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If you want the "pure" news as in 1921, subscribe directly to AP/AFP/Reuters/EFE. The world has changed, and most of the added value of newspapers now comes fro

by axlee 6y ago

If you want the "pure" news as in 1921, subscribe directly to AP/AFP/Reuters/EFE. The world has changed, and most of the added value of newspapers now comes from contextualization that you seem to disregard to having no value, despite being the higher journalistic effort. It's easy to report that a chicken died crossing the road, it's a lot harder to explain what chain of events led to a chicken dying crossing the road.

AnthonyMouse 6y ago
> The world has changed, and most of the added value of newspapers now comes from contextualization that you seem to disregard to having no value, despite being the higher journalistic effort. But that's not what most of them are doing anymore. It's not so much context as it is agenda. The stories are written to lead you to a particular conclusion. From right now: NY Times: Republicans are abruptly pushing Americans to wear masks, despite President Trump’s resistance. Fox News: 'Looked like the Lone Ranger': Trump jokes about wearing mask, supports it And that's not even getting into how the stories are chosen or prioritized. NY Times: Some States and Cities Halt Reopenings As U.S. Cases Surge Fox News: Media narrative of peaceful Seattle CHOP zone turned upside down They've chosen sides. Maybe they always had, but it seems more blatant now. They're not even pretending anymore.
- mc32 6y ago
  I agree. Before it was a more or less united America vs the commies and the commies were bad and we weren’t perfect and we had some housecleaning to do... Now it’s all narrative and the focus is pannational. Not much has a local flavor. It’s not what’s good for Canadians or Ghanaians, it’s what can Canadians and Ghanaians do to make the world better (despite there being lots of things Ghanaians and Canadians could be doing in their own backyards to improve the life of their own downtrodden. It feels like a recast comintern.
- jussij 6y ago
  I would say Fox News is a classic example of a Rupert Murdoch news outlet. And since Murdoch likes to run his news outlets with an iron fist, these news outlets tend to report the news in a manner that strongly reflects Murdoch's thinking at the time. Any thing Murdoch has owned and run has always comes with a level of Murdoch bias.
- kabacha 6y ago
  Fox News isn't even a news source — of course they "inject agenda". As for NY Times I don't feel see any agendas in the titles, am I missing something?
  - AnthonyMouse 6y ago
    > Fox News isn't even a news source — of course they "inject agenda". You could say that about a lot of places these days. > As for NY Times I don't feel see any agendas in the titles, am I missing something? In the first case they're both covering the exact same story but putting the opposite spin on it. Trump recommends that people wear a mask but then he often doesn't wear one himself. He says he doesn't wear it when he's only around people who have already been tested, which could be true enough but I suspect a big reason is that it impairs communication. Human communication is lossy and full of redundancy to compensate. If you don't quite hear something but you can see their lips moving you still know what they said. People say as much with facial expressions as with words. But not if you have a mask over your face. Trump's primary job right now is communicating, so "get Trump to wear a mask whenever he's talking to the public" becomes a priority for anybody who doesn't like him, because they have a plausible-sounding line about him setting an example, so it's a win-win for them -- either they paint him as reckless for not wearing a mask or they get him to wear it which impairs his communication. The media writes a hundred stories about it a week. Fox is only even covering that story to try to defend him, the others are using it as a political weapon and they know it. A mask also reminds everybody of the pandemic and a pandemic is always going to be bad for the incumbent. Which is the issue with the other story -- not the contents but the priority. Trump has been wanting to reopen the country, so reopening problems in some places are bad for Trump, so that's their top story. Important things happening in Hong Kong right now. I think there's some BLM stuff going on too. It would be one thing if this was an anomaly, but it's consistent. The Times literally has a thing on their site right now called "Meet the Supporters Trump has Lost."

by axlee 6y ago

AnthonyMouse 6y ago

> The world has changed, and most of the added value of newspapers now comes from contextualization that you seem to disregard to having no value, despite being the higher journalistic effort. But that's not what most of them are doing anymore. It's not so much context as it is agenda. The stories are written to lead you to a particular conclusion. From right now: NY Times: Republicans are abruptly pushing Americans to wear masks, despite President Trump’s resistance. Fox News: 'Looked like the Lone Ranger': Trump jokes about wearing mask, supports it And that's not even getting into how the stories are chosen or prioritized. NY Times: Some States and Cities Halt Reopenings As U.S. Cases Surge Fox News: Media narrative of peaceful Seattle CHOP zone turned upside down They've chosen sides. Maybe they always had, but it seems more blatant now. They're not even pretending anymore.

mc32 6y ago
I agree. Before it was a more or less united America vs the commies and the commies were bad and we weren’t perfect and we had some housecleaning to do... Now it’s all narrative and the focus is pannational. Not much has a local flavor. It’s not what’s good for Canadians or Ghanaians, it’s what can Canadians and Ghanaians do to make the world better (despite there being lots of things Ghanaians and Canadians could be doing in their own backyards to improve the life of their own downtrodden. It feels like a recast comintern.
jussij 6y ago
I would say Fox News is a classic example of a Rupert Murdoch news outlet. And since Murdoch likes to run his news outlets with an iron fist, these news outlets tend to report the news in a manner that strongly reflects Murdoch's thinking at the time. Any thing Murdoch has owned and run has always comes with a level of Murdoch bias.
kabacha 6y ago
Fox News isn't even a news source — of course they "inject agenda". As for NY Times I don't feel see any agendas in the titles, am I missing something?
- AnthonyMouse 6y ago
  > Fox News isn't even a news source — of course they "inject agenda". You could say that about a lot of places these days. > As for NY Times I don't feel see any agendas in the titles, am I missing something? In the first case they're both covering the exact same story but putting the opposite spin on it. Trump recommends that people wear a mask but then he often doesn't wear one himself. He says he doesn't wear it when he's only around people who have already been tested, which could be true enough but I suspect a big reason is that it impairs communication. Human communication is lossy and full of redundancy to compensate. If you don't quite hear something but you can see their lips moving you still know what they said. People say as much with facial expressions as with words. But not if you have a mask over your face. Trump's primary job right now is communicating, so "get Trump to wear a mask whenever he's talking to the public" becomes a priority for anybody who doesn't like him, because they have a plausible-sounding line about him setting an example, so it's a win-win for them -- either they paint him as reckless for not wearing a mask or they get him to wear it which impairs his communication. The media writes a hundred stories about it a week. Fox is only even covering that story to try to defend him, the others are using it as a political weapon and they know it. A mask also reminds everybody of the pandemic and a pandemic is always going to be bad for the incumbent. Which is the issue with the other story -- not the contents but the priority. Trump has been wanting to reopen the country, so reopening problems in some places are bad for Trump, so that's their top story. Important things happening in Hong Kong right now. I think there's some BLM stuff going on too. It would be one thing if this was an anomaly, but it's consistent. The Times literally has a thing on their site right now called "Meet the Supporters Trump has Lost."