4 ms·

There really needs to be a phrase for this. I've noticed it myself. Whenever the news reports on something I happen to know a little bit more than average about

by gfodor 14y ago

There really needs to be a phrase for this. I've noticed it myself. Whenever the news reports on something I happen to know a little bit more than average about, they almost universally get material facts (not just nitty gritty details) completely wrong. Taken inductively this is pretty damn scary.

danielweber 14y ago
It's called the Gell-Mann Amnesia effect. I don't necessarily endorse it, but here you go: Briefly stated, the Gell-Mann Amnesia effect is as follows. You open the newspaper to an article on some subject you know well. In Murray’s case, physics. In mine, show business. You read the article and see the journalist has absolutely no understanding of either the facts or the issues. Often, the article is so wrong it actually presents the story backward—reversing cause and effect. I call these the “wet streets cause rain” stories. Paper’s full of them. In any case, you read with exasperation or amusement the multiple errors in a story, and then turn the page to national or international affairs, and read as if the rest of the newspaper was somehow more accurate about Palestine than the baloney you just read. You turn the page, and forget what you know.” — Michael Crichton
- snowwrestler 14y ago
  Ironically, Crichton was himself known to play fast and loose with facts. Mathematicians laughed at his portrayal of chaos theory and its implications in Jurassic Park, and the scientific community cried foul over his portrayal of climate science in State of Fear. It's of course ok to bend facts when it's in the service of a fictional story, but Crichton too frequently was portrayed (often by himself) as a true subject matter expert.
  - oconnore 14y ago
    A novelist is allowed (and encouraged!) to bend facts to make their books more exciting to the reader. Crichton may or may not have been an expert on certain subjects, but the contents of his fictional novels are not relevant to that discussion.
    - clobber 14y ago
      Sure, except that Crichton was extremely outspoken regarding "climate change as a lie"[1] where he used his book, State of Fear, to present his views as facts[2]: 1. https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/~scranmer/SPD/crichton.html https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/~scranmer/SPD/crichton.html 2. http://www.ucsusa.org/global_warming/science_and_impacts/global_warming_contrarians/crichton-thriller-state-of.html http://www.ucsusa.org/global_warming/science_and_impacts/glo...
  - jbuzbee 14y ago
    What turned me off on Crichton was his belief in spiritualism, mystics, spoon bending, etc: http://www.crichton-official.com/features-spoonbending.html http://www.crichton-official.com/features-spoonbending.html Really? A medical doctor that believes in spoon bending and fortune telling? Sigh... Of course Sir Arthur Conan Doyle believed in Fairies
    - CamperBob2 14y ago
      Crichton's Travels is a fascinating and infuriating book. You know he's a human being just like yourself, but yet his thought processes are as alien as anything you'd expect to find in a Star Trek script. The idea that the author of The Andromeda Strain could be taken in by spoon-bending was also more than a bit frightening.
chime 14y ago
I have had over a dozen positive articles about me written in newspapers, blogs, and TV segments over the years. Every single one of them misrepresented key facts, exaggerated my accomplishments, and oversimplified the invention/process. Initially I was shocked at the inaccuracies but over time I realized that despite the journalists' best intentions, they have to look at my story from different points of views and pick the angle that best fits the column's theme/focus - prodigious kid invents technology even Microsoft can't (David vs. Goliath), smart techies whip up app on weekend (HP/Apple garage-style startup), friendly-neighborhood IT guy takes a stab at unrelated field (everyone's a hidden genius). One could argue that news must be devoid of any such slants, angles, or specific POVs but then we get caught in a debate about boring news that won't sell vs. sensationalized news that is meant solely to increase sales. Just like for programmers it is a constant balance between quality, deadlines, and cost, for journalists it is between truth, importance, and sales. '12 more people dead in blast in Tel Aviv' is truth and important but not sensational enough to sell. 'No-name D-list celeb gets caught speeding' is truth and sensational but not important. In articles like this, they're trying to make it sound important and sensational while skirting around the limits of truth. In personal articles we've been involved in, they play the angles to show importance and make it sensational while not caring much about the factual accuracies.
- Gravityloss 14y ago
  But I like boring news that get straight to the point. Often the "getting an angle" style just makes the story longer, incoherent and boring. I don't really like to write. I am only doing it because of a desire to express an idea or concept. Maybe journalism could improve with that spearhead.
- Gravityloss 14y ago
  But I like boring news that get straight to the point. Often the "getting an angle" style just makes the story longer, incoherent and boring. I don't really like to write. I am only doing it because of a desire to express an idea or concept. Maybe journalism could improve with that spearhead.
lukifer 14y ago
I think "perverse incentives" covers it pretty well. Reporters who care more about truth than narrative are filtered out of most media outlets due to the basic economic forces involved. Season 5 of The Wire elucidates it better than I ever could (and of course, the series was crafted by a former journalist).

by gfodor 14y ago

danielweber 14y ago

It's called the Gell-Mann Amnesia effect. I don't necessarily endorse it, but here you go: Briefly stated, the Gell-Mann Amnesia effect is as follows. You open the newspaper to an article on some subject you know well. In Murray’s case, physics. In mine, show business. You read the article and see the journalist has absolutely no understanding of either the facts or the issues. Often, the article is so wrong it actually presents the story backward—reversing cause and effect. I call these the “wet streets cause rain” stories. Paper’s full of them. In any case, you read with exasperation or amusement the multiple errors in a story, and then turn the page to national or international affairs, and read as if the rest of the newspaper was somehow more accurate about Palestine than the baloney you just read. You turn the page, and forget what you know.” — Michael Crichton

snowwrestler 14y ago
Ironically, Crichton was himself known to play fast and loose with facts. Mathematicians laughed at his portrayal of chaos theory and its implications in Jurassic Park, and the scientific community cried foul over his portrayal of climate science in State of Fear. It's of course ok to bend facts when it's in the service of a fictional story, but Crichton too frequently was portrayed (often by himself) as a true subject matter expert.
- oconnore 14y ago
  A novelist is allowed (and encouraged!) to bend facts to make their books more exciting to the reader. Crichton may or may not have been an expert on certain subjects, but the contents of his fictional novels are not relevant to that discussion.
  - clobber 14y ago
    Sure, except that Crichton was extremely outspoken regarding "climate change as a lie"[1] where he used his book, State of Fear, to present his views as facts[2]: 1. https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/~scranmer/SPD/crichton.html https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/~scranmer/SPD/crichton.html 2. http://www.ucsusa.org/global_warming/science_and_impacts/global_warming_contrarians/crichton-thriller-state-of.html http://www.ucsusa.org/global_warming/science_and_impacts/glo...
- jbuzbee 14y ago
  What turned me off on Crichton was his belief in spiritualism, mystics, spoon bending, etc: http://www.crichton-official.com/features-spoonbending.html http://www.crichton-official.com/features-spoonbending.html Really? A medical doctor that believes in spoon bending and fortune telling? Sigh... Of course Sir Arthur Conan Doyle believed in Fairies
  - CamperBob2 14y ago
    Crichton's Travels is a fascinating and infuriating book. You know he's a human being just like yourself, but yet his thought processes are as alien as anything you'd expect to find in a Star Trek script. The idea that the author of The Andromeda Strain could be taken in by spoon-bending was also more than a bit frightening.

chime 14y ago

I have had over a dozen positive articles about me written in newspapers, blogs, and TV segments over the years. Every single one of them misrepresented key facts, exaggerated my accomplishments, and oversimplified the invention/process. Initially I was shocked at the inaccuracies but over time I realized that despite the journalists' best intentions, they have to look at my story from different points of views and pick the angle that best fits the column's theme/focus - prodigious kid invents technology even Microsoft can't (David vs. Goliath), smart techies whip up app on weekend (HP/Apple garage-style startup), friendly-neighborhood IT guy takes a stab at unrelated field (everyone's a hidden genius). One could argue that news must be devoid of any such slants, angles, or specific POVs but then we get caught in a debate about boring news that won't sell vs. sensationalized news that is meant solely to increase sales. Just like for programmers it is a constant balance between quality, deadlines, and cost, for journalists it is between truth, importance, and sales. '12 more people dead in blast in Tel Aviv' is truth and important but not sensational enough to sell. 'No-name D-list celeb gets caught speeding' is truth and sensational but not important. In articles like this, they're trying to make it sound important and sensational while skirting around the limits of truth. In personal articles we've been involved in, they play the angles to show importance and make it sensational while not caring much about the factual accuracies.

Gravityloss 14y ago
But I like boring news that get straight to the point. Often the "getting an angle" style just makes the story longer, incoherent and boring. I don't really like to write. I am only doing it because of a desire to express an idea or concept. Maybe journalism could improve with that spearhead.
Gravityloss 14y ago
But I like boring news that get straight to the point. Often the "getting an angle" style just makes the story longer, incoherent and boring. I don't really like to write. I am only doing it because of a desire to express an idea or concept. Maybe journalism could improve with that spearhead.

lukifer 14y ago

I think "perverse incentives" covers it pretty well. Reporters who care more about truth than narrative are filtered out of most media outlets due to the basic economic forces involved. Season 5 of The Wire elucidates it better than I ever could (and of course, the series was crafted by a former journalist).