3 ms·
We need a good catchy term for the fallacy that "the media is reporting on X but not reporting at all about Y!". This is mostly confirmation bias since no one
by dmschulman 8y ago
We need a good catchy term for the fallacy that "the media is reporting on X but not reporting at all about Y!".
This is mostly confirmation bias since no one individual has the bandwidth or resources to look at every single story produced on every single topic on a single day. I tend to see people complain "this tragedy happened today and I don't see it being reported by the news!", implying that the media has something to hide or they value certain groups of people over others, but this is not a claim worth its salt.
There are many reason, both from the organization's standpoint and from the individual's standpoint, why this claim isn't true. It's a weak argument that only serves the purpose of distracting from topics at hand.
- Kalium 8y agoI believe you're describing a form of whataboutism.
- zzzcpan 8y agoIt's relatively easy to analyze media outlets, quantify and classify what kind of stories they publish, what kind of topics they focus on, what views they are pushing, etc. Definitely doesn't take much time. Few hours per day for a few days can get you very far. But you probably need some background on propaganda first, manufacturing consent, things like that. It doesn't change anything though. Media is still not going to focus on important problems. It exists to influence people, not to report on all the right things. And it's worth pointing this out.