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I'd argue all those (except elections) are at least potentially advertising. It's not just from public interest that these things would get promoted. A space la

I'd argue all those (except elections) are at least potentially advertising. It's not just from public interest that these things would get promoted. A space launch is a great example, look at the history of the space program, it's largely an advertising campaign. Re elections, the real results are something that in many places lots of people will not want shared, and this is an important function of the press. Yes, news publications have lots of facts like your examples they think people will want to read, but the core of news (as opposed to books or magazines) and the idea that the press gets a special place on society is definitely aligned with the quote I'd actually further suspect that the quote rubs many people the wrong way now because of the whole "misinformation" thing where they actually want their "news" source to be a propaganda organ of their political alignment, rather than an actual unbiased reporter of facts

danShumway 4y ago
> I'd actually further suspect that the quote rubs many people the wrong way now because of the whole "misinformation" thing where they actually want their "news" source to be a propaganda organ of their political alignment, rather than an actual unbiased reporter of facts I don't think I agree. In a divided society, it is very easy to find establishment players who will object to a propaganda headline being printed. News framed to suite either a Conservative or Liberal perspective will make the other side angry, regardless of its truth value. "I made someone angry that I printed this" doesn't really imply, "it's good that I printed it." Making people angry is incredibly easy to do, especially in a polarized society, and optimizing for outrage and the thinking that outrage makes news more "legitimate" is arguably one of the reasons we're in a polarized society. ---- Aside: other commenters have already mentioned, but just quick reminder again that this article is not about whether the quote is true, it's trying to investigate its origins.

danShumway 4y ago

> I'd actually further suspect that the quote rubs many people the wrong way now because of the whole "misinformation" thing where they actually want their "news" source to be a propaganda organ of their political alignment, rather than an actual unbiased reporter of facts I don't think I agree. In a divided society, it is very easy to find establishment players who will object to a propaganda headline being printed. News framed to suite either a Conservative or Liberal perspective will make the other side angry, regardless of its truth value. "I made someone angry that I printed this" doesn't really imply, "it's good that I printed it." Making people angry is incredibly easy to do, especially in a polarized society, and optimizing for outrage and the thinking that outrage makes news more "legitimate" is arguably one of the reasons we're in a polarized society. ---- Aside: other commenters have already mentioned, but just quick reminder again that this article is not about whether the quote is true, it's trying to investigate its origins.