3 ms·

The fixed-width revelation was pretty shocking. It takes a lot of guts to admit, mid-article, that your entire article is nonsense; and then keep writing. How

The fixed-width revelation was pretty shocking. It takes a lot of guts to admit, mid-article, that your entire article is nonsense; and then keep writing. How could the Washington Post print this?

marcoperaza 8y ago
>“Briefly stated, the Gell-Mann Amnesia effect is as follows. You open the newspaper to an article on some subject you know well. In Murray's case, physics. In mine, show business. You read the article and see the journalist has absolutely no understanding of either the facts or the issues. Often, the article is so wrong it actually presents the story backward—reversing cause and effect. I call these the "wet streets cause rain" stories. Paper's full of them. In any case, you read with exasperation or amusement the multiple errors in a story, and then turn the page to national or international affairs, and read as if the rest of the newspaper was somehow more accurate about Palestine than the baloney you just read. You turn the page, and forget what you know.”
ILikeConemowk 8y ago
> How could the Washington Post print this? Because it's the Washington Post? For a start: 'Fake News' And How The Washington Post Rewrote Its Story On Russian Hacking Of The Power Grid https://www.forbes.com/sites/kalevleetaru/2017/01/01/fake-news-and-how-the-washington-post-rewrote-its-story-on-russian-hacking-of-the-power-grid/#7d3c2e4b7ad5 https://www.forbes.com/sites/kalevleetaru/2017/01/01/fake-ne...
dingo_bat 8y ago
> How could the Washington Post print this? Washington Post has consistently shown their standards for journalism to be below the worst in the world. Even Al Jazeera is better. So I don't see any reason to be surprised. At least TFA was honest about the caveats.
- SeanLuke 8y ago
  > below the worst in the world Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. And this is a most extraordinary claim. Ridiculous bombast aside about an internationally recognized journalism outfit: you can't be "below the worst" thing.

The fixed-width revelation was pretty shocking. It takes a lot of guts to admit, mid-article, that your entire article is nonsense; and then keep writing. How could the Washington Post print this?

marcoperaza 8y ago

>“Briefly stated, the Gell-Mann Amnesia effect is as follows. You open the newspaper to an article on some subject you know well. In Murray's case, physics. In mine, show business. You read the article and see the journalist has absolutely no understanding of either the facts or the issues. Often, the article is so wrong it actually presents the story backward—reversing cause and effect. I call these the "wet streets cause rain" stories. Paper's full of them. In any case, you read with exasperation or amusement the multiple errors in a story, and then turn the page to national or international affairs, and read as if the rest of the newspaper was somehow more accurate about Palestine than the baloney you just read. You turn the page, and forget what you know.”

ILikeConemowk 8y ago

> How could the Washington Post print this? Because it's the Washington Post? For a start: 'Fake News' And How The Washington Post Rewrote Its Story On Russian Hacking Of The Power Grid https://www.forbes.com/sites/kalevleetaru/2017/01/01/fake-news-and-how-the-washington-post-rewrote-its-story-on-russian-hacking-of-the-power-grid/#7d3c2e4b7ad5 https://www.forbes.com/sites/kalevleetaru/2017/01/01/fake-ne...

dingo_bat 8y ago

> How could the Washington Post print this? Washington Post has consistently shown their standards for journalism to be below the worst in the world. Even Al Jazeera is better. So I don't see any reason to be surprised. At least TFA was honest about the caveats.

SeanLuke 8y ago
> below the worst in the world Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. And this is a most extraordinary claim. Ridiculous bombast aside about an internationally recognized journalism outfit: you can't be "below the worst" thing.