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I used to like reading newspapers from across the spectrum. They had information and facts leavened with reasoned opinions, balanced perspectives. Reading the n

I used to like reading newspapers from across the spectrum. They had information and facts leavened with reasoned opinions, balanced perspectives. Reading the news media these days is no different than reading some rando on Twitter. Tragic it has come to do this. The NY Times had a truly abominable series of articles on these all focusing on the "negligence" of the current government on building dams. Take this one for dated 2/8: "Before Himalayan Flood, India Ignored Warnings of Development Risks" [1] Somewhere at the end: "Exactly what caused the latest flooding was not clear as of Monday night, with the Indian government saying a team of experts would visit the site to investigate. Ranjeet Rath, the head of India’s geological survey, said initial information suggested a “glacial calving at highest altitude.” Calving is the breaking of ice chunks from a glacier’s edge." Dams had absolutely nothing to do with this tragedy. Some folks on Twitter are claiming that Dams might have reduced casualties downstream by modulating the flow but every single article seems to have an anti-dam agenda. I too hate the aesthetic of dams because they are monolithic and massive and alter the landscape. There is something primal within us which clamors for unaltered nature. I also don't like the eyesore of the gas-fired power plant a two miles away from where I live. But I don't try to warp every tragedy and lay it at the feet of the power plant to further my aesthetic biases. [1] https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/08/world/asia/india-flood-ignored-warnings.html https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/08/world/asia/india-flood-ig...

actuator 6y ago
NYT might be a paragon of journalism for American issues but it is hardly a good source for news about countries like China or India. I have been following their international coverage for some time and what they have mastered is the art of misleading through omission. Whether that is intended or just by virtue of hiring journalists and op-ed writers from the same echo chamber, that I don't know. It is smart in a way actually, as they rarely write outright lies. What they will do instead is just cover the points of one side, keep doing it through several articles and someone following NYT will have a very different idea of an event. I am not sure how NYT is gauged inside China as I can't read their social media but I am surprised NYT is treated like sacrosanct by Indians with their critical articles of the establishment being widely shared there. Just look at the coverage of the farmer protests in NYT, Guardian etc. So when these same platforms complain about Facebook eating their lunch and allowing fake news, I have no sympathy for them as their holier than thou attitude for their own content is just off putting.
- haltingproblem 6y ago
  I broadly agree with what you are saying. Most of the journalists covering India have an left-bias or are from the opposite ideological/religious spectrum. Modi has won the last two general elections with an overwhelming majority and regularly gets approval ratings highest of any world leader but NYT has not done a single positive article on him. Guess 1.3B Indians wrong and NYT right. If that is not blinkered colonialist superiority complex, I don't know what is. You are getting downvoted by the wide HN audience, I guess the NYT has fans on HN ;)
  - temp-dude-87844 6y ago
    I broadly agree with both of you on the nature of coverage in mainstream Western [1] generalist publications about topics on India and China (but also Southeast Asia and Africa, to a point). In my observation, a lot of the coverage on those parts of the world is hollow and lacks sophisticated contextualization along a variety of local and global concerns. If local concerns are noted, it's either an echo of popular Western concern, or some jarring evocation of culture shock and poverty porn. Notable exceptions include the BBC, who take better care to explain local concerns in greater depth, although they do so in a characteristically terse style that doesn't play well among the New York Times or The Atlantic crowd. [1] Western here is a byword for US, UK, CA, AU, NZ in the Anglosphere, but also some of the similarly leaning publications in Europe publishing in English.

actuator 6y ago

NYT might be a paragon of journalism for American issues but it is hardly a good source for news about countries like China or India. I have been following their international coverage for some time and what they have mastered is the art of misleading through omission. Whether that is intended or just by virtue of hiring journalists and op-ed writers from the same echo chamber, that I don't know. It is smart in a way actually, as they rarely write outright lies. What they will do instead is just cover the points of one side, keep doing it through several articles and someone following NYT will have a very different idea of an event. I am not sure how NYT is gauged inside China as I can't read their social media but I am surprised NYT is treated like sacrosanct by Indians with their critical articles of the establishment being widely shared there. Just look at the coverage of the farmer protests in NYT, Guardian etc. So when these same platforms complain about Facebook eating their lunch and allowing fake news, I have no sympathy for them as their holier than thou attitude for their own content is just off putting.

haltingproblem 6y ago
I broadly agree with what you are saying. Most of the journalists covering India have an left-bias or are from the opposite ideological/religious spectrum. Modi has won the last two general elections with an overwhelming majority and regularly gets approval ratings highest of any world leader but NYT has not done a single positive article on him. Guess 1.3B Indians wrong and NYT right. If that is not blinkered colonialist superiority complex, I don't know what is. You are getting downvoted by the wide HN audience, I guess the NYT has fans on HN ;)
- temp-dude-87844 6y ago
  I broadly agree with both of you on the nature of coverage in mainstream Western [1] generalist publications about topics on India and China (but also Southeast Asia and Africa, to a point). In my observation, a lot of the coverage on those parts of the world is hollow and lacks sophisticated contextualization along a variety of local and global concerns. If local concerns are noted, it's either an echo of popular Western concern, or some jarring evocation of culture shock and poverty porn. Notable exceptions include the BBC, who take better care to explain local concerns in greater depth, although they do so in a characteristically terse style that doesn't play well among the New York Times or The Atlantic crowd. [1] Western here is a byword for US, UK, CA, AU, NZ in the Anglosphere, but also some of the similarly leaning publications in Europe publishing in English.