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I'm too young to recall the past in rose tinted glasses, but recently I've started to be more skeptical by day if "objective journalism" or even "journalism", a

I'm too young to recall the past in rose tinted glasses, but recently I've started to be more skeptical by day if "objective journalism" or even "journalism", as the third check of balance of power that is usually taught in schools, was ever a thing. On another HN post about fast.ai CoC debacle someone pointed out that media before the 20th century was not much more different than twitter today; a lot of rumours, unchecked facts, misinformation, you name it. More and more it seems like the high paragon of journalism that most journalists claims as an excuse is just that; an idealized excuse. It reminds me of old religious zealots shoving some holy texts in front of you to show how "good" they are, but if you dare peek behind their back, you'd see a mountain of bodies. Point that out and you can see truly how remarkably fast an human brain can compute hundreds of excuses.

dredmorbius 6y ago
Studying media history and theory is useful, all the more so when you realise that a major component of the high (information) technology sector is really just the current leading edge of a long history of media and communications.[1] I've compiled a bibliography (and am still working through it myself): https://old.reddit.com/r/dredmorbius/comments/7k7l4m/media_advertising_sustainability_externalities/ https://old.reddit.com/r/dredmorbius/comments/7k7l4m/media_a... The technology both affects and interoperates with social and individual dynamics --- characteristics and limitations of understanding and processing information, distortions and manipulations. The era of principled professional journalism began afteer Walter Lippmann published Public Opinion in 1922 and arguably peaked in the 1970s in the U.S. Its decline has been accelerating through the Internet era, notably following the 2007-8 Global Financial Crisis, and possibly facing its death knell with the Covid Depression. Humans are story-generating systems. Some stories are simple entertainment, some tribe-building, some sense-making, some rationalisation, the last often including denial. ________________________________ Notes: 1. Other major divisions are control systems, business and financial systems, and scientific sensing and processing.

dredmorbius 6y ago

Studying media history and theory is useful, all the more so when you realise that a major component of the high (information) technology sector is really just the current leading edge of a long history of media and communications.[1] I've compiled a bibliography (and am still working through it myself): https://old.reddit.com/r/dredmorbius/comments/7k7l4m/media_advertising_sustainability_externalities/ https://old.reddit.com/r/dredmorbius/comments/7k7l4m/media_a... The technology both affects and interoperates with social and individual dynamics --- characteristics and limitations of understanding and processing information, distortions and manipulations. The era of principled professional journalism began afteer Walter Lippmann published Public Opinion in 1922 and arguably peaked in the 1970s in the U.S. Its decline has been accelerating through the Internet era, notably following the 2007-8 Global Financial Crisis, and possibly facing its death knell with the Covid Depression. Humans are story-generating systems. Some stories are simple entertainment, some tribe-building, some sense-making, some rationalisation, the last often including denial. ________________________________ Notes: 1. Other major divisions are control systems, business and financial systems, and scientific sensing and processing.