16th April 2020, 6:35 AM
Cable news is junk food and poison. I try to get my news from NPR or written, reputable publications. I find the Hill, Politico, Washington Post, BBC, and NYT, among others to be reliable (though NYT seems pretty partisan at times).
I hate to be pessimistic but it feels like Washington and much of the media empire are too corrupt and dysfunctional to be salvaged. I really don't know what the way forward is, but I'm not hopeful. Addressing consolidation of media seems to be a good step, such as Sinclair owning and controlling a multitude of local news affiliates and using them to push an agenda. At the same time, there has also been a rise of hyper-partisan publications like Breitbart and conspiracy sites like Info Wars, that are polluting our political discourse. Twitter and other social media have become breeding grounds for conspiracies like "Covid-19 is a hoax, big government wants to police you."
The internet has made our "epistemic crisis"[sup]1[/sup] much worse. Rather than using it to pool our resources and consolidate our knowledge, and let the truth shine forward, instead, we've all been split into our own post-modern ecosystems where Your Truth isn't the same as My Truth. 20 years ago, it would be inconceivable that a lunatic idea like The Earth Is Flat[sup]2[/sup] could take any kind of foothold. Welcome to hell.
Beefing up laws that compel journalists to tell the truth will pose difficult questions over weakening the first amendment. Lengthy and costly legal battles could ensue over what an outlet publishes, how truthful it is, etc, and may very well hamstring journalism into walking on eggshells, lest (e.g.) our litigious president press charges over coverage he doesn't like. You know he's salivating to do just that.
1: https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/...mic-crisis is a good article I remember reading months ago
2: https://www.forbes.com/sites/trevornace/...bf6f87ec66 Only 2/3rds of millenialls believe the earth is round
So yeah, welcome to kill yourself Thursday, pass the arsenic punch bruh
I hate to be pessimistic but it feels like Washington and much of the media empire are too corrupt and dysfunctional to be salvaged. I really don't know what the way forward is, but I'm not hopeful. Addressing consolidation of media seems to be a good step, such as Sinclair owning and controlling a multitude of local news affiliates and using them to push an agenda. At the same time, there has also been a rise of hyper-partisan publications like Breitbart and conspiracy sites like Info Wars, that are polluting our political discourse. Twitter and other social media have become breeding grounds for conspiracies like "Covid-19 is a hoax, big government wants to police you."
The internet has made our "epistemic crisis"[sup]1[/sup] much worse. Rather than using it to pool our resources and consolidate our knowledge, and let the truth shine forward, instead, we've all been split into our own post-modern ecosystems where Your Truth isn't the same as My Truth. 20 years ago, it would be inconceivable that a lunatic idea like The Earth Is Flat[sup]2[/sup] could take any kind of foothold. Welcome to hell.
Beefing up laws that compel journalists to tell the truth will pose difficult questions over weakening the first amendment. Lengthy and costly legal battles could ensue over what an outlet publishes, how truthful it is, etc, and may very well hamstring journalism into walking on eggshells, lest (e.g.) our litigious president press charges over coverage he doesn't like. You know he's salivating to do just that.
1: https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/...mic-crisis is a good article I remember reading months ago
2: https://www.forbes.com/sites/trevornace/...bf6f87ec66 Only 2/3rds of millenialls believe the earth is round
So yeah, welcome to kill yourself Thursday, pass the arsenic punch bruh