "My wife said: 'You're so gullible'." Good, kind people find it just as easy to believe lunatic theories ("Don't get your kids vaccinated! It's all a plot for control and will make them autistic!") as bad unkind people.

Subject: RE: BS: Good reasons to mistrust the press
From: akenaton
Date: 27 Dec 16 - 12:03 PM

I suppose that if anyone had complained about Thalidomide they would have been looked upon as "loonies".....and does opposition to MMR vaccination really equate to a conspiracy theory about autism?

Subject: RE: BS: Good reasons to mistrust the press
From: Greg F.
Date: 27 Dec 16 - 12:08 PM

Q:does opposition to MMR vaccination really equate to a conspiracy theory about autism?

A: Yes, in most cases. Sometimes its just simple stupidity.

Good, kind people find it just as easy to believe lunatic theories

Then the least they can do is accept responsibility for the very unfortunate outcomes of so doing - in the spirit of goodness and kindness, of course.

Subject: RE: BS: Good reasons to mistrust the press
From: akenaton
Date: 27 Dec 16 - 01:47 PM

Well I don't know Greg, I have no views on the MMR debate, but I decided not to have the flu vaccination. My neighbour had been having it for a few years then developed a super flu which he only just managed to recover from.....I'll take my chances! and I know you wont believe this, but I'm not stupid...or a "loonie" :0)

Subject: RE: BS: Good reasons to mistrust the press
From: Thompson
Date: 27 Dec 16 - 02:43 PM

Trouble with deciding not to be vaccinated, or not to vaccinate your children, is that if you or they come down with a particularly horrible virus that you've failed to vaccinate against, you or they may recover, but may cause others to be infected and die or be badly damaged.
But I didn't really intend to divert this into a vax/anti-vax debate. Really, what I wanted to say was that journalists generally are typical of the rest of the population - some right-wing, some left-wing, some a-bird-never-flew-on-one-wing, plenty not particularly brighter than the rest of the population. They're the most normative group you could find - much more so than many other professions. The one thing they're good at is interpreting difficult stuff so it's easy for everyone else to understand.
But back to the chicken; it won't roast itself, you know.

Subject: RE: BS: Good reasons to mistrust the press
From: Greg F.
Date: 27 Dec 16 - 03:07 PM

Ache:

You

Cannot

Get

The

Flu

from

being

vaccinated.

Now toddle off, like a good idiot.   ;>)

Subject: RE: BS: Good reasons to mistrust the press
From: Donuel
Date: 27 Dec 16 - 03:39 PM

Greg it was perceived that a autism conspiracy was arising even by the MMR lobbyists. Today we know there is no connection.
Insiders may remember that Dick Army did his best to protect big Pharma from lawsuits by changing a bill in the dead of night.

You can get diseases other than the flu from vaccine preparations.

Subject: RE: BS: Good reasons to mistrust the press
From: Joe Offer
Date: 27 Dec 16 - 04:35 PM

Donuel says: You can get diseases other than the flu from vaccine preparations.

I think I'd say: In rare situations, some people can get diseases from some vaccines and other injections. But for the most part, the vast majority of vaccines are rigidly tested and proven to be safe - far safer than going without the vaccine.

The anti-vax scare tactics were very harmful, causing disease and sometimes death to thousands of yuppie children whose parents knew better than the doctors. I had two anti-vaxers in my house at one time. They were more evangelistic than religious extremists.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: BS: Good reasons to mistrust the press
From: Greg F.
Date: 27 Dec 16 - 05:30 PM

The anti-vax scare tactics were very harmful

Were? The brain-dead anti-vaxers haven't gone away, Joe, and are very much still with us. And doing immesurable harm.

whose parents knew better than the doctors.

Of course they did, Joe - damn those educated elitists anyway - and then the same idiot parents elected Trump.

God Help AmeriKKKa.

HEIL TRUMP!!!

Subject: RE: BS: Good reasons to mistrust the press
From: Thompson
Date: 28 Dec 16 - 01:32 AM

An interesting piece by Monbiot on corporate manipulation of news.

Sample quote:

The less transparent [corporate-funded 'thinktanks'] are, the more airtime they receive. The organisation Transparify runs an annual survey of thinktanks. This year's survey reveals that in the UK only four thinktanks – the Adam Smith Institute, Centre for Policy Studies, Institute of Economic Affairs and Policy Exchange – "still consider it acceptable to take money from hidden hands behind closed doors". And these are the ones that are all over the media.

When the Institute of Economic Affairs, as it so often does, appears on the BBC to argue against regulating tobacco, shouldn't we be told that it has been funded by tobacco companies since 1963? There's a similar pattern in the US: the most vocal groups tend to be the most opaque.

Subject: RE: BS: Good reasons to mistrust the press
From: Teribus
Date: 28 Dec 16 - 02:25 AM

Greg F. - 27 Dec 16 - 03:07 PM - Totally misinterpreted, or deliberately misunderstood what Akenaton said there Greg F - Perhapps you should toddle off and learn to read posts then respond to any point made, instead of merely reacting and putting booth feet in your mouth.

Subject: RE: BS: Good reasons to mistrust the press
From: Greg F.
Date: 28 Dec 16 - 11:56 AM

HEIL T-BIRD!!

Subject: RE: BS: Good reasons to mistrust the press
From: Donuel
Date: 28 Dec 16 - 10:38 PM

a message to all good folks

what ever your local paper buy a subscription. NEWS papers will be able to hire more talent just as the Washington Post is doing