4 ms·

"Most of the content we read in a newspaper [sic] is false" is a very strong assertion to make, especially because in this case it is blatantly untrue. Basecamp

"Most of the content we read in a newspaper [sic] is false" is a very strong assertion to make, especially because in this case it is blatantly untrue. Basecamp's "radical transparency" was accompanied by a lot of explicit public messaging from the company's leadership, along with disclosure of internal discussions and the circumstances that led to the new policy. You can assert that there were falsehoods in particular articles about Basecamp, but everything I read tended to be fully supported by public disclosures from the company or disclosures from veteran employees (not a disgruntled junior employee that got laid off, someone with 5+ years at the company who decided to depart). The author has points they intend to make and I won't claim that they are implicitly untrue (the argument that newspapers serve as unintentional propaganda has a lot of support behind it), but this situation does not support the points they are trying to make.

Ygg2 6y ago
> "Most of the content we read in a newspaper [sic] is false" is a very strong assertion to make, Just read an average science column.
adolph 6y ago
Not quoting the full statement is less than honest. “Most of content we read on newspapper is false, not intentionnaly but because of lack of seriousness of the profession.” https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/65213-briefly-stated-the-gell-mann-amnesia-effect-is-as-follows-you https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/65213-briefly-stated-the-ge...
- Ygg2 6y ago
  Lets not be too generous. No one wants to read "Investigation of tomato juice in mouse models cured cancer in 52.36%, compared to test group". They want to read "Tomato juice cures cancer". People want easy solutions and cheap answers. Sadly reality doesn't work like that.
  - adolph 6y ago
    So true. The author implies that “lack of seriousness” causes newspaper falsehoods and thus falls into the cognitive bias of confusing bugs with features. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manufacturing_Consent https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manufacturing_Consent
  - tomschlick 6y ago
    Yup, especially when you get to higher levels of government. If the solution was easy, it wouldn't reach the presidential level for instance. A low level manager at a department would have fixed it without notice or media attention. When shit reaches that level, its because both sides have big disadvantages and they need someone to make the hard choice of who to hurt.

Ygg2 6y ago

> "Most of the content we read in a newspaper [sic] is false" is a very strong assertion to make, Just read an average science column.

adolph 6y ago

Not quoting the full statement is less than honest. “Most of content we read on newspapper is false, not intentionnaly but because of lack of seriousness of the profession.” https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/65213-briefly-stated-the-gell-mann-amnesia-effect-is-as-follows-you https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/65213-briefly-stated-the-ge...

Ygg2 6y ago
Lets not be too generous. No one wants to read "Investigation of tomato juice in mouse models cured cancer in 52.36%, compared to test group". They want to read "Tomato juice cures cancer". People want easy solutions and cheap answers. Sadly reality doesn't work like that.
- adolph 6y ago
  So true. The author implies that “lack of seriousness” causes newspaper falsehoods and thus falls into the cognitive bias of confusing bugs with features. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manufacturing_Consent https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manufacturing_Consent
- tomschlick 6y ago
  Yup, especially when you get to higher levels of government. If the solution was easy, it wouldn't reach the presidential level for instance. A low level manager at a department would have fixed it without notice or media attention. When shit reaches that level, its because both sides have big disadvantages and they need someone to make the hard choice of who to hurt.