Trust in News Sources “at an All Time Low.”

Here is what Americans think of two of their main news sources, newspapers and television news:

This Country's Founders had a love/hate relationship with the newspapers, but I wonder whether so many Americans ever distrusted news providers as much as they do today. Here are a few excerpts from an article discussing the views of the Founders regarding the free press:

Founders spoke glowingly about the press as a pillar of democracy and guarantor of liberty. Thomas Jefferson, for instance, famously wrote in 1787 that "were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter."

George Washington framed the issue of free expression in almost apocalyptic terms: "If freedom of speech is taken away, then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter."

Yet discussing the free press of their day, the Founders also could often sound like those who are decrying "fake news" in 2020.

Under a barrage of criticism from newspapers published by his political opponents, Washington painted journalists as "infamous scribblers." Benjamin Franklin, himself a very successful newspaper publisher, described the press of his time as a resentful, vicious institution comparable to the Spanish Inquisition.

Jefferson frequently condemned the press as passionately as he had advanced their right to publish freely. "I deplore ... the putrid state into which our newspapers have passed and the malignity, the vulgarity, and mendacious spirit of those who write for them," he wrote in 1814. "Nothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper," he complained in a letter to another friend.

One more quote about the free press, this one by James Madison:
To the press alone, checkered as it is with abuses, the world is indebted for all the triumphs which have been gained by reason and humanity over error and oppression.

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Eric Weinstein Schools Ben Collins on Cookie Cutter Talking Points Employed by Elitists Pretending to be Journalists

Eric Weinstein Points out a big problem for Ben Collins and others pretending to be journalists of Legacy Media Outlets:

Ben Collins protests too much:

Weinstein then inserts the dagger (click this image to let it scroll for the full effect):

Collins is such a joke, not a journalist.

Continue ReadingEric Weinstein Schools Ben Collins on Cookie Cutter Talking Points Employed by Elitists Pretending to be Journalists

Illustrative Debate of Whether We Should Trust Mainstream Media.”

I have long enjoyed listening to Malcolm Gladwell's podcasts and reading his books. However, my respect for him fell precipitously after reading the words he spoke at the Recent Munk debate in Toronto [Munk Transcript] Tara Henley reports, in her article, "An astonishing Munk debate in Toronto, Matt Taibbi and Douglas Murray's landslide, Malcolm Gladwell and Michelle Goldberg's mendacity - and five reasons why trust in the mainstream media is so low":

At the beginning of the event, the crowd was split 48 percent to 52 percent in favour of the resolution. By night’s end, a full 67 percent agreed that the mainstream media should not be trusted and only 33 percent disagreed. This is a 39 percent vote gain.

So, what exactly happened here?

Let’s unpack the specific tendencies that Gladwell and Goldberg exhibited that I believe swayed the audience — that, in fact, show up regularly in the mainstream press.

The first of these tendencies is mendacity.

The public is not stupid, and people get it when arguments are made in bad faith....

The second tendency on display is self-absorption.

While both Taibbi and Murray focused their arguments on the impacts of media failures on society as a whole, it was telling that Malcolm Gladwell largely focused his arguments on himself....

The third tendency is a demonstration of ideological capture.

The fact that Malcolm Gladwell fell back on arguments around a lack of diversity in the press — on a stage occupied by Taibbi, a Black man, a gay man, and a woman — signaled allegiance to a particular political project....

The pervasiveness of this political ideology within the press corps is a problem, and something that I hear complaints from the public about constantly.

Continue ReadingIllustrative Debate of Whether We Should Trust Mainstream Media.”

The Story of the Modern “News” Media

This ironic 13-second video illustrates the modern news media.  "Nothing to see here . . . " whenever the facts don't fit the preconceived narrative. For instance, the constant news reports concerning the Club Q nightclub shooting hit a sudden cold snap after the shooter was announced to be "non-binary."

Continue ReadingThe Story of the Modern “News” Media