3 ms·

Drama sells better than facts.

by lisper 6y ago

sharken 6y ago
I wish it wasn't so, but it is. Early on it was reported that it could take weeks to reopen the passage, with a cost of billions to the world trade. Now, just one week later it's open again, barely enough time to make the alternate route a good idea. These rather unrealistic projections seem to have started with the Coronavirus reporting and is an interesting phenomenon in itself.
- arwineap 6y ago
  I don't think they had a previous sprint's velocity to base their estimates on; this was unprecedented. And honestly, had the ship still been stuck on wed, tide would not be as high for another moon cycle; further complicating.
- goodcanadian 6y ago
  I am not sure the projections were unrealistic. The full picture simply wasn't known or even knowable. The best likely scenario with the known information was a few hours; the worst likely scenario was weeks.
- Johnny555 6y ago
  it was reported that it could take weeks to reopen the passage That's true - it could have taken weeks and the cost of spoiled or delayed cargo could have reached billions. After a day of tugs unsuccessfully trying to free the ship, there was no reason to assume it would be a fast recovery. But the same news that said "it could take weeks" also reported on the ongoing efforts.
merely-unlikely 6y ago
Boring, facts and research based industry/financial news exists. But it can cost upwards of a couple hundred thousand dollars per year. If you want real news, you'll have to pay for it.
- srverma 6y ago
  What are your recommendations for real news? I've heard FT, WSJ, and the economist, and am looking to finally commit and sign up instead of relying on free. You get what you pay for is true in this case, and I don't wanna put drama based narratives in my head, which form my perception of the world.
  - merely-unlikely 6y ago
    I meant more industry specific news rather than general news. Organizations that cover niche topics, usually catering towards businesses or investors rather than the general public. In my case it's things like Covenant Review, Xtract Research, Debtwire, Reorg, etc. There are likely similar services catering to shipping and logistics that would provide better analysis on this situation than most general news organizations.
  - disgruntledphd2 6y ago
    The FT: - Good if you care about mostly business in the developed world (Europe and US). - Really, really, really good features, solid visualisation, and a fairly wide breath of writers in terms of opinions. The Economist: - Very opinionated, but extremely diverse coverage of lots of different parts of the world (I've never come across a better English language source on Africa, for example). - Weekly, so if you only want to read news occasionally, it may work for you WSJ: - Pretty good coverage overall, the US business/tech coverage is much better (in depth) than the FT's - Their opinion section is like the NYT in bizarro-world. In terms of price FT > Economist > WSJ. It really depends on what you're looking for, but the FT works for me as a daily driver (I ended my subscription to the Economist, and only signed up for the WSJ about a month ago).
    - srverma 6y ago
      Thank you, this is insightful. I fall squarely between FT & Economist, so I may end up subscribing to both, but given Economist is weekly, this might be a better match for my lifestyle.
- 6y ago

Drama sells better than facts.

by lisper 6y ago

Drama sells better than facts.

I wish it wasn't so, but it is. Early on it was reported that it could take weeks to reopen the passage, with a cost of billions to the world trade. Now, just one week later it's open again, barely enough time to make the alternate route a good idea. These rather unrealistic projections seem to have started with the Coronavirus reporting and is an interesting phenomenon in itself.

arwineap 6y ago
I don't think they had a previous sprint's velocity to base their estimates on; this was unprecedented. And honestly, had the ship still been stuck on wed, tide would not be as high for another moon cycle; further complicating.
goodcanadian 6y ago
I am not sure the projections were unrealistic. The full picture simply wasn't known or even knowable. The best likely scenario with the known information was a few hours; the worst likely scenario was weeks.
Johnny555 6y ago
it was reported that it could take weeks to reopen the passage That's true - it could have taken weeks and the cost of spoiled or delayed cargo could have reached billions. After a day of tugs unsuccessfully trying to free the ship, there was no reason to assume it would be a fast recovery. But the same news that said "it could take weeks" also reported on the ongoing efforts.

merely-unlikely 6y ago

Boring, facts and research based industry/financial news exists. But it can cost upwards of a couple hundred thousand dollars per year. If you want real news, you'll have to pay for it.

srverma 6y ago
What are your recommendations for real news? I've heard FT, WSJ, and the economist, and am looking to finally commit and sign up instead of relying on free. You get what you pay for is true in this case, and I don't wanna put drama based narratives in my head, which form my perception of the world.
- merely-unlikely 6y ago
  I meant more industry specific news rather than general news. Organizations that cover niche topics, usually catering towards businesses or investors rather than the general public. In my case it's things like Covenant Review, Xtract Research, Debtwire, Reorg, etc. There are likely similar services catering to shipping and logistics that would provide better analysis on this situation than most general news organizations.
- disgruntledphd2 6y ago
  The FT: - Good if you care about mostly business in the developed world (Europe and US). - Really, really, really good features, solid visualisation, and a fairly wide breath of writers in terms of opinions. The Economist: - Very opinionated, but extremely diverse coverage of lots of different parts of the world (I've never come across a better English language source on Africa, for example). - Weekly, so if you only want to read news occasionally, it may work for you WSJ: - Pretty good coverage overall, the US business/tech coverage is much better (in depth) than the FT's - Their opinion section is like the NYT in bizarro-world. In terms of price FT > Economist > WSJ. It really depends on what you're looking for, but the FT works for me as a daily driver (I ended my subscription to the Economist, and only signed up for the WSJ about a month ago).
  - srverma 6y ago
    Thank you, this is insightful. I fall squarely between FT & Economist, so I may end up subscribing to both, but given Economist is weekly, this might be a better match for my lifestyle.
6y ago