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Free speech is a central tenet of western democracies, and democratic republics like the USA. Suppressing 'Fake News' argues against this differentiator from a

Free speech is a central tenet of western democracies, and democratic republics like the USA. Suppressing 'Fake News' argues against this differentiator from authoritarian control of information by non democratic government. Just as music radio lost its credibility and audience when Clearchannel dumbed it down to automated playlists in the intersts of maximizing corporate profits, 'main stream news' (MSN) has lost most of its credibility this decade. There is no 'news', there is only information to be parsed and compared. The media is owned by a few large global conglomerates and there are no investigative reporters under their employ.

specialist 10y ago
"Suppressing 'Fake News' argues against this..." Anyone fluffed up about 'fake news' is ignorant of the history of journalism. It's always been yellow journalism, propaganda, pamphleteering, grinding of axes. William Randolph Hearst? We had brief respite from 1945 to maybe 1990. And sadly we thought the pretense of objectivity and efforts at fact checking was the norm. "The media is owned by a few large global conglomerates and there are no investigative reporters under their employ." There are four styles. Ad-based, subscription/endowment supported (Economist, CSM), reader/viewer supported (eg public radio), and whacko bloggers [0]. It's all about the incentives. "MSM" is corporate media infotainment, nothing more. A comment down-thread suggests that any media that is ad-supported is now suspect. I agree. [0] Like me. I was an activist who blogged. FOIAs, public hearings, fact checking.
- olivermarks 10y ago
  Your 4th media style 'whacko bloggers' disrespects the many people writing very coherent, logical and well thought out commentaries and ideas. Yes there are plenty of crazy people - always has been - but these days the MSM reproduces tweets and steals from bloggers. I would argue free speech on the internet is very important to counter all the yellow journalism, paid promo pieces and straight up propoganda...
  - specialist 10y ago
    You have to be more than a little crazy to keep at it as long as I did. Fighting city hall doesn't pay very well. Burnout is intense. Opportunity costs. Family. Etc. Some are able to make the jump to a sustainable living. Greg Palast, Mark Crispin Miller, Glenn Greenwald, Amy Goodman, Digby? Struggling to think of examples. Having patronage, doing the book tour circuit, selling bling, commissions. Actually, I don't have any ready example of other wackos like me (working on local issues) that have been able to keep it (independently) up long term. Edit #1: Aha, I just thought of one. Alice Woldt and the Washington Public Campaigns crew have been plugging away for at least a decade. Edit #2: Oops. How could I forget my bestie Garret Cobarr's privacy work. His magnum opus book about privacy and identity should be out this spring. Gods willing, he'll be able to pay rent doing privacy work. And, for the record, Garret's at least as crazy as me. https://twitter.com/garrettcobarr https://twitter.com/garrettcobarr Activist bloggers do find gigs as reporters and policy wonks. I've seen some parlay their activism into a non-profit org 501(c)(3) that they then run. Some friends are doing that right now with regards to education funding. Though I doubt their org will become their full time jobs. Alas, I wasn't able to work the non-profit angle.

specialist 10y ago

"Suppressing 'Fake News' argues against this..." Anyone fluffed up about 'fake news' is ignorant of the history of journalism. It's always been yellow journalism, propaganda, pamphleteering, grinding of axes. William Randolph Hearst? We had brief respite from 1945 to maybe 1990. And sadly we thought the pretense of objectivity and efforts at fact checking was the norm. "The media is owned by a few large global conglomerates and there are no investigative reporters under their employ." There are four styles. Ad-based, subscription/endowment supported (Economist, CSM), reader/viewer supported (eg public radio), and whacko bloggers [0]. It's all about the incentives. "MSM" is corporate media infotainment, nothing more. A comment down-thread suggests that any media that is ad-supported is now suspect. I agree. [0] Like me. I was an activist who blogged. FOIAs, public hearings, fact checking.

olivermarks 10y ago
Your 4th media style 'whacko bloggers' disrespects the many people writing very coherent, logical and well thought out commentaries and ideas. Yes there are plenty of crazy people - always has been - but these days the MSM reproduces tweets and steals from bloggers. I would argue free speech on the internet is very important to counter all the yellow journalism, paid promo pieces and straight up propoganda...
- specialist 10y ago
  You have to be more than a little crazy to keep at it as long as I did. Fighting city hall doesn't pay very well. Burnout is intense. Opportunity costs. Family. Etc. Some are able to make the jump to a sustainable living. Greg Palast, Mark Crispin Miller, Glenn Greenwald, Amy Goodman, Digby? Struggling to think of examples. Having patronage, doing the book tour circuit, selling bling, commissions. Actually, I don't have any ready example of other wackos like me (working on local issues) that have been able to keep it (independently) up long term. Edit #1: Aha, I just thought of one. Alice Woldt and the Washington Public Campaigns crew have been plugging away for at least a decade. Edit #2: Oops. How could I forget my bestie Garret Cobarr's privacy work. His magnum opus book about privacy and identity should be out this spring. Gods willing, he'll be able to pay rent doing privacy work. And, for the record, Garret's at least as crazy as me. https://twitter.com/garrettcobarr https://twitter.com/garrettcobarr Activist bloggers do find gigs as reporters and policy wonks. I've seen some parlay their activism into a non-profit org 501(c)(3) that they then run. Some friends are doing that right now with regards to education funding. Though I doubt their org will become their full time jobs. Alas, I wasn't able to work the non-profit angle.