[Air-L] breaking news and fake news - the wash post's russian power grid hackers story

Richard Forno rforno at infowarrior.org
Mon Jan 2 06:07:54 PST 2017


> On Jan 1, 2017, at 17:38, Yosem Companys <companys at stanford.edu> wrote:

> To win in this hyper-competitive market, you have to be the first to
> report on the sinking of the U.S.S. Maine and accuse the Spaniards for
> doing it.

<decaffeinated rant>

Yes, that's a sad but decades-old consequence of the need to fill up a 24/7 television 'news' cycle.  First to report something (anything!) and be half-right is better than being third to report with total accuracy.  If there's not enough hard news, fill in opinion that can masquerade as news as well  (some do it better & more integrated than others.)  It's all about attracting viewers/readers/advertisers and $$$$ --- a practice which only muddies the information environment further and does not provide a useful public service or foster an informed citizenry. 

As a result there's far too much noise and gaffleblabble and not enough serious analysis. 'News' on (American) TV, in nearly every case, has become infotainment at best and tasty-bite-sized morsels of barely-useful pablum at worst   Apart from scanning the headlines to find out generally what's going on in the world, most news (at least in the US) is a bleepin' farce.   Politcians exploit this regularly, improved upon it in 2016, and I'm sure will have it perfected into a fine art form over the next 4 years.  Throw in the "fake news" and "post-factual" considerations/accusations of the present day, and the public news-o-sphere becomes a greater cesspool and further devoid of utility as a tool to inform the citizenry than it already is.  (And let's not forget the need to develop individual qualities like critical thinking, knowledge of history, etc, etc. too)

There is also the problem of large media entities practicing 'access journalism' by simply functioning as stegranographers for government PR talking points -- ie they prefer to maintain cozy access and "exclusives" with the sources of power than risk being independent-minded and potentially banished to a less-intimate circle of access.  (I see this all the time on stuff here in DC, including on cyber.)  This is tied, I think, to what I said above about the business needs for a constant supply of hot news streams.   (Which, come to think of it ... if a single tweetstream can drive a 24-hr news cycle, we are in a world of hurt.)

I daresay the US media would be wise to read & heed Rosen's advice from last week, but sadly I doubt they will ...

http://pressthink.org/2016/12/winter-coming-prospects-american-press-trump/ and http://pressthink.org/2016/12/prospects-american-press-trump-part-two/

... although at least some sources are starting to politely push back and call shenannigans on blatantly false statements made by politicians even hours apart, and citing side-by-side evidence.  So there's *some* shift in coverage starting, but much more needs to take place.  But that will only go so far these days -- fact-checking is meaningless if everyone feels entitled to their own facts.  ;/

(Disclosure:  In the US if I want US-produced TV news, it's PBS Newshour, which doesn't go for sensationalism or offer on-screen octoboxes facilitating shouting matches.  For global TV news, I'll go for BBC, France24, or al-Jaz.)

</rant>

That said ... to change the subject completely, happy new year, AORistas!

- rick





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