Bias - BS - Lies - News - Social Media

FrgMstr

FrgMstr

Just Plain Mean
Staff member
Joined
May 18, 1997
Messages
55,596
Why is trust in the media on the decline? I don't know, maybe because most of the "news" we read or hear is no longer reporting but rather editorial? 10 minutes on any news outlet will spell that out to you. However, it does make me feel a bit better knowing that social media is trusted less than the news media in its ability to separate fact from fiction. Reuters has a full report up, but you will need to give up your email address to grab the whole thing I'm not making this up, I swear. In all seriousness, this is a good read that will take a while to digest and help us understand what is going on around us, and certainly make you delete your Facebook account.

Social media (24%) is trusted less than the news media in its ability to separate fact from fiction. There is a sense from respondents that feeds are becoming polluted with inaccurate information, extreme agendas, and strong opinions, perhaps encouraged by social media algorithms. But, people also blame other social media users for fuelling these stories by sharing without reading them.

Despite this, we also find a substantial minority who trust social media for its broad range of views and authenticity. Some of these are people who distrust the mainstream media or complain about its biases and agendas. Others revel in a wide range of sources and feel confident in their ability to spot inaccurate or agenda-filled news
 
Hint Hint:

You can enter anything that looks like an email address into the box, and you get to the pdf directly. No need to give them your real email address. There is no verification of that.
 
I am posting this before I need to as a friendly reminder. :)

keep-calm-and-lets-get-back-to-the-topic.png
 
Kyle,

That sign annoys the hell out of us! ARG! Joking aside, my TV has been turned off in months and I try hard not to read any news. My blood pressure is healthy and I feel good rejecting any news that infects my mind. Heck, I am less frustrated and happier overall! If there are missiles with nukes flying overhead, what can I do about it? I don't have time for these dramas!
 
nutzo said:
Here is the US we no longer have a free press that reports the news.

Most of what passes as news today is nothing more than political propaganda.
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If you've been alive long enough you'd realize the "no longer" in your statement is wrong. We never did. Bias in the news is not a new thing that we just discovered. Walter Cronkite had an agenda too and was every bit as dangerous then as Fake News is today.
 
I'm pretty sure all news outlets tailor their stories for a maximum audience draw. The press has stopped aiming to stay free the moment news organizations needed to turn a profit. If they can't get it, they go for the vocal minority or whatever the Russian propaganda bots come out with..
 
I don't know, maybe because most of the "news" we read or hear is no longer reporting but rather editorial?
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This is exactly it. They have that bias to start with, then they add or omit facts to "prove" their point of view. Some aren't even trying to be coy about it. They are stating from the start something outrageous and trying to pass it off as facts and news. For the most examples, look at (highly liberal angle, so beware) /r/politics. 99% of the "news" stories are just editorials with little to no facts to back them up. Or very misinterpreted facts.
 
Great example on the local news last night. They showed pictures of AR's with bump stocks because they were reporting WA state was trying to ban them. Then a video plays of the "most armed man in america" (they did not note this at all, just showed the video) shooting one of his non bump stock equipped AR's full auto. Then more pictures of bump stocks. It's almost like they were injecting the video of the full auto to make it seem like it was a gun with a bump stock. It's hard for me to accept them as credible when they inject a video into their reporting that has nothing to do with bump stocks, just to make bump stocks seem more "scary" then they really are. It's not only fake news but purposely misleading to people who don't know anything about guns.
 
drklu said:
Great example on the local news last night. They showed pictures of AR's with bump stocks because they were reporting WA state was trying to ban them. Then a video plays of the "most armed man in america" (they did not note this at all, just showed the video) shooting one of his non bump stock equipped AR's full auto. Then more pictures of bump stocks. It's almost like they were injecting the video of the full auto to make it seem like it was a gun with a bump stock. It's hard for me to accept them as credible when they inject a video into their reporting that has nothing to do with bump stocks, just to make bump stocks seem more "scary" then they really are. It's not only fake news but purposely misleading to people who don't know anything about guns.
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They probably didnt have any clue either...
 
I know a big issues with "news" on social media is sharing of BS memes that claim something as fact. There is one where it's a Trump quote about running as a republican because they are the most gullible (fake quote) and there is another with a picture of some Nazi SS soldier claiming that it's George Soro's (also fake). And don't even get me started on the fake medical memes and anti vax stuff
 
Zarathustra[H] said:
Hint Hint:

You can enter anything that looks like an email address into the box, and you get to the pdf directly. No need to give them your real email address. There is no verification of that.
Click to expand...
I guess some people still think that your only allowed one email address. You can have as many as you can remember. When Alzheimer's kicks in I better have more than one address.;)
 
kju1 said:
They probably didnt have any clue either...
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You're probably right about that. Just like they don't have any idea that a normal hunting rifle is just as deadly as an "assault" rifle when going after unarmed civilians.
 
Go on YouTube and watch old CNN and Network News clips from the 80s and prior... It makes modern news outlets sound like tabloids.

Tech websites do the same. Ars, The Verge, and others just passively inject political beliefs into news stories or just create political news stories in the first place.
 
PaulP said:
You're probably right about that. Just like they don't have any idea that a normal hunting rifle is just as deadly as an "assault" rifle when going after unarmed civilians.
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My Rugger 10/22 disagrees with you (but it's good at taking out surplus squirrels and invading opossums). That's right I'm a liberal and a gun owner...oh the horror and shock ;).
 
[email protected] worked great... but wow what a longish article... and now I guess it might be time to read the thing a little.

Quick edit: Page 43 really shows the whole thing off, and clarifies the entire thing for the US imho. It is very clear and true. I always prefer facts over bias, which is why I read German and Spanish news sites as well as visiting some in the UK in addition to places like fark.com and theverge.com Por supuesto, es hilft drei Sprache zu sprechen... I cannot stomach one major news organization, which I see constantly here in Texas. The outright lies disgust me. I do my best to ignore it, and if something does grab me, I learn more by visiting elsewhere, which I can do until the FBI/NSA block internet access to other countries /grin Thank goodness we don't live in China.
 
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mlapgw said:
If you've been alive long enough you'd realize the "no longer" in your statement is wrong. We never did. Bias in the news is not a new thing that we just discovered. Walter Cronkite had an agenda too and was every bit as dangerous then as Fake News is today.
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No way. In the day there was a marked line between news and editorial/opinion pieces ..... and mine is bigger than yours :sneaky::ROFLMAO:
 
I think there are a couple things at play for the portion that trusts social media. One is the post-modernist thinking that if the majority think one way then it must be correct. Two is that a majority of so-called "millenials" get their news just by reading headlines, and that is what social media platforms predominately serve. But overall I believe that a failure to teach critical thinking to our students in the past 20 years has factored into the polarization we have now between those who read and understand the facts and those who only read headlines and appeal to emotion.
 
Ur_Mom said:
This is exactly it. They have that bias to start with, then they add or omit facts to "prove" their point of view. Some aren't even trying to be coy about it. They are stating from the start something outrageous and trying to pass it off as facts and news. For the most examples, look at (highly liberal angle, so beware) /r/politics. 99% of the "news" stories are just editorials with little to no facts to back them up. Or very misinterpreted facts.
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Agreed, and if they bother to source anything, frequently it will even contradict their message.
 
mlapgw said:
If you've been alive long enough you'd realize the "no longer" in your statement is wrong. We never did. Bias in the news is not a new thing that we just discovered. Walter Cronkite had an agenda too and was every bit as dangerous then as Fake News is today.
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I'll somewhat agree with that.
There has always been some bias, but it has been growing significantly over the past 20 years.
The past few years, it has hit a point where actual, factual news is almost impossible to find.
It's not just the spin on the stories, or the fake stories, it's also the complete lack of coverage of any story that doesn't fit the agenda they are pushing.
 
nutzo said:
I'll somewhat agree with that.
There has always been some bias, but it has been growing significantly over the past 20 years.
The past few years, it has hit a point where actual, factual news is almost impossible to find.
It's not just the spin on the stories, or the fake stories, it's also the complete lack of coverage of any story that doesn't fit the agenda they are pushing.
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Lying by omission, in my opinion, is one of the worst sins the media is guilty of, whether it be omitting only parts of a story or an entire story altogether.
 
Ok since my post which poorly tried to tie back into the topic mysteriously disappeared, let me put this another way. There is still a lot of good journalism out there, but you have to search hard for it. Whether the topic is guns (something I recently looked up) or drug use or whatever...good fact based articles are all over, though outweighed 10:1 (made up number...I'm not a journalist) by propaganda on from all sides. Nothing really new about this whole thing, look at the yellow journalism, it's just a lot easier to find the dross that fits you viewpoint...something that has not escaped the notice of profit seekers of all political persuasion.
 
nutzo said:
There has always been some bias, but it has been growing significantly over the past 20 years.
The past few years, it has hit a point where actual, factual news is almost impossible to find.
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I think a lot of it because of the Internet. Everyone is a journalist, a photographer, etc..
 
lcpiper said:
Your Rugger 10/22 is actually a fine and deadly weapon in even remotely skilled hands. They don't have to die immediately to be just as dead. If anyone thinks .22 long rifle isn't deadly then they need to go talk with some poachers and ask them what they use for deer.
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And this is exactly why social media isn't, or shouldn't be trusted--I'm not a journalist and didn't make it clear--I never said it was not deadly I was just trying to make a point: it is not in the same league as larger caliber otherwise what's the point of larger caliber. Ok hope that isn't too far out, if so please delete I won't post more on this :).
 
WhoMe said:
And this is exactly why social media isn't, or shouldn't be trusted--I'm not a journalist and didn't make it clear--I never said it was not deadly I was just trying to make a point: it is not in the same league as larger caliber otherwise what's the point of larger caliber. Ok hope that isn't too far out, if so please delete I won't post more on this :).
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Well that is another problem. Why would anyone go to the media for facts, the media has to go to other people to get those for themselves, if they bother.
 
I have done something about it.

I got off facebook many years ago. I don't use social media past cool pictures and chat with friends and family.. no politics! I do hang on a few forums including a well-subbed reddit account (in terms of what subreddits I look at). Sometimes I do slip and delve into some reddit cesspool or make a political comment on the Hardforum, but it's rare and on the decline.

I get my news from two pay-for newspapers, digital editions. I get the 2nd one on heavy discount through work. I read those every day for perhaps 30 minutes or so, sometimes an hour. It doesn't matter which ones they are, I don't want to sound like an ad.

Since I've made that change 2 years ago I am MUCH less anxious about politics and the crazy times we live in. Reading news that aren't sensationalized, well-written and well-researched, makes me more informed and calmer. I don't need to know, or really care, what "busymom4332" thinks about Trump or Obama or Tariffs. I can and do hold discussions with friends on some topics, but that's in person and civil, not the screaming internet. A lot of things are just way-overblown attack instruments to keep people busy and enraged. When you hang that out to dry, you feel a lot better.

If you get your news from TV, I'm afraid you're mostly consuming garbage news. The shows are too partisan on each side to form good opinions and impressions. There are a few decent pickings, but the bias is usually strong to pull in audiences and sell ads.

Most folks seem to not want to pay for journalism. And I think that is a key part in this. When things rely on Ads, they have to skew sooner or later to pull in more audience when the ads don't pay enough anymore. Ads have power because they pay. Someone here mentioned ARS Technica. Good example of a place that has some good articles, but that also struggles to get real money from subscribers to keep up a high level of journalistic skill and integrity. At times, it shows. Other times, they're very good. They started a new subscriber model recently to get more real money, again it's clear that just ads can't do it.

You need real money to run a good and independent newspaper, and that's just that. Enough people are willing to pay, judging by the number of pay sites that have lived for a long time, and that makes me hopeful.

What makes me a little sad is that people dismiss "the media" as if all media was the same. It very much is not. Like everything, there are strong differences and nuances. I can only recommend investing a few bucks a month into getting better news. Not every publication is an echo chamber trying to sell you on something.
 
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lcpiper said:
Well that is another problem. Why would anyone go to the media for facts, the media has to go to other people to get those for themselves, if they bother.
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Like I said good fact based reports are still out there. The media should be reporting on those facts that's really their job. I was actually a journalism major for a while before switching back to math/cs and at least in the early 80's they were still teaching about collecting the facts (and the who, what, when, why, where) and reporting them in an unbiased manner.
 
PaulP said:
You're probably right about that. Just like they don't have any idea that a normal hunting rifle is just as deadly as an "assault" rifle when going after unarmed civilians.
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I'm about as hard core pro 2nd amendment as you will find anywhere, but there is a reason the Army doesn't carry hunting rifles.....
 
Lets not forget that most "news" stories are nothing more than Twitter screenshots of idiots voicing their opinions.
 
WhoMe said:
Like I said good fact based reports are still out there. The media should be reporting on those facts that's really their job. I was actually a journalism major for a while before switching back to math/cs and at least in the early 80's they were still teaching about collecting the facts (and the who, what, when, why, where) and reporting them in an unbiased manner.
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As you and others are saying, there are still straight sources.

Some of you might laugh, but sometimes even the government is pretty good about being up front. Maybe they screw up and assigned a third stringer while the others are on vacation in Vegas, whatever. I just know that if you want to know what some of the agencies and departments have been up to, sometimes it's just right there in their press releases. I mean if the real news doesn't fit someone's agenda then someone surely isn't going to tell us about it.

For instance, remember that FTC lawsuit against AT&T? Who knew that last week Monday, the 9th Circuit denied a motion from AT&T to pitch the case out? If you guys remember, the 9th Circuit was going to refuse to rehear the case until the FCC decided to vote on changing Title II classification of the internet. Once the FCC decided to to vote for a possible change, the 9th Circuit changed their minds and said that they would go ahead and rehear the case dependent on the vote, it looks like they are moving forward with the case already and AT&Ts first shot was swatted down.

Am I the only one who missed that from last week?

https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/pre...c-chairman-ninth-circuit-court-appeals-ruling

Seems like someone was just saying that the FTC had no teeth.
 
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I used to be huge into news and reading everything around us. That is until it became truly apparent that I wasn’t reading news anymore, but <insert company> take on whatever political issue was going on. I’ve dialed back most of my news and focuse on self-improvement now.
 
TheSoldier said:
I used to be huge into news and reading everything around us. That is until it became truly apparent that I wasn’t reading news anymore, but <insert company> take on whatever political issue was going on. I’ve dialed back most of my news and focuse on self-improvement now.
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And this i show we turn a :( upside down :)
 
Because its usually purplemonkeydishwasher by the time its given to us.


Life tip: Do your own research. Read books.
 
Krenum said:
Because its usually purplemonkeydishwasher by the time its given to us.


Life tip: Do your own research. Read books.
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I really like books, but sometimes you want to know about current events, like things that happened today or yesterday or 1-2 weeks ago. Books can give you background knowledge to better understand what might be behind some reports, but you still kind of need the reports.
 
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