5 ms·

I do find it fascinating the cries of "fake news" starting just after the election ended. I'm struggling to find the source of non-fake news. Honestly, I can't

I do find it fascinating the cries of "fake news" starting just after the election ended. I'm struggling to find the source of non-fake news. Honestly, I can't find it. If you're left-leaning, then it's obvious Breitbart, Fox, and friends are fake news. If you're right-leaning, it's obvious CNN, MSNBC, BBC, and friends are fake news. If you're centrist, like me, and you investigate the claims, they all turn out to be pretty much spot-on. All the above really are fake news. So what isn't? Is there a source of news that is at least close to correct, most of the time, even if the story doesn't play to their narrative?

hyperpape 10y ago
I'm a liberal with minor libertarian sympathies and I'll say that Fox News is bad, but I think it the average article on Fox is a far cry from what we're talking about with regard to fake news. I can also point to cases where the NYTimes has reported quite badly (Judith Miller, for instance), but all the major players are in the business of more or less accurate reporting colored by various editorial biases. That's in contrast to the things I see relatives sharing on Facebook where my first inclination is "time to go check snopes".
- Moshe_Silnorin 10y ago
  It's a bait and switch. Left-leaning people will push for vague policies within Google, FaceBook, and Twitter to curtail fake news. These policies will be applied inconsistently, which is why they will be purposefully vague. Both fake news and ideologically-improper news that also happens to be true will be filtered.
  - gnarbarian 10y ago
    Google does it with more than just news. Try shopping for a gun using google or craigslist sometime. (you can't) Edit: This post has been flagged for the second time now. An effective tactic for making stories drop unnaturally fast. IMO it's a hidden and incidious form of censorship and bias found in social media: http://i.imgur.com/Ba9Rt1C.png http://i.imgur.com/Ba9Rt1C.png
  - hyperpape 10y ago
    This is completely non-responsive.
gnarbarian 10y ago
You are totally correct. There is an utter crisis in news media today. There is no desire for journalistic integrity and the bias of each source is as plain as day. You can trust nothing at face value anymore. Even if there was a news source that kept it to "just the facts" minus all spin and hyperbole bias will creep in via WHICH facts are being reported. What makes one homicide or police shooting national news while the steady stream of deaths in Chicago go unmentioned? http://homicides.suntimes.com/ http://homicides.suntimes.com/ Or better yet, why not also show the number of people who die every day heart disease and cancer? The media seems resolute in warping our perception of risks toward political agendas. If there are ways to aggregate this kind of data daily or weekly it would be an excellent opportunity so use algorithms and user applied filters to attempt to create a source of news with the least bias possible. Edit: haha and now this article has been flagged for the second time. Pretty hilarious how determined people are to maintaining their echo chambers.
raisedbyninjas 10y ago
I think it's a disservice to lump all news organizations that have perceptible bias in with actual fake news content farms. We're talking about fake news now because the crisis has people reflecting on how this happened. We're accustomed to ignoring garbage forwarded by grandma. The fake news creators interviewed by NPR and WaPo both said the industry is growing and has turned political.
- gnarbarian 10y ago
  > NPR and WaPo It would be pretty hard to pick two more biased sources than NPR and WaPo.
  - grzm 10y ago
    News sources will be biased. That's a fact. But hard to pick two more biased sources than NPR and WaPo? Compared to what? Off the top of my head I'd say the National Review and the Nation would be two with stronger biases. What are your recommendations for less biased news sources?
    - gnarbarian 10y ago
      compared to any other main stream news organizations. The AP and reuters aren't that bad: https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/associated-press/ https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/associated-press/ https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/reuters/ https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/reuters/ https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/?s=National+Public+Radio https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/?s=National+Public+Radio https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/?s=Washington+Post https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/?s=Washington+Post
      - grzm 10y ago
        That's the first time I've ever heard of news agencies being included as part of the mainstream media. Learn something new everyday.

hyperpape 10y ago

I'm a liberal with minor libertarian sympathies and I'll say that Fox News is bad, but I think it the average article on Fox is a far cry from what we're talking about with regard to fake news. I can also point to cases where the NYTimes has reported quite badly (Judith Miller, for instance), but all the major players are in the business of more or less accurate reporting colored by various editorial biases. That's in contrast to the things I see relatives sharing on Facebook where my first inclination is "time to go check snopes".

Moshe_Silnorin 10y ago
It's a bait and switch. Left-leaning people will push for vague policies within Google, FaceBook, and Twitter to curtail fake news. These policies will be applied inconsistently, which is why they will be purposefully vague. Both fake news and ideologically-improper news that also happens to be true will be filtered.
- gnarbarian 10y ago
  Google does it with more than just news. Try shopping for a gun using google or craigslist sometime. (you can't) Edit: This post has been flagged for the second time now. An effective tactic for making stories drop unnaturally fast. IMO it's a hidden and incidious form of censorship and bias found in social media: http://i.imgur.com/Ba9Rt1C.png http://i.imgur.com/Ba9Rt1C.png
- hyperpape 10y ago
  This is completely non-responsive.

gnarbarian 10y ago

You are totally correct. There is an utter crisis in news media today. There is no desire for journalistic integrity and the bias of each source is as plain as day. You can trust nothing at face value anymore. Even if there was a news source that kept it to "just the facts" minus all spin and hyperbole bias will creep in via WHICH facts are being reported. What makes one homicide or police shooting national news while the steady stream of deaths in Chicago go unmentioned? http://homicides.suntimes.com/ http://homicides.suntimes.com/ Or better yet, why not also show the number of people who die every day heart disease and cancer? The media seems resolute in warping our perception of risks toward political agendas. If there are ways to aggregate this kind of data daily or weekly it would be an excellent opportunity so use algorithms and user applied filters to attempt to create a source of news with the least bias possible. Edit: haha and now this article has been flagged for the second time. Pretty hilarious how determined people are to maintaining their echo chambers.

raisedbyninjas 10y ago

I think it's a disservice to lump all news organizations that have perceptible bias in with actual fake news content farms. We're talking about fake news now because the crisis has people reflecting on how this happened. We're accustomed to ignoring garbage forwarded by grandma. The fake news creators interviewed by NPR and WaPo both said the industry is growing and has turned political.

gnarbarian 10y ago
> NPR and WaPo It would be pretty hard to pick two more biased sources than NPR and WaPo.
- grzm 10y ago
  News sources will be biased. That's a fact. But hard to pick two more biased sources than NPR and WaPo? Compared to what? Off the top of my head I'd say the National Review and the Nation would be two with stronger biases. What are your recommendations for less biased news sources?
  - gnarbarian 10y ago
    compared to any other main stream news organizations. The AP and reuters aren't that bad: https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/associated-press/ https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/associated-press/ https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/reuters/ https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/reuters/ https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/?s=National+Public+Radio https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/?s=National+Public+Radio https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/?s=Washington+Post https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/?s=Washington+Post
    - grzm 10y ago
      That's the first time I've ever heard of news agencies being included as part of the mainstream media. Learn something new everyday.