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> Far more people are skeptical of things like journalism I’ve spent a lot of time looking into that kind of skepticism. It turns out, the vast majority of pe

> Far more people are skeptical of things like journalism I’ve spent a lot of time looking into that kind of skepticism. It turns out, the vast majority of people who say they are "skeptical" of journalism adhere to far right, conspiracy-laden fringe news sites that create fake news and cast doubt on science. It’s safe to say that the entire "skeptical of journalism" meme can be traced to a handful of billionaires who have used dark money networks to go after journalists who have dared to investigate and publicize their malfeasance. These billionaires use the far right blogosphere and fringe news sites to encourage public mistrust of journalists for this reason. Sites known to do this include the Gateway Pundit, Newsmax, OANN, Breitbart, Fox, and most notably, the NaturalNews disinformation and propaganda network run by Mike Adams.

godshatter 4y ago
All it takes to be skeptical of journalism is to see how they handle a topic you personally know a lot about. No far right conspiracies required.
- sammalloy 4y ago
  That’s quite a broad brushed, generalization don’t you think? Also, it’s expecting journalism to be a perfect discipline run by imperfect humans. Skepticism is needed in just about every field; journalism is no exception or special case. In any case, intellectual honesty is needed here. The case against journalism comes primarily from those on the far right, from people who peddle pseudoscience, and from the rich and powerful. They don’t want to be held accountable, and they don’t want the public to know what they are doing. Anyone who has spent an hour looking into this issue knows this is true. Billionaires like the Kochs and Mercers (and many others) have people on their staff ready to do a hit job on any journalist or media organization who dares to shine the light on their behavior. Going after journalists is what all good authoritarians have on their wish list. Anyone who sides with this kind of bad behavior and has been taken in by these anti-democratic impulses is part of the problem.

godshatter 4y ago

All it takes to be skeptical of journalism is to see how they handle a topic you personally know a lot about. No far right conspiracies required.

sammalloy 4y ago
That’s quite a broad brushed, generalization don’t you think? Also, it’s expecting journalism to be a perfect discipline run by imperfect humans. Skepticism is needed in just about every field; journalism is no exception or special case. In any case, intellectual honesty is needed here. The case against journalism comes primarily from those on the far right, from people who peddle pseudoscience, and from the rich and powerful. They don’t want to be held accountable, and they don’t want the public to know what they are doing. Anyone who has spent an hour looking into this issue knows this is true. Billionaires like the Kochs and Mercers (and many others) have people on their staff ready to do a hit job on any journalist or media organization who dares to shine the light on their behavior. Going after journalists is what all good authoritarians have on their wish list. Anyone who sides with this kind of bad behavior and has been taken in by these anti-democratic impulses is part of the problem.