SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
President-elect Donald Trump is clearly antagonistic toward the mainstream media. That attitude is unlikely to change after Inauguration Day. His disdain for journalists and reluctance to release details about his finances and business ventures may force journalists to rely increasingly on anonymous sources, a strategy that reputable news organizations have long frowned upon.
So in the age of Trump, how should a reader approach coverage that relies primarily on anonymous sources?
This discussion has been archived.
No new comments can be posted.
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
There's no such thing as an original sin.
-- Elvis Costello
(Score: 3, Interesting) by bradley13 on Monday January 09 2017, @01:14PM
The MSM hasn't been trustworthy since...forever. It's gotten worse in the age of the Internet, because funding for serious reporting has dried up, as the MSM fails to compete with citizen journalists, bloggers and whoever wants to set up a Twitter account.
Read the news like a skeptic:
- If the article is something simple, like "a great, new Mexican restaurant just opened at 1st and Main", be assured that (a) the journalist has biased the language to include their personal opinion (they like Mexican food), and (b) got even the simplest facts wrong (the restaurant is actually at 2nd and Main, and isn't opening until next week).
- If the article is something more complex, you can be sure that the journalist knows almost nothing about the subject, and has just reprinted a press release issued by one side or the other. Which means that the article is totally biased, and omits any facts that might support a different viewpoint.
In all cases, if you care about the subject matter, look for articles on the same subject that have been published with the opposite bias. It's just like Amazon reviews: It's essential that a product has good reviews, but you learn a lot more by reading the bad reviews. Both sides are necessary for a good overall picture.
Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Thexalon on Monday January 09 2017, @03:02PM
... then that journalist or somebody paying him/her stands to profit from that new Mexican restaurant's success.
Yes, you should look for opposing viewpoints. You should not, however, assume that (A) there are exactly 2 viewpoints on every question, or (B) all available viewpoints are equally true. A lot of people who are smart enough to avoid the first mistake fall for one of those 2 fallacies.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.