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I appreciate the recognition that there is a problem in journalism. But I'm afraid that the fundamental problems are problems in the nature of humans and aren't
by mikedilger 8y ago
I appreciate the recognition that there is a problem in journalism. But I'm afraid that the fundamental problems are problems in the nature of humans and aren't ameniable to this sort of solution. Those problems include:
1) Many people choose to believe what feels right to them, rather than dispassionately seeing things for what they are. Unfortunately there are a great many of people that do this regularly, and they have practiced this their entire lives. Richard Feynman cautioned us in saying that "The first principle is that you must not fool yourself - and you are the easiest person to fool." That caution was aimed at scientists who are already among the most objective of us, yet they can still suffer from this ailment.
2) When people talk about the facts, they rarely just lay out the facts dispassionately and without judgement. Humans need a motivation to tell a story, and most people's motivations include convincing other people to support their ideology, or else berating those who dont. Facts are organized within a mental framework of the ideology of the teller, wrapped up in beliefs, desires, and biases andcarry additional information about which ideological position you ought to hold -- sometimes they are even intended to mislead and manipulate the listener.
The modern news media is composed of businesses in search of profits. That goal is often not aligned with a straight reporting of facts. By pandering to an audiences ideology they increase ratings. By reporting on salacious and exciting news, even if incorrect, they get ratings. Buyer beware.
- Razengan 8y ago3) Whenever there is a chance to gain wealth and/or influence without immediate disadvantages, humans will usually take it.
- ARandomerDude 8y agoIndeed. The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?
- Jenz 8y ago> desperately sick How so?
- mjlangiii 8y agoThe common sentiment that marriage takes hard work on the daily or else it turns sour, ideas like that point to a fundamental difficulty with the human heart, no?
- Jenz 8y agoWell, this seems very subjective. Personally, I believe there are many ways to soothe one's heart. Though without any care, you're probably right.
- admax88q 8y ago> Unfortunately there are a great many of people that do this regularly, and they have practiced this their entire lives. A certain percentage of the population does not have critical thinking skills and never will. However a project like this is useful for those of us who do. If journalists don't disclose their data and reasoning its hard even for those of us inclined to verify or fact check anything, leaving us susceptible to propaganda.
- agumonkey 8y agoAnother fact, in some domains I don't think reporters can ever write anything useful, it would take very high viewpoint and years of experience in the field to say something .. Reporter reports
- jimmy1 8y agoFor an excellent book on your points, see "The Righteous Mind" https://righteousmind.com/ https://righteousmind.com/
- atoav 8y agoThe answer to 1 most likely lies in education and (more broadly) reduction of economic segregation. You will not save everbody with this, but the majority. I would divide media roughly into three classes: 1. The worst: those who make up things with no base in reality at all 2. The standard: those who don’t make up things willfully, but manipulate through selective focus (leaving out certain topics while pushing others) 3. The good: those who carefully try not to lie and try to avoid selection based manipulation, while clearly marking the border between facts and opinion. This concept would only really prevent the behaviour of the worst – IF they would care about getting caught in a lie. The fact that there _are_ watchblogs that point out lies with no effect shows probably that only technology is not a practical solution. What kinda works is having a national press council that has the power to sue media plattforms to print corrections when they get things wrong. Even the most uneducated would think about changing the newspaper when ever other issue starts with a correction notice. Let alone the advertisement partners. Technology like this is cool, but must always be emmbeded in some powerful institution.
- stcredzero 8y agoWhat kinda works is having a national press council that has the power to sue media plattforms to print corrections when they get things wrong. Even the most uneducated would think about changing the newspaper when ever other issue starts with a correction notice. Actually, people have been calling out media organizations and getting them to print retractions and even suing them. When they do retract, they do it in a way where it doesn't get much space and much attention. (The mainstream media is particularly bad about covering this sort of thing.) Some (even mainstream) organizations in 2018/2019 would simply ignore the claims. Some (even mainstream) even quietly edited articles without retraction. In any case, I don't think most media organizations care, because most of the time, the retraction isn't nearly as viral as the initial clickbait story, and even if there was outrage, that would still ultimately benefit them by ultimately generating more attention.
- atoav 8y agoI grew up in Austria, and over here they usually have to print it on the front page and not too small. Same goes for web stuff.