2 ms·
One thing that the media never talks about is their own role in the success of conspiracy theories. By wanting to be "neutral" they love often presenting "both
by wazoox 5y ago
One thing that the media never talks about is their own role in the success of conspiracy theories. By wanting to be "neutral" they love often presenting "both sides" instead of just seeking to present the truth. So they'll invite both a climate sceptic and a climatologist and treat them both equally to be "fair". Or an "anti-vaccine" and a professor in epidemiology. A racist and a liberal. And on and on.
Of course the incurred raucous "debates" are good business: what's more clickbaity than a respectable professor losing their temper when confronted with a bad faith ideologue? But the end result is terrible for science, rationality and democracy.
- PaulKeeble 5y agoThey love to refer to fake news as something outside mainstream media as well, sites like newstrump and theonion. But given the media is caught making up stories on a weekly basis as well they never seem to show the self awareness they are a much bigger problem for fake news. They absolutely pass conspiracy theories and lie to their audience and then play constantly this game of blaming the audience for believing in it all when their correction likely never even gets published and if it does its no where near the prominence of the original clearly proven false story.
- tppiotrowski 5y agoWe need to hear both sides. Many cite revoking the Fairness Doctrine[1] as leading to the rise of far left/far right media we see today. I share your frustration but I believe we should strive to provide a more compelling argument than to censor the other side. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FCC_fairness_doctrine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FCC_fairness_doctrine