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> The right wing media spent decades on undermining the authority of the mainstream media... And the media didn't deserve it? Dan Rather? The Duke Lacrosse inc

> The right wing media spent decades on undermining the authority of the mainstream media... And the media didn't deserve it? Dan Rather? The Duke Lacrosse incident? Political donation habits of self described journalists? Media complicity in what should have been a MeToo moment for Bill Clinton in the 90s? Or how long Harvey Weinstein was an open secret? Hannibal Buress breaking the Cosby story? How about the crying wolf about how sexist Mitt Freaking Romney was so that there was no alarm left when a lech like Donald Trump came around? It's interesting that you use the term "fake news", because besides being a synonym for "lies" on the left, it's used in the alt-right (don't worry, not my camp) to label cherry-picked facts that conform to an existing narrative. Lies of bias and omission, basically. Mostly, though, to be more severe, the media concentrates on quick narratives, on sound bites, on visuals, and on fresh controversies. And increasingly these days, on reinforcing existing echo chambers. There are so many rumors, anonymous sources, and unverified stories that would have been left to tabloids 20 years ago. There are so many ridiculous articles rehashing twitter arguments in newsprint. And stories about what he-said-about-what-she-said-about-what-they-said. The media pride themselves on speaking truth to power, but the power they are not willing to speak to is the collective power of their perceived audiences. That goes for nearly all media outlets. They are beholden to remain popular within their respective niches. If it's not clear, I think there's a tribalism problem in most media organizations, and I think we have them to thank for being a significant contributor to Trump being elected. If people can blame the U.S. for instigating terrorism through its foreign policy, I can blame the media for instigating an ignorant and paranoid public through its pursuit of tribalism over truth.

chx 8y ago
I made a sloppy job of quoting him, here is the original: > "There's nobody," he lamented. "Let's say that Donald Trump basically makes whatever you want to say, whatever claim he wants to make. And everybody knows it's a falsehood. The big question of my audience, it is impossible for me to say that, 'By the way, you know it's false.' And they'll say, 'Why? I saw it on Allen B. West.' Or they'll say, 'I saw it on a Facebook page.' And I'll say, 'The New York Times did a fact check.' And they'll say, 'Oh, that's The New York Times. That's bulls---.' There's nobody - you can't go to anybody and say, 'Look, here are the facts.'" In https://www.businessinsider.com/conservative-media-trump-drudge-coulter-2016-8 https://www.businessinsider.com/conservative-media-trump-dru...

chx 8y ago

I made a sloppy job of quoting him, here is the original: > "There's nobody," he lamented. "Let's say that Donald Trump basically makes whatever you want to say, whatever claim he wants to make. And everybody knows it's a falsehood. The big question of my audience, it is impossible for me to say that, 'By the way, you know it's false.' And they'll say, 'Why? I saw it on Allen B. West.' Or they'll say, 'I saw it on a Facebook page.' And I'll say, 'The New York Times did a fact check.' And they'll say, 'Oh, that's The New York Times. That's bulls---.' There's nobody - you can't go to anybody and say, 'Look, here are the facts.'" In https://www.businessinsider.com/conservative-media-trump-drudge-coulter-2016-8 https://www.businessinsider.com/conservative-media-trump-dru...