5th March 2003, 1:59 PM
News sources, even major media sources, make mistakes. While I certainly don't agree with calling them "liars", I will say that ALL major news sources fall prey to urban legends and such every now and again. Let's not forget that pretty much every year around Halloween they always warn the parents to "inspect the kid's food for poison and razor blades", which of course simply aren't hidden in candy by madmen, who actually spend their time kidnapping children instead. Oh, let's not forget that there is NO real way a parent can be expected to somehow have been blessed with holy knowledge of what is and is not tainted just because they are parents. As I've said, news sources, even major ones, should be a person's STARTING POINT for gathering information. They should not be the quick fix for "instant accuracy" (even though most news show commercials advertise using those exact words :D). Rather, when you hear something interesting on the news, take time to decide "is this something I'm interested in knowing about?", and if you decide yes, look up many seperate sources on this info. This is how you find out about the world around you. You can't expect to just watch some TV and be instantly informed. You must be willing to put effort into it if you want to know what's going on in the world around you.
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)