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See also "I Hate the News" by Aaron Swartz http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/hatethenews http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/hatethenews

pattisapu 13y ago
See also Thoreau.
- LeonB 13y ago
  Henry David Thoreau: All news is gossip http://wearethebest.wordpress.com/2007/04/09/henry-david- http://wearethebest.wordpress.com/2007/04/09/henry-david- thoreau-all-news-is-gossip/
zarify 13y ago
Seems an odd thing for someone who was involved with RSS to write, considering that it lets you keep up with (selected) 'news' more effectively (sure, it might be the longer form stuff he says is more useful, but ultimately it lets you skim more individual articles which is the root of the problem). I agree that most mass media news is a waste of time since you have no control over the stories or the level of detail. I think news via feed is a lot better; you have more power to investigate the things that actually matter to you.
- PavlovsCat 13y ago
  When it comes to mass media (and increasingly the web, too, thanks marketers), skimming content is not the problem, the sheer deluge of useless, distracting up to outright BS content is. Hence skipping that, and being selective about what you subscribe to RSS-wise :P
greenyoda 13y ago
In the article (written in 2006), Aaron Swartz wrote: "This seems to be true, but the curious thing is that I’m never involved. The government commits a crime, the New York Times prints it on the front page, the people on the cable chat shows foam at the mouth about it, the government apologizes and commits the crime more subtly. It’s a valuable system — I certainly support the government being more subtle about committing crimes (well, for the sake of argument, at least) — but you notice how it never involves me?" Ironically, he did unfortunately end up as a news story in which the government did something bad and he was personally involved.
- irclover 13y ago
  Seriously? Is that what happened? Completely unprovoked, the government did something bad? I kinda read that he broke the law and the government were prosecuting him for it.
  - mthoms 13y ago
    The article argues in large part that news reporting generally lacks context and depth. You just left a comment that perfectly illustrates why this is problematic. Oh the irony. If you care: What's at issue in the Aaron Swartz case is the proportionality of the government response to the infraction. Whether he committed a crime (or not) is largely a moot point.
  - greenyoda 13y ago
    The sentence they gave him seemed to have been way out of proportion to the crime he committed, and the time and taxpayer dollars that the federal prosecutor spent on him could have been spent on more significant crimes that actually put citizens in danger. So yes, I think the government did do something pretty bad here.
    - gadders 13y ago
      3-6 months in a Club Fed jail?
  - Peaker 13y ago
    The problem was that the government prosecuted him for his illegal actions and for lots of frivolous made-up charges too.
xijuan 13y ago
The title of this article also reminds me of that blog written by Aaron!
dublinben 13y ago
I think the book "It's not news, it's FARK" is the best thing that Drew Curtis has ever done. http://www.fark.com/2007/book/ http://www.fark.com/2007/book/
- Karunamon 13y ago
  Which is ironic, seeing as how his own website is now guilty of many different things he rails on the mainstream media establishment for in that book. Off the top of my head, unlabeled advertising masquerading as news, equal time for nutjobs, headlines that contradict articles... Kind of sad, really. It ruins a good analysis with the stench of hyprocrisy.

pattisapu 13y ago

See also Thoreau.

LeonB 13y ago
Henry David Thoreau: All news is gossip http://wearethebest.wordpress.com/2007/04/09/henry-david- http://wearethebest.wordpress.com/2007/04/09/henry-david- thoreau-all-news-is-gossip/

zarify 13y ago

Seems an odd thing for someone who was involved with RSS to write, considering that it lets you keep up with (selected) 'news' more effectively (sure, it might be the longer form stuff he says is more useful, but ultimately it lets you skim more individual articles which is the root of the problem). I agree that most mass media news is a waste of time since you have no control over the stories or the level of detail. I think news via feed is a lot better; you have more power to investigate the things that actually matter to you.

PavlovsCat 13y ago
When it comes to mass media (and increasingly the web, too, thanks marketers), skimming content is not the problem, the sheer deluge of useless, distracting up to outright BS content is. Hence skipping that, and being selective about what you subscribe to RSS-wise :P

greenyoda 13y ago

In the article (written in 2006), Aaron Swartz wrote: "This seems to be true, but the curious thing is that I’m never involved. The government commits a crime, the New York Times prints it on the front page, the people on the cable chat shows foam at the mouth about it, the government apologizes and commits the crime more subtly. It’s a valuable system — I certainly support the government being more subtle about committing crimes (well, for the sake of argument, at least) — but you notice how it never involves me?" Ironically, he did unfortunately end up as a news story in which the government did something bad and he was personally involved.

irclover 13y ago
Seriously? Is that what happened? Completely unprovoked, the government did something bad? I kinda read that he broke the law and the government were prosecuting him for it.
- mthoms 13y ago
  The article argues in large part that news reporting generally lacks context and depth. You just left a comment that perfectly illustrates why this is problematic. Oh the irony. If you care: What's at issue in the Aaron Swartz case is the proportionality of the government response to the infraction. Whether he committed a crime (or not) is largely a moot point.
- greenyoda 13y ago
  The sentence they gave him seemed to have been way out of proportion to the crime he committed, and the time and taxpayer dollars that the federal prosecutor spent on him could have been spent on more significant crimes that actually put citizens in danger. So yes, I think the government did do something pretty bad here.
  - gadders 13y ago
    3-6 months in a Club Fed jail?
- Peaker 13y ago
  The problem was that the government prosecuted him for his illegal actions and for lots of frivolous made-up charges too.

xijuan 13y ago

The title of this article also reminds me of that blog written by Aaron!

dublinben 13y ago

I think the book "It's not news, it's FARK" is the best thing that Drew Curtis has ever done. http://www.fark.com/2007/book/ http://www.fark.com/2007/book/

Karunamon 13y ago
Which is ironic, seeing as how his own website is now guilty of many different things he rails on the mainstream media establishment for in that book. Off the top of my head, unlabeled advertising masquerading as news, equal time for nutjobs, headlines that contradict articles... Kind of sad, really. It ruins a good analysis with the stench of hyprocrisy.